DC: The Shadow Monarch's Chronicles

At the very top floor of LexCorp Tower, Lex Luthor stood amidst a cathedral of steel and circuitry. lights shimmered off the unfinished frame of a towering android. Sleek, seamless alloy limbs. Eyes that hadn't yet flared to life.

Luthor had been working tirelessly, night after night, on this new creation. The design wasn't his alone, far from it. The schematics came from the Justice League themselves. In their infinite wisdom, they had handed him the blueprints to Amazo, the godlike android that once nearly obliterated them, under the naive pretense of collaboration.

Fools.

The only reason he hadn't been atomized when Amazo returned was because of Ashborn. That man, mysterious, calculating and unreadable, had somehow crossed paths with the android and convinced it not only to spare Luthor, but to become his adopted son. As if that wasn't absurd enough, Amazo was going to school. This was something Luthor to this moment couldn't understand. 

The sheer insanity of it all kept playing in his head over and over again. A godlike machine capable of rewriting physics... now learning about algebra and cafeteria etiquette. And yet, it worked.

Ashborn had done it again somehow. He had defused a weapon not by destroying it, but by humanizing it.

That alone was proof enough. Proof that Ashborn wasn't just clever. He was dangerously insightful. He read people like open books. He anticipated them. Luthor had reviewed reports: the villains changing their ways, Ace following him on their first or second meeting, the shame Batman endured after their encounters. All calculated moves, orchestrated carefully.

When Luthor thought of that, he gritted his teeth and let out a slow breath, admitting a truth he'd never speak aloud. He had a begrudging respect for Ashborn. And beneath that… a flicker of fear.

If Ashborn ever turned his full attention to power or domination, Luthor wasn't confident he could rival him. The man didn't need brute strength, he moved people like chess pieces, he understood them, he owned them.

Still, as he turned back to the android, a smile curled at his lips.

Let Ashborn play his games. Because he, Lex Luthor, had something far greater. A vessel. A body. One that would never wither, never break. With the League and Cadmus busy tearing each other apart, he would rise above the chaos.

"I will have a perfect immortal body," he spoke to himself, running a hand down the android's plated chest, "for my mind to live in eternally… all while those fools destroy each other. Soon, I will become the god of this world.

The hundreds of millions funneled into Cadmus research and development with no results. And the true breakthrough? It came from a lonely employee at LexCorp, Dr. Ivo, It was he who we have to thank for my impending godhood."

A cold voice drifted from behind him.

"That's the last piece I needed to hear."

Luthor turned, and of course, there he was, Batman, looming in the shadows of the lab, his presence as unwelcome as it was inevitable.

"When you and the Atom worked together to stop Amazo," Batman continued, stepping forward slowly, "you saw the blueprints. I suspected you had a photographic memory."

Luthor gave a slow clap. "You've figured it out. Yes… I'm far too modest to boast."

Batman didn't laugh. "You fired the Watchtower's cannon. You used Cadmus as a smokescreen. The whole operation was just a stepping stone. The real goal was to give yourself superpowers."

Luthor's grin widened. "And to ruin Superman's reputation, of course. Imagine it, I ascend to godhood, and then… I save the world. I destroy the menace that is the Justice League. I kill Superman… and they build statues in my honor."

His voice dripped with ambition, with madness barely kept in check.

In a blink, Batman's hand snapped forward, a batarang slicing through the air toward the android.

Luthor's hand shot out, lightning fast. He caught it mid-flight, his fingers crushing the device as it sparked violently, a small explosion crackling in his palm.

Smoke hissed from his hand as he stared coldly at Batman.

"That," Luthor said, voice tinged with annoyance, "was uncalled for."

Then, with a sudden roar of fury and strength, Lex Luthor lunged forward charging at Batman, fists clenched.

Batman rolled beneath Lex's first swing, then twisted around and delivered two punches, swift and brutal, into Lex's chest and side.

But Lex didn't move. Not even a grunt.

[What…] Batman

That half-second of surprise was all Luthor needed. His hand clamped down onto Batman's shoulder like a vice. "You shouldn't have come here, alone" he sneered.

With a roar, Luthor hurled Batman like a ragdoll across the lab, sending him crashing through the reinforced glass window with a shattering noise. The Dark Knight disappeared into the night, cape fluttering as he vanished from view.

Lex turned back toward the centerpiece of his new body, his future. Lex's lips curled into a smug smile. He strolled across the lab floor and lowered himself into the neural sync chair beside the android. Excitement crackled inside him like electricity, anticipation rushing through his veins.

It was time to become a god.

"Hey, Lex," a calm voice called out "That android is Cadmus property. You'll have to find somewhere else to keep your brain."

Lex's eyes snapped to the source.

Amanda Waller stood at the door with a weapon aimed straight at the android. Without hesitation, she fired. A beam of gold-white light struck the android's and in seconds, the body began to unravel at a molecular level.

Lex screamed. "You arrogant cow! That was weeks of work!"

"Nano de-assembler beam," she said coolly, "your design, I believe."

Lex's eyes burned with rage. "You'll pay for that."

Waller smiled. "No, Lex. You are going to pay. Firing the Watchtower's cannon? Destroying Cadmus? You're going down, Baldy."

Lex charged forward and slammed the back of his hand across her face with crushing force. Amanda flew backward, crashing into the steel wall with a sickening thud.

"Did you think you can take me down alone" Lex asked in a sneering tone

She forced herself upright despite the pain. "Actually… yeah. But just in case I don't"

She smiled and looked past Lex.

Lex turned, and there they stood. Six figures. Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Batman and at the forefront Superman.

"It is over Luthor" Superman said, his voice full of finality.

Lex gritted his teeth and said. "Don't think you've w…"

Then without warning… BOOM!

The roof above them exploded in a shockwave of light and force, glass and steel raining down. The entire building trembled as the night sky opened up.

Everyone looked up and froze.

Descending slowly, ominously, was a creature like nothing the League had ever seen.

A figure wreathed in crackling blue energy, its obsidian exoskeleton drinking in the light until only a void remained. The air itself warped around it, reality recoiling as blue veins of power pulsed through its limbs like frozen lightning. Its wings, jagged, carapace-like, curved behind it, each serrated edge humming with restrained violence.

Twin blue eyes burned from the abyss of its horned helm, glowing with an intelligence far beyond the mindless fury of a beast. Mandibles clicked faintly near its jaw, a sound like grinding bones. Its claws flexed, elongated and lethal, yet its posture was regal. A predator who no longer needed to roar to instill terror.

Lex's mouth hung open, his usual arrogance drowned in primal dread. Amanda Waller stood frozen. Even Superman stiffened, his fists tightening at his sides.The other heroes were at full alert.

Flash swallowed hard. "...What is that?"

A voice, deep, resonant, vibrating with power, came from the creature.

"Lex Luthor, my king, commands your presence"

Lex stepped back, horror etched across every inch of his face. His breath came shallow, his usual arrogance replaced with a primal fear he couldn't mask. The others weren't faring better. The heroes, battle-hardened and seasoned, felt the cold coil of dread wrap around their spines.

They knew. They all knew who was meant by "my king."

If Igris, the armored knight from before, had embodied grace and skill, this... this was the embodiment of brutality and fear. A walking nightmare.

Superman stepped forward, his jaw tense, voice even. "Lex has crimes to answer to," he said firmly.

The shadow did not acknowledge him.

It descended slowly, landing in the center of the shattered laboratory, surrounded by ruined tech and twisted steel. Its obsidian claws clicked softly against the floor as it took a step toward Lex.

Lex recoiled. Just one step.

The creature took another.

Superman gritted his teeth and moved quickly, placing himself between the monster and its target. His cape flowed behind him, shoulders squared.

"I said, Lex is coming with us," he growled. "Your king will have to…"

Schlkk!

Superman's words stopped, his eyes widened in shock. Sharp, searing pain burst through his body. He looked down.

The creature's hand had impaled his shoulder, its claws puncturing skin that no weapon ever could. A spurt of blood splashed against the white of Lex's suite and face.

Then, whoosh!

With a violent, dismissive motion, the creature flung him aside like a rag doll.

Superman crashed into a wall, bouncing off with a sickening crunch, blood smearing across the rubble. He hit the floor and didn't get up.

Lex froze, too stunned to scream, too frightened to breathe. The Justice League, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, they all stood paralyzed. Even Amanda Waller's mouth hung open, unable to speak. All of them staring at the blood pool under Superman.

And only the sound of blood dripping to the floor filled the air.

They were stunned for two seconds. But it was already too late to react now.

The creature moved. It was on Lex in a flash, snatching him up by the throat like a child picking up a toy. Lex struggled, kicking, clawing at the iron grip.

"NO…WAIT!"

The two sank into the shadows. Lex's scream faded

Gone.

Batman was the first to move. He sprinted to Superman, dropping to his knees. His gloved hands hovered over the torn flesh, the gaping wound that cut through muscle and bone.

His face twisted in a rare expression of shock.

"His torso's been pierced all the way through!" Batman yelled, fury laced with desperation. "He needs immediate medical attention!"

In a blur of motion, Flash scooped Superman into his arms and vanished in a streak of blur and lightning. The rest of the League followed, the grimness of their expressions mirroring the urgency in their movements.

Amanda remained where she stood.

Alone.

Her hands trembled as she stared at the spot where the shadow vanished. Her mind raced, trying to process what she just witnessed.

Superman, The Man of Steel, was invulnerable.

A being almost impossible to beat without kryptonite.

And yet... that thing had pierced him like his body was paper.

Her heart sank.

She had always feared the Justice League would become the world's greatest threat.

But now... now she knows.

It wasn't the League they had to fear.

It was them.

The shadows.