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Chapter 564: I'll Protect Them!
Steppenwolf licked the blood that splattered onto his face. He was very familiar with this blood, unique to Kryptonians. In his countless past conquests, he had slaughtered an unknown number of them.
He had also encountered Rao, the God of Krypton. That being wasn't particularly powerful, but he was incredibly cold-hearted. The reason he destroyed Krypton was laughable: he wanted to see how his worshippers would react without their "Sun."
A huge portion of the blame for the birth of Ancient Doomsday back then fell squarely on Rao's shoulders.
Countless deities had suffered great losses at the hands of Ancient Doomsday, forced to watch as it swept through that era. Thus, they vented their rage upon Rao, convinced that the birth of a Kryptonian variant like Ancient Doomsday was his doing.
In truth, Rao felt incredibly wronged, as he couldn't defeat Ancient Doomsday either. But unable to explain himself, he decisively fled, hiding within the corpse of the First Firmament—which was being besieged by Eternity and other deities—and slipped into the newly born Multiverse to conceal himself deeply.
It just so happened that during that period, a time when the Multiverse was being repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt by enraged deities, a bastard named The Flash emerged out of nowhere and single-handedly constructed the Speed Force Wall, protecting the Multiverse.
All the deities from the Sphere of the Gods were placed on the Speed Force Wall's blacklist. This forced them to enter the Multiverse only as avatars. If their true bodies were to enter, they would be trapped by the vast Speed Force Wall. The Speed Force's collective consciousness was rather agreeable—it wouldn't hit you or curse you. Instead, it would thoughtfully build you a prison with almost no boundaries. Who knew how many years one would have to wander inside that prison before having a slim chance of escape.
After that, it was Rao's time to play. In any universe where Rao's shadow fell, the fate of that Krypton was almost always annihilation.
In Rao's eyes, these Kryptonians were nothing but livestock, and the Multiverse was just a massive pasture. After slaughtering one batch, a new one would be born.
What Rao hadn't anticipated, however, was the powerful rise of Golden Superman and Silver Superman. These two were top-tier in terms of power, wisdom, vision, experience, and foresight. Aside from their strength, their other metrics were comparable to the One-Above-All.
The most awkward part was that Rao couldn't defeat these two either. His role was more like a "scientist" specializing in genetic experiments.
He was the creator of the Kryptonians, but who said the creator had to be the most powerful? Back then, the First Firmament was so formidable—its entire divine body was a universe, the very first universe in history. But wasn't it betrayed and utterly screwed over by the slaves it created—the Dark Celestials—ultimately leading to its death in battle?
Take Eternity for another example. Eternity created the new, colorful Celestials in the image of the Dark Celestials, and the most powerful one, known as the Dreaming Celestial, could easily defeat Eternity.
What happened next was simple. The fates of countless Superman doppelgangers broke free from Rao's control and they began to have their own destinies—or rather, the fate arranged for them by Golden Superman and Silver Superman.
Although Steppenwolf had never directly fought Golden Superman or Silver Superman, he had personally killed Bronze Superman. Out of curiosity for Golden Superman and Silver Superman, he had also deliberately killed many ordinary Supermen, hoping to study something from them.
In the end, he gave up. Supermen were far less useful than the Parademon Army.
It was no exaggeration to say that Steppenwolf's research on Superman was far superior to Tony's—much, much superior.
"Tell... me... about Rao... Why did he..." Superman said intermittently.
"Have you ever seen a beekeeper hold back when harvesting honey? Even when the swarm reacts and desperately tries to stop him?" Steppenwolf laughed, the intense sound waves instantly causing the eardrums of Superman and the others to bleed.
"You possess great racial talent. Your people have many powerful individuals, but no matter how strong you are, you exist to serve Rao."
"Kryptonians can't open their mouths without spouting devout and reverent phrases like 'By Rao' or 'the merciful and benevolent Creator God.' But your God only sees you as lambs, periodically slaughtering a batch for meat."
Steppenwolf's face was filled with scorn and ridicule.
Steppenwolf was thoroughly contemptuous of Rao's methods—wanting to farm sheep for meat while still desiring the flock's praise. In the style of Apokolips, they would just grab an axe and start chopping. Why make it so complicated?
"I created you for the sole purpose of killing you. Do you have a problem with that? You do? Then suck it up."
Yes, that was the way of Apokolips. They couldn't be bothered to hide such trivial matters.
"You are too weak, Kal, so weak you don't even have the right to know the truth—but I told you anyway. You can consider it a gift from the great Steppenwolf!"
"Come, let me hear you say, 'By the merciful, compassionate, and tolerant Lord Steppenwolf.'"
"Make me happy, and I'll let you all go."
Steppenwolf roared with laughter. Though his words were playful, his actions showed no mercy. He raised his axe and, right then and there, chopped off one of Clark's arms.
Clark let out a stifled groan, his consciousness starting to blur. The speed at which he absorbed yellow sun energy could no longer keep up with the rate of his losses.
Blood gushed from every part of his body. Clark had already become a bloody figure. If his body wasn't automatically absorbing energy from the yellow sun, anyone else would have long been dead.
"This can't be real. You're lying..." Clark growled, each word sounding as if it were being squeezed from a ruined throat.
Although he had grown up on Earth, and although his understanding of Krypton's history came from the records his father had left him... Clark knew perfectly well what Rao meant to Krypton.
The myth had collapsed. His faith had shattered completely.
Not that he had been particularly faithful to Rao to begin with.
Hant rose to his feet and coldly slammed a fist into Steppenwolf's face, his movements steady and calm.
"Aren't you shocked? The meaning your God gave to your existence is to be slaughtered for meat," Steppenwolf said, looking at this Kryptonian with great interest.
"I don't care, because my god has never been some Rao. I've never even heard that name."
Hant said coldly, retracting his aching fist and raising his other hand to smash it violently into Steppenwolf's face again.
"Then who is your god? Tony, or someone else?"
Steppenwolf watched Hant land punch after punch on his face. He withdrew the finger he was using to hook Superman, and with his now-free hand, he smashed a fist into Hant's face. Hant's body was sent flying several hundred meters, half of his face almost completely pulp.
Steppenwolf let out a strange laugh as he surveyed the wreckage. "This planet will become one of my tributary stars, and every single one of you here will become my slave."
"No matter who comes, they won't be able to save you!"
"What a coincidence. My thoughts are the exact opposite. I'm determined to protect these brainless idiots today."
A flash of white light flared. The Mobius Chair appeared, with Tony sitting serenely upon it, looking down from on high, observing Steppenwolf like a deity.
Rao almost never appears in the comics. His joke-like destruction of Krypton is one of the many existing versions of why Krypton was destroyed. His actions are explained away in just a few sentences, and the handiwork of this God of Krypton really is that ridiculous and absurd.
(end of chapter)
Steppenwolf licked the blood that splattered onto his face. He was very familiar with this blood, unique to Kryptonians. In his countless past conquests, he had slaughtered an unknown number of them.
He had also encountered Rao, the God of Krypton. That being wasn't particularly powerful, but he was incredibly cold-hearted. The reason he destroyed Krypton was laughable: he wanted to see how his worshippers would react without their "Sun."
A huge portion of the blame for the birth of Ancient Doomsday back then fell squarely on Rao's shoulders.
Countless deities had suffered great losses at the hands of Ancient Doomsday, forced to watch as it swept through that era. Thus, they vented their rage upon Rao, convinced that the birth of a Kryptonian variant like Ancient Doomsday was his doing.
In truth, Rao felt incredibly wronged, as he couldn't defeat Ancient Doomsday either. But unable to explain himself, he decisively fled, hiding within the corpse of the First Firmament—which was being besieged by Eternity and other deities—and slipped into the newly born Multiverse to conceal himself deeply.
It just so happened that during that period, a time when the Multiverse was being repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt by enraged deities, a bastard named The Flash emerged out of nowhere and single-handedly constructed the Speed Force Wall, protecting the Multiverse.
All the deities from the Sphere of the Gods were placed on the Speed Force Wall's blacklist. This forced them to enter the Multiverse only as avatars. If their true bodies were to enter, they would be trapped by the vast Speed Force Wall. The Speed Force's collective consciousness was rather agreeable—it wouldn't hit you or curse you. Instead, it would thoughtfully build you a prison with almost no boundaries. Who knew how many years one would have to wander inside that prison before having a slim chance of escape.
After that, it was Rao's time to play. In any universe where Rao's shadow fell, the fate of that Krypton was almost always annihilation.
In Rao's eyes, these Kryptonians were nothing but livestock, and the Multiverse was just a massive pasture. After slaughtering one batch, a new one would be born.
What Rao hadn't anticipated, however, was the powerful rise of Golden Superman and Silver Superman. These two were top-tier in terms of power, wisdom, vision, experience, and foresight. Aside from their strength, their other metrics were comparable to the One-Above-All.
The most awkward part was that Rao couldn't defeat these two either. His role was more like a "scientist" specializing in genetic experiments.
He was the creator of the Kryptonians, but who said the creator had to be the most powerful? Back then, the First Firmament was so formidable—its entire divine body was a universe, the very first universe in history. But wasn't it betrayed and utterly screwed over by the slaves it created—the Dark Celestials—ultimately leading to its death in battle?
Take Eternity for another example. Eternity created the new, colorful Celestials in the image of the Dark Celestials, and the most powerful one, known as the Dreaming Celestial, could easily defeat Eternity.
What happened next was simple. The fates of countless Superman doppelgangers broke free from Rao's control and they began to have their own destinies—or rather, the fate arranged for them by Golden Superman and Silver Superman.
Although Steppenwolf had never directly fought Golden Superman or Silver Superman, he had personally killed Bronze Superman. Out of curiosity for Golden Superman and Silver Superman, he had also deliberately killed many ordinary Supermen, hoping to study something from them.
In the end, he gave up. Supermen were far less useful than the Parademon Army.
It was no exaggeration to say that Steppenwolf's research on Superman was far superior to Tony's—much, much superior.
"Tell... me... about Rao... Why did he..." Superman said intermittently.
"Have you ever seen a beekeeper hold back when harvesting honey? Even when the swarm reacts and desperately tries to stop him?" Steppenwolf laughed, the intense sound waves instantly causing the eardrums of Superman and the others to bleed.
"You possess great racial talent. Your people have many powerful individuals, but no matter how strong you are, you exist to serve Rao."
"Kryptonians can't open their mouths without spouting devout and reverent phrases like 'By Rao' or 'the merciful and benevolent Creator God.' But your God only sees you as lambs, periodically slaughtering a batch for meat."
Steppenwolf's face was filled with scorn and ridicule.
Steppenwolf was thoroughly contemptuous of Rao's methods—wanting to farm sheep for meat while still desiring the flock's praise. In the style of Apokolips, they would just grab an axe and start chopping. Why make it so complicated?
"I created you for the sole purpose of killing you. Do you have a problem with that? You do? Then suck it up."
Yes, that was the way of Apokolips. They couldn't be bothered to hide such trivial matters.
"You are too weak, Kal, so weak you don't even have the right to know the truth—but I told you anyway. You can consider it a gift from the great Steppenwolf!"
"Come, let me hear you say, 'By the merciful, compassionate, and tolerant Lord Steppenwolf.'"
"Make me happy, and I'll let you all go."
Steppenwolf roared with laughter. Though his words were playful, his actions showed no mercy. He raised his axe and, right then and there, chopped off one of Clark's arms.
Clark let out a stifled groan, his consciousness starting to blur. The speed at which he absorbed yellow sun energy could no longer keep up with the rate of his losses.
Blood gushed from every part of his body. Clark had already become a bloody figure. If his body wasn't automatically absorbing energy from the yellow sun, anyone else would have long been dead.
"This can't be real. You're lying..." Clark growled, each word sounding as if it were being squeezed from a ruined throat.
Although he had grown up on Earth, and although his understanding of Krypton's history came from the records his father had left him... Clark knew perfectly well what Rao meant to Krypton.
The myth had collapsed. His faith had shattered completely.
Not that he had been particularly faithful to Rao to begin with.
Hant rose to his feet and coldly slammed a fist into Steppenwolf's face, his movements steady and calm.
"Aren't you shocked? The meaning your God gave to your existence is to be slaughtered for meat," Steppenwolf said, looking at this Kryptonian with great interest.
"I don't care, because my god has never been some Rao. I've never even heard that name."
Hant said coldly, retracting his aching fist and raising his other hand to smash it violently into Steppenwolf's face again.
"Then who is your god? Tony, or someone else?"
Steppenwolf watched Hant land punch after punch on his face. He withdrew the finger he was using to hook Superman, and with his now-free hand, he smashed a fist into Hant's face. Hant's body was sent flying several hundred meters, half of his face almost completely pulp.
Steppenwolf let out a strange laugh as he surveyed the wreckage. "This planet will become one of my tributary stars, and every single one of you here will become my slave."
"No matter who comes, they won't be able to save you!"
"What a coincidence. My thoughts are the exact opposite. I'm determined to protect these brainless idiots today."
A flash of white light flared. The Mobius Chair appeared, with Tony sitting serenely upon it, looking down from on high, observing Steppenwolf like a deity.
Rao almost never appears in the comics. His joke-like destruction of Krypton is one of the many existing versions of why Krypton was destroyed. His actions are explained away in just a few sentences, and the handiwork of this God of Krypton really is that ridiculous and absurd.
(end of chapter)
