Sam Lane.
After graduating from high school, Victor had once accidentally overheard Chloe mentioning that Lois Lane was her cousin. The detail had stuck in his mind longer than he expected. Considering that Clark would eventually head to Metropolis and might very well meet Lois Lane someday, Victor had grown curious.
Out of simple curiosity, he searched the internet to see what Lois Lane looked like.
While browsing through news archives, he accidentally stumbled upon an article introducing Lois Lane, a newly rising reporter at the Daily Planet who had recently broken a major story. The background section of the article included a photograph of her father—General Sam Lane.
Victor only glanced at the image twice before closing the page.
But with his powerful memory, that brief look was more than enough. The man's appearance was permanently etched in his mind.
If Sam Lane died one day, and Clark eventually ended up with Lois Lane in the future, that would certainly complicate things.
Victor didn't intend to be responsible for something like that.
Besides, Sam Lane hadn't targeted him personally. How the matter would eventually be resolved could be left for Clark to deal with in the future.
Still, tonight's lesson needed to leave an impression.
"I believe the price you paid tonight will stay in your memory for a very long time, Sam Lane."
In the end, Victor didn't kill him.
Instead, he lifted the general off the ground and forced him to face a pair of glowing eyes radiating terrifying heat. The searing light illuminated the entire room, filling the air with the faint scent of burning metal and scorched insulation. After delivering a cold warning, Victor simply threw him back onto the freezing concrete floor.
"There won't be a next time."
The room still carried the strange smell of burnt material. Sam Lane lay on the ground, breathing heavily as he watched the mysterious figure walk out of the base as casually as if he were leaving his own backyard. His face was pale, his teeth clenched tightly, and the echo of that cold voice lingered in the air long after the figure had disappeared.
Victor took Clark away from the nearly destroyed military base and brought him back home.
Ding dong.
"Mom."
Victor smiled as the door opened.
"Thank God!"
When the doorbell rang, the younger son stood outside supporting the older brother who had been taken away by the military earlier that night. The moment Martha saw both of them standing there alive and safe, her eyes instantly filled with tears. She raised her hands in gratitude to heaven and nearly collapsed from overwhelming relief.
"Clark, how are you?"
Jonathan hurried forward and took hold of his eldest son, whose face was still pale as paper. Carefully supporting him, he guided Clark to the soft sofa in the living room and helped him sit down.
"I'm fine, Mom, Dad."
Clark forced out a weak smile.
"He was injected with anesthetic. After he gets some sleep, he'll recover."
Victor calmly poured a glass of water and handed it to him.
In reality, if it weren't nighttime and the sun hadn't set hours earlier, just a few seconds of sunlight would have restored Clark to perfect condition.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hidden my identity as a city vigilante from you."
After enduring electric shocks and having sonic weapons blasted near his ears, Clark's throat felt painfully dry. He drained the glass of water in a single breath before falling silent for a moment. Then he looked at his parents with visible guilt on his face.
During the drive home, Victor had already explained what happened. Their parents had seen the news broadcast showing Clark being taken away by the military, and they had nearly lost their minds with worry.
Clark had gone out fighting crime in the city without telling them. Although they had suspected something like that for a while, neither of them expected the situation to escalate into something so dangerous.
"Clark, you make us proud."
Jonathan shook his head and squeezed his son's shoulder with steady encouragement.
"I've always believed there must be a reason God sent you here and gave you these abilities. Now you've found your calling, bringing hope to people who desperately need it. Because of you, countless families have been saved from destruction and grief."
"There's nothing for you to apologize for, Clark."
Martha's eyes were filled with tears, but her expression carried a gentle and proud smile.
"You use your abilities to save people. Your father and I won't stand in your way anymore."
"Saving people…"
Clark couldn't help smiling bitterly as the memories of today's torture flashed through his mind.
If Victor hadn't shown up tonight, he had no idea how the situation would have ended.
Of course, it would have been better if his brother hadn't killed so many soldiers during the rescue. But Clark knew that wasn't something he could bring up in front of their parents.
Jonathan turned toward Victor and pulled his youngest son into a firm embrace.
The family stood together in the living room, holding each other tightly after the nightmare they had just endured.
"The proudest thing your mother and I have ever done in our lives is raising you two boys."
…
After calming their worried parents, Victor and Clark finally went upstairs to rest. They stopped briefly at the doors of their respective bedrooms.
The events of the evening had unfolded like a violent roller coaster. First the eldest son had been captured by the military, then the younger son had stormed a military base to rescue him. Even though both of their sons were now safely home, Jonathan and Martha were completely exhausted.
Not long after returning to their room, they fell asleep almost immediately.
"You've been targeted now. From here on out, you should be more careful."
Clark could barely keep his eyes open. The exhaustion weighed heavily on him as he prepared to go inside and collapse into bed.
Victor opened his own door but paused and turned back.
"I don't want to see you tied to an electric chair in a military base again someday."
Certain details from tonight were things both brothers silently agreed not to mention to their parents.
"I know."
Clark scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
This was the first time his younger brother had stepped in to rescue him. As the older brother, the situation felt slightly embarrassing.
Victor simply nodded before returning to his room.
Lying down on the bed, he stared quietly at the ceiling.
Hopefully Clark would truly remember tonight's lesson.
The greatest weakness of Superman—something Victor hadn't mentioned earlier—was actually kindness.
If not for that kindness, Superman would have almost no real weaknesses. A Kryptonian didn't even need food to survive, and under normal circumstances even kryptonite would hardly threaten someone like Clark.
"At the speed a Kryptonian can move, before anyone even has time to pull out kryptonite, he could circle the entire planet and reduce his enemies to ashes with heat vision."
Speed alone created enormous advantages in battle. Against most opponents, someone like Superman possessed overwhelming room to maneuver.
Yet Clark rarely defended himself against others.
Villains often exploited that kindness, setting traps precisely because they knew he wouldn't strike first.
Victor didn't expect Clark to suddenly change who he was.
"If that changes, Superman won't be Superman anymore."
All Victor really hoped for was that Clark would maintain a basic level of vigilance when acting as a hero.
He had already warned him before that there were still fatal weaknesses. After tonight's incident, Clark should hopefully remember the lesson a little more clearly.
…
Although Victor successfully rescued Clark from the military base outside the city, the incident itself was far from over.
Metropolis had practically exploded with discussion overnight.
Victor's appearance at the military blockade site—where he had forced soldiers to reveal Superman's whereabouts before disappearing—had been brief, but the impact was enormous.
Across the internet, countless people were now debating his identity and abilities.
When he appeared, his entire body had been enveloped in a rich purple glow. His face had been completely obscured by the energy surrounding him, leaving his identity shrouded in mystery.
Based on that single striking feature, the citizens of Metropolis quickly gave him a nickname.
The Purple Light Man.
"He appeared because of Superman. What exactly is the relationship between Purple Light and Superman?"
Some people discussed the situation with the same curiosity they used for gossip magazines.
"Was he trying to rescue Superman?"
"Who's stronger—him or Superman?"
But others reacted with a much more uneasy feeling.
"First Superman appeared, and now there's the Purple Light Man. How many people like this are secretly living on our planet?"
"His presence feels completely different from Superman. Superman always seems warm and kind, but this guy… even though he was rescuing someone, I didn't feel much gentleness from him. Could he become a threat to the city… or even the entire world?"
"The explosions in the military blockade zone outside the city lasted almost half an hour. Was the Purple Light Man fighting the army, or fighting Superman?"
The capture of Superman and the sudden appearance of the Purple Light Man dominated every major headline in Metropolis the next morning.
"Superman captured by the military after saving citizens—mysterious purple figure appears to rescue him?"
After breakfast, Victor opened a copy of the Metropolis Life newspaper. Sitting in a lounge chair on the balcony outside the house, he calmly read the bold headline printed across the front page.
Clark stepped outside holding a cup of coffee and leaned casually against the railing.
"Even the Life Daily reported this incident, and they usually never care about stories like this."
He glanced at Victor with a teasing smile.
"Everyone's extremely curious about you right now. How about joining me as a vigilante? We could form our own crime-fighting team."
The suggestion was meant as a joke. But as Clark said it out loud, he suddenly realized that if Victor actually joined him in saving people, his younger brother would probably do the job far better than he ever could.
"I'm not interested in that kind of thing."
Victor skimmed the article briefly before tossing the newspaper aside.
His gaze shifted toward the open farmland stretching into the distance.
"Our vacation is almost over. I'd rather focus on preparing for my next trip."
[The template has been integrated 99%...]
Looking at the system panel floating in front of him, Victor slowly raised an eyebrow.
Was something wrong with the fusion progress?
Why were the numbers suddenly increasing faster than he expected?
....
Join my P*atreon for 100 premium chapters ahead of the public release.
Link: pa*treon.com/MysticVerse (Remove the *)
Free members also get 2 advanced chapters for free.