Grim Reaper

"Open fire!" At General Jericho's command, more than fifty soldiers arranged in kneeling and standing rows raised standard-issue M4A1 automatic rifles and launched the first wave of fire.

5.56mm bullets swept toward the bluish-green mist.

The barrage pierced the bluish-green fog like awls, carving continuous trails through it.

Anchorage Base was completely drowned out by unending gunfire. The base personnel watching from afar could not help narrowing their eyes.

The bluish-green mist churned like stormy waves as endless bullets tore through it.

In He-El's vision, the bluish-green mist drifted particle by particle. He had not activated microscopic vision; his eyesight was simply so good that he could see the mist in slightly greater detail, as countless granules floating through the air.

Bullet heads spun before his eyes, heated red-hot by friction as they evaporated and pushed aside the bluish-green mist before striking directly into his pectorals. Unable to penetrate his skin, they were crushed by the recoil into tiny lumps of hammered iron. The wrinkled bullets fell to the ground, trailing smoke.

Countless bullets struck his body as if they had hit an impenetrable steel plate.

"Mm, a little itchy."

That was He-El's assessment. The sensation was like... poking his own arm with a finger. That was what blocking bullets felt like.

It was like countless fingers lightly touching him, the bullets going bang, bang, bang as they made the sound of steel plate they could not pierce.

Some bullets flew toward his corneas. The incoming rounds grew larger and larger in his sight, struck his corneas, crumpled into tiny iron lumps, and fell away.

He had never experienced the feeling of being shot in the eyes before, with a spinning, burning bullet filling his vision. It was rather novel.

"He's fine! He can move freely! He's walking out of the nerve toxin mist! What is going on, General?"

One soldier's scalp went numb as he reported to General Jericho.

They were merely carrying out orders, protecting Earth.

They had never known that a person could withstand the continuous fire of nearly fifty M4A1 automatic rifles head-on. In that brief span, more than three thousand 5.56mm rounds had already been fired. Yet that humanoid figure was still moving, gradually walking out of the nerve toxin.

The soldiers firing their weapons all felt their scalps tingle. The smell of gunpowder was thick and pungent. Was that even human?

A body of flesh could block bullets!

He-El's tall, robust, fair body was brimming with dynamic power, its lines outlining the finest musculature humanity could possess. Like the body of a flawless, exquisite ancient Greek statue, he stepped on the crumpled bullet heads beneath his feet, pressing them into the concrete as he emerged from the bluish-green toxic fog.

Like a god passing through the mist, he revealed a perfect body that inspired awe and worship. His merciless gaze swept across them as bullets continuously struck him and fell, sending chills through everyone's hearts.

"Keep firing! Fall back. He is an alien. Humanity will prevail! Second-wave fire, open fire!" General Jericho's face was grim beyond measure, his gaze cold as he suppressed his alarm and shouted his orders.

More than fifty soldiers, their eyes filled with disbelief and dread, maintained their kneeling and standing formation as they fired while retreating. The second wave of heavy firepower took over: M240 machine guns, Browning M2 heavy machine guns, and jeeps mounted with 30mm autocannons.

7.68mm, 12mm, and 30mm armor-piercing rounds—enough to tear any tank to pieces.

Even fiercer gun smoke rose. The entire Anchorage Base rang with gunfire, the thunderous roar making eardrums tremble and sting, forcing people to cover their ears and open their mouths wide.

He-El was no obedient Superman who would not retaliate after being attacked. Testing bullets as an itch was one thing, but bringing out heavy machine guns and autocannons was truly too insulting.

For the first time, He-El began using his biological magnetic field, a force that balanced the excessively powerful cells of Kryptonians and was far more effective for him than it was for Superman.

The biological magnetic field was an extension of his powerful body. Even Superman could use it to envelop aircraft and affect matter, forming protection that kept the humans inside planes from being harmed.

And He-El could do it far more precisely than Superman.

The life magnetic field extended from his body and began affecting the outside world. Bullets, one by one, stopped around He-El, frozen in midair by his dense life magnetic field.

He-El continued forward in calm disregard. Bullet after bullet hung around him like dense rainfall halted in time. He stood at the center of the world, surrounded by bullets.

"My God, what is happening???"

"Impossible. Impossible."

"It's Telekinesis, an ability straight out of science fiction."

"God, this can't be real."

Some soldiers operating the heavy machine guns gradually stopped pulling their triggers, mouths agape as they watched every bullet fired toward He-El come to a complete stop before him.

It completely defied common sense. Bullets that had broken the sound barrier in an instant suddenly froze in midair without any warning.

Such godlike power.

Could a living creature truly possess it?

Some soldiers began to tremble in fear. They stopped pulling their triggers and stared in horror.

The autocannon mounted on the jeep, however, did not stop. It continued firing automatically, madly spewing every round in its ammunition belt.

The large 30mm shells stopped in midair with such force behind them that they assaulted everyone's sanity.

Some soldiers shouted about demons and roared as they fired continuously, sending even more bullets to hang in the air. Others stood dumbly in place, their minds unable to process what they were seeing.

"Boom!"

The next moment, He-El let go. The force of the biological magnetic field under his control abruptly shook.

As though released by the force of his hand, the bullets suspended in the air shot straight back, carrying even greater speed and kinetic energy than when they had left the muzzles.

A ring of sonic boom clouds rose from the spot.

All the bullets fired outward from He-El as their center, dense as a swarm, returning to their original positions. They pierced every soldier who had been firing, blasted guns apart, and struck the steel structures of Anchorage Base, scattering sparks.

In that instant, gun smoke became a bloody battlefield, thick with the scent of fresh blood.

Too many soldiers died horribly before their eyes. Too many were caught in the attack and crippled. Many onlookers in the distance were also affected. There was no shortage of deaths and disabilities.

Screams rose one after another, followed by wails and cries of utter misery.

He-El walked out of the sonic boom cloud like a merciless god striding through the mortal world.

He felt this was merely a minor application of the life magnetic field, nothing worth marveling at. In his view, he was not a brute like Superman, who only knew how to fight with his fists.

So he used the biological magnetic field to meticulously sense humanity's own biological magnetic fields. Thought flashed through his eyes as he walked and connected to one soldier's biological magnetic field.

The instant that soldier's biological magnetic field connected with his, he could not withstand the crushing pressure of the immense field. His entire body "boom!" turned into a cloud of blood mist and vanished before their eyes.

He-El discovered a more efficient method. There was no need to use energy-consuming Heat Vision, nor did he need the impact of close-range fists. Soldiers could explode into blood mist one after another.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom..."

Like a merciless grim reaper, he walked through the battlefield of smoke and agonized cries as he thought. Humans unconsciously turned into blood mist, howling in terror at the reaper's arrival.