With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Tzeentch]

End Times goes into the box. I'll probably have Storm of Chaos as canon, though I'd actually use the game results and actually kill Archaon.

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I suppose this time around we'll actually see the fulfillment of the Prophecy of Demise, which supposedly concerns Malekith and who kills him, in this fic.

"And lo, he shall rule with a dark hand and his shadow shall touch upon every land. Steel will be his skin and fire will be his blood, in hatred will he conquer all before him. No blade forged of Man, Dwarf or Elf shall endure him fear. Though will it come to pass that the firstborn son of noble blood shall rise to power. The child will be learned in the darkest arts and he will raise an army of terrible beasts. Thus will the Dark King fall, slain by neither blade nor arrow but by a sorcerous power of darkest magic and so shall his body be consumed in the flames and for all eternity burn."

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If it doesn't turn out to be Nagash, who happens to be a "firstborn son of noble blood", I wonder if we should expect a elf-human hybrid son from Paul and Aranei in the future, (created thanks to his father's orange ring), who takes after his mother in becoming a sorcerer.

 

[Bud-E]

Does anyone know what happened to Paragon Karasta Wor-Ul I know Superman found her, she kicked his ass, and then left but was it ever said where she went or if she would be back?

 

[Ngamer11]

Does anyone know what happened to Paragon Karasta Wor-Ul I know Superman found her, she kicked his ass, and then left but was it ever said where she went or if she would be back?

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She left Earth, seemingly for good. There's no word on where she went, so it's possible that she won't be appearing in the Paragon timeline at all.

 

[nick012000]

You know, if Warhammer Paul's plan to drain the warp energies from the Old World are successful, I half expect that a miles-long spaceship might suddenly appear in the sky...

You know, to let him show off the full power of the most powerful weapon in the universe, and potentially start building his own Orange Lantern Corps to bring peace to the stars.

 

[mastermenthe]

I also wonder when Paul is going to tell them the main reason the Curse of Aenerion exists is because Malekith pussied out of the fire too early...

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Is that right? I thought it was from aeration drawing the sword of khaine? Or did malekith do something I didn't know about?

 

[Vaermina]

You know, if Warhammer Paul's plan to drain the warp energies from the Old World are successful, I half expect that a miles-long spaceship might suddenly appear in the sky...

You know, to let him show off the full power of the most powerful weapon in the universe, and potentially start building his own Orange Lantern Corps to bring peace to the stars.

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Last I checked the Emperor's Sword was still with Guilliman.

 

[Pinklestia]

'll be disappointed in Renegade if he didn't leave Shade behind as the bulwark since he can handle or at least slow anything short of a Crisis. Got to take advantage of those allied eldritch terrors!

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Oh he probably told him that if ither Grayven gets to Earth, he will look the other way as long as he kills him and his whole army in the end.

In other words, the Shade would have FUN.

 

[Tzeentch]

Is that right? I thought it was from aeration drawing the sword of khaine? Or did malekith do something I didn't know about?

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I think The Curse being Malekith's fault is an End Times retcon, so if that's getting thrown out the window, and until Zoat says otherwise, it's Aenarion's fault for drawing Widowmaker from the Altar of Khaine.

 

[Michael Vonica]

What are the details of Aenarion's curse? Casual browsing has lead me to believe that it had something to do with making Aenarion and those close to or descended from him crazy or something, and possibly messed up in body, mind, or soul. It looked like it differed on a case by case basis. For Teclis, it looks like it took the form of physical disability, with a possible boost to his soul or mind, that could have contributed to him becoming a better mage. What exactly are Teclis' symptoms? Is there one good source for all this?

 

[Tzeentch]

What exactly are Teclis' symptoms? Is there one good source for all this?

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The first book in the Tyrion and Teclis Trilogy gives us a few details in regards to what he's suffered from before he got proper spellcraft and medicines to help treat the symptoms. Seemed as though he was having to put up with almost every ailment elf-kind is usually free from.

 

[Handlewithcare]

It's not that they messed it up, it's that the standard mental template for clone soldiers is a good bit different than that of someone born and raised naturally.

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But they still integrated it so badly she is basically a split personality right now.

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
15:36 GMT

I feel it as the fleets engage those allied to the pretender, and I feel it -albeit distantly- as those reluctantly gathered beneath my banner begin to die.

Satisfactory.

Sinthia is monitoring the situation by conventional means alone. Her limitations are a mild disappointment to me, but even the more intelligent gordanians are not given to sophisticated research. My scouts indicated that the pretender has not yet been able to access either Auron or X'Hal, so the Tamaraneans aligned to him will not have been able to truly ascend either.

And he is hardly the only man with power rings.

My awareness of the Citizenry dims. They were to be another distraction, but they were unreliable. So long as they keep a portion of the pretender's fleet occupied elsewhere, it is acceptable. And if I am honest I expected little better from a people so filled with so unwarranted pride.

"Transfer the fleet."

"Yes, Lord Grayven. Boom tubes opening."

The tubes open in front of the rapidly moving assault ships. Unlike the ships I dispatched in the first wave, these do not open into extra-stellar space.

No. These will go right into the atmosphere.

I feel it as they fly over the cities on the target world, their passage through the skies marked by exploding windows and eardrums. Ruthlessly they target defence silos and military bases, ordnance that could have disrupted my efforts annihilated before it can be brought to bear.

I cannot help but be puzzled at the pretender's fixation with Vega of all places. For me, assimilating my gordanian clan was a matter of convenience. I made them the core of my force precisely because no one would notice them. Because no one was tracking them or cared what they did. But if I'd had a power ring at that point there are a hundred places I would rather have gone to begin my ascension.

I suppose that I can rip the answer from his disassociated soul.

"Initial attack is meeting expectations. No unexpected resistance."

I knew that, but auditory confirmation is good to hear. When she first entered my service she was barely competent to shine my boots, but now? She serves as a competent second in command.

"Their fleet?"

"Ships are being recalled from the edge of the system and reinforcements are being called in from nearby duchies."

It may be a little premature, but I can't help but smile a little.

"Their command ship?"

"We have the location."

I raise my right hand, palm vertical. Then I drop it forward. Smite Them With My Wrath.

"Opening boom tube now. Shall I charge the hyper blaster?"

"No." I rise to my feet and open a boom tube to the-

Boom!

-upper surface of the Absolute Dominion. "I will attend to this personally."

"Yes, Lord Grayven. Four seconds to complete passage.. mark."

"Good. Maintain fleet awareness."

I step through the tube and out onto the hull. I see the upper circumference of the capital ship sized boom tube aperture pass over me, the stars of one part of the universe replaced by the stars of another. A beautiful sight; a reminder of the freedom I have won and the power at my command.

The battleship before us at relatively short range is only just activating its weapons. Even from here I can see the protective cowling retract and the guns run tests on their gimbals as their master tries to decide what to do.

I widen my eyes slightly, and embrace desolation.

"Be not."

I don't see it, but I feel it as the twin orange beams leap out to unmake anything in their way. Anything that exists, ends, and those things that attract my attention end sooner.

I may not be able to see the beams, but I can feel it when they punch through the shields of the Crown Imperium's flagship before boring through its hull towards its bridge. I can feel it as the ship begins to fall apart around them. And I certainly feel it when they strike the commanding Admiral and reduce him to his component atoms, his soul to wisps of mana and his mind erased forever.

As my vision clears I see the slowly-expanding hole in the ship, and the panicked faces of the bridge crew as they scramble to don their helmets as the air leaks away. I Cause You Loss of Direction.

Now I need but one thing to occur for the opening stage of my attack to be an unqualified success.

I am authority. But the claims of another abut the space my psyche defines as mine. The pretender does not realise it, but his attempts at usurpation give him away.

"Tamaran. He's on Tamaran, his capital and fastness. Do the soldiers who formed the first wave have a precise location?"

A brief pause as Sinthia reviews reports.

"Contact with New Gods was reported. His bodyguards."

"Any record of them?"

"One. Knockout."

I barely remember her from my days on Apokolips, but she struck me as a simple-minded fighter. A Fury, true, but I never believed that Granny Goodness was creating anything beyond dumb muscle. A problem with the more controlling New Gods: they refuse to take the risk of creating someone who could supplant them. Like koross tamers who pluck out the beasts' teeth before displaying them, they cripple themselves as much as their trainees.

Father…

How the pretender managed to-. No. That doesn't matter now, and it will cease to have any meaning upon my final victory.

"Dispatch combat robots. Keep them on him and keep him distracted. The Absolute Dominion will be able to track his location if he retreats. I want him focused on his immediate surroundings until it is time for me to end him."

"Yes, Lord."

The Absolute Dominion rotates and the capital planet of the Crown Imperium burns in the wake of my fleet. Ah, now this is a world from which I can build an empire! An educated population, an existing power hierarchy and an unwed queen. Weak and unstable neighbours whose territory will be the training ground for my armies and fleets!

As if anyone with any sense would care about Vega.

The Absolute Dominion's secondary batteries open fire on Kranaltine's defence stations. They aren't quite powerful enough to destroy them in a single hit, but three hits is an acceptable rate.

I could go down to their royal palace now. They don't have anything powerful enough to stop me. However, the effect of my divine panoply will be greater if I have the pretender clearly defeated when they first see me. And my forward teams should be able to secure my other objective without my drawing more attention to it.

"My lord? The robots are reporting that the pretender isn't there. The New Gods appear to be guarding a small child."

What? Indecision is Death.

"Dispatch Estrogina's team. Bring the child here that I may interrogate them. If he is hiding from me I will have the pretender broken and bleeding at my feet before I grant him the mercy of oblivion."

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

And Grayven-16 speaks!

Spoiler: Be Revealed!

1st September 2012
15:36 GMT

I feel it as the fleets engage those allied to the pretender, and I feel it -albeit distantly- as those reluctant gathered beneath by banner begin to die.

Satisfactory.

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And he is hardly the only man with power rings.

My awareness of the Citizenry dims. They were to be another distraction, but they were unreliable. So long as they keep a portion of the pretender's fleet occupied elsewhere, it is acceptable. And if I am honest I expected little better from a people so filled with so unwarranted pride.

"Transfer the fleet."

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No. These will go right into the atmosphere.

I feel it as they fly over the cities on the target world, their passage through the skies marked by exploding windows and eardrums. Ruthlessly they target defence silos and military bases, ordnance that could have disrupted my efforts annihilated before it can be brought to bear.

Click to shrink...

"We have the location."

I raise my right hand, palm vertical. Then I drop it forward. Smite Them With My Wrath.

Click to shrink...

I may not be able to see the beams, but I can feel it when they punch through the shields of the Crown Imperium's flagship before boring through its hull towards its bridge. I can feel it as the ship begins to fall apart around them. And I certainly feel it when they strike the commanding Admiral and reduce him to his component atoms, his soul to wisps of mana and his mind erased forever.

As my vision clears I see the slowly-expanding hole in the ship, and the panicked faces of the bridge crew as they scramble to don their helmets as the air leaks away. I Cause You Loss of Direction.

Now I need but one thing to occur for the opening stage of my attack to be an unqualified success.

I am authority. But the claims of another abut the space my psyche defines as mine. The pretender does not realise it, but his attempts at usurpation give him away.

Click to shrink...

"My lord? The robots are reporting that the pretender isn't there. The New Gods appear to be guarding a small child."

What? Indecision is Death.

Click to shrink...

 

[moralrelativity]

Looking bad for our gravvy.

 

[yingyang590]

"Dispatch combat robots. Keep them on him and keep him distracted. The Doomsday will be able to track his location if he retreats. I want him focused on his immediate surroundings until it is time for me to end him."

"Yes, Lord."

The Doomsday rotates and the capital planet of the Crown Imperium burns in the wake of my fleet. Ah, now this is a world from which I can build an empire! An educated population, an existing power hierarchy and an unwed queen. Weak and unstable neighbours whose territory will be the training ground for my armies and fleets!

As if anyone with any sense would care about Vega.

The Absolute Dominion's secondary batteries open fire on Kranaltine's defence stations. They aren't quite powerful enough to destroy them in a single hit, but three hits is an acceptable rate.

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Kinda confusing there, is his flagship ship called the Absolute Dominion or does he have a ship also called the Doomsday?

 

[Ngamer11]

"Dispatch Estrogina's team. Bring the child here that I may interrogate them. If he is hiding from me I will have the pretender broken and bleeding at my feet before I grant him the mercy of oblivion."

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So the Zamaron Pirates work for Grayven in the Renegade timeline. At least they're dead in the Paragon timeline, so Paul doesn't have to worry about them anymore.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Kinda confusing there, is his flagship ship called the Absolute Dominion or does he have a ship also called the Doomsday?

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Thank you, corrected.

So the Zamaron Pirates work for Grayven in the Renegade timeline. At least they're dead in the Paragon timeline, so Paul doesn't have to worry about them anymore.

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They got handed over to the psions. That doesn't necessarily mean that they're dead.

 

[Darko]

I feel it as the fleets engage those allied to the pretender, and I feel it -albeit distantly- as those reluctant gathered beneath by banner begin to die.

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'my banner'

So we finally got to Actually Grayven.

Sinthia is monitoring the situation by conventional means alone.

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If she's a Tamaranean in this setting then I'm betting some of the Gordanian clans took some slaves with them and when Actually Grayven took them over he got her service..

but even the more intelligent gordanians are not given to sophisticated research

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No, I'm betting their most interested in how to better raid.

. And if I am honest I expected little better from a people so filled with so unwarranted pride.

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He's not wrong.

I suppose that I can rip the answer from his disassociated soul.

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Oh, yeah, New Gods can steal the powers of others.

The only time this was shown in this story was after the Captain Planet chapter where renegade apparently killed that evil god from there.

In the comics it was stated that Darkseid would absorb the powers of other pantheons, though I think it was only shown in the n52 when he killed those Old Gods and later fought Zeus and absorbed his power.

Opening boom tube now. Shall I charge the hyper blaster?"

"No." I rise to my feet and open a boom tube to the-

Boom!

-upper surface of the Absolute Dominion. "I will attend to this personally."

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Ahh, the New God desire to get their hands dirty even if it isn't very practical.

and those things that attract my end sooner.

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'my attention'

I may not be able to see the beams, but I can feel it when they punch through the shields of the Crown Imperium's flagship before boring through its hull towards its bridge. I can feel it as the ship begins to fall apart around them. And I certainly feel it when they strike the commanding Admiral and reduce him to his component atoms, his soul to wisps of mana and his mind erased forever.

Click to shrink...

Was this admiral Ozpin, or whatever his name was, the guy that renegade talked to about a ring?

I am authority. But the claims of another abut the space my psyche defines as mine. The pretender does not realise it, but his attempts at usurpation give him away.

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'about the space'

I barely remember her from my days on Apokolips, but she struck me as a simple-minded fighter. A Fury, true, but I never believed that Granny Goodness was creating anything beyond dumb muscle

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She isn't creating more than dumb muscle, but renegades time with her has ensured she's a bit smarter.

A problem with the more controlling New Gods: they refuse to take the risk of creating someone who could supplant them. Like koross tamers who pluck out the beasts' teeth before displaying them, they cripple themselves as much as their trainees.

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True.

Father…

How the pretender managed to-.

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Am I detecting some jealousy here?

I wonder how the comic version of you would react.

I mean Darkseid 16 at least.acknowledges that you're his son. Comic Darkseid may not even remember who you are.

I cannot help but be puzzled at the pretender's fixation with Vega of all places. For me, assimilating my gordanian clan was a matter of convenience. I made them the core of my force precisely because no one would notice them. Because no one was tracking them or cared what they did. But if I'd had a power ring at that point there are a hundred places I would rather have gone to begin my ascension.

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Well it was where the CPB was.

There's also the fact that it's isolated so he can work with more peace.

And a feeling of pride of being able to turn a shithole into a galactic power.

The Doomsday rotates and the capital planet of the Crown Imperium burns in the wake of my fleet. Ah, now this is a world from which I can build an empire! An educated population, an existing power hierarchy and an unwed queen. Weak and unstable neighbours whose territory will be the training ground for my armies and fleets!

As if anyone with any sense would care about Vega.

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I think you'll be surprised at how far Vega has come.

"My lord? The robots are reporting that the pretender isn't there. The New Gods appear to be guarding a small child."

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Oh boy.

"Dispatch Estrogina's team

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These are the Zamaron pirates.

I guess Actually Grayven has a thing for strong and violent women.

Bring the child here that I may interrogate them

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To quote Alucard.

"You done goofed"

If he is hiding from me I will have the pretender broken and bleeding at my feet before I grant him the mercy of oblivion."

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I think Lynne will do that to you first.

I know that this isn't connected to the story but let's take a moment and think about TTS and what it has brought to our lives.

At least we got one more episode..

Goodbye TTS, you will always be the Weird Al of Youtube parodies.

 

[Darko]

They got handed over to the psions. That doesn't necessarily mean that they're dead.

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The planet being turned into a wasteland may point to them being dead.

Though they may have somehow survived or were never on the planet, either escaping the Psions or being in another location.

 

[Bud-E]

Ah, now this is a world from which I can build an empire! An educated population, an existing power hierarchy and an unwed queen. Weak and unstable neighbours whose territory will be the training ground for my armies and fleets!

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Earth-16 Grayven is on Tamarean right? Cause the Queen's still married to the King

 

[Darko]

Earth-16 Grayven is on Tamarean right? Cause the Queen's still married to the King

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No he's on the Crown Imperium world.

 

[FeepingCreature]

'about the space'

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Actually no. "Abut" is a real word meaning sharing a border.

Which actually shares an etymology with "butt up against"! And "butt" in general, for that matter.

Spiritually, Renepaul has his butt¹ all up in Grayven's business.

¹ Boundary! Really! Look it up!

 

[yingyang590]

Am I detecting some jealousy here?

I wonder how the comic version of you would react.

I mean Darkseid 16 at least.acknowledges that you're his son. Comic Darkseid may not even remember who you are.

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I think Darkseid still regards Renegade better than Graven 16 here.

Darkseid seems to like people who defy him. After all, you can't be a tyrant over the hopeless or the willing. Renegade has created a fully independent powerbase with a novel way to contain and purge his fragment of the Anti-Life. While Graven 16 has just gone and become a lesser version of Darkseid.

 

[Darko]

Actually no. "Abut" is a real word meaning sharing a border.

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Didn't know that.

For a moment I thought it was the Canadian way of saying 'about'.

 

[Handlewithcare]

Lin is going to tell her Not-Father what for. He is going to get such a talking too!

And Other-Grayven is going to find out how motivated a pissed off father becomes...

 

[Mr Zoat]

'my banner'
'my attention'

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Thank you, corrected.

The only time this was shown in this story was after the Captain Planet chapter where renegade apparently killed that evil god from there.

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What?

'about the space'

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No, 'abut' is correct.

 

[Darko]

What?

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https://forums.sufficientvelocity.c...young-justice-si-thread-twelve.25032/page-917

Spoiler

I lean forwards. Gaea's a few inches shorter than me, and to an external observer it looks like I'm leering. I'm not. I'm staring directly into her eyes.

"What do I want? Well, like any good businessman-" I take a moment to focus on the metaphysical additions I gained when I slew and absorbed that idiot Zarm. "-I want to tear the coverings of the Earth to get at the stuff underneath."

She raises her eyebrows.

I grin. "But for now, I'll settle for the rights to your photovoltaic technology. I've a mind to abolish fossil fuel use worldwide within a century and yours are the best available."

"Really."

"And as a gesture of good will..." I open up the well ventilated box I brought with me. "I brought you a present."

I pick up the Tasmanian Tiger cub within and hold it out to her.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

1st September 2012
15:36 GMT

I feel it as the fleets engage those allied to the pretender, and I feel it -albeit distantly- as those reluctant gathered beneath by banner begin to die.

Satisfactory.

Click to shrink...

Ah, Grayven-16. The man, the legend, the arsehole boss. An interesting chance to see what drives him, what brought him to fight the Renegade, and what he's planning... Shortly before the Renegade comes steaming in in full Papa Bear mode.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Sinthia is monitoring the situation by conventional means alone. Her limitations are a mild disappointment to me, but even the more intelligent gordanians are not given to sophisticated research. My scouts indicated that the pretender has not yet been able to access either Auron or X'Hal, so the Tamaraneans aligned to him will not have been able to truly ascend either.

And he is hardly the only man with power rings.

Click to shrink...

Yes, but his don't have the restrictions the Guardians placed on theirs. Don't assume he'll operate anything like the way you assume he will, boy.

My awareness of the Citizenry dims. They were to be another distraction, but they were unreliable. So long as they keep a portion of the pretender's fleet occupied elsewhere, it is acceptable. And if I am honest I expected little better from a people so filled with so unwarranted pride.

"Transfer the fleet."

Click to shrink...

So, 'Citizenry as distraction' confirmed. I honestly doubt he ever planned to give Astarte what she wanted from him...

"Yes, Lord Grayven. Boom tubes opening."

The tubes open in front of the rapidly moving assault ships. Unlike the ships I dispatched in the first wave, these do not open into extra-stellar space.

No. These will go right into the atmosphere.

Click to shrink...

"Ultra-rapid insertion!" No need for subtlety, eh? Straight to the terrifying close assaults. Which may end up biting him in the ass.

I feel it as they fly over the cities on the target world, their passage through the skies marked by exploding windows and eardrums. Ruthlessly they target defence silos and military bases, ordnance that could have disrupted my efforts annihilated before it can be brought to bear.

I cannot help but be puzzled at the pretender's fixation with Vega of all places. For me, assimilating my gordanian clan was a matter of convenience. I made them the core of my force precisely because no one would notice them. Because no one was tracking them or cared what they did. But if I'd had a power ring at that point there are a hundred places I would rather have gone to begin my ascension.

Click to shrink...

Because everyone who's heard of the sector has written it off as a den of scum and villainy, eh?

I suppose that I can rip the answer from his disassociated soul.

"Initial attack is meeting expectations. No unexpected resistance."

I knew that, but auditory confirmation is good to hear. When she first entered my service she was barely competent to shine my boots, but now? She serves as a competent second in command.

Click to shrink...

Expanding considerably on the comics version, eh? Knowing Mr Zoat, she'll have much more character, at least.

"Their fleet?"

"Ships are being recalled from the edge of the system and reinforcements are being called in from nearby duchies."

Click to shrink...

Opening up holes in their defence. Unfortunately, Grayven-16 doesn't care about lines of defence... He'll simply smash them aside or bypass them entirely...

It may be a little premature, but I can't help but smile a little.

"Their command ship?"

Click to shrink...

Not the Doomsday, or that would have been remarked upon... So this is likely not the Kryptonian Creche-world.

"We have the location."

I raise my right hand, palm vertical. Then I drop it forward. Smite Them With My Wrath.

Click to shrink...

Ah, New Gods. Always indulging a flair for the dramatic.

"Opening boom tube now. Shall I charge the hyper blaster?"

"No." I rise to my feet and open a boom tube to the-

Click to shrink...

Thanks goodness for that. At least he has no intentions of blowing up planets he could simply conquer...

Boom!

-upper surface of the Absolute Dominion. "I will attend to this personally."

Click to shrink...

Handy, that Apokoliptian fascination with getting their hands dirty.

"Yes, Lord Grayven. Four seconds to complete passage.. mark."

"Good. Maintain fleet awareness."

I step through the tube and out onto the hull. I see the upper circumference of the capital ship sized boom tube aperture pass over me, the stars of one part of the universe replaced by the stars of another. A beautiful sight; a reminder of the freedom I have won and the power at my command.

Click to shrink...

...And if this were a show, that would probably be ranked as a Crowning Moment of Visual Effects.

The battleship before us at relatively short range is only just activating its weapons. Even from here I can see the protective cowling retract and the guns run tests on their gimbals as their master tries to decide what to do.

I widen my eyes slightly, and embrace desolation.

Click to shrink...

Oh, that can't be good...

"Be not."

I don't see it, but I feel it as the twin orange beams leap out to unmake anything in their way. Anything that exists, ends, and those things that attract my end sooner.

Click to shrink...

To quote from Kill Six Billion Demons: "Behold the awesome fires of god. The limitless power of pure creation itself. Look carefully. Observe how it is used for the same purpose a man might use an especially sharp rock." Grayven is not subtle, is he?

I may not be able to see the beams, but I can feel it when they punch through the shields of the Crown Imperium's flagship before boring through its hull towards its bridge. I can feel it as the ship begins to fall apart around them. And I certainly feel it when they strike the commanding Admiral and reduce him to his component atoms, his soul to wisps of mana and his mind erased forever.

As my vision clears I see the slowly-expanding hole in the ship, and the panicked faces of the bridge crew as they scramble to don their helmets as the air leaks away. I Cause You Loss of Direction.

Click to shrink...

...I hope that wasn't someone the Renegade found useful. Otherwise he is going to be pissed.

Now I need but one thing to occur for the opening stage of my attack to be an unqualified success.

I am authority. But the claims of another abut the space my psyche defines as mine. The pretender does not realise it, but his attempts at usurpation give him away.

Click to shrink...

And since we know the Renegade isn't in Vega right now... He's sensing Lynne, on Tamaran. Because her soul is shaped a lot like the Renegade's...

"Tamaran. He's on Tamaran, his capital and fastness. Do the soldiers who formed the first wave have a precise location?"

A brief pause as Sinthia reviews reports.

"Contact with New Gods was reported. His bodyguards."

Click to shrink...

At least he can't narrow it down from this far away.

"Any record of them?"

"One. Knockout."

Click to shrink...

And that's all that's needed. She's come a long way under the Renegade's leadership...

I barely remember her from my days on Apokolips, but she struck me as a simple-minded fighter. A Fury, true, but I never believed that Granny Goodness was creating anything beyond dumb muscle. A problem with the more controlling New Gods: they refuse to take the risk of creating someone who could supplant them. Like koross tamers who pluck out the beasts' teeth before displaying them, they cripple themselves as much as their trainees.

Click to shrink...

And you're a fool if you think that's true of Darkseid. He's not so simple or straight-foward in His planning.

Father…

How the pretender managed to-. No. That doesn't matter now, and it will cease to have any meaning upon my final victory.

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It's called 'not being a petulant little twit', you petulant little twit.

"Dispatch combat robots. Keep them on him and keep him distracted. The Absolute Dominion will be able to track his location if he retreats. I want him focused on his immediate surroundings until it is time for me to end him."

"Yes, Lord."

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Overconfidence. Because he would never step away from his place of power when trouble was calling, would he?

The Absolute Dominion rotates and the capital planet of the Crown Imperium burns in the wake of my fleet. Ah, now this is a world from which I can build an empire! An educated population, an existing power hierarchy and an unwed queen. Weak and unstable neighbours whose territory will be the training ground for my armies and fleets!

As if anyone with any sense would care about Vega.

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Don't count your chickens before they're hatched, boy. You evidently having been keeping up with the times...

The Absolute Dominion's secondary batteries open fire on Kranaltine's defence stations. They aren't quite powerful enough to destroy them in a single hit, but three hits is an acceptable rate.

I could go down to their royal palace now. They don't have anything powerful enough to stop me. However, the effect of my divine panoply will be greater if I have the pretender clearly defeated when they first see me. And my forward teams should be able to secure my other objective without my drawing more attention to it.

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No, you want to be able to drag his lifeless corpse along behind you, or bear his head on a pike, don't you? A pity you'll go disappointed.

"My lord? The robots are reporting that the pretender isn't there. The New Gods appear to be guarding a small child."

What? Indecision is Death.

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Ah, beginning to realise you're not as in control of things as you think you are, eh?

"Dispatch Estrogina's team. Bring the child here that I may interrogate them. If he is hiding from me I will have the pretender broken and bleeding at my feet before I grant him the mercy of oblivion."

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Yes, I don't see that backfiring on him at all, nosirree.

A good look at Grayven-16's mindset. And it's as bad as I thought. Overconfident, arrogant and almost completely lost in his belief that he has the upper hand. Though I can understand that being necessary to reinforce his Godhead. It's going to be very satisfying to watch him stagger from blow after blow as the Renegade turns the tables on him.

 

[Rebu]

"No." I rise to my feet and open a boom tube to the-

Boom!

-upper surface of the Absolute Dominion. "I will attend to this personally."

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I understood that....reference?

 

[Darko]

Yes, but his don't have the restrictions the Guardians placed on theirs. Don't assume he'll operate anything like the way you assume he will, boy.

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The saying "don't assume, it makes an ass out of u and me" is something that can be applied to Actually Grayven.

So, 'Citizenry as distraction' confirmed. I honestly doubt he ever planned to give Astarte what she wanted from him...

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He may have.

If a powerful magical being makes a promise then they may need to keep it or face consequences.

Also he may want to raise any child from that union as an heir or useful tool.

Ultra-rapid insertion!"

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Now I'm getting White Scars voxcast flashbacks.

Because everyone who's heard of the sector has written it off as a den of scum and villainy, eh?

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To be fair, it basically was that.

Expanding considerably on the comics version, eh? Knowing Mr Zoat, she'll have much more character, at least.

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Unless she's killed off.

Grayven is not subtle, is he?

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No, no he isn't.

I hope that wasn't someone the Renegade found useful. Otherwise he is going to be pissed.

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I think it may have been Ozpin.