Vaguely, Darkseid's large grey hand could be seen reaching out, seemingly trying desperately to crawl out of the chaotic area.
But in the next second, a hand wearing a white glove reached out from the smoke, grabbed his ankle, and pulled him back in ruthlessly with a "whoosh."
"Arghhh!!"
From time to time, 3D text reading "BAM!", "POW!", and "WHAM!" popped out of the smoke, accompanied by Darkseid's angry and pained roars.
The tyrant of the Universe was currently experiencing the most humiliating moment of his life.
Darkseid's pride and dignity were torn to shreds in this aesthetics-free and extremely comical beating.
"What... what kind of logic is this?" Batman muttered as he watched the screaming Darkseid, staring blankly.
"I don't know," Deathstroke shook his head, "but I think we should definitely never make her angry in the future."
"Desaad!!!"
From within the smoke, Darkseid erupted with a shrill roar.
"Launch the attack! Everyone, attack!"
"All Parademons! All of the Dark Elite!"
"Launch a suicide charge!! Cover the entire area!!!"
Desaad trembled all over when he heard this command.
"Great Master... those are elites... if we consume them all here..."
Desaad hesitated.
These elites were different from the cannon-fodder Parademons that could be mass-produced at will; training them required an enormous amount of resources.
"Execute the order!! Now!!"
Darkseid's scream came from below again, followed by a crisp "crack" sound, as if a joint had been snapped.
Hearing his Master's nearly pitch-distorted scream, Desaad dared not hesitate any longer.
"Understood... For Darkseid."
On the battlefield.
All high-level Parademons and Dark Elite warriors.
Their bodies suddenly stiffened, and their eyes emitted a dazzling light. The energy cores within them were forcibly overloaded, entering an irreversible self-destruct countdown.
"For Darkseid!!"
These fanatical death squads abandoned all defense and tactics, turning into human bombs diving madly toward the Earth army's positions, bunkers, and even unarmed civilians.
"Not good! They've gone mad!!"
Bruce Wayne's face changed drastically as he roared loudly.
"Focus on protecting the civilians!!"
The war's atmosphere shifted from absurd comedy back to a brutal meat grinder.
"Watch out! They're going to self-destruct!!"
Cyborg was the first to notice the anomaly, and he roared out a warning.
"BOOM————!!!"
A Dark Elite warrior charged into the Amazon phalanx, exploding the moment of contact.
The massive energy flipped over a dozen Amazon female warriors.
General Philippus, who was holding her shield at the very front, was also sent flying by the terrifying blast's impact, coughing up blood.
"Ah!"
Green Lantern Kilowog took over the defensive line, propping up a massive green energy shield. However, dozens of Dark Elite warriors slammed directly into the shield and self-destructed.
The energy shield shattered with a bang, and Kilowog was left bleeding from his facial orifices by the residual force, falling heavily to the ground.
"Kilowog!" Cyborg Victor wanted to go to the rescue, but he was pinned down by a group of crazed Parademons.
His arm-mounted Plasma Cannon had just destroyed three Parademons when he was grabbed by two others pouncing from a blind spot.
"BOOM!" The Parademons self-destructed.
Victor's mechanical body had a leg blown off, and electronic sparks flickered across his frame.
The Flash, Barry, forced his heavily injured body to stand and run again, moving civilians one by one to safe zones.
There were flames everywhere, explosions and screams everywhere.
Under the Apokolips army's reckless and frantic assault, the heroes fell into a predicament where they couldn't protect everything at once.
...
Harley, who was beating Darkseid in the smoke, also heard the screams coming from outside.
She immediately stopped swinging the Frying Pan in her hand.
The smoke gradually dissipated.
Revealing a bruised and swollen Darkseid inside, his entire body wrapped in bandages.
Harley stood on top of him and turned her head to look around.
In the sea of fire, civilians were wailing, Green Lantern was down, Cyborg was incomplete, and Mera was seriously injured.
The protective instinct amplified by the mask made it impossible for Harley to continue this one-sided beating.
"Whoosh—!"
She kicked off with her legs, turning into a giant spring.
She rushed beneath a building that was about to collapse and caught several falling civilians.
Then, she blew her hands into two giant swatters, swatting the batches of self-destructing Parademons charging at the crowd into the high sky like flies.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" The Parademons exploded one after another at a safe altitude.
Meanwhile, Darkseid, lying on the ground, finally caught his breath. He climbed up, ripped off the bandages on his body, and slowly ascended into the air.
Looking at everything before him, Darkseid wore a mocking expression.
"Mercy, compassion, sacrifice... these useless emotions are the root of your human weakness and incompetence."
"Woman... you clearly had the power to defeat me, yet you gave up the chance to kill me just to protect these worthless insects."
Darkseid's eyes once again gathered the lethal Omega Energy.
"And your kindness will become the final shovelful of dirt to bury your World."
"BANG! BANG! BANG!"
He took advantage of Harley being full of openings while rescuing people to ruthlessly join the offensive.
Omega Beams struck Harley's body repeatedly.
As one of the most powerful means of attack in this Universe, the Omega Effect caused pain that went deep into the bone, even with the enhancement of the loki mask.
But Harley had no time to worry about that.
"BOOM BOOM BOOM—!"
Another thousand self-destructing Parademons dove toward the crowd.
"No... this can't go on!!"
Harley looked at the burning city around her and the heroes lying in pools of blood.
She knew that if this continued, everyone would die. This city would be completely leveled.
"Unforgivable..."
Harley lowered her head, and the exaggerated smile on her green face vanished.
She held her breath and pushed the magic power granted by the mask within her body to its absolute limit.
Then, she kicked off the ground, soaring into the air and landing on top of Metropolis's tallest skyscraper—the LexCorp Building.
Standing on the edge of the building, she looked down at the dense enemy forces below.
"Costume change!"
As her body spun into a whirlwind, the wedding dress on Harley flashed and transformed into a Western-style cowboy outfit.
A wide brown cowboy hat, a fringed leather jacket, and long leather boots with spurs on her feet.
Most notably, tucked into her waist were two exaggeratedly styled giant Revolvers with barrels thicker than her arms.
"Woo—woooo—"
Accompanied by a unique Western film harmonica soundtrack.
In the originally dark night sky of Metropolis, a Cartoon Sun with a Smiley Face absurdly rose, lighting up the sky as if it were broad daylight.
Harley lowered the brim of her cowboy hat, a cold smile curling at the corners of her mouth.
"It's High Noon—!"
The moment the words fell, she drew both giant Revolvers simultaneously.
No one could see her shooting movements; they only saw her hands and the guns turn into a blur of afterimages, frantically spitting out countless flashes of fire!
"BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG—!!!