The entire base trembled violently.
The crater in the ground collapsed even deeper as layers of soil rolled outward in waves. Shockwaves exploded through the air, sweeping everything within dozens of meters aside. No one nearby could approach the battlefield without being blown away.
Boom!
A tall figure surrounded by blazing purple light stood in the center of the destruction.
Victor Kent's eyes burned with menacing violet energy. Drawing directly upon the power he could channel from cosmic forces, his body surged with unimaginable strength.
Punch after punch slammed downward.
Each strike landed like a violent earthquake. Nearby buildings inside the base cracked and collapsed under the relentless shockwaves.
"Once I tear open this iron shell," Victor said coldly, "let's see if you still have the confidence to call yourself humanity's ultimate weapon."
Under the impact of fists capable of sinking an aircraft carrier, the silver-gray armor finally began to show damage.
For the first time, dents and fist-shaped depressions appeared across the surface of the Zero Armor.
"Warning: armor integrity compromised… five percent… eight percent…"
The red alert flashed across Coburn's display.
"How is that possible?!"
Coburn stared at the warning messages in disbelief. The damage might still be minor, but even the slightest flaw in the Zero Armor felt impossible to him.
Dr. Irons had evaluated the suit thoroughly.
According to the tests, the armor was strong enough to allow a person to survive even at the center of a nuclear explosion.
"That's because the armor is resistant to energy attacks!" Victor replied calmly.
Coburn threw another punch, but Victor caught it effortlessly.
Victor's fist smashed down again.
The crater beneath them sank deeper.
Victor's physical power had not yet reached the level of a nuclear blast, but the defensive ability of the armor clearly wasn't as absolute as its creators believed.
"There are two types of Promethium," Victor explained calmly as he continued attacking.
"The consumable type and the mutable type."
The structural frame of the armor used the consumable variety. It was extremely hard but relatively straightforward in composition.
The more remarkable material was the mutable form.
"One of its defining traits is that it can absorb nearly unlimited energy."
The effect resembled Victor's own ability to manipulate energy to some extent. However, the armor could only absorb energy; it couldn't freely control or release it.
Nor could it absorb kinetic force in the way Victor could.
In simple terms, it functioned like an enormous battery.
That was why the armor could survive a nuclear explosion. It absorbed the energy released by the blast rather than resisting it purely through durability.
"We can't let him keep attacking!"
Coburn felt cold dread spread through his chest as the damage reports continued to appear.
He pulled his arm free and tried to escape Victor's range.
The thrusters beneath the armor ignited.
Flames erupted as he attempted to launch into the air.
But Victor moved faster.
His hand shot forward like lightning, grabbing the armor by the ankle.
With brutal force, Victor slammed Coburn back into the ground and followed up with several crushing punches.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The chest plate of the Zero Armor began to bend inward.
"No! Stop him immediately!" Sam Lane shouted into the command microphone. "We can't let him destroy the Zero Armor!"
Combat helicopters circling above the base finally opened fire.
Heavy cannon rounds rained down on Victor like a violent storm.
But the attack might as well have been gentle rain.
Victor barely reacted.
He turned his head and unleashed a beam of heat vision across the sky.
Several helicopters exploded instantly.
Then he turned back to Coburn.
Another punch crashed down.
Fear filled Coburn's eyes.
The confidence he had felt when he first stepped into the armor had vanished completely.
Now the suit felt like nothing more than a metal coffin.
Once that shell was broken open, his death would follow immediately.
"No!"
Coburn roared in panic, throwing desperate punches.
But striking Victor felt like hitting a mountain ten thousand meters tall. Nothing he did could move him even slightly.
The situation looked absurd.
Coburn, the proud pilot of humanity's ultimate weapon, now resembled a helpless child pinned to the ground.
"Warning: chest armor integrity at ninety-eight percent damage."
A metallic tearing sound echoed through the crater.
The thick chest plate finally ruptured.
A massive hole appeared in the armor.
The compressed shockwave of Victor's punch blasted through the opening and slammed into Coburn's body.
Coburn's eyes bulged outward.
His sternum cracked loudly as it collapsed inward. The shock destroyed his ribcage and crushed his lungs.
The armor had protected him from the first impact.
Without that protection, the second strike ended everything.
Coburn died before Victor's fist even fully descended.
Victor withdrew his hand slowly.
"The mutable form of Promethium has another ability," he said thoughtfully. "It can trigger genetic mutations that grant superhuman abilities."
However, only Steve Dayton had successfully used that process to create large numbers of superpowered individuals.
There was probably some special method required.
Still, that didn't concern Victor for the moment.
Now that Promethium had been successfully developed in this era, he could always pay its inventor a visit later.
Victor straightened up.
He glanced briefly at the shattered armor lying in the crater.
Then he looked toward Clark.
Boom!
Clark had just been blasted off his feet by an RPG rocket.
Victor flashed forward instantly.
Purple energy swept across the battlefield as his heat vision carved through the soldiers surrounding Clark. Their bodies vanished instantly under the blazing beams, leaving only puddles of molten metal behind.
"Is it over?" Clark asked while climbing to his feet in his torn clothes.
"Yes."
"Then let's leave quickly."
Victor shook his head.
"The one who planned this whole thing is still fine," he said calmly. "Wait here."
Before Clark could respond, Victor vanished at incredible speed.
"Don't—"
Clark tried to stop him.
He wanted to leave precisely because he didn't want more people dying at Victor's hands. But Victor ignored him completely.
Clark could only watch helplessly as his brother disappeared.
His weakened body couldn't keep up.
If Victor wanted to locate the commander of the base, Clark could easily reveal the location using his super hearing.
But Victor had never planned to ask.
He preferred a simpler method.
Three seconds later—
Victor had already crossed most of the base.
A heavy steel door was ripped open.
Inside the room, a group of special forces soldiers aimed their weapons at the entrance with cold sweat running down their foreheads.
They looked as if they were facing an unstoppable monster.
Victor walked in slowly, glowing with purple light.
Bullets struck his body and bounced away harmlessly.
His eyes flashed.
Heat vision swept across the room.
One soldier after another vanished into thin air as the beams touched them.
When the attack ended, only two figures remained standing.
Several terrified technicians crouched in the corner.
Victor ignored them.
His gaze focused on the two people still standing.
To his surprise…
They were both familiar.
"Lex Luthor."
Considering everything connected to Superman, it wasn't surprising that Luthor might appear here.
Victor had even suspected earlier that Luthor had exploited Clark's kindness to orchestrate this trap.
And the other man…
"Sam Lane?"
Victor paused for a brief moment when he saw the middle-aged officer standing there in a general's uniform, gripping a pistol.
"This Mr. Alien?" Luthor asked calmly. "You know General Lane?"
Luthor looked slightly surprised.
Victor had spoken Luthor's name with the tone one might use for a corpse. But when mentioning Sam Lane, his reaction carried a hint of genuine surprise.
"You don't seem scared," Victor said.
He flashed forward and grabbed Luthor by the throat.
Luthor was paranoid, arrogant, selfish, and a brilliant madman.
But he was not fearless.
In fact, he valued his life deeply and often showed clear fear when facing genuine danger.
"Ah—"
Sam Lane instinctively raised his pistol to fire.
A beam of heat vision instantly heated the weapon.
The metal glowed red-hot.
Lane cried out in pain and dropped the burning gun.
"Stand still," Victor said coldly. "I haven't decided what to do with you yet."
Standing face to face with Victor felt completely different from watching him through a monitor.
The crushing pressure of his presence made Lane feel as if a blade were pressed against his spine.
His chest tightened.
He barely dared to breathe.
"I just happened to be here," Luthor said calmly, raising his hands in surrender. "General Lane and I were discussing some business."
"Please don't misunderstand."
Victor narrowed his eyes.
There was only one explanation for Luthor's calmness.
He still had a trump card.
But what could possibly allow Luthor to escape from him?
Victor suddenly noticed something strange.
Luthor's skin felt too smooth.
Smoother than a human's skin.
Almost like…
Synthetic rubber.
Victor tightened his grip.
The sound of metal bending echoed.
Luthor's neck twisted violently. Electric sparks burst from inside the torn synthetic flesh.
Yet the expression on his face remained unchanged.
"Mr. Alien," the robotic Luthor said calmly, "if destroying my bionic body helps calm you down, I hope it serves its purpose."
Sam Lane stared in shock.
Technology like this was far beyond anything he expected to see outside government laboratories.
"Are you proud of that?" Victor asked.
"Not particularly," Luthor replied calmly.
"Judging from the losses this base has suffered tonight, your personality seems quite different from Superman's."
He sighed slightly.
"I suspect I may never be able to appear publicly in my real body again. That's rather inconvenient."
Victor could hear the mixed emotions in Luthor's tone.
Part of him was annoyed that his hidden asset had been exposed so easily.
But another part was clearly proud of the technology he had created.
Victor tore the bionic head from the robotic body and tossed the machine aside like trash.
Then he looked directly at Luthor.
"You're right," Victor said calmly.
"After today, Lex Luthor is effectively dead."
"You'll spend the rest of your life hiding in the shadows like a rat, never stepping into the sunlight again."
"Otherwise…"
Victor's eyes glowed with deadly purple light.
"You'll melt and disappear from this world like ice."
Luthor's expression darkened instantly.
If he could never appear in public again, the vast Luthor Corporation he controlled would eventually fall apart.
Without his wealth and influence…
Would he still be Lex Luthor?
"And you'd better sleep with one eye open," Victor continued quietly.
"Treasure the time you have left."
His voice grew colder.
"One day you might go to sleep and never wake up."
"This world is full of strange things. Sometimes, killing someone is simply a matter of finding them."
The meaning behind those words made Luthor's pupils shrink.
A shadow crossed his face.
He understood that Victor wasn't exaggerating.
Luthor had already encountered supernatural artifacts before.
Such as the Wishing Stone.
"I…"
Within a few seconds, Luthor's expression changed several times.
Fear flickered across his face.
But Victor had no interest in continuing the conversation.
A blazing beam of heat vision melted the robotic head in his hand, instantly cutting off its signal.
"You're the last one left," Victor said calmly.
Molten metal dripped from his fingers as he turned toward the pale-faced general.
"What should I do with you?"
Sam Lane stumbled backward.
"Stay away from me!"
If anyone else had orchestrated the trap against Clark tonight, Victor would have erased them without hesitation.
But the identity of the man standing before him made the situation… complicated.
Sam Lane.
Lois Lane's father.
Clark's future father-in-law.
....
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