Death Titan

Time passed. Six months later, just as Aeo had begun to grow accustomed to his powers, one afternoon...

Boom!

A deafening explosion rang across the sky.

Aeo's face changed drastically, but before he could react, the shock wave rattled the things in the house and sent them scattering across the floor. He struggled to stay on his feet and shouted at the Smart Butler in alarm, "Eiffel, what's going on?"

The Smart Terminal, which had also been swept up by the shock wave, flew back. After a moment's investigation, Eiffel's electronic voice rang out urgently.

"Alert! Alert! Enemy incursion detected! Enemy incursion detected! The starships and space stations outside the planet's atmosphere have all rebelled. The shock wave was caused by a plasma cannon fired from a Star Destroyer. Target: the Congressional Building!"

A holographic screen unfolded. Only then did Aeo see that the area around Krypton's Congressional Building, once filled with the sights of an alien world, had completely vanished. In its place was a colossal spherical wave of energy, so huge it blotted out the sun and moon. It was a staggering sight.

Before Aeo could even say anything in shock, Eiffel's voice rang out urgently again. "A second impact is imminent! Master, take care!"

Boom.

Aeo rushed onto the balcony, his face pale, and realized that the Imperial Spaceport had been hit. The capital's battleships, airships, and other craft were housed there. Without the spaceport, the Empire had lost its ability to fight back...

Staring blankly at the enormous sphere of light on the horizon, Aeo was utterly stunned. Just two strikes had dismantled the Capital Star's defenses.

The next instant, another huge shock wave came roaring toward them.

Aeo clung desperately to whatever was nearby and weathered the shock wave. Before Eiffel could warn him again, he hurriedly looked in every direction. The residents nearby were just as panicked, staring in terror at what was happening on the horizon. They screamed and fled, and the once peaceful, orderly Kryptonian society had become a nest of ants in chaos...

Aeo gritted his teeth. "What's going on? Where did the enemy come from? What do they want? Why did the Capital Star's space fleet rebel? Even if they were going to rebel, how could every last one of them turn? Where are the Empire's other forces? Besides the Congressional Building, what else was hit...? Father and the others..." He couldn't go on, fear and panic welling up inside him.

The Smart Terminal, Eiffel, was silent for a moment before delivering a shocking report. "An extraterrestrial transmission has been received. It came from the flagship Star Destroyer of the Capital Star's fleet... Beep." Ignoring Aeo's shocked expression, it projected a video message.

"People of Krypton, I am the ruler of the Northern Milky Way, the Destroyer of Stars, Supreme Entropy, Death Titan Thanos!" A familiar figure appeared on the screen.

Aeo's expression turned complicated. He stared blankly. "How could it be him...?"

The notorious Titan of the multiverse, harbinger of death, wore a lazy, contemptuous look on his enormous blue face as he spoke with savage menace. "You have ten minutes to hand over the Codex of Life. Otherwise, I will extinguish the stars and obliterate your entire race!"

He ended the transmission without giving the Kryptonians a chance to respond.

Silence. Complete silence. Both Aeo and Fortier, who was watching the message, could only stare helplessly at the Death Titan, Destroyer Thanos, who had delivered his threat and then vanished.

"This style..." Aeo gave a laugh that sounded more like a sob. "Simple and direct enough to make you lose your mind!... Damn it, how did he manage to make the Capital Star's entire space fleet rebel? Are the Imperial Intelligence Department and the Supervision Bureau full of useless freeloaders? How could they not hear a single whisper beforehand about an entire fleet of Fortiers turning traitor? Or has the whole Imperial Intelligence Department been infiltrated...?"

"The Codex of Life? What does Thanos want it for? To make Kryptonians? He's not Superman's dad. What the hell would he want the Codex of Life for...?"

"What are Father and the others doing? Where's the Council? Why hasn't anyone stepped forward, even though the Star Destroyer's cannons are firing on their own capital? Damn it, are they still arguing at a time like this? Like those politicians on Earth always do...?"

Eiffel interrupted its master's panicked rambling. "Sorry, Master, but I must remind you that your mental state is very poor right now... What is Superman? Earth? Where is that? Beep beep. A confidential document from the Empire's Science and Technology Institute has been found. Project lead: Chief Scientist Jor-El... Insufficient clearance... Beep beep beep. Decrypting... Earth, the... in a yellow-star system in the Southern Milky Way..."

Aeo finally snapped out of it and cut Eiffel off. "What did you say? The Science and Technology Institute has a star chart of Earth? Was it Jor-El who set it up? Why doesn't the military know about this? What's he planning? Eiffel, the House of El couple I asked you to monitor—are you sure Jor-El and Linda El haven't conceived a child? Naturally, I mean..."

Eiffel shook its head (figuratively). "No! Neither the energy readings nor the thermal imaging revealed any sign that Linda El of the House of El is pregnant..."

Aeo furrowed his brow even deeper, temporarily pushing aside even the imminent crisis. "Then why was Jor-El looking for Earth? If she isn't pregnant yet... Right, he must already be planning to have a son, Superman. Kryptonian society now advocates Gene Modulation to produce a generation of elites, so he's afraid the Council won't approve his proposal for a naturally born child. Earth and all that is just a contingency in his plan..."

He finally understood Jor-El's intentions: he wanted to prepare for the possibility that the Council might exile him or his son—Krypton had laws allowing that. Earth would be where he and his family rose to power, should things really come to that...

Especially when Aeo remembered that in Superman: Steel Body, a spaceship belonging to the ancient Kryptonians had been left beneath the Arctic ice. It even had a Genesis Vault ready inside...

"...What a deep schemer." Aeo's face darkened.

At that moment, Eiffel finally came to its senses and alerted him. "Master, Dijier has located us." Dijier was General Zod's personal terminal, which meant...

"Father is all right?" Even Aeo couldn't help feeling a surge of joy.

"Beep." Eiffel brought up a video feed. It showed General Zod's craft flying toward Aeo's location.

"Why is Father coming home at a time like this...?" Aeo finally remembered the crisis facing Krypton. Seeing the devastation on the screen more clearly, Zhou Xiao was both furious and confused. "Doesn't the Empire need to discuss how to deal with this crisis...?"

"Master, the General has arrived." After all, it was a super-civilization. Before long, Zod's airship had flown into the air above the courtyard.

Creak. Before the gate had even fully opened, Zod jumped down and called out anxiously, "Aeo, my son, where are you...? Thank goodness, you're safe!" Zod wrapped his arms around his son, who had come out after hearing the news.

"Father, now isn't the time for this," Aeo said anxiously. "What do we do about the threat from the Death Titan...?"