When the pain struck, time seemed to slow. Clark fell into another Abyss. Everything from his past flashed before his eyes. Those hazy, indistinct shades were like steps leading to Heaven, yet also like invitations to Hell.
After the searing agony came prolonged torment. Clark gradually regained consciousness, but he had no control over his body at all. It was as though he were trapped in some dark prison, able only to feel pain and utterly unable to change anything.
His powerful super-senses made the pain all the clearer. He could feel several armies seemingly waging war inside his body. Their weapons were his bones, their bullets were his cells, and the battlefield was his entire body—especially his chest cavity. Every moment felt like enduring bombardment.
And that was indeed the case. At this moment, three forces were battling inside him: the energy he had gained from the sun, the purple magical energy that had struck him, and the energy carried by the Kryptonite components within his body.
This body had never undergone the baptism of magic, and a Kryptonian body simply could not blend with magical energy. Therefore, the magical energy shot into him was constantly being rejected by his own energy. This manifested as the magical energy preventing his wound from healing, while his body's own energy continuously tried to repair it.
The energy stored within Superman's body was astonishing, while the magical energy was limited, with very little remaining inside him. If it had only been a contest between those two, the magical energy would soon have been defeated.
But at the same time, the Kryptonite Superman carried and the Kryptonite powder injected into his body were constantly suppressing his own energy, preventing Superman's power from being exerted at full strength. As a result, the two sides