Chapter 107: You Still Think You Can Enter Burst Mode?
The door to the control room was sent flying as Orin Vale flashed inside, his eyes immediately landing on Doctor Sivana, who had been hiding behind it to enjoy the show.
He had the same gleaming bald head as Lex Luthor, and his right eye flickered with magical lightning. Such distinct features were unmistakable, even at a first glance.
Just as depicted in the movie, Doctor Sivana himself was merely an ordinary human. He only gained superpowers rivaling Shazam's—such as super strength, super speed, flight, lightning emission, and superhuman healing—when possessed by the Seven Deadly Sins.
But when the Seven Deadly Sins were outside his body, he, as the host, was just a normal person.
Therefore, as Orin Vale charged into the control room at super-speed, Doctor Sivana appeared almost frozen from his perspective. Like the debris hanging in mid-air and the suspended shards of glass, he was just part of the background in this frozen moment.
Orin Vale extended his right hand, aiming straight for the doctor's right eye, which was radiating with blue electric serpents.
However, just as his fingers were about to touch the eye, Doctor Sivana, who should have been motionless, suddenly moved.
Although it didn't look easy, and his speed was still no match for Orin Vale's, he had truly moved within this bullet-time-like space. He tilted his head, dodging the grab, and abruptly threw a counter-punch.
Orin Vale raised his left arm to block. The doctor's swinging punch slammed into his arm, and the transparent shockwave from the collision of their power swept through the entire room. Glass shattered with a crash, and cracks spiderwebbed across the wall tiles, as if a concussive blast had just demolished the entire room.
It was the Seven Deadly Sins, returning to their host in the blink of an eye.
They knew that while they were immune to punches, their host still needed protection. If the host was taken out, they would all be finished.
With five demonic creatures possessing him, Doctor Sivana instantly felt his confidence surge. The electric arc in his eye flared, and he drew back his right fist, wreathed in electric light, and swung back, leaving a searing trail of lightning in his wake!
Boom!
Almost the entire floor was destroyed by the divine power as rampant electricity devoured everything. An entire story's worth of glass was pulverized, and azure electric arcs erupted from the skyscraper's core in all directions.
Amidst the dazzling electric light, two afterimages burst from the smokescreen, one after the other.
The two flew into the night sky at super-speed, their figures constantly intertwining. The collisions of their fists and feet created bursts of transparent shockwaves in the night sky with overwhelming force.
Although two of the Seven Deadly Sins were missing, Doctor Sivana, possessed by the five creatures, still wielded immense combat power. After all, in the movie, he had Shazam, who wielded the power of six gods, on the ropes for nearly the entire fight. While the main factor was that Billy was new to his abilities and his combat awareness and technique were severely outmatched, it at least proved the doctor's base stats were not weak.
However, when it came to awareness, the tables were now turned. In the movie, Doctor Sivana had seemed incredibly powerful fighting the Shazam Family, but without his superpower enhancements, he was basically "bullying preschoolers"—he was just picking on a bunch of kids.
But before Orin Vale, his technique was clearly not up to par.
It seemed Doctor Sivana's doctorate definitely didn't include combat training. In Orin Vale's eyes, his fighting skills could only be described as atrocious.
Whatever move he wanted to use, whatever skill he wanted to unleash, his offensive routes and intentions were practically written all over his face. Fighting him in melee combat was like taking an open-book test.
On Doctor Sivana's side, the longer he fought, the more alarmed he became.
He clearly possessed god-like power, feeling an endless well of strength coursing through him, yet in this close-quarters brawl with this strange alien, he hadn't managed to lay a single finger on him!
It was as if his opponent could read his mind. Every one of his movements, every offensive intent, was deciphered before it could even take shape.
He threw his fists helplessly, only to hit empty air again and again. He shot out lightning, only to pierce through the afterimages left by high-speed movement.
A silver hook punch struck his cheek. Even with the enhancement of divine power, he felt as if his jawbone had been shattered. He roared, instinctively countering with a swinging punch towards the direction of the blow. But before the punch could land, a sharp pain shot through his shoulder blade; a powerful knife-hand strike had nearly dislocated his arm.
He attempted to kick, but before he could even exert force, an intercepting kick struck him squarely on the shin. The excruciating pain felt like his leg bone had snapped, and his flying kick was neutralized before it could even form.
While fighting fiercely, the two flew at high speed, weaving through the dense cluster of buildings like butterflies through flowers. Orin Vale dictated the rhythm of the battle, intentionally avoiding buildings and crowded areas with his combos. In an instant, they had flown out of the urban area and into the suburbs.
Avoiding civilians and controlling collateral damage was a mandatory course, a fundamental principle etched into the DNA of every member of the Land of Light. Otherwise, you never knew when some guy might pop up on a rooftop for a classic, *What have you even protected?* moment.
A knee strike that almost made the doctor retch up bile was followed by a three-hundred-sixty-degree spinning aerial kick. Caught in a transparent shockwave that exploded in mid-air, Doctor Sivana plummeted, falling from thousands of meters high into a stretch of forest.
The shattering air compressed into a massive, deafening shockwave, uprooting trees with an invisible force. Countless birds took flight in a panic as splintered branches and torn bark filled the air.
Doctor Sivana shook his bald head and staggered to his feet from the giant crater he had created.
"He's too strong, I can't beat him!" the doctor said in a panic.
"Don't be nervous, you're immortal now!" Pride shouted in his ear. "But be careful to protect your eye, don't let him get close."
A violent roar drowned out all other sounds. It was the explosive sound of Ultraman landing from his aerial pursuit, the resulting shockwave like a tsunami.
The alternating red and silver colors were stretched into a blurry afterimage by the super-speed movement, bursting through the dust cloud and charging toward the doctor's location!
Doctor Sivana hastily thrust out his right palm, and lightning shot forth from it toward the afterimage. But the afterimage abruptly changed direction, flashing to his right flank in an instant and continuing its charge with undiminished speed.
Doctor Sivana's reaction, enhanced by divine power, was also extremely fast. He thrust out both palms, madly channeling his divine power as if it cost him nothing, and unleashed a continuous barrage of lightning from his hands.
Trees were snapped in half, grass was blasted into scorched earth, and debris flew everywhere within the intersecting web of electricity. For a moment, the forest was crisscrossed with electric arcs, but the red-and-silver afterimage weaved between them, remaining completely untouched.
"No, he's too fast, I can't—"
"You can do it!"
Pride's voice continued to ring in his ear.
"Everyone looked down on you, everyone thought you were a failure, but we saw your potential!"
"Think of all those who bullied you, who belittled you! You are destined for greatness, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana. Become the man you were destined to be!"
After that dose of chicken soup for the soul, Doctor Sivana's face began to twitch violently.
His whole life had been a failure. Countless images floated through his mind, a parade of hateful faces flashing before him.
There was his brother, who had tormented him since childhood, and his father, who had never given him a second glance...
"I... You're right." Doctor Sivana's expression grew increasingly twisted, and the electric arc in his eye flared.
"I'll show them! I'll make every single one of them see my power!"
"I will be... the god of this world!!!"
As he bellowed, his magical power seemed to surge in response. Electric arcs radiated from his entire body, like a carnival of magic—
—until a red-and-silver whirlwind swept past him with a whoosh.
The electric arcs died instantly.
Doctor Sivana remained frozen on the spot, his arms spread wide in an edgy, sky-gazing pose, the twisted smile still fixed on his face.
Half a second later, he realized something was wrong and instinctively tried to blink.
It was then that he paled with absolute horror—
Damn it! Where's my eye!?
He whipped his head around in terror, only to discover that his magical right eye had become an orb of light, clutched in the hand of the Ultraman who had just swept past him at hyper-speed.
"So dramatic," Orin Vale mused, pinching the orb of magical light he had successfully acquired. "You're not the protagonist. You really think you can enter some kind of burst mode?"
***
Seven thousand words today. Asking for monthly votes at the end of the month~
(end of chapter)