Chapter 117: Flight Speed Test
After leaving Hephaestus's forge, Diana took her leave.
The matter of the prophecy weighed heavily on her mind. A disaster that would sweep through Olympus, the fall of the gods—it would undoubtedly bring chaos to the entire existing world, along with more unforeseeable dangers.
Zeus's disappearance was the best clue at the moment. Diana felt that if Zeus had truly been killed, she was more inclined to believe that the God of War, Ares, was the most likely culprit.
Undeniably, this might involve some of Diana's personal prejudice against the War God. After all, Ares was the villain who had clashed with Wonder Woman the most in the Greek pantheon. Since Diana left the Amazons for the human world, there had been several incidents where Ares was found to be causing trouble behind the scenes.
Furthermore, among Zeus's offspring, there weren't many gods who had a chance of killing him. Ares was one of the few deities who possessed both the ability and the motive.
However, it seemed to have been many years since Diana last saw Ares, and now the only clues she could rely on were some rumors. This investigation would likely take a great deal of effort, requiring her to travel all over the world.
Of course, Diana had long grown accustomed to this kind of life over the years.
Orin Vale exchanged contact information with her and then returned to the cafe to continue with his own business.
A day later, in the wilderness, amidst a deserted mountain range.
Kara Zor-El, dressed in her family's uniform, spread her arms wide. The shimmering Kryptonian battlesuit outlined her well-developed curves, the S-emblem on her red cape glittering with her movements, and her long golden hair flowed like waves.
She transformed into an afterimage and shot into the sky, the white clouds in the azure heavens parting like soft cotton candy beside her. She soared up and then dove down through the clouds, like a cheerful fish.
Her red and blue figure streaked across the sky like lightning, the endless mountain range receding rapidly beside her. Her graceful form was so fast and unrestrained that she was practically invisible to the naked eye.
She skimmed over the mountain range and shot out over the sea. The waves exploded into the air beneath her, and the sea was carved with a white wake as it chased her body. Her supersonic form let out a sharp whistle as it tore through the air, a sight that would make even the world's fastest fighter jet sigh in despair.
"She's improving very quickly." At the Speed Test Site at the foot of the mountain, the Old Wizard stroked his beard and nodded slightly, his eyes crinkling into a smile.
It was a smile akin to that of an old man playing chess in the community, thinking, "That's my granddaughter, all right."
"Mach seventeen. The improvement is indeed fast," Orin Vale said, looking at the speed-measuring instrument and pondering for a moment.
During the speed test last month, Kara's maximum flight speed could only reach Mach eight. Now, it had more than doubled.
As expected of a Kryptonian. Her rate of leveling up was astounding, even if she just lay around doing nothing.
At this moment, Kara had just completed a lap of the planned route and passed over the Speed Test Site again. As she flew by, she smiled at them below and waved in their direction.
At her altitude and a speed of Mach seventeen, this wave was actually a bit strange. But she knew that ordinary people couldn't see it; Orin Vale, however, really could.
However, she was clearly getting carried away. Waving, she looked down at Orin Vale on the ground. By the time she realized she was hurtling at high speed toward a tall mountain, it was too late.
"Waaahhh!"
The rookie Kryptonian clearly still needed to work on her flight control. The moment the young girl turned her head and saw the mountain peak right in front of her, she turned pale with fright. Her first reaction was to quickly cover her eyes with her small hands.
BOOM!!!
Kara slammed headfirst into the mountain.
The thunderous impact and the colossal sound shook the mountain valley. The poor mountain was pierced straight through by the Kryptonian's steel-like body. Countless boulders, like beasts freed from their restraints, came rolling down like a torrential rain from the sky, tearing and shattering the canyon.
Fortunately, Orin Vale had long anticipated that such a situation might occur, so the testing area was deserted for a hundred miles around. There wasn't even a bird in the desolate mountains, so she could cause as much mayhem as she pleased.
More than half of the mountain collapsed, and smoke and dust filled the canyon.
"What an incredible race," the Old Wizard remarked, marveling at the earth-shattering scene. "It's almost reminiscent of the protection of the Power of the Six Gods..."
Orin Vale glanced at him, thinking to himself, *Is it possible that your so-called "Power of the Six Gods" is just a bootleg version of a Kryptonian's powers...*
Shazam was originally created as a copy of Superman. It was just that his original publisher was sued by DC Comics for copyright infringement and lost the case. Later, DC Comics simply acquired the company and its characters, incorporating them into the DC Universe. That's how the DC Universe ended up with this magical version of Superman.
"This is far from her limit," Orin Vale said. "Her abilities are still in the initial awakening stage. She'll become far stronger than this in the future."
After a pause, Orin Vale swiped open an interface to look at the data from Kara's other routine ability tests for the day.
He couldn't help but mutter, "Kryptonians are truly a monstrous race."
The Old Wizard glanced at him from behind, looking as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he remained silent.
But the old man thought to himself, *That's a bit modest. When it comes to being a monster, you're not far behind yourself...*
The two of them chatted idly. Halfway through their conversation, the pile of rubble in the mountain valley exploded with a bang. A small, fair hand reached out, and a beautiful girl, covered in dust and grime, crawled out of the rubble, coughing violently.
"I'm fine... *cough, cough*... I'm good... You guys just keep standing there and chatting, I don't need any help at all... *cough, cough*..."
Kara's progress was certainly gratifying, but it also served as another wake-up call for Orin Vale.
The data once again taught him just how overpowered Kryptonians were. This was just the beginning. Later on, when they had soaked up enough sun and reached a high enough level, it was hard to say just how high their stats would climb.
This once again made Orin Vale realize that he couldn't afford to be complacent. As a trainee Ultraman, he still had a long way to go.
That night, back in the laboratory, one of the multiple projects he was working on simultaneously made a breakthrough.
Speed Force research.
Contact with the Speed Force field had allowed him to develop his own understanding of the unique time-space rules of the DC Universe. Applying this knowledge to the use of light energy had enabled Orin Vale to dramatically increase the efficiency of his Mach movement, resulting in an explosive increase in speed.
But the deeper he researched, the more he realized that what he had learned from his initial contact was merely scratching the surface. Further study should allow him to acquire much more.
And tonight, he detected another anomalous spatial signal.
But unlike before, this time the signal matched a certain energy signature he had already recorded.
It was the energy reaction of the Speed Force.
"Such a high reading... Pal, track the location for me."
"Already on it."
Pal was extremely efficient. Soon, the energy reaction was marked on the map.
Central City again.
"I took the liberty of integrating some information and intelligence from the vicinity of Central City. I speculate that this anomalous reading may be related to this."
A news report appeared on the screen, dated one month ago.
*Lightning Strikes Central City Police Department Sterile Laboratory, Researcher in Coma*
(end of chapter)