Far away from the sun, space twisted strangely.
Here, where starlight should scatter gently across dark rock and silence, the rays bent oddly as light itself flickered, vanishing in one point and reappearing in another, as though embarrassed by its own presence. Time wasn't flowing properly anymore. It jittered, staggered like a skipping record in the hands of two cosmic forces at war with causality.
Toneri's Zero State Quantum Technique folding segments of time into layered knots.
And Darkseid's innate manipulation of chronal density, warping everything around him just by existing.
Darkseid's crimson irises flared two smoldering stars within obsidian stone.
Toneri's Tenseigan pulsed with silent divinity, swirling like twin galaxies frozen in jade.
And then they vanished without warning.
Toneri blinked out of existence from Uranus's ruined surface.
Darkseid disappeared from the space above him.
When they reappeared, it wasn't with motion. It was as if they'd always been there, mid-clash, reality simply catching up to their decision to act.
A detonating flash of light ruptured space, a sonic-less thunder that sent vibrations rippling out in bands, distorting the very background of stars.
Toneri struck first.
He lunged forward, his body blurring through fractured time. His left foot snapped out in a sharp side kick aimed directly for Darkseid's ribs.
The titan shifted, the kick grazing his side, but the sheer force rattled his frame.
Darkseid retaliated a heavy hook punch swung like a wrecking ball. Toneri ducked clean beneath it, stepping inside the guard.
Right foot behind Darkseid's lead, he jammed his elbow upward into the New God's sternum. A dull thud echoed as the blow landed, forcing Darkseid back half a step.
Toneri grabbed the god's arm, attempting a shoulder lock but Darkseid flexed, overpowering the technique.
A knee slammed into Toneri's gut. He folded slightly, the breath knocked from his lungs, but dropped low and swept Darkseid's left leg.
Darkseid didn't fall but simply floated with Toneri already twisting, right heel arcing upward in a spinning back kick. He removed the moment between motion and contact with zero quantum break. The kick struck the instant it was launched.
CRACK.
The impact rippled out shaking debris and bending light, distorting the stars behind them like water splashed on a lens.
Darkseid growled and moved forward and delivered a deadly straight punch with pure efficiency. Toneri deflected with his forearm, then slipped inside again. A palm to the jaw, another to the throat, followed by a lightning-fast jab to the solar plexus.
Darkseid recoiled, then threw a wide left hook and as he did, his omega beams ignited.
But Toneri phased, slipping out of temporal sync. The beams passed through where he was, carving distant nebulae.
He reappeared behind Darkseid, ducking low and delivering a sharp knee to the back of his thigh making Darkseid dip. Toneri grabbed the back of his head and drove an elbow into his nose bridge.
A crack rang out and blood floated.
But Darkseid's hand lashed out iron-fast grabbing Toneri's wrist and hurling him like a ragdoll into a floating asteroid.
BOOM.
The rock exploded on contact.
The omega beams, still moving from their earlier arc, returned snaking back toward Toneri.
But as they struck, his Gudōdama orbs shifted, rushing to form a protective wall, erasing the energy beams from existence.
Then, the ten orbs contracted, shrinking and repositioning forming a perfect black halo behind his neck, just over his head. A divine ring framing his glowing horn like a celestial crown.
Toneri spun, kicking off another drifting boulder, destroying it as he launched toward Darkseid once more.
Darkseid raised his arms a boxer's guard.
Toneri hit with a flying kick.
He planted his foot against Darkseid's forearm, using the momentum to twist spinning side kick to the temple.
THUMP.
Darkseid's head turned. He shook it off quickly and swung a brutal hammer fist down. Toneri blocked with both arms the impact sent him hurtling, but he recovered, core tight.
Darkseid stepped in with a jab-jab combo.
The first hit Toneri's cheek. The second was blocked.
Toneri ducked, launched in, wrapped his arms around Darkseid's waist rear takedown in zero gravity.
They twisted, inverted mid-fall.
Toneri mounted the god's back, locking in a rear naked choke.
Muscles strained as Darkseid snarled, grabbing Toneri's forearm, and flipped him overhead.
Toneri hit an asteroid hard reducing it to dust but rolled, leaping up again at Darkseid with incredible speed.
He followed up with a heel kick to the thigh, knee to the ribs.
Darkseid caught the knee and unexpectedly headbutted Toneri.
CRACK.
Toneri flew back hundreds of miles, dazed.
Darkseid followed up with a left punch. then a right cross straight into Toneri's chest. He gasped, spiraling through the black before disappearing back to where Darkseid was.
He twisted space and launched forward, elbow tucked to deliver a Flying elbow strike.
It smashed into Darkseid's shoulder, making the titan spin sideways.
And then his horn pulsed.
At its tip, a super-compressed ruby ball materialized. It spun once then fired a massive beam of crimson energy, roaring across space.
Darkseid dodged the beam barely.
But the distraction worked.
Toneri quickly closed in with a Hook to the jaw.Low kick to the back of the knee.Then a rising uppercut while channeling explosion style, causing an explosion that vaporized all asteroid within fourteen thousand miles in a grand blast.
Darkseid flew back thousands of miles, crashing into the edge of one half of Uranus.
Toneri exhaled slowly.
Darkseid smirked, blood dripping from his lip.
Toneri watched him carefully.
"Tch… this has dragged on long enough."
Darkseid's eyes narrowed.
He saw Toneri… mutter something.
A massive puff of smoke erupted beside him.
And from it, something emerged.
A behemoth.
Grey-scaled skin, emerald veins pulsing across its massive torso, and behind it, two monstrous wings, stretched like the sails of ancient warships. Wicked claws scraped the void. A tail uncoiled behind it like a leviathan's spine.
Its eyes glowed green locked onto Darkseid with fury.
'A dragon?' Darkseid thought, one brow rising.
The beast inhaled even without air here in the void ready to roar before Toneri touched it gently.
It dispersed in an instant smoke unraveling like memory as soon as it appeared.
But what remained… floated there, untouched was a scythe.
It was a Tall, Ornate and Curved with elegance and menace.
The razor thin blade glowed faint blue and ethereal like crystal.
The handle was long, metallic, carved with intricate sigils at the base.
Toneri's hand reached out, grasping the shaft.
He said one word.
"Lunaria."
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