DC : The Template System

Darkseid's voice rumbled like a distant avalanche—calm, powerful, final.

"Your efforts thus far have accomplished nothing. You are merely delaying the inevitable. Surrender… is advisable."

Max hovered across from him, chest rising with each labored breath, sweat trickling down his temple . His body screamed for rest, his chakra reserves dangerously low—but his spirit? Unyielding.

"so that you can kill me or turn me to your pawn not a chance," he growled.

Darkseid's eyes narrowed, lips curling into something between disappointment and curiosity.

"Then so be it."

And in the silence that followed, the air between them grew tense enough to shatter

Darkseid was about to lunge forward when a sudden force tugged at him. His glowing eyes flicked down in confusion—thick wooden vines had snared his legs, pulling him violently to the ground.

From afar, it looked like mere vines struggling to restrain a god. But through Max's eyes, the truth was different. His four Limbo clones, invisible to normal perception, were wrestling with the tyrant, straining to pin him down.

Max shot forward, chakra flaring. With a battle cry, he landed squarely on Darkseid's shoulders, his hand slamming down onto the warlords head.

Max roared.

A terrible sound echoed as his hand began to glow. With all his might, Max yanked—not at armor, but at the essence beneath. A thick, dark red energy bled from Darkseid's body, coalescing into a vaguely humanoid shape that mirrored his form—his soul atleast that what max thought it was.

Darkseid roared in pure rage, his body convulsing as more red energy poured out of him. The red energy resisted, screaming silently, and the scorching force of it burned Max's palms, the agony threatening to break his grip.

But Max held on.

And then—everything changed.

Max's surroundings vanished. Fire engulfed his vision. A vast, hellish domain opened before him, a realm beyond reality. In the center, on a throne of shadow and flame, sat a massive, armored figure.

Eyes. Red. Eternal. Malevolent.

Max's breath caught in his throat. His limbs trembled. His instincts—no, his very soul—screamed in terror.

He couldn't move.

The throne-bound figure stared down at him. Eyes like galaxies of blood narrowed… and blazed.

In the blink of an eye, Max was yanked back into his body, gasping. But it was too late.

Darkseid gave a primal, godlike roar, and a detonation of pure crimson Omega energy exploded from his body. The wave blasted Max and his Limbo clones away like rag dolls, the sky ripping open from the force.

Max tumbled through the air and hit the earth like a meteor.

He carved a deep trench across the ground, dragging up dirt, rock, and flame until he finally came to a halt, his back slamming into a cracked, steaming slab of earth. Dust choked the air. The world spun.

He groaned, blinking through the haze—only to realize… he couldn't move.

He looked down.

His arms and legs were gone. Burned away. Vaporized.

Just scorched stumps remained, cauterized by the searing force of the Omega Blast. Blood no longer flowed—there was nothing left to bleed.

"Shit..."

A shadow loomed over him.

Max's head tilted up weakly, and there he was—Darkseid. Floating down like a god of death, eyes glowing with wrath, his entire body pulsing red with barely contained fury.

The tyrant had been wounded—not just in body, but in pride.

Max had done the unthinkable.

He had touched the strings.

He had tried to pull the soul of the avatar but Darkseid had no soul but instead what happened is that he almost severed its link to True Darkseid.

Had he succeeded, the hulking figure before him would've collapsed like a puppet cut loose. But in that final moment, the true god behind the curtain had intervened—and now he was furious.

"You. Dare."

Darkseid's voice echoed with layered tones, not just from the avatar but from beyond the stars—from Apokolips itself.

His eyes burned brighter.

And then—

BOOM.

Twin Omega Beams erupted from his eyes, striking Max full-on. The ground exploded under him. The very earth cried out as it melted into bubbling slag, the soil turning glassy and red-hot. The crater deepened, widened. Buildings nearby buckled from the shockwaves.

Max didn't scream.

He couldn't.

The pain was beyond screaming.

Darkseid didn't stop.

He kept firing.

When the beams finally cut off, the silence was deafening. The crater was a molten lake of slag, glowing and spitting embers into the air.

The molten ground hissed as the smoke cleared, revealing a single black sphere floating in the center of the crater. It shimmered briefly before splitting and floated towards eight other orbs already hovering behind a figure now standing upright.

Max had changed.

His skin was now snow white, unblemished and radiant. His once-dark hair had turned a pale ivory, flowing gently in the heatwave. He wore a smooth white robe, regal and otherworldly, with black magatamas circling his collar like ancient markings. From his forehead, two small horns curved upward.

Darkseid descended slowly, landing before Max. His rage had subsided, but his gaze was now sharp, calculating.

He could feel it—this transformation was dangerous. For the first time since stepping onto this battlefield, Darkseid felt a flicker of threat.

Especially from those black orbs.

Max flexed his hands slowly, opening and closing his fingers, feeling the life in them once again. Just moments ago, he'd been torn apart. Now, he stood reborn.

Without warning, Darkseid attacked, his eyes flaring with crimson fury as the Omega Beams screamed through the air toward Max.

One of the floating black orbs shifted instantly to his hand, reshaping into a sleek black staff.

With a single spin, Max met the beams—

and they vanished.

No explosion. No flash.

Just… gone.

Darkseid's eyes narrowed. That had never happened before. These orbs—they could be reshaped, repurposed... and even nullify his Omega Beams.

Before another thought could form—

Max was gone.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared right in front of Darkseid, fist drawn back, glowing with barely contained chakra.

Darkseid reacted instantly, cocking his own fist to meet the blow.

Then—impact.

BOOOM!

The ground erupted beneath them. A massive shockwave tore through the battlefield, sending molten debris skyward as the earth split from the force

Max skidded back slightly from the collision, boots dragging across the molten slag. He steadied himself, landing squarely on both feet as he stared down Darkseid.

Darkseid stood firm, his arms slightly raised, aura flaring with raw might.

Though still slightly superior in strength, the overwhelming gap between them had vanished.

Max smirked.

He raised a hand—and four invisible strikes landed in perfect sync.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Darkseid staggered back, arms crossing instinctively as he grunted from the force. His eyes scanned the battlefield with narrowed suspicion.

Then he saw them.

Hundreds of Max clones had surrounded him, all weaving the same sequence of hand signs in unison.

"Wood Style: Wood Dragon Jutsu!" they roared.

The earth quaked violently, splintering as dozens—hundreds—of massive wooden dragons erupted from below. Their thunderous roars echoed like a natural disaster, each one twisting and coiling in the air before diving straight at Darkseid like a biblical flood of serpentine titans.

Darkseid's red eyes widened as the sky darkened under the storm of wooden monsters closing in on him.

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End of Chapter.