Chapter 110 A Place To Rival Hell
“..... Then it'll be rude if I don't pay the old bastard a visit”.
The casual sentence left her dumbfounded.
So dumbfounded that she was short of words.
Was........ Was he crazy?
“You...... Don't take me for a fool”. Perhaps feeling that he was messing with her once again, anger reappeared where it was briefly extinguished.
“What?” Amari tilted his head confused with a genuinely puzzled expression.
“I said let's get going to Apokolips. Wasn't that your mission? Well, here's your chance to complete it”.
The nonchalant tone and neutral look once again confused the New God.
He couldn't be serious.
Could he?
This wasn't just crazy...... This was blatantly stupid. Was he stupid? Aurelie didn't know.
He clearly knew that Darkseid wanted to capture him. Now he proposed to waltz into the enemies' lair with no fear or care whatsoever.
Today, her outlook on the word carefree was completely redefined.
If this wasn't crazy, she didn't know what was.
“I.........”. Never before had she been so speechless.
Seeing this, Amari couldn't help but chuckle.
“That look on your face is priceless”. Seeing a battle hardened New God have her doubts plainly written on her face, really was.
Hearing this, the redhead had her expression return to normal. She eyed Amari coldly with a look of scrutiny on her features.
“...... You're actions are crazy”. She finally found the only thing she could think of that fit the situation.
“I appreciate the compliment”. He shrugged indifferently, not taking her words to heart.
“Do you think yourself invincible because you managed to defeat me and my sisters?” She uttered coldly.
“Actually…. I do. But not because I defeated your team. That wasn't even an achievement”.
“You.......”. Her eyes looked like they could spit fire.
“The armies of Apokolips are numerous enough to drown out any God in their mere numbers. And the powers of Lord Darkseid, the one who controls them is far beyond any.......”.
“Stop talking”. His words seemed to be law.
Aurelie found her mouth unable to open, no matter what she did.
Amari didn't care. With a nonchalant look, he lowered his head and snapped his fingers while he spoke.
“I'm not really into the intimidating evil monologue. That's a hero/villain thing. It takes too long and quite frankly, hurts my ears just listening to it”.
His eyes glowed.
The space around them changed rapidly.
A giant space crack appeared a few meters away with a single thought. The other end displayed a busy Metropolis, packed with cars and buildings ad numerous citizens.
Kara's eyes widened at the sight.
“This ........ This can't be Apokolips. Can it?”
She took several steps towards the portal, and the giant Planet globe on top of the Daily Planet immediately caught her eye. Then she realized.
Aurelie raised an eyebrow.
“That is not Apokolips".
“This...... This is…".
“Metropolis”. Amari interrupted before she could finish.
The blonde frowned.
“Why did you open a portal here? Are we going to Metropolis first?”
“We aren't”. He responded and gave her a look.
“You are”.
“What!” Kara exclaimed and hurriedly took several steps back.
Then she spun around and looked at Amari with raging eyes.
“No..... I'm definitely..... Why?”
“Simple really”. Amari shrugged. “I don't want to bring you along”.
“Apokolips isn't something you should see at your age and with your current mindset. You're welcome”
“And who the hell says I'm thanking you?” Kara's body trembled incessantly.
“You can't send me back there”.
“You make it sound as if I'm sending you to detention”.
“I'm being serious here”.
“Not my problem”. His indifferent tone made her teeth itch with anger.
“Yes it is. In case you haven't noticed, but I was literally kidnapped here. They were going to take me to this planet if you hadn't shown up and done Rao knows what to me”. Her eyes narrowed into slits.
“I deserve to see this”.
Looking at the stubborn, indignant Kryptonian, he restrained the urge to just shove her through and be done with it.
“...... Fine”. He didn't question anymore. Didn't simply force her to leave.
He had no issue having her tag along. The girl wanted to see the universe? Today she would see a much darker side of it.
For better or worse.
The portal to Metropolis closed. Amari turned his back towards her and walked away.
“But trust me when I tell you. You won't like what you see”.
His words lingered in her ears, causing her expression to change. Kara hadn't realized yet.
Amari never tried to stop her from doing anything.
“I don't know if I should call you courageous or idiotic”. Aurelie said expressionlessly. Her inner thoughts masked behind her features
This man was certainly powerful. She had no doubt about that.
Perhaps....... he could give the Dark Lord a good fight. Or to be even more crazy..... He was on par with him.
But going to Apokolips to confront Darkseid was simply the action of a fool. At least, it was in her eyes.
“That's debatable”. Amari's eyes instantly lay on her belt. There, an orange colored disk with multiple lines streaming across it laid on her waist.
That disk was Motherbox Technology. Capable of opening portals between any dimension and Apokolips.
It was also the only known way to enter and exit the planet.
Amari could do it himself. But that would cause too much of a ruckus.
With his will, the disc disconnected from her waist and flew to his hand followed by the glow of his eyes.
Seeing this, Aurelie tried to grab it as it flew away but failed.
Boom!
An orange portal connecting straight to a secure location in Apokolips appeared.
“...... But from someone who's contemplating running away from Darkseid, I won't take that at face value”.
“.....”. Aurelie was silent.
“Now then......”.
.........
The Godsphere.......... Apokolips.
In the empty channel of the mission room, a boom tube portal appeared, drawing the attention of its guards. Of course, that was all.
They didn't pay much attention to it.
To their knowledge, the Furies left on a mission days ago. They had probably returned after completing their jobs.
Nothing exciting to see here. On Apokolips, it was the same every day.
Until today that is.
Three figures of light materialized. Aurelie stepped out of the boom tube with a staggering posture.
Amari and Kara stepped through right behind her.
Seeing this, the guards had their expressions change drastically underneath their masks.
The Furies were back alright. But instead of six, there was only one.
And she didn't look quite right.
“Halt!” They shouted.
“No”. Amari replied.
'Disintegrate'
“I said stop right...... Hey…. Ugh…. Arghhhhh”.
Each and every single one of them fell to their knees with pain seeping through every corner of their body. They watched with horror as they began to collapse, turning into ash with each passing nanosecond.
A second later........ Not even skeletons were left of them.
“Gods........... All of em..... So fragile”. Amari muttered. And then, he raised his head to look in a certain direction.
“Where is this place?”
Seeing the scene of the soldiers disintegrating to ash, Kara's stomach thrummed with obvious discomfort. It was the same when she saw Amari set Wotan ablaze back in the Louisiana Bayou.
She could only ask this question to throw her mind away from the disturbing image.
“....... The Teleportation station”. Aurelie answered indifferently.
“It's where all those who leave Apokolips are sent back to when they use the boom tubes. Not too far away from Darkseid's Palace”.
Her tone had a bit of gloom hidden within, although she tried not to let it show.
The moment Amari killed these guards, her fate was sealed.
No matter what happened here today, Darkseid would have her head for this ........ level of ineptitude.
Perhaps..... Even the rest of the Furies as well. Assuming, of course, they lived and made it back here.
Her mission to capture the target had failed. Not only was the target not captured, but he swaggered right into Apokolips.
Thinking of this, Aurelie couldn't help but clench her fists even more.
For her....... This could be considered a shame.
Even if she wasn't killed, Willik would definitely use this opportunity to have her handed over. In the form of torture, she would be completely at his mercy.
If she had known, she would have run away the first opportunity she had.
A thought crossed her head and she looked at Amari and spoke softly.
“Your chances of leaving Apokolips alive now are very slim. Darkseid will find you”.
“No need”. His words stunned her. She took another look only to see him smiling with his gaze still looking far.
“He's already found me. Or I found him........ Well, we found each other the moment I arrived”.
That was exactly what he was looking at. Past the walls, far into the distance, inside the imposing building that was his castle, sitting on that throne that was high above the ground.
His eyes red as blood, clothed in that armor even within his own kingdom.
Amari could see his eyes squint and narrow. The creases on that giant forehead of his were particularly eye-catching.
His size was huge, so huge that Amari wondered how he managed to do it with his wives and granny goodness in her younger years.
Perhaps..... It was simply him using an Avatar.
Most importantly....... The power. Amari could sense it just looking at him. Hidden within his tall, robust frame was so much power that surpassed all other Kryptonians but one. Or...... Two. Perhaps three.
Parasite thought Superman of earth 16 was a walking, talking rechargeable power bank, his eyes would probably salivate if he were standing in Amari's position right now.
Or...... he would wilt from pure fear. Most likely the latter. Perhaps both.
The Lord of evil himself. God of Tyranny and Son of Yuga Khan, Lord of Apokolips, Darkseid.
This wasn't the clone. The Avatar with only a part of his power separated from the original. No, this was the real deal.
Unlike the rest of his Avatar's causing chaos in the other 51 DC universes, this was a giant with the ability to end world's with his mere presence.
An abstract concept that could never truly be destroyed. Basically, Evil reborn in the form of a God with his Avatars wreaking havoc and conquering dimensions in his name.
Now come to think of it, their situations were somewhat similar.
Truly Imposing...... Of course, all sense of awe and intimidation that could have been generated were shattered the moment the thought of Darkseid sleeping with that old woman appeared in his head.
Amari could see him and likewise, so could he. At this point, he was just a point shot of raising his hand and waving wildly like a classmate who just saw an old friend.
At that moment, the God Of Tyranny finally made a move. His red eyes glowed just like Superman. But instead of heat vision powered by solar rays, what was released was the almighty Omega Effect.
Two crisscrossing rays of destruction shot out of the palace at a speed only two speedsters would be able to react to.
There were no words, no warning. As soon as they appeared, Darkseid immediately sentenced them to death. Alongside a warrior of his elite guard.
The beams were large. Large enough to envelope a full-grown muscular man with ease and still have space to destroy the surroundings.
Aurelie felt a chill run up her spine. The feeling of death she always felt whenever she was in his presence rushed over again but with clear intent this time.
She was going to die here.
Or so she thought.
Standing beside her, Amari's eyes glowed a dazzling blue.
The trail of Omega beams distorted and vanished into nothingness, transforming into a cloud of butterflies.
The butterfly cloud immediately disbanded into different directions.
“Well big guy....... That was rude. I mean, who treats guests this way”.
Aurelie had to calm down her rapidly beating heart. Never before had she felt such fear.
The phenomenon of butterflies appearing in Apokolips didn't cause a commotion. Mostly because, the butterflies were destroyed by the legions of parademons in the skies.
Following which, those nearby immediately set their sights on this area and let out loud screeches.
“Aghhhhhh”.
It happened then. Kara held her ears and groaned.
What she least wanted to happen began to take effect at the moment. Her abilities were going haywire.
Aurelie was surprised.
“What's wrong with her?”
“Arghhhhh!” She screamed loudly as numerous voices fell into her ears.
“What I thought would happen. She's experiencing too much”. Amari noted plainly.
Amari knew this would happen. Apokolips wasn't somewhere anyone should step into, even if they could.
Kara couldn't control her abilities. Large changes in her emotions would trigger them subconsciously due to her level of control…. Or lack thereof.
And so, the moment she stepped out of the boom tube, it did. The atmosphere of this planet was gloomy. Filled with death and despair, and the evil energies permeating the atmosphere were a byproduct of Darkseid's inhabitance.
Plus, Apokolips was a bad place without him in the first place. Affecting someone like Kara negatively whose mind was a mess due to her circumstances was a piece of cake.
And when it did, she would see, hear and feel more than she usually did on Earth.
The cries, the screams, the negative energy. At the moment, her vision and hearing was completely out of whack.
She could see the prisoners in pain within the torture chamber. The lives of the lowlies in the Armaghetto.
Guards beating the hell out of laborers with whips and weapons and the constant cries of thousands of Parademons in the skies...... All of that combined equalled this.
Kara thought earth was chaotic? Then she was in for a whole new experience.
Welcome to Apokolips. The one place in the multiverse that could rival hell.