When General Zod slowly opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the horizon blazing with light.
For a brief moment, hope returned to his heart.
Had the World Engine restarted?
He pushed himself up from the shattered ground and looked toward the sky.
What he saw was not the alien beam of the World Engine.
Instead, dawn had arrived.
The sky had brightened and the first rays of sunlight were spreading across Metropolis, bathing the broken city in pale gold.
But the rising sun was partially blocked.
A figure hovered in the air.
The sunlight caught the edge of a black cape that moved steadily in the morning wind.
Adrian floated silently above the crater, looking down at General Zod.
From the opposite direction, Clark descended slowly through the sky until he hovered nearby.
The two Kryptonians faced the last surviving general of Krypton.
Zod looked up at Adrian.
The man who had destroyed everything.
Slowly, Zod crouched and picked up a handful of gray ash from the remains of the alien wreckage scattered around him.
He opened his palm and let the dust fall through his fingers.
"Look at this."
His voice trembled with emotion.
"We could have rebuilt our home here."
He looked up again, his eyes burning with anger.
"But you chose humans. You chose them instead of your own people."
His lips quivered as the words came out.
"My entire existence was created for one purpose, to protect Krypton. That is the only reason I exist."
His body shook as rage began to consume him.
"Everything I did, no matter how cruel you think it was, was for Krypton. For the survival of our people."
His voice grew hoarse.
"And now..."
His bloodshot eyes locked onto Adrian.
"You have taken everything from me."
The muscles in his face twitched violently as he forced out the words.
"I have lost my people. I have lost my world. You ripped the very soul out of my body."
Suddenly, Zod planted his feet firmly into the ground.
Boom!
The street beneath him shattered as he launched himself into the sky like a missile.
He charged directly toward Adrian.
Adrian raised one arm to block the attack.
But the impact was stronger than expected.
The force sent Adrian flying backward through the air.
Clark reacted instantly.
Before he could fully intercept, Zod's fist slammed into his chest.
Bang!
Clark was blasted backward and crashed heavily into the ground, rolling across the broken street.
Zod hovered in the air, his expression twisted with fury.
"Since you have chosen humanity..."
His voice roared across the ruined city.
"Then I will kill every human on this planet, one by one."
His eyes burned with hatred.
"I will make them suffer. And I will make you suffer with them."
Boom!
Adrian regained control of his body in mid air and immediately rushed forward again.
His muscles tensed as he gathered every ounce of strength into his right arm.
Then he struck.
Bang!
His fist smashed directly into Zod's chest.
The impact launched Zod high into the sky, creating a thunderous shockwave.
At the same moment Clark pushed himself up from the street.
With a burst of super speed he shot upward to join the fight.
Clark clenched his teeth as he closed the distance.
Veins bulged along his forehead as he drove a punch into Zod's back.
Boom!
The air exploded around them.
The compressed shockwave slammed Zod downward.
He plummeted from the sky like a falling meteor.
His body smashed through the roof of a nearby office building.
Concrete shattered as he crashed through multiple floors.
Reinforced steel beams twisted apart. Office desks and chairs were crushed into splinters. Pipes burst and water sprayed across the collapsing floors.
Finally Zod slammed into one of the lower levels.
Everything around him collapsed into rubble.
Rumble!
The violent destruction echoed through the building like thunder.
Inside the office, terrified employees screamed as they ran for their lives.
Panic spread instantly.
Boom!
Zod erupted from beneath the rubble.
Chunks of concrete flew through the air as he stood up in the destroyed office floor.
Before he could move further, a crimson beam of heat vision blasted across the room.
The beam tore through the floor like a cutting blade.
Adrian hovered at the far end of the building, his eyes blazing as the laser swept toward Zod.
The entire level began collapsing under the damage.
Zod roared and lunged forward, narrowly dodging the beam as he rushed toward Adrian.
At the same moment, the floor that had been sliced apart by the heat vision finally gave way.
The entire level collapsed.
Concrete and steel crashed downward with a deafening roar.
A massive cloud of dust exploded outward into the streets below.
Outside, crowds of stunned civilians stared upward in disbelief.
"Oh my God!"
Someone shouted as they watched the destruction.
Adrian's heat vision had literally torn apart a building.
Fear and shock filled the faces of everyone watching.
High above the collapsing structure, Adrian punched forward again.
His fist struck Zod squarely in the chest.
However, Zod's fighting instincts had completely awakened.
Without transforming into his Doomsday state, Adrian found it difficult to fully overpower him.
Zod's speed and strength were slightly weaker than Adrian's, but his savage and reckless fighting style made him extremely dangerous.
Suddenly Zod's eyes flared red.
Sizzle!
Twin beams of heat vision blasted forward.
Adrian raised his arm to block the attack, but the force pushed him hundreds of meters backward through the air.
Clark roared and flew in from behind.
His own heat vision struck Zod directly in the back.
Bang!
The ambush slammed Zod violently into the ground below.
A police car was crushed instantly beneath his impact.
His body continued sliding across the street, smashing into several more parked vehicles.
Boom!
One of the fuel tanks ruptured.
The explosion ignited the entire street.
Fire and thick smoke spread rapidly through the area.
Several humans nearby were instantly engulfed in the flames.
A chain reaction of explosions tore through the lower floors of nearby buildings.
Clark landed in the burning street.
Before he could react, Zod burst from the flames and struck him with a brutal punch.
Clark staggered but refused to fall.
He responded with a powerful sonic boom punch.
The surrounding air detonated.
The two Kryptonians exchanged dozens of blows in seconds.
Eventually Clark was driven back and slammed into the ground.
Stone fragments flew everywhere.
Clark forced himself up again.
But Zod moved with terrifying speed and struck him once more.
Clark's body plowed across the street, carving a deep trench through the concrete.
Zod tore off the damaged Kryptonian armor covering his body.
His glowing red eyes locked onto Clark.
"Between you and me," Zod growled, "there is only one possible outcome."
"Your death, or mine."
He prepared to charge again.
But suddenly he heard movement above him.
Zod looked up.
Adrian was descending from the sky at incredible speed.
Zod exploded upward to meet him.
The two collided in mid air.
Boom!
A massive shockwave erupted outward.
The ground beneath them instantly collapsed into a deep crater.
The upper floors of the nearby building shattered from the impact.
Debris rained down from the sky.
The weakened structure finally gave way.
The building collapsed sideways and smashed into another structure nearby.
Rumble!
The sound echoed across the city.
Meanwhile, the battle was being broadcast across the United States through satellite news coverage.
Millions of viewers stared at their screens in shock.
Inside a hotel room in Metropolis, Pat and Courtney watched the broadcast unfold.
Courtney's mouth hung open.
"Did they just collapse buildings with the shockwaves from their punches?"
Pat slowly nodded.
"If they keep fighting like this, the entire city might be destroyed."
Across the country, viewers were realizing something terrifying.
Heroes of this level were far beyond ordinary human understanding.
The power they wielded rivaled military weapons.
Movies about superheroes suddenly seemed small and unrealistic compared to what was happening in reality.
A single punch could launch someone hundreds of meters.
The thunder of clashing fists shook the air.
When they slammed into the ground from the sky, the resulting shockwave shattered entire streets.
No movie special effect could replicate something like this.
Inside a large shopping mall, a crowd gathered around the televisions in an electronics store.
Everyone stared silently at the battle.
No one even dared to breathe loudly.
It felt like they were witnessing a fight that would decide the fate of the planet.
Many people already recognized Adrian, known publicly as Homelander.
But the young man wearing the symbol "S" on his chest remained unfamiliar to most of them.
Still, if he was fighting alongside Adrian, he had to be the legendary Kryptonian, Kal El.
"They are so young," a woman wearing a headscarf whispered.
"They are just children."
A freckled little girl tugged on her mother's sleeve.
"If they lose, will the aliens take Earth?"
Her mother didn't respond.
She was staring at the screen in stunned silence.
At the very edge of the crowd stood Rachel.
Her hood covered most of her face.
She watched her two brothers fighting on the screen, her jaw clenched tightly.
For the first time in her life, she felt a desperate desire for power.
Only strength like that could protect the people she loved.
Why was she so weak?
Her mother once said that Adrian could lift a tractor when he was just a child.
Yet Rachel struggled to carry a handbag.
She felt clumsy and useless.
Suddenly the television screen filled with green static blocks.
The broadcast signal became distorted.
People in the crowd groaned in frustration.
Rachel turned and walked away.
If she could not watch her brothers on television, then she would go see them herself.
Back in the battlefield, Zod slammed heavily into the ground again.
Adrian descended from the sky.
His eyes ignited once more.
Boom!
The heat vision blasted Zod across the ground and slammed him into the lowest floor of a nearby building.
Adrian landed calmly in front of the ruins.
He watched Zod struggle to crawl out from the wreckage, blood running down his forehead.
Adrian's voice was cold.
"Your life ends here, Zod."
Zod glared at him.
"I was trained to be a warrior. I spent my entire life mastering my senses and perfecting my combat skills."
His voice filled with contempt.
"And you?"
"You grew up on a farm."
His fists clenched tightly.
"I am Krypton's greatest warrior!"
With a roar, Zod rushed forward.
But exhaustion had begun to slow him.
His reactions were no longer as sharp as before.
Adrian moved instantly.
His hand shot forward.
He grabbed Zod by the throat.
___
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