At this point, Buddy could not help but look somewhat intimidated.
When he had first been released from the statue, Buddy had been full of bravado. Later, however, Diana had thoroughly beaten that confidence out of him. He saw Diana as an overwhelming presence, and Diana herself was easily manipulated by Axel.
So after hiding out in Downton Manor, Buddy no longer had much confidence left.
Hearing the lack of enthusiasm in Buddy's voice, Alfred pursed his lips and replied,
"The situation is nowhere near a matter of life and death, and we do not need you to sacrifice yourself for us. Since Zatanna and Miss Enchantress have already rushed over, let us see what they can do first."
With that, Alfred brought up several more surveillance feeds, focusing as much of his attention as possible on the chaotic battle unfolding in Burnley District.
Meanwhile, in Burnley District.
Steppenwolf stood with one foot planted on the Mother Box, his massive axe gripped firmly in both hands. With a powerful swing, he sent Fiona flying.
Fiona rolled more than four hundred meters across the ground, smashing through two buildings and killing three unfortunate passersby before finally crashing beside General Zod.
The moment Fiona was repelled, the three remaining Kryptonian soldiers accompanying General Zod charged toward Steppenwolf.
Three sonic booms erupted in succession.
Steppenwolf looked disdainfully at the approaching figures and sneered.
"Krypton's soldiers?"
Bang!
He lifted the foot resting on the Mother Box and kicked the fastest Kryptonian soldier away.
"Insignificant."
Boom!
The second soldier barely had time to raise his elbow before Steppenwolf's spinning axe struck him and sent him violently into the sky.
"If there were enough of you, I might admit that you were a serious problem."
Duang!
Steppenwolf seized the final Kryptonian warrior by the neck and slammed him into the ground.
He then planted his foot against the soldier's throat, pinning him down while allowing the Kryptonian to struggle and punch at him.
Steppenwolf casually weighed his axe in his hands.
Then he raised it.
The blood-red blade gleamed beneath the sunlight.
His cold voice followed.
"But your planet is destroyed, and you are nothing more than a handful of stragglers. Heh heh. You, with so few remaining, dare to covet the glory I seek?"
"Instead of fighting me, you should kneel and beg. That would be far more appropriate for your status, the last refugees of Krypton."
The instant his words fell, Steppenwolf brought the axe down with terrifying force.
At the same moment, General Zod and a recovered Fiona both charged toward him from a distance.
General Zod was more than thirty percent faster than Fiona. Just before the axe struck the ground, he reached Steppenwolf and caught the descending weapon with both hands.
As Zod struggled against the overwhelming force behind the axe, Fiona came from behind and drove her elbow into Steppenwolf's face.
The blow sent him flying backward.
Steppenwolf twisted his body in midair, adjusting his posture before his feet finally touched the ground. He skidded across the street, carving two deep trenches through the pavement before coming to a stop.
General Zod regarded him coldly.
"I do not deny that I am a refugee, nor do I deny that Krypton has been destroyed."
"But what about you, warrior of Apokolips? Before meeting you, I had never seen an Apokoliptian soldier fighting alone."
"So tell me, are you a criminal, or were you exiled after being judged?"
Fiona had already prepared herself to attack again, lowering her body into a stance.
Before she could charge, however, Zod extended an arm and blocked her.
Fiona looked at his hand in surprise.
"Fiona, he is a worthy warrior. He has earned my respect."
"As for you, lead the others and secure the surrounding area. Earth is not a simple planet. Have we not already encountered its divine beings?"
"The general population may be incredibly weak, but the rare exceptional individuals among them are powerful enough to pose a threat even to us."
"So remain alert. This warrior from Apokolips is mine."
"Warrior?"
Across from them, Steppenwolf repeated the word, his jaw tightening.
Compared with the Kryptonian soldiers he had just fought, General Zod's strength was far greater than a mere ten percent increase.
Even among members of the same species, there were differences in physical ability, and those differences could be enormous.
A well-trained human could easily defeat several ordinary people at once.
General Zod was the same.
Even when facing his own people, he could fight several Kryptonian soldiers simultaneously and emerge victorious.
That was one of the reasons Zod had suspected that Jor-El possessed secrets regarding Kryptonian genetics. Zod was one of the most genetically gifted warriors on Krypton and had served as General of the Kryptonian military.
Yet Jor-El, a scientist, had somehow been able to defeat him.
For now, however, there was no need to dwell on that matter.
Steppenwolf slowly raised his axe.
The enormous blade scraped against the ground, throwing off sparks and leaving a deep trail behind it as he lifted the weapon and held it firmly in both hands.
Feeling the familiar weight of the axe, Steppenwolf spoke again.
"In your eyes, I am merely a soldier?"
"Your judgment still needs work, General of Krypton. And you call yourself a general when you command only a handful of soldiers."
"Heh heh."
The moment his words ended, Steppenwolf charged toward Zod.
At the same time, the ground beneath Zod's feet exploded.
Using the force of the impact, Zod launched himself forward like lightning.
Just as the two were about to collide, a desperate shout suddenly rang out.
"Stop fighting, you two!"
Then came a strange command.
"Keep your distance!"
As soon as the words were spoken, General Zod felt his entire body go numb.
His momentum abruptly vanished, and he stopped in midair approximately twenty meters away from Steppenwolf.
Steppenwolf also stopped involuntarily.
Confused, he took another step forward and swung at Zod.
Yet something strange happened.
As Steppenwolf advanced, Zod was forced backward.
No matter how far Steppenwolf moved, the distance between them remained approximately twenty meters.
Even after Steppenwolf charged forward for more than a hundred meters, Zod still could not close the gap.
General Zod frowned and turned toward Zatanna.
When their eyes met, Zatanna waved both hands at them with a tense expression.
"You two, stop fighting! This is our boss's territory."
"Our boss went out to have some fun, but he will be back soon. If he comes back and sees you destroying his territory, you will both die miserably, buddies!"
Zatanna could not help but pat her chest.
Her figure had become noticeably fuller recently, and the movement made her take a deeper breath before continuing.
"You both know how troublesome our boss is, right? Otherwise, why would both of your groups rush into his territory while he is away?"
"There are not that many coincidences in the world. The reason you both ended up here is because you are afraid of our boss."
"So listen to my advice and stop damaging the city. If you really insist on fighting, I can find a suitable place for you. You can..."
"Zatanna, watch out!"
Before Zatanna could finish, Enchantress's warning rang out.
Zatanna blinked in confusion.
She quickly turned toward Enchantress.
Enchantress was standing beside her, both hands gripping Fiona's wrist.
Fiona's fist had been only thirty centimeters from Zatanna's head.
The moment Zatanna realized how close she had come to being hit, every hair on her body stood on end.
The next instant, a hurricane-like blast erupted.
The force of Fiona's punch blew Zatanna's magician's hat from her head.
Seeing that her hair was about to become completely disheveled, Zatanna immediately reached toward the empty air.
Although her hat had already flown dozens of meters away, it instantly appeared in her hand.
She calmly placed it back on her head.
Enchantress could not help clicking her tongue.
"Tsk tsk. What a waste. You used magic just for that?"
"What exactly is inversion magic? Does it have no cost?"
"Even with the sacred territory granted by the Lord and the support of tens of millions of greedy souls within it, I still feel as though I am walking on thin ice whenever I use magic. I would never dare to waste it so casually."
"What happened to the magical world during the years I was sealed?"
"Zatanna, are there many mages like you in the modern mystic world who do not care about the cost of their magic?"
"I do not know either~"
Zatanna answered briefly before extending her hand.
"Imprisonment."
Instantly, an invisible cage formed around the Kryptonians.
The surrounding air itself seemed to solidify.
A Kryptonian soldier standing near Fiona cautiously reached out and touched the invisible barrier.
Fiona noticed his actions and extended her own hand.
Her left palm pressed against the invisible wall while her right fist gathered tremendous strength.
Then she struck.
Thump.
The impact produced only a muffled sound that seemed to echo inside Fiona's own ears.
The supposedly overwhelming punch failed to break the barrier.
It did not even disturb the dust on the ground.
Enchantress watched the scene and clicked her tongue again.
"Tsk tsk. What a waste."
"Magic of this level would have been considered a forbidden spell in ancient times, Zatanna."
"What exactly is inversion magic? Can I learn it from you?"
"Are you willing to teach me? I can become your apprentice!"
"Sure. There is nothing I cannot teach. I will teach you when I have time~"
Zatanna agreed without hesitation before floating forward and positioning herself between General Zod and Steppenwolf.
Behind her, Enchantress excitedly clenched her fists.
"Thank you so much, Mentor Zatanna! Tomorrow, I will return to Israel and bring you at least eight hundred thousand greedy souls as a token of my apprenticeship!"
"Ah?"
Zatanna immediately jumped in alarm.
"Then I am not teaching you! Please, absolutely do not gather that many souls, sister!"
She hurriedly waved both hands.
While Zatanna was distracted, the thoughts of everyone around them varied.
Fiona quickly exchanged a glance with one of the soldiers under her command.
The Kryptonian immediately understood.
He pulled out a black hole grenade and threw it directly in front of himself without hesitation.
The instant the grenade detonated, everything in the surrounding area, including Zatanna's spatial cage, was pulled toward a miniature black hole.
The Kryptonian soldier seized the brief moment before the black hole completely consumed the area.
He darted through the gap where the spatial barrier had been torn apart and landed heavily on the ground.
Although his speed was astonishing, he had still been injured.
The black hole had swallowed part of his arm, destroying at least half of his forearm.
But that was not the worst of it.
The grenade had also torn apart his fully sealed armor.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
Before he could even stand, unbearable pain surged through his entire body.
He collapsed to the ground, twitching violently and unable to rise.
The agony was so intense that it felt as though countless nuclear explosions were erupting inside his body. Every cell seemed to be undergoing catastrophic destruction, leaving him overwhelmed by an unbearable combination of tearing pain and intense itching.
Fiona frowned at the sight.
Then, like the other soldiers, she decisively pulled out a grenade.
"You take him back to the ship. I will stay and assist the General."
Fiona issued the order before activating another black hole grenade and escaping Zatanna's spatial confinement.
The miniature black hole created by the grenade was genuine.
A black hole could even devour light. What appeared to be stable space was merely a curved surface within an incomprehensibly complex structure of higher and lower dimensions.
Trying to imprison a fully grown Kryptonian soldier through spatial confinement was simply unrealistic.
During the Great Crusade, Kryptonians had conquered most of the universe. Numerous civilizations throughout the cosmos possessed the ability to manipulate space and time.
In the distance, Steppenwolf watched Fiona escape and ground his teeth.
His eyes shifted toward the Mother Box.
Then he charged.
General Zod immediately noticed his movement and pursued him.
But no matter how fast Zod moved, the twenty-meter distance between them remained impossible to cross.
Steppenwolf easily reached the Mother Box and snatched it up before Zatanna noticed what was happening.
"Open the Boom Tube!"
Steppenwolf roared as he struck the Mother Box.
The Mother Box immediately responded.
It had no desire to remain in a battle involving Kryptonians and users of strange inversion magic.
Others might not recognize inversion magic, but the Mother Box did.
It knew exactly what it was dealing with.
The source of that magic, along with Apokolips' former ruler, who had once been the Mother Box's master, was now resting against the Source Wall.
The Mother Box could ignore ordinary Kryptonians. Kryptonians who had not been exposed to Earth's yellow sun were still merely Kryptonians.
But there was one particular individual it absolutely could not afford to ignore, someone even more dangerous than Yuga Khan himself.
A Boom Tube opened instantly.
Steppenwolf and the Mother Box disappeared through it.
When they emerged, they found themselves in an underwater realm.
Steppenwolf blinked as the surrounding seawater pressed against him.
His vision quickly adjusted to the underwater environment.
The next moment, a group of surprised Atlanteans charged toward him, tridents in hand.
Steppenwolf tightened his left arm around the Mother Box.
With his right hand, he swung his axe horizontally with tremendous force.
Whoosh!
A storm of bubbles erupted.
The surrounding water instantly turned red as the Atlanteans were torn apart by the sweeping blow.
Steppenwolf passed through the shattered remains of the fallen warriors and swiftly swam deeper into the underwater realm, carrying the Mother Box with him.
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