A Darker, More Perilous Crisis Brews

The entire city was instantly frozen, the terrifying low temperatures almost killing everyone.

"Help!"

The Flash didn't dare to stop for a moment, running back and forth, his fists eliminating Parademons.

If he stopped and detached from the Speed Force, he would be captured by the laws of physics and immediately freeze to death in an environment of extreme cold where no living being could survive.

"So cold!"

Even Arthur, with his powerful physique, couldn't help but shiver as he looked up.

"Is it nuclear winter? Let me add some heat."

Hal Jordan, also with an ordinary physique but protected by his Lantern Ring, noticed his friend's distress. After hearing about his abilities, he shaped his green energy into a giant electric heater, releasing immense heat to melt the ice and snow, combating the extreme cold and creating a safe breathing space for the Flash.

"David?"

Catching Kalibak's iron rod, which was smashing down like a passenger jet, Clark looked up. Diana and the others were all drawn by this sky-altering attack, worried about David's safety.

"You try this too!"

A numb and cold sensation spread through him. David glanced at his arm, and a volcanic, scorching energy erupted, evaporating a short section of ice on his arm. Still feeling numb, with some flesh cells frozen to death, he flexed his arm and looked at Kanto.

Hum!

A colorless, invisible beam pierced the sky, causing ripples in the air, as if time and space itself were distorting under the immense power of this strike.

"Super Gravity Beam!"

Bang!

David raised a finger, and Kanto was sent flying backward like he was hit by a supersonic high-speed train. A blood hole appeared on his chest, not as if pierced, but as if crushed and caved in, with bone and flesh turned to pulp within the wound. He bled across the sky, stabilizing himself and clutching his chest in agony. Just as he was about to retaliate, another powerful and brutal strike followed, its speed like flowing light, making it impossible to react.

"Your freezing ability is indeed terrifying; it has the potential to kill me."

A beam the size of a coin crushed his bones like brittle biscuits. Cold air surged from his arm as it hung limply. Kanto screamed in pain, while David's eyes shot out purple light as he slowly advanced, gathering power and raising his hand for another attack.

"But unfortunately, you won't get another chance!"

While Kanto's cold couldn't instantly kill David, if that chilling energy hit him squarely, it would have no problem freezing him solid.

"Your body is weaker than I imagined."

Hit again, Kanto's body gained another blood hole filled with pulped flesh and shattered bone. Severely wounded, David raised his eyebrows slightly, surprised by the effect of this attack.

"Although this move isn't very proficient yet, and I can't concentrate the beam's power well, killing you seems relatively easy."

Kanto's ability allowed him to easily survive the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful nuclear bomb in human history, capable of moving continental plates. However, once his ability failed, he instantly became a paper tiger. Stripped of his powers, only his physical defense remained. David had withstood Kanto's ultimate trump card, but Kanto unfortunately did not possess such a formidable physique.

"For Darkseid!"

As the most powerful warrior of Apokolips, Kanto's pupils contracted violently, and his face contorted into a ferocious, savage expression like a wounded beast. He didn't turn to flee; instead, he roared and unleashed his cold energy, charging back at David.

"Trying to go for a final desperate attack?"

David raised his finger again, this time aiming for Kanto's head.

Bang!

It hit without a doubt. The Gravity Beam moved at near light speed. After David aimed, anyone with nerve reflexes slower than light had no chance of dodging it. The field energy, capable of effortlessly lifting mountains, condensed into a single line, and Kanto's head exploded like a watermelon, blown to smithereens!

"Impossible!"

Kalibak, wielding his Beta Club, couldn't hide his shock and let out a choked cry. Blown away by Clark, he stood up, clutching his chest, still staring in terror at Kanto's falling corpse from the sky. Steppenwolf seemed to take a direct hit, freezing in place. Diana, like a goddess of war, leaped forward, her incredibly sharp Sword of Vulcan slicing through the hind legs of his silver armor, which had been breached in previous attacks. Blood splashed everywhere, and the tall, humanoid beast fell. Wielding his axe, he roared, smashing both Diana and Hal Jordan, who were charging forward, away.

"Impossible, this world is mine! I can't remember how long I've been exiled; I want to go home!"

Steppenwolf, dragging a wounded leg, roared and tried to charge at David, who had just killed their strongest member. David glanced at Steppenwolf, and a powerful gravity field instantly restrained him, gripping his neck from a distance and lifting Steppenwolf off the ground. He couldn't condense his gravity field power so precisely before, but it was different now. The immense power pressed down on Steppenwolf's neck, his cervical vertebrae emitting sounds of unbearable strain. His pupils widened in shocked anger.

Crack!

David pinched the air mercilessly.

Steppenwolf's neck twisted at an unnatural angle. He turned into a corpse and was thrown onto the ground.

Two of the three high-ranking officials who descended upon Apokolips were now dead, leaving only one.

Everyone's gaze turned to the last remaining Kalibak, staring intently at him, their attacks poised to strike.

He paid no mind to the others' gazes, but when David's eyes fell upon him, Kalibak's body trembled. A look of panic appeared on his fierce, beast-like face. The indestructible Beta Club in his hand couldn't offer him even a sliver of security.

"I can stop attacking and leave this planet."

"No wonder Darkseid doesn't like you."

David's eyes were cold.

"You really should learn from Steppenwolf and Kanto. At least they didn't surrender until death."

He possessed a burly, terrifying physique and a rough, fierce face. When facing the weak, he was brutal and cruel, an demon among demons. But when facing someone he couldn't defeat, his cowardly nature, bullying the weak and fearing the strong, was immediately revealed.

How could that Dark Lord, who was vicious and had killed his own brothers and mother, like such a son?

"Shut up!"

Mentioning his lifelong pain, like a raw, bloody wound being torn open, Kalibak's face turned red. He roared with anger, his fury reaching its peak.

"How do you know about this? I'm going to kill you!"

His voice boomed like thunder. His body shot out like a cannonball, swinging his club at David. David raised his hand, restricting him in mid-air, and shook his head.

"I really want to see how your brain is wired.

The reason Darkseid dislikes you should include one more point – stupidity!"

Kalibak had leaped to attack David earlier, only to be caught by a gravity field. Unable to gain leverage in the air and struggling to break free, he was thrown away like trash by David. Now, he hadn't learned a single lesson.

"You look like an unevolved ape.

Your brain is the same. Truly a case of what's inside matches what's outside."

David reached out and snatched the Sword of Vulcan from Diana's hand from a distance, controlling it remotely.

Even without extreme concentration, the super gravity beam was still immensely powerful, but this move consumed too much of his mental and physical energy.

After killing Kalibak, he decided to conserve his strength.

Whoosh!

The Sword of Vulcan, capable of cutting matter at the subatomic level, pierced Kalibak's chest. His massive head looked down in disbelief. He reached out to pull it out, but under the powerful control of David's strength, the Sword of Vulcan swung horizontally, slicing his heart in half.

Scarlet internal organs sprayed out like a high-pressure water jet as his massive body collapsed.

"Fat... Father."

Kalibak reached out, as if trying to grasp something, and lost his breath in an instant.

Cyborg, who had weakly gotten to his feet, witnessed this scene and wept with excitement. The monster who had killed his father in front of him was now dead.

"It's over just like that?"

Hal Jordan was a bit stunned.

He had personally fought this monster earlier. His energy-condensed weapons had been as fragile as glass under this giant, and Steppenwolf was the same.

Batman hadn't managed to heavily injure them after fighting these two alien monsters for so long.

David had killed the strongest of the three, and then, without even half a minute, had killed the other two?

It felt like they hadn't even been needed for this battle; David could have won facing all three alone?

In reality, Clark and Diana had consumed a significant amount of Kalibak and Steppenwolf's strength, allowing David to deal with them so easily. However, Hal Jordan had been fighting Parademons and hadn't experienced the drain of their battles.

With his hands free, Clark flew into the sky, reaching his maximum speed, and together with Flash, they cleared out the remaining Parademons.

Having lost its master, the Mother Box fell to the ground, becoming silent once more.

The sky cleared. It was dawn, and the vibrant, radiant morning sun shone through the clouds, dispelling the darkness and gloom.

Everyone stood by the ruined city, gazing at the rising sun.

Apart from David's group, Hal Jordan, Flash, Cyborg, and the others felt a sense of having survived a great disaster. They had come close to never seeing the sun again.

"The world has changed.

Just a few years ago, humanity was still debating whether aliens existed.

And now, in just a few short years, alien invasions have come wave after wave."

The ashes of the Parademons' corpses lay thick on the ground. Looking at the devastated, ruined city, it gave one the illusion of being in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Batman spoke thoughtfully.

"We might need a team to protect this world."

"I remember you saying this guy was the son of a cosmic tyrant," he said, gesturing to the corpse on the ground, looking at David.

"That's right, though he was his least favorite son,"

David replied.

Although he had killed Kalibak, the matter was not over. Greater darkness and danger were still brewing.

Darkseid might descend upon Earth with his Apokolips army at any moment.

"If not for his nominal son, then for Earth's Anti-Life Equation."

Currently, there was still a considerable gap between his strength and Darkseid's.

David felt an uncharacteristic sense of urgency.

However, he didn't regret killing Kalibak. It was already fated for Darkseid to descend upon this planet once the Mother Boxes detected the absence of Kryptonian protection for the World Engine and Codex, and their connection to Apokolips.

"A team.

What do you mean, like the Power Rangers?"

Barry Allen, ever the joker, quipped.

"If we don't want the entire world to become like this desolate wasteland one day, I believe this is imperative.

When the planet beneath our feet is destroyed, we likely won't be able to escape unscathed."

Batman stated.

David knew those words were directed specifically at him, fearing he wouldn't join the team Batman was proposing.

"Although I'm not entirely familiar with the outside world.

I am prepared to face waves of powerful enemies to protect this world left behind by the gods."

Diana, as the daughter of Zeus, felt an obligation to protect humanity, as humans were created by Zeus imitating himself and the gods.

Cyborg remained silent, looking at his metallic body. He felt he could no longer return to his old life. Only by staying with these other special individuals could he feel less out of place.

"This is part of my duty."

Hal Jordan's eyes darted around. Seeing that everyone was somewhat receptive to Batman's proposal.

"But what should we call ourselves? Super Eight?"

Today, he had finally witnessed the dangers of guarding a sector. He truly wondered how other Lanterns managed to repel dangerous alien enemies time and time again, maintaining cosmic order.

After all, this was merely trouble encountered by one planet, while his assigned cosmic sector contained countless planets like Earth.

Hal Jordan was unaware that the enemies faced by other Lanterns were far less powerful. Compared to the invasion of Apokolips, their challenges were incredibly simple.

Earth was a nexus of plotlines, hence its special nature.

"Um, what is with that cliché name?"

Flash rolled his eyes, then remembered something and looked anxiously at Superman.

"Ah, Superman, I didn't mean you."

"We can discuss the name later. What we call ourselves is just a codename."

His gaze passed over Superman, who smiled nonchalantly. Batman knew Superman would join and looked towards David.

"Do you intend to join this team, Transcendent?"

"So, we're forming a team, combining our strength to resolve world-threatening crises and protect Earth?"

David asked.

"I'm not particularly interested."

"Huh?" Hal Jordan couldn't help but feel deflated.

The Transcendent was the strongest among them. Without him, they might not have been able to resist this alien invasion today.

Batman also frowned.

"However..."

Clark opened his mouth to persuade him, but David changed his tune.

"I can consider being an honorary member."

After dealing with Brainiac, the gratitude and other emotions from humanity had significantly increased his speed of acquiring emotional points.

He still had no interest in flying around fighting crime.

But when the world was threatened, he would have to act. He could be an honorary member of the Justice League that was about to be formed.

David's subsequent words made the eyes of those present light up.

...

"Today is a day of great significance in human history."

On the sunlit lawn in front of United Nations Plaza, the current Secretary-General delivered a passionate speech from behind the podium.

"Many people saw monsters in the skies above their cities but were unaware that our world was only a step away from the abyss. The past few days were the most dangerous moments our world has ever faced.

It was these heroes behind me who stepped forward and saved us."

Satellites had captured some footage of David and the others fighting, which was played on screens. The crowd in the plaza was dense, cheering loudly for the heroes who saved the world.

"Every era in history has its heroes of worship, guiding them spiritually..."

The Secretary-General was still speaking on the podium, and among the people in battle armor below, some were whispering.

"Why is it only us a few?" Hal Jordan said with a wink.

"Of the eight people who saved the world, only half have shown up."

Body Strengthening Fist +1.

Chen Xuan practiced Body Strengthening Fist once, and a text prompt suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Name: Chen Xuan Martial Arts: Body Strengthening Fist / Untrained (1/30)

A data panel appeared before Chen Xuan's eyes.

Chen Xuan, who had transmigrated to a high-martial-arts world, carried a proficiency cheat with him. For him, cultivating martial arts was all about repetition. Once the proficiency for a technique was maxed out, it would naturally break through, with no bottlenecks whatsoever.

Looking at the martial artists who toiled day and night without making any progress in their cultivation, Chen Xuan's expression was calm. "In this day and age, is there still such a thing as a cultivation bottleneck?"

-----------

Machine Translation by: https:// randomtranslator.com/

Read 777+ original & fanfic translations in English, Español, Português, Deutsch, Français, or Русский at: https:// randomtranslator.com/

Join our Discord: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua

-----------