"I'll be back!"
As the passage torn open by the Mother Box slowly closed, nothing remained at the scene apart from countless mangled Parademon corpses turning to dust.
Nothing else was left behind.
Because it had activated on its own, the Mother Box had followed Steppenwolf into the passage.
As one of the New Gods—and a powerful one among them—Steppenwolf was a terrifying monster who had once required the combined efforts of Earth's gods and the Green Lantern Corps to defeat.
Though Superman had suppressed him in physical combat, his magical resistance was exceptionally formidable.
Even though he had been caught off guard and beaten senseless the moment he emerged, the Mother Box's protection still allowed him to escape from the hellish Themyscira.
After using the lives of countless Parademons to offset that legendary spell, he had successfully retreated with injuries.
"This is bad... Things have gotten troublesome, cough cough~"
The Amazon Queen kept coughing up blood, her expression grim, as though she and the others had not just beaten Steppenwolf into fleeing like a rat.
"Light the beacon. We must tell humanity that the ancient enemy has invaded! Enter the highest state of alert!"
"A conspiracy! This must be a conspiracy!"
Back aboard his ship, Steppenwolf looked at the half of his Parademon army that had vanished, then lowered his head to inspect his shattered armor and burning wounds. His expression turned extremely grave.
The information sent back by the Mother Box had said that Earth's gods were already dead.
But why had he been met with such a relentless magical assault the instant he landed?!
This had to be a contingency left behind by Earth's gods!
Still, it was fine. His strength was what it was, and one-third of the Mother Box had actually activated.
So he