Different races' pain systems functioned differently, but Darkseid happened to be a New God. It wasn't that his race lacked pain perception; it was simply that New Gods were so powerful that their pain systems rarely had cause to function.
New Gods were born able to sense every cell in their bodies. The instant a wound appeared on them, what alerted them to the injury was not pain, but feedback transmitted by their cells—a form of visualized information delivered to their brains.
Humans were the exact opposite. Nearly all their awareness of physical abnormalities came from pain, so over the course of evolution, they had developed this system with exceptional breadth and depth. Which was why getting hurt really hurt.
And because this body of Darkseid's was so weak, pain brought more than pain itself. There was nausea, dizziness, cold sweat. Darkseid could not even find a word that accurately described how he felt right now. All he could say was that he had never felt this terrible in his life.
He found himself being carried downstairs by that foul-smelling man. He saw a group of human cubs much like himself wandering around naked, then saw some adults, as drunk and foul-smelling as the man carrying him, wandering around as well. Darkseid had absolutely no idea what they were doing.
The man carried him out of the building. The instant he stepped outside, Darkseid experienced something he had never experienced before: cold.
No information appeared in Darkseid's mind, so when the sensation struck him, he shuddered violently. His wound throbbed with intense pain from the convulsion, and he could not help letting out another scream.
Darkseid realized he could not control himself at all. This body operated in a completely different way from the one he had controlled before. Before