An enormous rift tore open through the skies of Louisiana. Fragments of the shattered sky fell onto the ground like droplets of glass shards.
Diana, plucking out Metallo's heart, furrowed her gaze as she glanced at the bleak darkness hovering above her.
The presence it gave off was undeniably magical, but she could sense the influence of man's technology — hidden, yet lingering.
It was a sour aftertaste, one that left her equally baffled and impressed. Combining magic and science wasn't a rare sight, but this was the first time she was witnessing science directly influencing magic.
"Wonder Woman to Watchtower, do you copy?"
[Loud and clear.]
Batman, witnessing the anomalies from above the planet, responded.
"Batman, a brief analysis if you could."
The Dark Knight, rapidly inputting various commands into the Watchtower command center, performed a quick scan. Complex equations began revealing themselves across the panels before him.
He followed with an analysis before communicating it to Wonder Woman.
[I'm picking up traces of anti-matter, dark matter, cosmic radiation — and also mana. It seems to be a dimensional rift, but I can't deduce the exact conditions it originated from.]
Taking out a drive from his utility belt and inserting it into the disk drive, he leaned forward and continued,
[If I can isolate the various energies, identify the most prominent, and cross-reference it within the database of the various worlds the League has made contact with over the years, I might find a match.]
"Do so, then."
Diana responded and switched off the comm link before dropping Metallo's body to the ground.
She then wrapped her Golden Lasso around her right arm. It emitted a golden light and tightened around her limb like a glowing sleeve.
"Come out if you dare," she warned, ordering the being trying to hide from her perception.
It laid dormant within the rift, masking its presence using the concentrated mixture of energies. But if there was one thing the Amazonian excelled at, it was handling beings who harnessed the power of mystics.
"I expected nothing less from the daughter of the gods."
Having been discovered, the being — cloaked in cosmic darkness and harboring eyes as brilliant as the cosmos — slowly descended out of the rift.
A massive cosmic storm followed as he stretched out his palm and unleashed a barrage of dark orbs at her.
"So be it, then."
Diana, calling upon her sword and shield, hurled herself into the incoming assault.
She bashed the first orb into the skies with her shield, severed the second with her blade, and for the third, she ensnared it using her lasso before spinning and launching it back at the cosmic being.
He merely smiled and brought his right arm forward. The attack came to a halt before him — but when he looked ahead, the Amazonian was gone.
"You can't hide from me," he commented.
"I never intended to pretender."
With a powerful sonic boom, she bolted forward, her lasso-coated fist whipping out and smashing into the jaws of the cosmic villain.
"An impressive display, but far too lacking to harm me."
Her attack had connected — she felt the feedback, even the world felt it and yet the being was unmoving.
He stood still, his eyes lowering to observe Wonder Woman, who released her weapons and tugged at the edge of her lasso.
In an impressive display of speed, she wrapped it around the being's head, strengthened her core, and arched her back, pulling the cosmic entity down toward the ground.
He offered no resistance and began to fall alongside the Amazonian.
"J'onn!"
Tearing through the clouds at breakneck speed, she shouted. The Green Martian answered her call, encasing the cosmic being in a psychic barrier to trap him.
"What is he?" the Martian inquired as Wonder Woman withdrew to his side.
"I can't comprehend," she admitted honestly. "I can sense magic… science… even energy from beyond space. They all seem to make up the components of his being. He's like a universe in human form."
At her revelation, Martian Manhunter attempted to pry deep into the mind of the entity, but—
[J'onn, stop. Don't.]
Batman's voice echoed through the comm link in his ear.
[Just like Diana said, he's, in theory, a universe. So I'll ask you — can you handle the burden of a universe crashing into your mind?]
The Martian, quite confident in his mental ability, couldn't argue with that. He couldn't handle the minds of such scale; his mind might shatter in the process.
"Then how do you suppose we deal with him?"
[...]
Batman remained silent for a brief moment before tapping on his desk.
[For now, we contain him. I'll contact the likes of Green Lantern and every nearby hero capable of controlling constructs. If we can capture him, we can establish communication and deduce his goal.]
"If you can?"
The being, unwilling to play by their rules, unleashed a powerful aura from his body. The surging, explosive energy flung both Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter back.
It didn't end there — the cosmic entity shattered the barrier restraining him, all while harboring a haunting grin.
The clash between Superman and Atomic Skull had started as a balanced fight. Neither had an edge and both seemed equal — until the rift in the sky appeared.
Just like Diana, Clark's senses were far beyond normal, and because of that, he knew something wasn't right.
Wasting no time, he cut off his heat vision and tanked Atomic Skull's beam head-on.
"Arrgh!"
Planting his feet firmly in the ground to avoid being flung back, he clenched both fists and began to throw punches.
Each punch, accumulating an explosive surge of energy, smashed into the beam. They altered its form, parried it away, and allowed him to close in enough to grab the infernal skeleton.
Without hesitation, he slammed him headfirst into the ground, burying him deep underground before dashing toward Lex, who was still siphoning power from Livewire.
Restraining his strength to avoid turning him into paste, he threw a punch — only for it to be blocked by a being made of cosmic darkness… who smiled in return.