Emperor Viktor's combat experience had been developed over hundreds of years, and this was the DC universe's Earth.
There was no doubt that Viktor hadn't been a match for Emperor Viktor.
Even though Victor could hold his own against him for a while, every time Shazam rushed in, he felt like the boy was actually getting in the way.
To be honest, Superman and Shazam combined were less helpful to Viktor than Martian Manhunter alone.
At least Martian Manhunter could phase through matter.
Shazam, however, was just a clumsy kid who kept getting in the way.
Fortunately, Wonder Woman had made up for that.
After Martian Manhunter phased and grabbed Emperor Viktor's legs again, Viktor and Superman landed a combined heavy punch directly on his face.
Emperor Viktor's head snapped back, and blood sprayed into the air.
He had been sent flying backward for some distance before angrily trying to bend down and tear Martian Manhunter, but he was forced to twist his body to avoid Wonder Woman's swinging sword.
Right after that, Martian Manhunter phased and sank downward, arrowly avoiding the lightning falling straight from the sky, while Emperor Viktor's whole body was struck and started giving off blue smoke.
Viktor seized the opening. He dropped from the sky with his fists joined together and smashed him into an island.
The massive force caused the island to sink slightly.
As a giant wave crashed down, Superman used his freeze breath at the perfect moment.
He used the seawater to trap the rising Emperor Viktor inside a block of ice.
Even though Emperor Viktor cracked the giant ice block almost instantly, Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth bound his hands the moment the ice shattered.
He turned his arms into hundred-meter vines and swung down a huge rock.
Superman and Viktor immediately punched through the rock and pushed him into a small mountain behind him.
The whole mountain was pierced through.
Superman and Viktor released their grip and pulled back, and Shazam, who was high in the sky, swung his arms down.
A massive bolt of divine lightning, which he had been charging for a long time, fell exactly on target.
The white-purple lightning covered him like a waterfall.
He barely managed to raise a yellow shield to block the lightning, and he immediately had to face another series of attacks from Wonder Woman's sword and shield.
The relentless chain of attacks gave Emperor Viktor not even a single breath of space to open the Anti-Matter Universe.
The battle of the six superhuman beings quickly tore the small island apart, and they fought their way from the sea up into the air.
But just as Superman was about to catch up and land another heavy punch combo on Emperor Viktor, the yellow light around him suddenly flared up.
Emperor Viktor's speed instantly became much faster, and he turned back at a strange angle and rushed straight toward Shazam.
"Shaz—"
Before he could finish, Shazam, who was still fully focused on charging his lightning, was suddenly slammed into his waist by Emperor Viktor.
He was knocked sideways into the very thunderclouds his magic had summoned.
After being hit by his own lightning, Shazam transformed back into Billy Batson in front of everyone for the first time.
Superman and Wonder Woman were both shocked.
They saw Emperor Viktor spit out a mouthful of thick smoke as he violently threw Billy toward the ocean below.
Superman instinctively chased after Billy, and in that instant, the encirclement they had so carefully maintained finally broke open.
Viktor watched with a grim expression as the injured and swollen Emperor Viktor skillfully vanished into a rift in the Anti-Matter Universe once again.
"This is bad. Even the five of us couldn't take him down in one go."
Another bolt of lightning struck the sea, and Shazam flew back up with an embarrassed look on his face.
He happened to hear what Viktor said.
With half a strand of seaweed still hanging on him, Shazam unusually stayed silent out of shame.
Superman looked at him seriously and clearly planned to question him as soon as there was time.
Shazam kept his head down and didn't dare look at anyone.
He had just been used as a weakness in the formation, which turned the formation that had originally been fairly tight into showing a flaw.
The self-proclaimed Emperor didn't hesitate. He immediately used escape and vanished from everyone's sight.
Viktor glanced at Martian Manhunter, whose face had turned dark, then waited there for a moment before clicking his tongue.
"He probably won't come out for a while."
The others exchanged surprised looks. Even Superman moved his serious gaze away from Shazam.
"How would you know that?"
"...What, did you think I was just talking to him for nothing? What I said earlier might be true. He can act tough all he wants, but right now, he is probably hugging his knees in the Anti-Matter Zone and questioning his entire existence."
In fact, the words Viktor gave to him earlier had cut straight to his heart and mind.
After all, there had been one key point that Emperor Viktor hadn't been able to argue against.
As a conceptual energy source, fear required constant emotions to feed it.
After Sinestro left the Green Lantern Corps and built his own power, he built everything in the Anti-Matter Universe to mirror the real universe.
He even copied Oa and artificially created a Korugar inside the Anti-Matter Universe.
The entire place was like yellow crystal serving as the Central Power Battery for the Yellow Lanterns.
"The hundreds of years of constant screaming..."
Those words kept repeating in Emperor Viktor's mind.
For the first time, he pushed away the glowing fear energy that usually swirled around him.
He stripped away the broken heavy armor, leaving only his black under-suit, gash-like wounds, and bruises.
Then, Emperor Viktor opened a carefully hidden space crack and stepped out into some unknown country on Earth.
It was an unfamiliar city with an unfamiliar language.
Everything around him gave off rising heat under the sun, and a street vendor pushing a wooden cart squeezed past him.
After refusing the power of fear to heal him, Emperor Viktor panted and found a corner to sit on the ground, his body covered in injuries.
He wasn't particularly bothered by having been surrounded and beaten just now.
Over hundreds of years, he had been outnumbered and overwhelmed by far more.
At that moment, Emperor Viktor frantically tried to remember everything from the timeline that no longer existed.
He remembered the honors, the praise, and the people who were full of gratitude toward him.
He also remembered Raven, who looked at him with a smile every time.
"It was not an illusion. It could not have been an illusion."
He clenched his fist and frowned.
Even though Parallax might have done those things, Emperor Viktor had already completely consumed Parallax during his third arrival.
Parallax only had a consciousness inside his mind.
It was absolutely impossible for it to have the power to create an illusion that lasted hundreds of years without a single flaw.
He gritted his teeth and stood up. His tall and strong figure made many of the locals around him turn and look.
"He is me, so of course he knows how to disturb my mind. He really took a different path than I did—using tricks and lacking the spirit of an Emperor."
A faint yellow light gathered at Emperor Viktor's fingertips. He manifested a simple communication device.
This was the earpiece Atomica had given him earlier to contact the Crime Syndicate.
Even though he had crushed it after their falling out, the yellow lantern energy had already scanned and recorded its internal structure and data.
He turned on the communicator, and an old voice came through, which surprised him a little.
"I witnessed nearly your entire battle. Your strength is genuinely impressive."
"Hmm? You're not Owlman."
The old voice chuckled.
"I can intercept any Syndicate communication signal at any time. You may call me... the Outsider."
He suddenly raised his eyebrows.
'Since this man witnessed all of his battles, didn't that mean this "Outsider" was actually inside the Justice League itself?'
...
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