Throughout the galaxy, Darkseid prepared the final stage of his plan. His pawns were now maneuvered into grand offensives, bolstered by powerful new weapons provided and overseen directly by DeSaad and the malevolent, once-human entity now known as Dr. Bedlam. Elsewhere, the Green Lanterns spearheaded the vast fleets and armies that were quickly assembled to meet them. On New Genesis, the New Gods braced themselves for the climactic onslaught of the Furies, while Izaya The Highfather mentally and spiritually prepared himself to personally face his ancient enemy one last time.
And on Earth, the final battle for a human capital city--a battle where the fate of mankind would hang in the balance--began.
The powers in conflict were nearly as vast as the heavens themselves, and their battle would prove to forever alter them.
After a cataclysmic struggle that utterly obliterated both New Genesis and Apokolips, Darkseid ultimately proved unable to pierce the great wall of The Source, and instead became imprisoned within it. In the end, all of Darkseid’s grand plotting and masterful manipulation left him, not as the sovereign of the universe, but as nothing more than a spectacular monument to his own stupendous arrogance, forever standing in frozen vigil over exactly that which he could never possess, joined for all eternity with his hated enemy, Izaya The Highfather, who had also became trapped in the Great Wall of The Source during the struggle.
The news of the destruction of New Genesis and Apokolips, and the neutralization of Darkseid, spread rapidly throughout the galaxy. The K’te and Skrull lines broke and they started falling back, now incessantly claiming that they had been manipulated victims of Darkseid as well; their governments never having a clear idea who their mysterious benefactor really was. Overly optimistic celebrations broke out on several worlds, but it soon became clear that while the initial impetus for the war no longer existed, the passions unleashed were not so easily sated. Despite their dubious claims of victimhood and the fact they were generally falling back to pre-war borders, the K’te and Skrull still proved to be formidable combatants and seemed intent on holding on to some of their hard-won territorial gains. The K’te and Skrull believed that without the specter of dire Darkseid to unify them, the Alliance would not be eager to launch fresh invasions of well-defended enemy territory, prolonging an already hellish, costly war.
They were wrong, of course. The Qys, Kree and Warpsmiths were determined to take back all of their lost territory. With interest.
Darkseid may have been gone, but the effects of his schemes would be long felt, as the galaxy now entered the last, but arguably bloodiest stage of war. A stage at whose dark heart would lay a monstrous deception built upon the ashes of genocide.