He didn't hesitate.

  Her suit's shoulder-mounted unchers hissed open, locking onto Shiva and Cassandra.

  FWIP—FWIP—FWIP!

  Mini-missiles shot out in rapid succession, each one packed with concussive force. Shiva barely had time to react before the first missile detonated at her feet. The street shattered, a cloud of fire and debris erupting as she was sent flying into a wrecked car.

  Cassandra, faster than thought, twisted mid-air, evading two of the incoming missiles...

  BZ-ZZRAKK!

  A crimson ser beam shot from He's gauntlet, striking Cassandra square in the chest. The vibranium armor absorbed the brunt of the bst, but the sheer kinetic force sent her smashing through a nearby storefront.

  No time to finish them off.

  He shot toward the orphanage at full speed.

  Her HUD fshed red as she scanned the entire structure.

  [WARNING: ENERGY-BASED EXPLOSIVE DETECTED.]

  [CANNOT BE DIFFUSED VIA TECH.]

  [DETONATION IN: 00:00:20]

  The bombs were made of pure energy.

  "Shit." That meant standard defusal tech was useless. She couldn't deactivate them remotely. Couldn't tamper with them.

  He clenched her jaw.

  No time to remove the bodies.

  No time to find another way.

  She had one option left.

  00:00:15

  Her eyes darted across the long, narrow hallway.

  Bodies. Too many to count.

  All the assassins she had cut down, all rigged with bombs. And they were all lined up in a perfectly straight corridor.

  A realization clicked.

  She couldn't remove the bombs. But she could contain the bst.

  He smmed her gauntlet into the floor. "Make shield, NOW!"

  KRRRRSHHH!

  An energy barrier expanded around the hallway. A shimmering blue force field enclosed the space, designed to withstand city-level attacks.

  But… it wouldn't be enough.

  There were too many assassins. Too many bombs.

  00:00:10

  She had one st option.

  He took a deep breath and overrode her suit's systems. She saw Harley countless times, messing with the suit, creating stupid things with just a simple command. So she bet on that and decided to copy her.

  "Divert all nanites to barrier expansion," she commanded.

  [WARNING: ARMOR COMPROMISE IMMINENT.]

  "DO IT!"

  [EXECUTING: FULL NANITE REDISTRIBUTION.]

  The nanites swarmed out of her suit, reinforcing the energy barrier, yering it, thickening it, multiplying it...

  Her helmet dissolved. Her chest-pte melted away.

  Her gauntlets and boots disintegrated.

  Piece by piece, her vibranium armor peeled off, the nanites abandoning her body, weaving themselves into the force field.

  Leaving her completely exposed.

  He stood in the middle of the orphanage, armorless, and vulnerable but the barrier was as strong as she could make it.

  She never thought her st moment would be to sacrifice herself for some tiny mortals. But for she was happy. At that exact moment, her thoughts were of protecting those mortals and well... She wanted to see Morgan, Harley, Selina and Bruce for one st time.

  "Ha! Goddess of Death, saving lives."

  00:00:02

  She braced herself.

  Then...

  BOOOOOOOOOOM!

  The inferno raged. Fire, hotter than a dying star, pressed against her skin. It chewed through flesh, gnawed at bone. Her nerves screamed, her mind reeled. The agony was unimaginable.

  He had never feared pain. She had endured it for centuries. But this? This was beyond anything she had ever felt.

  Yet, she smiled.

  She had done it.

  The explosion hadn't reached the children. The orphanage still stood. She had protected them.

  A goddess of death had saved lives.

  How ironic.

  Her vision blurred, edges darkening. The firelight danced, flickering shapes taking form... ghosts of the past.

  Odin stood before her, arms crossed, his golden armor gleaming in the firelight. His one eye was not cold, not judgmental… but knowing.

  "No god should have dominion over death who has so little appreciation for life."

  She had scoffed at those words once. Thought them the scolding of an old, dying man clinging to outdated ideals.

  But now…

  Now she understood.

  He had taken lives. Countless. It had been effortless. Expected. Even thrilling at times. She had embraced her role as the executioner, the conqueror, the inevitable end.

  But saving lives? That had never been her purpose.

  Until now.

  Until them.

  Morgan, whom she accepted as her own daughter. A sad past but full of energy and always trying to be better.

  Harley, a whirlwind of chaos and brilliance. At first, she wanted to erase her from existence, but slowly Harley became a part of her life and she started to see the real girl behind all that pranks and chaos. Her smiling face...

  Selina, ever the survivor, ever the enigma. She was always cool and the only one who succeeded in keeping Harley's pranks and chaos at bay.

  Bruce… The man who showed her a better way. Showed her that she was much more than just the Goddess of Death.

  He exhaled, her breath shaky, weak. Her knees buckled.

  She wanted to see them one st time.

  One st time…

  Her body wavered, flesh turning bck, cracking, breaking. She felt herself slipping.

  Then...

  A spark.

  Small, barely noticeable at first. A flicker beneath her skin.

  Then another.

  And another.

  White light, soft as moonlight, pure, began to radiate from within her.

  The pain ebbed.

  Her flesh, charred and broken, began to mend. The cracks in her skin sealed. The agony faded.

  Power—not destruction, not death, but something else—surged through her veins.

  She gasped, eyes snapping open.

  The inferno still raged, but it no longer touched her. The fmes bent around her, repelled by the pulsing aura of light pouring from her form.

  A memory surfaced.

  Odin's final words...

  "... Should you learn mercy and forgiveness, you will unlock your true potential."

  For the first time, she felt those words and truly understood them.

  It was never about power.

  Never about ruling.

  It was about bance.

  Life and death. Destruction and protection. Wrath and mercy.

  He had always been the bde. The executioner. The end.

  But now…

  Now she was something more.

  The st of the fire dissipated, snuffed out by the radiant energy flowing from her body. The barrier, reinforced by her own essence, held. The orphanage stood unscathed.

  He inhaled deeply, flexing her fingers. The white light coiled around her hands, dancing like cosmic fire. It welcomed her, as if it had always been there, waiting for her to reach for it.

  She looked down at herself.

  A shining white armor formed around her, glowing like starlight. Golden lines traced across it, pulsing with energy. It felt weightless but unbreakable, like it was made from pure power.

  A weapon appeared in her hand.

  A spear.

  It looked like Gungnir, Odin's mighty spear, but she could tell that this was something greater. She could feel the ancient Asgardian magic flowing through her and some other foreign power.

  She was no longer just the Goddess of Death.

  She was the Goddess of Bance.

  He took a slow breath, steady and calm.

  The orphanage stood safe behind her. The children were unharmed.

  She turned back.

  Lady Shiva and Cassandra Cain stood in front of her, beaten but still strong.

  Shiva smirked. "Well… that's new."

  Cassandra, silent as always, shifted into a fighting stance, ready for whatever came next.

  He smiled.

  "Shall we?"

  The moment she moved, the world around her slowed.

  Shiva and Cassandra were fast—among the fastest warriors she had ever faced—but now? Now, they were like shadows moving through water. Every motion, every breath, every muscle twitch was clear to her.

  Cassandra struck first, her fist aiming for He's jaw.

  He tilted her head slightly, letting the punch pass harmlessly by her face. Before Cassandra could react, He caught her wrist, twisted it gently but firmly, and sent her spinning through the air.

  Cassandra nded on her feet, barely, but the moment she touched the ground, He was already behind her. A light tap at the base of her neck, precise and controlled, and Cassandra's limbs went limp. He caught her before she could fall and set her down carefully. She was unconscious but unharmed.

  Shiva unched forward.

  He didn't move. She didn't need to.

  Shiva's first kick met nothing but air as He sidestepped. The second strike was a killing blow aimed at her throat but He caught her arm with ease.

  He tightened her grip on Shiva's wrist. A simple twist and Shiva's body followed, forced into a vulnerable position. He stepped in, swept her leg, and gently lowered her to the ground. Then a little flick on the back of her head was enough to destroy Mephisto's influence.

  Lady Shiva. Defeated.

  Shiva's breath came fast, her eyes locked onto He's. No fear. No anger. Just understanding.

  "…You win."

  He wrapped her up in magic chains and stood up.

  It was over.

  At the same time a portal opened before her.

  Bruce.

  Harley.

  Selina.

  Morgan.

  And the rest of their team.

  They had arrived after defeating Brainiac.

  ---