The Awakened Monster, an Even Stronger Doomsday!

Thud.

That muffled heartbeat struck like a sledgehammer. Through Link's palm and the drone's microphone, it landed squarely in the heart of every person on Earth.

Time seemed to stretch endlessly in that instant.

In the depths of the crater, Link slowly raised his hand. There was no surprise on his face—only a faint, sickening smile of appreciation.

Before him, the "corpse" that should have been dead was undergoing a horrifying transformation.

The enormous hole Superman had blasted through it at the cost of his life writhed and closed at a speed visible to the naked eye!

New flesh, grotesque gray muscle, and fascia tougher than steel intertwined like vines growing wild, swiftly filling the entire wound.

Then came the outer skin and bone.

Crack, crack—

Amid the teeth-grating sound of splitting bone, countless thicker, sharper white spikes burst from every part of its body!

Its body swelled again at a speed that defied biology!

The bony armor destroyed by Superman's self-sacrifice regrew across its body, tougher and more vicious-looking than before.

Pure physical impact. An energy explosion pushed to its limit...

Superman had sacrificed everything, but instead of killing it, he had tempered and forged it into a more perfect ultimate weapon, born for destruction alone!

Immunity!

It had developed perfect immunity to the very thing that had just killed it!

The sight plunged the world into an abyss deeper than grief—one called despair.

In Times Square, New York, the people who had been weeping for Superman a moment ago stood frozen. The tears on their faces had not yet dried, but their eyes held only boundless fear and emptiness.

"No... Impossible..."

"Superman... died for nothing?"

A reporter slumped to the ground, dazed, and muttered to himself.

The words pierced everyone's heart like a poisoned steel needle.

The hero's