Regicide
Justinian glanced at the holographic projection of the Regicide game which he decided to scale up to a universal war between the armies of Apokolyps and Justinian's Imperium.
"The rules of this game are simple. Your armies, against mine. We will see who can hold an entire galaxy or more against the other. You and I are the Kings, the rest of our armies are our pieces."
Justinian paused as he glanced over at the Paradooms hanging behind Darkseid.
"By the way, I see you upgraded your Parademons. Using Doomsday's DNA was a good idea might I add. You have my compliments."
Darkseid squinted his eyes as he studied the projection rather than answer.
"A game using our war? I will humor you, consider it a mercy that I will even give you my time."
Justinian didn't humor that with anger and instead, he waved his hand and connected his mind to the hologram.
"I take I don't need to explain how this works."
Darkseid didn't answer and instead, he did the same as Justinian to use his mind for the regicide game. With that, the chess board took shape which was a copy of the universe they were standing in.
The Imperium and the territory that Justinian controlled took shape and Apokolyps which was situated outside the Universe. Justinian pointed at Darkseid as he gave him the first move.
"Your move."
Darkseid with a thought began to send fleets from the God Space into the Universe through Boom Tubes, but not directly against The Territory of space controlled by The Imperium. Last time his fleet tried to enter Imperial-controlled space directly they were torn apart and he lost Steppenwolf and Kalibak.
Justinian watched as Darkseid sent his fleets against the Milky Way Galaxy, but mostly from the Eastern rim. Darkseid sent several fleets as his purpose was to acquire more genetic material to create more Paradooms.
Justinian watched on as Darkseid's fleet released the new Paradooms which made short work of any planetary defense forces of these planets. Their population was later collected and converted into new Paradooms that were then sent against other habitable words to continue the process.
Darkseid turned to Justinian as it was his turn.
"Your move."
Justinian's first order of business was to prevent Darkseid from creating more Paradooms so he directed the 1st through 10th Legions of Space Marines toward the fleets of Darkseid. He wasn't going to let Darkseid get a foothold in the Milky Way as that would just be annoying in the game later.
Darkseid watched as ten gigantic fleets used their Warp Drives to open portals directly to the Eastern arm of the Milky Way where he had his fleets converting different species into Paradooms.
Both Justinian and Darkseid watched with interest as the 10 Space Marine Fleets exited the Warp Portals into the systems his fleets were conquering. Darkseid gazed at the Fleets of the Dark Angels, Swords of Domination, Emperor's Children, White Scars, Space Wolves, Imperial Fists, Night Lords, Blood Angels, and Iron Hands split up to clash against his fleets.
Each of the fleets sent had almost 500-600 ships, and when put together they had almost 5,000-6,000 ships many gigantic and armed with extreme levels of firepower. Each fleet was controlled by a Sentient A.I that coordinated their entire fleet to the most minute of details.
Each fleet fought by itself as they entered the systems that Darkseid's fleets were attacking. Justinian sat back as he watched Darkseid as it was time for his move. Darkseid squinted his eyes as his fleets turned their weapons toward the ships entering through the systems through their Warp Drives.
The Paradooms were directed to attack the ships as they came close, but each ship was protected not just by powerful Void Shields, but the Librarians of each fleet created psychic and magical barriers to increase the defenses of each ship.
The shipbays of The Space Marine Legions opened up as streams of Star Ships, Predakons, Kryptonians, Tyranids, Men of Iron, and Space Marines flew into the void. Darkseid's ships did the same, releasing Star Ships, Paradooms, and other Apokolyptian weapons.
Justinian watched with interest as the battle in the void began to take place. He watched as hoards of Paradooms charged toward his forces. Packs of Predakons charged into hoards of Paradooms.
The Cyber Dragons unleashed streams of fire that filled the void incinerating countless Paradooms. They ripped and tore others apart with their rending claws, razor-sharp fangs, and their blade-like wings.
At first, Justinian observed with amusement as he saw that his Predakons were still as devastating as he knew they were. However, as the battle went on he began to notice some things.
His Predakons could tear Paradooms apart, but it seemed that the reverse was also true. In large enough numbers, Paradooms could overwhelm single Predakons which caused the others to take note.
With interest, he observed the Paradooms which were truly the ideal weapon. They were able to be mass-produced, they were strong enough to match the strongest of foes, and much like Doomsday itself, they could adapt.
The longer the battle went on, the stronger, more resilient, and aggressive they became. Their adaptation wasn't as good as the original, but it still helped heal and prevent them from taking damage from the same type of injury. However, his Predakons were not his only aerial force. The moment the Kryptonians, Space Marines, and Tyranids took to the fray things got more wild.
He watched as entire companies of Space Marines flew into the fray slashing, shooting, and tearing Paradooms apart. He saw squads of Tyranids led by their Swarm Lord tear and consume Paradooms, but since it was Darkseid's turn he opened more Boom Tubes causing more Paradooms to enter the battle.
Not just that, more ships continued to stream through reinforcing Darkseid's fleets. At the same time, Darkseid sent more of his ships, into the galaxy but this time from the North of the Galaxy. The ten Space Marine fleets and their auxiliary squads didn't retreat or cower and instead faced the reinforcements with cold indifference.
Justinian and Darkseid watched as a Librarian of the Dark Angels took to the fight against the fleet his Legion had chosen to face. The Space Marine was gigantic as he was a true Elite, not just a Warrior. He stood 25 feet tall and when he drew his sword, the blade shimmered with barely restrained psymagical energy.
With a roar, he charged toward the fleets of Apokolyps using his Psymagic prowess to enhance his swordsmanship with arcs of Space tearing energy. Darkseid watched as this single Librarian tore through hoards of Paradooms which were then consumed by the Tyranids.
Those Tyranids began to adapt, grow larger, and more ferocious and their Swarm Lord pushed them harder. Any wounded Paradoom was set upon not being able to use their numbers effectively.
Even worse was when Darkseid watched as the Dark Angel Librarian managed to destroy several of his ships by himself. Darkseid squinted his eyes as Justinian's forces were even more powerful than he expected.
This Librarian continued to tear his ships apart and it was Justinian's turn this time. To face the fleets moving from the North, Justinian once again used ten more of his crusading fleets. At any time he had 30 such fleets taking territory, but this time he used them for this war.
The 11th Legion through the 20th Legion once again used their Warp Drives to get to the battle zone instantly. The Space Marine Legions of the Spears of Supremecy, World Eaters, Ultramarines, Death Guard, Thousand Sons, Luna Wolves, Word Bearers, Salamanders, Raven Guard, and The Alpha Legion.
Darkseid's fleets didn't even get the chance to collect biological material as they were set upon instantly. Seeing that his move didn't work, Darkseid raised his hand to his chin. While this game was meaningless, he decided to use it to get a feel for how Justinian fought his wars.
Seeing that these fleets he sent out were instantly attacked, meant that Justinian had a lot of fleets and bodies to throw at the problem. However, their in lied the problem of Apokolyps as while Darkseid had a big population his citizens were all terrified and afraid of him.
He was their god and he was the only god they knew with nothing but cruelty. As for the armies of Justinian, many knew they were cloned in laboratories, but they never felt less than for that reason. No one in The Imperium would dare to call a Man of Iron, a Clone, or Alien something other than Imperial.
They all were the same under the arms of the benevolent Emperor. That is why when the time came for them to fight, the forces of Justinian fought harder as their lives were not going to be thrown away. Even in this simulation of Regicide this fact still remained.
Darkseid however, glanced at the universal map as he decided to do something different. After Justinian's Space Marine Legions now were facing his fleets in the Milky Way he didn't cut support.
With his move, he did a few things. He continued to send reinforcements to the fleets that were engaged to Justinian's Space Marine Legions. He wasn't just going to control the Milky Way, his goal for this game was to completely find out what made The Imperium tick.
His main move was that he sent some of his fleets not into the Milky Way, but into the Andromeda Galaxy. He set more of his fleets to harvest organic material to send those Paradooms back to face the Legions.
With his move secure, Darkseid glanced back at Justinian.
"Done."
As Justinian was looking at the projection, he made his move. He sent out three of his ships, just three. The Conqueror, The Vengeful Spirit, and The Invincible Reason. He sent out these three 100-mile-long ships into the Andromeda Galaxy. These ships could be controlled by Soundwave even at a distance of millions of light years away. Unlike usual, the ships were absolutely empty as just the ships themselves were all that was needed.
However, alongside each ship, he sent out one of his creations from his laboratory. These included a Void Kraken, his Void Serpent, and something special he had created for fun.
A hybrid of a Demon, Zarnian, Dragon, and New God which was a dark crimson black dragon with three heads like King Ghidorah. His three ships and their monstrous escort moved not through War Drives but were instead teleported to their destination by Justinian's piece of himself.
Darkseid, snarled when he saw the three gigantic ships and those beasts that moved with them. Even more so he was infuriated when he saw that The Conqueror, Invincible Reason, and The Vengeful Spirit were beyond powerful.
Soundwave like a conductor, controlled the thousands of weapon batteries across the gigantic hulls of his ships to slaughter Paradooms and Apokolyptian Ships. As for the monstrous escorts, The Void Kraken and Void Serpent were so massive that even the void ships with their main weapons struggled to pierce through durable hides.
Darkseid grit his teeth as he watches these beasts consume hoards of Paradooms and his ships. The Demonic Zarnian Dragon God's three heads unleashed blasts of energy that destroyed entire fleets.
Justinian smiled as he wasn't actually enhancing these beasts more than what they could do. He just hadn't faced a foe he could release them against so he just kept them in his lab. What this meant was that he could actually see his creations battle for real.
"Adding the DNA of Doomsday was good, but when you add it to Parademons the results are a bit whimpy aren't they?"
That wasn't true at all, as the Paradooms were in fact able to kill Space Marines, Kryptonians, Predakons, and other of Justinian's troops, it just took extreme numbers. For every soldier that Justinian lost, they took scores of Paradooms with them.
Darkseid at first had considered this game beneath him, but losing would be shameful. It would mean that his usual strategy of battle would not work against The Imperium as he was losing.
He squinted his eyes as he glanced at the projection as his mind made several calculations. With a wave of his hand, he sent as many Paradooms and Parademons as he could to continue to reinforce his crumbling battle lines.
Just Paradooms could not win him victory and his own population wasn't up to the task. The game of Regicide continued for hours with each move affecting entire systems of multiple galaxies.
As the game progressed Darkseid began to realize that his worst enemy was his own weak population. His Apokolyptians could never face some of Justinian's troops. Each Tempestus Scion, Psian Jackel, Krork, and above were elites in some sense.
Darkseid began to use some of the weapons of Apokolyps that could destroy galaxies. His plan was to win by annihilating the Milky Way, Justinian managed to prevent the destruction of The Milky Way by teleporting the explosive directly back at Apokolyps.
That infuriated Darkseid, but at the 12-hour mark when the last of Darkseid's invading fleets had been destroyed, Justinian ended the game by launching a full-scale invasion of Apokolyps. 20 Space Marine legions which made it to Apokolyps through Boom Tubes.
The game didn't continue after that as the projection of the universal map turned off. With the game lost, Darkseid raised a hand to his face as he pondered on the game.
"This game, what is it again?"
Justinian sat back as he explained.
"Regicide, a game played in my time as training for void battles. You personally are strong Darkseid, your Parademons are also good beasts of war. The Paradooms are even better, but they are mindless. Just drones and your own people aren't even worth growing plants in my Empire.
Apokolyps is powerful yes only because of you. Ever thought of branching out from Parademons."
Darkseid stood up as he prepared to leave. He wasn't going to grace Justinian with a response, but he didn't expect one thing. Justinian stood up and called out to him.
"Darkseid."
He turned around to look at Justinian.
"A good game it was. Now, I know to not expect much. See you next time."
Rather than let Darkseid leave with his Avatar, Justinian lunged at him and he punched his entire fist into the chest of Darkseid's avatar. With a roar, Darkseid grabbed Justinian's arm as he began to try to remove the fist stabbing him.
{Gluttony.}
A literal flood of The Omega Effect flowed into Justinian's being which was devoured by his Aether to empower itself. The Omega Effect holding Darkseid's Avatar was all devoured causing Darkseid's avatar to crumble into dust.
---
Outside the Multiverse, True Form Darkseid who had Avatars across the multiverse always felt when one died. This was the third Avatar that had died to Justinian and those related to him. Darkseid was loath to admit, but his usual Avatars were not up to the task.
He would need something more, something better. He needed a host that he could possess. As long as he had a vessel, he could create an Avatar strong enough to hold his power to kill and destroy Justinian for good.
'I will not stand for this humiliation.'
Darkseid would destroy Justinian and everything he cared about. He would stop at nothing to see it done.
(p atreon.com/A_Real_Werewolf234)