Edward glanced one more time at the unconscious Grail sprawled on the stone floor. Her black hair was in disarray, her lips curled into a faint, idiotic grin as though she had just won some personal victory. He sighed, heavy and annoyed, though a trace of amusement flickered at the corner of his mouth.
"Unbelievable," he muttered. He reached into his sleeve, tore out a strip of parchment, and began writing in quick, sharp strokes of his hand. His handwriting was impatient, yet perfectly legible. With a small flick of his finger, the note fluttered downward and stuck itself neatly onto her forehead.
Keep an eye on her. She's greedy for my body, and…I might have sexually assaulted her accidentally.
Edward exhaled through his nose, folding his arms for a moment as if reconsidering whether the wording was too much. Then he shook his head. "Let my wives deal with you for now. Hopefully Death doesn't beat you to a pulp before you wake."
He pressed two fingers against Grail's temple, and her body shimmered with golden light. In the blink of an eye, she vanished from sight, transported to Avalon's timeless halls where others could handle her mess.
Now unburdened, Edward rolled his shoulders, his joints cracking faintly. His eyes sharpened, turning away from the distraction of Grail to the greater danger looming across the city.
"Time to deal with the real problem."
In a flash, he cut through the veil of space and emerged high above Metropolis. The winds howled at his sudden appearance, the heavens bending faintly around him.
Below, the city burned in patches of fire and smoke, skyscrapers cracked and broken from the shockwaves of godly battle. His gaze swept the battlefield below: Darkseid's unstable avatar, towering amidst wreckage, his cracked skin glowing with an ominous red light from within.
The Justice League, battered and tense, circled him in a half-ring, each ready to strike again if necessary.
Edward's voice resonated inward, reaching the spirits bound to him. [Any takers?]
The chorus of voices answered in his head. Some were eager, some reluctant. Argument flared among them until one voice rose above the others with arrogant certainty, the same smugness that always accompanied it.
Gilgamesh.
"I am the King. None of you are qualified to object. This is mine."
Edward chuckled. "As arrogant as ever." His lips curved upward. "Fine. Equip Archer."
Golden light engulfed him, radiant and absolute. Ancient Sumerian armor assembled piece by piece across his frame, a war-king's regalia made manifest. Behind him, the Gate of Babylon unfolded like an endless treasury, countless weapons gleaming and hovering in celestial formation.
The air itself crackled with power. The sky above Metropolis split faintly as though the world itself strained to contain his presence. Below, civilians hiding in the rubble felt the surge of divine energy and looked up in awe and dread.
The League noticed the anomaly immediately. Superman squinted upward, feeling the sheer pressure emanating from Edward. Flash glanced quickly toward Batman, who remained stony-faced, though his eyes narrowed behind the cowl. Wonder Woman alone seemed calm, her gaze fixed and steady.
But their focus returned to Darkseid's avatar. His grin widened as his body continued to swell with unstable energy. He looked as though he could erupt at any second.
From high above, Edward intoned with a faint grin. "Time to put a leash on the mongrel."
He raised his hand, and the Gate of Babylon responded. From within, something older than gods surged forth: Enkidu. The divine chains of Heaven rattled and burst outward, each link shining with golden brilliance. They slithered across the sky like living serpents, vibrating in anticipation, each clink of metal echoing like judgment itself.
The Justice League flinched at the sight.
Green Lantern frowned, his ring flaring instinctively. "What the hell is that?"
Flash stopped moving long enough to gape. "Uh… shiny chains? Please tell me those are on our side."
Batman's eyes narrowed, voice low. "They are Restraints. Possible Divine-grade."
Darkseid's burning gaze lifted toward the heavens, locking on Edward. His smile sharpened even as his skin split further, red cracks spreading down his arms and chest. "You."
Edward's eyes met his, cold and unblinking. He gestured once. "Enkidu, fetch."
The chains howled as they descended, twisting through the air before wrapping around Darkseid's limbs and torso with terrifying speed. The sound was deafening, a thunderous crash as they tightened, glowing against his crackling skin.
The avatar staggered. His grin faltered. He pulled against them with titanic strength, but the chains only constricted harder, glowing brighter.
Superman's eyes widened. "It's binding him!"
Batman's voice was level, calculating. "Not just binding. It's sealing something inside him."
Indeed, the moment Enkidu locked in place, the furious divinity radiating from Darkseid's body dimmed, as though choked out by the chains themselves.
The unstable god-force that had been boiling over was suddenly suppressed, his attempted self-detonation stalling mid-process. His body shuddered, cracks glowing faintly but no longer expanding.
Green Lantern exhaled in relief. "You're telling me all it took was magic chains? Where were those ten minutes ago?"
Flash zipped in place, shaking his head. "Man, don't question it. I'll take it."
But their relief was short-lived. In the next moment, the chains tightened again, pulling Darkseid's avatar upward. His massive form was yanked from the broken streets of Metropolis, dragged skyward by the golden light. The ground cracked under the force of his removal as he was torn from the battlefield and hurled into the open skies.
The League shielded their faces from the shockwave as the titan was yoinked upward, vanishing into the clouds within seconds.
Silence fell across the battlefield. The dust settled slowly, leaving only rubble, smoke, and the bewildered heroes standing where a god had stood only moments before.
Superman lowered his arm, scanning the sky. "What just happened?"
Green Lantern turned toward Diana, still clutching his glowing construct. "Seriously. Did we just… win with outside assist? Did someone actually tied up Darkseid like a chritmas present and yanked him to space, when we barely held off against him? Or is this some new kind of nightmare?"
Flash zipped back into place, frowning. " I swear, if he just got dragged off to get even bigger, I'm tapping out."
Batman said nothing, still staring upward, calculating the implications, his jaw tight. The his face relaxed into something like ghost of a smile. "I think I probably know who that was. He wouldn't let Earth and humanity be destroyed after all." he mused to himself.
Diana, however, remained calm. She lowered her sword, her expression softening faintly. A small smile tugged at her lips.
"It will be over soon," she said simply, her voice steady, carrying quiet certainty. "We are safe."
The League exchanged glances, doubtful of her strange confidence. None of them fully understood what they had just seen — only that Diana's tone left no room for doubt.
Above, high in the stratosphere, golden light and chains continued to pull the struggling titan further away from Earth, toward a fate only Edward could deliver.
*****
The silence of space was absolute. No screaming civilians, no collapsing towers, no thunderous crack of Superman's fists or Flash's lightning tearing through the air.
Only the faint hum of Edward's aura, golden light burning against the black void, and the blue marble of Earth suspended far below them.
Darkseid writhed in the chains of Enkidu, the divine links rattling with each attempt to break free. His form was cracked and glowing, his unstable avatar leaking light and fury like molten rock bleeding through fissures in stone.
His burning eyes locked on Edward, and to the surprise of any who knew the tyrant, a grin split across his granite features.
"So," Darkseid rumbled, his voice booming even in the vacuum, reverberating through space itself. "The Godslayer finally shows himself."
His arms flexed, chains grinding against him as black energy bled outward in waves. "Good. I would rather fall with you than waste another moment with these weaklings."
Edward hovered a few feet away, arms crossed, a casual smirk on his lips. The arrogance in his posture only deepened Darkseid's scowl. "You mean the weaklings who've been kicking your ass all evening? Don't worry, I've got receipts."
He snapped his fingers. A projection shimmered in the void, playing out like a living memory. Darkseid watched as images of his humiliation unfolded — Superman slamming him through skyscrapers, Diana carving her blade across his armor, Flash evading his Omega Beams in blinding streaks, and Batman, ever stubborn,harassing him with calculated strikes and traps.
The final blow replayed in loop: Superman's fist caving into Darkseid's jaw and cracking the street beneath them.
Edward tilted his head mockingly. "Doesn't look too impressive from where I'm standing."
The grin on Darkseid's face faltered into a deep snarl. His aura erupted violently, chunks of burning debris floating upward as gravity twisted around him. "Mock me while you can, Godslayer. This avatar may be unstable and weak, but my others are far stronger. My true self still watches. Kill me here, and I will return stronger. Again and again."
Edward's smile faded into a thin, cutting line. "Then I'll just kill every last one of you. No half-measures."
He raised his hand. From the Gate of Babylon, a weapon unlike any other emerged. Its golden handle extended outward, circuits of scarlet light crawling across its surface.
The weapon hummed with a dreadful resonance, each rotation of its cylindrical segments grinding against the laws of existence.
Ea, the Sword of Rupture.
The void bent unnaturally around it, light splitting into impossible hues. The very fabric of reality seemed to recoil in fear.
Darkseid's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What is that thing?"
Edward smirked, holding the weapon loosely at his side. "That, mongrel, is your death."
Darkseid's body trembled with fury. His unstable form cracked wider, leaking raw energy that drifted into the void like embers. "You think you can end me so easily? I am DARKSEID!" His roar reverberated across space as his muscles strained against Enkidu, the divine chains groaning in resistance.
Edward raised an eyebrow, unbothered. "Oh, you can still resist?"
Inside his mind, a familiar voice stirred. Gilgamesh.
[Hmph. This one irritates me. Hand over the reins.]
Edward quirked an eyebrow. [You're unusually eager. Normally you don't care enough to get involved directly.]
[Those mongrels on Earth are beneath my notice. But this one, this ugly pretender who dares call himself ruler of galaxies, he offends me. I will show him what it means to stand before a true king.]
Edward sighed softly, staring at Darkseid. "Sorry, mate. You ticked off the wrong person."
His demeanor shifted instantly. The playful arrogance vanished, replaced by something sharper, heavier. His clear blue eyes turned crimson, radiating unbearable pride and authority. The aura that bled from him was suffocating, each ripple of power screaming of absolute supremacy.
Darkseid froze, recognizing the shift. This was no longer merely Edward. This was Gilgamesh, King of Heroes, wearing Edward's body as his vessel.
Gilgamesh scoffed, voice booming with disdain. "You mongrel dare think you can rule over my garden, and to even try to destroy it, Death is far too merciful for you. I will carve your insignificance into the void itself."
With a casual wave of Ea, the Gate of Babylon roared open. Hundreds of golden portals erupted around them, each spitting forth a weapon forged from humanity's treasury of legends. Spears, swords, axes, and lances screamed forward, streaking across the void like meteors.
Darkseid bellowed, thrashing violently as divine steel pierced into him. Each strike punctured his armor, embedding into flesh, glowing bright with sacred power. Yet his fury only grew.
"You DARE!" he roared, eyes blazing with hatred. "You dare mock me? I have ruined countless worlds! The universe trembles at my name! And you—" his voice cracked with rage as blood seeped from fresh wounds, "—you DARE MOCK ME?!"
He glared at Edward's possessed form with venom. "I will remember this name, Edward Elric! If you survive what comes, I will hunt you down to the end of existence itself!"
Darkseid's unstable form convulsed violently. The glow from his cracks intensified, a rising storm of destruction boiling inside him.
The weapons embedded in his body shattered into nothingness, consumed by the maelstrom. Enkidu shuddered and retreated, the divine chains instinctively withdrawing to avoid being obliterated.
Gilgamesh sneered. "Your arrogance truly knows no bounds. Then I shall perform this final blow as a parting gift to you! Perish knowing your pathetic existence was ended by this king!"
He raised Ea high, its segments spinning faster, tearing at the seams of reality. The void groaned, stars flickering at its hum.
"I will tell you of the beginning," he spoke, voice resonating like scripture.
"Heaven and Earth split, and nothingness praised creation. My Sword of Rupture cleaved the world!"
The void trembled as colors bled unnaturally, matter convulsing in waves. Darkseid's body erupted further, the unstable energy within spiraling outward in a scarlet crescendo. A miniature singularity churned in his chest, threatening to swallow everything.
"Then let us both be destroyed together!" Darkseid roared, forcing the explosion outward. His avatar became a collapsing star, a furnace of annihilation.
Gilgamesh's crimson eyes narrowed, a cruel smile playing at his lips. "You think you can harm me? Very well, then let it be spectacular. As befits the King."
He exhaled slowly, raising Ea, and chanted:"Mortar of the stars, Heaven's hell is the eve of creation's celebration. Now you shall die… and be silent."
Ea roared to life. Its segments whirled faster, the sword screaming as it tore apart existence itself.
"Enuma Elish!"
The attack erupted, a colossal storm of distortion unraveling space and time. It crashed against Darkseid's suicidal detonation.
The clash was apocalyptic.
Time fractured, streams of light tearing across the void. Space convulsed, bending and splitting into shards. The stars themselves recoiled from the collision.
From Earth, the night sky turned to day. For a moment, it seemed as though the sun had ignited in the heavens. Windows shattered across Metropolis, shockwaves rippled through the oceans, and the very atmosphere howled under the weight of divine destruction.
The explosion raged endlessly. For ten whole minutes, the sky above Earth was nothing but fire and distortion, the clash of Gilgamesh's ultimate weapon and Darkseid's annihilation burning into eternity.
The world below fell silent. Heroes and mortals alike could only stare, their breath caught in their throats, as two gods tore the heavens apart.
On the battlefield below, the Justice League stood in stunned silence. Superman shielded his eyes, his cape billowing in the shockwaves. Flash muttered something under his breath, but no one heard him. Batman's jaw tightened, the only outward sign of his concern.
Diana's heart clenched. Her gaze stayed fixed on the light tearing the sky apart. Then, without hesitation, she spread her wings and soared upward, leaving her comrades behind.
"Father… please be safe." she whispered, worry and resolve laced in equal measure.
The League remained rooted, watching the heavens burn. The night sky lit up with a blinding light, as if the sun had risen. The humans who were rescued clutched each other in despair, praying this would be the end ofthis battle.
None dared move. None dared speak.
They could only wait.
******
The light died like a wound slowly closing. For minutes the world had been a furnace — a dawn burning at midnight, a sky torn open and bled into impossible colors.
Then, as if some great hand had eased away, quiet returned: a tremulous, stunned silence that lay over Metropolis and reached across oceans.
When the dust finally thinned and the glare receded, one figure hung in the void above the blue marble of Earth, alone and unhurt.
Golden armor caught the last dying flare; the Gate of Babylon folded away, its weapons withdrawing like obedient hounds called back into their kennels.
Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes , his presence folding into the man who wore him like a mantle. Edward opened his eyes and let the arrogance and amusement ripple off him in a private, slow smile.
"How pathetic," Gilgamesh said with disinterest, contempt and boredom braided together. "For a mongrel who claims to be ruler of galaxies." He then vanished inside Edward's soul, letting him regain control.
Edward let the remark hang in the vacuum for a heartbeat, then chuckled. The sound was small and oddly intimate against the endless dark.
He watched the world below with something like the fondness of an observer who had just trimmed a wild branch rather than felled a tree.
"Talk about overkill," he murmured, voice calm, almost casual. "But it did the job. Clean. Efficient."
He folded his arms and allowed himself the brief pleasure of watching the dying ripples of energy unmake themselves across the heavens. "I wonder how Darkseid's main avatar on Apokolips is thinking right now."
Below him, the city smoldered but stood. Buildings that had been scorched or ripped open were not gone as a civilization. People would rebuild. Grave as the stakes had been, they had not been erased, and that fact landed heavily in the chest of every watching hero and survivor.
Down in Metropolis, the silence was deafening.
On the cracked avenues where the League had stood, the survivors gathered slowly.
Superman hovered lower, eyes rimmed raw with the ache of exertion; Faora sat on a slab of shattered concrete with her hand at her ribs, breathing through pain.
Diana landing with the steadiness of someone who had put her faith somewhere else and returned relieved. Shazame stood awkwardly scratching over a wound that had dried blood on it.
Batman's Trinity armor shuttered and retracted with a mechanical cough; Bruce stepped out, muscles tense but unbroken.
Hal Jordan floated down, his ring sputtering back to a dim glow, while Barry moved like someone who'd run the length of a continent and found his legs shaking at the end.
Cyborg, still smoking from his systems' overclock, scanned the surroundings and the survivors with practiced detachment that barely masked the exhaustion. "All the captives are accounted for," he said, voice a gritty machine-sparkle. "Pulling them through the boomtubes destabilized every relay I could patch, but I held them. They're safe. I got them home."
The news spread in immediate relief; shouts of thankfulness cut through the heavy air as families reunited with ragged embraces amid the ash. It was small, sacred, a human proof that the horror had not consumed everything.
The League gathered, a circle of ragged defiance, watching the sky where the duel had occurred. They were not unharmed, none of them were, but the certainty of survival underpinned the tired relief on their faces.
They exchanged looks, a shorthand built of hard experience and a long night in the teeth of war.
Flash was the first to break the silence. His voice was unsteady, half a question, half a gasp. "Are we going to talk about What the hell… just happened?"
Hal Jordan hovered above the rubble, his construct flickering weakly as his ring threatened to gutter out. He looked around at the others, eyes wide.
"Did anyone see who it was…? One second, we're nearly dead. Next second, boom, chains, space, explosion — and now he's just gone. Like it was nothing."
Cyborg's systems buzzed faintly, smoke venting from cracked plating as diagnostics scrolled across his display. His single human eye narrowed as he tried to trace what he had recorded.
"My sensors barely caught it. Some kind of… reality-tearing energy. He restrained Darkseid, pulled him off-planet, and then unleashed something I've never seen before. Whatever it was, it wasn't from this universe."
Superman floated down beside Faora, his cape torn, his jaw still marked from the brawl with Darkseid's generals. His expression was carved with disbelief. "That wasn't just power," he said grimly. "That was… ancient. Older than us. Older than Darkseid. Like a legend come alive."
Batman said nothing at first. He stood apart, his armor battered and sparking, the Trinity suit hissing with feedback. He removed the helmet slowly, his face shadowed but his eyes cold and analytical.
"There's only one man capable enough to do that," he murmured, as though speaking the name helped anchor the impossibility of it. "A myth. A ghost from the world's oldest stories. And yet… here."
Hal frowned, still trying to steady himself. "So, wait. You all know him? Because, uh, I've got zero context here. Guy shows up, one-shots the intergalactic tyrant, and vanishes like a bad Tinder date. I'm gonna need someone to explain."
Barry snorted, shaking his head. " if I had an explanation, I'd give it. All I know is, we just got saved by something way above our pay grade." He was geeking inwardly 'Oh my god, It was definitely him! As expected my favorite hero!'
Cyborg closed his arm-cannon, forcing his systems back into cooling mode. His tone was heavier now. "And he didn't stay. No debrief. No answers. Just… gone."
Diana had remained quiet through it all, standing with her sword lowered, her chest heaving from the battle. She finally spoke, her voice steady but softer than usual. "He doesn't linger. Not for thanks. Not for questions."
Clark turned his head toward her. "You know him?"
Diana chuckled, "He is admired globally. As an history enthusiast, it'd be a miracle not to know him. I won't say more, for it's not my place to say it."
Bruce's jaw didn't release its tension. "That golden man?" he asked, already parsing possibilities. " was that.... him?"
Superman's voice was a low rumble, less interrogative and more the sound of a man rediscovering his bearings. "It must be," he said. "That man just showed up, wielded something… impossible. He removed Darkseid's avatar from Earth, and finished it casually . And saved the world... yet again. "
Barry, fidgeting, tried at levity that didn't stick. "So that's how we win. Send in a mythical hero with a massive sword. Who knew?"
Meanwhile, Edward descended above Metropolis wile staying invisible, solidifying into presence in the ruined avenue like someone returning from a stroll.
He wore his regular clothes again; the King's voice had receded, leaving only the man's humor and a tiredness beneath it. He brushed ash from his sleeve and surveyed the League with a casual, half-sardonic smile.
"It's fun to see them so confused," he said, that dry amusement in his tone. He thought back to the note he'd left stuck to a girl's forehead — a ridiculous postscript to the evening's chaos, and found himself still smiling at the absurdity.
Grail, now safe in Avalon's strange halls, would be watched by more competent guardians than he trusted his own bedside manner to provide.
He looked at them all. Bruce with his steady, human mind sharpened by loss; Clark and Faora bruised but present; Hal and Barry and Victor and Billy, and of course his Daughter Diana.
there was something like respect in the glance that Edward gave them. They had all stood. They had all struck. They had been the instruments of his chosen curtain call, and he respected that they had not broken.
"You guys did well for your first time," he muttered softly before leaving. "You held long enough for me to step in and make the ledger neat."
There was no swagger in it; it was simply the truth. For all his flippancy, Edward understood that their victory had been hard-bought and that arrogance alone would not safeguard what lay ahead.
The world exhaled slowly. People began to cry; some laughed. Emergency crews surged forward. The League organized, pulling survivors away from danger, setting up triage. The sound of industry and life returned, like a heartbeat finding rhythm after arrhythmia.
***
Far across the void, in a place where fire was not light but life itself, the throne room of Apokolips seethed with fear.
The stone floor was lined with kneeling figures — the remnants of Darkseid's elite. Kalibak, scarred and restless. Granny Goodness, her twisted smile absent for once.
Glorious Godfrey, Doctor Bedlam, Devilance — generals returned from their campaigns. Behind them, the Furies who had not been dispatched to Earth — Gilotina, Bloody Mary, Knockout, Artemiz, Malice, and Sweet Leilana — all bowed their heads in silence.
None dared raise their eyes.
At the center, on a throne carved from the essence of desolation itself, sat Darkseid. His true form. Immovable. Eternal. Yet the air around him rippled with such fury that it bent sound and light.
None spoke. Not until Desaad, trembling, shuffled forward with a bow so deep it nearly broke his spine. His voice quavered. "My liege… your daughter. She has also betrayed you."
The room grew even colder despite the flames, if such a thing was possible.
"She uncovered the Anti-Life Equation on Earth," Desaad continued, sweat beading on his brow. "Yet she dared not inform you. She… consorted with the enemy. Frolicked with him. What shall be done?"
For a long, crushing moment, the only sound was the distorted hum of Darkseid's aura.
Then came a laugh. Low. Rumbling. A sound so alien and cruel that even the most hardened generals flinched.
"At least," Darkseid said at last, his voice like the grind of tectonic plates, "she found Anti-Life for me."
The generals dared not lift their heads.
"With it, I will rule not just worlds, not just galaxies, but all life itself," Darkseid continued. His eyes burned with a steady, eternal fire. "Every will bent. Every soul mine to command."
He leaned forward, massive hands gripping the throne. The stone groaned. "The humiliation of today shall be repaid in full."
"Replenish our forces," he commanded. "Every soldier, every weapon, every beast. When we march again, we march with inevitability."
He paused, and the weight of his words sank like chains into every kneeling soul.
"This time," he said, voice as final as a verdict, "there will be no mistakes."
The generals bowed lower. None dared breathe too loudly.
And above them all, Darkseid sat silent now, patient as a blade left in the forge — knowing that Earth's reprieve was nothing but the calm before conquest.
Back on Earth, the League watched the horizon with a sober awareness. The immediate danger had been blunted, but the war itself was not over. Peace, they knew, was a brittle thing and the enemy had been wounded, not erased.
Diana remained staring at the space, eyes on Apokolips' direction as if she could feel the tide turning even now. She bowed her head slightly, then looked at the sky with an odd mixture of helplessness and gratitude, a daughter's look that lasted an instant before she tool the mantle of her station again.
Silence fell again, broken only by the sirens of emergency crews now flooding the city. Survivors cried out, embraced, or stood stunned. The Justice League exchanged glances of acknowledgement. They had stood, but the end had not come from their hands.
And that realization sat uneasily in all of them.
Around them, the world began to stitch itself back together. The heroes moved, limping and tired, to what would be the long work ahead: rebuilding, guarding, learning. The night had been won, but the war's book had many more pages.
And somewhere on a throne of black rock, a titan began to refill his ranks. The next chapter had already begun.
*****
Since this was the weakest avatar and already beaten up, the fight was rather short. I mostly set the Justice League foundation and made way for future plots. Wouldn't make much sense if he struggled against this version.
I also wrapped up Grail's part similarly later cz it's not like they would immediately start dual cultivation💀
but hey, Atleast I didn't kill anyone important this time, so that's good right?
I left the traumatizing stuff for next arc. Heh
Anyway, you know the drill. Powerstone or Diddy? choose wisely, and live with it ....