Shazam nodded upon hearing the plan. His expression grew tense as he took a deep breath and then, in an instant, transformed into a streak of red light, blasting into the sky.
With flight speed exceeding a thousand times the speed of sound, it took only a few minutes for Shazam's motion to tear through the air and generate a powerful tornado. Within moments, the entire Yellowstone National Park was engulfed by swirling winds.
High above, Shin followed suit, soaring into the sky without hesitation. As the tornado matured, large quantities of solid volcanic debris were flung upward. Dark mist began to coil around Shin, and in his hand, a black sphere shimmered faintly. The solid matter was rapidly drawn into the swirling darkness.
But this was only the beginning.
With the tornado established, Shin expanded his role, invoking weather manipulation and chakra-heavy ninjutsu to saturate the sky with moisture. Combined with the vast quantities of volcanic ash launched into the atmosphere by the eruption, this effort soon summoned heavy rainfall over the region.
The rainfall helped bind the airborne ash, which was then vacuumed upward by the tornado's currents and sucked into Shin's dark vortex. His modified Chibaku Tensei was being performed at a deliberately extended pace to continuously draw in and contain the volcanic matter. All the while, Shin maintained his grip on the surrounding atmosphere, guiding water vapor to fuel the storm. As a result, his awareness of his surroundings diminished considerably.
Unseen in the upper atmosphere, Superman, still under the control of Grid, had been observing the operation silently. Now, without hesitation, he became a red beam of destruction, diving toward Earth from orbit.
Accelerated by both his immense strength and Earth's gravity, Superman reached speeds approaching Mach 2000. At that velocity, even Shin failed to react in time. The blow struck with terrifying force, cleaving Shin in half as though he were nothing more than paper. The two halves of his bisected body dropped limply.
Hovering over the scene, Superman's blood-red eyes glowed coldly as he scanned for his next target... Shazam, who continued generating the tornado. But before he could launch another strike, he felt a hand land softly on his shoulder.
In the next instant, black mist exploded outward.
A crushing gravitational force erupted from Shin's palm, instantly attempting to pull Superman into the black vortex of the Dark-Dark Fruit's space. The surprise attack, executed with perfect timing, caught Superman off guard, causing him to reel back in shock. Though Grid suppressed human emotion, it could not suppress tactical disadvantage.
Superman spun midair, violently resisting the gravitational pull. Shin, now fully revealed, intensified the suction force from the darkness, trying to draw the Kryptonian entirely into the void. But even weakened, Superman's raw strength defied complete absorption.
With a sharp breath, Shin made his next move.
With a flick of his wrist, he shattered the seal around a storage scroll tied to his arm. A glimmer of green light burst forth as a set of brass knuckles, crafted from pure kryptonite, materialized on his fist.
The moment Superman was bathed in the green glow, his strength plummeted. Of course, Shin also experienced a decline in his own power, as the kryptonite partially affected his quarter-Kryptonian physiology. But the drop in his abilities was far less severe than Superman's, giving him a distinct edge.
Without hesitation, Shin struck. The emerald brass knuckles connected with Superman's jaw, sending shockwaves through the air. The mighty Man of Steel staggered, his energy vanishing like a light switched off.
If Superman hadn't still been under Grid's control, he might've lost control of his flight and plummeted straight into the volcano below. But even so, powerless and dazed, he couldn't fight the pull of the dark vortex.
A moment later, he was completely absorbed and trapped inside Shin's dark dimension.
As for the body that Superman had obliterated moments earlier?
It gradually faded from flesh and blood to lifeless wood. The two halves crumbled into splinters. What Superman had struck was a wooden clone all along.
A simple Wood Clone (Mokuton Bunshin) and a well-placed Flying Thunder God seal had turned the tide.
From the very start, Shin had planned the trap a decoy to bait Superman into attacking, then a teleport behind him using the Flying Thunder God Technique to strike with kryptonite. It was a classic example of ninja tactics deception and redirection.
Although DC comics often tout tactical masterminds, few compare to the deception playbooks of the shinobi world. In that world, tactical superiority isn't measured by brute strength but by misdirection. Even basic clone techniques are lessons in psychological warfare.
In a shinobi battlefield, most experienced ninjas could detect a decoy with ease. But Superman, unfamiliar with such tricks, had been thoroughly fooled.
While the airborne battle concluded, the ground below remained chaotic. Two scarlet blurs, both Flashes under the influence of Brother Eye, darted across the terrain, disrupting defenses. Wonder Woman and her alternate counterpart intercepted them repeatedly, attempting to anticipate their next moves.
The moment Shin successfully sealed Superman, the two Flashes seemed to falter. Without hesitation, they vanished into streaks of red lightning, fleeing into the distance.
Landing softly beside Wonder Woman, Shin muttered, "Two Flashes... I wonder why Superman didn't create two copies of himself. I remember there were more than enough of those twin spring waters left."
His mind raced.
Technically, Shin could match the Flash in speed, especially over short distances. But for beings who move at light speed, even a two-second head start was enough to disappear into the horizon.
Despite capturing Superman, Shin had no way of locating the speedsters now.
Still, the mystery lingered. Why hadn't Grid made twin Supermen?
The answer, ironically, was simple.
Superman was married.
Even if clones shared the same mind and purpose, sharing a wife was a far more complicated matter. Plus, creating a second self might make sense in battle, but in daily life, it introduced more problems than it solved.
With the Flashes gone and Superman captured, the team regrouped quickly.
Luthor, now encased in his heavy armor, worked alongside Captain Cold to configure the enhanced freeze cannon. After a rapid series of calibrations, they fired.
A massive blue beam lanced out and struck the steaming volcano. The freezing energy, amplified by the rain and the atmospheric moisture Shin had summoned, began to freeze the lava vents, solidifying the surrounding magma and choking the eruption's energy at the source.
The molten surge that had once threatened half the continent was finally held in check.
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