Chapter 139: The End of the Kryptonian Dream

  You have to admit, as a top reporter, Lois knows how to craft a headline.

  If it were Atreus, he would definitely have used this kind of title.

  In a world where traffic is king, a headline that fails to attract readers is a bad one.

  As for Atreus, if Faora-Ul were a bit prettier, he wouldn't hesitate to come up with something like "The Wet Seduction of a Kryptonian Beauty.jpg".

  Unfortunately, her looks were far inferior to Wonder Woman's.

  Maybe she was strong, but after an intense yet brief battle with Wonder Woman, she let out a desperate scream. Blood gushed from her body, her wounds sharp and terrifying, as if she was on the verge of death.

  As Zod's lieutenant, even in the entire DC Universe, she was considered a high-ranking boss. Despite being severely wounded, she didn't die immediately. Instead, she became more ferocious, ready to strike Atreus down in a final attack.

  But at that moment, unexpectedly, she stumbled and failed to fly.

  "What’s going on?"

  Atreus stood calmly with his hands behind his back, watching her.

  This is the Kryptonians' weakness.

  Under the yellow sun, their powers are greatly enhanced. Even if they die, as long as there’s enough sunlight and their bodies remain intact, they could potentially be resurrected.

  However, if they’re deprived of sunlight, like in this pitch-black deep-sea environment, the Kryptonians’ strength diminishes drastically.

  Not that they’re weak, but not as invincible as Zod above, who couldn’t be killed even after a long fight.

  When Superman appeared, even though a certain time traveler had prepared a spear made of kryptonite, he didn’t dare to take it out right away. After all, if Superman found out "someone always wants to harm him," how could that certain someone blend into the Justice League in the future?

  So, when Faora-Ul lunged forward for the final strike, Atreus delivered the killing blow with ease.

  As expected, Atreus didn’t gain any base attribute points.

  However, the system did reward him with a skill called "Man Under the Sun", which allowed him to heal twice as fast in direct sunlight and quickly regain his stamina.

  There was also a skill called "Photosynthesis Flight", which enabled him to fly at a maximum speed of 15 km/h by absorbing solar energy.

  Uh, that speed isn’t much faster than riding a bicycle.

  It wasn’t that Atreus didn’t want to fly faster, but the system told him that to increase his flight speed, he would need to Kryptonian-ize his body.

  That was pretty frustrating.

  The ceiling of a Kryptonian's power is high, but their weaknesses are too obvious.

  If someone got their hands on kryptonite, it would make him feel worse than death, turning him into a powerless snake.

  By comparison, developing his body toward a divine form seemed like the more stable choice. After all, the Greek gods didn’t gain power through faith alone; they were gods first and then strengthened their abilities through claiming authority.

  Even though flying sounded great, Atreus decided not to upgrade the skill.

  After wiping out Zod's troops, Atreus had just taken off with two women from the spaceship when he was stunned to spot a group of sharks in the distance.

  A group of people riding sharks.

  An ordinary person might think they were hallucinating underwater.

  But not Atreus.

  He waved in their direction and stylishly drove off on his undead horse.

  About a thousand meters away, a muscular man turned to his queen: "Mera, did he see us?"

  The Queen of the Sea, Mera, wasn’t entirely sure. "I think so."

  Her advisor, Vulko, bowed respectfully. "My King, I told you, never underestimate the heroes of the surface world. I sensed the power of Poseidon from those divine horses!"

  Everyone was enlightened.

  No wonder the "surface dweller" could drive a chariot pulled by strang3 horses all the way underwater—it turns out he’s one of our own!

  The man known as the king gripped his golden trident tightly, locking onto the aura of the chariot. "Since everything’s fine here, let’s return."

  "Okay!"

  Zod should have considered himself lucky—his reckless actions didn’t escalate further.

  If he had truly ang3red this warrior from Atlantis, having his body ripped apart by seahorses wouldn’t have been out of the question.

  By the time Atreus returned to the surface, Superman and Zod's battle had escalated from the ground all the way to the exosphere. They even crashed into one of America's satellites, before descending back to Earth.

  As they plummeted, like fiery meteors, the scene looked apocalyptic, and the citizens of New York were panicking.

  First the Chitauri, now Kryptonians—how are they supposed to survive this?

  Boom!

  Superman and Zod crashed into what was left of New York’s Grand Central Terminal. Unexpectedly, a train had just stopped there, full of refugees returning home.

  After an intense battle, Zod, nearly drained of his strength, completely lost his mind.

  "If you truly love the people of Earth, then mourn for their deaths." With that, Zod’s eyes shot out deadly heat vision once again.

  The high-temperature beams easily pierced through the outer walls of the station, melting a hole large enough for a train to pass through.

  The terrifying laser also sliced through a shelter providing food to the refugees, then shot far into the ocean along the curve of the Earth.

  Superman, clutching Zod's neck, prevented the beams from moving even an inch, because if they shifted just five degrees, a family of three would die in front of him.

  The screams of women and children tore at Clark’s heart.

  On one side were the people he loved most; on the other, one of the last of his kind.

  But Zod’s madness and stubbornness left Clark with no choice.

  "No—" Superman’s anguished scream was not just of pain and despair, but of repentance for what he was about to do.

  Using his vastly superior strength, he snapped the neck of the loyal yet fanatical General Zod.

  Crack!

  It wasn’t just the sound of Zod’s neck breaking—it was the end of the dream of a Kryptonian revival.

  Superman had won, but he wished he hadn’t.

  Both his humanity and his ties to Krypton tormented his heart.

  This left Superman on the verge of collapse.

  At that moment, Tony, following someone’s advice, brought Superman the greatest comfort to his soul—Lois Lane.

  No words were needed. They embraced tightly.

  From a distance, Tony looked at Superman, feeling a bit envious and reflective. "I gotta say, it feels like the Avengers didn’t do much this time."

  "Be more confident—it’s not just a feeling." Black Widow coldly jabbed Tony with her words.

  "I still think you were cuter when you were my secretary." Tony hadn’t lost his flirtatious nature, even if his actions hadn’t crossed the line.

  Black Widow rolled her eyes and muttered, "Whatever. After this, I bet a lot of people in high places won’t be getting any sleep."

  When a large number of individuals possess power far beyond the nation’s military, it sends any politician into a frenzy.

  Not one or two, but an entire group.

  How many of these freaks, who can survive nuclear strikes, are there on Earth?

  (End of Chapter)