DC: Rise of the Kryptonian Tyrant

"That… was just His breath…"

The gods' faces were filled with shock, twisting with disbelief and dread.

This breath spread across the entire divine realm.

Long before Bardi altered the foundations of the realm, he had already permeated every corner, submerging all things within it.

Huff… huff…

God was simply asleep, yet His breathing alone shook heaven and earth.

Countless universes, worlds, civilizations, and lives were born and destroyed with each breath. Chaotic and boundless.

"Ahhh!!!"

Suddenly, the gods began to scream. Some froze, wide-eyed, then burst into flames from within. Heartfire erupted from their divine bodies, and in seconds they were reduced to ash, leaving behind only their purest uniqueness, which drifted toward God's mouth and was absorbed.

More and more gods self-immolated. Others twisted uncontrollably, devolving into piles of formless mud.

Just looking at God caused changes beyond description.

Beside Bardi, gods were burning, convulsing, screaming. The sight was horrifying.

"He cannot be looked upon directly," Bardi warned cautiously. Staring at God's face, he waved his hand and summoned his origin power, constructing a wall of informational defense to shield the gods and block this wave of informational aggression emanating from God.

Bardi, having reached the level of origin, had mastered the use of energy and particles to the utmost. He could create universes with a thought, manipulating particles to their limits.

Once particle mastery is complete, the next stage is information—high-dimensional data birthed from one's essence, capable of altering matter, space, time, and soul. All things are distilled into that data.

With the information wall erected, Bardi isolated the mutated gods. The others quickly retreated behind him, almost to the very edge of the divine realm.

They were terrified.

A single glance nearly meant death.

This was no longer a battlefield for gods beneath the One Above All.

They could only watch from afar, fortunate to be protected by Bardi's wall, able to witness the culmination of countless epochs—the emergence of the legendary God.

Rumble…

As if dissatisfied with the uniqueness He had absorbed, the indifferent face of God began to solidify. Slowly, He opened His eyes.

Within His gaze were chaos and void.

All things—life, time, struggle—meant nothing before Him.

He seemed to be awake, to possess awareness. At that moment, the entire divine realm froze. The base structure of the divine realm, once altered by Bardi, shattered instantly as God stirred.

The whole divine realm trembled, then stabilized once more.

He was its center. Supreme.

And yet, so ordinary.

The realm did not shake from His pressure, but rather responded naturally. It froze not from His will, but because it was part of the divine system—a natural environment, like water flowing downhill.

With God's emergence, this "natural order" manifested.

Bardi felt a heavy, crushing pressure fall upon him as God turned His gaze.

"…Origin…"

God spoke. Plainly. Not with awe, nor anger. No earth-shattering force accompanied His words.

Your presence, your absence—it made no difference to Him.

He was so ordinary… yet the entire realm orbited Him.

"…God…" Bardi whispered softly.

With a single glance, Bardi felt as though the full weight of Hell rested on his shoulders.

God was more powerful, more unknowable than Bardi had ever imagined.

At that moment, Bardi finally understood why Origin became the Wall of Origin, sealing away so many gods.

Because Origin… simply cannot withstand God.

Such supremacy is not something even the source of all things can face.

Bardi was stronger than the old Origin.

He had realized his Trinity—beginning, progress, and end.

He had also evolved, constantly growing stronger. Even in the face of God, he instinctively began analyzing, adapting, evolving countermeasures and higher forms of data in real time.

He had once faced the voice of God and the thoughts of the great beast, devouring both.

Yet even with that, God's presence was supreme. Irreplaceable.

For a long time, Bardi had not understood what God or the beast were aiming for.

The two seemed like mortal enemies, both circling him, scheming against each other.

Now, Bardi began to understand the shape of God's plans.

God's eyes drifted from Bardi and He sighed.

"Three eras… and only this much?"

His words sent chills through the entire divine realm.

"Run!!!"

Gabriel's expression changed in an instant. His golden wings flared, and in a flash, he soared toward the edge of the realm.

But strangely…

He turned back.

His eyes glowed with divine reverence as he flew straight into God's mouth and vanished.

All the remaining angels, all the lower gods loyal to Heaven, everyone who had absorbed without exception were drawn toward God's mouth and disappeared.

The gods behind Bardi trembled in horror. In that moment, they finally understood the reason so many gods had been sealed to the Wall of Origin since ancient times.

They were not guardians.

They were rations.

Instantly, the gods scattered in all directions, fleeing in terror.

God's gaze remained emotionless. He opened His mouth and spoke the sound of creation—the first sound that separated matter, energy, and space.

That sound carried a divine wave that surged across the divine realm in an instant.

Bardi's expression changed. His body vibrated as waves of raw data crashed into him. He shattered the sound of creation, then absorbed, analyzed, and evolved it into the sound of the end.

Beginning and end, birth and death—two opposing forces clashed throughout the divine realm.

It was absurd.

The newborn voice, symbolizing dawn and birth, chased the gods, pushing them toward God's mouth to be digested.

Meanwhile, the voice of ending, of destruction and cessation, resisted desperately, trying to protect the gods.

"It is over."

God spoke again.

Bardi could no longer hold the line. God's body cracked apart, but it could not infect Bardi's origin, his evolved form, or the end-state of his divine self. God could not consume him.

However, their power was not equal. In moments, the voice of ending was silenced by God's words.

The gods had no more hope of escape. With anguished screams, their eyes lit with reverent light, and they began to fly toward God's mouth.

Boom…

Suddenly, Hell awakened.

It stirred like a massive sleeping beast. That awakening shattered the poison of Shenbo, snapping the gods out of its influence.

God's face shifted slightly. His eyelids rose as He turned to look toward Hell.

"…Great Beast."

(To be continued.)