Rakan attacked first.
There was no warning, just a blur that shattered the rooftop beneath his feet as he launched forward, the force alone cracking the skyscraper. The distance between them vanished in an instant, his claw already arcing toward Superman's head.
Superman didn't dodge.
He caught Rakan's hand.
The impact alone detonated the air around them, a shockwave ripped outward, glass exploding from every surrounding building as the skyline shuddered under the collision. The rooftop beneath them collapsed instantly, Rakan kicked Superman, but Superman didn't let go as both of them dropping through concrete and steel, crashing down through multiple floors in a storm of debris before bursting out the side of the building in a violent eruption.
They hit the street, hard.
The asphalt cratered beneath their feet, the ground splitting in fractures that spread outward for meters. For a second, they stood there locked, Rakan's claw pressing down, Superman's arm holding it back, muscles straining against something that shouldn't have matched him.
Then Rakan smiled, a smile of hunger.
"Superman... It'll be a pleasure killing you again."
Superman's eyes narrowed, heat vision flickering for a second before he drove his fist forward,
It connected with Rakan's jaw like a missile.
The sound wasn't a punch. It was an explosion as Rakan's body tore through the remains of the street, plowing through abandoned cars and smashing into the side of another building, the entire structure buckling inward from the force before partially collapsing on top of him.
Superman didn't wait, He was already moving for a follow up attack.
He shot forward, breaking the sound barrier, fist drawn back again but the moment he closed the distance,
Something hit him.
From the side.
Invisible and violent, it slammed into his ribs like a concentrated blast of pressure and acid combined, sending him skidding across the ground, tearing through concrete and steel alike before he caught himself mid-slide, boots carving trenches into the street.
He looked up.
Queresha stood far above, perched on the edge of a distant building, one hand raised delicately as faint green energy coiled around her fingers.
Her smile widened.
"You shouldn't ignore me handsome."
Superman then moved just in time.
A second blast carved through where he had been standing, slicing clean through the street and leaving behind a bubbling, corrosive trench that hissed and smoked violently.
This was strong magic, something he couldn't shrug off.
Superman's expression shifted as he processed it.
Behind him, the rubble exploded outward.
Rakan rose, but he wasn't the same.
His body twisted, expanded, reshaping as something far more primal forced its way to the surface. His skin turned pale almost white, stretching over a frame that grew larger, denser, more monstrous with each passing second and his eyes burned red.
A monstrous sound escaped him as he rolled his shoulders, the ground beneath his feet fracturing again under his transformed beast body.
"This is better."
He stepped forward once,
The street collapsed beneath him.
Superman launched, fist aimed straight for Rakan's head again but this time,
Rakan met him halfway.
Their collision shattered the air.
They disappeared from the ground in a violent blur, rocketing upward through the skyline, smashing through the sides of buildings as they climbed, each impact sending debris raining down like meteor fragments.
Superman drove a punch into Rakan's torso.
Rakan answered with a claw that raked across Superman's side,
And this time, It cut.
It wasn't deep, but enough for Superman to feel it.
Really feel it.
His eyes sharpened and Rakan grinned wider, blood, his blood spattering across the air between them.
"Yes… that's it!"
They crashed through another building, bursting out the other side into open sky before slamming into each other again midair, blows trading faster now, heavier.
Below,
Queresha didn't rush.
Her eyes tracked the fight above with a calm look as her fingers danced slightly, weaving something far more complex than simple attacks.
The swarm responded.
From the Gate, from the battlefield, from the shadows of the city itself, winged horrors and venomous constructs peeled away from the main fight, drawn toward her like extensions of her will.
Her smile turned sharp.
"Let's see how long you last… Kryptonian."
Above,
Superman grabbed Rakan mid-swing and drove him downward.
They hit another skyscraper.
The entire structure folded inward around them, glass vaporized and floors collapsed one after another as they tore through the building from top to bottom in a single, unstoppable descent.
And then exploded out the base in a storm of dust and fire.
The ground shook.
Superman rose from the crater first, chest rising steadily, eyes locked forward,
Rakan stood up seconds later.
Laughing.
And around them, the city burned.
Superman staggered, it was subtle, so subtle most wouldn't notice but for him it felt like his veins had been set on fire from the inside. Dark lines crept along his skin, faint at first, then spreading across his jaw and down his neck.
His breath hitched.
'What… is this…?'
Across from him, hovering just out of reach, Querehsha smiled.
"You feel it, don't you?" she purred, "One of my finest creations. A human wouldn't last five seconds. You…" her eyes gleamed, studying him like a specimen, "you might have five minutes."
She tilted her head slightly, amused.
"My world's Superman died in less."
Then Superman's eyes hardened with resolve.
"I don't know how you managed to hit me, but I'll make those five minutes count."
He vanished.
The air detonated where he had been, and Rakan barely had time to turn before Superman slammed into him like a meteor. The impact sent a thunderclap across the city, and drove the Beast Monarch straight through two skyscrapers in a blur of collapsing steel and pulverized concrete.
They burst out the other side still locked together.
Superman didn't stop as he drove Rakan higher, faster, fists crashing into him one after another.
"I'm not..." crack "...letting you.." boom "...touch anyone on earth!"
Rakan snarled, claws raking across Superman's side, drawing blood this time, but Superman didn't slow down. If anything, he hit even harder.
The sky itself seemed to tremble under the assault.
"You think..." Rakan growled, trying to force himself back into control, "...you can kill me alone?!"
Superman didn't answer as he grabbed him by the throat and drove him down.
They crashed back into the city, carving a crater into the streets that swallowed cars, asphalt, and everything in between. The shockwave flattened everything in a hundred-meter radius.
Dust exploded upward.
For a moment, nothing moved.
Then Rakan's jaws snapped shut around Superman's fist.
A savage grin spread across his bloodied face, teeth digging in, drawing more of that bright red.
"Got you!"
Superman's expression didn't change.
"Good."
His other fist came down, it connected with Rakan's jaw.
The sound wasn't a crack, it was something even more brutal as bone shattered.
The Beast Monarch's entire lower jaw exploded off his face, fragments scattering across the ruined street as his body was driven deeper into the crater beneath them.
For a second, even Querehsha went quiet.
Rakan lay there, stunned, blood pouring freely, his form flickering between humanoid and something far more monstrous.
Superman landed in front of him, chest rising, his breathing uneven now. The black veins had spread further, curling along his cheekbones, pulsing faintly.
He could feel it eating at him.
Burning him from the inside.
But his eyes… his eyes were still steady.
Rakan coughed, blood spilling from his ruined mouth as his jaw began to reform, flesh knitting back together with sickening speed. He pushed himself up slowly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, breathing heavier now.
"…Damn you…"
He flexed his fingers once… then opened a small, jagged portal beside him. It tore into existence, unstable and violent and he plunged his hand inside.
Superman's gaze sharpened.
Something felt wrong.
Not just wrong, familiar, Rakan pulled his arm back out.
Green light followed.
The moment it appeared, Superman's entire body reacted.
His muscles tightened involuntarily. His breath slowed. His vision flickered for half a second as something instinctive screamed danger through every cell in his body.
Rakan grinned.
This time, it was pure savagery.
Claws extended from his fingers, curved… glowing an unmistakable, sickly green.
Kryptonite.
"Yeah…I'm not waiting five minutes for you to die on your own.." Rakan's voice came out low, almost pleased as he flexed them, letting that deadly light reflect in his eyes. "We know your weakness."
He took a step forward, slowly.
"And your little friends too."
Another step.
"After all…" his grin widened, feral and cruel, "we've killed you before."
"We'll do it again."
For the first time since the fight began,
Superman didn't move forward.
He stood his ground, poison burning through his veins, kryptonite in front of him.
Two Monarchs behind it all.
And still, he didn't take a step back.
His fists clenched.
"...You underestimate me and my friends, but you don't understand what we're capable of, together."
/-\
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