As Doctor Fate finished speaking, he instinctively looked upward, his aged eyes peering through the seamless helmet toward the open sky.
Beside him, Diana glanced left and right in awkward silence, then cleared her throat twice.
"If we can't find him, then fine. But right now our goal is to stop Axel from tearing the Sky Rail apart. If we let him keep going, a chain reaction collapse could kill everyone near the tracks in Gotham."
She shifted her gaze toward the looming concrete columns and trembling steel rails.
"The trains currently running on the Sky Rail are our top rescue priority. But stopping Axel from destroying the track…"
Doctor Fate let Diana's words trail off. He took a heavy breath, then spoke slowly, visibly struggling to find the right words.
"I'll do what I can to stop him. Well… maybe not stop him. I can't promise that. But I might be able to protect some of these support pillars."
His voice was calm, but weary.
Diana nodded once, acknowledging him.
Floating down from above, Zatanna overheard and couldn't help chiming in.
"If we're trying to stop that pervert from destroying the Sky Rail, why not just banish the entire thing to another dimension? If the Sky Rail disappears from Gotham, Axel won't be able to break it, right?"
Zatanna fixed them with an expectant grin, like she believed she deserved applause for the idea.
Diana and Doctor Fate traded tired glances, both wearing expressions that said this isn't going to work.
Diana gave a weak smile and idly rubbed the blade of her sword.
Doctor Fate drifted in front of Zatanna and asked politely, "So, young lady, just what is our objective here?"
Zatanna brightened.
"Uh, protect the Sky Rail?"
"Yes, protect the Sky Rail," Doctor Fate repeated. "But even if Axel loses his target, what happens when Gotham still has no Sky Rail?"
His voice grew more serious under the helmet.
Diana looked conflicted, and Doctor Fate's expression beneath the helmet twisted subtly with frustration.
Thinking of Constantine, a punk sorcerer prone to lies and chaos, Fate couldn't hide a brief shake of his head. These were the new generation of magical defenders? When did the mystical world get like this?
But Zatanna didn't notice his worry. She took a deep breath and patted Doctor Fate's arm, trying to sound confident.
"Um… Doctor Fate Grandpa, is it okay if I call you that? I grew up reading Justice Society comics, and you seem like you're from my grandparents' era, right? Anyway, don't worry. Even if I lack experience, I'm way more reliable than Constantine!"
Doctor Fate's patience snapped.
"If you could stop mentioning that name in front of me, I would be eternally grateful, Zatanna Zatara!"
He sighed deeply, then spoke in a calmer tone.
"However, your idea still has some merit. If we truly cannot prevent Axel from causing destruction, then before the entire structure collapses and devastates nearby buildings, you could try banishing the Sky Rail to another dimension. That way, we might minimize casualties in the city."
With that said, Doctor Fate gave Zatanna an encouraging thumbs‑up, transformed into a golden light, and teleported toward Axel's location.
At that very moment, Axel was about to obliterate the fifth support pillar.
His fist drew back, ready to strike, when a shimmering translucent barrier formed on the reinforced concrete in front of him — patterned like a crystalline shield.
Boom!
When Axel's fist hit it, thousands of tiny lights flared, but the pillar remained intact, untouched by his strength.
Doctor Fate appeared beside Axel, voice calm.
"Greetings, young man, I am…"
Axel cut him off with a booming laugh.
"You're Kent Nelson, Nabu's loyal fanboy and old Shazam's beaten punching bag. But thinking about it, you only have Nabu backing you. Meanwhile, Shazam can casually channel the power of six gods — Greece, Egypt, Norse, you name it, he's got it tucked away! That tells me exactly who's boss, and who's not, haha!"
Then Axel turned his head, gave Doctor Fate the middle finger, and laughed again.
Doctor Fate paused, unfazed but serious.
"You have an unusual understanding of the world, and your insights are… unique. But that doesn't justify destroying this world. Humanity has long moved past the age of gods. The Earth isn't ruled by them anymore. So Axel Voss, regardless of whatever glorious past you cling to, this is history now."
Doctor Fate raised his left hand slowly and clenched it toward Axel — ancient magic sparked.
From the sky, countless glowing crystalline shards rained down, imprisoning Axel in a web of mystical force.
Axel spat, annoyed, and lifted his trapped hand to flip Doctor Fate off again.
"Ha! You didn't make me feel the power of humanity, old man. You just showed me how damn arrogant humans think they are. I told you, I'm just an ordinary human, but you never seem to believe it!"
The moment Axel finished speaking, the glowing Fate crystals vanished like embers in wind.
Doctor Fate turned his head just in time to see Axel already at the next support pillar, ready to smash it.
Inside his helmet, Fate muttered in disbelief, You call yourself an ordinary human? Then how do you pull this shit?
He waved his hands, and instantly thousands of golden versions of Doctor Fate hatched outward, teleporting across Gotham in shimmering lights.
In an instant, a Doctor Fate clone appeared at the next support pillar Axel targeted — its own Fate barrier protecting that column.
Axel rolled his eyes, then flickered to the next one.
But another Doctor Fate clone was there too.
Within moments, thousands of golden flames lit up across Gotham, each clone guarding a pillar.
Axel laughed in admiration, cussing loudly.
"Damn, you old geezer really did your homework. Clones plus shields? Not bad!"
He flipped Fate a thumb's‑up while Diana and Zatanna landed beside him.
Now Axel stood surrounded: Doctor Fate everywhere, Diana to his left, Zatanna to his right.
Axel grinned, ruffling his hair.
"Hell, you really treat me like some major event, huh? Not bad. I'm not scared of you targeting me, I'm only scared you underestimate me, hahaha!"
He launched into a swaggering laugh, raising a finger to Fate.
"You have your strategy, and I have mine!"
Then… Axel vanished in a flash of flame.
The firelight faded, and the others blinked, trying to sense where he went.
Before they could locate him, Axel exploded out from inside a nearby support pillar.
"Shit!"
Doctor Fate muttered.
"He popped out inside the pillar!"
"That's right, old man," Axel shouted with a grin, as if he was showing off, "and I can do more than just appear inside pillars!"
He waved at Kent while extending his hand forward.
Diana hurried toward them, shouting in warning.
"Watch out!"
But as she moved, she froze mid‑step — horrified.
Axel's hand had plunged inside Doctor Fate's chest.
Without hesitation, Axel patted Fate's frantic heartbeat.
"If I wanted to, I could appear right beside your heart, even touch the inside of it directly. And hey, women can at least cozy up and talk love with me. But you… what do you even do for me? Can you tinker with my guns too? That'd be ridiculous."
He leaned closer, voice dripping with sarcastic menace.
"So, take care of yourself. Go save people. I'll have my fun, and then you'll sweep up the mess afterward. Isn't that teamwork? Why bother fighting and killing when you can coordinate? Why force me to become a real killer?"
With a flick of his wrist, Axel pulled his hand out of Doctor Fate's chest, leaving a gaping, horrifying hole.
Doctor Fate's heartbeat, weak and slowing, thumped in agony before fading.
Zatanna swallowed hard, pressing a trembling hand to her chest.
"Yes… we should have thought of this. Since he can appear anywhere — anywhere — then he could pop up by our vital organs at any time, or just…"
Diana finished the dreaded thought.
"Appear inside us and rip us open!"
Her voice shook even as she spoke.
But before either could react further, Doctor Fate collapsed to the ground, heartbeat nearly gone.
Axel looked down at him in genuine confusion.
"Oh shit, old man… did you fake that? I just barely squeezed your heart once, how could that kill you?"
Zatanna stammered from behind Axel, voice shaky.
"Maybe… maybe he had a heart condition and you… triggered it?"
Axel blinked.
"What the hell are you talking about?! If you're just gonna sit there with stupid theories, hurry up and save him! Do I, the villain, need to teach you how to be heroes, Zatanna?!"
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100 Powerstones = 1 Bonus Chapter
200 Powerstones = 3 Bonus Chapters
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