Chapter 177: Her Death Is Not Far Off
A few minutes later, in the cafe's basement, Diana Prince, having changed into a light top, stood before Orin Vale with boxing gloves on.
She launched a powerful side kick straight at Orin Vale.
Orin Vale lowered his center of gravity, his arm parrying Wonder Woman's powerful leg.
"Nice kick," Orin Vale said, pushing her long, well-proportioned leg aside and taking a diagonal step back.
"Thanks, but you'd better be careful," Diana shouted, stepping forward to press her attack. "Because I promise I'm being absolutely serious!"
The two went back and forth, exchanging moves in the clearing created within the subspace.
Orin Vale was a bit surprised when Wonder Woman had come to him with this request, but on second thought, he could understand. WW was the purest warrior in the Justice League. Like Batman, she was proficient in almost every known form of combat on Earth, but even from her perspective, many of the combat skills Orin Vale had displayed were beyond the pale.
So, naturally, the thought of asking him for pointers arose in Diana's mind. She was eager to try out that combat system she had never seen before. Orin Vale considered it and figured that since coming to the DC Universe, he had become so engrossed in scientific research that he had even neglected his daily training—mainly because he couldn't find a suitable sparring partner here. Now that he had this opportunity, a little practice wouldn't be bad.
And as it happened, WW was already a grandmaster among heavyweight contenders. Ninety-nine percent of the other combat-oriented fighters in DC Comics were ordinary humans, while most of those in the same weight class as Wonder Woman were like Superman—who, despite his lore suggesting he should have trained, was a complete mess in actual combat.
Taking this chance to test Wonder Woman's depth wouldn't be a bad idea either.
And so, it came to this. Orin Vale and Diana exchanged moves, their fists and feet whistling through the air of the subspace.
Meanwhile, the Kryptonian siblings, Clark and Kara, sat shoulder to shoulder, one sipping coffee and the other eating potato chips, watching from the front row.
Diana threw a punch, which Orin Vale deftly deflected with a wave of his palm. The force of the blow stirred the air, the shockwave's aftereffect lifting Kara's golden hair... as well as the iconic curl on Superman's forehead.
"That's a fierce move," Clark said, nodding in admiration.
Kara took out a potato chip and offered it to him. "Want one?"
"No, thanks." Clark took another sip of his coffee, a look of utter satisfaction on his face from behind his glasses. "Gosh, your coffee here is really good. I'll definitely have to come more often in the future."
"Told you so," Kara said, puffing out her chest proudly.
In the time it took to exchange these few words, the two non-humans in the center had already exchanged countless more blows at supersonic speed.
Diana threw a flurry of punches, but most were deflected by Orin Vale's palms. He retreated two steps. Diana advanced with a swing punch in pursuit, but Orin Vale dodged to the outside with a clever shift in his footwork. Diana turned with a whip-fist, only to hit empty air again.
"A smooth three-move combo," Orin Vale complimented.
Diana didn't pursue further, but her brow was furrowed, her face clearly showing displeasure.
Orin Vale asked, "What's wrong?"
"Do you remember what we said before we started?" Diana said. "No holding back, no hiding skills. But do you think I can't tell you're going easy on me?"
Orin Vale raised an eyebrow.
"Don't worry, I've seen you in action. I know I'm no match for you right now," Diana smiled. "But that's precisely why I want to know where the gap lies, and my own limits.
So, please, attack me with all your strength. Don't be polite. I know what I'm doing."
"Hmm... alright. If you insist."
A light flashed from Orin Vale's bracelet, and the red and silver armor abruptly appeared, assembling around his body and quickly encasing him completely.
The azure crystal on his chest lit up, and the armor's eyes flickered with a golden light. Electric arcs radiated outward, and a transparent wave erupted as Orin Vale instantly transformed into a bolt of lightning that shot straight forward, piercing through the clouds.
Here it comes!
Diana had already braced herself, her nerves stretched taut like never before.
She knew she couldn't keep up with that speed. Therefore, she needed to rely not just on her reactions, but also on her combat instinct.
It had nothing to do with sight, hearing, or any of her other senses. Relying entirely on her intuition as a warrior and a demigod, she suddenly threw a punch into the empty space beside her.
A perfect prediction. The red-and-silver afterimage rushed forward to meet her at that exact moment. Her fist struck the steel faceplate head-on...
And passed right through it!
Diana's pupils contracted.
What she had shattered was an afterimage left behind by high speed.
At almost the same instant, a tyrannical shockwave approached from behind. She instinctively turned her head, only to see a fist rushing toward her face, like a silver meteor trailing crackling lightning...
No, even that was just her imagination.
Because it was so fast that even she couldn't see it clearly; it was the pressure from the terrifying power contained within that conjured such an image in her mind.
Then the fist stopped.
As if a ring of electric light had exploded outward, the silver iron fist decelerated unnaturally, defying physics, and came to a dead stop less than a millimeter from the tip of her nose. A gust of wind from the punch blew out, sending her black hair into a wild dance and causing the golden locks and iconic curl of the two spectators behind her to sway nonstop.
The next moment, a flash of light emanated from Orin Vale's body. The armor disintegrated, automatically flying back into the bracelet.
He retracted his fist and smiled. "I'm tired. How about a cup of A Song of Ice and Fire? My treat."
Diana fell silent.
She knew he still hadn't gone all out.
But she didn't bring it up again.
Because she already understood that it was indeed meaningless.
The gap was too vast.
This was no longer a question of testing his depth. This was a bottom so deep that one could die before ever finding it.
After a moment of contemplation, she couldn't help but ask, "Is it my imagination, or have you gotten stronger since the last time we met?"
"Maybe," Orin Vale shrugged.
"But... how did you do it?" Diana frowned.
She thought to herself that it hadn't been that long. Although she had sensed he was strong before, it felt completely different from these past two days.
Orin Vale smiled. "Like I said... science."
Diana: "..."
He wasn't just pulling her leg. Besides the chain reactions caused by his and Superman's activities in various places, which had increased his energy, his main recent research breakthrough was in the Speed Force.
The Speed Force could do far more than just make one fast. One of its basic applications was amplifying strength through speed.
Or rather, strength wasn't accurate; it should be called kinetic energy.
In the Original Work, a rookie-stage The Flash had already learned to master the supersonic heavy punch—achieving speeds of several Mach through a running start to deliver a punch with superhuman levels of damage.
If old Sir Newton were to comment on this, he'd probably jump up in anger, because a mortal like The Flash sending someone flying down a street with a supersonic punch and being completely fine himself was basically taking a dump on Newton's Third Law. But the Speed Force solves all inconsistencies; when needed, it can negate all side effects of extreme speed activities for a speedster.
And this was still an early application. In the lore, a powered-up The Flash could land a punch with the impact of a white dwarf star. And even setting aside lore and looking at actual combat feats, The Flash once casually one-shotted the Flashpoint world's Wonder Woman with a half-light-speed spinning kick.
Orin Vale considered his research on the Speed Force to be still very superficial; he was nowhere near as fast or as overpowered as The Flash. But he could still manage entry-level uses like using the Speed Force for a burst of power. With his base arm strength augmented by the Speed Force, a punch would naturally have this effect.
No wonder even WW was a bit dazed.
Could science really be that heaven-defying?
Diana stared at his back, momentarily lost in thought.
"Want some?"
Orin Vale pulled the distracted Wonder Woman back to reality, holding a fresh cup of A Song of Ice and Fire.
"...Yes."
Diana smiled and took the cup of ice cream coffee.
The goddess licked the cream, feeling the sensation of that trace of icy sweetness spread across the tip of her tongue.
Then, she revealed a smile of deep satisfaction.
She instantly felt that it was the world's good fortune that a person like this possessed such immense power, and not that bizarre divine race of Olympus.
"This cannot continue."
The Queen of Heaven, Hera, wore a grim expression as she glared coldly at Apollo.
The latter was in much better shape than when he had just returned from the Fallen Realm. A few days ago, Apollo had looked like a shriveled raisin; now, although he still looked weak, he at least showed signs of recovery.
"I gave you a chance, I gave you resources. You also promised me you would complete the mission... and this is the result!?"
Apollo's purplish-black face seemed to flush red.
"I was targeted!" he said angrily. "That Amazon, she surrounds herself with things that can absorb my magic power. What could I do? I was desperate too!"
"That is precisely the problem," Hera said gravely. "She calls herself 'Wonder Woman' and has been active in the human world for so many years, always a loner.
And now, she's suddenly started looking for allies. And if it's as you say, they are all top-tier individuals in the mortal world capable of contending with the gods of Olympus...
Why now? Why at this specific juncture, when Zeus has gone missing?"
Apollo was stunned.
"Don't forget, every offspring who carries the blood of Zeus has a chance to sit on that vacant throne," Hera said coldly.
"You... you're saying, Wonder Woman, she wants to..." Apollo was stunned, but then he frowned. "But she doesn't look like she's interested..."
Hera sneered.
"On this entire Mount Olympus, who is there that you can understand just by looking at their surface?"
Apollo fell silent.
"A fair point."
"Regardless, I will absolutely not accept that lowly Amazon sitting on the throne and leading Olympus," Hera said through gritted teeth. "Not even if it means paying any price."
"Don't worry."
Apollo snorted with a laugh.
"She may have some powerful allies, but they can't stay together forever. Our agreement is still in effect, Hera. I will take care of Wonder Woman for you; you just need to save that position for me."
He paused, clenched his fists, flame seeping from the corners of his eyes.
"...Her death is not far off, I'm telling you."
(end of chapter)