Iron Hooves of the Abyss

The sky turned completely black and lifeless.

The massive Starship blocked out the sunlight, casting huge shadows.

Thousands upon thousands of Parademons filled the sky, flapping their ugly membranous wings and wielding Apokolips Energy Rifle as they swooped down toward the Divine Temple plaza.

The Divine Temple square was littered with corpses.

The Amazon warriors formed a square formation and raised their shields to defend themselves.

But the Parademons ' Energy Ray easily burned through their bronze shields and pierced their chests.

Amazon archers drew their bows taut, unleashing a rain of arrows into the sky.

The arrow struck the Parademons's black energy armor, producing only a few Mars before falling limply to the ground.

Queen Hippolyta stood at the highest point of the Divine Temple steps, her hands gripping her sword.

A Parademons swooped down, but the Queen dodged the Energy Ray by sidestepping, and with a swift upward thrust of her sword, severed the Parademons's membrane wing.

The Parademons crashed to the ground, and the Queen stepped forward, her longsword piercing its throat.

But even more Parademons surged forth.

"For Themyscira!" Artemis roared, swinging her Battle Axe to smash the head of a Parademons. In the blink of an eye, she was struck in the back by two rays, her leather armor charred and blood flowing freely.

"Die!" Diana's eyes turned bloodshot. She bent her knees and leaped into the air.

Divine Power erupted.

Diana slammed the Aegis heavily into the ground.

A golden shockwave swept outwards from her center.

The Parademons within a fifty-meter radius had their internal organs shattered by this force, their black blood exploding in mid-air and creating a foul-smelling rain of blood.

The pressure on the Amazon warriors was greatly reduced.

Diana landed in front of the Queen, gripping the Magic-Breaker Dagger tightly, her chest heaving violently.

A series of heavy footsteps came from the edge of the square.

"Click. Click."

The sound of metal combat boots pounding through the marble floor drowned out the sounds of battle.

The army of Parademons automatically parted to both sides, making way for a passage.

Steppenwolf, carrying a giant Battle Axe, strode over.

He was over three meters tall and covered in heavy armor with metal spikes.

The first Mother Box, which he had just stolen from Atlantis, was hanging from his waist.

He walked up to the corpse of an Amazon warrior and stomped down mercilessly with his massive metal boots. The sound of skull shattering echoed across the plaza.

Diana's bones creaked. She stared intently at Steppenwolf, her killing intent boiling.

"Get out of my house." Diana's voice was hoarse as she pointed her Magic-Breaker Dagger at Steppenwolf's face.

Steppenwolf stopped. He lowered his head, his gaze sweeping over Diana, his eyes filled with not anger, but pure contempt.

"The Amazon's false god," Steppenwolf's voice was deep, with a metallic, hoarse resonance, "Too weak."

The moment the words left his mouth, the Steppenwolf moved.

Its massive body unleashed a speed that defied all laws of physics.

Only a sonic boom remained where he stood, Steppenwolf instantly traversed a hundred meters, appearing in front of Diana.

The giant Battle Axe was raised high, whistling through the air, and then cleaved down.

Diana raised her Aegis with both hands to meet the Battle Axe.

"Clang!"

A deafening metallic clang echoed across the square.

A massive blast of air rose into the sky, blasting away all the Amazon warriors and Parademons within a radius of several meters.

Diana's feet shattered the marble steps, her calves sinking into the ground.

The muscles in both arms were torn, the tiger's mouth was split open, and blood flowed down the wrists into the armor.

Steppenwolf, with one hand on his Battle Axe, looked down at Diana, his arm muscles bulging.

The pressure was increased again.

Diana bent her knees and knelt on one knee.

She gritted her teeth, gripped the Magic-Breaker Dagger in her right hand, and thrust it out from beneath the shield, aiming straight for the Steppenwolf's abdominal armor.

The Steppenwolf snorted coldly. Without dodging or evading, he suddenly reached out with his left hand and precisely grabbed the Magic-Breaker's blade.

The sharp blade sliced through the armor on his palm, drawing out dark red blood, but he paid no heed.

Steppenwolf used his wrist to fling Diana, shield and all, into the air.

Immediately afterwards, Steppenwolf gripped the axe handle with both hands, twisted his waist, turned around, and swung the Battle Axe horizontally.

The axe blade struck the center of the Aegis squarely.

The golden Divine Power light flashed violently before dimming completely. The immense impact passed right through the shield.

"Snap!"

Diana suffered fractures in both arms.

She spat out a mouthful of blood, and her body flew backward like a kite with a broken string.

She crashed through three marble pillars, each two meters in diameter, and finally fell into the ruins inside the Divine Temple, where she was buried under a large amount of rubble.

"Diana!" Queen Hippolyta's eyes widened in fury as she raised her sword and charged at Steppenwolf.

Steppenwolf slapped the Queen across the chest. The Queen coughed up blood, flew dozens of meters away, and fainted on the spot.

"A pointless resistance."

Steppenwolf didn't even glance at the fallen queen, heading straight for the sealed chamber beneath the Divine Temple.

He kicked the door to the secret room down.

On the central stone platform, the second Mother Box was vibrating violently, emitting red light patterns.

Several thick magical chains were tightly bound around it.

Steppenwolf stepped forward and grabbed the magic chain with one hand. He exerted force with the armor on his hand, and the chain made a screeching sound as it snapped inch by inch.

He ripped off the seal on the Mother Box.

Amidst the ruins, Diana pressed her chin against the ground, desperately trying to get up.

Her broken arms hung limply at her sides. She watched helplessly as Steppenwolf took the second Mother Box in his hands.

"No..." Diana screamed in Despair. Blood dripped continuously from the corner of her mouth.

Steppenwolf walked out of the Divine Temple. He connected the Mother Box he had just obtained with the first Mother Box at his waist.

"Click."

Gear meshing.

The two Mother Box were joined together, unleashing a towering beam of red energy.

The beam of light pierced through the dark clouds, reaching the warship in outer space.

The Steppenwolf raised its head and let out a maniacal laugh. The laughter shook the entire square.

"Only one left." Steppenwolf turned his head and looked towards the distant other side of the ocean, his eyes filled with greed.

Inside the Batcave, the Boom Tube exploded again.

Victor knelt on one knee, a pungent, burnt smell emanating from his mechanical left arm.

He forcibly maintained the passage and pulled the seriously injured Diana back.

Diana crashed onto the metal mesh floor, her arms twisted at an unnatural angle, her breastplate completely dented, and her consciousness fading.

"Prepare medical gel! High-concentration cardiac stimulant!" Bruce strode forward, supporting Diana's cervical spine with both hands, and quickly laid her flat on the emergency stretcher.

Alfred immediately brought over the equipment and sprayed the gel onto Diana's broken bone.

On the holographic projection table, the energy readings representing Themyscira and Atlantis had completely extinguished.

From the arrival of the Apokolips Fleet to the capture of two cities by the Steppenwolf, the entire process took less than two hours.

Bruce stood up and glanced at everyone in the cave.

Hal coughed up blood and leaned against the wall, Arthur's eyes were bloodshot as he gripped his Trident, Barry's face was deathly pale, and Victor's core flickered erratically in his chest.

"Leave here." Bruce's voice was cold and unwavering. "Everyone relocate. Destination: S.T.A.R. Labs."