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Chapter 330 Clearing the Clouds to See the Sun
Orin Vale gestured with his finger, and Kazan Gamora, who was bound by his telekinesis, was immediately pulled before him. The invisible pressure on him instantly seemed to multiply.
“This thing.” Orin Vale pointed to the vortex of energy. “What is this?”
“A Quantum Tunnel,” Kazan Gamora said obediently. “At first, we received some signals, which we believed were revelations from another world. The otherworlders stated their willingness to cooperate, offering us technology and promising power beyond our imagination.
But in exchange, we needed to open this gate, a gate to their world.”
“Apokolips?” Orin Vale frowned.
He immediately thought of Desaad, who was trapped somewhere unknown. Most of what he had seen was Apokoliptian technology, and if it was Desaad, the one thing he would want most was to return to Apokolips.
“No. At the otherworlders' request, they gave us the technology for microscopic machines and had us find an opportunity to infiltrate Power Girl’s body. One purpose was to collect data to create a clone; the other was to obtain her molecular code.”
Hearing this, Orin Vale understood immediately without needing further explanation.
So that was the true purpose of those machines. In this incident, Power Girl was essentially a signpost.
After so much scientific research in the DC Universe, Orin Vale's knowledge of its multiverse had grown considerably. He knew that the fundamental difference between the various universes in DC was "vibration." At the microscopic level, differing vibrational frequencies determined each world's unique properties. People and objects from a specific universe each have a specific frequency, just like a fingerprint of that universe.
The vibrational frequency of the molecules in Power Girl’s body was precisely the fingerprint of the world she came from.
In other words, what lay behind this gate was probably not Apokolips.
The other side of the gate... should be Earth-2.
If he wasn't mistaken, the claw now extending from the vortex belonged to the invaders from Apokolips—the demons that had turned Earth-2 into an inferno.
And now, that demon was trying to crawl out of the vortex and into this world.
Orin Vale gestured, and his telekinesis flung Kazan Gamora aside. He levitated, electric currents crackling across his body. Azure energy flowed like blood along the red and silver patterns on his form, converging into a radiant light in his hands.
Then, he formed a cross with his hands, locking onto the demonic creature on the other side of the gate.
On the other side of the Quantum Tunnel, Earth-2.
A vast dark cloud hung on the horizon like a colossal mountain range. The heavy oppression was suffocating, the entire planet shrouded in a thick layer of clouds.
After the decisive war against Apokolips, this weathered Earth had not been blessed by fortune. In that war, they had lost Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Huntress and Power Girl had also vanished without a trace in the vortex of the final explosion.
The heroes had fallen, but evil was not defeated. After a brief respite, Apokolips returned.
The war began anew, and its flames spread across all of Earth-2. A dark cloud of gloom enveloped the globe. Since the 'Zero Hour' of the invasion, the people of Earth-2 hadn't seen the sun in four whole months.
Once-thriving cities were now in ruins. The streets were filled with the smoke of battle, the air thick with an acrid stench. The flames of war raged through the empty city blocks. Buildings were destroyed, and the streets were littered with rubble and shattered glass.
Another city was on the verge of falling to the Apokoliptian offensive.
Swarms of Parademons filled the sky, while warships and Apokolips tanks rolled down the streets, flattening everything in their path. Clearing the way at the very front was a terrifying Apokolips Giant Beast.
It had blood-red fur, enormous tusks, and claws that could cleave through almost any material. From its mouth, it spewed burning flames as if from the fire pits of Apokolips.
And leading the human army, fighting on the front lines of this city, were the new wave of mainstream superheroes who had emerged after the Trinity.
Earth-2's The Flash, Jay Garrick; Earth-2's Green Lantern, Alan Scott; Earth-2's most powerful mage, Doctor Fate; and Atom Smasher, who possessed the abilities of gigantification and physical enhancement.
The heroes fought bloody battles, but they were constantly pushed back. They were short-handed, and their power was insufficient. Nearly every city they had fought for was ultimately lost. Their lines were constantly shrinking, and all they could do was delay the invaders' advance and rescue as many civilians as possible in the process.
Deep down, everyone could sense the outcome of this war. As far as the eye could see, the planet's future was nothing but darkness, without a single seed of light.
But being a hero sometimes meant fighting on, even when you knew the ending.
Even if there was no hope at the end of the battle.
“Flash, are the civilians evacuated!?”
Green Lantern asked, using his power ring to manifest an excavator construct to block the Apokolips Giant Beast.
“All done!”
The Flash's afterimage ran back from the end of the street, rushing toward the Apokolips Giant Beast.
“Now all that’s left is to deal with this ugly bastard...”
“No shit,” Green Lantern gritted his teeth, drenched in sweat. “What do you think I'm doing?”
The next moment, with a pained grunt from Green Lantern, his construct was shattered by brute force. The terrifying power of the Apokolips Giant Beast smashed the green construct into a million pieces, like breaking glass.
Doctor Fate flew into the air, two golden magic circles swirling in his hands as he prepared to cast a spell. But the beast unexpectedly turned its head and spat a torrent of spiral flames. The flames were comparable to those from the fire pits of Apokolips. Caught off guard, Doctor Fate was instantly engulfed and sent flying.
“Fate!”
The Flash turned and accelerated, chasing after Doctor Fate's trajectory in an attempt to catch him.
“You're getting too arrogant, monster!”
Atom Smasher roared, his body instantly growing to over thirty meters tall. A heavy hook slammed into the Apokolips Giant Beast's jaw. The beast's head snapped to the side, the immense force of the punch making the entire street tremble. But the next moment, it turned and charged. The impact felt like it displaced Atom Smasher's internal organs. He spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed with a thunderous boom.
The heroes fell one after another, and despair silently spread through the human army.
We can't win.
Their best had already tried. Even the greatest heroes in this world's history had died at the invaders' hands. How could they fight such an opponent?
Just then.
Rumble—
Space was torn apart, and a vortex abruptly opened.
Everyone on the field froze.
What was this? A new type of enemy weapon?
Or did it look like a... portal? Were there more invaders on the other side?
Every heart on the battlefield tightened.
They couldn't face any more enemies.
The vortex appeared right in the path of the Apokolips Giant Beast, and the creature froze for a moment.
It was a bioweapon from Apokolips, possessing extraordinary destructive power but not a very sharp mind. Being able to distinguish friend from foe on the battlefield was the limit of its intelligence; otherwise, it was driven solely by the instinct to kill and seek out flesh and blood.
And right now, that instinct was telling it—
—There's a great prize in this hole!
More food, higher quality flesh and blood, just on the other side of this tunnel...
“ROAR!”
The Apokolips Giant Beast became instantly excited. It lost interest in the defeated heroes and the surrounding humans, extending a claw to probe the vortex.
It was a little small, a little narrow, but that was fine. It didn't mind.
It just needed to pry it open a little; it would eventually stretch wide enough.
It reached its claw out, pried open the vortex, and eagerly prepared to explore the mysterious forbidden realm hidden deep within...
In an instant, when neither the human nor the Apokoliptian forces were prepared, under the watchful eyes of everyone present...
This Apokolips Giant Beast, which had seemed nearly invincible against the heroes' combined might just a second ago...
Exploded.
From the other side of the vortex came an incredibly domineering beam of light. The instant it struck, it devastatingly evaporated the beast's flesh and pulverized its very skeleton into dust.
But it wasn't over. The azure ray of light melted the beast's body and continued upward, blasting through the thick cloud cover. It revealed the cerulean sky beyond, and the sun, which no one on Earth-2 had seen in what felt like a century.
Warm sunlight fell upon the land for the first time in an age, seeming to shine in brilliant harmony with the beam of light soaring into the heavens.
The entire battlefield seemed to freeze. Friend and foe alike were so stunned by this godlike strike that they momentarily forgot how to fight.
This single strike had cleared the clouds to reveal the sun!
(end of chapter)
Orin Vale gestured with his finger, and Kazan Gamora, who was bound by his telekinesis, was immediately pulled before him. The invisible pressure on him instantly seemed to multiply.
“This thing.” Orin Vale pointed to the vortex of energy. “What is this?”
“A Quantum Tunnel,” Kazan Gamora said obediently. “At first, we received some signals, which we believed were revelations from another world. The otherworlders stated their willingness to cooperate, offering us technology and promising power beyond our imagination.
But in exchange, we needed to open this gate, a gate to their world.”
“Apokolips?” Orin Vale frowned.
He immediately thought of Desaad, who was trapped somewhere unknown. Most of what he had seen was Apokoliptian technology, and if it was Desaad, the one thing he would want most was to return to Apokolips.
“No. At the otherworlders' request, they gave us the technology for microscopic machines and had us find an opportunity to infiltrate Power Girl’s body. One purpose was to collect data to create a clone; the other was to obtain her molecular code.”
Hearing this, Orin Vale understood immediately without needing further explanation.
So that was the true purpose of those machines. In this incident, Power Girl was essentially a signpost.
After so much scientific research in the DC Universe, Orin Vale's knowledge of its multiverse had grown considerably. He knew that the fundamental difference between the various universes in DC was "vibration." At the microscopic level, differing vibrational frequencies determined each world's unique properties. People and objects from a specific universe each have a specific frequency, just like a fingerprint of that universe.
The vibrational frequency of the molecules in Power Girl’s body was precisely the fingerprint of the world she came from.
In other words, what lay behind this gate was probably not Apokolips.
The other side of the gate... should be Earth-2.
If he wasn't mistaken, the claw now extending from the vortex belonged to the invaders from Apokolips—the demons that had turned Earth-2 into an inferno.
And now, that demon was trying to crawl out of the vortex and into this world.
Orin Vale gestured, and his telekinesis flung Kazan Gamora aside. He levitated, electric currents crackling across his body. Azure energy flowed like blood along the red and silver patterns on his form, converging into a radiant light in his hands.
Then, he formed a cross with his hands, locking onto the demonic creature on the other side of the gate.
On the other side of the Quantum Tunnel, Earth-2.
A vast dark cloud hung on the horizon like a colossal mountain range. The heavy oppression was suffocating, the entire planet shrouded in a thick layer of clouds.
After the decisive war against Apokolips, this weathered Earth had not been blessed by fortune. In that war, they had lost Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Huntress and Power Girl had also vanished without a trace in the vortex of the final explosion.
The heroes had fallen, but evil was not defeated. After a brief respite, Apokolips returned.
The war began anew, and its flames spread across all of Earth-2. A dark cloud of gloom enveloped the globe. Since the 'Zero Hour' of the invasion, the people of Earth-2 hadn't seen the sun in four whole months.
Once-thriving cities were now in ruins. The streets were filled with the smoke of battle, the air thick with an acrid stench. The flames of war raged through the empty city blocks. Buildings were destroyed, and the streets were littered with rubble and shattered glass.
Another city was on the verge of falling to the Apokoliptian offensive.
Swarms of Parademons filled the sky, while warships and Apokolips tanks rolled down the streets, flattening everything in their path. Clearing the way at the very front was a terrifying Apokolips Giant Beast.
It had blood-red fur, enormous tusks, and claws that could cleave through almost any material. From its mouth, it spewed burning flames as if from the fire pits of Apokolips.
And leading the human army, fighting on the front lines of this city, were the new wave of mainstream superheroes who had emerged after the Trinity.
Earth-2's The Flash, Jay Garrick; Earth-2's Green Lantern, Alan Scott; Earth-2's most powerful mage, Doctor Fate; and Atom Smasher, who possessed the abilities of gigantification and physical enhancement.
The heroes fought bloody battles, but they were constantly pushed back. They were short-handed, and their power was insufficient. Nearly every city they had fought for was ultimately lost. Their lines were constantly shrinking, and all they could do was delay the invaders' advance and rescue as many civilians as possible in the process.
Deep down, everyone could sense the outcome of this war. As far as the eye could see, the planet's future was nothing but darkness, without a single seed of light.
But being a hero sometimes meant fighting on, even when you knew the ending.
Even if there was no hope at the end of the battle.
“Flash, are the civilians evacuated!?”
Green Lantern asked, using his power ring to manifest an excavator construct to block the Apokolips Giant Beast.
“All done!”
The Flash's afterimage ran back from the end of the street, rushing toward the Apokolips Giant Beast.
“Now all that’s left is to deal with this ugly bastard...”
“No shit,” Green Lantern gritted his teeth, drenched in sweat. “What do you think I'm doing?”
The next moment, with a pained grunt from Green Lantern, his construct was shattered by brute force. The terrifying power of the Apokolips Giant Beast smashed the green construct into a million pieces, like breaking glass.
Doctor Fate flew into the air, two golden magic circles swirling in his hands as he prepared to cast a spell. But the beast unexpectedly turned its head and spat a torrent of spiral flames. The flames were comparable to those from the fire pits of Apokolips. Caught off guard, Doctor Fate was instantly engulfed and sent flying.
“Fate!”
The Flash turned and accelerated, chasing after Doctor Fate's trajectory in an attempt to catch him.
“You're getting too arrogant, monster!”
Atom Smasher roared, his body instantly growing to over thirty meters tall. A heavy hook slammed into the Apokolips Giant Beast's jaw. The beast's head snapped to the side, the immense force of the punch making the entire street tremble. But the next moment, it turned and charged. The impact felt like it displaced Atom Smasher's internal organs. He spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed with a thunderous boom.
The heroes fell one after another, and despair silently spread through the human army.
We can't win.
Their best had already tried. Even the greatest heroes in this world's history had died at the invaders' hands. How could they fight such an opponent?
Just then.
Rumble—
Space was torn apart, and a vortex abruptly opened.
Everyone on the field froze.
What was this? A new type of enemy weapon?
Or did it look like a... portal? Were there more invaders on the other side?
Every heart on the battlefield tightened.
They couldn't face any more enemies.
The vortex appeared right in the path of the Apokolips Giant Beast, and the creature froze for a moment.
It was a bioweapon from Apokolips, possessing extraordinary destructive power but not a very sharp mind. Being able to distinguish friend from foe on the battlefield was the limit of its intelligence; otherwise, it was driven solely by the instinct to kill and seek out flesh and blood.
And right now, that instinct was telling it—
—There's a great prize in this hole!
More food, higher quality flesh and blood, just on the other side of this tunnel...
“ROAR!”
The Apokolips Giant Beast became instantly excited. It lost interest in the defeated heroes and the surrounding humans, extending a claw to probe the vortex.
It was a little small, a little narrow, but that was fine. It didn't mind.
It just needed to pry it open a little; it would eventually stretch wide enough.
It reached its claw out, pried open the vortex, and eagerly prepared to explore the mysterious forbidden realm hidden deep within...
In an instant, when neither the human nor the Apokoliptian forces were prepared, under the watchful eyes of everyone present...
This Apokolips Giant Beast, which had seemed nearly invincible against the heroes' combined might just a second ago...
Exploded.
From the other side of the vortex came an incredibly domineering beam of light. The instant it struck, it devastatingly evaporated the beast's flesh and pulverized its very skeleton into dust.
But it wasn't over. The azure ray of light melted the beast's body and continued upward, blasting through the thick cloud cover. It revealed the cerulean sky beyond, and the sun, which no one on Earth-2 had seen in what felt like a century.
Warm sunlight fell upon the land for the first time in an age, seeming to shine in brilliant harmony with the beam of light soaring into the heavens.
The entire battlefield seemed to freeze. Friend and foe alike were so stunned by this godlike strike that they momentarily forgot how to fight.
This single strike had cleared the clouds to reveal the sun!
(end of chapter)
