Hearing Heisenberg's words, Mogo was clearly puzzled.
"I saw it, but why should I laugh?"
The little ball asked in confusion.
Listening to the little ball's reply, Heisenberg felt a pang of loneliness. The meme playing in his head simply couldn't land in this world.
He shook his head with a resigned smile, then gently patted Mogo.
"Never mind, you don't have to laugh with me. Keep watching.
I'm actually curious to see how they'll deal with this mess."
"HAHAHAHA!!!"
Mogo suddenly burst out laughing...
Her silvery, bell-like laughter completely blindsided Heisenberg...
After a long moment, Mogo—still forcing out dry chuckles—looked at Heisenberg with worried eyes and asked:
"Hehe... Dad, I laughed. It was really funny.
You're not mad at me, are you?"
"Why would I be mad?"
Heisenberg let out a helpless, bitter smile, then gently ruffled the little ball in his arms.
While enjoying Heisenberg's touch, Mogo quietly explained.
"Because... because I don't want to be transformed. If it weren't for this war, that annoying Bach would still be blocking me, trying to turn me into a Krypton..."
As her words faded, the little ball suddenly floated out of Heisenberg's embrace, then morphed into a huge emoji, gazing at him with a pitiful expression.
Mogo: ...
Looking at Mogo like this, Heisenberg first shook his head, then nodded.
He spread his right hand and gave a gentle wave through the air around him.
With that motion, his surroundings shifted violently.
In an instant, he went from the beach where everyone had departed to a forest alive with birdsong and fragrant flowers.
The next moment, he shifted from the forest to a snow-covered landscape draped in silver.
The moment after that, he arrived in a sea of flowers, where bees were everywhere—and there was even a plump, adorable queen bee being... attended to by several bees...
Ahem.
Heisenberg's brow twitched with embarrassment. Wrong place, wrong place.
This was Beezer's place...
Sorry, Beezer...
Heisenberg quickly waved his hand again.
Finally, holding Mogo, he stood atop the highest peak of Mogo's planet.
He slowly sat down with the little ball in his arms, then gently rubbed the giant emoji and smiled.
"Don't worry. I like the way you are. I like every environment on you, and I like you a lot too.
So I won't let Bach transform you. Just be yourself."
With that, Heisenberg chuckled, lifting the little ball onto his head.
Then he waved his right hand, and the sky before him lit up once more with images from outside the God Realm.
But just as Heisenberg was about to continue watching, footsteps suddenly sounded from behind him!
He turned his head in confusion, and in an instant, his gaze pierced through the thick mountain to see a figure scaling the peak at incredible speed from the other side.
Seeing who it was, Heisenberg frowned. How had he forgotten about him?
Meanwhile, Steppenwolf gripped his axe and climbed the towering mountain with a face full of desperation.
"I must find Heisenberg. I must find them. Damn it!
I still have a mission to complete. I need to return to Earth, not be imprisoned on this planet where no intelligent life exists except wild beasts!
I want to go home! I want to go HOME!!!"
Steppenwolf roared to pump himself up as he frantically charged toward the summit.
The peak was within reach. Steppenwolf clenched his jaw.
He didn't know how high this planet's atmosphere extended, but as long as he pushed hard enough, he could definitely break through!!!
He took his final step with all his might, intending to launch himself straight into space using that last foothold on the peak!
But just as his foot was about to land...
In that instant, a bewildered Heisenberg turned back with a shocked expression—and there, right in front of him, appeared a sixty-five-centimeter-long foot?!?!
This...
This this this...
This was absolutely ridiculous!!!
"WHAT THE—!!!"
Heisenberg clicked his tongue in irritation and casually slapped the air.
Steppenwolf was instantly swept up by a ferocious blast of palm-wind, hurtling all the way past the edge of Mogo's atmosphere...
Feeling the searing pain radiating through every part of his body, tasting the hurricane-force winds whipping past him while he rocketed skyward...
Steppenwolf floated beyond the atmosphere, gazing at the beautiful planet Mogo, his eyes filled with nothing but emptiness...
He'd...
He'd achieved his goal. He'd broken out of Mogo's atmosphere...
But why was there not a trace of joy in his success?
The feeling was like a driven young man, fresh into society, dreaming that one day he'd be worth a billion.
Ten years later, he ends up sitting in a rich older woman's lap, having achieved his dream of a billion—yet feeling just as empty...
The ending was indeed the ending he wanted, but the path to that ending...
Something was wrong!!!
What was wrong?
In that brief instant, before Steppenwolf's brain could even catch up, he felt himself being dragged back toward Mogo by a mysterious force!
The force left him utterly powerless to resist.
Only then did Steppenwolf finally understand.
What was wrong?
It was that no matter whether he achieved his goal or not, he had always been held in the palm of someone he despised!
BOOM!!!
...
After a thunderous crash...
Rocks shattered, the mountain shook violently, and with Steppenwolf's impact, Mogo's highest peak shrank by a full twenty-three meters...
But all the debris and dust flew past Heisenberg, and not a single speck could touch him or even draw near.
As for the mountain's collapse...
Heisenberg didn't care in the slightest. He simply sat there leisurely, just as before.
It wasn't until the dust settled and sunlight shone once more upon Steppenwolf, lying motionless with a face full of existential despair, that Heisenberg finally spoke.
"I forgot about you earlier, so I left you on Mogo this whole time.
You must've been bursting with frustration. What was that just now?
Trying to sneak-attack me?"
At that, Heisenberg let out a chuckle and continued with a teasing tone.
"Reciting An Eulogy to My Humble Abode in front of me?
'A humble abode, yet fragrant with virtue'?
You're a young man too—where's your martial ethics?"
"Huh???"
The little ball in his arms was confused once again. But within a split second, she widened her eyes—filled with pure adoration—and gazed up at her sun with all her heart.
She didn't understand a word he was saying...
But it felt so profound!
Her sun was amazing!!!
And so, Mogo happily snuggled into Heisenberg's chest, cooing and nuzzling like a spoiled child.
Seeing this, Heisenberg gathered the little one closer, then raised his left hand. Steppenwolf, lying flat on the ground, floated up to face him.
Blood was trickling from the corner of Steppenwolf's mouth, and his entire body ached unbearably.
But he showed not the slightest intention of surrendering. Instead, he roared at Heisenberg with bitter defiance:
"Sun God!!!"
After that grief-stricken cry of Heisenberg's name, Steppenwolf suddenly deflated.
He closed his eyes wearily, and his voice took on a pleading tone as he spoke to Heisenberg.
"Kill me. Please, give me a quick death..."
"A quick death?"
Heisenberg chuckled.
"You want to become a vampire-Kryptonian hybrid too?"
"What vampire-Kryptonian?!!"
Steppenwolf was bewildered...
What was wrong with this Sun God? He didn't seem quite right in the head.
But he quickly tossed the thought aside. He understood the truths of this world better than most.
The most real aspect of this world was that even with satirical idioms like calling a deer a horse—which dissected and magnified everything—it couldn't change the fact that those in power could still casually call a deer a horse...
Thunder and rain alike are the sovereign's grace?
That was just a fancy way of saying you lacked the strength to talk back or slap them in the face...
Like Steppenwolf right now. He desperately wanted to break free of Heisenberg's control and slap this bastard across the face.
But not only did he not dare—he couldn't.
He lowered his head weakly and let out a desolate sigh.
"I won't join you, Sun God.
Though I understand your power better than those under your command, I will not choose to betray my homeland, nor will I betray my race.
I am an Apokoliptian. I am one now, and I will be one in death.
I know that as the victor, you have the right to deal with me however you please.
I also know that a trophy like me has no right to beg for mercy.
But all I ask is that you let me finish my life quickly—let me die under the name Steppenwolf.
That is my only request, mighty one!"
"Oh!"
Hearing Steppenwolf's words, Heisenberg nodded thoughtfully, then smiled with understanding.
"I see. You truly won't betray your race, nor will you betray Darkseid and Apokolips.
But... what if they betray you?"
Heisenberg spoke with a meaningful smile spreading across his face.
Before Steppenwolf could even guess his meaning, he gave a light wave of his hand.
The next instant, the Bifrost descended.
Meanwhile.
Outside the God Realm, Clark still stood there with his eyes closed.
After a long while, Batman looked at the people around him and spoke.
"Clark has likely been controlled by an enemy skilled in illusions. Which of you can break this kind of influence?"
The words hung in the air as everyone exchanged glances.
A moment later, the scholar near Clark shook his head.
"If he weren't already controlled, he could simply put on a Kryptonian warrior's helmet, which would resist weaker psychic influence to a certain degree.
But he's already under control. Our armor can only defend—it cannot dispel!"
As soon as the scholar finished, Hippolyta burst out from the Amazon ranks mid-battle.
She charged toward Clark, shouting:
"In the age of the gods, when our people were controlled by evil deities, the best remedy was physical exorcism!
Especially for mind magic—just give him a good whack on the head!!!"
In truth, the queen wasn't wrong. Most mind control in the world of American comics wasn't nearly as terrifying as in Lovecraftian horror.
Even the Anti-Life Equation could be reversed by the Martian Life Equation.
Even in the Marvel universe, the Mind Stone's control over Hawkeye could be physically broken by Black Widow's punches and kicks.
If Clark weren't Clark, but some ordinary person...
The queen's approach would be flawless.
But right now, when the one being controlled was Superman...
Bruce, clad in his Mako shark armor, rushed forward and yanked the queen out of her charge.
"Don't be ridiculous—that's Clark! Even for physical exorcism, you'd at least need to knock him unconscious!!!
Who among us can knock him out?
Our attacks are nothing but tickles to him. That would only provoke him, affect him—not save him!"
As soon as Batman finished speaking, Clark abruptly froze.
He couldn't help but open his eyes, staring at Bruce with a dazed expression.
In those moments, he'd first heard someone charging toward him.
Even without consciously trying, he could still distinguish the footsteps as those of Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons.
The queen had shouted a torrent of curses at him.
Then, he heard Batman move!
And finally, what made him open his eyes was what he heard Bruce say.
In his ears, Bruce roared at the queen:
"Don't hurt him! I won't allow you to hurt him!
That's Kal-El—he's my beloved! No one loves him more than I do!!!"
And so Superman could no longer hold back.
He stared blankly ahead. Sure enough, Hippolyta had been stopped by Bruce.
And sure enough, Bruce was looking at him with that tender, affectionate (read: deeply worried) gaze...
/-\
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