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Chapter 178: Where Is Darkseid? V

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The Highfather perked up from his throne in absolute fright, his cosmic awareness alerting him of a certain fact... Darkseid wasn't within the spaceship despite that same cosmic sense telling him just a second ago that he was in there.

"Where is Darkseid????!!!"

The Highfather's thought process moved fast, thinking of all possibilities, one of which sent a chill up his spine. He of all people knows Darkseid best, so the most likely scenario in his mind was the worst case one.

At the moment, he was far far away from his home. He was hiding, isolating himself from everything else to make sure his plans don't go wrong.

He had to keep a close eye on everything, but that meant being away from his home, New Genesis.

Galactica, the world that would one day become New Genesis, and its dark twin Apokolips came into existence after the war that destroyed the Old Gods and split their homeworld of Urgrund into two entirely opposite planets within the Sphere of the Gods. 

The beings of Galactica were born from the living atoms of the Old God Balduur; their counterparts on Apokolips from the atoms of a mysterious Old God sorceress. 

The inhabitants of Galactica or New Genesis as it's called today and Apokolips warred with each other for generations, locked in an eternal battle.

The Highfather made his way back to New Genesis with hast, having an ominous premonition on who will welcome him back.

He felt frightened, stressed, angry, and regretful, emotions he had almost never felt in his long life. He was eyeing Ian for a very long time just like many other beings, so he knows how his power works to a certain extent.

However, Nekron appearing as a result of his Death immunity? Who would expect such nonsense? 

Now he doesn't know whether the embodiment of death will go after him or not... What the Highfather failed to take into consideration however was the other anomaly in the incident, the very cause of the incident.

Ian blinked. He blinked again. Another time. His mouth twitched, and his expression turned cold, "I see..."

Surrounding him was a cluster of yellow energy so potent it was shaking space around him, but it still wasn't enough to protect him completely as the previous burst took away most of his skin.

Hell, even some of his bones suffered the burnt of the explosion, leaving him in a state very similar to Nekron's natural state, a skeleton with a few patches of flesh added.

No one would look at him at the moment and think of him as a human, a monster is what he is, and he wasn't happy at the moment. No, far away from it actually, he was raging inside.

His vision soon became clear enough to see the cluster of dust, destruction, and Death all around.

The universe has never been brighter in his eyes. He had the luxury of being at the very center of an exploding galaxy, and he survived mostly due to luck... Luck is his bitch after all.

His sight caught no sign of Nekron, or any remnants of the spaceship, irking him further. The spaceship is his only clue to whoever conspired against him.

Ian took a deep breath, calming himself down with his tenacious willpower. He went on to close his eyes, space was way too bright at the moment... And hot, very hot, something he can not feel due to the energy of fear protecting him.

Without opening his eyes, Ian caught his staff in his hand before stabbing forward. He felt himself nailing someone, and only then did he start devouring him.

The person was quite unfortunate, or stupid one might say. Strength found him, but he used it in a way that attracted the Flash's attention, so he was caught and thrown into S.T.A.R labs' prison.

That very strength that found him attracted Ian's attention, so Ian broke him out of prison out of kindness before leaving him in his dimension.

Axel Walker, better known as the Trickster, a criminal from Central City and most important of all, a conduit of the Strength force, one of the four cosmic forces of the universe.

The Speed Force. The Still Force. The Sage Force. Lastly, the Strength Force. Ian has just acquired the last of these forces, fully completing the Second Vessel. 

He didn't stop there as his Death force started to be devoured by the staff. The artifact seemingly starving like never before, trying to suck him dry, albeit there was a limit to how much Death force he can produce at a particular moment.

The second Vessel shone with a bright rainbow-like light, soon forming into a single light, a gorgeous violet light, "The Forever Force..." Ian murmured.

Henceforth, he had no speed force, nor still, strength, or sage force. They merged together to form a greater force, the Forever Force. It's simple, extremely simple, the Forever Force is time, and that's it.

"Rose of The Forever," Ian murmured, words somehow coming out of his mouth despite his sorry state. One would assume his entire mouth and throat were completely destroyed looking at him, yet that didn't stop him from being the monster he is.

A burst of violet energy started spreading out throughout the surroundings, its source being Ian. That continued for a few minutes before Ian opened his eyes, "Darkseid?"

He used the Forever force, and it felt natural like he has been using it for forever. He looked back through time, catching sight of who was within the spaceship.

It wasn't Darkseid, it was his army, his banner, something Ian knows quite well considering he had read the memories of some of the lantern corps.

"So who?" The target was Darkseid, so Ian wondered who would want him dead, not a very good question. A better question would be, who wouldn't want him dead?

But someone with the power and resources to pull this off, they're very few and far in between. 

The Forever force still allowed Ian to pull off just about everything the cosmic forces can do, such as thinking at an incomprehensible speed, so it didn't take Ian too long to figure out what can answer his doubts.

It took Ian only a step to find himself in the Grey Rose. He was quickly recovering, not just because of the Forever Force messing with time, but also because of the Rose Holy light.

His recovery speed was so ridiculous that it looked like he'd completely recover in just about a quarter of an hour, but he wasn't about to wait for that long of a time.

So instead, he just snapped his finger, bringing about a violet outfit, seeming quite ancient with a black robe. It was glowing with fabulous purple color, brimming with energy.

His snap also started the spaceship's warp drive, his destination being New Genesis. 

Nekron was thrown to the back of his mind for the moment. He knows the thing was thrown back into the gap which it was crawled out from because Death can not die, or at least, that's how it's supposed to be.

Reaching the Realm of New Genesis is a challenge for most beings, but not for Ian. He had Hephaestus build the Grey Rose so it can achieve miracles, provided he had the coordinates which he does.

Ian remained calm, cool, and collected. He didn't move. He didn't speak. He just stood before the observatory observing things.

His expression only changed when he reached his destination, taking him mere minutes to do so due to the warp drive.

Ian flinched, his mouth twitching because before him was a chaotic planet, a planet so colossal Ian estimated it's bigger than most suns but more dangerous than all suns.

The planet was amidst a war, a chaotic war. Earth would've fallen long ago with how much damage was being done in every second of the war, but this is no earth, this is the home of the New Gods, New Genesis.

"Rose of Magic and The Forever." Two Death Roses at the same time. The Trident of Neptune in one hand, and the Staff of all Things in the other.

The chaos before him told him all he had to know, so without hesitation, Ian fell onto the planet with vengeance in his eyes, "Highfather, you did this to yourself."

"He indeed did." A hollow laugh reverberated throughout New Genesis. If anyone still wondered where Darkseid is, here he is wreaking havoc upon the New Gods.