DC (IV)

The time has come.

The evacuation of civilians has been completed, and the heroes are ready for battle.

They set off, many of them selfless, others with mixed intentions.

Humans, Alien, gods, monsters—there are over a hundred heroes from all over the world and other worlds.

The Scartaris Nexus is a passage to the Earth's core, where the Heart of Apokolips beats at this moment.

"Alright, everyone! Let's trigger a Universe- level heart attack!" The Booster Gold unleashed an Omega Beams from its chest, shooting straight towards Apokolips.

The shock was just enough to stop the heartbeat, though only for a few hundred Plancks, but that was enough.

When that core restarted, in a new and terrifying state of void rebirth, the first thing it saw was those heroes rushing towards it at top speed.

To welcome them, it gave each of them a magical vision, and each hero suddenly saw himself winning. Each of them experienced what it felt like to be the core champion, the one and only god, and to have the Universe bow down to them.

But the vision vanished shortly after it appeared, and darkness engulfed everything.

They looked around and found themselves standing in front of the arena gates.

"Alright, how do we fight?" The warmongers from the Roland Universe were all eager to get started.

Countless giants appeared before them; these were Parademons from the farthest point in time, when the Omega Effect had reached saturation. These Parademons were composed of all sorts of life forms.

Those who pass the trial first will advance—but remember—one wrong step and you're out!

The competition began as the Hell Hammer landed. Batman and Roland exchanged a glance. "Shall we start with a spectacular Ritual?"

"OK."

Roland extended his fist and collided with Batman. Red and Black Lightning, Conqueror’s Haki Infusion, shot out, and the powerful impact tore several enormous Parademons apart, carving a deep trench in the training ground.

"Master, let's give it a try too!" Francis stepped forward. "Master, let's become one!"

"Perfect Unity of Realms, Hell Reincarnation Sword!"

The two equally powerful individuals merged their thoughts in an instant, their extremely strong control allowing their power to be incredibly concentrated, resulting in an even more astonishingly powerful destructive force.

Streams of Sword Aura flew in, continuous and endless, like a myriad of flowers blooming, shooting out in all directions.

"Holy crap----"

"Yay!"

"Our boss is truly invincible!"

The atmosphere team from Roland Cathedral cheered, drawing sidelong glances from the Omega Universe's superheroes.

"Hahahaha----Let's go together and conquer this Universe!" Jason laughed loudly, leading the Homies army to charge forward, leaving Red Hood speechless.

"You know what, Harley? This is practically the inner world I've always imagined you to be in," Red Hood couldn't help but retort.

"It's not that bland."

"Ha!" The Omega Universe's Lobo charged into the battlefield, "A little-known character has appeared in a massive, cross-platform event! I'm now in extremely high danger of death!"

"You fucking said it!" Shatterpressure suddenly appeared behind him, grabbed the chains that each Czarnian carried, and swung the Lobo like Meteor Hammer.

"Forget about your dad!" Kara urged, "Let's go!"

"Good!"

Under the charge of the Roland Universe, the Parademons were completely ineffective in stopping them. The group marched forward in a mighty and orderly fashion, with over a hundred people passing the first round of trials and thus beginning the next round.

"Contestants, welcome to the second challenge." A voice rang out, "I am the Heart of Apokolips, your tournament master. Darkseid, in order to become the Omega King in his new universe, must seize and collect the power of his kind, the primordial life forms, the gods. Here, each of you must do the same thing, but the power originates from your companions, your comrades."

"Companions? Where are the companions?" Parallax Sinestro looked around. "Aren't they all opponents?"

"Hidden throughout this realm are some of the most powerful artifacts in your Universe," the Heart of Apokolips continued, recounting the rules. "This arena is the graveyard of the ancient gods slaughtered by Darkseid. These artifacts are scattered among their remains. When all the artifacts are found, the challenge ends. At that time, all those who possess the artifacts advance, and those without—"

Die!"

"There are sixteen items hidden here. When this match ends, most of you will cease to exist."

There are no rules of conduct. Nothing matters except winning.

"And remember this supreme rule—here, in this arena, if you emulate Darkseid, you will be rewarded—"

"Now, the challenge begins!"

As soon as the sound faded, many people scattered quickly.

Some people can sense the location of specific items; Hawkman sensed the Claw of Horus, Cyborg sensed the Mother Box —they quickly rushed towards the detected directions.

As for the others, they were also well-prepared. Lex Luthor's armor contained more detectors than ten of the most powerful military Satellite combined—including infrared, thermal imaging, and synthetic aperture radar—and within a second, he mapped the terrain, determined the location of every item, and then took off directly towards the energy Lantern Ring.

But the next moment, he froze in shock. In his senses, the Power Ring suddenly flew in one direction at an extremely fast speed.

[Intelligent Life has been identified.]

[Hal Jordan from the Roland Universe.]

You have a strong Willpower to overcome fear.

Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps.

[A torrent of anger is raging within you.]

[You belong to the Red Lantern Corps.]

You possess the ability to instill immense fear in others.

Welcome to the Sinestro Corps.

You have the ability to instill unwavering hope in others.

Welcome to the Blue Lantern Corps.

[You harbor a deep love within your heart.]

Welcome to Star Sapphire.

Your desires are insatiable.

[You belong to the Orange Lantern Corps.]

You possess a Compassion heart of compassion.

Welcome to the Indigo Tribe.

[Flesh and blood, Hal Jordan, awaken, you belong to the Black Lantern Corps.]

[Destiny has been waiting for you; you belong to the White Lantern Legion.]

Green Lantern from the Roland Universe stood still, spread his five fingers, and saw countless energy Lantern Ring flying straight towards him.

"How about that?" Green Lantern said smugly.

"This is cheating, isn't it?!" Kyle Reiner of the Omega Universe stared in disbelief.

"Should we go and grab it now?" asked John Stewart of Omega Universe.

"Go ahead, I'll pray for you."

At the same time, the Flash also extended his hand, just like the Green Lantern. A bolt of Speed Force lightning crossed space and struck his finger, leaving a Speed Force Ring on it.

The Flash raised an eyebrow at Green Lantern. "Looks like I can do it too."