American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

On a satellite orbiting Apokolips.

"Steppenwolf has failed." Darkseid sensed that the Anti-Life Equation's power within Steppenwolf was affected and解除, immediately understanding Steppenwolf had suffered another defeat.

According to his programming, only death could exempt Steppenwolf from his influence. Darkseid didn't believe anyone could, at least no one on that planet, help Steppenwolf extract the programming equation hidden deep within his mind and解除 it.

Although he had looked down on Steppenwolf since adulthood, Darkseid still acknowledged his strength. Even on Apokolips, Steppenwolf's strength could rank among the upper echelon of New Gods, possessing incredible power. For the opponent to defeat Steppenwolf, causing him to suffer two consecutive setbacks and even lose his life, the power of that planet was clearly not as inferior as he had imagined.

"Hmm?"

As if sensing something, Darkseid suddenly raised his head, his gaze fixed on the direction of Apokolips. A spatial fluctuation had suddenly appeared there.

A cloud of ink-like darkness began to spread rapidly under Darkseid's astonished gaze. In just a moment, Apokolips looked as if it had gained a black eye, exuding an intense sense of ominousness.

At the same moment, an alarm from Apokolips reached his side.

Intruders!

Darkseid had never imagined that Apokolips would suffer such a sudden attack with him present. This aroused boundless rage in the always tyrannical and cruel Darkseid.

The boundless army of Parademons was unleashed from the satellites around Apokolips, swarming towards the planet like locusts. As the most terrifying war machine in the universe, the Parademons had helped Apokolips conquer world after world and civilization after civilization. Their lives were powerful, and their numbers were so vast that they could never be completely exterminated. The area around Apokolips was filled with Parademon "nests," capable of dragging any enemy into a sea of numbers, where even the powerful would become lost and weary in the endless Parademon army.

In fact, Apokolips itself was a modified planet with powerful firepower and defensive capabilities. If the invaders attacked head-on, even if they broke through the Parademon blockade, they would still face a formidable fortress.

Inside Apokolips.

The sky opened, revealing a dark and bottomless spatial hole that rapidly expanded like the eye of a raging storm. The inside of the hole was pitch black, and the Apokoliptians below stared in horror at the viscous and filthy liquid pouring from the suddenly appearing spatial gate in the sky.

The black and filthy liquid fell like a giant slime, splattering on the ground and covering the entire city below. Many Apokoliptians involuntarily fell into madness upon seeing the black liquid.

Unprecedented chaos and slaughter instantly erupted on the ground. Everyone seemed insane, desperately attacking all living things around them. As time passed, they developed increasingly corrupted and mutated symptoms of depravity. One by one, the Apokoliptians embarked on a path of distorted evolution that they could not control.

They craved flesh and blood, and even more, they craved the negative emotions—hatred, fear, pain, sadness—that filled the moment of life's demise, which they regarded as the highest reward. They had been corrupted into a pack of ravenous beasts, and those increasingly sensitive and direct emotions were an irresistible delicacy. Even if that satisfaction only lasted for a moment, their entire being would be consumed by an even more intense hunger.

They unconsciously pursued this satisfaction, becoming both hunters and preyed upon by others more powerful. A mere mass of filthy liquid plunged an entire city's population into self-destructive annihilation.

The hole in the sky seemed alive, with the sound of chewing faintly echoing in the hearts of all living beings. More and more corrupted souls were swallowed by the hole after death, and the black liquid flowed out in ever-increasing quantities.

At this point, the overwhelming arrival of the Parademon army undoubtedly accelerated the spread of this contaminating disaster. The Parademon army was even more susceptible to contamination and corruption than the Apokoliptians. Under the influence of the black liquid, they were almost defenseless, and the Parademon army controlled by Darkseid turned against him, becoming slaves to the power of the hole in the sky.

The corrupted Parademon army and the subsequent waves of Parademons immediately began a fierce battle. Corrupted Parademons died continuously, and new Parademons were constantly becoming corrupted.

The hole in the sky grew larger and larger, and the impact on the ground also increased. The planet's defense mechanisms were activated in response to this sudden change, and all kinds of weapons fell into the hole from all directions, including some special ammunition that could disrupt space. However, after wave after wave of concentrated fire, the hole swallowed all the weapons without exception, continuing to expand silently and rapidly. Those specifically manufactured weapons were completely immune to the hole, remaining as stable as ever.

…

In a remote spatial pocket far from the Apokolips star system, Thor paced back and forth restlessly, frequently looking at Doctor Strange, to the point that Stephen couldn't ignore him.

"What do you want to say?" Stephen proactively initiated the conversation.

"Is what we're doing really right?" Thor pointed to the space outside.

Although he couldn't see what Thor was pointing at, Stephen knew that Thor was referring to the abyss opening on Apokolips. Both he and Thor knew the kind of contamination the abyss could bring. Thor, in particular, had a deep impression of how Luke had used the abyss to completely contaminate and corrupt Nidavellir in the Nine Realms, even causing it to develop an abyss will and become a living planet.

This forced the Nine Realms to exile Nidavellir, stripping it from the Nine Realms' energy circulation system. Otherwise, the entire Nine Realms and the World Tree would be contaminated and corrupted by the circulating abyss power.

"Are you having a fit of compassion?" Stephen asked directly.

"Compassion? No, no, no, you probably don't know how many planets I've conquered and how many rebellions I've suppressed. I have no so-called intolerance or kindness towards my enemies. Moreover, Steppenwolf didn't lie; Apokolips is a planet full of evil people. I'm just worried about the abyss's impact on this universe. You need to know that once Bruce and the others find out, they'll probably can't help but come into contact with the abyss, wanting to find a way to restrain and eliminate it. And we all know that the abyss cannot be completely eradicated," Thor waved his hand, merely concerned that the situation would become unmanageable in the future.

(End of chapter)