DC: Rise of the Kryptonian Tyrant

"It's over."

Lucifer watched helplessly as Bardi's enormous skeletal hands pressed against the spatial rift created in the universe at the center of the shattered Hell.

Space, though inherently intangible, was torn like paper under those hands. They gripped and crushed it, making it impossible to imagine how powerful Barmulodi had become.

In this divine realm, neither gods nor great beasts could escape. No one could stop him.

Lucifer's heart was dead. His face was pale, devoid of anger or vitality. His eyes were empty of light.

"Lucifer! Get out of Hell! The Endless family, gather!"

Destiny of the Endless shouted, flipping through the Book of Destiny in his hand as it emitted divine golden light.

Several members of the Endless family—conceptual gods—assembled.

Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium.

In an instant, they gathered together, mustering their power to launch a massive formation. They attempted once again to displace the central universe of Hell and move Barmulodi out of it.

Just as they had once moved Barmulodi into Hell, now they tried to reverse it.

Suddenly—

From the cosmic rupture in the center of Hell, within the spatial crack torn by Bardi's massive bone hands, two beams of pure darkness emerged, containing the essence of space, time, matter, mind, emotion, soul, will, life, death, hope, despair, madness, creation, destruction, justice, evil, chaos, and more.

The two rays of darkness encompassed all things. They were chaos, the origin of everything, the beginning of all existence.

"Fate begins with me!"

Destiny roared, and the Book of Destiny shot golden light at the incoming dark rays.

But the Book of Destiny, once radiant with divine brilliance, was instantly dyed a chocolate hue and lost its divine fate within Destiny's own cry.

"Concepts begin with me too."

The dark rays didn't stop. After transforming the Book of Destiny into chocolate, they enveloped Destiny himself. Despite his divine power and resistance, he was stripped of his identity as Destiny. His struggling form hardened into an unyielding chocolate statue.

The dark rays, like twisted serpents through the void, distorted space. After consuming Destiny, they struck Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium in succession.

"What's happening?"

"My concept is gone!"

"I'm no longer a god!"

Confusion filled their minds, but their concepts were erased in an instant.

All things return to the beginning. All existence reverts to its origin.

Now, everything was facing the source.

None could resist. Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium were all stripped of their divine concepts. The dark rays weaved through them, turning them into hardened chocolate, leaving them floating above Hell.

This scene shocked both Lucifer and Morpheus.

Barmulodi could kill concept gods and strip away their divinity.

He had just destroyed multiple second-stage concept gods in an instant. This level of terrifying power had already surpassed the so-called Only God stage.

Lucifer's spirit was crushed. His entire being began to deify.

He had done all he could. He had no strength left to change anything. He had truly tried his best.

Light began to refract from within him, and he initiated self-deification.

In the skies above Hell.

The Lord of Hell, Lucifer, was being deified.

"I would rather have remained a child of the Father."

Lucifer felt no sorrow or joy. In a flash, memories of ancient times returned—seeing the world for the first time, eyes clouded with wonder, joy untainted by sorrow, the battle to build Heaven, the persistence in spreading honor, the pursuit of wisdom, unwavering conviction, the betrayal of Heaven, and his ambition to rule Hell.

Even now, he understood that there was no such thing as hope. This was the final moment.

There was no place left to return to.

A wail echoed from Hell.

Its master, Lucifer, was about to die and be deified.

The gods of Heaven, Morpheus, the angels and demons of Hell—all felt a deep sorrow rise in their hearts.

To kill a god who had existed since the dawn of time was an act of despair itself.

That was what Barmulodi represented.

Suddenly, as grief spread through the gods.

The ruthless dark rays twisted, pierced through the void, and shot straight at Lucifer. Before the watching eyes of the gods, they pierced through Lucifer's chest.

Lucifer, still radiating light from deification, froze in an instant. A chocolate-like darkness spread from the wound in his chest.

Lucifer, pulled back from deification, stood stunned.

He looked up to see the source of the dark rays.

Bardi stepped out from the central space of Hell. He had torn through the fabric of space, its fragments shattering like broken glass.

"You are not worthy of deification."

Bardi's voice was cold. His divine form stood immense over Hell. His divine words shattered the void. Countless hellish creatures fell from the skies above, screaming as they crashed into the lava below.

Lucifer's chest continued to darken, chocolate spreading across him. He looked at Bardi with a bitter smile.

"I failed."

"I sincerely wish you victory."

With those words, all the remaining power within Lucifer transformed into a "Blessing of Victory," flying toward Bardi to bestow it upon him.

"You think I want that from you?"

Bardi glanced at it, then with a wave of his massive hand, slapped Lucifer's so-called Blessing of Victory aside.

What a joke.

One-on-one, I killed you.

In your own domain, I crushed you.

With your Endless family by your side, in your home turf, I destroyed you all.

And now, you offer me your blessing of victory?

A loser's blessing—such a thing was cursed. Bardi slapped it away without a second thought. Many gods instinctively swallowed hard, their eyes glued to the blessing, torn between greed and despair as they watched it vanish into the distance.

Even Morpheus felt a twinge of regret.

He could hardly breathe...

And Lucifer froze. The highest stage blessing, created by the combined divine power of a First Realm god, was essentially a sacred relic in the divine realm.

And this man...?

Lucifer stared, mouth agape. He wanted to speak, but no words came. He was unwilling to believe it. Chocolate spread over him completely, freezing his entire form, leaving him suspended above Hell with a complex, emotional expression.

At that moment, the gods felt a deep sense of pity for Lucifer.

From beginning to end, he had never once been taken seriously by Barmulodi.

He had gone so far as to drive all the Only Gods to madness, creating the final "Blessing of Lucifer" with his own death.

Bardi's massive hand struck the air again, swatting away rows of chocolate figures from the Endless family, sending them flying toward where Lucifer's blessing had disappeared.

Then, he casually scooped up the Lucifer chocolate.

When Raven is resurrected, he would let her taste the chocolate version of Lucifer.

(To be continued.)