Chapter 136: Cosmic Glutton
Poison Ivy was a prominent figure in Old Master's Gotham Fan Club.
The first time Orin Vale encountered this character was through the old live-action Batman movie from the last century. For the young, adolescent boy he was back then, his one and only impression of her could be summed up in a single word.
Big.
He couldn't help it. He swore he bought the VCD of that movie for Batman, but she was just too big. So much so that years later, he had all but forgotten the plot of the already mediocre film, yet the impression from his adolescent awakening remained deeply ingrained and impossible to shake.
Poison Ivy, real name Pamela Isley. She was originally a shy girl who loved plants. After a classic laboratory accident, she mutated and gained superpowers, allowing her to control plants and use a kiss to brainwash and exert mental control over others, turning into an extremist environmentalist who believed plants were supreme and all humans should die.
Setting DC Comics aside, in the Ultraman Universe, supernatural abilities related to plants were rarely a good thing. For example, Greenmons from Original Ultraman, Gigera from Tiga, the Tree of Chakyra from Dyna, and Hisaya Naoki from Ultraman Trigger...
Considering this, Orin Vale figured that Harvey getting cuckolded probably had nothing to do with him becoming Two-Face. Casting a wide net and being a player was part of Poison Ivy's superpower; her ability allowed her to control pheromones to make men utterly devoted to her, willing to live or die for her.
This ability even led to the most cringeworthy moment in history from that old Batman movie, where a mentally influenced Batman and Robin started arguing over Poison Ivy. Old Master said he'd pay a million for her, and Dick Grayson said he'd pay three million. When Old Master asked where he'd get that much money, Dick Grayson said he could borrow it from him...
It wasn't surprising that Harvey, who was once Gotham's white knight, would become one of Poison Ivy's prey, just like in the old animated series.
Poor Harvey, played in the palm of Poison Ivy's hand.
Judging from the last conversation with that detective, Poison Ivy seemed to have recently set her sights on some project by the Roxxon Corporation. But for now, those were Batman's troubles.
Orin Vale's focus, for the time being, was back on the Kryptonian criminals and the Great Purge. He brought the Old Wizard to Old Bu's warship to conduct an interrogation using the Truth Spell.
From them, Orin Vale quickly learned that the outpost on the surface of the Moon was not an isolated case.
Non had already dispatched teams to various regions near Earth, one of which had already established itself on the surface. They were deploying in secret, with each stronghold carrying a signal base station from the "Great Purge" system. They were in the final stages of debugging to achieve global signal coverage.
"So, where is your commander's headquarters, the one at Fort Rozz?" Orin Vale asked.
The six-armed programmer on the bridge replied, "Who knows. The headquarters is constantly on the move, no one knows where it is right now."
"The other outposts aren't moving, are they? You should know where they are."
"My brother is in another one of the outposts. You can kill me, but I'll never talk," the programmer said, puffing out his chest.
"I won't go that far," Orin Vale shrugged, stepping back and gesturing to the Old Wizard. "Handle this one."
"No problem."
The Old Wizard stepped forward with a grin, a gentle smile on his face as he conjured a magic array in his hand.
"Come on, it'll be quick and won't hurt at all..."
That smile, which seemed tinged with a hint of perversion, made the programmer shudder, and he instinctively crossed his six arms over his chest.
"Wait a minute!" he yelled frantically. "I just remembered, I think my brother was adopted, so we're not that close. I'll talk, I'll tell you everything..."
And so, in no time, another outpost exploded in a brilliant display of fireworks.
The Old Wizard floated far behind, watching Orin Vale charge recklessly through the hail of gorgeous lasers and explosions, slaughtering his way through as if they weren't even there. He couldn't help but gently stroke his large white beard.
The young are to be feared, truly.
No matter how much time passed, he still couldn't get used to it. This kid was a true, out-and-out monster...
As usual, he swept into the Central Control Room without any trouble, only to be blocked by a muscular Kryptonian Strong Man.
Orin Vale had a feeling this was probably an intentional arrangement. The criminals in Fort Rozz hailed from different galaxies and races, but the ones with the most combat power and Non's greatest trust were definitely the Kryptonians. So, it was only natural that each outpost would have at least one Kryptonian in charge.
Of course, before Kryptonite Iaijutsu, all are equal. A single Kryptonite Radiation Pulse brought the Kryptonian minion to his knees on the spot, without even giving him a chance to fight back.
However, unexpectedly, the Kryptonian wasn't the final boss this time. Just as Orin Vale took down the commander and landed, a hostile attack alarm suddenly flashed on the screen.
He turned his head to see sharp teeth bursting through the wall, a massive, bloody maw biting its way out. Its enormous, pitch-black body was covered in hard scales, glinting with a demonic red light. The wide, terrifying mouth was filled with fangs, biting through the Kryptonian alloy armor along with the energy barrier inside the wall.
"Kane Sarth!" an operator in the control room cried out, his face draining of color. "Has it come to the point of releasing this thing?"
The Phantom Zone didn't just hold criminals; it also contained some extremely dangerous cosmic creatures captured by the Kryptonians.
The Kane Sarth before him was one of them. Its teeth could chew through almost anything, and its massive mouth could devour everything. Even for the inmates of the Phantom Zone, it was an incredibly dangerous cosmic monster.
What was more terrifying was that it was completely uncontrollable.
This was the monster they had brought as their final trump card. Kane Sarth was in a perpetual state of extreme hunger, eating anything it saw, and it certainly had no concept of friend or foe.
Therefore, for this base, releasing Kane Sarth was an absolute last resort. After it dealt with the intruder, they would have to start considering how to avoid being eaten by the very monster they had unleashed.
But, whether it was fortunate or not, it seemed they wouldn't have to worry about that problem this time.
Orin Vale dodged the monster's sneak attack from behind at supersonic speed, his figure flickering to the side as he rapidly scanned and analyzed its properties.
He got the analysis result in an instant.
It was a glutton.
When it came to experience in dealing with gluttons, the Ultramen were second to none. From Bemstar in the early Showa era, to Yeper, a strong contender for the strongest monster from a god-tier episode in the Heisei era, and finally, the Devouring Monster Ula from the New Generation.
Anyway, in the Ultraman Universe, any being whose skill points were allocated to "eating" was more or less a freak.
Evidently, this ferocious-looking giant monster before him was far inferior to the famous gluttons on the Land of Light's most-wanted list, not even comparable to the weakest one among them.
So for this situation, the simplest, most brutal, yet often most effective strategy, personally demonstrated by their very own Blue-skinned Director from the Technology Bureau, immediately surfaced in Orin Vale's mind.
He directly formed his arms into a cross, aiming straight at that arrogant, gaping maw.
Specium Ray!
Two chapters today, will add more tomorrow.
(end of chapter)