High above, Clark furrowed his brow and scanned his surroundings.
Although his earlier strike had killed over a billion lives on the planet, an endless stream of creatures still poured out from the boom tubes and from beneath the surface of the Core.
Just as Clark was about to try exploring the planet's interior, a figure suddenly appeared before him.
Clark's expression stiffened. It was a woman with golden hair, a beautiful face, an hourglass figure, and a ridiculously seductive outfit.
Just how seductive was her outfit, exactly?
She wore only two silk scarves across her entire body.
And those two scarves—one above, one below—just barely covered her vital areas.
Looking at such a woman, Clark frowned.
"Who are you?"
"Who am I?"
The woman suddenly smiled gently. Her body glided lightly through the air, and in an instant she slid into Clark's arms.
Feeling her hand caressing his chest, Clark was horrified. He immediately shot upward, trying to escape her proximity.
But the very next second, he slammed hard into the barrier that enclosed the Core thirty thousand meters above.
Boom!!!
With a dull thud, Clark hurriedly stopped. Although blocked by the barrier, his speed just now had been close to the speed of light.
By all logic, this woman shouldn't have been able to keep up.
Yet at this very moment, the woman was still lying coyly in Clark's arms, gently stroking him while asking,
"A man capable of leading an army and fighting his way to Brainiac's side—and you don't even know my name or identity..."
As her words fell, the woman lowered her brows in feigned sorrow and sighed softly.
"That makes me sad, you know."
With that, the woman's body suddenly drifted and in an instant appeared behind Clark.
Her chest pressed tightly against Clark's back, while her two soft hands slid along his broad latissimus muscles, moving toward his front.
One hand slowly crept up to Clark's neck, her small palm gliding along his jaw.
Moments later, the soft heel of her palm lifted his chin, while her slender, nimble fingers danced lightly over his lips, then playfully slipped into his mouth.
At the same time, her other hand...
Feeling what the woman was doing to him, Clark was horrified.
"Wh-what the hell!!!"
Wait...
Clark blinked again, only then realizing the woman had already climbed onto his shoulders.
Clark panicked.
If they were kissing...
"GET OFF!!!"
Clark roared, reaching behind him and grabbing the woman, hurling her away with all his might!
At the same time, he pressed his lips together in disgust and spat twice.
"What the hell, who are you?!!"
Having thrown the woman away, Clark immediately shouted the question. Across from him, the woman, who had slowly come to a stop without the slightest sign of disarray, smiled shyly like an unmarried maiden.
"If you want to ask my name, shouldn't you be a little more polite?"
With that, her fingertips lightly covered her own lips. As she giggled softly, her chest quivered along with her laughter.
Somehow, Clark lowered his gaze. He found it hard to look at this woman anymore.
Head bowed, his face flushing slightly, he asked quietly,
"Then... may I know your name?"
"I'm Grace. And you?"
"Kal-El."
"Oh, a Kryptonian. I've never seen a Kryptonian as strong as you."
With that, the woman took a step and walked through the air with a floating grace, coming all the way to stand before Clark.
She reached out, her delicate palm pressing gently over his heart.
"Kal-El, you are truly the most perfect warrior I have ever seen. So, am I the most perfect woman you've ever seen?"
The moment Grace finished speaking, Clark suddenly froze.
He had already fallen into some inexplicable state, as if his conversation with Grace had brought him infinite joy.
He should have been lost in it, but the words Grace had just spoken happened to snap him awake.
Clark struggled to furrow his brow, then with difficulty shook his head.
"No!!!"
"Oh?"
Hearing Clark's denial, Grace smiled with interest.
After her mischievous little tongue licked lightly at the corner of her mouth, she asked him with feigned disappointment,
"Are you saying I'm not the most perfect woman?"
"No!!!"
Clark shook his head violently, then explained to Grace with heavy emphasis.
"I mean, I'm not the strongest warrior!!!"
"Hehe~~"
Grace smiled with satisfaction. Climbing lightly onto Clark, she said to him,
"I've never seen anyone stronger than you. So being the strongest in my heart is enough.
My warrior, can you take me back down to where you were originally?"
"Of course!"
Clark nodded firmly, then plummeted downward, crashing all the way down beside the Kryptonian scholar.
At the same time, Grace flexed her bare feet and hopped down playfully, landing beside Clark.
Nearby, the Kryptonian scholar looked at Clark with confusion and asked,
"Kal-El, is something wrong?"
Before Clark could answer, Grace spoke softly.
"Tell him nothing's wrong. Right?"
As she spoke, Grace smiled and walked toward Clark.
But she had only taken two steps when she felt her throat suddenly tighten.
At the same time, Clark furrowed his brow again, holding the woman up by her neck as he said to the scholar,
"There is something. We've got a rather special enemy here. I caught her so you all could take a look."
But Clark's explanation only made the scholar's eyes widen in shock.
"Kal-El, have you lost your mind?!!"
The scholar shouted, his astonishment leaving Clark utterly confused.
"What do you mean, lost my mind? This enemy is special. I sensed a psychic attack ability.
I'm not great at dealing with that sort of thing, and I was worried others might already be under her control, so I brought her here for you to handle!"
"What psychic attack? What are you talking about, my warrior?"
In Clark's grip, Grace drawled.
At the same time, the scholar nearby and the Atlantean warriors in the vicinity all stared at Clark with shocked expressions.
Startled by the stunned crowd around him, Clark yanked the woman in front of him, his grip around her throat tightening steadily.
As he increased the pressure, he growled at Grace,
"What did you do?"
"Nothing, Kal-El. I just made them all mine."
"You!!!"
Clark glared fiercely. Then he raised his left hand and drove his fist into Grace's stomach.
But even after taking Clark's punch, Grace showed no reaction. She simply continued giggling.
The scholar closest to Clark rushed forward, grabbed hold of Clark, and tried to wrench Grace out of his hands.
Seeing this, Clark sighed helplessly and shoved the full-strength scholar aside.
"Hold on. You've all been controlled."
Clark explained, then pulled Grace in front of him and hurled her to the ground.
Then he raised his right foot and stomped straight down at Grace's head.
"I'm still too soft-hearted. I shouldn't have kept her alive. Then none of this would have happened!"
As his words fell, Clark's foot slammed down hard, but the stomp only cracked the ground into countless fissures.
As for Grace, she was now cradled in the Flash's arms.
"What the hell, Barry, have you lost your mind too?"
Clark asked in annoyance.
At that same moment, Batman stepped forward.
Clark had always held a certain respect for Bruce—after all, Bruce was the only human on Earth who had ever hurt him.
So Clark hesitated, furrowing his brow, and asked Bruce quietly,
"Bruce, you too... No, wait. Could it be that I'm the one being controlled? What I'm seeing... it's not real, is it?"
"No, Clark. What you're seeing is real. I love Grace!"
Bruce shouted at the utterly shocked Clark.
Those words made Clark roll his eyes helplessly.
"Great. What the hell. I really am being affected. You would never say something like that, especially not in front of me.
What I'm seeing, what I'm hearing—it's probably all been twisted into what she wants me to see and hear.
What a terrifying ability."
Clark took a deep breath, then stood quietly in place and closed his eyes.
"Ancestor, answer my call. Do you have a way to break her control over me?"
As he spoke, Clark waited quietly. But he had no idea that, in the eyes of everyone else...
What they had just seen was Clark first slamming down to the ground, then grabbing the nearest Amazon warrior woman and seizing her by the neck.
Then, he tightened his grip around the Amazon's throat.
In their eyes, Clark roared,
"These weaklings are making this battle a hassle! They don't deserve to be my warriors!"
With that, Clark hurled the woman to the ground and tried to stomp her to pieces...
In short, Barry had saved the poor woman, but Clark remained unrepentant, even when confronted by Bruce.
"Clark, something's wrong with your eyes. Are you being controlled?"
"Of course not. Who could possibly control me? It's just that you weaklings aren't worthy of understanding my thoughts!
In this war, you have the ability to do better, but your frailty keeps me from fighting at full strength!
Trust me, without all of you, I'd win much faster!"
As his words fell, everyone watched Clark curl his lip in contempt, then close his eyes and stand there, finally saying with utter disdain,
"No offense, but I'm not talking about one or two of you. I'm talking about everyone here.
You're all goddamn trash!!!"
...
The scene truly opened everyone's eyes.
Clark's words genuinely infuriated the Amazon warriors who didn't know him well.
As for those who did know Clark, one by one, they realized something was very, very wrong.
...
After closing his eyes for a long while, Clark helplessly opened them. When he saw the hateful stares directed at him from all around, he pressed his lips together in resignation.
This time he didn't speak. Instead, he thought to himself,
"Even the words I speak must have been affected. Otherwise they wouldn't be looking at me like that.
Though maybe they weren't looking at me like that at all. After all, if she can control what I say, then wouldn't controlling everything I see be even easier?
I can't even be sure if I'm really standing here right now. Am I in the middle of slaughtering them?
That person—that so-called Grace...
She completely counters me!"
...
At that very moment, within the Divine Kingdom.
Watching Clark through the sky, Heisenberg's lips curved into an amused smile.
He pointed at the image of Clark and said to the utterly bewildered Mogo, speaking mostly to himself,
"Look at that! This world's iconic scene is here—Superman's been mind-controlled again, hahaha!!!"
/-\
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