[Inside Time Loop]
A place of void-black skies and fractured, burning stone. Planets hung in the distance like dying embers. A twisted throne of obsidian floated atop a molten chasm, suspended in the cold silence of this eternal limbo.
And within it…
Darkseid screamed.
Not in pain.
Not in fear.
But in utter, cosmic fury.
His omega beams carved through the empty space, boiling matter, destroying planets that reformed again moments later. Every crack of his voice shattered gravity, every stomp bent dimensions. His fists tore through the fabric of time itself…
And still…
Stephen Strange stood before him.
Smiling.
Always smiling.
"No matter how many times you destroy me..." Strange dusted off his crimson cloak for the thousandth time, "...you'll never leave. Not until the loop breaks."
BOOM!
Darkseid's punch obliterated Strange again, reducing him to atomic dust.
And then...
"Back so soon?" Strange asked, standing whole once again, brushing off a bit of metaphysical ash from his shoulder. "Thought you'd at least monologue this time."
"ENOUGH!" Darkseid's voice boomed like a collapsing star. "YOU THINK TIME IS STRONGER THAN DARKSEID? I AM THE END OF ALL THINGS!"
"And yet," Strange smiled coolly, "time is making you repeat yourself."
Darkseid's fists clenched. Omega energy roared from his eyes, scorching the skies, unraveling stars. He had killed Strange a million times. In a thousand different ways. Had consumed, crushed, erased.
But the loop remained.
A curse of his own making.
This prison wasn't formed from chains.
It was built from his own arrogance.
A trap forged when he underestimated Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, thinking Strange a minor nuisance.
And now, for an unknowable stretch of time, he had been reliving the same sequence.
Strange appears.
Taunts.
Dies.
Returns.
Again.
And again.
And again.
At first, Darkseid remained composed, calculating. But soon his fury overtook reason. And then his pride began to crack.
The worst part?
He began to forget how long it had been.
Centuries?
Eons?
There was no clock in this prison.
Only eternity.
Only Strange.
"How long will you keep this up?" Darkseid finally asked, not out of submission… but suspicion.
Strange's expression changed. Just a little. Like the smile had cracks beneath it. "Not my call anymore."
Darkseid's glowing red eyes narrowed. "Then who holds the key?"
Strange tilted his head. "The one who remembers."
"What does that mean?"
Strange chuckled, stepping backward, hands behind his back. "You'll see."
And then, like always...
BOOM!
Dr. Stephen Strange disintegrated once again in a flash of pure Omega annihilation, his cloak fluttering to the void like a torn crimson leaf.
The loop reset.
The stars reformed.
The throne of obsidian burned.
The molten chasm yawned open again beneath the broken crust of this reality-forged prison.
Darkseid's fist was already raised, omega beams charging at his eyes...
"Strange," he growled, voice raw with loathing. "I will erase your soul this time."
But as the beam surged forward...
...it stopped.
It was as if his Omega Beam was frozen in time. Darkseid blinked. Something was wrong. The figure before him was not Stephen Strange. No crimson cloak. No smug smile.
Instead…
A man stood there.
Tall. Silent. Surrounded by a calm, golden aura that bent space itself. His armor was unlike anything Darkseid had ever seen.
Darkseid's eyes narrowed.
"…You."
Bruce opened his eyes.
The Omega Beam trembled mid-air, stuttering like a broken thought. It twisted… then cracked apart, shattering into harmless energy as it dispersed across the void.
Darkseid stared.
Bruce stood where Strange had once been. Not smiling. Not mocking. Just... present. Calm. Grounded. He was in full control of his power.
Ten glowing rings circled his hands, each pulsing with a different cosmic force. His armor gleamed with woven Radion filaments, black-red veins pulsing beneath the surface like divine circuitry. The Living Tribunal's seal hovered behind him, a golden ouroboros wreathed in flame.
"Impossible!" Darkseid growled, stepping down from his throne. "You... I remember you."
Bruce's voice was low, controlled.
"Look at you... So weak and pathetic. You are supposed to be Darkseid Prime? Ha! What a joke."
The Tenfold Armor pulsed once, and the entire plane shook. Cracks ran across the throne. The molten chasm surged as if the realm itself feared what had entered it.
Darkseid flared his aura, trying to reassert dominance. "You are nothing here. This domain will soon belong to me. Time, reality..."
"...are broken," Bruce cut in, stepping forward. Each stride left behind a print of golden light on the burning stone. "And you made the mistake of thinking you could master it. I mean, look at you. A mere mortal made a mockery out of you, and yet here you are, still barking."
Darkseid unleashed a roar of rage and leapt...
BOOOOOOOM!
...only to be met mid-air by the Impact Gauntlets, forged with the Influence Ring's power. Bruce's punch landed squarely into Darkseid's chest. A ripple of golden energy surged through the god's armor, detonating like a focused earthquake.
Darkseid was launched, crashing through his own throne, stone exploding like glass.
Bruce didn't stop.
He teleported. Lightning Ring: Blink. And reappeared above him mid-fall.
DISINTEGRATION LANCE: Spectral Protocol
Bruce thrust down a glowing spear of pure erasure. The moment it touched Darkseid's chest, a slice of his divine armor ceased to exist, evaporating into nothing.
Darkseid roared in shock... pain. Real pain.
"You dare?"
Radion Core Nuke: Armed
Bruce tossed a black sphere over Darkseid's shoulder.
"Catch."
CLINK.
BOOOOOOOOOM!!!
A miniature supernova ignited behind Darkseid. It detonated in silence... compressed power, concentrated Radion ripping through his omega aura like razors through silk.
Darkseid stumbled.
He hadn't stumbled in a thousand millennia.
Bruce reappeared behind him.
ICE STRIKE: Zero Protocol
One palm struck Darkseid's back.
A mist formed instantly.
His god-flesh began to freeze from the inside out, and his movements slowed; the kinetic energy drained from his body.
Darkseid howled.
He spun, lashing out with a hard punch.
But Bruce vanished again.
REMATERIALIZATION: Nightbringer Phase Cloak
From the shadows, Bruce launched a series of small, hovering orbs around Darkseid.
Radion Shard Grenades: Deployed
Each one detonated in sequence... chik-chik-CHIK!... embedding microscopic Radion splinters directly into his divine neural network.
Darkseid staggered.
His omega beam lashed out, but it was unstable. His aim faltered.
"You brought war to every reality," Bruce said as he landed before him. "You enslaved souls. Crushed timelines. Killed futures before they were born." He stepped forward again. "And I'm the last fucking mistake you'll ever make."
Darkseid charged. Fists wreathed in collapsing suns.
BOOM.
Bruce blocked with the Judgment Hammer, the head of the maul absorbing the kinetic force, then reversing it, sending Darkseid tumbling through the sky.
In the air, Bruce opened his palm.
PLASMA SURGE: Incandescence Protocol
A beam of Radion-charged flame roared from his gauntlet, engulfing Darkseid mid-flight.
SCREAM.
It wasn't rage.
It was suffering.
Bruce didn't relent.
Stasis Field Activated.
Darkseid froze in midair, suspended by Singularity Vines. His omega energy tried to crack the field, but the vines coiled tighter.
Bruce drew the Radion-Saber.
He flashed forward.
One slash across the chest...
One across the back...
One down the side of Darkseid's neck.
Each cut burned with the Final Metal.
Each wound refused to heal.
"You once said," Bruce growled, his voice now edged with fury, "that you are the end of all things."
He powered the Final Judgment Hammer, runes glowing gold and red.
"But I don't see a god."
He raised it high.
"I see a tyrant who finally got outplayed."
CRACKKKK!!!
He brought the hammer down...
ONCE.
TWICE.
A THIRD TIME.
The entire prison dimension ruptured at the seams. Bursts of divine energy swept over the plane.
Reality screamed.
Darkseid hit the ground, bleeding, not just ichor, but divine essence. His eyes flickered. The Omega Effect stuttered.
Bruce stood over him.
Chest rising.
Power crackling.
"You're not escaping," Bruce said. "I'm gonna kill you, right here, right now."
"Hahaha..."
Darkseid began to laugh.
Slow at first.
"HAHAHAHAHA! INTERESTING!"
Then louder.
Until the sound echoed like a collapsing galaxy.
"Impressive," he rumbled, his voice laced with both amusement and menace. "To injure me thus in such a short span... Had I been merely an avatar, you might have triumphed."
He rose, his form towering, eyes burning with renewed fury. "But I am the Prime. The true essence of Darkseid."
Suddenly, the very fabric of reality trembled. Darkseid unleashed his full power, manipulating gravity to such extremes that time itself began to warp and twist. The temporal distortions clashed violently with Doctor Strange's time loop, creating a maelstrom of conflicting chronal energies.
Yet, despite his unleashed might, Darkseid's wounds did not heal. The Radion-infused attacks had poisoned him, their effects irreversible and beyond even his godly ability to mend. Radion, a lethal substance to New Gods, had seeped into his very being, ensuring that his injuries remained and his strength waned.
Bruce stood firm amidst the chaos, his armor gleaming with cosmic energy. With a flick of his fingers, countless portals opened around Darkseid, each one a gateway to a Radion nuke, multiplied through Bruce's mastery over reality itself.
Darkseid's laughter vanished.
"Eat shit. Darkseid," Bruce unleashed the nukes.