Chapter 272: The Clash

"Come on, let me see why the universe fears you, Darkseid."

Seeing Darkseid gearing up for a fight, H'el stood up from his steel seat without hesitation. He spread his arms wide, eyes filled with battle intent, a defiant grin on his face.

The steel chair disintegrated into a flood of nanobots, merging into the black cape billowing behind H'el under the force of Darkseid's aura.

With the main points of their discussion mostly covered and the palpable tension between Darkseid and H'el ready to explode into battle, the others began to back away.

Athena, Hades, Scar, Sinestro, and Steppenwolf all retreated from the surface of the neutron star to space, ready to witness the showdown.

Seeing H'el's open-chested stance inviting his attack and doubting the fearsome power he was known for across the universe, Darkseid's fury erupted, his eyes blazing red.

Darkseid had been harboring anger since H'el made him wait.

When had Darkseid ever waited for anyone?

Similarly, H'el found Darkseid's high-and-mighty, sovereign demeanor intolerable.

They were supposed to be discussing cooperation, yet Darkseid's lofty attitude and condescending tone suggested he thought he could dictate the deployment of New Krypton's forces.

Did he think this was an unequal partnership?

What a joke.

'Boom'

A massive tremor shook the surface of the neutron star, causing the entire star to sink abruptly.

Darkseid's figure blurred out of H'el's sight, appearing before him in an instant. He punched H'el's cheek with tremendous force.

Darkseid's mighty blow dented H'el's face, making his right eye seem to bulge out of its socket in a gruesome sight.

H'el's body rocketed backward like a cannonball, traveling seven kilometers before he stabilized, his slightly bent face and spine snapping back into place, bones realigning instantly.

Grinning, H'el's black cape fluttered as he stepped towards Darkseid across the neutron star's surface, eyes glowing with cruel red light.

"Is this all you've got, Darkseid?"

H'el's neck craned as he bared his teeth in a fierce smile, his red eyes gleaming menacingly. He walked toward Darkseid, arms open wide.

Darkseid's cracked gray face contorted with anger, his eyes blazing with violent red light. Unable to tolerate such defiance and provocation any longer, he launched himself at H'el, his cracked fists imbued with destructive power.

H'el also rushed towards Darkseid, becoming a blur of black shadow, his fist meeting Darkseid's head-on.

*BOOOM!*

Darkseid's cracked gray fist collided with H'el's pale fist, sending shockwaves through the neutron star's gravity field.

Both Darkseid and H'el exerted forces far beyond their physical limits. The impact tore their flesh apart, leaving their arm bones exposed as blood and tissue flew off in a whirlwind of destruction.

In an instant, Darkseid's red eyes widened in astonishment as his torn flesh and blood miraculously reassembled, flowing back to cover his skeletal arm as if time had reversed.

He hadn't expected H'el to match his punch head-on.

The energy released from their clash equaled approximately three thousand years' worth of the sun's output.

To put that into perspective, the sun emits about 3.828 x 10^26 joules of energy every second. Given that humanity consumes about 5.8 x 10^20 joules of energy annually, this means the energy released in just one second by the sun could power humanity for 660,000 years.

Multiply that by 94,608,000,000 seconds, and you get an unimaginable 6.2436 x 10^16 times the annual energy consumption of humanity.

Their single punch unleashed energy beyond what humanity could ever use.

The entire neutron star trembled in the cosmic void.

H'el's shoulder, stripped to the bone, rapidly regenerated, with nerves and blood vessels intertwining as his nanotech suit swarmed over to cover him.

"Was it exaggerated? Darkseid, your strength and blood are right before my eyes. Give it your all!"

H'el snarled, his eyes gleaming with a vicious grin as he taunted Darkseid, challenging him to unleash his full power.

In mere moments, both warriors' formidable regenerative abilities healed their wounds completely.

Darkseid's fury intensified, his cracked face darkening to a near-purple hue.

He had never encountered such an arrogant Kryptonian before.

Darkseid had never encountered a Kryptonian capable of withstanding his physical might—not counting Doomsday, which he considered merely a weapon. The only one able to withstand his power was H'el.

"Arrogant Kryptonian, you will pay for this!" Darkseid roared in fury, doubling the force behind his punches.

*BOOM!*

*CLAAASH!*

*BOOOOOM!*

They clashed violently on the surface of the neutron star, their eyes glowing red with unstoppable power. Their fists blurred into shadows, their strikes too rapid to track. The star beneath them quaked under the relentless, high-intensity impacts.

The neutron star's surface began to buckle under their assaults. Like raging bulls, their eyes burned with fury as they exchanged blow after blow, neither yielding an inch.

Darkseid refrained from using his Omega Beams, and H'el held back his psychic abilities, size manipulation, and spatial control. It was a pure contest of brute strength.

The neutron star trembled without cease as their explosive power from their arms shattered flesh and pulverized bones to atoms, only for them to regenerate almost instantaneously.

Darkseid was undeniably powerful, his limbs breaking less frequently than H'el's. Yet, he couldn't match H'el's regeneration speed, preventing him from decisively overpowering H'el and subduing him.

"DAMN IT!" Darkseid roared. With a final clash, both were flung from the neutron star's surface, hovering in space, their battle intent palpable.

Darkseid placed his hands on the neutron star, using it like a bowling ball, hurling it toward H'el. Unfazed, H'el braced himself, pushing back against the star from the other side.

Their bodies strained, muscles bulging as they pushed the neutron star between them, neither willing to concede in this raw display of strength.

The neutron star suffered under their immense power, its structure collapsing inward under the concentrated force.

With a final surge of power, Darkseid and H'el met at the neutron star's core, colliding once more in a titanic clash that split the star apart.

*BOOOOOOM!*

They continued to pummel each other amid the star's disintegration, their ferocious battle shaking the very fabric of space around them.

°°°

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