Viltrumite, Is Your Mightiest Chat Group Fake?

Every casual remark carried a posh accent. Even Zod would have to acknowledge it.

Amanda, watching from the screen, had already begun to panic.

She could not see Leon's movements at all!

The destructive power of metahumans, something she rarely considered when threatening others, was now displayed before her in the bloodiest, most direct way possible.

Leon did not have Superman's bioelectric aura. At last, she understood what kind of force came with flying at Superman's speed under normal conditions.

Amanda hurriedly called for Metal Man to provide support.

They were her only hope. Otherwise, how could a mere ordinary human escape from an unrestricted opponent?

But her calculations had still been too limited. She had calculated the distance by normal routes.

Boom!

Before she could do anything else, the wall shattered, and Leon walked through it.

There was even more blood on him than before, and he held a bent gun in his hand.

"Looks like you're the person in charge here."

Create a File! A File Must Be Created! ### "Wait! Sir... Deputy Commander, we can talk!"

Faced with the advancing Viltrumite freight train, Amanda no longer had her previous air of having everything under control.

Talk-no-jutsu activated!

Leon seemed to have been persuaded by her. He merely hovered in place without moving forward.

"Tch. I really don't want you monkeys knowing my name. I'm Nolan. Remember that."

"Nolan—"

"Hmm?"

"Lord Nolan."

Seeing that communication might be possible, Amanda put on a sufficiently deferential posture.

"I oversee a secret department in the Lighthouse. With my authority, I can have Earth meet many of your demands."

"Including the Kryptonian citizen you want, and Superman. We can deliver them both, though it will take some time."

Though she despised metahumans to the extreme and regarded them as nothing more than tools—

She had to keep this arrogant madman, who held life and death in the palm of his hand, steady. She lowered herself a little further.

"I beg for your patience."

"First, I have a question."

The other party's response delighted Amanda. She had him under control.

"Please, ask."

"Isn't this Krypton? Why do you call yourselves Earth?"

Amanda's thoughts froze for a moment at the question.

Then she raised her head and stared straight at that helmet, as if she could see Leon's mocking smile through it.

He was just treating her like a monkey!

"Fuck you, alien!"

She glanced at the surveillance feed beside her, her expression turning vicious as she raised her middle finger.

The Metal Man squad led by John Corben had already arrived.

They all possessed powerful metal bodies and Kryptonite hearts. They were one of the secret weapons used against Superman.

They must be just as effective against his people!

"Attack!"

At the command, several Metal Men rushed in, half-covered in artificial skin, their mechanical heads exposed like Terminators.

Thinking of how Kara had looked before these creations, Amanda could already picture Leon kneeling and begging for mercy in a few minutes.

I'll tear that mouth of yours apart!

But before she could gloat for long, Leon sidestepped one of their attacks.

His lowered left hand turned into a blade and swept upward, severing the incoming fist.

Then he grabbed that metal arm and, amid a grating screech, twisted it into a spike.

Whoosh!

With a casual flick, he sent it straight through the hand Amanda had raised in that gesture.

"Urgh—"

The next spike came flying, and she lost consciousness, leaving only one question circling through the haze.

Why was he unaffected?

Back on the battlefield, the Metal Men had yet to realize the problem.

The confidence they had built up by repeatedly beating the weakened Kara, combined with their numerical advantage, made them feel the advantage was theirs.

But in DC, did anyone really need to fear being ganged up on?

Leon thought that was hard to say. This place seemed suspiciously disrespectful toward group fights.

Whenever the Green Lantern Corps had more than three people, they were guaranteed to be wiped out. Every now and then, the Justice League would leap into action, only for the Justice League to get put to sleep.

Even he had heard those jokes.

But John Corben was still taunting him.

"Hey, Nolan, was it? You really should admire the way that girl screamed!"

He threw punch after punch at Leon, his tone arrogant.

"Every week, I put down alien trash like you at least three times! I beat you until you can't even speak!"

That's a little too light. It doesn't even measure up to a single day's training when I was eight.

Just as Leon wondered what there was to boast about, several Metal Men opened their chests.

The green glow of their Kryptonite hearts instantly flooded the room.

He hesitated symbolically.

"Should I be afraid?"

Almost at the same moment, Batman's voice came through his earpiece.

"I've hijacked the surveillance here. I'm analyzing Kara's whereabouts. End this quickly."

"Oh, right. Don't damage the Kryptonite."

Leon understood. In a flash, several Metal Men were separated from their heads.

"Y-you... why aren't you afraid?"

John, the only survivor, looked horrified and instinctively backed several steps away from Leon.

The failure of the weapon they relied on to fight Kryptonians nearly shattered his confidence. Only now did he realize—

He had been dancing on the edge of death all along.

Just as he pressed himself against the wall and prepared to open the door and flee, Leon suddenly vanished.

John did not think much of it. Once the door opened, he turned around and delivered his head straight into Leon's hand.

"If all your courage to stand before me comes from external things, then you truly are an insignificant coward."

Leon crushed him with one hand.

What remained of John as a human, even his brain matter, splattered across the ceiling.

When Amanda woke from unconsciousness, that was the sight that greeted her.

The weapons created at the cost of countless dollars had been dismantled like trash and casually tossed around the room.

And John, in whom they had placed such high hopes, was already in a more miserable state than Louis XVI.

The demon responsible for it all was slowly floating toward her.

"Lord Nolan, there is still room for negotiation between us!"

Ten meters away.

"Keep Earth, and there are truly many things we can do for you!"

Five meters away.

"Leave some room for both sides!"

One meter away.

Amanda finally understood one truth.

Extortion, threats, deception—everything she did relied on the power of the government.

To people like those in the Suicide Squad, she was the strong one. To heroes like Superman, she had no conscience.

But if the person before her was stronger, more ruthless, and utterly without scruples, then the essence of the law of the jungle would be laid bare before her.

"I—"

Leon casually kicked her head away.

This woman was positioned somewhat like Marvel's Nick Fury next door, and their Cecil.

But from what little he remembered, she was not even worth a fraction of Cecil. She was nothing but a troublemaker.

And that was indeed how she had acted.

There was a saying about major DC events: when things went badly, rely on Batman; in a crisis, rely on Flash; in desperation, rely on Luthor. But don't ask how the desperate situation came about.

One Luthor was already more than enough. There was no need to spare something like her, someone with no creativity who only knew how to cause trouble.

After clearing out the place and connecting the computer for Batman to hack into, Leon received another message.

"Leon, I've found Kara. Is Amanda still alive?"

"Her vital signs are stable."

"...So be it. There are thousands upon thousands of people like her in the government, but I still suggest you restrain yourself somewhat, at least when acting openly."

On the other end of the communication, Batman sent the laboratory surveillance footage into analysis one by one.

Although he had expected it, Leon's performance still made him deeply wary.

This was no ordinary alien anymore. Create a file! A file must be created!

Fortunately, just as he had analyzed, aside from being a bit godlike, Leon generally still followed public order and common decency.

He was utterly unrestrained in a hostile laboratory, and he would probably be equally decisive when saving people.

Working with someone like that was indeed quite satisfying.

Just as Batman prepared to investigate further, his reverse hack into Luthor's computer produced results.

On it was information about Diana Prince, Wonder Woman.

He glanced at it and placed it into another file he had prepared long ago.

"There are still things I didn't know. So the government had already made contact with her long ago."

This Is What I Wanted to See ### Although Batman had hijacked Luthor's surveillance access—

Aside from Leon's final encounter with the Metal Men, Luthor had still watched everything from the moment he entered Iguchi to the slaughter in the passageway.

Inside the spacious office, Luthor had dismissed his secretary and paced back and forth.