He Makes His Move

Golden, silver-white, and violet-blue.

Three bolts of lightning in different colors tore across half the battlefield almost simultaneously. The air was ripped apart, the violent impact twisting the surrounding currents as three incomparably dazzling lights erupted, instantly drawing everyone’s attention.

Faora was among them. Warnings kept sounding in her mind, and she could even sense the attack paths of the incoming lightning. But suspended in midair, inertia left her unable to evade effectively.

At the same time, she had never expected there to be beings on this tiny Earth capable of controlling lightning. This sudden ambush clearly caught her off guard.

Perhaps their understanding of Earth over this period had given these Kryptonians a sense of superiority. Earth possessed plenty of interesting technology, but most of it was child’s play before Kryptonians. With the Yellow Sun empowering them, General Zod and the others had become even more unrestrained.

But lightning was different. Any lightning visible to the naked eye carried immense power, a force capable of piercing the air. It might not inflict fatal damage on Kryptonians, but it could still hurt or paralyze them.

The energy-laden attack struck. Faora had no time to counterattack in her haste and could only instinctively cross her arms, trying to use the Kryptonian armor on them to block the lightning.

Crack—!

The lightning burst with blinding radiance and struck Faora’s arms in an instant. A sharp pain and numbness shot through them, followed by a flash of intense light that made her narrow her eyes.

Before losing most of her vision, Faora vaguely made out the three people who had ambushed her.

They all looked human. One of them carried a cane and was a one-armed cripple. One bolt of lightning had been fired from the scepter in his hand.

The other two were surrounded by electric charge, arcs of lightning slithering across their bodies like tiny snakes before converging and shooting from their hands.

The battlefield changed in an instant. The soldiers finally understood what that phrase meant. They stared at the scene in shock. This sudden development immediately drew every eye, yet no one knew who these people were or when they had appeared.

But they knew one thing: since these people with "superpowers" had attacked the Kryptonians, they had to be on humanity’s side.

Faora’s ambush also drew General Zod’s attention. He climbed out of the crater and slowly shook his head as he looked at Kara, who was consumed by rage.

"So these are your reinforcements? As a Kryptonian, you chose to stand with humans, Kara. In the end, you still chose the wrong path."

"You don’t deserve to speak the name Krypton." Kara glared at General Zod with hatred. Seeing his gaze turn toward Faora, she sneered. "And don’t underestimate Earthlings."

As if to prove Kara’s words, a missile flew toward Faora. It was a small grenade launcher round, and it was not particularly fast. A Kryptonian should have been able to evade it easily, but pinned down by the three lightning bolts, Faora could not move for the moment.

Even if she had not been paralyzed, Faora could not have been bothered to dodge. At that moment, all she considered was how to strike back.

The lightning was powerful, but it could not truly harm her. Moreover, unleashing lightning of such magnitude consumed enormous energy. Her opponents could not possibly suppress her for long.

Once their energy ran dry, it would be time for her counterattack.

With that thought in mind, Faora was directly struck from behind by the missile. The grenade round exploded the instant it hit her Man of Steel, its burst of fire vanishing in a flash as it stirred up a cloud of green smoke.

Yet Faora remained unconcerned. So were the Kryptonian soldiers rushing over from nearby. To them, human weapons were all bark and no bite, useless except for making noise.

Noticing the strangely colored mist, Faora’s lips curled into a mocking smile. Poison gas? What ignorant creatures. Even their methods of combat were so childish. After following General Zod through so many campaigns, gas warfare had long been discarded as a primitive tactic.

It was not merely because each planet’s materials differed, making it difficult for a poison to affect every alien species. More importantly, many powerful beings had long become immune to "toxins," Kryptonians included.

And when General Zod and the others had come to Earth, they had not arrived unprepared. They had already surveyed most of Earth’s materials and technological level. It could be said that Earth’s civilization could hardly contend with them.

So Faora paid no attention to the insignificant poison gas. But in the next moment, her expression froze. Even her narrowed eyes snapped open, filled with disbelief.

As the green mist entered her body, a sudden wave of weakness surged through her. It was a bizarre sensation beyond words, something Faora had never experienced in her life.

At first, Faora thought she was imagining it. But she quickly realized that the pain in her arms was growing worse. It was no longer just numbness and soreness; there was also a scorching heat, as though they had been engulfed by intense flames.

Fortunately, the sensation quickly faded.

Not because Faora’s own strength had returned, but because the three people releasing the lightning had stopped due to insufficient energy. Faora barely managed to steady herself. She felt incomparably "weak," her arms hanging limply at her sides, incapable of even lifting them.

"What… what did you do?"

Faora gritted her teeth as she looked at the three humans before her, each wearing a different expression. She could not believe that something capable of weakening Kryptonians still existed on Earth.

"Nothing much. We merely prepared a few little ‘gifts’ for you."

A voice suddenly came from behind Faora, making her eyes widen sharply. Hearing the clear words from less than a meter away, Faora felt her mouth go dry.

Who was that?!

Someone had silently approached from behind and gotten so close. Most terrifying of all, she had not noticed when he arrived.

The next second, Faora suddenly felt something shove her. The force swiftly sent her flying into the sky.

Her vision tilted, and a bizarre figure entered Faora’s sight. He wore a strange helmet and a Bird-Beak Mask, dressed in a black trench coat and a top hat.

Most striking of all were the Black Umbrella in his hand and the Ink Sword he had drawn from its handle.

Before this bizarre man, a body stood steadily upright. What puzzled Faora was why that body looked so strangely familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before.

And why did that body have no head?