Just as Superman gagged and swallowed hard, the light of the Bifrost descended without warning.
Before anyone could even gather their wits, Heisenberg had already stepped out carrying the little broken globe, and with him came Steppenwolf.
In the distance, Brainiac remained utterly unresponsive. There were some gods who exceeded the limits of intellect—not everyone could be read by his detection instruments.
But unlike Brainiac, Glorious Godfrey, seated within the City of Thought, and Amazing Grace, who had slipped in among the divine army's forces through a Boom Tube and was now lying low—
—these two, who had been watching the battlefield and the divine army the entire time, were at that moment truly stunned.
"Steppenwolf?!"
Godfrey fell silent for a moment, and at once a bad feeling crept over him.
And sure enough!
The next instant, Heisenberg looked at the assembled crowd and smiled faintly.
He merely reached out and pressed down, and in the crowd, Grace—who had no idea what was happening—was instantly crushed into a lump by the force field!
He never gave her the chance to exchange so much as a word with him. The moment she had taken control of Clark, Heisenberg—who had been observing every inch of the planet Huihe—had already discovered Grace's true location.
Grace had, of course, masked her aura, but she had not been overly wary of that ship.
After all, she understood the divisions of power very well. Someone of Clark's strength was already stronger than her and her brother, absolutely a peak-level existence in the single-universe class.
And above that came the lifeforms and gods of the multiverse level.
Even Apokolips currently had only two of those!
Not counting the Infinity Man who roamed the infinite cosmos—that is, Darkseid's brother.
Not counting the former Highfather pinned to the Source Wall—that is, Yuga Khan.
Then the multiverse-level powerhouses on Apokolips truly numbered only two: Darkseid, and the warrior who ranked absolutely first among his forces, Mantis.
If even Apokolips had only two such powerhouses, Grace naturally never imagined that such a being would appear on some baffling ship and within some unheard-of faction.
And precisely because of that, even in hiding, she could not avoid Heisenberg discovering her position.
That being the case…
Heisenberg's force field directly kneaded Grace into a ball, but even so, Grace did not die.
Immediately after, before Godfrey could even open a Boom Tube to rescue her, Heisenberg raised his right hand.
In the span of a breath, a cluster of something crystalline coalesced inexplicably in his palm.
That substance transformed in the blink of an eye into an utterly translucent drop of water.
At the same time, Heisenberg flicked the droplet at Amazing Grace, and that water drop of breathtaking beauty drifted gently forward—instantly piercing through the skin of Amazing Grace, whose defense rivaled Wonder Woman's, and stabbing through her brain.
Not only that, Heisenberg even added a blast of heat vision. The scorching laser bored through the wound on Grace's forehead, then detonated with a thunderous boom.
With a single deafening blast, Grace shattered into countless nerve fibers and biological slime.
At that, Heisenberg withdrew his hand and let the water drop drift quietly back into his palm.
Beside him, Clark abruptly awakened.
Grace's death loosened his mind considerably, and he couldn't help but retch twice to the side.
Seeing Clark retch, Bruce said worriedly to Heisenberg:
"Heisenberg, Clark was being controlled. You see…"
"No need to say more. Thanks to Steppenwolf's contribution, I have already found the culprit who was controlling Clark, and I killed her at the first opportunity!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Heisenberg blinked, and Amazing Grace's flesh and blood drifted over to hover before Heisenberg.
Heisenberg then tossed the flesh and nerve fibers into the Scholar's hands and ordered:
"Hold on to this. Take it back and study it. Do your best to develop a combat suit that's immune to all forms of mental control."
"Understood!!!"
The Scholar was absolutely overjoyed. As he caught that mass of flesh in his force field, his mouth stretched so wide he couldn't close it.
Nearby, Steppenwolf, seeing that mass of flesh, spotted a lump of fat that hadn't yet been completely pulverized.
Those familiar curves made him instantly recall the identity of this flesh.
"That's Amazing Grace?!"
Steppenwolf roared in disbelief. He turned to Heisenberg in a panic, and for a moment even his hands and feet trembled slightly.
But amid his grief over a fellow creature's death and his shock, Steppenwolf suddenly thought of something.
"Wait—you said 'with my help'…?!"
"That's right. I must also thank you for telling me her identity and helping me find her location, Steppenwolf!"
Heisenberg smiled wickedly. Smiling all the while, he announced loudly to the crowd:
"Everyone! From this day forward, Steppenwolf of Apokolips has renounced the darkness and officially joined our ranks.
Though he has a past that shames us, I believe that, as a prodigal son who has turned back, he will have a bright future just like ours!"
As his words fell, Steppenwolf standing beside him was so terrified that even the flesh on his face trembled.
He raised his right hand, pointing at Heisenberg, about to say something.
But Heisenberg casually tossed him aside, hurling him in the blink of an eye to the edge of the distant Boom Tube.
There, having long since lost his place in Apokolips's hierarchy, he was immediately targeted as prey by countless creatures.
Though Steppenwolf had not surrendered, he could not simply allow countless enemies to tear him apart.
So he swung his axe and in an instant began fighting fiercely against the creatures Godfrey controlled.
This scene was all witnessed by Godfrey within the City of Thought. Having lost his sister, bloodied tears of pure hatred were already streaming from his eyes.
He rose from his seat, closed his eyes, lifted his face to the sky, and drew a deep breath.
A moment later, he opened his eyes once more.
"I never thought I would see you here.
And of course, even less did I expect to find a powerhouse like that here!"
Godfrey smiled deeply and casually activated the communicator every member of the Dark Elite carried on their person.
That communicator, naturally, was used to contact Darkseid!
At the same time, on Apokolips, DeSaad and Darkseid had just discovered Grace's death.
The result left DeSaad utterly stunned, while it made Darkseid frown with displeasure.
He sat upright on his throne, tapped the armrest lightly with his right hand, and asked DeSaad:
"What do you think? Why did she die?"
"Clearly, an enemy far beyond their expectations has come before them."
DeSaad furrowed his brow and shook his head slightly.
"It cannot be Brainiac. Though he is powerful, the Godfrey siblings were capable enough to snatch a city back from him.
While the two of them are certainly no match for Brainiac, they wouldn't die at Brainiac's hands in an instant either!"
As his words fell, DeSaad looked at Darkseid and bowed lightly.
As Darkseid's earliest friend and subordinate, he understood Darkseid completely.
So he knew that Darkseid was not grieving over Amazing Grace's death, but rather…
Before he could finish the thought, Darkseid in front of him nodded.
Just as he had anticipated, Darkseid revealed a relieved, cruel smile.
"That settles it, then!"
Darkseid said with a cold laugh.
"I thought that piece of trash had caused me to give the wrong order.
In fact…"
"Of course it was not your doing, because darkness is never wrong—and you are darkness, my lord!"
DeSaad said carefully, flattering him.
Hearing DeSaad's words, Darkseid nodded in satisfaction, then gave another order.
"DeSaad, go see Godfrey. If Grace really did die on his territory, then Brainiac must disappear from that universe!"
"As you command, my lord!"
DeSaad nodded in acknowledgement and turned, preparing to leave.
But just then, before DeSaad could leave the palace, a gem in his bosom lit up with a faint red glow.
The moment that light flared, DeSaad hesitated, then looked toward Darkseid not far away and said expressionlessly:
"It's Godfrey…"
"Heh. All the better. Let me hear the explanation he has for me!"
Darkseid laughed with great interest.
Before his incomparably cruel smile, DeSaad tossed the gem from his bosom onto the floor.
The gem
/-\
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