Chapter 485: Steppenwolf VS The Shadow Lanterns

The Shadow Lanterns and Steppenwolf clashed, parademons filled the air in relentless waves.

They were what remained of special warriors sent when entire worlds were deemed at risk of total annihilation. They had arrived too late to save the planet.

But not too late to decide it would not die to Apokolopis forces. A tall Lantern descended through the smoke, wings formed of condensed shadow energy flaring behind him, he raised his arm, and the darkness around him answered instantly, shaping into dozens of elongated blades that fired outward in synchronized arcs.

Parademons fell from the sky in waves.

Another Lantern, a heavily armored brute with jagged bone-like plating across his shoulders slammed both fists into the ground. The impact didn’t just crack the terrain; it rippled outward in a pulse of shadow energy that swallowed an entire swarm of parademons mid-flight, erasing them into nothingness.

"We are the last line of defense here." he growled and a third Lantern, smaller but faster than the rest, blurred through the battlefield like a streak of darkness. Leaving afterimages of himself that lingered just long enough to strike before vanishing. Parademons tried to track him, but only found empty space, and then death from behind.

Above them all, warships opened fire.

Beams of crimson annihilation streaked downward.

The Lantern raised her hands, eyes glowing.

"By Nyx... we will not fall today."

The shadows around her erupted upward, forming a colossal dome that intercepted the incoming barrage. The impact alone was enough to fracture the sky, shockwaves rolling outward across the battlefield.

It held for some time, then the dome shattered.

Not from the ships.

But from him. Steppenwolf. He stepped off the shattered remnants of a fallen parademon carrier, his armor was scorched now, not from damage, but from proximity to the Lanterns’ combined power. Even so, he looked unbothered, almost disappointed.

"So," he said calmly, voice carrying through the battlefield. "this is all you can offer."

The Shadow Lanterns formed up immediately.

Six silhouettes against an army, The alien lantern girl’s voice steady despite the devastation around her.

"For Nyx... for the worlds still dreaming..."

The armored brute beside her slammed his fists together.

"For the fallen!"

The fast-moving Lantern flicked his wrist, shadow daggers forming around him like orbiting moons.

"For vengeance and what you did to my world!"

The winged Lantern spread his wings fully.

"For the Shadow Monarch!"

Steppenwolf tilted his head slightly at that last one.

An amused smile crossed his face. "You serve another master," he said.

Then he attacked, Steppenwolf struck first with an axe swing so fast it didn’t register as motion. The armored Lantern barely raised a defensive construct before it shattered completely. The impact launched him through the ground itself, carving a trench that split the battlefield in two before his body vanished beneath collapsing terrain.

The girl lantern reacted instantly, screaming through clenched teeth.

"Together!"

The remaining Lanterns attacked in unison.

Shadow storms erupted outward. Entire formations of constructs layered over each other, chains, blades, spears, weapons of pure darkness forming a collapsing cage designed to erase anything inside it.

For a moment, even Steppenwolf was buried beneath it.

Then the cage broke and he emerged through it like a god stepping through cloth.

His axe swept horizontally.

The winged Lantern barely had time to expand his wings into a shield before the force obliterated him mid-air. His shadow form fractured instantly, his body hurled across the battlefield like a ragdoll. He struck the surface once, then did not rise again.

The fast-moving Lantern roared in fury.

"No!"

He surged forward at impossible speed, striking from every direction at once. Afterimages multiplied around Steppenwolf, each one delivering lethal strikes meant to find an opening.

For the first time, the New God’s expression shifted.

Mildly irritated and he turned slightly and caught the Lantern mid-motion.

And crushed him into the ground with one hand, the impact cracked the earth beneath them.

When Steppenwolf released his grip, there was only silence where the Lantern had been.

Two remained.

The alien girl lantern and the last surviving warrior.

Her voice trembled, but she did not break.

"Monster..." she whispered again.

Shadow energy surged around her, unstable and beautiful, like a dying flame trying to ignite one last time.

"For everything we were promised to achieve in this universe..." she screamed.

Steppenwolf walked toward them.

"You were promised nothing," he said quietly. "Only borrowed power. Only borrowed hope."

She screamed as she released everything she had left.

The battlefield erupted into darkness.

The final clash lit the planet in a pulse of violet-black light so intense it briefly erased sight itself.

When the glow faded, Steppenwolf stood alone.

His armor cracked in places now. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

But he was still standing.

He looked down at the remnants of the battlefield.

Then at the broken bodies of the Shadow Lanterns.

"You fought well," he said softly, almost like an insult disguised as respect.

Behind him, the parademons began to regroup.

Three died fighting Steppenwolf and only two Shadow Lanterns remained.

They had refused to break easily.

They had held the line for nearly twenty minutes against overwhelming odds against the parademons a feat that even Steppenwolf grudgingly respected. Varyn, a tall man whose ring burned with cold necrotic light, had coordinated devastating shadow constructs, while his partner Golber, a blue alien danced through the chaos like a specter, striking with lethal precision.

But now, the end had come.

Varyn roared as he charged one final time, his ring flaring violently. A jagged shadow spear materialized in his hands, longer and sharper than any before. With every ounce of strength left in his broken body, he drove it forward.

The spear punched straight through the gap in Steppenwolf’s leg armor, sinking deep into the muscle with a wet crunch.

Steppenwolf bellowed in rage and pain, his eyes flashing with murderous fury. Without hesitation, he brought his axe down in a savage overhead strike. The blade cleaved through Varyn’s shoulder and torso in a single, brutal attack. The Shadow Lantern’s body crumpled instantly, his eyes wide with shock before the light within them faded forever. His ring dimmed and went dark.

Steppenwolf turned slowly toward the final survivor.

Golber lay among the rubble, his left leg shattered, armor cracked open across his chest. Parademons swarmed over him like insects, clawing and tearing at his flesh. He weakly blasted them back with pulses of shadow energy, but each burst was smaller than the last. His ring flickered unsteadily on his finger.

Steppenwolf strode forward, each heavy footstep shaking the debris beneath him. The parademons instinctively parted as their master approached. He stopped a few feet away, towering over the fallen final Lantern.

"Enough of this farce," he growled, his voice deep and guttural. "Your kind has spirit, I’ll grant you that. But spirit alone will not save you from me."

Golber coughed harshly, blood bubbling from his lips. He forced himself up on one elbow, glaring defiantly at the New God despite the agony twisting his features.

Steppenwolf leaned slightly forward, his burning eyes narrowing. "Tell me, little shadow... what secrets does this Nyx hold? What weapons? What weaknesses? And speak of your commander... the one who call himself the Shadow Monarch. How strong is he truly? Speak quickly, and I may grant you a swift death."

A wet, broken laugh escaped Golber’s throat. Blood dripped down his chin as He shook his head, eyes shining with scorn and pain.

"You think... I’d betray him?" He rasped, his voice hoarse but steady. "You don’t understand anything."

Deep inside his fading mind, a single desperate thought burned,

’I need to warn the others... They have to know what we found...’

His fingers curled tightly around his ring. He drew in a ragged, shuddering breath, ignoring the fire in his lungs. Power was faint but it was growing, stirred within the depths of his soul. Shadows coiled around his broken body as he lifted his head and spoke, his voice rising from a whisper into a thunderous declaration that echoed across the battlefield.

"I was the light that chose the fall,Now crowned in death, I judge them all.No heaven’s call shall break my path,For I am dread, and I am wrath.None will escape my watchful eyes,By my command, the dead shall Arise!"

The Shadow Lantern ring detonated with power.

A violent storm of dark energy exploded outward, incinerating the nearest parademons into ash. Golber’s broken body rose slightly into the air, shadows wrapping around him. His eyes blazed with cold, violet black fire. For one glorious moment, he looked every bit the terrifying warrior of the Shadow Monarch.

Steppenwolf threw his head back and laughed, a deep, booming sound filled with genuine mockery.

"Poetic! I almost admire your defiance!"

He swung his massive axe in a devastating horizontal arc, Golber thrust his hands forward. A massive, shimmering shadow shield materialized instantly reinforced by pure willpower. The axe slammed into it with cataclysmic force. Sparks of dark energy and Apokoliptian fire exploded outward. The shield held.

For several long, tense seconds, it held.

Golber screamed through gritted teeth, blood pouring from his nose and mouth as he poured everything he had left into the defense. Cracks spiderwebbed across the shield, but it did not shatter.

Steppenwolf’s grin widened into something feral. He roared and brought his full strength down again and again. On the third strike, the shadow shield finally exploded in a shower of dark shards.

The axe continued its path and struck true.

Golber’s body jerked violently as the blade cleaved deep into his chest. He gasped, eyes wide with shock and pain, before his head fell forward. The light in his ring flickered then went out completely.

She was dead.

Steppenwolf planted his axe into the ground and reached down, curious fingers extending toward the fallen Shadow Lantern’s ring. The moment his hand neared it, the ring suddenly flared with residual power and shot upward, streaking away across the sky like a dark comet, heading towards space.

He watched it go, making no move to chase it.

A low, satisfied chuckle rumbled from his chest.

"Go on then," he said. "Fly back to your master. Warn the rest of the fools who still wish to stand in the way of the Great One."

Steppenwolf straightened to his full height, raising his axe high as parademons swarmed back into formation around him. His eyes burned.

"We will destroy you all," he declared, voice booming like thunder. "Every last shadow. Every last soul. All in the name of Darkseid."

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