Chapter 175: Superman Returns
The battle raged around them with thunderous intensity. George kept his focus laser-sharp on Steppenwolf's positioning and footwork, hunting for the perfect tactical opening.
Steppenwolf launched himself skyward in a tremendous leap. His massive electro-axe gleamed above his head, poised to deliver a crushing blow to Victor's exposed skull. George's hands moved like lightning, weaving precise mystical gestures through the air.
An enormous spatial portal blazed to life directly in Steppenwolf's flight path.
The shimmering dimensional gateway revealed an alien desert's boundless expanse on the far side. Steppenwolf, locked into his aerial assault, had no chance to alter his trajectory.
The New God warrior plunged through the portal into the scorching wasteland beyond. He bent his powerful knees and rocketed upward again, desperately trying to leap back through the rapidly destabilising gateway.
Steppenwolf's armoured forearm began pushing through the dimensional barrier. George prepared to snap the portal shut at that precise moment.
But Steppenwolf's extraordinary reflexes kicked in, he released his battle-axe instantly and jerked his hand back to safety.
George teleported to where the weapon had fallen. He quickly stored the divine artifact in his dimensional space, then shouted to Victor: "Victor, the Mother Box! Now's our chance!"
Victor grasped George's tactical meaning immediately and landed beside the rotating Mother Box trinity, their synchronized movements creating an ominous hum.
Familiar spatial fluctuations rippled through the air. Steppenwolf materialized inside his fortress lair, supernatural fury blazing in his eyes.
"Victor, George, you two handle the Mother Box entirely," Diana commanded with absolute authority. "Steppenwolf belongs to us now."
She positioned herself alongside Aquaman and Bruce, forming a defensive barrier between the enraged New God and their target. The three heroes created a protective line around Victor's position.
"Ready! Barry, I'm in position," Victor announced. He extended his cybernetic hand toward the three Mother Boxes spinning in perfect, menacing synchronization.
George placed his hand firmly on Victor's shoulder. He established a protective barrier of concentrated mental power within Victor's consciousness, a shield against the Mother Box's inevitable psychological assault.
Steppenwolf spread his massive hand wide. The living armor covering his body writhed and flowed like liquid mercury. The organic technology rapidly forged a new battle-axe in his grasp. The ferocious combat erupted with renewed violence.
"Okay! I'll generate the electrical current, you count down when ready!" Barry's voice crackled with determination through their communications.
"Wait for my countdown to hit one, " Victor's hands began their mechanical transformation, resembling countless data cables preparing to penetrate the Mother Box's core systems.
Steppenwolf's tactical awareness suddenly sharpened. He noticed the critical situation developing behind him.
The New God executed a powerful advance, skillfully dodging Diana's razor-sharp sword thrust. He slipped through the narrow gap between the three defenders and arrived directly behind George.
Steppenwolf raised his newly forged battle-axe high overhead and brought it down with devastating force. The blow would have split Victor cleanly from head to toe in a single strike.
George had anticipated exactly this scenario. A brilliant blue mystical barrier materialized instantly, protecting George, Victor, and the Mother Box from the supernatural weapon's deadly arc.
"Bruce! Now!" George shouted with urgent command.
The magical shield could protect the two heroes effectively, but it also blocked Barry from transmitting his crucial electrical energy to Victor. Diana and the others immediately understood this tactical dilemma.
Diana fluidly placed her legendary sword across her back. She raised her right hand high, and her enchanted gauntlet slammed against the mystical barrier with tremendous force. Ancient Amazonian energy erupted in a violent burst.
The stone bridge beneath their feet cracked and shattered under the tremendous impact. Everyone plummeted toward the ground below.
George, positioned closest to Victor, grabbed him with one hand and teleported both of them beside the Mother Box in the next heartbeat.
"Victor!" Barry's desperate shout echoed through their earpieces.
BANG!
George's enhanced vision caught Steppenwolf's massive axe appearing at the broken bridge section, then falling into the subterranean depths amid Diana's and Bruce's defiant battle cries.
"Victor, I can't maintain this energy much longer! Victor!" Barry shouted again, his voice straining with the effort of generating massive electrical current.
George chose not to disturb Victor's crucial concentration. Instead, he focused on monitoring the progress of the underground battle.
He watched Steppenwolf deliver cruel psychological taunts to Diana, then quickly overpower Bruce and the other two defenders with his full supernatural might.
Meanwhile, the data cables extending from Victor's cybernetic hand successfully penetrated the unified Mother Box's core consciousness.
A massive torrent of alien consciousness surged into Victor's mind along the data pathways.
George intercepted and deflected ninety-five per cent of the overwhelming mental assault. He deliberately allowed only a small, manageable portion to enter Victor's consciousness for the integration process.
George ignored the fraction that entered Victor's mind. Instead, he focused on the vast mass of consciousness he had successfully contained outside Victor's mental realm. As he studied the writhing, alien intelligence, satisfaction spread across his features.
George had strongly suspected the Mother Box was far more than an advanced technological weapon. Several key observations supported this theory.
Apokolips had created only one complete set in tens of thousands of years of warfare. The devices could actively detect danger and had discovered Superman's temporary death.
This clearly indicated the Mother Boxes had always been truly "alive" in some meaningful sense.
In the expansive DC Universe, Mother Boxes represent incredibly sophisticated technological devices. The brilliant scientist Himon of New Genesis originally created them using the mysterious and powerful X-element.
Most consider them sentient, compact, portable supercomputers. However, their true nature and ultimate origin remain largely unclear even to their users.
They possess truly marvelous powers that even their regular users, the New Gods of New Genesis, cannot fully comprehend or explain. Mother Boxes trace and follow energy sources across vast distances.
They alter the gravitational constant of entire areas. They transfer massive amounts of energy from one location to another.
Mother Boxes sense approaching danger and detect life forms. They create impenetrable force fields and rearrange matter's molecular structure at the atomic level.
They attract or project devastating impact bursts. They create complex electronic surveillance networks.
Mother Boxes control and manipulate subjects' mental states. They communicate telepathically with various life forms through their users.
They take over and control both unconscious and conscious mechanical systems. Most remarkably, they sustain their users' life forms in extremely harsh or hostile environments.
But as George carefully observed the constantly struggling mass of contained consciousness, a startling realization struck him: divinity.
Understanding this was crucial, gods truly exist as tangible entities in the DC Universe.
The ancient Old Gods originated from the first "Godwave" that the mysterious cosmic force known as "The Source" released on a primordial planet called "Godworld."
Later, the catastrophic "Ragnarok of the Gods" occurred. The Old Gods engaged in devastating warfare among themselves. Many perished in the cosmic conflict, and Godworld itself exploded in a cataclysmic event.
This destruction released a second, more powerful "Godwave," which led to the formation of indigenous divine beings on various planets throughout the universe, such as Earth's Greek gods.
After Godworld's violent destruction, the planetary fragments eventually reformed into two distinct worlds: the hellish Apokolips and the paradisiacal New Genesis.
Here, new forms of intelligent life gradually emerged and evolved into the beings known as the New Gods.
George strongly suspected that some of those mysterious X-elements formed directly from the residual divinity of the Old Gods after they died in cosmic battle. Others were likely created through infection and transformation by the traveling Godwave itself.
This provided the only logical explanation for George's startling discovery of actual rule-based powers existing within that seemingly faint mass of consciousness.
However, to properly obtain and utilize those incredible powers of cosmic rule manipulation, one would first need to acquire complete control of the Mother Box itself.
To prevent any possible accidents or complications, George also carefully imprinted a distinctive mystical mark on that mass of alien consciousness.
The process resembled establishing magical ownership over a powerful artifact. Since the Mother Box had already placed its core consciousness directly before George's examination, he had absolutely no intention of allowing such a valuable opportunity to slip away.
What seemed like an eternity of complex analysis in the consciousness space lasted merely a single instant in physical reality.
After Steppenwolf had successfully defeated Diana and the other two valiant defenders, no one remained who could effectively stop him from reaching George and Victor's crucial position.
Steppenwolf raised his newly formed battle-axe high overhead once again and declared with triumphant malice, "For Darkseid!"
The massive weapon began its deadly descent toward Victor's vulnerable form.
George prepared to establish another protective mystical shield, then instantly sensed a powerful figure rapidly approaching their location at incredible speed. George turned his head confidently, no longer paying attention to Steppenwolf's attack.
At the precise instant when Steppenwolf's massive axe was about to strike Victor's unprotected head, a broad, powerful shoulder appeared directly beneath the descending weapon.
Superman had finally arrived at the most critical moment. He used his invulnerable shoulder to completely block Steppenwolf's full-force supernatural attack without showing any sign of strain or damage.
George quietly released a sigh of relief he hadn't realized he was holding. If Superman hadn't arrived when he did, George might have been unable to resist exposing the true extent of his magical powers to save his teammate.
"Not much to write home about!" Superman delivered his honest assessment of Steppenwolf's supposedly devastating full-force attack.
Then Superman calmly turned his face toward the massive battle-axe, pursed his lips slightly, and gently exhaled a controlled breath.
Crystalline ice began spreading rapidly across the entire surface of the supposedly indestructible weapon.
With a sharp, satisfying CRACK, the giant axe, which had clashed directly with Diana's divine sword on equal terms, suddenly shattered completely and crumbled into harmless dust.
Then Superman executed a simple forward kick. Steppenwolf flew backward through the air like a discarded ragdoll.
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