After He-El finished fighting Edward in that sand-swept nation, it became the last country that had dared to defy his rule.
No politician or capitalist on Earth dared refuse him now, hoping to slip through the net.
He had effectively conquered Earth. Perhaps all that remained was a grand coronation to make humanity understand that they truly lived under a new nation and a new ruler.
The next day, He-El gave Dawn the plans for the Crystal Core Energy Aggregation Accelerator. He also dug up every large accelerator, usable collider, particle accelerator, and similar machine across the world, lifted them one-handed, and transported them all to Geneva before the astonished eyes of ordinary people.
He then instructed Dawn to requisition every scientist and bring them to Geneva to begin connecting, constructing, and testing the Crystal Core Energy Aggregation Accelerator.
He-El had not forgotten that, in the depths of the DC Universe, Jor-El had ruined his ship's crystal core energy supply until only three percent remained, leaving the ship adrift.
True, He-El could now survive in space by absorbing various forms of radiation. But without faster-than-light speed or his ship's jump capability, who knew how long he would have to wander deep space before he was lucky enough to encounter a life-bearing planet?
Drifting through the universe as a lone living being was no viable strategy. It was a choice made only when there was no alternative.
The basic materials and technology on this Earth were simply too backward.
He-El could not possibly teach them enough to develop their civilization's technology, nor could he provide every method for synthesizing the basic materials they needed. That would take too long. It would be centuries, at least, before they could build warp drives, jump drives, faster-than-light engines, interstellar transporters, and the like.
This Earth could not produce true crystal core energy for He-El's ship. It could, however, synthesize a Crystal Core Energy Source two grades lower, something akin to a miniature nuclear reactor.
He calculated silently. The vortex in his consciousness space had about four and a half years left before it fully formed and he could return to the DC World.
The Crystal Core Energy Source built on Earth should restore the ship's Crystal Core Engine to thirty percent energy, enough for two jumps.
Then he could jump back to the region of space where Krypton had been, gaze upon its shattered remains, mourn it for a while, and salvage whatever materials had survived its destruction. Or he could find a nearby planet Krypton had colonized, gather materials there, and give his ship a major overhaul.
After all, it was only a small research vessel—a little thing 160 meters long, 50 meters high, and 90 meters wide. Its hull plates were pitted, and meteor streams had left it badly damaged. Crossing two million light-years to beat Clark senseless in front of Jor-El on Earth was still beyond it.
So whether it was the social observation experiment or the collection of data on human superpowers, those were merely ways to pass the time on this Earth.
The Crystal Core Energy Aggregation Accelerator was the one thing He-El would not allow anyone to sabotage.
On one hand, He-El kept his eyes on the accelerator construction site in Geneva. Anyone who tried to sabotage it would be crushed into a mist of blood by a portion of the Biological Magnetic Field he projected from space.
On the other, he controlled his Mind Field Projection and began walking through Earth's famous cities, savoring the character left by their former civilization and prosperity.
London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Dubai, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney, Los Angeles, Toronto, Mumbai, Amsterdam, Milan, Frankfurt, Mexico City, São Paulo, Chicago, Kuala Lumpur, Madrid, Moscow, Jakarta, Brussels...
He felt the pulse of culture in Times Square.
He appeared in Shanghai, too, and wandered through its bustle.
In London, he saw a world financial center brought low by his conquest.
In Vienna, the world capital of music, he heard sorrowful melodies for its fall to him.
And Paris—the City of Eternal Night, the City of Love, a city of art and history along the Seine River.
Every city had its own character and style.
The richness accumulated over decades, centuries, and millennia gave He-El beautiful hopes for New Krypton, the future civilization he would create.
At the same time, humanity disappointed him beyond measure.
Nearly ninety-five percent of Earth's people had not resisted. And every last person who became a new city mayor had, in the name of maintaining order, harmed their fellow humans to demonstrate their ability and Loyalty to Dawn and He-El.
They could have imprisoned the resisters. They could have held on to that last shred of mercy, and He-El would not have minded. But they did not.
They showed their own people no compassion.
They were more ruthless than He-El himself.
Meanwhile, many at the very bottom of society cheered, shouting with excitement that He-El had come to destroy a world where humans oppressed other humans.
And what had He-El done?
He-El had merely given them ten thousand new dollars so they could eat without going hungry; given them homes so mortgages would not condemn them to a lifetime of toil; let them all learn and understand the world as it truly was; given them the chance to choose who they wanted to become.
He had simply treated them fairly.
That alone was enough to make them support He-El wholeheartedly and revere him as a god.
He-El felt no joy.
Instead, he thought of the countless people at the bottom of the New Krypton he would create, the people who would form the foundation of its civilization. If an outsider gave them ten thousand new dollars, food, homes, knowledge, the chance to become themselves, and fair treatment, would they forget who they were and start worshiping that outsider as a god?
The thought distressed He-El.
They were beginning to forget what had allowed humanity to survive on Earth for so long.
He-El sighed. He wanted to perfect the Thought Imprint all the more.
Not to control his future people, nor to demand their eternal Loyalty, but to engrave something in the depths of their hearts:
Remember why you came to be.
You came to be because of me, He-El.
Remember it. Etch it into your hearts!
Even when you kneel and prostrate yourselves at a god's feet, do not forget that I, He-El, created you.
You deserve to cry out my name—He-El—with glory, honor, and pride, even in death, without a shred of regret!
By comparison, He-El looked favorably on the Humanity Self-Rescue Heroes Association.
They might one day become the very monsters they fought, but for now, He-El could still see the good in them.
The next moment, He-El vanished from the streets of Provence City and appeared, invisible, in a meeting room at the President Wilson Hotel. He quietly listened to their brilliant ideas for dealing with him.
"Even if you still had a team of scientists, so what? Your superpower is nothing but invisibility."
"Heh. You think invisibility is nothing? I can vanish from other people's sight."
"I can vanish from thermal detection and electromagnetic sensors. I can vanish in particle collisions and from everyone's minds. I'll become Schrödinger's cat, appearing whenever I choose. Once I reach that point, I can enter a quantum state. I can hide my existence from your eyes, from your memories, from the physical world, and from particles at the microscopic level. I can vanish from three dimensions, pass into a higher one—the fourth dimension—and vanish from time itself. I can make Him vanish from your sight, from electromagnetic fields, from microscopic particles, and from the third dimension, trapping Him in quantum entanglement."
The theory was far-fetched.
But Molecule Man had been even harder to believe, and he might already have become microscopic particles and founded a civilization at that scale. No one quite dared say the speaker was wrong.
They actually began discussing whether his idea could work.
Jupiter massaged her temple with the fingers of her right hand. A headache was coming on. By his reasoning, her Instant Transmission ought to be the most powerful ability of all.
In reality, though, she could only teleport herself.
"Enough. Our scientific teams have already been requisitioned. He wants us to study physical superpowers and collect data. If you have time, visit the Superpower Medical City in Anchorage. Dr. Ciri is his most loyal lapdog. Perhaps we can find an opening through her."
A mocking, murderous look crossed Jupiter's beautiful face.
Dr. Ciri was a biomedical expert who could speak directly with a god. From the moment Jupiter first saw her, murderous intent had surged within her like a volcano on the ocean floor.
"Let's adjourn. I still have to prepare His coronation."
Jupiter vanished in an instant, teleporting away to work.
The others looked at one another.
He-El had watched the entire meeting from the side, invisible. Their resistance was feeble. They were already running out of options.
If he gave them scientific teams and equipment, their intelligence and research capabilities might genuinely allow them to put up some resistance.
Unfortunately for them, securing energy for his ship was his real objective.
He-El shook his head. It was a pity.
Hmm...
An invisible wave of Infrasound suddenly began to emanate from the Pacific Ocean.
Before you continue