"That suit of armor is extremely powerful," Lex Luthor said while watching the battlefield through the base's surveillance screens. "But it doesn't seem to be a match for that life form."
On the display, the air inside the base was being torn apart by violent shockwaves.
Victor Kent and the Zero Armor appeared nearly equal in size, yet the balance of the fight told a different story. Victor's attacks looked simple—almost casual—but each strike forced the massive armor backward.
The difference in momentum was obvious.
"The Iron Warrior is more than capable," General Sam Lane replied stiffly.
Things were unfolding differently than he had predicted. His face darkened as he watched the battle.
According to the military's evaluation reports, the Iron Warrior system should have been powerful enough to capture Superman without much difficulty. If the neural synchronization procedure hadn't required at least six months of safe testing, Lane would never have needed Luthor's involvement in the first place.
"This one seems physically stronger than Superman," Lane continued, narrowing his eyes. "But it won't change the outcome."
If both beings truly belonged to an alien race, then this purple-glowing man was likely a more mature individual. Not only did he possess abilities that the younger Superman did not display, but his physical strength appeared superior as well.
Still, Lane remained confident.
"It's impossible for flesh and blood to defeat a machine made of steel."
Various possibilities flashed through his mind as he analyzed the fight.
"Even if he gains the upper hand temporarily, it's only because John hasn't fully mastered the Zero Armor yet."
A human body could grow tired. Muscles could weaken. Bones could break.
But Zero Armor was different.
So far, the purple-glowing attacker had failed to inflict even the slightest damage on the armor itself.
Once Coburn adapted completely to the suit and began unleashing its full power, Lane believed both suspected alien life forms would eventually be captured.
"Let's hope you're right," Luthor replied quietly.
He frowned slightly while folding his arms.
"I'd hate to invest that much money only to see the project fail."
Meanwhile, chaos continued across the battlefield.
"Move in! Capture him!"
Several soldiers rushed toward Clark.
They assumed he was barely able to stand after being knocked down earlier, believing he had no strength left to resist. In truth, Clark was simply struggling to adjust to the weakness in his body.
Bang!
A rifle butt slammed into the back of his neck.
The soldier intended to knock him unconscious.
Clark reacted instantly.
With a quick backhand strike, he sent the attacker flying several meters through the air like a weightless balloon. The man crashed onto the ground in a daze.
Several more soldiers rushed forward with special restraints, attempting to lock Clark's wrists.
Clark knocked them aside just as easily.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Fire!"
Realizing Clark still had the strength to fight, the soldiers raised their rifles and opened fire.
A deafening barrage of gunshots erupted.
Bullets tore through the air, shredding Clark's already damaged clothes into ragged strips.
Yet his body remained completely unharmed.
Clark roared angrily.
Ignoring the gunfire entirely, he charged forward and knocked the soldiers down with his bare hands.
The sight was shocking enough.
A man resisting bullets with nothing but his body was already beyond human imagination.
But compared with the battle between Victor and the Zero Armor, Clark's struggle looked like a child's scuffle.
Each time Victor and Coburn exchanged blows, the resulting shockwaves rolled outward for dozens of meters.
The Zero Armor possessed incredible capabilities.
Every system within the suit represented cutting-edge technology far beyond anything ordinary humans could comprehend.
But its opponent was Victor.
Every punch Coburn threw carried terrifying kinetic force. Yet the moment the blows struck Victor, the energy seemed to vanish completely.
Coburn felt as though he were punching into a bottomless ocean.
The sensation was maddening.
He controlled the armor through neural connections, making it feel like an extension of his own limbs. But mastering that level of control still required time.
"Are you kidding me, you alien freak!" Coburn shouted furiously.
As the battle continued, his control over the armor improved rapidly. The systems responded faster, stronger, more efficiently.
His power had nearly doubled since the beginning of the fight.
Yet Victor's strength seemed to grow alongside it.
No matter how hard Coburn attacked, he remained at a disadvantage.
His fists rained down like a violent storm, but Victor blocked or redirected every single strike.
What infuriated Coburn most was Victor's attitude.
Victor barely paid attention to him at all.
During the fight, Victor occasionally examined the armor itself with interest, as though the machine was the only thing worth studying.
As for the man inside it?
Coburn might as well have been irrelevant.
The realization drove him insane.
"There are no long-range weapons installed on Zero Armor," Dr. Irons explained anxiously from the underground laboratory while watching the fight unfold.
His mouth hung open in shock.
"The suit is still a prototype," he continued. "More importantly, human technology currently has no conventional weapon—aside from nuclear warheads—that can match the raw power of the armor's fists."
When the project had been designed, Irons had believed the most difficult stage would be the neural synchronization.
Once Coburn successfully connected with the armor, they had assumed defeating alien threats would be easy.
But now…
Those fists capable of tearing apart skyscrapers looked powerless against their opponent.
They couldn't even force Victor to take a single step backward.
"If this can't stop him…" Irons muttered nervously. "What else can we do?"
Would the military really resort to nuclear weapons?
The battle unfolding before him proved one terrifying fact.
Every conventional weapon humanity possessed would be useless against this being.
If creatures like Victor truly existed in numbers, conquering Earth would be as easy for them as playing a game.
Irons silently prayed that the terrifying figure on the screen was not an alien.
"If Diana hadn't awakened her bloodline power yet," Victor thought calmly during the fight, "she would struggle against this armor without the Sword of Vulcan."
A massive explosion of kinetic energy erupted as Victor struck again.
The silver-gray armor was driven backward violently. Coburn's legs carved two trenches more than ten meters long across the hardened concrete.
The thrusters on the suit ignited instantly.
Coburn lunged forward again, attacking with the ferocity of a berserker. His steel fists smashed toward Victor, tearing the ground apart beneath him.
Buzz!
Two beams of purple energy streaked through the air.
"It's useless!" Coburn shouted. "Your energy attacks can't harm me!"
Ignoring the blazing beams entirely, he forced his way through the impact and charged straight toward Victor.
His armored fist crashed down.
Victor received the attack calmly.
The tremendous force shook the battlefield.
A moment later, Coburn was blasted backward once again.
Even while wearing the Zero Armor, a suit powerful enough to conquer a small country alone, Coburn looked insignificant compared to Victor's growing strength.
It was like a praying mantis trying to stop a chariot.
Midair, the purple energy clinging to the armor vanished as if it had been absorbed by a sponge.
Victor noticed the phenomenon again.
That confirmed his suspicion.
The armor was made of Promethium.
Promethium—sometimes called Prometheus metal—was a nearly indestructible alloy first developed by billionaire inventor Steve Dayton in the DC universe.
Created by combining titanium and vanadium in a mysterious formula, the metal possessed incredible durability and energy-absorption properties.
Even Cyborg of the Justice League had portions of his body constructed from the same material.
Coburn charged again like a tireless warhound.
Victor raised his fist and struck.
Coburn was completely suppressed.
If the armor had merely been made from an extremely hard metal, Victor wouldn't have cared at all.
He didn't rely on weapons.
His body and abilities were already the most powerful weapons he possessed.
Boom!
Victor's fist descended like a falling mountain.
The ground beneath them collapsed inward, forming a deep crater more than ten meters wide. Coburn was driven to one knee, gritting his teeth as he struggled to hold back the crushing force.
He glared upward at Victor's face, hidden behind glowing purple light.
"This armor was built to destroy any alien that threatens Earth!" Coburn roared like a wild beast.
"I'm humanity's ultimate weapon against you!"
Why?
Why couldn't he win?
He was wearing the strongest armor ever created by human technology, forged from the hardest alloy in existence.
Yet he couldn't defeat a man fighting with bare hands.
"If I can't beat you," Coburn shouted, "then what was the point of enduring five years of hell just to wear this priceless armor!"
With a furious roar, he forced Victor's fists aside and launched himself forward like a cannonball.
His helmet slammed toward Victor's chest.
"Alien monster!" he shouted. "Your plans will never succeed!"
Victor sighed slightly.
"You're arguing with yourself," he said calmly. "You keep assigning people the role of alien invader so you can pretend you're stopping some grand conspiracy."
Victor raised his hand.
Coburn's entire charge collapsed as the kinetic energy of the attack was absorbed instantly.
Victor slammed him into the ground.
Coburn roared furiously, trying to stand again.
Boom!
Victor's fist fell from above like a meteor, smashing the armored helmet and driving Coburn back into the crater.
"Do you have persecution delusions?" Victor asked coldly.
He stepped forward slowly.
"Have you forgotten who actually caused all of this?"
....
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