DC: Rise of the Kryptonian Tyrant

Hell.

Things have calmed here. The volcanic flames and lava have stopped erupting. The blood-red sky no longer weeps. There is no matter or life left to mourn Lucifer's death.

A new Lord of Hell has been born.

Trigon.

This god, once a relatively insignificant figure in Hell, self-destructed in the battle to open the sealed core of Hell where Bardi was imprisoned. He received the former Lord of Hell's blessing from Bardi, Lucifer's divine favor, and the statue chocolate from the Endless family. His demonic hope surged to its peak.

With help from the gods of Heaven, he managed to sever Hell from the divine realm.

This stunned the gods of Heaven.

A god whose power was unremarkable in Hell became the new Lord of Hell after receiving Lucifer's blessing, the Endless family's statue chocolate, and separating Hell from the divine realm.

Becoming the Lord of Hell was understandable, considering he received Lucifer's blessing.

But managing to separate Hell from the divine realm was utterly absurd.

It defied logic.

It made no sense.

When the separation succeeded, the gods of Heaven were left speechless and deeply shaken.

It was simply irrational.

But if they knew that Trigon was actually Morpheus, the Lord of Nightmares, in disguise, they wouldn't have been so shocked.

"Hm?"

Bardi tore open the void and returned to Hell with the gods he had liberated from the Wall of Origin.

After absorbing the Wall of Origin, Bardi's True God form no longer appeared brutal and terrifying. Now, he looked completely human.

Behind his head floated the gods freed from the Wall of Origin.

They blanketed the sky over Hell, densely packed, radiating divine energy that poured down in torrents. Hell trembled violently. Countless evil spirits, demons, devils, goblins, wizards, skeletons, and other souls were crushed under the divine pressure, annihilated completely.

In an instant, nearly 90% of the living souls in Hell were wiped out.

They were destroyed under the gods' aura. It was tragic and complete.

Hell had truly become Hell.

Bardi raised his arm and created a microcosm with ease, enclosing all the gods within it.

All the gods seemed to shrink in an instant, standing in tight clusters upon Bardi's shoulders.

The gods were terrified.

They had never witnessed such overwhelming power before.

To gather all the gods once fused with the Wall of Origin and carry them on his shoulders—what kind of power was that?

The Creator God and many ancient deities looked at one another. To be honest, they had seen power like this before.

They had witnessed God manifest before the divine realm had even come into being.

This was no longer merely god-level.

In truth, for the gods, there were only three levels of power. Beneath the One True God, no divine being possesses immortality. No matter how great the power, if it's not the One God, it's ultimately meaningless.

Below the One God.

The One God.

And then there is that which transcends even the concept of godhood, beyond the One God—what they call the God Level.

It is legend, a concept, invisible and incomprehensible. It can vanish from the mind at any moment. It exists and does not exist.

Even space-time and matter are mere illusions before true existence.

Bardi understood his strength very well. He had not yet reached the god level imagined by the gods. He was still short of it.

But he was preparing.

"I thought the separation of Hell would fail," Bardi said lightly, his divine body towering like a pillar within Hell.

His gaze shifted from Trigon, pausing briefly. Strangely enough, everything appeared normal. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

It was as if Trigon, having absorbed Lucifer's blessing and consumed the statue chocolate from the Endless family, was exactly who he claimed to be.

But the very fact that he was able to sever Hell from the divine realm with the help of the gods in Heaven was the most abnormal thing of all.

Bardi didn't believe that Trigon and the gods of Heaven alone could strip Hell away.

To be frank, the gods of Heaven were just weaklings. In Bardi's view, even before he absorbed the Wall of Origin, they were ordinary, unremarkable—hardly worth noting.

Yet it was these same gods and Trigon who managed to separate Hell from the divine realm.

That, more than anything, left the gods of Heaven shaken.

So, he was capable of this?

Ignoring the increasingly shocked expressions of the heavenly gods as they stared at his body, Bardi casually pulled them all into the microcosm as well.

Immediately, the gods of Heaven were like huskies that had wandered into a pack of wolves. Under the cold and disdainful gazes of the ancient gods, they stiffened, forcing awkward smiles.

Then Bardi pointed a finger within Hell. All describable rules and laws, rooted in Hell's foundation, instantly transformed.

The space within Hell was frozen and locked.

Trigon was immediately bound within Hell. Bardi's illusory hand, the one that controlled the very laws of Hell, reached through Trigon's demon god form.

"Urgh…"

It was the sound of ancient, rotting wood being pried apart. The whole of Hell seemed to be wrenching apart as Trigon howled in agony.

"Trigon, you're interesting. I can't strip Hell from you all at once," Bardi laughed.

He knew Trigon couldn't possibly resist his power.

Not even one blow.

This enormous fish had finally taken the bait.

Trigon roared in pain. An illusory nightmare emerged from his demonic face. He struggled and screamed, "Why are you so powerful?!"

It was Nightmare. He could no longer maintain Trigon's appearance or posture.

"No!!!"

As Nightmare resisted, Bardi smiled. His illusory hand reached out again, like fishing for the moon in a well, and with one scoop, he pulled Hell out.

Once Hell's authority was extracted, Bardi crushed it in his hand. Then, with a flick of his phantom finger—

Nightmare's entire essence, the painful expression within the illusory black fog, was frozen midair.

Even his thoughts were locked in place.

Boom… Boom…

With a flick of Bardi's finger, all of Nightmare's power and the Nightmare Domain collapsed like bubbles, bursting and vanishing completely.

Immediately, a reversing will spread across the frozen Nightmare.

In a moment, Nightmare turned into chocolate.

Bardi opened his mouth and inhaled, completely absorbing the essence of the great beast's dream and nightmare.

Bardi believed this was a dessert offered by the great beast. However, this dessert had tried to escape the beast's control and scheme against him.

Unfortunately, it was unworthy to insert itself between Bardi and the great beast.

Bardi was certain that after this war—which he was destined to win—the great beast would appear and provide him with all the answers.

Nightmare, eliminated.

His gaze swept across the now lifeless Hell.

Then, in a blink, he vanished.

He instantly appeared in the void of the divine realm. His divine body expanded within the void. Even from distant Heaven, one could see Bardi slowly lifting his face in the dark depths of the universe.

Then, Bardi's left hand thrust upward, lifting Hell itself.

He held Hell in his left hand, the gods on his right shoulder, and walked toward Heaven.

(To be continued.)