"I want to be Freeborn"
After getting superpowers, Jovian felt lighter than he ever had in his life.
"I want to do whatever I want…"
"Anyone who wants to bully me, bully my brother, or get handsy with my family can go eat crap"
"Everyone I hate can go eat crap, and the whole world is my playground…"
With the sunniest smile imaginable, Jovian said the nastiest things like it was nothing.
"What did you just say?!"
Deborah's mouth fell open.
"Hey! Man, you can't say that!" Mark stared at Jovian like he'd lost his mind.
"Haha, I'm kidding~"
Jovian looked at Debbie and Mark's expressions, smiled, and shook his head.
"Whew…"
"You scared me to death!"
Deborah finally let out her breath. For a second there, she thought her family was about to produce a full-on supervillain.
"He's just joking."
Mark didn't take it seriously in the slightest.
"Heh…"
Jovian didn't answer. He just smiled faintly.
But where Mark and Deborah didn't notice…
Nolan looked at Jovian with pure appreciation in his eyes—like he was saying, Did you hear that? That's my son.
He really was Nolan's kid. A true Viltrumite.
Viltrumites were born conquerors—born to rule. In this universe, Viltrumites did whatever the hell they wanted.
"Jovian!"
Right as the family was enjoying the moment, Nolan suddenly stood up from his seat.
Here it comes, Jovian thought.
He knew it—he'd succeeded.
That was exactly why he'd said all that just now: to draw out his father, the biggest Viltrumite invader sent to Earth.
Yeah. Viltrumites weren't like Kryptonians. They weren't here to protect Earth.
They were here to dominate it.
This race—rare across the universe—had ruled almost the entire observable cosmos.
Almost every one of them could easily take over a planet.
Spacefaring civilizations were as fragile as tissue paper in front of a Viltrumite.
"You're coming with me. Right now."
"I'm going to have a long talk with you about how you ended up with thoughts that extreme."
Nolan grabbed Jovian by the hand and started dragging him outside.
"Nolan, he was just joking!"
Deborah looked worried as Nolan hauled Jovian toward the door.
"Deborah, this is a father-and-son conversation."
"I will not allow anyone in my family to have ideas that extreme."
"Not even as a thought."
Nolan shut down Deborah and Mark with a single look when they tried to step in.
"Good luck, man," Mark muttered, head down like an ostrich—using the moment to shovel a bigger helping onto his plate. "I'm definitely not getting involved."
Jovian said nothing.
He just let Nolan yank him out of the house.
"Jovian, listen to me. Were you serious back there?"
Nolan took Jovian straight up into the sky, hovering high above the neighborhood, staring at him with a severe expression.
"Yeah… probably," Jovian nodded, then started explaining like he was thinking it through. "We're so strong, and they're so weak…"
"My son!"
Before Jovian could finish, Nolan pulled him into a tight hug.
"You really are a natural-born Viltrumite!"
Nolan's eyes were practically glowing with satisfaction.
"Long ago, when I was conquering an advanced world with my companions, I met a wizard. She begged me to spare her."
"She said she could tell me my future if I let her live. I agreed."
"And she told me this: my first child on a planet called Earth would be a natural-born Viltrumite powerhouse. He would surpass the Grand Regent and become the true King of Viltrum—leading our people to conquer the entire universe."
"After she finished, I killed her."
"Because I was afraid someone else might hear it."
"And honestly, I didn't think her prophecy was real. If she truly saw the future, she should've known that the moment she told me that, I'd kill her on the spot."
"Clearly, she didn't see her own death."
"When you were born, I remembered that prophecy. That's why you were given your name, Jovian."
"King of the gods."
"To the natives of this planet, we Viltrumites are like gods. And 'Jovian,' the king of the gods, means you'll become the king of our gods—our Viltrumite king."
"But you didn't awaken for so long that I started thinking you were just… a lowly human."
"Still, your genes pushed you to grow stronger, to train constantly, to practice fighting."
"And today you finally gained power. You became one of us."
"You even beat your brother easily!"
"That's when I knew the prophecy was real."
"My son—your strength is innate. You're a natural-born Viltrumite powerhouse!"
Nolan was so excited he was practically spitting his words out. He looked even more fired up than Jovian.
Jovian put on a confused face. "I don't get it, Dad. Aren't Viltrumites supposed to be friendly?"
Nolan burst into laughter.
"That's just the lie I use to fool the locals."
"We Viltrumites have never been friendly."
"We're a people who live for conquest."
"I pretend to be the Superman they want, so I can learn this planet's combat strength while figuring out the best way to take it over."
Then Nolan looked straight at him and extended an offer—an olive branch.
"My son… will you help me?"
Nolan knew there was a gamble in asking. If Jovian refused, everything could fall apart… and it might end with a father-and-son battle.
"When do we strike?"
But what Nolan didn't expect was for Jovian to ask immediately.
"…What did you say?"
Nolan blinked, stunned by how fast he'd agreed.
"I mean… when do we make our move against this planet?"
Jovian clarified.
"Not yet."
"This planet isn't as easy as it looks. Sure, the civilization is only at a low-level spacefaring stage…"
"But Earth is being watched by all kinds of strange forces. It's a hard bone to chew."
"And the first enemy standing in our way is the Guardians of the Globe."
Nolan stared at Jovian seriously.
He'd already decided.
It was time to make a move against the Guardians of the Globe.