Viltrumites, Is Your Mightiest Chat Group Fake?

Aboard the ship, Bruce avoided the Kryptonians' surveillance under the guidance of the Jor-El AI.

He continued, "Leave the engine to me. You handle the remaining Kryptonians, and I'll take care of the Phantom Projector."

This was Clark's request. Psychologically, he found it difficult to cross the line of killing his own kind.

Before things became irreversible, he hoped to exile General Zod and his group to the Phantom Zone rather than kill them.

Since Clark had made the request, Leon naturally agreed.

He flashed over to a pile of wreckage and pulled out Luthor's legacy from within.

A crate of Kryptonite handcuffs.

One pair was particularly exquisite. Luthor had likely placed his dream of conquering Superman in them.

At that moment, the entire army had already been routed by the Kryptonians' assault.

After swiftly dealing with several of them, Leon arrived beside Diana and tossed the crate to her.

"Once you dismantle their armor, use these to restrain them."

Then he took off, chasing after that meteor-like streak.

All that remained was Wonder Woman standing there dumbly with the crate in her arms, along with the Kryptonian beneath her, unconscious from a blow by her shield.

After Clark and Zod met in space, they fought all the way to the city.

Even though Clark had been distracted by minimizing the damage, they still smashed through quite a few buildings.

Fortunately, the bio-field was strong enough, and the evacuation had been timely, allowing him to keep the destruction to a minimum.

Yellow lightning was also darting through the streets, actively rescuing people.

Bang!

The two crashed into another unfinished building.

After hammering Clark into a wall, Zod, confident that he was unharmed, removed his armor and floated into the sky.

Looking down at him, he said, "Kal-El, I'll give you one last chance to kneel before me and submit. If you do, there will be a place for you in my New Krypton."

Clark said nothing. He merely dusted himself off and rose to his feet.

That sent Zod into a fury.

"I don't understand. I was born a warrior. I trained for this my entire life. What gives you the confidence to defeat me? Farm labor?"

Clark smiled. "You said it yourself. Did you forget? I'm not alone."

Only then did Zod notice the commotion that could not be ignored.

The windows of the skyscrapers shattered all at once, glittering glass tracing the path of something moving like celebratory fireworks.

Leon came charging in.

Zod's stern face collided with the Viltrumite's fist.

Shouting About Bonds, Then Coming at Him with a Chop

In an instant, the steel framework built with the workers' blood and sweat bent, broke apart, and scattered into the sky.

Then the upper levels of the building began to collapse.

The sign reading "106 Days Without a Safety Accident" was completely buried beneath the rubble.

Dust billowed outward, as though someone had placed a clump of multicolored cotton atop the building.

After taking Leon's punch, Zod smashed through several skyscrapers before finally stopping.

The yellow lightning below ran even harder.

"Thanks."

Though there was no need for it, Clark, floating in the air, still took Leon's hand and let him pull him up.

The two headed toward Zod's landing site.

There, Zod pushed aside the rubble and got to his feet, popping his dislocated jaw back into place.

The lingering fear in his eyes vanished in an instant.

At the moment he had been struck, he had felt as though his entire skull was about to be crushed into powder.

How was this guy stronger than Kal? Had Kal not used his full strength?

If instinct engraved into his bones had not made him activate his bio-field...

His gaze immediately locked onto Leon.

"Leon-El, I have to say, if not for the Codex of Life, you would have been someone even more worthy of attention than Kal."

He made no effort to hide his admiration.

"I watched the footage they sent over. I admire you—cold, efficient, merciless. You are the true qualified Kryptonian warrior."

Viltrumites loved infighting.

Other races were too weak, so it could be said that all their combat skills had been accumulated through fighting their own kind.

In other words, they spent their entire lives studying how to efficiently kill opponents of equal standing.

It was said that the most representative hand chop had originated this way.

And such a concise technique truly held great appeal in the eyes of many warriors.

But then Zod shook his head regretfully. "It's a shame you were born through such an inferior method of reproduction. But it doesn't matter. We have plenty of ways to teach you the knowledge in your bloodline."

"Join us!"

"I refuse."

Leon crossed his arms and rejected him.

Come on, I may be superhuman, but I was still conceived after my parents fought bloody battles. What the hell kind of thing was that to say? You stray Kryptonian dogs!

He found Zod's method of injecting knowledge from birth flimsy and superficial. It was nowhere near as solid as his acquired training combined with the chat group system.

His foundation was far sturdier!

"What a pity. I wanted to ask you for some pointers on this move."

"Now, I can only let you experience it personally."

Zod brought his five fingers together, gathering his bio-field.

His talent as a warrior was no empty boast. After seeing it only a few times, he had learned the hand chop.

Clark suddenly realized that his cousin had learned it, Zod had learned it, and it seemed he was the only one left who had not.

Should I learn it?

But he was given no time to think. Zod shot toward him.

As Clark dodged, the hand chop only carved a bloody line across the emblem on his chest.

Just as Zod prepared to turn and strike again, Leon rushed close and kicked him into the air.

Leon and Clark exchanged a glance, then followed with perfect understanding.

It was time to respect the power of a group beating. Let him see our bond!

Zod rose higher and higher until he came to a stop deep within the clouds. He hung in place, breathing deeply as he sensed the movements of the other two.

The next second, he suddenly turned and caught Clark's incoming fist with one hand.

Even as his body groaned under the force, even as cracks formed in several bones, he still stubbornly said, "Trying to ambush Zod? You're still—"

Then Leon, diving down from even higher up, shattered his facial bones again.

Clark caught up with Zod and sent him another punch.

Then Leon overtook Clark again and drove a knee into Zod as he continued flying backward.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The two played this relay game dozens of times.

For a time, the entire cloud-covered stretch of sky was blasted clear by their blows.

"Oh, God, what am I even seeing..."

Countless residents looked up at the spectacle. Wonder Woman, Batman, the Flash who had arrived at the scene...

As well as countless heroes and villains hidden across Earth, all eager to make their move.

The whole world focused on this battle, one grander than even the legendary wars of the gods.

Three monsters were freely displaying the fundamental gulf between themselves and ordinary humans.

In the end, Clark, whose technique was slightly inferior and whose heart was softer, was caught by Zod.

Zod used heat vision to interfere with them, broke free, and disappeared into the buildings once more.

Clark pursued relentlessly, following him as he turned between skyscrapers. Yet after several turns, Zod vanished without a trace.

His cape fluttered as he hovered over an intersection, searching.

But Zod had taken a shortcut. He passed through the office floors of a high-rise, sending sheets of white paper flying out through the windows.

His hand chop reached Clark's chest.

"It's time to offer up your life, Clark."

The dark clouds completely dispersed, sunlight pouring down upon the earth. The first beam of light focused on the two of them.

Perhaps the blood about to spray forth in the next moment would lend this scene an epic, tragic air.

But Leon appeared behind Zod, blocking his sunlight.

In an instant, Zod turned his head. All that remained in his pupils was that hand chop.

He also heard Leon mutter, "Finally got the chance to use this move on someone."

Realizing things were wrong, Zod hastily withdrew his bio-field and concentrated it to defend himself.

"Leooooon!"

But that seemingly ordinary hand chop appeared, vanished, then appeared again.

A flash of red entered Zod's peripheral vision.

His eyeballs turned, and through the suspended droplets of blood, he saw his right arm, severed at the shoulder.

Just a minor injury—

He forced a smile.

But the effects that followed crushed Zod.

Having suffered multiple severe injuries, he could no longer hold himself up by sheer will. His bio-field dissipated, and all strength left his body.

It was as if that strike had not only severed his arm, but also cut into some invisible health bar.

He immediately lost the ability to maintain flight. His eyelids could no longer stay open, and he fell into the straight fissure created by the hand chop's aftershock.

Clark flew over in midair and caught him, as well as the severed arm.

The three slowly landed.

Looking at the devastation covering the ground, Clark let out a long breath.

"It's finally over..."