Chapter 1: 01 - Approaching Planet Earth—Is That A Kryptonian!?
"What the fuck." I couldn't help but mutter as I saw the planet down below, the reinforced glass of the cockpit was the only thing separating me from the harsh vacuum of space.
Apologies for the language, my dead ancestors, but could I really be blamed? I mean...
"This planet...it's quite the treasure trove, isn't it? Galactic-standard gravity, on a Magical Leyline, abundant with enough life to be called a Gaia world, has rare metals, and with weak natives that can't even be considered as a Type-1 Civilization yet." I said with a wide smile.
What an overwhelming rare find, and it's not conquered yet, how!?
"Correction, Master Lugh. Planet Terra is and has been legally owned by the Planetary Trade Organization since its discovery." A vaguely masculine robotic voice, devoid of any warmth nor emotion, spoke out from the ship's speakers.
"Well, they sure as hell haven't done anything with it!" I said with an appraising look. "Could we just buy it off of them? This Planet seems perfect for us."
"Unfortunately not, Master Lugh. We don't have nearly enough funds to buy it off of their hands." The voice quickly replied in a formal tone.
"Really...? How much is the price?"
"Way too high."
"I suppose that's appropriate." The Trade Organization probably hadn't done anything to the Planet to keep its price that high, unfortunately for them...
"Let's descend, anyway." I don't happen to follow their real estate laws...or any real estate laws for that matter, considering the state that the Empire was in.
The lack thereof actually. The Empire was as dead as a fish in a market, salted and dried for all to see and drool upon.
"Are you sure, Master Lugh? Illegal planetary occupation is a universally recognised war crime...on the bright side, you don't have to abide by any tax laws."
"Seems like a good deal to me." I saw with a shrug as I leaned back on my comfy revolving chair. "Let's just descend, I want to see the planet's surface for myself."
"Understood, Master Lugh." The AI responded without missing a beat.
The ship released a soft hum of power as the thruster engines did their one and only job.
This ship could go FTL, most spacefaring ships worth their salt could, but such an act was unnecessary, so the Warp Drives weren't activated.
Like a falling comet, the starship I commanded broke the atmosphere and slipped through between the clouds.
Though I say like a comet, my ship did not make such a noticeable light show, at the same time, it also wasn't trying to hide.
The first scenery I saw was of a desert with several pyramid-like structures built atop the surface, probably by the natives.
After 5 minutes, the ship travelled to another locale, this time to a secluded rain forest with abundant wild life.
Another 5 minutes, I was in a bustling primitive city, hovering just next to a building that I presumed was some type of headquarter for a corporation.
"Weird architecture," I commented as I saw the cubical buildings.
"This type of architecture is the planetary standard, Master Lugh." The AI told me.
Again, another 5 minutes, and we were in a new city, right on top of a triangle-shaped tower.
5 minutes, now we were overlooking some big clock tower.
5 minutes later, we were beside another tower, though this one seemed more like an unnecessarily tall skyscraper than an actual tower.
After another 5 minutes, we were back atop the sea as the surroundings progressively started to get colder and colder.
"No harmful biohazards found in the atmosphere." The AI announced. "The air is perfectly compatible with the galactic standard of lungs."
"Great..." I commented. Although I could sustain myself without any breathable air for a while, it still felt nice being able to breathe. "Continue."
"Extronet connection unavailable. Planetary Internet native to the planet seems to be prevalent, however."
"That's a bummer, I was waiting for the last few episodes of Call Upon Soul," I say, though I wasn't actually bothered much.
It wouldn't be the first time I had bad Extronet service.
"Average planetary temperature is 25° Kolson, the average temperature of the surroundings is -80° Kolson."
That's rather cold in comparison to the planet's average, which is to be expected from one of the poles.
"Pollution level: Very concerning and already starting to impact the planetary climate." Of course.
"That is surprisingly common among primitives..." I commented with a shake of my head, no way would the Empire ever fall to such self-destructive behaviour.
"Indeed, pollution is one of the leading causes of extinction for pre-FTL civilizations, just right behind alien invasions." The AI informed me before moving on.
"Determining appropriate landing site—" It stopped.
Then a warning notice came upon me as the surrounding monitor screens flashed a dangerous red.
"Master Lugh! Something approximately the size of you is approaching our location with ten times the speed of sound!" The AI warned.
"What?" I sat up from my chair with raised eyebrows. "Did the natives send a missile already? That's a bit faster than usual..."
"No, Master Lugh. Scanning suggests that the approaching object is a living creature with completely stable vital signs." Now that certainly got my attention.
"Show me!" A hologram flickered before me, showing a 3-D map of the surroundings.
The ship itself was at the centre of the map, but just a distance away was a blinking dot rapidly closing that distance.
"It is too fast to properly make out, Master Lugh." The AI began.
"But the object in question seems to be absorbing Solar Radiation from the surroundings. Perhaps a mutagenic ability, or some kind of solar-powered armour." It continued.
"Shoot it down, that thing is clearly coming to us with hostile intent," I ordered without much hesitation.
"Understood." The AI immediately answered as the ship released its self-defence systems.
Missiles and artillery were deployed from the ship, followed right after by fast-moving lasers.
My eyes focused on the blinking dot as the hologram of my weapons rapidly approached it.
First came the lasers, which it managed to easily dodge, not even slowing down a little.
Then the artillery, which it shrugged off pretty easily.
And the missiles, whatever the dot was chose to destroy them first before they could even get him, and it did it by...
Shooting its own lasers.
"Solar Radiation levels rapidly rising!" The AI said. "Master Lugh, further scanning of the object suggest an absence of armour or magical interference, this could only mean—"
"Yes, I'm aware," I said with a frown. "Beam me down there, Add. I'm gonna go see for myself."
The AI, designated as ADD, simply complied without talking as a buzzing sound resounded through the ship.
I quickly floated to the platform and with a click of a button...
-WOOSH!
A blue light overtook me as I was warped outside, the cold of the frost immediately brushing up against my fair skin.
My eyes, darkest brown in hue, snapped to the reflective surface of the nearby ice, a hand going through my jet-black hair as I admired myself.
I opened my mouth and took a large gulp of air, feeling the vibe of this planet with my very own lungs.
My body then exploded into action as I broke through the sound barrier and prepared a fist.
-BAAM!
I threw it with no abandon.
He dodged to the side, my fist barely missing his head as I got a good look at his face, and the curious look on it.
The Kryptonian was faster than me, that's bad.
A fist was then sent towards me, an overwhelmingly appropriate response were it not for the speed.
It was slow, much slower than it should have been.
I dodged it with ease before moving back and making distance, my body floating above him as I crossed my arms, looking down at him with the typical gaze of my kind.
"You caused quite the ruckus...eh? You're a...how old are you?" The Kryptonian shouted with a confused smile as he floated up to be at the same level as me.
I looked at him in silence.
He had an innocent look, blue eyes, black hair...not the grizzled militant that I would have expected from a Kryptonian man...
But he certainly had the physique.
And that symbol on his chest, was he a noble?
"...Are you just gonna stand there, or...?" He asked with a tilted head. "Oh, wait, do you not speak English? My bad—"
"Kryptonian." I addressed him. "I am Lughal of the Viltrum Empire, are you the occupant of this planet?"
"Oh, so you can." He said, genuinely surprised. "Are the movies right? Do aliens just speak English? My dad did too for some reason..." He seemed confused more than anything else.
"Are you a hermit or something?" I said with a scoff. "I have a Universal Translator chip, do you not?" I said as I pointed at my head.
With how many races there were, a Translator implant was quite popular. I had one of those, the newest model in the market, in fact.
"I see." He said with a smile before nodding. "No, I don't have anything like that."
To be fair, it was quite expensive.
"You should get one in the future, it's impolite to not understand my words." I quickly informed him.
"Sure." He just nodded without thinking about it. "And that earlier punch? Was that a way to say 'Hello!' in your culture?"
I just gave him a certain look, was this guy serious?
He was.
"Something like that." I waived it off. It actually was in some specific context, not this one, of course. "I ask again, are you the occupant of this planet?"
He blinked at my words, scratching his head as he considered my question.
"Occupant? Do you mean as a landlord or as a...?"
"King," I answered with a neutral face. "Is this world a Kryptonian colony?"
Krypton and the Viltrum Empire were the greatest of enemies, they were rivals, destined ones.
The two races were so similar, unexplainably so, yet so different at the same time, it was bound to happen.
Viltrum would simply not let a race that could threaten the stability of the Empire to last, so we were always in an eternal war.
And we won, the Kryptonians were supposed to be dead, completely extinct...not by our hand, but that didn't matter.
Even if Viltrum itself was not responsible for their complete demise, the fact of the matter was clear, the Kryptonians were gone.
But here he was, a young blood Son of Krypton...and looking at that symbol on his chest...
I took an elective about Kryptonian culture before, that symbol looked familiar...what were they called? I think it was some renowned scientist family...
Whatever, I don't care if this guy was a manual labourer or the king of Krypton.
I would have not even entertained the notion of talking with him were it for one simple fact.
Everyone that was of higher station than me, everyone that would have admonished my choice was dead or missing.
...And that's also the case for all the people below me...
Currently, I was the last living Viltrumite in the universe, at least, to my knowledge.
For this reason, I needed to prioritize my continued survival, so that someday, the repopulation of Viltrum might be possible.
I was too young for it now but in a couple of years? Perhaps, I could make an army that would make even the likes of Thanos shit his bricks.
The Kryptonian in front of me represented a certain future to me, one that wasn't so bad.
What if he wasn't the only survivor of Krypton's destruction? What if there was a female?
With all the Viltrumite women gone, Kryptonians would be the prime choice for repopulation, and since their kind was also near-extinct, it should also be an easy choice for the female, right?
"Eh, not at all." The Kryptonian shook his head. "I'm just Superman, not the Super-king. And Earth is very much a democracy, at least, mostly." He said with a shrug.
Now that got me surprised.
"What?" I raised my eyebrows. "Then why are you here...? Or are you still in the process of colonization?"
"No." Superman shook his head. "I live here, as a citizen." Huh.
"...Why?" I was utterly baffled. "Are there other Kryptonians here? Oh, wait, are you acting undercover to ease the natives for conquest?"
"No, as I said, I just live here." He said with a smile. "And I'm alone...got sent here as a baby in an Escape Ship."
Huh...that is...
"Are Kryptonians a race of conquerors? Your line of questioning kind of leads me to that conclusion." Superman said with a tilt of his head.
"What? Do you not know?" I just gave him a weird look.
"Great, I guess my ancestors are probably space Genghis Khans..."
"You're strange." I decided with a furrow of my brows.
"That is really not the first time I heard that, but it's usually because of the opposite—" I sent a punch.
And this time, it actually landed due to him being distracted.
The force knocked the words out of his jaw as his eyes rapidly moved around, his skull shaking from the impact.
Superman floated back as he grabbed his jaw in...juvenile wonder?
"Pain...so that's how it feels?" He seemed amazed yet unsatisfied. "I don't get the hype, it wasn't as bad as I imagined..."
He must have never felt pain before, that is an amusing thing to be afflicted with.
"Hey, I thought we were on to something? Why'd you hit me? Or is this another custom that I'm unaware of?" He asked with genuine confusion.
I wordlessly flew towards him with a fist, and this time, it only managed to hit air.
"Gah!" I felt breathless as a strong force delved deep into my stomach, sending me flying back spinning into the air.
"Sorry! It's my first time hitting a punch that strong, are you okay, kid?" Superman shouted with concern.
I spat at the air and looked down with scorn.
"I'm not a kid, I'm 15 and a half cycles old!" That was considered adult in Viltrum society, adult in everything except for legal sex, of course.
"...And this planet is not yours to conquer, Kryptonian," I said with a heavy frown.
Superman was evidently faster than me, I needed to figure out a way to get around that fact, or else I'd just be toyed with.
"Come at me!" I shouted with prepared fists, intending to provoke a reaction.
Superman just nodded before his form rapidly blurred and appeared right in front of me, preparing yet another dangerous haymaker.
"STOOOOPPPP!" I screamed with all of my power, the force produced by the sound was enough to completely shatter the surrounding ice and even disorientate Superman as he clutched his ears and backed off.
It worked? Yes!
The scream hadn't been nearly loud enough to actually hurt the Kryptonian's ears in any way, but the sudden increase in auditory volume did momentarily confuse his brain.
Just for a second, but that was enough.
I launched myself forward and sent a devastating kick with my right foot, sending Superman crashing back against a glacier, the ice instantly breaking and collapsing upon impact.
It didn't last long though, as a bright red light began to flicker amongst the ice.
All of it was instantly melted into vapour as Superman emerged with literally burning eyes.
"That was creative!" He complimented earnestly. "I never even thought of using my voice like that, what do you call it? Sonic Scream?"
....What? Does this guy usually name his bodily functions?
Wordlessly, I rapidly flew into him and prepared a punch.
He dodged, and I punched again. He dodged again, and I punched yet again.
He dodged again.
I swung my body with the punch as he dodged, falling within my expectations as he did so.
I sent a kick while his body moved to dodge my feint.
"!!!" He caught it with his left hand and stopped my momentum.
"LET GO!" I screamed again as the glaciers shattered, but this time, it didn't do anything.
Superman just smiled.
"Something like that is only dangerous when you least expect it." He said as he kicked me in the knee and flipped my body upside down. "I expected that."
"Shit!" I cursed as I saw the world flip, his neck on my chin and his hands holding me by the leg and hip.
"Language, kid!" He just shouted back as we both accelerated down at the speed of sound.
It was my head that crashed first as the two of us were quickly enveloped in frozen water, the liquids flooding down my gasping mouth and nostrils as I tried to make sense of my senses.
My eyes could see perfectly fine underwater, and it wasn't that cold for me, but I was still upside down inside of a frozen sea.
Superman grabbed both my left calf with his hand and lifted me up again, but only enough for my lower half to stick out.
Then he started dragging me across the sheets of ice at the speed of sound, my head continuously breaking the shrapnel of frost as the water went wild.
I sucked in as much water as I could physically hold in my mouth without swallowing before looking up, my head emerging out of the frozen surface.
-PFFT!
Then I spat all the water on his back with all the force I could muster, the speed at which I did so was enough to completely tear his cape apart but somehow failed to penetrate his actual suit.
"Ah!" Superman let go of me as he covered his eyes from the cold water barrage, an opportunity I immediately took as I sent a straight kick to his abdomen before backing off to make some distance.
The now-wet Superman looked down at his torn cape with a frown before looking back at me.
"My mother made that..." He muttered before his frown transformed into a smile. "Ah, that gives me an idea!" And then he started...inhaling?
Wait, his mother? Could she be a Kryptonian? Then it might actually be possible for me to—
Just like how I spat out water, he started to breath out all of the air in his lungs with terrifying speed.
Something clicked inside of my mind, a memory regarding a science lecture I once had to listen to as a child.
When gas experiences rapid expansion, it will also rapidly drop in temperature.
All that air coming out of his mouth quickly solidified into shrapnels of frost and ice as the very molecules between the two of us froze over.
I've seen this before, I know how to deal with it.
With a kick to the floor, I launched myself straight into the swirling vortex of frost with both fists pointed forward and eyes closed.
Fast, I needed to be fast enough.
It was cold, very, very cold. Cold to the point that it actually started to freeze my body, my hair becoming still as the moisture solidified around me.
But I was faster, and as I opened my eyes, he was before me.
-BAAM!
I crashed into Superman, our bodies colliding as his freezing breath stopped, the air caught in his throat as all the frost in my body shattered upon impact.
I didn't stop.
"Aah!" I heard Superman groan as we crashed right through a thick layer of frost, only to meet another glacier and another, and one final other.
Superman crashed onto the icy ground as I pummeled his face with a fist.
He ate it.
I punched him, again, again, again, and again.
My whole upper body swung with the punches as I placed my spirit into those fists, my eyes blazing with violent fury.
Blood sprayed out and tainted my hands, but I did not stop. I continued beating the shit out of the Kryptonian's face as I spoke up.
"You are still holding back," I shouted. "A fool you are, I will be quick to kill you."
Even as I pummeled his face in, Superman just looked at me with his blue eyes.
"When I'm done with you, I will deal with the rest. Earth isn't yours to conquer, Kryptonian." I declared my intentions with a serious face.
Something seemed to click in his mind as I said that, a realization, whether it was a misconception or not I didn't know.
He caught my fist as I widened my eyes, and then he twisted my arm, the bones breaking under the intense pressure.
And then he punched me in the gut with his other arm, strong enough to send me flying into the air with a sonic boom.
I spun around in the sky before getting a hold of myself and spitting a fresh stream of blood from my mouth.
In an instant, Superman appeared before me as I tried to punch him.
He just dodged.
I punched again, a hundred times in just a manner of seconds.
He dodged all of it.
"Lughal." He addressed me with my given name. "I understand why you are here now, and I'm not your enemy in this!" He said with a serious tone.
I ignored his words and kicked him.
He dodged with a weave, finally counter-attacking with a light slap to my neck.
"Agh!" Not a light slap, it hurt a lot.
I punched his chest, but it was only an afterimage, Superman was already behind me.
He kneed my back, cracking my spine.
"I'm sorry for hurting you. But I can't just dodge forever, and if you don't stop, then I have to restrain you." He muttered before pausing. "Do you regenerate?"
"Yes!" I barked out. "We both do, fool—" Wrong move, I should have pretended to not have a healing factor.
Unfortunately, it was too late as Superman gave me a bitch slap, knocking a few teeth out before kicking me in the gut and slapping my other cheek.
"You have to stop this, I am not your enemy." He said with a striking tone.
"Shut up—" I stopped as I saw a fist flying my way.
A fist filled with all of his unrestrained strength.
Death, I knew it the moment I saw it.
A world of pain assaulted my senses...
Then everything went dark.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone