Chapter 267: Darkness
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Hey guys, so I have officially begun my new book on Pat.reon. It's called I REAP SOULS IN MY SPARE TIME and it's a DC fic with more focus on Earth. The MC is a Soul Reaper.
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(General P.O.V)
She came from a world of both green and metal. Of fresh air and smog. Of destruction and rebirth. A world where she fought for a worthy cause and received condemnation.
Known as Poison Ivy, the public looked at her and saw a villain. A terrorist. And the truth was, they weren't wrong. She was exactly that. Someone selfish. Someone who only cared about her children. Her plants.
Yet there in laid the conflict. She had still been human. A part of her at least. Before the Green reached out and offered to get rid of the crushing loneliness Pamela Isley had grown up with.
Now she was something else.
Her evolution had gone perfectly. She was no longer human. At least not under a microscope. Gaea had prompted a change. A change that was not only physical but mental and emotional as well. She was no longer Pamela Isley, or Poison Ivy.
She was the Mistress of The Green. She was Gaea's child. One born out of a need for the last dregs of the Parliament of the Green to continue a legacy. And she would not fail her new family.
This, The mistress of The Green, the spirit of plants, swore on her new name, Iveah.
"It's stable..."
Luthor stated, looking at the readings displayed on the terminal. The Energy Harnessing machine was working perfectly to siphon out the spirit power before rerouting it to a powerful power battery with an Ordium core.
"The Spirit Vine is holding up. No degradation of it's bio material."
Zhue Li spoke up as well.
"Of course." Iveah said with an undercurrent of arrogance. She smiled lovingly at the spirit vine in the machine.
"My child is more than capable of such a trivial task."
"Incredible."
Varrick said over her shoulder, startling Iveah so much that she screamed, created a vine from her palm and slapping him away with it.
"Sir!"
Zhue Li shouted in concern as Varrick smacked onto the walls of the chamber, before sliding down comically. He raised a thumbs up.
"I'm okay." Varrick wheezed getting up and shaking his head.
"Why would you startle me like that?"
Iveah asked.
A sunflower seed fell down from her red hair and immediately sprouted into the form of a hulking monster made up of green skin and a mane of sunflower petals across it's face. It wore the rough bark of a tree across it's body as an armor of some kind and was 7 feet tall with a square face and red eyes.
"Mistress, I sensed your distress. Who do you want me to fuck up?"
The being that had been earlier known as Swamp Thing asked.
Luthor blinked his eyes.
"What?..."
"No one. I am fine now."
Iveah breathed in and released a slow breath to calm herself down.
"Okay. Holler if you need me to fuck someone up."
Then the creature exploded into a bunch of rose petals across the room, bringing with it an aromatic scent.
Lex looked around and realized he was surrounded by crazy people. Zhue Li was fussing over Varrick, even going as far as trying to stick a thermometer on his... Luthor looked away from their antics. His eyes landed on the new arrival. Iveah, Gaea had introduced her. Poison Ivy, he knew her by.
Luthor was fascinated by her new change and more than that, her enhanced abilities.
"Complete and total Control over plants...her chlorokinesis is even more enhanced than when she was plain old Poison Ivy."
Luthor observed.
His words prompted her to look at him.
"You have something to say Luthor?"
She asked with narrowed eyes. Luthor smiled.
"Is that any way to greet an old friend, Ivy?"
He drawled, charm oozing out of him.
"It's Iveah. And I do not remember you and I ever being friends, Luthor."
She answered irritated. Zhue Li and Varrick looked at at each other.
"Is this really the time to do this?"
Zhue Li asked.
Luthor bit down on the urge to call them out on their bullshit. They were even more easily distracted than he was! Then again, he had long decided to suffer the company of folks with limitations of the mental kind. Everyone was stupid, that was just the way of the world.
The smile on his face slipped off, as his stern business persona came to the forefront.
"Fair enough."
He said.
"But we're now on the same team. Let's not forget that."
Iveah said nothing in response, merely turned to the spirit vine.
"Luthor what are the readings?"
Varrick asked just as a tremor rocked the building. There was still a fight going on. And Gaea was relying on them to come up with a way to ensure that this worked. He needed this to work.
"It's..."
Luthor went silent, his eyes widening slightly in shock.
"It's working."
The statement made the rest stare at each other in surprise.
"We actually did it."
Zhue li said, launching herself to hug Varrick.
"Of course it was going to work. I never doubted it."
Varrick answered returning the hug. Then he cleared his throat and stepped back, trying to look nonchalant at the contact between him and Zhue Li.
"Ok, Zhue Li. Do the thing!"
He ordered.
While a little disappointed, Zhue Li was quick.
"Right away Sir. GAAAEEEEAAAA!!"
She shouted.
(Elsewhere)
The Dark Army all stood before Michael. Behind The Warden of the Hollowlands was a mega huge phantom of a dementor with hundreds of limbs and eyes.
"Fear has no place inside a god."
Ares spoke up, pointing his war hammer at Yaotl.
"You have something of mine. Give it back, dog."
The insult grated on Yaotl's nerves but he knew it was only just a matter of time. The dark army's forces were steadily increasing. They were now numbering in the 15000's and Gaea's forces were getting restless.
"You and I have no true enemity. Your master is a creation of the Great One himself. Give up and live. Fight and die."
Darkseid's voice boomed out.
"Sheesh...get a breath mint will ya?"
Michael said, waving his palm across his face.
Batman surveyed the scene, feeling that something was off. Michael traded insults with Darkseid but did not attack. Michael's own power and the easy way he dispatched Doomsday, someone even Superman could not beat acted as deterrent and the Dark Army did not attack. But still...Batman got the sense that that wasn't the whole picture. There was no way all 15000 plus, dark creatures could be intimidated by one person.
The other inconsistency was Vaatu. The dude was openly glowing while holding a purple energy sphere in between his hands, charging it.
The attack seemed simple and small but even Batman and the rest, could feel just how deadly the power contained inside was.
Yet, it didn't seem to cause the same reaction of caution in the Dark Army. No feelings of danger were elicited. It was as if, their instincts did not warn them. A look at Michael and Batman understood why. Unseen by most, Michael's shadow had sprouted over thousands of limbs and stretched out towards the Dark Army through the ground, touching each of their shadows.
He was manipulating their emotions, Batman theorized. Making them wary to attack but not wary of the attack Vaatu was openly charging. None of them even noticed that they were falling into a trap. Batman gulped, revaluating Michael's threat level. He could control emotions perfectly. What else could he do?
Back to the plan itself. It did not make sense that the reason for stalling the enemy was simply so that Vaatu's attack could land. There had to be something else. Yaotl might have looked like all brawn but Batman had seen beyond that facade. Inside was a very shrewd mind.
It was eye opening, all of Aden's loyal subjects were just as terrifying as him.
Bruce decided to find out if his conjectures were right, so looked at Martian Manhunter and the green alien understood what he wanted.
"You are stalling. Why?"
Batman asked through the mental link, Manhunter had created with Yaotl.
"Just wait for it."
Yaotl answered.
"Any minute now, brother. I do not think I can handle this any longer."
Vaatu warned Yaotl. Batman narrowed his eyes, Yaotl had let him hear that.
"Everyone, be on the ready."
He used Martian Manhunter to spread the warning to the rest of the forces.
"Gaea..."
Yaotl muttered...time was running out. The 20 minutes she had asked for were almost over.
Darkseid narrowed his eyes. They were planning something. Something...
"NOW!"
Gaea's shout came through.
"Vaatu! Now!"
Vaatu heard the order and quickly finished charging the power from the chaos side, divine side and spirit side inside him, into the purple ball of destruction in-between his hands. One, condensed with the power from three very potent energies. The ball shot off towards the dark army and it seemed as if it was going to land on Darkseid when the attack suddenly ascended under Vaatu's control.
The opening in the shield above them instantly closed once the ball of destruction made it through. Gaea could now pull in power from a new source, a spirit vine enhanced by the mistress of plants and using it, they could retaliate properly. The shield closing had cut off the 15000 thousand forces away from the bulk of their army which numbered in the trillions.
The ball was so powerful, none of the ones it passed could even feel or sense it. Hundreds of thousands, then millions, eventually billions of creatures from the Dark Army succumbed to the shroud of roiling energy surrounding the ball as it hurtled through space.
The power contained inside had reached a whole new level. It was akin to one of Aden's serious attacks. And taking into account that Aden could destroy a galaxy, that was saying something. The ball destroyed everything in its path as it barreled forward towards it's target, controlled not to shift it's trajectory by Gaea herself. The target was The hole in space, leading to another universe.
The minute the ball of energy reached the torn space, connecting Gaea and Universe 7, the whole realm shook and trembled as Gaea, teleported the whole realm back to it's own layer of the void, far removed from the DC multiverse. Far from the Great Darkness Influence.
Darkseid, Neron, Ares and the rest of Empty Hand's forces understood that things had just taken a turn for the worst. They were not only cut off from reinforcements, they could not even sense the rest of their forces.
In a desperate bid to destroy them before they were overwhelmed, they all attacked. Omega beams bigger than before, enhanced by the Great Darkness came out of Darkseid's eyes. The former New God yelled out in exertion as the beams took on a dark red color. Tainted Divine weapon constructs from Ares flashing with black lightning shot out of the god. A large beam of destructive demonic energy blazed out of Neron, the edges lined with hell fire.
Now if Vaatu had the most destructive abilities out of Aden's divine Spirits, then Yaotl was the opposite. His defense capabilities were his strongest point. A shield made of ornate gold covered his front fully. Then it expanded into a dome of golden energy that covered all his allies and himself.
All those attacks slammed onto the shield, heavily. The attacks failed to make it through. Instead of bouncing off and washing out into the already devastated surroundings, the shield started consuming them. Yaotl felt his own divine reserves refill as the energy in the attacks was converted and consumed.
Then he added those reserves to the strength of the shield, allowing it to become even harder to break through.
More energy spilled out of the resurrected Darkseid, Neron and Ares. The darkness adding more power to each of their individual attacks. Yaotl frowned as he felt a corrosive effect take over the shield.
Then a torrential amount of power immediately started coursing through him. He looked behind him and saw Dr.Fate gripping his shoulder, behind him everyone within the shield were holding hands. Yaotl realized they were transferring energy and stamina from each of the over 1000 people around to Dr.Fate and then Fate channeled it into Yaotl.
"Finish this."
Fate told him.
Yaotl smiled. The shield he was controlling grew thicker as the corrosive effect became inert. It could not take hold faster than Yaotl could get rid of it.
"Brother, anytime now."
Yaotl told Michael, using both hands to maintain the shield.
"And now for my final act. Bind!"
From small portals in the ground and in the case of fliers in the sky, long pale hands shrouded with a thin black clothing, reached out and grabbed every single member of the dark army on their legs and other parts of their bodies, holding them in place.
The strongest of the army, Darkseid and the other two contemptuously shrugged off the hold, their energy managing to destroy or at least harm the hands. However, they had no idea Michael could endlessly produce and control countless dementors.
The Hollowlands creatures replaced each of their destroyed compatriots and when thousands of dementor hands managed to grab on to each of the three, there was nothing they could do within a short time frame.
And that was all Yaotl needed. With the attacks from the Dark Army ceasing due to the dementors distracting and immobilizing them, Yaotl made his move.
The shield under his control, meant to protect also had another function. Using the mysteries of his divinity, he could send back an absorbed attack... With ten times the initial power. The shield groaned as it started pulsing with all the stored energy.
The Dark Army grew restless as Yaotl added the energy of all his allies on top of his immense divine energy and the energy from the absorbed attacks. The shield begun thumping as more and more power was added to it and then compressed.
An enormous beam, shining white with specks of different colored energies like the green lanterns will power, A lord of Order's mystic energy, a Kryptonian's solar energy, magic from Zatara and more, exploded out of the shield. All that power was carried forward by Yaotl spiritual divine energy, reaching a scary level that was above even what Vaatu could produce.
Empty Hand, through the eyes of Darkseid could not believe how things had gone from good to worse in only a few minutes. He had thought that only 'that' man was dangerous. Now, observing through the eyes of what had been once a galactic warlord of immense power, he understood just how much he had underestimated Aden's forces.
First Vaatu had sent an attack that destroyed Earth 7 where Empty Hand had been, recovering from his first ever loss. 99% of his being, separate from The Great Darkness had been destroyed by Aden. Even for a cosmic entity with incredible power like Empty Hand, that...Order... thing...it scared him.
He had been utterly and completely beaten. His true form destroyed. Even now, he had only been brought back but not fully healed. Order energy still wreaked havoc across his metaphysical being. A power that was so potent that even if you were resurrected, it still did not cease attacking you.
So it was with alot of glee that he attacked his realm in retaliation. But never had he thought that Aden's subjects were formidable as well.
He had lost.
For the second time.
One might have expected Empty Hand to rage and curse. Instead, he smiled.
"Well done...brother. You truly are Master's creation."
Empty Hand was at last convinced that his defeat was warranted and because Aden Strong was a special project of The Great Darkness, it did not sting him to accept the loss.
There was one thing that was special amongst all the beings from the Dark Multiverse, the Darkness, never really left them. Whether Aden Strong knew it or not, inside him, the will of The Great Darkness lived on.
Darkseid and the rest were drowned out by the light.
Gaea had won.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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