Barry Allen's voice was completely flat, as fast as a whisper.
He didn't even look back at Cyborg and Shazam beside him; his gaze was fixed on the yellow meteor shooting into the sky.
"Go! Evacuate the civilians, trust him!"
Before he finished speaking, he had already transformed into a red afterimage and disappeared at the end of the street.
Cyborg and Shazam exchanged a glance, then made no further hesitation.
One unfurled mechanical wings, the other summoned the power of thunder, and together they followed the red lightning bolt, plunging into the torrent of life-saving efforts.
High in the sky, Thomas Wayne's yellow suit fluttered in the air currents.
Dozens of black dots magnified rapidly in his eyes; the Kryptonian were embracing freefall with an air of enjoyment.
They had not yet fully adapted to Earth's gravity and Sun radiation, and their movements were somewhat uncoordinated, but their faces bore the arrogance of conquerors.
Thomas didn't give them a chance to adapt.
He passed by the first Kryptonian to fall.
There was no earth-shattering collision, only the muffled sound of a sharp blade slicing through flesh.
Pfft...
Thomas's Kryptonite longsword, gleaming with an ominous, eerie green light, sliced through the Kryptonian's chest.
The Kryptonian's arrogance froze. He looked down at the rapidly expanding green wound on his chest and the life force that was quickly dissipating, and let out his first, and last, shrill scream.
"Aaaaaaah-!"
This scream became the prelude to the Carnage.
Thomas, transformed into the Yellow Reaper, unleashed a one-sided bloodbath upon the falling Kryptonian.
Every swing of his Kryptonite sword took the life of a Kryptonian.
Driven by his will, the Yellow Lantern Ring conjured countless ferocious bat-wing blades, which shot out from all directions, pinning the Kryptonian who tried to dodge to death in mid-air.
In just one minute, most of the dozens of Krypton Vanguards had been killed or wounded.
The dozen or so survivors, also covered in bruises, stared in terror at the mortal bathed in yellow light, their arrogance completely gone.
Inside the menacing black spaceship, General Zod stared expressionlessly at the Carnage footage projected onto the screen.
The next second, he turned around, took long strides, and without carrying any weapons, jumped from the hatch at an altitude of 10,000 meters!
He transformed into a pure black meteor, carrying a furious rage that could burn everything, and crashed straight into the yellow figure!
"Boom--!"
A deafening roar exploded high in the sky.
Thomas Wayne was struck head-on by a battering ram, his entire body turning into an out-of-control yellow dot of light, leaving a long trail of smoke as he crashed heavily to the ground.
General Zod hovered at the point of impact, slowly tearing off the black armor binding him, letting the heavy plates fall to the ground.
He closed his eyes, opened his arms, and greedily absorbed the light and heat of the yellow Sun.
Two minutes.
He opened his eyes in just two minutes.
An aura far more terrifying than all the previous Kryptonian combined erupted from him.
He had completely mastered this new and inexhaustible power.
In the center of a giant crater several meters deep on the ground, Thomas struggled to his feet.
Without pausing for a moment, a flash of yellow light appeared beneath his feet, and he transformed into a cannonball once more, hurtling towards Zod in the sky.
"Mortal, your courage is admirable." Zod looked at the oncoming yellow meteor, neither dodging nor avoiding it, but simply brightening his eyes.
The crimson ray collided precisely with the tip of the Kryptonite longsword.
This time, Thomas failed to advance an inch.
He was held firmly in mid-air by an irresistible force.
"But courage alone cannot kill."
Zod sneered and grabbed Thomas's left hand with his other hand.
However, just as he was about to unleash his power, Thomas's yellow bat wings suddenly unfurled, transforming into a hideous face made of pure fear energy, which roared and pounced on Zod.
Zod was struck squarely by the energy, and his body swayed slightly.
Instead of showing any sign of pain, he let out a triumphant low growl.
His muscles swelled again at a visible speed, and his aura became even more powerful than before!
Your fear... will only make me stronger!
Zod the Batman Who Laughs and threw a backhand punch, sending Thomas flying once again.
Damn it!
Thomas steadied himself in mid-air and instantly realized that the fear energy he was using with his Yellow Lantern Ring was not only ineffective against these Kryptonian, but was actually a great tonic.
Without further hesitation, he withdrew all his outward energy attacks, maintaining only a thin yellow shield around his body. Then, gripping his Kryptonite longsword, he charged forward once more.
Without the aid of the energy construct, it became a pure duel of skill and strength.
General Zod looked at this mortal who charged at him time and time again, a hint of genuine appreciation in his eyes.
However, the more he admired it, the more his murderous intent surged.
He wanted to break this mortal's spine with his own hands as quickly as possible.
On the other side, on the streets of the Central City.
With the last group of civilians safely evacuated, the remaining dozen or so Kryptonian surrounded Barry, Shazam, and Cyborg.
"SHAZAM!"
Shazam roared, summoning a torrent of thunder, and was the first to charge forward.
Then, he became a large ball.
A Kryptonian punched him into the air, another used his Heat Vision to blast him to the left, and a third, who was already waiting there, whipped him to the right with a leg sweep.
He flew back and forth among the Kryptonian, completely helpless.
The situation with the Cyborg isn't much better.
He had just stunned an enemy with his sonic cannon when another iron hand grabbed his arm from the side, ripped it off by the roots, and sparks flew everywhere.
Only Barry Allen became a variable that the Kryptonian couldn't handle.
With the Speed Force at his disposal, the Kryptonian ' movements seemed ridiculously slow.
He could clearly see the ferocious expressions on their faces and the way they strained their muscles with every movement.
These Kryptonian could barely catch a glimpse of the red shadow, but they couldn't keep up with his reactions at all.
Barry, wielding a small Kryptonite dagger, weaved through the crowd.
Each time he teleported, it was accompanied by a dull thud as if bones were being snapped and a Kryptonian fell to the ground.
He precisely crippled their tendons and ligaments, rendering them completely incapable of fighting.
Soon, half of the Kryptonian were attacking the three were down.
Barry glanced at Shazam, who was still being tossed around like a ball, and was about to go over to help.
A blinding yellow meteor fell from the sky and slammed into his face with unstoppable force!
"Boom--!"
The earth cracked, and smoke and dust billowed into the sky.
As the smoke cleared, Thomas Wayne knelt in the center of the crater, his yellow battle suit flickering in and out of focus. His mask was shattered, revealing an aged face covered in blood and dust.
He coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, raised his head, and with his last bit of strength looked at the red figure.
"Kid..."
His voice was broken and weak, yet it reached Barry's ears clearly.
"Now... it's your time."