Tel-Rol's arms were strong, steadily supporting Diana's waist.
Diana could smell the mixed scent of pizza and sunshine on him.
The appearance of this man inexplicably eased her taut nerves.
He had come.
"Are you alright, Amazon Princess?"
Tel-Rol lowered his head, looking at the woman in his arms.
Diana's cheeks were smudged with dust, and there was a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth, but her eyes were full of stubbornness and fighting spirit, showing no sign of retreat.
"I'm fine."
Diana struggled slightly, wanting to get out of his embrace.
Tel-Rol readily complied, gently setting her down on a patch of ground that was relatively intact.
"That's good. Stand back a bit, don't let the blood splash onto you."
He stretched his neck, making crisp cracking sounds, and walked toward the center of the battlefield with a relaxed expression.
Diana stared blankly at his retreating figure for a moment.
This man... why does he talk like he's asking for a beating?
"Holy cow!"
Barry, in the distance, turned into an afterimage, dodging the pounces of several Parademons, his mouth not idle.
"Oh Deleted, Tel-Rol is here. I wonder if Gotham is about to get cleaned up?"
"His energy index... it increased again! That's impossible!"
Red light flashed wildly from Victor's mechanical eye.
"Who is he? He's not one of ours from the League, is he?"
Hal Jordan used green light to conjure a meat grinder and a vacuum cleaner, sucking a group of Parademons into the grinder and turning them into paste.
"But he looks pretty fierce! Go get him, buddy!"
Steppenwolf looked at the human in front of him, dressed gaudily and sporting a lazy expression, his eyes filled with contempt.
Another insect coming to die.
He couldn't be bothered to waste words, raising his massive left hand and swinging it toward Tel-Rol's face.
The wind generated by the slap even made the air whistle.
However, Tel-Rol merely raised his right hand casually.
Steppenwolf's slap, strong enough to crush a tank, was firmly caught by him.
Where the two met, a visible white shockwave violently exploded!
The Parademons within ten meters were thrown off balance by the fierce wind, and those flying in mid-air were instantly torn to shreds.
Barry, who had just run nearby, stumbled from the gust of wind and nearly face-planted.
"Holy smokes! The wind power generated by that slap is enough to power Gotham for a year!"
Steppenwolf's expression changed.
Horror showed through his contemptuous gaze.
"You... are a Kryptonian?"
His voice was low and hoarse.
Tel-Rol ignored him.
His answer was a fist.
Tel-Rol's right hand was still gripping Steppenwolf's wrist, and his left hand, clenched into a fist, delivered a solid blow right to Steppenwolf's abdomen.
"Thud!"
A dull sound.
Steppenwolf's massive body was arched backward by the impact; the ground beneath his feet cracked inch by inch, and he involuntarily stumbled back two steps.
"Ugh..."
Steppenwolf grunted, the armor on his abdomen dented inward.
He looked down at his stomach, then raised his head to look at Tel-Rol.
The horror slowly faded, replaced by intense disdain and cruelty, and he smiled.
"So that's it... just an insect with slightly greater strength."
He thought this was the limit of Tel-Rol's power.
"Die!"
Steppenwolf roared in fury, the battle-axe in his hand igniting with searing energy, tracing an arc of Death as he brought it down toward Tel-Rol's head!
Tel-Rol sidestepped, the axe blade slicing past the tip of his nose, the scorching energy almost singeing his hair.
But while he dodged the axe, he didn't dodge Steppenwolf's other move.
Steppenwolf delivered a kick that landed squarely on Tel-Rol's kidney area.
"Bang!"
Tel-Rol was launched backward, as if struck head-on by a battering ram.
"Rumble!"
He smashed through half a wall of an abandoned building and was buried beneath the rubble and debris.
"Hmph, a waste of time."
Steppenwolf spat disdainfully, not even bothering to glance at the ruins again.
He turned around, his blood-red gaze locking onto Victor in the distance once more.
The mother box was his true target!
He raised his battle-axe, the energy on the blade lighting up again, preparing to deliver a long-range strike to the flying tin can.
Diana's heart leaped into her throat.
"Look out!"
Just as Steppenwolf was about to swing his battle-axe,
A thick, white-and-yellow column of energy shot up from the recent ruins, then sharply changed direction, blasting toward Steppenwolf's back with unstoppable momentum!
Kamehameha!
Steppenwolf sensed the deadly threat behind him, spun around abruptly, and held his battle-axe horizontally across his chest.
"Boom—!"
The column of energy struck the battle-axe dead-on.
The ground beneath Steppenwolf's feet instantly crumbled and sank, and his massive body was forcibly pushed backward over ten meters by the immense force!
Two deep furrows were plowed into the ground beneath his feet.
"Ugh, ahhhhh!"
Steppenwolf let out an angry roar, the muscles in his arms bulging as he desperately resisted the energy impact.
The light dispersed.
Smoke wafted off Steppenwolf's body; the head of the battle-axe he used for blocking was scorched glowing red.
Before he even had a chance to catch his breath,
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Two sharp sounds of air being sliced rang out.
He saw two high-speed rotating flat, circular energy blades slicing toward him, crossing paths from the left and right.
Destructo Disc!
These things were too fast and too close; Steppenwolf had no time to dodge.
"Pffft!"
"Pffft!"
The two Destructo Discs struck solidly against his shoulder plate and the armor around his waist.
Sparks flew everywhere!
Two deep, charred slash marks were left on Steppenwolf's armor.
Although they hadn't cut completely through, this was the first time his armor had sustained substantive damage since the battle began!
"You! Have enraged me!"
Steppenwolf was completely furious.
However, his answer came in the form of a third attack.
"Swish!"
A figure appeared before him out of thin air.
Tel-Rol emerged from the ruins, brushing the dust off himself. A white-and-yellow aura was now erupting all over his body.
The surging aura pushed away the debris around him.
With just a flash, he crossed nearly a hundred meters and appeared directly in front of Steppenwolf.
He was so fast that Steppenwolf's eyes couldn't track him!
"This punch is the interest."
Tel-Rol's voice was calm.
His fist, however, was anything but calm.
The aura-wrapped fist slammed violently into Steppenwolf's face!
"Boom!!!"
A tremendous sound.
Steppenwolf's monstrous head snapped backward, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth.
His massive body could no longer stand firm; his feet left the ground, and he was sent flying backward.
After tumbling dozens of times in the air, he crashed with a "boom" into a distant hill, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Barry stopped running, his mouth wide open.
Hal's green light flyswatter also froze mid-air, forgotten before it could swing.
The alarm siren inside Victor's head even stopped.
Diana's knuckles were white from gripping her sword hilt tightly.
She looked at the man engulfed in the fiery aura; he was stronger than before!
From the distant dust cloud, the sound of rocks tumbling could be heard.
Steppenwolf climbed out of the crater in the hillside.
He shook his head, reaching up to touch the blood on his face.
His eyes held a mix of excitement and cruelty.
"You surprise me, Kryptonian."
Steppenwolf nodded, quite satisfied.
"You are very different from the other Kryptonian remnants I have killed in other universes."
He spread open his right hand, facing the sky.
"As a reward..."
Above the sky, a warship belonging to the Deep Sea Behemoths tore through the clouds, revealing a monstrous corner.
A red light shot out from the warship and landed in Steppenwolf's hand.
The light faded, revealing a massive, broad-bladed, two-handed greatsword that was entirely crimson.
Magma-like patterns flowed across the blade.
Steppenwolf gripped the hilt, pointing the sword at Tel-Rol.
"I have decided to use you... as the sacrificial offering!"