Chapter Summaries

Deathstroke’s group searched the White Forest for the Star Seed, using Lex Luthor’s device to locate the strongest Crisis Energy. An Apokolips army appeared in their path, and the Legion of Doom charged into battle.

• Luthor scanned the area and Deathstroke ordered the team to search the forest for the Star Seed, which Su Ming described as a glowing blue almond.
• Cheetah and Grodd warned that the forest made them uneasy, while Su Ming said the feeling came from approaching a Creator God.
• Luthor connected the Door Handle of Destruction to his locator and identified the direction of the strongest Crisis Energy.
• The group followed the locator through the growing forest until an Apokolips army suddenly appeared before them.
• Luthor attacked with his Palm Cannons and called for the Legion of Doom to charge, while Ocean Master impaled a Parademon and shouted, “For Atlantis!”

Damian used King Robin’s giant Scare Box to draw in and kill the Parademons, giving the Legion of Doom an opening to attack. While Deathstroke coached Damian and She-Ra from cover, they realized the Apokolips vanguard was unusually small and might not be loyal to Darkseid.

• Damian threw a giant Scare Box into the battlefield, drawing the Parademons away from the Legion of Doom’s forces.
• Damian activated the box, unleashing Joker heads that terrified the gathered Parademons to death.
• Sinestro attacked the exposed Apokolips robots and Musketeer Legion while Cyborg and the gorilla charged.
• Deathstroke pulled Damian and She-Ra into cover and told Damian to study the enemy forces rather than rush into battle.
• Damian observed that the Parademons were few in number and that the New Gods’ core forces and War Dog Legion had not appeared.
• Su Ming pointed out the Parademons’ unusual behavior, and Damian concluded that the Apokolips troops might not be loyal to Darkseid.

Su Ming and the Legion of Doom faced Yuga Khan, who revealed that his forces had come to conquer beyond the Source Wall, not to help Darkseid. Yuga Khan invited Deathstroke to join him and threatened to kill everyone when Deathstroke refused to commit.

• Cyborg and Orm used the upgraded washing machine and Orm’s water-controlling artifact to sweep Apokolips troops from the battlefield.
• A heavy pressure silenced the battle as the Apokolips soldiers withdrew and a towering, axe-wielding figure emerged.
• Deathstroke recognized the newcomer as Zonos, and the man identified himself as Yuga Khan.
• Yuga Khan explained that he had watched Deathstroke defeat Perpetua and The Batman Who Laughs, then invited him to join his campaign of conquest.
• Deathstroke refused to join Yuga Khan, who offered him a choice between death and joining before threatening to kill everyone.

The chapter recounted Yuga Khan’s failed attempt to break through the Source Wall and explained how Darkseid seized power on Apokolips after his mother arranged the death of his beloved Suli. It ended with Highfather’s rise as Darkseid’s enemy and the narrator’s claim that he was now dead.

• The narrator described how constant attacks and destruction made industry and civilian life precarious on Earth-0.
• Yuga Khan became curious about the Source beyond the Source Wall and tried to smash through it, but Perpetua and the wall trapped him as a statue.
• After Yuga Khan departed, Heggra took control of his forces, while Darkseid fell in love with the captive scientist Suli.
• Heggra ordered Desaad to kill Suli, so Darkseid defeated Steppenwolf, took command of the military, and killed his mother in revenge.
• Darkseid threw his brother Izaya into the void, but Izaya survived on Genesis and became Highfather, his opponent.

Yuga Khan returned from the Source Wall, reclaimed his rule, and later came to confront Deathstroke over the Star Seed. As Deathstroke prepared to fight him, Luthor and the others fled to find the seed, uncertain what Deathstroke intended to do with it.

• Yuga Khan escaped the Source Wall, defeated Darkseid, and ruled the Multiverse before returning to the wall to pursue a way beyond it.
• After Yuga Khan left, Darkseid escaped his cell, defeated Highfather, and destroyed Genesis; Highfather later established New Genesis.
• Deathstroke challenged Yuga Khan to a face-to-face battle, and Yuga Khan gladly accepted, promising to kill Uxas afterward.
• Luthor had Cyborg carry the others away from the battlefield while Deathstroke held Yuga Khan back.
• Damian explained that they planned to find the Star Seed before Yuga Khan could claim it, but Luthor warned that Yuga Khan would never negotiate.

Su Ming used questions about Yuga Khan’s honor and family to stall him while Luthor’s group escaped with the Star Seed. Yuga Khan answered proudly, and Su Ming signaled the smoke to act as the spatial fractures began to heal.

• Su Ming realized Luthor had taken the Legion of Doom ahead, leaving him to hold off Yuga Khan’s army.
• Su Ming pieced together how Zola and Constantine had drawn him into the conflict while seeking a way out of the sealed multiverse.
• As space fractured around them, Su Ming challenged Yuga Khan’s honor and threatened his reputation to make him pause.
• Yuga Khan admitted he had noticed Su Ming before and wanted him as a subordinate, then called both of his sons trash.
• Yuga Khan said he would kill Darkseid and prove himself the strongest Protoss warrior, while Su Ming signaled the bluish-gray smoke to act.

Su Ming avoided fighting Yuga Khan directly and used the Dream of a Thousand Cats to engage him while Deathstroke and Strangle cleared the Apokolips forces. The two reality-warping fighters remained locked in battle in a tear in the void, so Su Ming asked Dream to send him into the fight.

• Su Ming judged Yuga Khan too dangerous to fight head-on and relied on the Dream of a Thousand Cats to attack him.
• The cat lunged at Yuga Khan as Deathstroke charged into the Apokolips army and cut down its soldiers.
• Deathstroke cleared the battlefield with Strangle while searching for Dream, who slept upright at its edge.
• Dream told Su Ming that Yuga Khan and the cat were both altering reality and might remain deadlocked for ten days to half a month.
• Su Ming asked Dream to send him into the dream, and silver-gray Sands of Time wrapped around him.

Deathstroke joined Big Cat in fighting Yuga Khan, then revealed that he had been waiting for the World Will to empower him. The chapter ended as the Power of Grayskull struck his Lightsaber, giving the heroes overwhelming reinforcements against Khan.

• Daniel transported Deathstroke through humanity's dreams and into Big Cat's dream, where Big Cat and Yuga Khan were battling.
• Deathstroke and Big Cat confronted Khan, who dismissed their warnings and challenged them to attack together.
• Deathstroke said he had a plan and waited for the right moment while he and Big Cat circled Khan.
• Deathstroke invoked the Power of Grayskull, and a golden bolt struck his Lightsaber as the World Will arrived to aid him.

Deathstroke used Zola’s aid and the power of Grayskull to strengthen himself and Dream of a Thousand Cats, then fought Yuga Khan with tactical tricks and dirty attacks. Yuga Khan struggled against the world itself turning against him and cursed Deathstroke as the assault continued.

• Zola empowered Deathstroke, who shared the power with Dream of a Thousand Cats and mounted the armored cat.
• Deathstroke and Yuga Khan clashed, and Deathstroke found himself stronger while Yuga Khan suffered inexplicable misfortune.
• Deathstroke retreated from Yuga Khan’s leaping strike and shot him in the crotch with a Tenth Metal bullet.
• Deathstroke charged and withdrew again, then threw itching powder and lime into Yuga Khan’s face as Zola and Dream contested his control of reality.
• Yuga Khan realized the world was resisting him, cursed Deathstroke, and received another cheap shot in response.

Deathstroke and Zola continued their battle against Yuga Khan, using ranged attacks and poisons before preparing to engage him at close range. Meanwhile, Luthor and the others arrived and learned that Deathstroke was pursuing Khan through the past, while Dream revealed that an aphrodisiac was the only poison that had worked.

• Deathstroke reflected Yuga Khan's Omega Beams and used Tenth Metal bullets, but decided the fight had to end in close combat.
• Deathstroke gave Felix Felicis to the Big Cat, then charged Yuga Khan with a spear as the cat warned that Khan might still have hidden strength.
• Luthor, Damian, Cheetah, and She-Ra arrived at the battlefield and asked Dream about Deathstroke's progress.
• Dream told Luthor that Yuga Khan had escaped to a point in the past and Deathstroke was pursuing him.
• Damian reported that Zola appeared differently to every kind of observer, and Dream said Deathstroke had already anticipated this.
• Dream told Cheetah that Deathstroke had tried more than seven hundred poisons, but an aphrodisiac alone had worked on Yuga Khan.

Su Ming returned from his brutal battle with Yuga Khan while Dream’s monotonous commentary had lulled nearly everyone into sleep. He revealed that the Origin Court had targeted Multiverse 1 and urged the Endless to prepare after Darkseid’s matter was settled.

• Sinestro asked to watch the battle, but Daniel refused, warning that seeing it could destroy them, and explained why Deathstroke could withstand Yuga Khan’s presence.
• Luthor asked Daniel to describe the fight, and Daniel’s repetitive account put the group to sleep as Deathstroke fought Yuga Khan.
• Su Ming emerged wounded, found the others asleep, and said he preferred fighting mages to enduring a warrior as tough as Yuga Khan.
• Su Ming dismissed his questions about Darkseid’s family as a tactic to distract Yuga Khan, then speculated that Steppenwolf might be bald beneath his helmet.
• Su Ming told Strangle and Dog Leftovers that the Origin Court had set its sights on Multiverse 1 and said the Endless needed warning.
• Su Ming said the DC Main Multiverse was among the Omniverse’s most crisis-prone places and that no universe was darker.

After waking the group from Dream’s enchantment, Su Ming said goodbye to Goddess Zola and She-Ra and led his companions through a concealed passage toward Darkseid’s Omega Earth. The group discussed their plan to confront Darkseid first and considered what his Earth-like world might contain.

• Luthor woke after Deathstroke’s prank and retaliated by tricking the sleeping Sinestro into thinking Hal had arrived.
• Su Ming said goodbye to Goddess Zola, gave She-Ra a parting gift, and agreed that she would serve as their In-Betweener.
• The Cloak carried the group through a hidden breach in the World Barrier while concealing them from the Hand of the Void.
• Su Ming explained that they would deal with Darkseid before using Omega Energy to draw the Hand of the Void away.
• Damian and Luthor reasoned that Omega Earth had an Omega Effect field and might contain humans ruled by Darkseid.

Deathstroke and his group arrived at Omega Earth, a black, heavily militarized world under Darkseid’s influence, and decided they needed a hidden forward base before searching for him. Orm volunteered to establish it beneath the ocean, where they could await reinforcements.

• Deathstroke’s group surveyed Omega Earth and saw its darkened surface covered in metal structures and mobilizing forces.
• Cyborg suffered a painful reaction to Darkseid’s presence, but Deathstroke knocked him out of it, and Luthor explained that Deathstroke’s darkness had pushed back the Omega Effect.
• Deathstroke determined that the universe was a Single Universe dominated by darkness and that life across the Solar System had likely been brainwashed by the Anti-Life Equation.
• Deathstroke said Darkseid was somewhere in the universe and proposed finding a safe place to establish a forward base and guide reinforcements.
• Luthor offered the Amazo Legion aboard Divinity, while Deathstroke said he had also prepared troops and needed a concealed teleportation node.
• Orm volunteered to use his Quindent to create an oxygen-filled dome in the deepest ocean trench as their base.

Su Ming’s group debated where to hide near Omega Earth and decided that Divinity was too valuable to risk. Su Ming proposed concealing a base inside the Sun, and he asked Dream of a Thousand Cats whether it could create one.

• Orm proposed building an underwater sanctuary, but the group rejected the plan as too dangerous to approach Earth under the Omega Effect field.
• Sinestro warned that touching the field would alert Darkseid’s forces, and Luthor cautioned that the universe might be serving Darkseid.
• Sinestro suggested the Anti-Matter Universe, but Luthor rejected it and proposed using Divinity as their base instead.
• Deathstroke argued that Divinity should not remain in this universe, and the group fell silent until Cheetah asked what they should do.
• Su Ming proposed hiding inside the Sun with help from Dream of a Thousand Cats and Daniel, then asked the cat whether it could create a concealed landing zone there.

Deathstroke used Dream of a Thousand Cats to create a fortified base at the center of the sun, then summoned the allied teams to gather there. The Justice League and Outlaws arrived safely, and Deathstroke realized someone was still missing.

• Dream of a Thousand Cats created a moon-sized base inside the sun for Deathstroke and his allies.
• Deathstroke entered the base, contacted Adjutant, and ordered her to bring Bobo and Batwoman to rendezvous.
• Adjutant confirmed that Batwoman and Lady Deathstroke’s teams were safe and fully accounted for.
• The Justice League and Outlaws arrived through The Doorway, where Batwoman greeted Slade and Superman checked in with Luthor.
• Deathstroke surveyed the gathered allies and noticed that someone was still missing.

Su Ming gathered the heroes and villains at the sun’s center while they examined Cyborg’s transformation and discussed Dream of a Thousand Cats. After Cindy reported the speedsters’ discovery about Omega and the Speed Force, Su Ming asked Enchantress to test whether Hell and Heaven existed in this universe.

• The Justice League and Legion of Doom examined Cyborg’s new appearance while their uneasy alliance held together.
• Bobo worried that Dream of a Thousand Cats might endanger the team, but Su Ming reassured him that Daniel was there as protection.
• Su Ming startled Bobo by revealing that Big Cat had heard his remarks, then went inside with Little Dai.
• Cindy told Su Ming that Reverse-Flash and Jesse Quick had linked Omega’s communication with the Speed Force to the Black Runner, with help from Dr. Swann.
• Su Ming asked Enchantress to sense for Heaven and Hell or summon a demon to see whether anything answered.

As reinforcements gathered for the coming battle, Su Ming and the others discussed how to find the Gray-White Masked Man who had kidnapped Barry. Su Ming decided to hunt him with Dr. Swann and Jesse while everyone else waited for more troops and supplies.

• Superboy-Prime introduced Jesse Quick to the gathered heroes, and she watched the incoming fleet with curiosity.
• Su Ming, Bobo, Cindy, and Enchantress discussed the Masked Man and ways to locate or kill him, while Red Hood argued that speedsters should pursue him through the Speed Force Plane.
• Su Ming said he, Dr. Swann, and Jesse would go after the Masked Man and ordered the others to wait for reinforcements and supplies.
• Superboy-Prime warned that the universe's layers of Hypertime could be dangerous, then started playing a stolen game console.

Deathstroke assembled a team to draw out the Masked Man, bringing J'onn along to protect against psychic attacks and watch over the mission. He disguised himself as Barry and set out with J'onn, who took Deathstroke’s form, to use the two decoys as bait.

• Batwoman suggested that Deathstroke take J'onn along for psychic protection and to keep an eye on him.
• Deathstroke accepted Batwoman’s suggestion, assigned Cindy and Batwoman to guard the base and coordinate with Luthor, and told Bobo to help hold the base.
• Deathstroke gave J'onn Chocolate Frogs and explained that they would need his mental strength against the Masked Man.
• Jesse asked how they would find the Masked Man, and Deathstroke explained that they would lure him by posing as Barry.
• Deathstroke transformed into Barry, and J'onn transformed into Deathstroke to serve as decoys in the Fishing Plan.

Su Ming and his allies ran through Darkseid’s newly created Speed Force Plane while discussing why he wanted to capture Barry. They suspected the empty plane lacked the Black Flash, a force representing death and the Speed Force’s cleanup system.

• Su Ming considered how emotionless mechanical armies could resist mind control and calculated the cost of the battle against Darkseid’s forces.
• Jessica, Reverse-Flash, Jesse, Martian Manhunter, and Su Ming searched the unfamiliar Speed Force Plane for a suitable place to lure the Masked Man.
• Jessica and Reverse-Flash inferred that Darkseid had created the plane while trying to form his own Multiverse.
• Su Ming proposed that Darkseid created the Speed Force Plane to connect to Hypertime but needed a missing force representing both the Speed Force and an ending to control it.
• Jesse suggested the missing force was the Black Flash, which served as the Speed Force’s cleanup system.

Su Ming reasoned that Darkseid planned to overwrite Multiverse 1’s Speed Force Plane with a new timeline, and that Barry Allen was the essential component his plan was missing. He kept his deduction secret while the group chose to enter a random Time Point and rest.

• Su Ming recalled how Barry had been turned into Black Flash and later the Black Runner, then saved by Batwoman and the Justice League.
• Su Ming concluded that Darkseid meant to create a new Speed Force Plane on Omega Earth and use it to overwrite the timelines of Multiverse 1.
• Su Ming realized that Barry Allen was the only person who could fulfill the roles Darkseid needed to activate the plan, but he hid that conclusion from J'onn in case the Masked Man was watching.
• Reverse-Flash suggested that the group find a place to rest, and Barry agreed while pretending to be exhausted.
• J'onn, disguised as Deathstroke, agreed to visit a Time Point in the past, and the four entered a glowing opening together.