It wasn't until the three of them stepped onto the beach on the outskirts of Themyscira that Viktor finally took off his helmet.
Kara was stunned.
"You're not the Atom!"
Then she seemed to suddenly remember his actual identity, and her eyes narrowed slightly as she turned a vaguely aggrieved look toward Rachel.
However, the three of them didn't have time to say anything else.
A team of Amazon warriors surrounded them, holding weapons and shields as they stared at them with suspicion.
But soon, the leader of the warriors recognized Viktor.
After all, Viktor had trained with Diana for a period of time and had visited Themyscira before.
"Artemis, it's been a while."
He greeted the squad leader.
Artemis had long red hair tied into a waist-length ponytail and wore a metal headpiece.
She was very tall, about a hundred eighty-three centimeters, and her long legs looked full of strength. She held a spear in one hand, and her smile was bold and open.
She had an extremely warlike personality.
When Diana had first brought him to Themyscira, Artemis barely gave him a second glance because the underage Viktor looked too thin and small to her.
The battle-hungry Artemis only had interest in challenging the strong.
Diana had privately complained to him about a few things, but she mentioned this red-haired warrior the most.
Every time Diana returned to the island, this woman would challenge her without fail, frequently shouting about wanting to usurp the title of Wonder Woman.
But after Viktor and Diana had a public sparring match on the island, Artemis's attention shifted.
She found it hard to imagine why Viktor's body, which didn't look especially big or muscular, could produce such great strength while improving his skills so quickly.
After she briefly learned that Viktor also came from a warlike civilization on a cosmic level, Artemis challenged him whenever she had the chance.
Because of this, some of the other women warriors on the island even teased her to her face.
They said that ever since Themyscira had started relaxing some of its old customs against men, Artemis had become so desperate that she wanted to go after a boy.
The red-haired warrior not only beat those women soundly but also made it clear that she only had eyes for men who were big and strong enough.
Viktor's body did not catch her interest.
He was only fit to be a good sparring partner.
After she recognized him, Artemis laughed and tried to ruffle his hair.
Since Viktor no longer needed to hide and survive like before, he quietly dodged her hand and quickly explained the real reason they had come.
"I'm here to temporarily bring this person to Themyscira for refuge."
He glanced at the somewhat nervous Kryptonian girl behind him.
"Her name is Kara. She's Superman's cousin. She arrived on Earth recently and hasn't fully learned how to control her powers. I believed Superman asked me to bring her to Themyscira because he also wanted someone here to guide her."
A familiar voice rang out from behind the assembled patrol warriors.
"I imagine there's something else as well?"
The warriors, except for Artemis, stepped aside to make a path.
Diana stepped through.
She didn't seem to mind Artemis's attitude as the two stood side-by-side, looking at him.
Wonder Woman had only temporarily stepped back from the Justice League, and she hadn't retired from being a superhero.
She looked at him with a calm smile.
"I'm guessing a problem has appeared on Earth that even the Justice League is struggling to handle?"
"I'm afraid it's a whole series of problems."
He replied without hesitation.
"First: another version of me has appeared on Earth from a different timeline. A far more Viltrumized version of me."
Diana's smile faded.
After all, she was Viktor's teacher and had spent a lot of time with him.
She knew exactly how much trouble he could cause if he went down the wrong path.
So Diana's question went straight to the point.
"How many people have already died?"
He awkwardly rubbed his forehead.
"I'm not entirely sure, but several superheroes have definitely been killed. I don't even know if Superman and the others have caught him yet."
Reverse-Flash, who fully knew the truth, had been hiding and refusing to come out while most people on Earth at that moment, including Viktor himself, lacked information about the future Viktor.
Vktor could only guess what had happened to this other version of himself on the way the man's pupils occasionally flashed with a yellow light.
He had replaced Sinestro as the leader of the Yellow Lanterns and taken control of the Anti-Matter Universe.
It seemed he also had some connection to Parallax.
Viktor didn't know if that man was still truly "himself" or whose body had been taken over by Parallax.
It didn't feel like the latter because most of that man's actions, including how he treated Rachel, seemed more like a version of Viktor's own personality that had been pushed to the extreme.
Troublesome
That was Diana's immediate reaction after listening to Viktor's explanation.
"If even Superman and Martian Manhunter together could not restrain him at once, then the world will be living under his shadow for a very long time."
To deal with Emperor Viktor, the only plan was for all of Earth's strongest heroes to move together, overwhelm him as fast as possible, and only then think about how to handle him.
Just as Diana realized this, a terrifying buzzing sound came from the distant sky.
There were giant magical lightning bolts strong enough to pierce mountains, and flashes of red light from Superman's heat vision could also be seen.
The three attackers were Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Shazam.
Yet, Emperor Viktor handled them all with ease.
...
600 POWER STONES = 1 BONUS CHAPTER
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