[New York]
After enduring the first wave of meteorite strikes, the city had been blasted into ruins.
The National Guard and police had come out afterward to maintain order, but incidents of arson, murder, and looting were unavoidable.
As a result, those who were still in New York had to be extremely careful whenever they went outside. Those who could manage it even carried guns.
Elena was on her way back from a relief center.
She had just collected several days' worth of food from a federal relief center and was planning to return to her apartment.
Although most of the residents in that apartment building had already left, doing everything they could to get out of the city.
Unfortunately, plenty of other residents had the same idea, and the result was that huge numbers of cars were jammed on the roads leading out of the city.
People either got out of their cars and walked out of the city or could only sit inside their vehicles and complain.
Elena hadn't left. Now, all she had to do was look up to see the super meteorite hanging in the sky.
She felt that whether she left or stayed no longer made much difference.
As long as the "Destroyer" descended, death was only a matter of time. She might as well live well for whatever time she had left.
She only regretted that she hadn't said goodbye to her best friend.
It was already getting late.
There were few people on the road. Elena looked toward the dark apartment building at the street corner. Just then, a car parked by the roadside opened its doors, and four or five men climbed out.
"Where are you going, baby?"
"Come have some fun with us."
Elena hurriedly turned around to leave, but two of the men blocked her way.
She quickly put the food she'd gotten from the relief center at her feet, "You can have all this."
"And money."
Elena took out her wallet and put several dozen dollars on the ground.
Unexpectedly, one of the men kicked everything away, "What are you thinking?"
"Can't you see the 'Destroyer' hanging up there? It could fall down at any moment, and then..."
The man made an exploding gesture, "Boom. We're all screwed."
"So we don't want your money. We just want to have some fun before we die."
One of the men lunged forward from behind and grabbed Elena, "What do you think? You want to find some happiness before you die too, right?"
"Then come play with us."
The men began dragging Elena toward an alley.
Suddenly, one of them jerked.
Then he lowered his head and saw a hand piercing through his chest.
When the hand withdrew, the man's body spun once before he collapsed to the ground.
The sudden turn of events made the remaining men scream. Like rabbits, they scrambled into the car and sped away.
Still shaken, Elena looked at the figure before her, "Thank you."
The figure took several steps forward and emerged into the light. It was a beautiful red-haired woman with striking features.
Elena said in surprise, "Maeve? What are you doing here?"
Queen Maeve, dressed in civilian clothes, was wiping her hands with the dead man's clothes. Hearing this, she smiled, "The world is ending, so yes, I've lost my job."
"You know, I don't have any family."
"You're the only friend I have."
"So I thought that before that damn rock in the sky comes down, I should come see you and say a proper goodbye."
———
A while later, the two women appeared on a rooftop.
"Here's a beer. This is all I have now."
Maeve took a bottle of chilled beer from Elena, raised her head, and looked at the super meteorite, which was larger than the moon.
It was so oppressive.
Even from the ground, they could see the mountains and ravines across its surface without any equipment.
"Will Homelander do anything?"
Elena sat beside her and asked.
Maeve shook her head, "I don't know. He hasn't appeared since three days ago."
"No one knows where he is now."
"I don't think he'll do anything, but I don't know whether he's powerless or simply doesn't intend to act."
Elena said softly, "He's such an asshole."
Maeve smiled, "Who can say otherwise?"
At this point, she felt bitter.
After the Manhattan incident, she'd thought she and Homelander had reconciled, and things had indeed seemed to be moving in that direction.
Homelander had even arranged for her to work in the Department of Defense.
For a while, Maeve had genuinely enjoyed that life.
But now, with the "Destroyer" about to enter the atmosphere, that man was nowhere to be found.
Whatever his plans were, it was obvious that he didn't care about her.
'Then what am I?'
Elena glanced at her and took her hand, "It's okay. You still have me."
Maeve's body trembled. She looked at Elena and nodded.
———
"Mom, look. That thing is bigger than the moon now."
The girl in the yellow suit lay on a beach chair, looking up at the night sky.
Donna looked at her daughter and sighed, "Annie, I'm sorry."
"I kept pushing you to take part in all kinds of auditions, thinking it was best for you, but I never asked whether you actually wanted to be a superhero."
The girl in yellow was Starlight.
Ever since the "Midnight Boiling" incident, she'd watched her teammates, including Supersonic, die horribly right before her eyes.
It had dealt a severe blow to Starlight.
After that, she took an extended leave and returned home to recover, where she'd remained until now.
Hearing her mother's words, Starlight took Donna's hand.
"Don't say that, Mom."
"I know Dad leaving hit you hard."
"I've always wanted to make you proud and be someone you could rely on."
"So I never really objected to all those things you arranged for me."
"It's just that maybe I'm not suited to being a superhero."
"Last time, I saw that superheroes could get hurt too. They could die too."
"I was terrified."
"Mom, I was really scared."
"Did I disappoint you?"
Donna hugged her daughter and shook her head, "What are you talking about, silly girl?"
"You've always been my pride."
She raised her head and looked at the "Destroyer" in the sky, "Being able to spend these final moments with you, I think I'm already very happy."
———
[Eden Base]
"Come down already."
"I'm starting to get impatient."
Alex smiled as he looked at the super meteorite overhead.
Last night, after Archibald refused to accept the conditions Alex had proposed, he decided to activate his second plan.
Under this plan, Alex would stand by and do nothing about this disaster.
He wanted to watch the "Destroyer" fall from the sky and give Earth a thorough cleansing.
When the time came, he would rely on the "Absolute Domain" to protect Eden Base and the surrounding area, allowing them to survive this apocalypse.
Once Earth had been cleansed and the global powers reshuffled, Alex would rely on Eden Base, the various talents and supplies he had gathered in advance, and the Kryptonian technological knowledge in his mind to turn this base and the surrounding region into the only oasis in a desert of civilization.
It was easy to imagine.
After the apocalypse arrived, Eden Base would still retain civilization, resources, and talented people.
It would become the true paradise on Earth.
At that point, Alex would be able to become the living god of this planet.
All living beings would kneel at his feet.
It was precisely because he had this plan that Alex had told Levin to send the president away. He didn't even want to meet him.
"Come on."
"Come down."
"Then this planet will be rebooted."
———
[Aerospace Administration]
A staff member was lying on his desk. He no longer had the heart to work and was simply numb as he waited for death to arrive.
But at that moment, the computer suddenly made a notification sound.
He raised his head and suddenly his eyes widened.
He jumped to his feet.
Then his hands flew across the keyboard. Finally, he threw the keyboard aside and held his head, "This is impossible. This is impossible."
He stood up and shouted, "Everyone, come look!"
"The computer detected that the 'Destroyer' is slowing down!"
"It's slowing down!"
A single stone stirred up a thousand waves, "What? That meteorite is slowing down?"
"How is that possible?"
"That's completely against the laws of physics!"
"Where? Let me see."
A short while later, Director Stephen personally called the president, who was far away in the White House.
"Yes, Mr. President."
"We've just discovered that the 'Destroyer' has begun slowing down. Although at its current speed, it will still enter the atmosphere."
"But the destruction it causes will be far less severe than expected. It may trigger a tsunami, but it won't cause global flooding."
"Yes, the disaster will remain within controllable limits."
"Mm, all right. We'll continue monitoring it closely."
After hanging up, Stephen walked out of his office and shouted toward the main hall, "Everyone, get your heads back in the game."
"Keep a close eye on the 'Destroyer's' situation."
"Report its speed every five minutes."
"And have you calculated where it's going to land?"
"Gentlemen, we may have a turning point."
"So stop moping around. Work! Work!"
At Stephen's voice, the people in the hall finally regained their energy.
They rushed to their respective stations and busily analyzed all kinds of data.
On the giant screen, the front end of the "Destroyer" had already begun entering the atmosphere. Friction with the atmosphere caused the super meteorite to glow red.
Just then, crack after crack appeared across the meteorite's surface.
Red light surged out from those cracks. Moments later, huge amounts of red light erupted out.
The computers immediately began sounding alarms.
On the giant screen and in the computer-generated models, it was easy to see that the front end of the "Destroyer" was breaking apart.
Then the fragments produced by the breakup were blasted outward. They shot through the atmosphere at incredible speed, turning into dazzling meteors that roared down toward the ground, forests, oceans, and cities.
———
[Eden Base]
Seeing points of fire appearing across the night sky overhead, Alex immediately expanded the "Absolute Domain." Not only did it cover the base, it also enveloped the surrounding area, an area roughly half the size of New York.
The enormous domain, constantly spreading diamond-shaped patterns of light, separated the sky.
It prevented the meteorites of all sizes from entering as they came roaring down with tremendous noise.
The moment those things struck the "Absolute Domain," they exploded into pieces with deafening sounds, yet they had no effect whatsoever on anything inside the domain.
Ryan and Cindy stood together, looking up at the fireballs and thick smoke constantly exploding above the dome. The two exchanged a glance.
"I knew he was powerful, but I didn't realize he was that powerful."
"Do you think when I grow up, I can become as powerful as him?"
Ryan looked at Cindy expectantly.
Cindy shook her head blankly, "I don't know."
"I only know that this is no longer human power."
———
The meteor shower continued without stopping. They couldn't break through the "Absolute Domain," but wherever they landed elsewhere, they were absolutely a disaster.
Trees toppled, forests burned, and animals fled in every direction.
Amid all this chaos, in one of the meteorite craters, something resembling a liquid wriggled and hid sinisterly in the shadows.
When a wild wolf, desperately trying to find a way out, passed nearby, that mass attached itself to the wolf.
Then it covered the wolf's entire body, and its surface quickly transformed into the wolf's fur.
The wild wolf stopped. Red light radiated from its eyes. Then it turned around and sprinted toward New York.
Inside the base protected by the "Absolute Domain," Alex looked up at the sky.
The "Destroyer" had already begun entering the atmosphere. Part of it had already passed through. At this moment, a line of information flashed before Alex's eyes.
[A disaster event has appeared.]
[Would you like to deal with this event?]
Without thinking, Alex chose to refuse.
He was waiting for the "Destroyer" to fall. How could he take the initiative to deal with it?
However, Alex couldn't shake the feeling that there was something strange about the super meteorite.
He didn't know whether it was because friction with the atmosphere had created resistance.
Alex simply felt that the meteorite's speed was slowing down, and the friction with the atmosphere was continuously tearing apart its surface, breaking it into wave after wave of meteor showers.
This caused the "Destroyer's" size to shrink at a visible rate.
If things continued like this, the disaster caused when it successfully passed through the atmosphere and fell might not be as severe as the Aerospace Administration had previously predicted.
Even though wave after wave of meteorites was already causing enormous destruction on the ground, it was still far less severe than what the Aerospace Administration had predicted.
Alex frowned, feeling somewhat uneasy.
Finally, the "Destroyer" had completely passed through the atmosphere.
The super meteorite, comparable in size to a state, was now glowing red all over like a gigantic fireball.
But because its surface had been continuously breaking apart, it had already shrunk by a third.
Of course, even so, its fall would still be fatal.
As the meteorite continued approaching, Alex's field of vision could no longer contain it completely.
He could only see part of it.
Just as the "Destroyer's" form continued growing larger before Alex's eyes, Alex could already see the chaotic, inverted stone forests across the super meteorite, the enormous, deeply sunken ravines, and its surface continuing to break apart.
But at this moment, all around the super meteorite, sheets of visible, multicolored force fields suddenly appeared.
Numerous force fields overlapped with one another like panes of glass, making the "Destroyer" within the countless force fields look somewhat blurred.
At the same time, the glowing red meteorite stopped descending.
It simply hung suspended in midair.