Superman felt the bones in his hand grinding together under the immense pressure. His jaw clenched, his entire arm trembling as he poured more energy into his muscles, pushing back against the Grand Regent's crushing grip.
Thragg's expression remained utterly serene. Not a bead of sweat. Nor a flicker of strain. His dark eyes locked onto Clark's with the calm, patient intensity of a predator watching prey struggle in its jaws.
Clark's knuckles turned white. The pressure was astronomical, far beyond anything he'd felt outside of fighting Doomsday. His hand felt like it was being compressed in a hydraulic press, the bones threatening to splinter under the relentless force.
He's not even trying, Clark realized with a cold shock of dread. This is effortless for him.
"ENOUGH!"
Battle Beast's roar shattered the tension like a thunderclap.
The massive alien warlord slammed the butt of his battleaxe against the hull of the dreadnought, the impact reverberating through coliseum.
"Save your passion for the fight, my guests!" Battle Beast bellowed, his yellow eyes blazing with manic excitement. "I did not summon you here to squeeze each other's hands like nervous lovers! I want blood! I want combat! Save your strength for the arena, or I will tear you both apart myself!"
Thragg released Superman's hand.
Clark pulled back immediately, his arm dropping to his side as he floated backward toward the Justice League formation. His hand throbbed with a deep, aching pain that radiated up through his wrist and forearm.
Icon was the first to notice.
"Superman," Icon said quietly, his golden eyes narrowing as he looked at Clark's right hand. "Your hand... it looks sprained."
Clark flexed his fingers slowly, wincing as sharp jolts of pain shot through the joints. The bones hadn't broken, but they'd come dangerously close. His enhanced healing was already working to repair the microfractures and torn ligaments, but it would take a little time.
"I'm fine," Clark said through gritted teeth, though his voice lacked its usual confidence.
Kara floated closer, her blue eyes wide with concern and anger. "Clark, he—"
"I said I'm fine, Kara," Clark interrupted, his tone sharper than he intended. He took a slow breath, forcing himself to calm down. "Just... stay alert. This is could get ugly."
Across the space, Thragg drifted back toward the Viltrumite coalition with the same effortless grace, his crimson cape billowing behind him like a banner of war.
Sinestro floated forward slightly, his yellow ring pulsing with curiosity as he studied the Grand Regent's face.
"So," Sinestro said, his voice smooth and calculating. "Are you stronger than the Kryptonian?"
Thragg didn't answer immediately. He raised his right hand, the one that had crushed Superman's grip, and examined it with clinical detachment. His fingers flexed slowly, and for the briefest moment, a flicker of pain crossed his weathered features.
His hand was broken.
Not shattered, but fractured. Hairline cracks spiderwebbed through the metacarpal bones, the result of meeting an immovable object with unstoppable force. His enhanced Viltrumite physiology was already knitting the damage back together, but the pain was real.
Thragg clenched his fist anyway. The pain was sharp, immediate, and utterly irrelevant to him, his jaw tighten as he forced the broken bones to align.
"No," Thragg said quietly, his voice carrying absolute certainty. "The Kryptonian is much stronger but he is not a deadly threat."
Sinestro's eyebrows rose slightly, genuine surprise flickering across his sharp features. "Truly?"
Atrocitus leaned forward, his massive frame radiating barely contained violence. "Then why do you not consider him a deadly threat, Grand Regent?"
Thragg lowered his hand, his dark eyes shifting back toward Superman's distant figure.
"Because he is a good man," Thragg said, his tone almost contemplative. "A good man who is reasonable. But untrained. Undisciplined in the art of combat and war is strong, but doesn't know how to properly use that power. That is why one of my former scouts was able to go toe-to-toe with him. It is not just about power, Atrocitus. It is about knowing how to wield it."
He paused, his gaze hardening.
"If the Kryptonian were as trained as Conquest," Thragg continued, his voice dropping into something colder, "then perhaps I would..." He paused, searching for the appropriate words. "...consider him a adequate threat at best."
Sinestro's lips curled into a faint, knowing smile. "How fortunate for us, then, that he is not."
Atrocitus growled low in his throat, unconvinced. "You underestimate him, Thragg. I can smell the rage buried beneath his calm. If you push him too far—"
"Then I will break him," Thragg interrupted, his voice cutting through the void like a blade. "And the Justice League will learn what it means to stand against the Viltrumite Empire."
Before anyone could respond, Battle Beast's voice boomed across the battlefield once more.
"NOW!" Battle Beast roared, raising his battleaxe high above his head. "It is time to BATTLE! Who will be first?!"
Wonder Woman floated forward, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. Her voice was firm, but diplomatic.
"We came here to talk, Battle Beast," Diana said. "Not to fight. If you want an alliance with the Justice League and the Coalition, then we need to negotiate terms, not spill blood for your entertainment."
Battle Beast's yellow eyes narrowed dangerously. His lips peeled back from his fangs in a snarl that was equal parts amusement and fury.
"TALK?!" Battle Beast roared, his voice shaking the very hull of the dreadnought beneath his feet. "You dare insult me with words?! If you want my alliance with you and not your enemy, then FIGHT! Shed blood on this world! The only conversations that will be had are with our bodies, and if we die, then it was a glorious battle!"
He slammed his battleaxe into the metal hull, the impact sending a shockwave rippling outward.
"Send your best three champions!" Battle Beast bellowed. "Or just kill each other! I don't care how you do it, but figure it out before I fight and kill you all!"
His yellow eyes blazed with bloodthirsty, lustful anticipation.
Hawkwoman shifted uncomfortably, her Nth-metal mace gripped tightly in her armored hands. She glanced sideways at John Stewart, Wonder Woman, and Superman.
"Was I really like that when we first met?" Hawkwoman muttered.
John, Wonder Woman, and Superman all answered in unison. "Yes."
Hawkwoman grimaced. "Gods help me."
Kara floated forward, her fists clenched, her blue eyes blazing with barely restrained energy.
"Look," Kara said, her voice tight with frustration. "I've been pent up for the past few months, and I need something to hit. So let me fight."
Clark opened his mouth to protest, but he stopped himself. He could see the tension radiating off Kara and the situation they were in. She needed this outlet. She still is processing the lost of Krypton, and the whole pheromone thing with Caius isn't helping.
But she cannot fight the Grand Regent.
"Kara," Clark said carefully, his voice low. "Just... don't go too far. And if it's Thragg you're fighting, you don't fight him at all. I will."
Kara's eyes flashed with indignation. "Why? I'm clearly stronger than him, and I'm not an amateur, Clark."
Across from them, Sinestro let out a low, mocking chuckle.
"The Kryptonian is quite arrogant," Sinestro said, his voice dripping with condescension. He turned his gaze toward John Stewart. "Doesn't she remind you of someone, Stewart? Wouldn't you say?"
John's eyes narrowed dangerously, his Green Lantern ring flaring with brilliant emerald light.
"Sinestro," John said, his voice cold and hard. "What happened to Hal?"
Sinestro rubbed his chin, his expression mockingly thoughtful as he looked away, feigning disinterest.
"Jordan serves a higher purpose now," Sinestro said smoothly. "Would you like to see?"
John's ring blazed brighter, green energy crackling around his clenched fists.
"I'm ready whenever you are," John growled.
Hawkwoman raised her mace, her wings flaring slightly. "Say the word, John. I have your back."
Before the tension could escalate further, Thragg's voice cut through the void like a blade.
"No."
Everyone froze.
Thragg floated forward, his hands clasped behind his back, his crimson cape billowing in the wind.
"I will be the only one fighting," Thragg said, his voice calm and absolute.
Every eye, Justice League and coalition alike, turned toward the Grand Regent in shock. Thragg's gaze shifted toward Battle Beast, and a faint, knowing smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
"Is that fine with you, old friend?" Thragg asked.
Battle Beast's fanged jaw split into a wide, feral grin. "I have not seen you on the battlefield in so long, Thragg," Battle Beast said, his voice rumbling with anticipation. "Are you sure you still have it?"
Thragg looked down at his broken hand, clenching it tightly. "I want to see what the so-called Justice League of Earth is capable of myself," Thragg said quietly.
Battle Beast's grin widened. "Fine."
He snapped his fingers.
The world twisted.
Reality folded in on itself, the space they occupied warping and bending as a massive surge of energy tore through the fabric of the universe. The Justice League members felt their bodies yanked violently through a dimensional rift, the sensation like being pulled through a collapsing star.
When the light faded, they were no longer in the main fighting pit of Warworld.
They stood, or floated, in the center of a vast, alien desert arena.
The ground beneath them was cracked and red, stretching endlessly in every direction. Distant rock formations jutted up from the sand like the bones of ancient titans, and scattered across the landscape were shallow ponds of shimmering, iridescent liquid that reflected the twin suns hanging low on the horizon. Strange, alien plant life, twisted, thorny things with bioluminescent veins, dotted the terrain, pulsing faintly with eerie light.
The air was thick and heavy, the gravity oppressive. And floating in the center of the arena, his royal crimson cape billowing behind him, was Thragg.
His hands were clasped behind his back, his posture relaxed, his expression calm and unreadable.
"Now," Thragg said, his voice carrying effortlessly across the desert. "I know you don't have your speedster, the hybrid Atlantean king, the child soldier of the gods, or the man known as Batman."
He paused, his dark eyes sweeping across the assembled heroes.
"Which I must say," Thragg continued, "I am actually interested in meeting. Very few people in Jonathan's missions throughout the universe have ever made him speak with great respect and what could be taken as extreme precaution."
His gaze settled on Superman.
"Now come," Thragg said, his voice dropping into something colder, harder. "Show me what the heroes of Earth are capable of."
Wonder Woman turned to Superman, her storm-gray eyes sharp and calculating.
"How do we do this?" Diana asked quietly. "Talk is off the table."
Hawkwoman floated closer, her mace gripped tightly in both hands.
"We can just jump him," Hawkwoman said. "Between my Nth-metal mace, one of the only things that can naturally hurt him, and a knife," she gestured toward her boots, "we have options. But we have to understand: this is the Grand Regent of the Viltrumite Empire. He is the strongest among their people and is a second-generation Type Two hybrid with a metagene ability. If what Nolan said was true, then he has the power of the New God Darkseid."
John's expression darkened. "The New Gods are not to be messed with."
Wonder Woman nodded slowly, her tactical mind already working through the variables.
"That's good that we have an Nth-metal option," Diana said. "And we don't have to kill him. John, you stand on support. Hawkwoman, Supergirl, and I will be the frontline attackers."
She turned to Superman and Icon.
"You two hold back as we weaken him and look for an opening," Diana said.
Superman and Icon nodded.
"Understood," Clark said.
Kara cracked her knuckles, her eyes blazing with anticipation. "Finally I get to hit something without holding back."
Without warning, Supergirl launched herself forward.
She moved like a blur, her body tearing through the air with a sonic boom that shattered the silence of the desert. Her fist cocked back, and she swung with everything she had.
Her fist collided with Thragg's face.
The impact echoed across the arena like a thunderclap.
But Thragg didn't flinch. He didn't even budge an inch. He simply floated there, his hands still clasped behind his back, his expression utterly unbothered.
Kara's eyes widened in shock. "What—"
"If you're done," Thragg said calmly, "then come—"
In a burst of speed, Hawkwoman appeared beside him, her Nth-metal mace swinging in a brutal arc toward his ribs.
The mace connected with a deafening metallic ring, the force of the blow enough to shatter reinforced steel.
Thragg tanked the hit.
He didn't move. Didn't flinch. Just floated there, his eyes closed, his posture stoic and unimpressed.
Wonder Woman came in next, her sword flashing in the twin sunlight as she struck at his shoulder, her shield raised defensively. Kara threw another punch, this time at his jaw. Hawkwoman swung again, aiming for his knee.
The three of them attacked him all over, head, torso, legs, arms, a coordinated assault of superhuman strength, divine weaponry, and Nth-metal fury.
But Thragg just floated there, hands behind his back, his eyes closed. Completely unbothered by the assault .
Kara screamed in frustration. "Screw this!"
Her eyes blazed crimson, and twin beams of searing heat vision erupted from her pupils, lancing toward Thragg's chest.
Then Thragg opened his eyes, and the heat vision stopped mid-air.
It collided with an invisible barrier inches from his body, the crimson beams bending and refracting around him like light hitting a prism. The energy built up, crackling and hissing, and then, the barrier exploded outward in a concussive shockwave.
Hawkwoman and Wonder Woman were sent flying backward, tumbling through the air before crashing into the sand dozens of meters away.
John Stewart's ring flared to life.
"Now!," John muttered, his voice tight with focus. His ring constructed a sleek, but long high-powered sniper rifle in his hands, the green energy solidifying into intricate mechanical detail. He took aim, his breathing steady, and fired.
Three brilliant green energy bullets streaked through the air, each one moving faster than sound, each one aimed with pinpoint precision at Thragg's head, heart, and spine.
They all vanished right before impact, the bullets simply disappeared from sight, as if they'd been erased from existence.
John's eyes widened. "What the hell....?"
Thragg opened his hand. The three green energy constructs bullets sat in his palm, then they began hovering in the air like captured fireflies.
He then closes his fist. The bullets shattered into fragments of emerald light, dissolving into nothingness.
Thragg sighed, his expression one of profound disappointment.
"I expected more from you all, especially you, last true daughter of Krypton," Thragg said, his voice calm and cold. "Maybe I should give you a little more motivation to fight me."
Kara's eyes widened. "What?"
Thragg's gaze locked onto hers.
"Do you know the reason Krypton was destroyed?" Thragg asked.
Kara froze. Her breath caught in her throat.
"What are you talking about?" Kara said, her voice trembling. "My father said it was because of core pressure and instability due to natural planetary old age and radioactive decay."
Thragg nodded slowly. "Well, that is true. But that's because the Empire sent agents to the planet to help speed up that process."
Clark and Kara's eyes widened with horror.
Even John and Hawkwoman's eyes widened in horror.
Thragg continued, his voice utterly devoid of emotion.
"When our scientists studied your planet, it was going to achieve the same decay in about two to five hundred years naturally," Thragg said. "But I wanted it to happen sooner."
Tears began to form in her eyes, her hands trembling at her sides. Kara's voice cracked. "Why? Why do that if you wanted our people to be part of your empire?"
Thragg's expression remained calm and cold.
"It is because your people were becoming a threat," Thragg said. "You don't know this, but your people were expanding out to the stars. They were becoming world conquerors, or would have been. They spread themselves too thin, too quickly, and relied on their technology instead of the yellow sun, which only a few in your society ever knew its effects."
He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in.
"But there were talks," Thragg continued, "about engineering a Sovereign. A genetic perfection, a mix of your people and even the essence of that god your people worshiped. I believe his name was Rao. Who is very real, by the way. Or was. But I killed him the same day your planet died."
Kara's breath hitched.
"He was one of the few entertaining kills I had in a long time," Thragg said, his tone almost nostalgic. "But if I didn't, this Sovereign would have negotiated and formed a powerful alliance with the Coalition of Worlds and the Guardians of Oa."
He leaned forward slightly, his dark eyes boring into Kara's soul.
"But do you want to hear the worst part of this story?" Thragg asked. "Your people knew the world was dying for a while and still chose to do nothing. This Sovereign was taken away by the Guardians long before the destruction of your world. But the Guardians did very little to intervene after that. They let one Green Lantern, I believe his name was Tomar-Re, help, and he genuinely tried. But there was very little he could have done."
Kara's entire body trembled. Her fists clenched so hard that blood began to drip from her palms, crimson droplets falling into the red sand beneath her boots.
Her eyes glowed a fierce, burning red, and then she screamed.
The sound was raw, primal, and agonizing. It tore through the air like a shockwave, shaking the very ground beneath their feet. The alien plant life withered and died, the ponds rippled violently, and the distant rock formations cracked under the force of her grief and rage.
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Kara roared.
She launched herself forward, moving faster than she'd ever moved before, her fists cocked back, her eyes blazing with solar fury.
Wonder Woman and Superman both moved to intercept her.
"Kara, wait...!" Clark shouted.
But Kara was already there.
Her fist flew toward Thragg's face with enough force to shatter mountains.
Thragg stopped it with one finger. The shockwave from the impact rippled outward, sending sand and debris flying in every direction.
Thragg's expression didn't change, while his other hand remained clasped behind his back.
"Good," Thragg said calmly. "Now that's more of a punch."
"FUCK YOU!" Kara screamed.
She threw a blurry, ferocious barrage of punches, each one moving at Mach speed, each one aimed at his face, his chest, his throat.
Thragg stopped every single one with one finger.
His finger moved faster than the eye could track, intercepting each punch like they were nothing the impacts creating sonic booms that echoed across the desert.
And then he flicked her head.
Kara was sent flying backward, her body tumbling through the air for miles before crashing into the ground with enough force to create a massive crater.
She stood up slowly, her body trembling with rage, blood dripping from her mouth.
She screamed again, her eyes blazing crimson, and unleashed her heat vision with everything she had. The twin beams of searing energy lanced toward Thragg, bright enough to blind, hot enough to melt nearly anything in their wake.
They stopped inches from his body again. As the invisible barrier held, the heat vision bending and refracting harmlessly around him.
Thragg floated there his cape billowing in the wind of the conflict, as he was completely unbothered.
And then his eyes shot upward, as ee noticed an approaching presence.
Superman and Icon noticed it too.
"This is becoming more interesting," Thragg murmured.
A red light descended from the sky. It moved like a falling star, streaking through the atmosphere with a high-pitched, mechanical hum.
Kara stopped firing her heat vision, her chest heaving, her eyes wide as the red light descended toward her.
The red light resolved into a ring.
A Red Lantern power ring!
It hovered in the air before her, pulsing with crimson energy.
And then it spoke, its voice cold and mechanical.
"Kara Zor-El of Krypton. You have great rage in your heart. You belong to the Red Lantern Corps."
A red light shone.
Kara's body was engulfed in crimson energy, her form obscured by the blinding glow.
When the light faded, she had changed.
Her bare midriff was entirely covered. The blue shirt transformed into a solid black, high-collared, skin-tight bodysuit. A massive crimson stripe, angular blood-red paneling, ran down the center of her torso. The Kryptonian "S" on her chest was overwritten by the glowing, razor-sharp logo of the Red Lantern Corps.
The flouncy blue skirt completely disappeared, replaced by functional, skin-tight black tactical leggings that flowed seamlessly from her torso bodysuit down to her boots, removing any combat vulnerability.
Her red leather boots hardened into heavy, dark crimson armor plates with sharp, angular edges. Her red cape remained, billowing behind her like a banner of war.
Kara's eyes blazed with pure, unfiltered rage. She screamed, her voice distorted and guttural, and launched herself at Thragg.
Superman moved to intercept her. "Kara, no—!"
But Thragg was faster. He appeared in front of Kara in a blur of motion, his arms moving with blinding speed.
Three precise strikes, pressure points along her neck, head and chest. And Kara's body suddenly went limp.
Thragg caught her in his arms, cradling her unconscious form with surprising gentleness.
"Do not worry," Thragg said, his voice calm. "I used your Kryptonian martial arts to hit her pressure points and incapacitate her. But know this: she is a Red Lantern now. She will wake up again in another blood rage until she goes to the Red Lantern world and bathes in their blood pool."
He looked directly at Superman.
"And don't even think about taking off the ring," Thragg warned. "The ring is her heart now. If you remove it, she will die on the spot. So you only have one choice: let her go with Atrocitus."
"No," Superman said, his voice hard. "That's not happening."
John floated forward, his expression grim.
"Superman," John said quietly. "I hate it, but he's right. Kara is unstable as she is now, and we don't know where their planet is. The Guardians have been telling us how dangerous the Red Lanterns are the past month. But there is a way to save her. They're called the Blue Lanterns. They could purge her of the ring's corruption."
Clark's jaw tightened. "Then let's take her to them."
John shook his head. "The Blue Lanterns are busy in a war on the other side of the universe, several galaxies over, where the main conflict is taking place."
"Then we just keep her on ice until then," Superman said.
"I know," John said. "But how long will that take?"
"As long as it takes, John," Superman said, his voice firm. "This is my cousin. I will not let her join their lines."
Thragg's voice cut through the argument.
"I do not make any Lantern fight that doesn't want to fight," Thragg said. "It has all been their choice. If she wants, she can challenge the leader for his position."
Hawkwoman's eyes narrowed. "You expect us to believe that?"
"I have only spoken the truth," Thragg said.
Before anyone could respond, the Red Lantern ring flared to life. It yanked Kara out of Thragg's arms, pulling her into the sky with violent force.
"Kara!" Superman shouted, launching himself upward.
"Don't, Superman!" John and Icon shouted in unison.
Clark stopped mid-flight, his fists clenched, his eyes blazing with frustration.
"The moment you go for her," Icon said, "the Grand Regent will attack."
Thragg floated there, his expression calm.
"I tire of these distractions," Thragg said.
And then he moved. In a single moment, he appeared three paces from Superman, his royal cape removed and floating gently to the ground.
In that same instant, Hawkwoman, Wonder Woman, and John Stewart collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Superman's eyes widened. He's so fast I barely saw him. He knocked out everyone in less than a second.
Superman looked to Icon. "It's me and you, Icon."
Thragg's voice was calm. "No, it's not."
Superman frowned. "What? Why?"
"He is a Terminan," Thragg said. "His people and mine have a mutual alliance. A no-conflict agreement."
Superman turned to Icon, his expression incredulous. "Icon, when were you going to tell me this?"
Icon's expression remained stoic. "When it seemed important. So far, it hasn't, because I wasn't under the impression the Grand Regent would fight everyone."
Thragg gestured with his hands out to the side, his posture open and inviting.
"It matters not," Thragg said. "Because you are who I wish to test, Superman."
He paused, his dark eyes locking onto Clark's.
"Show me what you are capable of," Thragg said. "And if you can manage to beat me, I will leave here and take Earth off the table for our conquest for the next one thousand years."
Superman's eyes widened. He knew time was nothing to Viltrumites. A thousand years would just give them time to grow their forces and conquer the universe one galaxy at a time.
But it was also a thousand years of peace for Earth. Superman clenched his fists. "Grand Regent, do you mean what you say?"
Thragg's expression was utterly serious. "Yes. On my honor as the Grand Regent, if you beat me, Earth will not deal with the Empire's invasion for the next one thousand years. No conflict or help whatsoever."
Superman took a slow breath.
"Fine," Clark said, his voice low and hard. "For the second time in my life, I will not hold back."
"Good now begin when your ready."
Superman launched himself forward.
The ground beneath him exploded from the force of his takeoff, sending shockwaves rippling across the desert. He moved faster than he'd ever moved before, his fist cocked back, glowing with solar energy.
His fist collided with Thragg's chest. Causing the impact shook the entire planet.
Warworld trembled.
The ground cracked and split, massive fissures tearing through the desert. The distant rock formations shattered, collapsing into rubble. The ponds evaporated instantly, the water turning to steam.
Thragg didn't move, he only looked down at the fist pressed against his chest, his expression calm and unbothered, and then he smiled.
"Good," Thragg said. "Now do it again!"