Faced with this killing blow, Homelander was surprisingly calm.
By now, he had already stood up silently and gripped the edge of the red cape behind him.
With a flick of his wrist,
the cape unfurled in front of him.
This was precisely the item he had previously drawn from the system's Superhero Blind Box and fused into his system uniform.
Item Name: Reflective Cloak
Trait 1 - Energy Refraction: Capable of identifying and deflecting full-spectrum energy attacks; as long as the attack contacts the surface of the cloak, the energy will undergo total reflection.
Additional Effect: The reflected attack will retain all its original attributes and power, and its flight speed will increase by 150%.
Trait 2 - Adaptive Coating: Any attack successfully blocked by the cloak will be directionally tracked. The attack energy will return along its original trajectory intact.
"Reflect."
Two words were softly uttered from Homelander's mouth.
"Sizzle—!!!"
The red Annihilation Beam slammed solidly into that thin layer of the cloak.
Without the slightest delay, the beam returned along its original trajectory with unerring precision, at a speed fifty percent faster than when it arrived!
"What?!"
Darkseid had no time to react at all.
"Puchi!"
The Omega Annihilation Beam he had fired with all his might struck back at his own chest without reservation.
"Aaaaaargh—!!!"
Darkseid let out the most tragic wail of his life.
Even a god's body could not withstand the power of annihilation released with its full strength.
He finally experienced firsthand how terrifying this new power of his was.
The annihilation energy raged wildly inside him, corroding his divine structure on a conceptual level and disintegrating his physical defenses.
At this moment, his body's defense mechanisms shut down, and he fell into an extremely fragile state.
Relying on his tenacious vitality, he managed to survive this fatal blow.
But the massive backlash caused his vision to go dark, and his mind went blank for a brief moment.
"Huff... huff..."
When Darkseid struggled to recover from the intense pain, he still hadn't figured out what had just happened.
Suddenly.
He felt a strange chill coming from his chest.
He lowered his head, his vision refocusing.
A hand wearing a red glove had, at some point, plunged into his chest.
Darkseid slowly raised his head.
Homelander was standing in front of him, though he didn't know when he had gotten there.
"Splurch."
Those blood-stained hands were slowly being withdrawn from his chest.
In his hand, he held a heart several times larger than a normal person's, still faintly beating.
Blood dripped from that hand, pitter-pattering onto the scorched earth of Apokolips.
Darkseid stared blankly at the heart that belonged to him.
Only now did the rapid ebbing of his life enter his perception.
Then, he watched helplessly as Homelander's fingers slowly tightened.
"Snap!"
The heart was crushed to pieces in Homelander's hand, blood splattering everywhere from between his fingers.
Darkseid looked down at his hollow chest once more, his eyes filled with disbelief.
His lips trembled slightly as he let out a faint murmur:
"Reflected again?... Why..."
He didn't understand why his Omega Beams had been reflected several times in a row by such unremarkable things.
But he would never get an answer.
The red light in Darkseid's eyes flickered twice before finally going out completely.
This New God, who had once made countless civilizations tremble, finally saw his wicked body collapse with a crash.
Falling onto the land he once ruled, which had now abandoned him.
In the distance, a mountain-like pile of black rubble shifted violently.
"Bang!"
Several heavy layers of Black Steel Rock were forcefully hurled away, crashing into a distant lava pool.
Super Ego slowly rose from the ruins; his chest, which had been completely caved in by Darkseid's punch, was now slowly popping back out, accompanied by the dull sound of bones cracking.
Super Ego looked around, his gaze locking onto Homelander. He immediately flew forward and came to a quiet halt behind Homelander.
"Ego," Homelander said into the air after raising his hand to recall Super Ego into the master ball.
"I am here, my supreme Master."
"Go," Homelander pointed at the gray shell on the ground. "Go and assimilate him."
"As you wish."
The ground beneath Darkseid split open silently.
Deep blue energy tentacles began to seep into Darkseid's seven orifices, eventually forming a cocoon of light.
Homelander pulled a bottle of milk from his magic pocket and tilted his head back to take a large gulp.
It dispelled a trace of the neural fatigue remaining after being tortured by the Pain Matrix.
Time passed second by second on this quiet Planet.
Two hours passed.
The blue cocoon of light enveloping Darkseid finally began to recede.
A thick gray arm moved; propping himself up against the black rock on the ground, Darkseid's tall frame slowly stood straight.
Although the wounds on his body hadn't completely healed, they were visibly repairing themselves under Ego's divine power.
He strode forward, came before Homelander, and dropped heavily to one knee in a salute.
"Perfect."
Homelander looked the new shell up and down, nodding repeatedly with satisfaction.
"Superman's body is called Super Ego, so this body of yours... shall be called Dago from now on."
Homelander casually bestowed a name.
"Thank you for the Master's gift," Ego's voice came through the new body.
"However, Master, I must report a rather unfortunate situation to you."
Dago stood up, his expression solemn.
"Speak."
"I was unable to fully assimilate this body," Dago extended a massive gray palm and pressed it against his chest.
"His life core has not truly been extinguished. He has merely fallen into a state of deep suspended animation."
Homelander narrowed his eyes slightly. "I crushed his heart with my own hands, and you severed his Divine Anchor. How the hell is he not completely dead?"
"There is an unknown force enveloping his life core. That force... I cannot penetrate or destroy it."
"An unknown force?" Homelander frowned deeply. "So, what will happen?"
"So, as time passes... he will one day wake up again, expel me from this body, and reclaim control."
Hearing this news, Homelander didn't show any negative emotions.
He just paced back and forth, lightly rubbing his chin with his fingers, deep in thought.
"A tyrant who will be resurrected... an unkillable New God..."
Homelander muttered under his breath, then suddenly stopped and let out a light chuckle.
"Not a big problem," Homelander snapped his fingers. "I can solve it."
"Now, I need you to cooperate with me on something."
Dago bowed slightly. "Please give your orders, Master."
Homelander leaned in close to Dago's ear, his voice calm and steady.
"You will... do this and that... and then..."
Dago nodded as he listened, meticulously recording every word Homelander said.