"Ember, a little help," Ashborn said with a sigh. At his words, all the injured heroes were instantly healed. He clicked his tongue in annoyance—Ember hadn't restored his energy.
He then asked Supergirl to gather the others. Once they were together, Ashborn led them all to the Multiversal Watch Tower, where he assigned someone to tend to them, while he turned his attention back to Amazo.
There was a reason Ashborn hadn't simply hacked Amazo. The robot wasn't just a machine anymore. It felt like the Darkness had breathed life into him—and Ashborn wasn't about to risk hacking that thing. What if the Darkness used that chance to corrupt Siri or something?
"The Darkness made one mistake with you," Ashborn said, his gaze fixed on Amazo as he began drawing out the lingering Darkness, absorbing it to speed up his recovery. A faint smirk tugged at his lips before he crushed what remained of the android, making sure there was nothing left for it to regenerate from.
"Arise," Ashborn said, eyes narrowing slightly. His attention remained on the destroyed Amazo—this was something he needed to test. Now that he had comprehended Death of the Endless, he wanted to see if his powers could affect nonliving entities like machines. After all, Death wasn't limited to living things alone.
"You and your powers," Death sighed as she appeared beside him, watching as Amazo rose once more—this time as a shadow soldier. Ashborn just grinned, gaining every power and ability Amazo had mimicked. What his shadow had.
"I'll fuse you with Power soon," Ashborn said with a smirk. Power was the fusion of Rogue and Hope, but he needed to wait for them to return before proceeding.
"I thought you had things to do," he added, glancing at Death. It was the first time he'd seen her since she left.
"Well, I came to watch One Piece. It's more fun with friends," Death said with a smile.
Ashborn smiled back and nodded before shifting his focus to the Multiversal Watch Tower. He simply had Siri handle everything while he returned home to relax.
But the moment he arrived, he noticed a missed call from Tyler. He was about to call her back, but paused as he glanced at the TV, only to see the news reporting that Superman's body had gone missing from his grave.
"It's happening faster than I expected," Ashborn said, eyes locked on the TV. The screen displayed live footage from the North Pole, where the Fortress of Solitude had suddenly appeared. Inside, Superman's body was now absorbing solar energy, preparing to return to life.
Ashborn switched the feed to display more images—glimpses of those who would soon rise in Superman's absence. This was always the pattern: when a hero vanished, the world felt the void they left behind. And in that emptiness, new figures would step forward, trying to carry the weight of the legend. It had happened with Batman… now, it was Superman's turn. Ashborn simply had to make sure nothing went wrong.
Anyway, he went on to call Tyler back, and she answered almost instantly. But whatever she wanted to say, it wasn't something she felt comfortable discussing over the phone. So, Ashborn just invited her over and put on One Piece in the meantime.
"Where's Ember…" Ashborn muttered, suddenly realizing he'd forgotten about her. He sighed, already picturing how that overgrown chicken would try to get back at him—probably by embarrassing him in front of Tyler.
As a grown man, making friends wasn't exactly easy. How does one even go about that? You can't just walk up to someone and say, Let's be friends. That's weird. So the fact that he had someone like Tyler, a friend who wasn't after his power or his body, was something he genuinely wanted to treasure.
"You bastard! You forgot me!" Ember suddenly appeared just as the One Piece opening began playing. She was furious—how dare Ashborn watch One Piece without her? But her rage evaporated almost instantly when he pulled out a bar of chocolate.
"I only put it on to call you. How could I forget someone as amazing as you are?" Ashborn said awkwardly, clearly forcing the words out.
Ember didn't care. She snatched the chocolate, took a bite, and instantly melted into the chair, her eyes rolling back in bliss from the overwhelming pleasure.
"Chef, make a meal. I've got a guest coming over," Ashborn said to his shadow chef, who was quietly reading a cookbook. Instantly, the chef stood up and got to work, warping reality itself to avoid wasting even a second of Ashborn's time.
Before long, Tyler arrived…
In the blink of an eye, a week had passed since Ashborn's arrival in the DC Universe. The Multiversal Justice League had expanded rapidly. Every hero—whether Superman or otherwise—was now armed with a Lantern Ring, as well as customized weapons and armor.
Ashborn didn't care whether the heroes were already durable enough to withstand universal-level attacks—he still forced them all to wear armor, each set resembling that of Iron Man.
Heroes constantly came and went from the Multiversal Watch Tower. Some responded to alerts across the multiverse, while others returned to their homeworlds. Meanwhile, an army of Amazo robots could be seen flying off into different universes to assist where they could. Despite their growth, manpower was still limited, and the robots were essential to covering the gaps.
"Why are you here again?" Ember asked in displeasure, eyeing Supergirl seated at the dinner table.
"She's Prime Supergirl, be nice to our guest," Ashborn said, giving Ember a light slap on the back of the head for her rude behavior. Ember nearly turned around and slapped him with the force of the omniverse, but held herself back, choosing instead to snort in irritation.
"Ashborn invited all of the Primes," Supergirl said with a light smile. This was the same Supergirl Ashborn had gifted a portion of his Shadow Monarch Force. That power, combined with the accelerated growth from the training dimension, had allowed her to develop her own Sun Monarch Force, pushing her far beyond her natural limits.