"Crack."
A crisp sound of bone snapping.
Fiona's movement toward Deadpool froze halfway.
Deadpool, whose head had just regenerated, forgot to continue flirting, covered his mouth with his hand, and pointed in that direction with one finger.
"Zod was killed by Clark after all!"
[Time for a meme!]
Diana's hand holding the sword of vulcan trembled slightly.
Tel-Rol's motion of chewing popcorn also slowed, and he looked at Clark in surprise.
Everyone's gaze was focused in the same direction.
There, the last general of Krypton, the man who had clamored to destroy Earth, hung his head limply, his neck twisted.
His eyes were still open, the lingering malice and madness frozen forever in his final second.
Clark Kent, the man who had always been regarded as the symbol of Earth's hope and light, released his hands from Zod's neck.
He lowered his head and looked at his hands.
Those hands, which had once saved countless lives and propped up toppled skyscrapers, were now stained with the blood of his kin, having personally ended the life of a Kryptonian.
"Ah..."
An ultimate suppressed roar squeezed out from deep within Clark's throat.
As if all the strength had been drained from his body, his legs gave out, and he fell heavily to his knees.
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah—!!!"
The next second, a roar filled with endless pain and self-loathing pierced the sky!
It was the collapse of faith, the desperate lament of having personally shattered everything he had always upheld.
He knelt before the kin he had personally killed, slamming his fists violently into the ground, creating two deep craters in the hard rock surface.
This man, who had always been so dependable, now resembled a lost child, his shoulders violently shaking as he wept and wailed in agony.
"General!"
A sharp, mournful scream broke the scene.
Fiona's eyes turned blood red!
She watched helplessly as the General she had sworn allegiance to was killed so humiliatingly by a traitor!
Overwhelming hatred and madness consumed her reason!
"I will kill you!!!"
She abandoned the annoying Deadpool in front of her and charged straight toward the kneeling, broken Clark, determined to die alongside Zod.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't be rash, Big Sis!" Deadpool was startled and reached out to stop her, but only grasped an afterimage.
Kara's expression changed drastically, and she also wanted to intervene, but Fiona was too fast!
The hand blade was about to strike Clark's undefended back neck.
"Too noisy."
A playful voice rang out.
A golden-purple figure appeared without warning in Fiona's path of charge.
It was Tel-Rol.
Fiona's pupils contracted, and her heart grew even angrier. This Krypton bastard was also Clark's accomplice; without him, Krypton's great cause could have been restored to glory!
She sped up and charged directly at the obstructing Tel-Rol.
Tel-Rol reached out and grabbed Fiona's face, turning his body with the momentum, causing Fiona's head to spin completely around.
Fiona's charging figure came to an abrupt halt.
The madness and fury on her face were still frozen, but her body collapsed limply, hitting the ground unconscious.
"..."
Deadpool, who had just struck a pose ready to say something, saw this scene and silently shut his mouth again.
He scratched his mask and muttered softly, "Can't mess with him, can't mess with him... This Saiyan Kryptonian boss is even more ruthless than I am."
Diana looked at Fiona, then at Tel-Rol, who wore an indifferent expression, opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing.
Tel-Rol didn't spare the woman on the ground a single glance.
He shoved his hands back into his pockets and strolled over to the weeping Clark, walking with an arrogant stride.
He tilted his head, looking at his cousin who was submerged in overwhelming grief, and his face showed a mix of confusion and disdain.
"Hey."
He extended his foot and lightly kicked Clark's hand with his flip-flop.
"Why are you crying?"
Clark didn't react, still burying his head and roaring in pain.
Tel-Rol frowned, finding it annoying.
"I said, what the hell are you crying about?"
He emphasized his tone, speaking impatiently.
"Didn't you kill him? Since he's dead, why are you putting on this melodrama here? Who are you performing for?"
As soon as he said this, the expressions of Kara and Diana, who had just arrived, changed.
"Tel-Rol!" Diana's voice held a hint of anger. "He is not you! He has his own principles and bottom line!"
Kara also ran to Clark's side, wanting to comfort him, while glaring at Tel-Rol with an angry look.
She didn't understand why Tel-Rol could say such cold-blooded things.
"Principles? Bottom line?"
Hearing these two words, Tel-Rol snorted dismissively.
He gestured with his firm chin toward Zod, who was already cold.
"His bottom line is letting this guy snap the necks of his wife, his children, his Aunt Martha, and Old Kent, one by one?"
"If so, his bottom line sure is worthless."
"You!" Diana was choked into silence.
"What 'you'?" Tel-Rol rolled his eyes, too lazy to argue with her.
He squatted down, looking levelly at Clark, who was still torturing himself.
"Hey, Clark."
"Listen up. This world is just this messed up."
"Either you kill him, or he kills your entire Kent family."
"If you didn't snap his neck today, tomorrow you'd be crying while holding your wife's corpse."
"Now you've killed him, saved your entire Kent family, and saved this crappy planet while you're at it. You should be happy. Stop whining; if you want to cry, go cry to my cousin-in-law. Isn't this embarrassing?"
This "comfort," which could only be described as malicious, made Clark's crying stop.
He slowly raised his head.
His blue eyes were bloodshot, filled with confusion, pain, and deep self-doubt.
He looked at Tel-Rol's face, which screamed "You are such a hassle," and his lips moved, hoarsely squeezing out a few words.
"I... killed him..."
"Yeah, you killed him, so what?" Tel-Rol shrugged naturally. "It's just killing a person or two, what's the big deal? Look at me, didn't I just take out seven or eight of them? Am I crying?"
As he spoke, he pointed to the corpses of the Kryptonian soldiers nearby whose heads he had blown off with energy blasts.
Clark looked in the direction he pointed, and his body stiffened again.
He wanted to say something, but in the end, he just lowered his head deeply again.
"Alright, alright, stop being depressed here."
Tel-Rol stood up impatiently and dusted off his pants.
"I'm starving."
"Hurry up and go find Aunt Martha and Lois. They must be worried about you too."
He looked around, finally settling his gaze on Kara, his tone softening considerably.
"Kara, let's go."
"Huh?" Kara was stunned for a moment.
"What's wrong? Time to eat!" Tel-Rol jutted his chin toward her. "I smell Mexican burritos, just around the corner!"
As he spoke, he walked off toward Deadpool and the chaotic street corner.
"But... Clark, he..." Kara looked at her cousin still kneeling on the ground, her face full of worry.
"Let him be by himself. Men sometimes have those days when they overthink things," Tel-Rol waved his hand without looking back. "Once he figures it out, he'll naturally realize that filling his stomach is the most important thing."
Kara stood rooted to the spot, looking at Clark, then at Tel-Rol's receding back, torn between the two.
Diana sighed, walked over to her side, and whispered, "You go, Kara. I'll stay here."
She looked at Clark kneeling on the ground, her eyes complex.
Clark needed time to be alone.
And Tel-Rol's crude logic, while grating, might not necessarily be a bad thing for Clark in his current state.
Kara hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.
She took one last look at Clark, then quickly caught up to Tel-Rol.
Deadpool saw the two approaching and immediately greeted them excitedly.
"Hi! Saiyan Kryptonian Boss! Kara! Are you guys going for burritos? I know a super authentic place! The owner's wife's butt..."
"Shut up and lead the way." Tel-Rol cut him off directly.
"Roger that!"
The figures of the three quickly disappeared into the end of the ruins.
On the vast battlefield, only Clark, kneeling on the ground, and Diana, quietly staying by his side, remained.
Along with two Kryptonian corpses.
After a long time.
Clark slowly stood up, not looking at anyone, but only raising his head to stare at the gray sky, his eyes vacant.
He walked step by step toward the corpse whose neck he had personally snapped.
Just then, a voice suppressing fury rang out from the communicator on Diana's waist.
"Clark."
It was Bruce Wayne.
"Report to me immediately."
"What... have you done?"