Chapter 440: Ten Thousand of Me
[Before the battle began, Lex Luthor still tried to persuade you to give up the fight for the Saint's relics. He told you that his pursuit of them was not out of personal desire, but for the sake of saving America—saving the entire world. He wanted to become the greatest president in American history.]
[Lex Luthor had George Washington use his Stand ability to project a series of images across the icy plains. The first showed a spaceship descending over Metropolis, carrying an infant. The government quickly sealed off the site and took the baby away.]
[The image flickered again—this baby was locked inside an underground World War II–era facility called Sprout, and given the name "Subject One."]
[The facility's overseer was General Lane. For decades, his team had conducted countless experiments on metahumans, seeking to create a "superhero" that would truly belong to the military.]
[They succeeded—by using the genes of Doomsday, they created a powerful being and named him "Subject Zero." But after completing only one mission, he was sealed away. He was a failure—whenever emotions overwhelmed him, his rationality disappeared. On one mission, he accidentally slaughtered 2,000 allied soldiers.]
[Deeming him too unstable, General Lane permanently locked him away in the laboratory. Years passed. The arrival of Subject One gave Subject Zero a chance to escape. It took him nearly ten years to find a way to communicate with Subject One. He taught him how to use his powers, but also slowly twisted his thoughts, leading him down a darker path. In time, the two escaped together, killed General Lane's daughter, Lois Lane, and slaughtered a group of soldiers before flying off.]
[The next image showed that Subject Zero had vanished. The now-emaciated Subject One donned a blue bodysuit bearing the "S" emblem, calling himself Superman. He began flying among skyscrapers, caring nothing for morality. He killed on a whim, destroyed buildings effortlessly, and harbored deep hatred toward the U.S. military. His powers—flight, heat vision, and more—kept growing stronger and stronger.]
[The projection shifted again. Deep in the ocean lurked a supervillain known as the Ocean Tyrant—Orm Marius—who had defeated the former Aquaman, Arthur Curry, and seized control of the seas. He was preparing to lead an assault on the surface world, to drown Gotham, Metropolis, and Boston beneath towering tsunamis.]
[At the same time, somewhere in the cosmos, Doomsday was poised to resurrect and escape from a black hole. On Earth, countless metahumans were abusing their powers for evil.]
[When the images faded, Lex Luthor spoke sincerely, urging you to join him. He claimed that by uniting all the Saint's relics, one could obtain the power to repel misfortune. In other words, Superman's destruction of America could be deflected—redirected to any other nation. He could repel all of America's misfortunes, making the country prosperous once more!]
[If you handed the relics to him, he promised you everything within his power—wealth, authority, women.]
[It was a tempting offer. Wealth, power, beauty—enough to sway 99% of people. But not you. Lex Luthor might truly believe what he said, yet his plan remained selfish at its core: to wield absolute control and offload suffering onto others.]
[And there's one thing you enjoy most—saying no to those who think they're always right.]
[When you firmly rejected him, Lex Luthor seemed as though he wanted to argue further, but ultimately gave up. The final team battle began.]
[Perhaps because the Saint's relics attract each other, as you and Lex drew near, the relics within your bodies began to glow and rise to the surface. Just as you suspected, he possessed four relics—the torso, both ears, right hand, and even the heart he'd stolen from you.]
[And Lex Luthor's Stand was far more powerful than you imagined! His crimson Stand's strength and speed rivaled your Rainbow Catcher, and it could summon physical manifestations of those projected figures!]
[The "Injustice" Superman, Doomsday, Ocean Tyrant, and other villains from the earlier images began to appear one by one, quickly filling the frozen plains—and their numbers kept growing. They might not have their originals' full power, but their sheer quantity gave Lex an overwhelming advantage.]
[If Lex Luthor were to obtain all the Saint's relics, it was easy to imagine—his summoned images might possess power equal to the originals themselves.]
[You looked toward Batman. He shook his head slightly. Moments ago, he had tried to bring in a Lex Luthor from a parallel world to let him fight himself—but after searching through multiple universes, every Lex he found was a genius and a dangerous villain. Even Batman couldn't forcibly summon them here.]
[Still, being outnumbered has never been a disadvantage for your side.]
[Countless Batmen appeared one after another—some rushing at the Injustice Superman, others teaming up to strike Doomsday—each engaging their foes in fierce combat. Yet it still wasn't enough. Nearby, Dio Brando and Jonathan Joestar clashed evenly; Diana Hawk battled both the Joker and Barrett Allen at once, holding her ground despite lacking a Stand. But soon, your team would have to face Lex's endless army of supervillains.]
[Then came a sight that would be forever seared into everyone's memory. First, a version of you appeared wearing a white coat and matching hat, expression cold and detached. Behind him hovered a purple-skinned humanoid spirit, its arrival filling the area with thick fog. Next came another you—dressed in a black suit, exuding weary gravitas. He avoided the other's gaze, hands in pockets, eyes fixed forward.]
[Then, another you stepped forth—bald-headed, in a ridiculous-looking yellow outfit with a white cape. He casually threw a single punch, obliterating a Doomsday clone into a cloud of blood mist.]
[Next appeared a version of you in a dark red coat; his mere presence knocked out scores of enemies and shook the air itself. Then came another in black dragon robes and a crown, one in ancient robes who swung a sword that split the heavens, and one with golden hair in an elegant black suit and white shirt—each step he took summoned tens of thousands of swords raining down from the sky.]
[All of them kept their distance from each other, each launching attacks on their chosen enemies.]
[Everyone on the battlefield stood frozen, watching as one version of you after another emerged and joined the fight. Even Bruce Wayne wore an expression that said, "I must be dreaming," unable to comprehend who—or what—you truly were.]
[The outcome, of course, was inevitable. No one could stop you. No one. In mere moments, everyone—Lex Luthor, Dio Brando, and all the rest—lay dead or defeated, unable to rise again.]
[You then walked up to Lex Luthor, silently reaching out to touch the relics protruding from his body. The Saint's heart, torso, both ears, and right hand floated free one by one, rising into the air.]
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