Vera lowered her head and looked at her chest, which was still above the road surface. She smiled and said, "You really are rude. Who pushes a woman into the ground? That's not gentlemanly at all."
Alex shrugged, "I'm not British, so I'm not interested in that gentleman stuff."
While they were talking, a loud buzzing suddenly filled the sky above them, and even the sunlight grew dim.
The two looked up and saw large numbers of Parademons flying over the street before circling above a stretch of ruins.
BOOM!
A dark figure dropped from the sky and landed near the ruins, sending broken stones flying everywhere.
The figure straightened up. At over four meters tall, he looked like a small mountain.
The silver-white spiked armor covering his body gleamed under the sun. The spikes on the armor would occasionally rise, flashing with endless sharpness.
His two curved horns were enormous. Beneath them was an ugly, vicious face.
Holding a silver battle axe, it was Steppenwolf of Apokolips.
Steppenwolf paid no attention to Alex and Vera nearby. The Parademons were informing him that the last Mother Box was beneath these ruins.
He let out a roar, ordering the Parademons to move aside. Raising his Electro Axe high into the air, he brought it down hard onto the ground.
At once, streams of red-gold lightning burst from the ruins, melting through and blasting apart the rubble.
The ruins erupted like a volcano. Massive rocks exploded outward, and Steppenwolf cleared an open area.
The Mother Box was there.
It seemed to sense Steppenwolf's arrival. The particles on its surface boiled, releasing an even stronger glow from the machine.
Steppenwolf strode toward it.
Seeing this, Vera shouted and burst out from the melted asphalt road. Using her heat vision to force Alex back, she flew toward Steppenwolf.
Unexpectedly, Alex grabbed the star-spangled cape with one hand.
He pulled backward, dragging Vera in front of him.
Vera's eyebrows twitched. She saw that Alex had already put away his smile and now wore a serious expression.
Alex raised an arm and clenched his fist. The patterns on the Hercules Bracers lit up.
Then his fist shot out like a cannonball.
Vera quickly crossed both arms in front of her face.
Alex's punch struck her.
Vera's vision instantly blurred. When it focused again, Alex had already become a tiny black dot in the distance.
She crashed through one building after another. The city kept receding beneath her feet. Even so, she could not stop herself and could only let out an angry roar.
With 80% divine power output combined with the tenfold strength boost of the Hercules Bracers, under the full force of those two effects multiplied together, even Vera, who was also a Homelander, could not avoid becoming a shooting star flying into the distance.
After blasting away his strongest competitor with a single punch, Alex immediately flew toward Steppenwolf.
By now, Steppenwolf had already picked up the Mother Box.
Just as he was about to summon a Boom Tube, another hand suddenly appeared on top of the Mother Box.
That hand merely pressed down lightly on it, yet Steppenwolf could no longer move.
It was as if what he was holding was not a Mother Box, but a towering mountain.
Steppenwolf looked up and saw Alex's familiar face.
"You?", Images from Themyscira flashed through Steppenwolf's mind. It was the greatest humiliation of his life.
Alex smiled, "It's me."
Then he looked Steppenwolf up and down and let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Well now, you really did change your appearance."
"Look at those spikes. They make you look terrifying. I'm already getting scared."
How could Steppenwolf fail to hear the mockery in Alex's words?
He snorted a foul breath from his nostrils. Without wasting words, he unleashed surging red-gold lightning from the Electro Axe.
The lightning pouring out rapidly contracted, gathering onto the axe blade and forming a red-gold sphere of lightning that continued to expand.
When the sphere had already swallowed the Electro Axe and half of Steppenwolf's arm, he swung the battle axe, bringing the expanding lightning sphere crashing toward Alex.
This was the powerful strike that had knocked Vera down before!
Yet this time, as the Electro Axe descended carrying the red-gold lightning sphere, the dazzling, scorching lightning suddenly turned into countless dark-gold bubbles drifting upward.
Then the Electro Axe, revealed in its original form, landed on Alex's shoulder.
It immediately turned into a cloud of fine silver sand, flowing over Alex's body and through Steppenwolf's fingers before falling to the ground.
Reality Warping!
"This...", Steppenwolf stared at the silver sand on the ground in shock.
At that moment, Alex lifted a foot and kicked Steppenwolf in the chest.
A ring of white air blasted outward. Several nearby Parademons were shattered on the spot, and Steppenwolf was sent flying by the kick.
As he flew away, Steppenwolf shouted, "Take the Mother Box!"
Immediately, large numbers of Parademons screamed toward Alex.
The dark mass looked like storm clouds covering a city.
But then, sunlight broke through the black cloud.
Heat Vision!
Golden flames burst from Alex's eyes and swept back and forth, cutting apart Parademon after Parademon. Bodies continuously fell to the ground.
In the end, a golden fireball rose within the black cloud formed by the Parademons.
The violent explosion scattered them in every direction.
Crackling sounds filled the air as burning corpses rained onto the ground.
Within the flames, Alex held the Mother Box and was about to leave.
Suddenly, his vision blurred.
The Mother Box was gone.
Vera had somehow rushed back. At this moment, her speed was astonishing.
Alex caught a glimpse of glowing patterns appearing on the pair of battle boots beneath her feet.
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Zeus Armor, Hermes Boots
Trait 1: Divine Speed
Note: This trait can only be used while running. Furthermore, only running in a straight line allows the speed to reach its maximum value. When turning or performing other actions, the speed will decrease.
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Alex snorted.
His figure suddenly faded and vanished. When he appeared again, he was beside Vera.
Teleportation!
In addition, based on the method he had previously used against the Flash's extreme speed, the moment Alex appeared, he unleashed a Psychic Storm at Vera's mental coordinates.
A slight change appeared in Vera's eyes.
Although she did not lose her footing and fall like Barry Allen had when his will was shaken, her speed still slowed by a fraction.
In that brief instant, Alex seized the opportunity and flicked out several glowing red magical bands.
Crimson Bands of Cyttorak!
This was a forced-control spell. Once entangled by it, Vera would be unable to break free from Alex.
But at that moment, Vera swept a hand across the space before her.
The red magical bands wrapping toward her transformed into butterflies that scattered away.
Ancient Body of Hoggoth!
Alex froze.
He had not expected Vera to have such a trick.
He just did not know whether it came from magic or from rune stones equipped on her gear.
But without question, she had broken the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak.
Yet at that moment, Steppenwolf dropped from the sky.
With a single strike, he smashed Vera and sent her flying away.
The Mother Box once again fell into Steppenwolf's hands.