Death Titan

Time passed, and half a year later. Just as Aeo was beginning to slowly grow accustomed to his power, one afternoon.

"Boom!"

A deafening explosion tore through the sky.

Aeo's face twisted in shock, but before he could react, the accompanying shockwave rattled everything in the house, sending items clattering and scattering across the floor. Struggling to stay upright, Aeo shouted in panic at the Smart Butler, "Eiffel, what's going on!"

The Smart Terminal, which had been knocked to one side by the blast, flew back. After a brief moment of investigation, Eiffel's electronic voice rang out urgently.

"Alert! Alert! Enemy invasion! Enemy invasion! The starships and space stations beyond the planetary atmosphere have collectively mutinied. The shockwave was caused by the plasma cannon of a Star Destroyer's main gun. Target: Congressional Building!"

A light screen expanded, and Aeo finally saw that the once alien-styled Kryptonian Congressional Building nearby had completely vanished. In its place was a massive circular energy wave, so vast it eclipsed the sun and moon, utterly staggering.

Before Aeo could say anything in shock, Eiffel's voice rang out again, even more urgent. "Second impact incoming! Master, be careful!"

Boom.

Pale-faced, Aeo rushed out to the balcony and saw that the Imperial Spaceport had been bombed. Docked there were the Capital Star's warships, airships, and the like. Without the spaceport, the Empire had lost its ability to counterattack...

Staring blankly at the enormous circular orb of light on the horizon, Aeo was stunned. In just two strikes, the Capital Star's defenses had been dismantled.

The next instant, another massive shockwave howled toward them.

Aeo clung desperately to everything around him, weathering the blast. Then, without waiting for Eiffel's warning, he frantically looked in other directions. He saw the nearby residents also panicking, staring in terror at what was happening on the horizon, screaming and fleeing. The once calm and orderly Kryptonian society was now a chaotic mess, like ants on a hot pan...

Aeo gritted his teeth and asked, "What's going on? Where did the enemy come from? What do they want? Why did the Capital Star's space fleet mutiny? Even if they did, how could they all mutiny... Where are the Empire's other forces? Besides the Congressional Building, what else was bombed... Father and the others..." He couldn't finish, his heart filled with both fear and dread.

The Smart Terminal Eiffel was silent for a moment, then spoke startlingly, "Received an outer-space transmission from the Capital Star's Star Destroyer flagship... Beep." Ignoring Aeo's shocked expression, it played a video message.

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

Aeo's expression was a mess of emotions as he muttered blankly, "How could it be Him..."

In the multiverse, the infamous Titan giant, the bringer of death, Thanos, wore a lazy, contemptuous look on his massive blue face, speaking with brutal menace, "You have ten minutes to hand over the Codex of Life, or your stars will be extinguished, your race annihilated!"

With that, he cut off the communication without giving the Kryptonians a chance to react.

Dead silence. Complete dead silence. Whether it was Aeo or the others watching this message, like Fortier, they could only helplessly stare at the death giant, the Destroyer Thanos, who had dropped his ultimatum and left.

"This style..." Aeo's smile was uglier than crying. "Well, simple and direct to the point of collapse!... Damn it, how the hell did he manage to get the Capital Star's space fleet to mutiny en masse? Are the Imperial Intelligence Department and the Supervision Bureau all useless good-for-nothings? A whole fleet's mutiny, and not a single hint of it leaked beforehand? Or has the entire Empire's intelligence apparatus been infiltrated..."

"The Codex of Life? What does Thanos want with the Codex of Life? To create Kryptonians? He's not Superman's father, so what the hell does he need the Codex for..."

"What are Father and the others doing? Where's the Council? Why has the Star Destroyer's cannon already hit our own heads, and no one has stepped up? Damn it, are they still bickering at a time like this? Like those politicians on Earth always do..."

Eiffel interrupted its master's frantic, delirious rambling. "Apologies, Master, but I must remind you that your current mental state is very poor... What is Superman? Where is Earth? Beep, found a top-secret file in the Empire's Science and Technology Institute. Project initiator: Chief Scientist Jor-El... Insufficient clearance... Beep, decrypting... Earth, the third planet of a yellow star system in the Southern Milky Way..."

Aeo finally snapped out of it and cut him off. "What did you say? The Science and Technology Institute has a star map of Earth? Set up by Jor-El? Why doesn't the military know? What is he planning? Eiffel, I had you monitor the House of El—did Jor-El and his wife really not produce a next-generation bloodline? Through natural childbirth..."

Eiffel shook its head (figuratively). "No! Neither energy readings nor thermal light waves have shown any signs of Linda El of the House of El being pregnant..."

Aeo's frown deepened, even the imminent crisis temporarily pushed aside. "Then why is Jor-El looking for Earth? Since he's not pregnant yet... Right, he must already have the idea of creating Superman in his mind. And since Kryptonian society now advocates Gene Modulation and elite offspring, he's afraid the Council won't approve his resolution for natural childbirth. Earth is just a backup plan in his insurance..."

Realizing this, he finally understood Jor-El's intentions: to guard against the Council exiling him or his son—Krypton had laws for that. Earth would be the place for him and his family to rise again. If it came to that...

Especially when Aeo remembered that in the movie Man of Steel, there was a Kryptonian scout ship left beneath the Arctic glacier, complete with a Genesis Vault ready...

"...Deep and calculating." Aeo's face darkened.

Just then, Eiffel finally jolted him awake. "Master, Dijier has located us." Dijier was General Zod's personal terminal, which meant...

"Father is safe?" At this moment, even Aeo couldn't help but feel a surge of joy.

"Beep." Eiffel pulled up a video feed showing General Zod's personal vehicle, heading straight for Aeo's location.

"Why is Father coming home at a time like this..." Finally, Aeo remembered the current crisis on Krypton. Seeing the even clearer devastation on the screen, Zhou Xiao was both furious and confused. "Doesn't the Empire need to discuss this crisis..."

"Master, the General has arrived." After all, this was a super-civilization; soon enough, Zod's airship hovered above the courtyard in front of the house.

"Creak." Before the door had even fully opened, Zod jumped down, frantic. "Aeo, my son, where are you... Thank the stars, you're safe!" Zod grabbed his son, who had come out upon hearing the news.

"Father, now is not the time for this," Aeo said urgently. "What do we do? Facing the Death Titan's threat..."