Capítulo 38: Mongul
I dodged another shot from another identical generically looking robot. Two arms with plasma weapons as hands and a triangular torso. It didn't have legs and just floated all over the place.
We ran to the other side of the hallway and the moment we turned the corner another squadron of these robots charged into the hallway we were in. There wasn't a gap between the robots as they completely filled the hallway that was a good 4 meters wide and 8 meters in height.
Superman picked up a rock that was broken off the wall after a robot had accidentally shot it. He hurled it at the crowd of robots in front of us. The rock shot right through several robots before pushing one into the wall, creating a trail of scraps. For a short moment, a gap presented itself in the wall of robots, but the gap that he had created was soon filled with other robots.
I could see how many more were coming up to fill in for any other robot that we would destroy and I could hear many more approach this position. We rushed into another hallway that looked almost identically to any other hallway we had run through until now. I wasn't sure how anyone in this maze-like prison could ever find their way around.
Like the two times before some robots turned around the corner to block our way. It was clear that the entire prison seemed hellbent to send any robot they had at us. I was just about to turn towards the other side when I saw that side being filled up with robots as well.
Superman didn't wait any longer and punched one of the pillars at the walls and threw it at the crowd of robots. We quickly jumped into a side hallway and dodged the resulting explosion of the robots.
I could feel the searing heat on my skin as a ball of flame filled the hallway. Several chained explosions rang out.
"At least they aren't resilient." I stated after seeing the mass explosion. Superman throwing a stone pillar weighing several tons wasn't something to scoff at, but considering the lifeforce I could faintly feel from the imprisoned aliens in here, one would think the robots could take a beating.
"No, but don't get hit by their attacks. I felt my muscles spasm when I was hit. Though it took only a moment before my muscles started to relax again, once they swarm us, it's over." Martian Manhunter added as he held his right upper-arm and he was right.
A robot alone was no threat. Even dozens of them were easily dispatched off, but they seemed almost endless. It would be indeed annoying to face these robots, especially since Superman and Martian Manhunter seemed to be susceptible to their attacks.
I was fine as long as I kept my ki up strengthening my body, so I didn't see these mass-produced robots as a real threat, especially after knowing how their attacks worked. It was rather ingenious as they only had to breach into the skin via electricity of a powerful being's natural defensive to let its muscles work against it by having their muscles forcefully contract.
Even Superman would be unable to move if the shock of powerful enough to have all his muscles clamp up. Although it was ingenious, it wasn't that uncommon and without flaws.
I had already learned my lesson from getting zapped by that Male Harpy back on Arva as well by Maxima. I wouldn't be taken out by such an attack anymore as I had already learned how to circumvent it with my ki.
The only thing they could do to me was to annoy and stall me, with the latter being much more threatening than anything they could do to me. Who knew what else they had up their sleeves?
After the explosion stopped and only the black smoke and burning scraps on the floor were left we entered the hallway again.
It was truly annoying to see the many robot corpses lying around for only more to come and replace them.
"Fuck this!" I shouted before pointing at the ceiling. A beam of ki extended out of my hands almost immediately and drilled through the ceiling with ease. I jumped into the tunnel my ki created while Martian Manhunter and Superman were following me closely. I only stopped supplying the attack when I felt the resistance stop.
I had barely released my ki for 2 seconds, but the drain was more than 10 times that. After we exited the tunnel I created we were exposed to sunshine, but Superman didn't seem to be refreshed by it which wasn't a good sign. Though he didn't seem to be weakened by it either, so that was nice.
Superman carried Martian Manhunter as we flew out of the coliseum towards the city that was surrounding it. On the first look, the city seemed to be a standard futuristic-looking alien city, though with fewer flying cars or spaceships flying through the atmosphere than I had imagined.
Just after we flew over the walls of the coliseum, we hit something. A green transparent wall extended to the side from our impact, showing part of the forcefield that was probably surrounding the entire coliseum.
I was zapped and bounced back a bit from the rebound after hitting the forcefield but I was up and ready to charge and tear it down with my bare hands if I had to. Just as I raised my hand to my chin as I prepared myself to throw hands at the forcefield, I heard a grunt from in front of me and behind me.
I looked down and saw Superman flopping to the ground after bouncing off the forcefield while Martian Manhunter somehow made it through the forcefield.
After descending down to the sandy soil that surrounded the coliseum, I started shouting, "J'onn, how did you get through??"
If we wanted to get away we would have to be quick about it I could already hear new robots swishing through the air as they headed towards us.
"I-I don't know." He answered just as confused as I was.
"It's some kind of forcefield." Captain Obvious with the 'S' on his chest supplied, "Go! Don't worry about us!" Superman shouted at Martian Manhunter as he pointed at the city that was bordering the coliseum.
"I won't leave without you two." He said as he approached the forcefield. Several shots fell on his figure but he remained untouched as the plasma shots just dispersed when impacting the forcefield.
"Very touching, but your chances of getting us out of here or getting us some help is higher from the outside." By looking at how the robots' weapons were positioned as they pointed at us, I predicted the shots that were coming at me.
I tilted my head out of the way with ease. I kept my entire body in motion as I almost danced on the ball of my foot, dodging the attacks left and right. I threw several ki blasts for good measure. The attack that would have destroyed the entire platoon in front of us only took 5 to 10 robots with each attack.
I looked over and saw Superman appearing to have some trouble dodging as he got hit by a shot before his condition only deteriorated from there. Getting slower and sloppier with every shot he got hit with. His limbs clamped up wherever he got hit at.
It was only after Superman dropped to a knee that Martian Manhunter decided to leave. Granted it was only a few seconds, but I had to teach the Martian Manhunter to be more decisive in the future.
More and more robots had already arrived and it wouldn't surprise me if they started appearing outside of the coliseum soon, especially with Martian Manhunter having left not long ago.
I kicked a robot in two as it had approached the downed Superman and had tried to pick him up. With some kicks and hand chops, I quickly destroyed several approaching robots, trying to keep my energy usage to the lowest after seeing more and more robots approach.
I might be able to throw ki blasts for hours, but I could throw hands for days. I picked Superman up by his cape and threw him behind me as I was about to engage the increasing number of robots.
They spread out and approached me assembled in a half-circle around me as I had my back against the forcefield. Although they were a few meters away and didn't seem to have any intention of approaching me any further than they already have, they didn't seem keen on letting me leave either.
I was thinking about trying to make a break for it and just crush my way through the sea of robots that had formed right outside of the coliseum and filled the sky almost endlessly, which made me rethink my plan.
"This will take too long if I deal with them one by one. Although a bit wasteful, I will just get rid of them all in one shot." I churned my ki and spread it into the ground, disrupting and stirring up the energy in the ground. I would only have to let it erupt and it would create a massive atomic explosion taking half of the coliseum with it even though I would let the energy erupt into the sky.
If I directed the energy into the planet's core, the resulting devastation would ruin the planet in just about 5 minutes. It would be enough to escape from the planet in that time with the few spaceships that I had noticed a moment ago, but of course, I wouldn't do that.
I wouldn't escalate the scenario and kill an entire planet because I was annoyed by some stupid robots. With that in mind, I was ready to destroy the robots, but when I was about to let my technique turn these robots into ash I felt a hand grasping my ankle.
"D-don't. Nathan p-please. There are people here." I looked at where he pointed at and indeed, there were some guards with weapons in hand. I hadn't even noticed that they were there. Another oversight, because I dismissed their meager lifeforce. I should really get that fixed, but being aware of any insignificant being was a hassle...
"You know they are the ones trying to keep us locked up, right?"
"I am sorry." Superman only uttered an apology.
"You are seriously annoying, you know that?" I hesitated for just a moment whether I should knock him out but dismissed that thought, "But fine-" I was shot in the face by a robot. A swift wave of my hand and the robot exploded, taking a dozen with it.
Before it escalated I raised my hands, "I am hungry, bring me to your canteen." I addressed the living guards, ignoring the robots that were pointing their still thrumming plasma guns at us.
...
"...Sire, if this continues... think of the consequences. People are already started to talk about-"
"Rebellion?" A deep amused voice interrupted the other, "There is not going to be any rebellion. Not if I can keep giving them fights, good ones, and take their minds off their troubles."
Mongul the ruler of this world dismissed the worries of his advisor and turned his attention towards the Kryptonian after he was carried into the throne room by two robots.
They stood in front of a window that extended all the way from the floor to the ceiling. Mongul looked like the stereotypical tyrant as he disdainfully talked about the city that they looked down on from their high buildings.
At least, the advisor seemed to have brought up the troubles of the world and what plagued the people whether his genuine or not.
In the end, Mongul didn't even consider fixing his populace's problems. He had deemed it too troublesome to truly create a stable environment for his subjects to live in. In his mind his citizens ought to be satisfied with being able to see some fights, right?
"What's this?" Mongul pointed at the downed Kryptonian, asking for an explanation from his advisor.
"The Kryptonian, he tried to escape."
"A pity. I was hoping to build up the notoriety of this Kryptonian with some preliminary matches, but now I have to make an example out of him. Give him to Draaga!" He commanded and returned to oversee the city that surrounded his coliseum.
...
I grabbed another leg of some roasted alien animal and bit into it. It didn't taste much like meat I had ever tasted before but I couldn't say that I disliked it. It had an exotic charm to it. With my other hand, I took the bowl of what I assumed to be some kind of peach-like fruits from the alien that decided to sit opposite of me and devoured the fruits with a few bites.
The alien decided to make a fuss over nothing and talked some nonsense that I couldn't understand since I had turned off the translation function of my scouter after a few inmates, or 'gladiator' as they would praise themselves, tried to talk some smack to me.
Having already transferred the information and translation software from the universal translator that I had obtained all those years ago from that piggy on Arva was truly coming in handy with all the different alien languages, but sometimes I just didn't want to understand them.
I thought that the lessons I taught them would deter the rest of them, but they just kept coming. I ignored the heap of groans behind me as I went for the other bowl of soup that my opposite hadn't touched yet.
It was his fault that he decided to sit opposite me and didn't guard his food. He should have taken the hint from the smart ones that were avoiding this table like the plague or the heap of groaning aliens lying behind me.
After devouring the bowl I approached the front of the queue and asked for seconds... the 7th time since I started. Instead of using a bowl I climbed over the counter and took the entire pot of soup and left for the screaming outside.
After I had read the surface thoughts of the guard that received us, I knew that they wouldn't kill Superman straight out, but they would put him in the ring with the champion of this War World. Draaga, I believed his name was.
Superman's lifeforce indicated that he was just fine. They had brought him elsewhere to prepare for his battle as Draaga heated up the crowd. I went to the door where two guards were standing with their weapons ready. One of them was about to stop me but was dragged to the side to let me through.
They knew that if they truly had tried to stop me I would walk right through them. This place was clearly unequipped to hold me and if they had something that might be able to lock me up, I would end this little space trip immediately.
I took the pot of soup and sat somewhere close to the edge and was quickly left alone. I didn't know why, but no one in the audience was willing to sit close to me.
This Draaga guy had long stopped his speech and now it was time for the ruler of this World to speak. Mongul was his name.
He sat on his chair with one guy standing beside him and another behind him, holding up a shade for Mongul. There were even some robots floating around him. Mongul and his subordinates were positioned on a protruding spot, so the people could see him from almost any spot inside the coliseum.
I observed Mongul and I was colored impressed at first, but then I remembered that my senses weren't that accurate in that aspect. It irked me that most people I met weren't living up to their potential. It was like buying a big bag of chips only to find out that it was half-filled with air. Granted it could be that Mongul was a Pringles can and actually lived up to its package, he was ruling over a 'War World' after all.
He introduced Superman, announcing him as one of the last Kryptonians which granted him a few gasps. After his introduction, Superman was brought onto the stage from beneath the ground on a circular platform that functioned as an open elevator. A robot approached Superman and undid the cuffs before handing him an ax.
"Are you ready Kryptonian?" Mongul asked as he looked down on Superman.
"I won't fight for your amusement, Mongul." Superman said as he broke the ax over his knee. The crowd wasn't too surprised and some even chuckled disdainfully at his declaration. Some were angry. Were they betting on this match?
"A bold move, but let's see how long this idea lasts on War World!" After saying that a laser cannon was extended out beneath Mongul's podium. It was operated by a guard and he aimed at Draaga first. After the green light beam hit Draaga, he disappeared. Superman followed next.
I couldn't even sense their lifeforce at first. They were far away, but still, on this planet, I realized. That could indeed turn into a problem, but I had faith in Superman even if he wasn't at 100 percent.
A giant screen above the coliseum displayed a ruined wasteland with toppled buildings all over the place. Everyone visiting the coliseum could see the two clearly.
The moment Draaga saw Superman he directly charged at him and swung his ax which Superman dodged with ease.
Superman tried to reason with the gladiator champion, but Draaga wanted to hear nothing about it. They fought for a good while not caring about the environment, which wasn't strange since that place where they were teleported to seemed to have been abandoned long ago.
They were surprisingly on a similar level and there were quite a few reversals in the fight, but I still couldn't enjoy the fight. They just looked like two thugs brawling.
There was no finesse in how they fought and their fighting style boiled down to slug it out with the other or use rocks to crush their opponent or hurl them into buildings.
Of course, if I wasn't too harsh one could say that they at least showed their fighting experience. They might not be technically precise but had great intuition and were creative in their attempts to defeat the others which was why I could still keep watching.
In the end, it even seemed like Superman had lost after being crushed by a small skyscraper. Superman unexpectedly burst out of the rubble and the resulting shockwave of him breaking out send Draaga flying before Superman continued to pummel Draaga with a decent boxing combination.
After Superman had won Mongul asked the crowd if Draaga's life should be spared, but most of the audience were furious by the former champion's loss and demanded his life for it. After Mongul gave the order Superman unexpectedly refused the order which Mongul didn't take kindly upon. In turn, he ordered Superman's death.
Robots surrounded Superman and shot at him with plasma beams but unlike before they didn't seem to be the stunning kind as the light looked different and appeared to be a lot more painful.
Superman was bombarded by the attacks of the robots until the robots seemed to have run out of their ammunition, however, Superman withstood the attack to the vocal surprise of Mongul.
"What?? You are still alive?" Mongul quickly calmed down from the initial surprise, "You are tougher than I thought Kryptonian, but I doubt you will survive another blast." New robots replaced the others and aimed at Superman as they waited for the shooting order.
"Give it your best shot." Superman responded defiantly. He was about to get blasted before the crowd started to chant his name and was inevitably spared.
Mongul left disgruntled and it seemed to have pleased a small part of the crowd, at least a small part of it was vocal about it. Superman was also teleported back down into the cells.
The crowd slowly left as well. I returned the finished soup pot and was about to head towards Superman when he was carried away towards where I could feel Mongul.
The guards weren't willing to let me through this time, so I just waited for his return. I could force my way through, but I doubted now that Superman was the champion that Mongul would kill him.
I didn't take long until Superman returned, "So, how did it go?" I asked Superman. He sighed out heavily as he looked at the ground before him. He ran his hand through his hair before giving me a wry smile, "Mongul wants to fight me and if I don't lose he will destroy Draaga's planet."
Draaga's planet? I had overheard that all the gladiators were slaves from different planets, so it didn't surprise me that he would make that kind of threat.
"So? End him before he can. If he isn't there to destroy the planet then he can't destroy it."
Superman looked up at me, "You don't understand. He has that weapon. If he doesn't get what he wants he had ordered to destroy the planet!"
"A weapon? Right, normal beings use weapons to destroy planets. Well, just deal with Mongul and I will deal with the weapon."
His eyes lit up as he heard that, "Right! You can go for it. The guards won't let me leave, but they don't pay attention to you. Destroy the weapon and I will beat Mongul."
"Do you know where it is?"
"...No."
"Don't worry about it, I will find it..." I discussed the specifics of our plan before I left him in his cell and went on to gather information.
...
Almost a day had passed since I went out to get some information. Superman couldn't really walk around without it attracting attention, but he wasn't really useful in information gathering anyway...though maybe he could use his super hearing or something.
Either way, my method was faster and more reliable, I thought as I sifted through the memories of a guard who I had knocked unconscious. Fortunately this was the last guard I would investigate before I finally got what I wanted.
Not many guards knew the exact location of the world-ending weapon since it was a well-kept secret with not many guards having the necessary clearance to know its location.
I just had to wait a few dozen minutes before the fight would start as I couldn't really punch my way through every guard without attracting attention.
It was best to have Mongul be occupied with the fight before I made the move, at least that was what Superman wanted. If it was going according to me I would just rush towards the weapon destroy it before they even realized what had happened and be done with it. Maybe even beat Mongul too afterward, but that was apparently 'too risky'.
I relented when Superman said that he wanted to publicly humiliate Mongul in front of the entire world as well. I was kind of surprised by this but it truly might be a good idea to have him beat up Mongul in front of the entire world since the tyrant wasn't really liked by his citizens.
Some guards had already seen how the citizens were graffitiing Superman's symbol all over the city as a form of rebellion or something.
After the time for the fight was getting closer, the citizens were rushing into the coliseum eagerly awaiting Mongul's beat down. The moment the two were teleported away to a distant place on the War World, I started to make a move.
I didn't even need to consider the direction too much because I had already determined that the Martian Manhunter was already on his way there. I didn't really know where he got the information from, but since he could read minds too I wouldn't be too surprised if he took advantage of a guard here.
I walked out of the coliseum, not attracting the attention of any guard by blocking my image out of their mind as I walked against the tide of people, making my escape surprisingly smooth. I wondered where all the robots were that they had used the day before. Those could have been a problem, but it seemed they were stationed elsewhere.
Using the entrance where the visitors were coming from I bypassed the forcefield and blasted into the air. I instantly noticed that my ki wasn't getting drained anymore and I couldn't help but smile at that.
It had been truly uncomfortable. I felt good not being drained, but I was glad for the experience. It gave me some important lessons. I had indeed benefited from the weird draining atmosphere around the coliseum as I learned a few things about ki control and ki leakage.
A new perspective had opened to me and I was eager to explore them, but now I had a weapon to destroy.
It took me but a moment to arrive at the ugly tower that resembled a giant telescope more than it did a world-ending weapon. I could see the giant cannon sticking out of the huge opening at the front.
I entered the building from that opening. I looked down at the surprised guards and I swept them away with my ki. Although it got better the further away I was from the coliseum, my psychic energy was still being suppressed, so I couldn't use it as well. I figured that the suppression of psychic energy might have a different source, but luckily I had never depended on it anyway.
Martian Manhunter looked at me surprised. I didn't say anything and just extended my hand towards the cannon's lit-up nuzzle.
The weapon was already activated and about to fire. I hoped to feel how a world-ending attack caused by technology measured up against a ki attack, so I didn't destroy it immediately.
Suddenly my vision was blocked by a pair of wings just as the weapon fired at me. I saw the Nth metal mace lit up with lightning as it struck the energy blast of the weapon back into the nuzzle, destroying it in the process.
I floated there awkwardly with my hand outstretched as I looked at the shambles of the former world-destroyer before backing away as the entire tower started to blow up. Green Lantern who appeared out of the nowhere as well even helped the guards operating the weapon out of the tower.
"...Hawkgirl that was my task." I grimaced slightly as I thought about how I went all the way here to destroy it but could have fought it out with Mongul instead. I clearly wasn't needed here. Mongul would have been more fun.
Hawkgirl just smirked at me before Green Lantern spoke up, "Where is Mongul?"
...
After having explained the situation I guided them with my 'scouter' towards where Superman, Mongul, and apparently Draaga were fighting at. I didn't even know that Draaga was still on this planet. I thought Superman had managed to exfiltrate him, but Hawkgirl and Green Lantern quickly solved that puzzle.
On the search for us, they encountered him on a planet where War World apparently dumped their trash. Draaga guided them to War World, though they said they weren't clear on his objective here. Though I guessed that it was to prevent Mongul from going through with his threat of destroying Draaga's planet. It was obvious why he would want to interupt the fight and kill Superman to redeem himself.
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