It was evident that the government's national defense department was a complete waste of money and manpower. Such a massive city had been hollowed out beneath the surface, yet no one had noticed.
Of course, this oversight was also due to Cyborg's involvement. When technology reaches a certain level, relying solely on manpower to track threats becomes almost impossible.
However, no matter how many parademons lurked within the underground nest, they stood no chance against Shin's jutsu. As the black mist surged through the battlefield, it was like a human pressing down on ants with a single finger—the parademons were annihilated in vast numbers.
Just then, Shin suddenly heard a rapid 'bang bang bang' sound. At a seemingly ordinary part of the battlefield, where parademons swarmed in the same overwhelming numbers as elsewhere, he caught a faint red glow from the corner of his eye.
His Observation Haki flared with an intense warning. Without hesitation, he activated the Flying Thunder God Technique, vanishing from the spot in an instant.
The moment he disappeared, two thin beams of crimson light slashed through the air. A fraction of a second later, they abruptly changed direction, bending at a sharp right angle—before striking Superman, who had been battling the demons.
With a thunderous boom, Superman was blasted downward, coughing up blood as he crashed into the ground.
Shin, who had teleported to the very edge of his Observation Haki's range, exhaled in relief. Good thing it hit Superman. If Wonder Woman, Aquaman, or the Flash had been the target, they likely would have been killed instantly.
Moreover, this attack had come through the Boom Tube, meaning Darkseid himself had yet to step onto the battlefield.
With another flicker of movement, Shin activated Flying Thunder God once more, reappearing beside Superman. As a swarm of parademons lunged toward them, crackling lightning surged around Shin, incinerating the creatures into blackened husks.
Most of the parademons had already been obliterated by his previous jutsu. Even the high-level parademons that had been engaging Superman had been crushed under its gravitational force.
At this point, only a few parademons wielding Kryptonite weapons remained.
However, Superman himself was in bad shape. Beyond his physical injuries, his body still carried traces of the Omega Effect. Though Shin could heal his wounds, the residual energy of Darkseid's Omega Beams was not so easily removed.
Back when Wonder Woman had been hit with the Omega Beam, she had endured and burned through it with sheer resilience. By the time Shin and his allies had reached Paradise Island, she had been left with only standard physical injuries, which he had been able to heal.
But now, at least in the short term, their strongest fighter—Superman—was effectively out of commission.
At the same time, several elite parademons emerged from the Boom Tube. The air resounded with sharp bangs as they activated smaller versions of the portal within their bodies.
Shin immediately recognized their strategy.
This was a standard Apokolips invasion method.
First, their forces would infiltrate planets through advanced squads of Parademons. These creatures would then open Boom Tubes, allowing the main army of Apokolips to invade.
During the invasion, they would not only massacre populations but also convert captives into new parademons—an endless cycle of feeding on their enemies. Any defeated planets would be transformed into breeding grounds for more parademon forces. Even in victory, the conquered worlds would suffer irreparable losses.
Many people who had only seen the movies believed that Apokolips' Mother Boxes were rare and valuable. In reality, these devices were as commonplace on Apokolips as computers or even mobile phones were on Earth.
Of course, just as Earth had ordinary computers, supercomputers, and quantum computers, Apokolips' Mother Boxes also came in varying tiers.
The three Mother Boxes on Earth were all high-grade models, typically only owned by the New Gods of Apokolips. Other than Darkseid's personal Mother Box, these were among the most advanced.
The higher the tier, the greater the computational power, and the more stable and sustained the space-time channels they could create.
The stronger the New God, the greater their disruptive energy, making stable teleportation more difficult. This was why Darkseid had yet to step onto the battlefield—his presence required an extremely stable transmission.
If the battle dragged on and Earth's defenses began to crumble, the increasing fear and despair of humanity would enhance the Mother Boxes' power. When that moment arrived, Darkseid might finally descend onto Earth.
Shin wasn't fully aware of these intricate mechanics, but he remained on high alert for Apokolips' elite warriors—the New Gods.
However, they didn't even need to wait for a New God to arrive. The battlefront was already crumbling.
Superman was severely injured and had been taken away by the Flash. Batman, while vital for strategy, was not a frontline fighter.
That left only Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Shin to hold the line.
If they only had to deal with Steppenwolf, the three of them could likely defeat him together. However, with waves of parademons swarming the battlefield, the situation was deteriorating.
The longer the battle dragged on, the worse their odds became.
Steppenwolf had also recognized the situation. Noticing that Wonder Woman's Phoenix Fruit regeneration made her extremely difficult to kill, he had shifted his primary focus to Aquaman instead.
Arthur had already suffered heavy injuries, blood dripping from his mouth. It was clear he wouldn't last much longer.
"This is a pain in the ass," Shin muttered, his brow furrowing.
With a flick of his hand, the colossal meteorite he had suspended above the battlefield suddenly plummeted, crushing several parademons and their Mother Boxes in a devastating impact.
Then, as if struck by a sudden idea, he pulled out a strange-looking water gun and fired it at himself.
In an instant, Shin split into two identical copies.
This was from the Legendary Spring of the Drowned Twin—one of the most valuable curses from Jusenkyo.
Despite Ranma ½ being a comedic world, some of its mystical springs were even more ridiculous than the Devil Fruits Shin had obtained in the One Piece world.
For example, the Legendary Spring of the Drowned Twin could create a perfect clone of its target, effectively doubling its combat power. The stronger the individual, the more valuable the effect.
For someone like Garp, most Devil Fruits would barely increase his strength. However, if he had two of himself, he would overwhelm nearly any opponent.
The Legendary Spring of the Drowned Twin didn't just create a perfect copy—the two bodies shared a telepathic connection, enabling their combat ability to reach a level where one plus one was greater than two.
For high-level fighters, this was far more useful than any Devil Fruit.
And for Shin—whose physical power had already surpassed most known beings—this ability would completely change the tide of battle.
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