Chapter 457: King Against King
The Shock of Green Fire
Edvin was dead. He lay on the ground, without breath or heartbeat, a cold corpse.
A Kryptonian elite warrior, a powerhouse who had given Linda and Diana a hard time, was killed by a single strike.
The air was unnaturally quiet.
Everyone turned, staring blankly at the scene. Faora and the others had never seen the floating armor and didn't know who was inside. Seeing their comrade struck down filled them with shock and fear, and for a moment, they froze, forgetting to act.
Linda asked hesitantly, "Luke, is that you?"
Luke smiled faintly.
"What do you think, beautiful lady?"
Linda rolled her eyes. How can he still flirt at a time like this?
Suddenly, thunder roared in their ears.
Dozens of light blades descended from above. The air whistled, sounding as if it were being sliced by sharp edges. Luke frowned slightly. His figure flashed, turning into a red streak, and he appeared in the sky.
A shimmering silhouette, H'el, materialized in front of him.
Neither spoke. Their figures vanished, and the next moment, they reappeared above the shuttle. Fist met elbow, exploding with a fierce impact. The powerful force traveled through the armor and struck Luke, causing his face to pale slightly.
"Ava, activate Psychic Mode."
"Yes, Master."
Luke closed his eyes. His soul detached from his body and merged with the armor. His vision underwent a fundamental change. Before, he could only see a 120-degree range in front of him; now, he had a 360-degree, dead-angle-free view.
Green fire burned fiercely, fusing with the armor. The faint red floating armor now had an eerie green glow overlaying it.
H'el felt the soul-annihilating power and quickly retreated.
"Your flame is strange."
"Prepared just for you."
"You won't win."
"That remains to be seen."
The two figures vanished. A roar came from a distant building. They continuously flickered in the sky—one moment high up, the next on the ground, then on a rooftop, and the next in a bedroom.
Shockwaves hammered the area from all directions, continuous and unrelenting. The discrepancy between the visual lag and their spatial teleportation was dizzying.
"So strong!"
Watching the constantly flickering figures, Diana couldn't help but exclaim.
Compared to them, the fight below was on a completely different level. Martian Manhunter broke out of the debris and approached Linda.
"Why didn't Mr. Shaw intervene sooner?"
Linda said somberly, "Before the battle, Luke told me that the key to this war wasn't Zod, nor the shuttle, but H'el. Until he is defeated, the war won't end."
"H'el?"
Martian Manhunter muttered, lapsing into silence.
Telepathy was the Martians' pride, yet in their previous clash, he had been overpowered.
That Kryptonian was impossibly strong.
The Ultimate Weapon
The battle above grew more savage. The figures flickered so intensely they created a brief visual persistence, resulting in a strange sight: dozens of phantoms appearing in the clear blue sky.
The phantoms shifted constantly until one figure was sent flying, crashing into a building.
H'el's expression was grim. After traveling the universe for so many years, this was the first time he had encountered such an opponent. The green fire possessed the power to burn the soul. He dared not make physical contact and could only use his telekinetic power to envelop his hands during attacks.
"This person cannot be allowed to live."
H'el immediately made his decision. He raised his hand. Steel bars and concrete debris scattered everywhere flew up and hurled toward the building where Luke had crashed. Block after block, the ground rumbled. The hundred-meter-tall building was instantly reduced to rubble. Dust flew up, then was immediately blown away by a strong wind.
H'el curled his fingers, staring intently at the front.
The small hill of construction waste creaked. Enveloped by telekinetic energy, it continuously contracted and solidified, morphing from a slope into a sphere. He intended to suffocate Luke inside.
Linda couldn't stand it. She rushed forward with a furious roar but was slapped back by a wave of H'el's hand.
Moments later, the construction debris vanished. A gigantic sphere of concrete and steel, nearly a hundred meters in diameter and smooth as glass, now rested on the ground. Had they not witnessed it firsthand, no one would believe it was man-made.
Suddenly, an explosion erupted from within the sphere.
A figure shot out, floating beneath the sky.
H'el raised an eyebrow. "You survived that."
Luke coughed up some clotted blood and growled, word for word,
"I will kill you."
H'el scoffed, teleported in front of Luke, and attacked again. His telekinetically-wrapped fist possessed unimaginable brute force, driving Luke back repeatedly. The floating armor dimmed visibly.
The two traded blows, gradually moving away from the area, disappearing between the buildings.
Linda shouted anxiously, "I have to help him!"
Diana grabbed her arm, shaking her head seriously.
"I understand how you feel, but the shuttle is the priority."
Martian Manhunter echoed, "Time is running out. We must destroy the shuttle quickly to support Mr. Shaw."
Linda cried out in frustration. With a roar like a tiger, she charged toward Faora. Martian Manhunter and Diana followed closely behind.
The battle below had less and less to do with Barry Allen. After his dazzling initial appearance, the Scarlet Speedster of Central City had been forgotten by everyone. Even the defending mechanical tentacles ignored the little pest clinging to the force field.
"Barry, you can do this. You have to."
The detection device had already determined the force field's wave frequency. Next was using resonance to dissolve it. Barry had never done this before. He tried several times without success. Seeing time rapidly dwindling, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to calm down.
"You're the best, you'll be fine."
Barry breathed rapidly, placing both hands on the force field. His hands vibrated at a speed too fast to observe—hundreds, thousands of times per second, and increasing. Only the Speed Force could achieve such a feat.
When the frequency of his hands' vibration reached a critical range, the force field underwent a violent change, rippling like a wave. With a sharp crack,
Snap!
Dozens of meters of cracks appeared on the surface. The cracks expanded, spreading out like a spiderweb.
"I did it! I succeeded!"
Barry shouted excitedly. He pulled back his armored fist and punched the barrier.
Boom!
The force field, which even Martian Manhunter couldn't breach, shattered like glass. Barry pumped his legs against the air, transforming into an incredibly swift streak of electricity. He passed the intercepting mechanical tentacles, reached the bottom of the shuttle, pulled the bomb from his back, stuck it to the outer casing, and ran away without looking back.
Time ticked by.
Five!
Four!
Three!
Two!
One!
An explosion erupted above. A blue vortex enveloped the shuttle. Like a black hole, the solid metal casing was reduced to its most basic particle form, swallowed and dissolved by the vortex.
Three seconds later, the vortex contracted inward, forming a singularity.
CRACK!
The view turned stark white, and a shockwave laced with blue electrical currents slammed into him. Glass objects within a radius of several thousand kilometers instantly shattered.
The shuttle was gone, replaced by a void of energy.
A spiral cloud formation appeared high above, and whirlwinds of wind echoed through the apocalyptic ruins.
Barry dropped to his knees. He swore he would never carry a bomb again.
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