Chapitre 89: Clapped
"We don't know yet, but my universe seems to be in the center of it and that would be the best place to start looking for an answer."
They looked at the Martian Manhunter from another universe before they glanced at each other. Clark had heard how Nathan had met a version of them in another universe, but he didn't think that they would reach out to them. However, if they were desperate enough to ask for their help, then it must be incredibly serious. These data they had detected must be incredibly concerning if they were willing to search for help inside another universe.
Though if what they said was true, it would be best to take a look at it as well. Perhaps it was yet another version of Darkseid that grew more powerful and started attacking other universes or Trigon? Maybe they had detected the threat these four a month ago had talked about.
Although Clark had only encountered Darkseid for a brief moment, he knew he was a tough opponent. Either way, it sounded like they would need Nathan's help. His hand reached for his earpiece, though he hesitated. Nathan was out training, preparing for the next big thing. Was it worth it to call him for something they didn't know the full extent of?
After a quick moment of contemplation, he decided to not bother him. The rest of the league was here and they should be able to deal with most threats. They couldn't depend on Nathan for everything.
Even if it was related to the threat in one year, they could do the scouting and assessing of the danger. If they did bother him for any small thing, it would slow his progress. We would only drag him down. He tuned in on this unknown threat that the other Martian Manhunter mentioned.
Clark nodded his head at the others, who were ready to head to the other universe. "Of course, we will help you." He looked at the others for confirmation. By now, he knew them well enough to know they would want to go, even as they said nothing. Their silence was their agreement. He walked to the Martian Manhunter of the other universe, who was still standing next to the wormhole.
After giving him his word, the others followed him as Martian Manhunter led them into the wormhole. Although he wasn't the leader, he liked to walk in the front, so he would be the first to react to anything dangerous and unknown.
They walked inside the wormhole and felt how they were being stretched and constricted before a sensation of leaving something enveloped them.
Clark clenched his fist and felt the suppressing sensation that Nathan had mentioned feeling when he was in another universe. It was a strange sensation, and it was only because of Nathan's words that he could feel a difference at all. He had incredible control over his body as he had to suppress his physical prowess at all times, but this suppression didn't feel physical.
It was more ethereal, metaphysical. However, he had no time to contemplate it. Once they crossed the bounds of the universe and entered another, they found themselves in a white room. "Hey, do you guys not believe in doors and windows?" Wally asked, as they essentially found themselves in an enclosed white box.
"I am sorry." The other Martian Manhunter said with guilt as he stepped back, disappearing through the wall behind him. Wally almost caught him, but only touched the wall once he reached him. Not a moment later, Superman could feel electricity entering his soles before shocking his entire body.
The room lit up brightly as intense lightning crashed into all the present members of the Justice League. Each of them was hit with a different intensity. He could feel his muscles clamp up, causing him to drop to one knee. It was a trap! They wanted to capture them!
He didn't care why, but he knew he had to react quickly. His eyes lit up as he fired his heat vision straight into the white wall ahead of him. Whatever they used to create this room, it held for a moment before he burnt through it. His head jerked to the side, cutting an opening for them. The moment he burned a long cut through the wall, an explosion sounded out next to him.
The ground shook, and he heard the bang and clattering from the metal walls collapsing onto the ground. He turned around to see Shayera having batted away the side wall of this room with her mace, exposing the cave outside. Not far away from her, he saw Diana having sliced through another wall before she jumped out of it, only to meet another Wonder Woman with short hair blocking her.
He really needed to up his training. Perhaps a vacation from work would be best until they had beaten the threat next year. Without trailing off too far with his thoughts, he stood up again as the machine they used to incapacitate them no longer functioned. Them knocking out a few walls and burning through it seemed to have done the trick.
Either they had overestimated their trap or underestimated their powers. With his body now listening to him again, he jumped through the ceiling only to see the Justice League of this world engage Diana and Shayera to a stalemate. It didn't take long until Wally, John, J'onn, and Bruce appeared on the battlefield, ready to engage their counterparts.
The other side seemed to be missing a Flash, so they had the numbers advantage. He could interfere with the others' fight.
Clark aimed at one of the bigger threats and quickly aimed for the other Superman in the air. He had just regained his balance after being smacked away by Diana's shield bash. His heat vision impacted his shoulder, burning through the suit, and sending him tumbling for a moment.
Clark didn't wait for the other to recover. He picked up speed as he flew at the tumbling Superman. Just as Superman had regained his balance, Clark's stretched-out fists hit his core before pushing him into and through the cave wall. "W-wait! This is a misunderst-"
After exiting, he directly headed up, pushing his counterpart with him. Clark accelerated to the point the friction ignited the surrounding air while ignoring the grunts of pain from his other self. The other tried to push him away, but he seemed seriously battered, as he could hardly exert himself. He stopped only after reaching the stratosphere. With a hammer strike, he sent Superman back toward earth.
Once Superman lost a bit of momentum, Clark reached him again and punched him again. The other was still uncontrollably shooting through the air, making it easy for Clark to pursue him and follow up with another smack. With the momentum gained, Superman struck earth like a meteor.
Clark followed him through the hole in the dirt and found himself back in the cave they had started in. He glanced at the cave's rocky floor, where a hole extended deep into the earth. There were still heartbeats coming from down there, but his counterpart's breathing was shallow. He had been precise with his strikes to get them back here, just in case he needed to quickly reach the others.
A glance at his team made him realize his worries had been unfounded as their counterparts were bundled up at their feet. Bound with Diana's lasso. Some looked worse than others, with Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman looking like they got the harshest beating.
He glanced down at the unconscious Superman, whose face looked busted. Blood was leaking down his forehead, staining a good third of his face red. He probably had a few cracked bones and ribs but would survive. Clark flew down and picked him up at the cape before heading to the others.
The cave was now lit up with the large sections of the ceiling being torn open or having exploded by Superman's body dropping into it.
"Can we agree to not tell this to Nathan when we get back?" Clark asked as he dropped Superman next to the others. He could already imagine Nathan ridiculing them for being dumbasses for agreeing to this when it was 'clearly' a trap, which truthfully, should have been obvious since Martian Manhunter couldn't go to the specifics of the threat they were facing and somehow still decided to get some help from another universe from all the places.
There was also the fact that he pressured them with the still-open wormhole to decide without having time to give it more thought. Well, hindsight was 20/20. Though that didn't mean he wanted Nathan to call him dumb and pathetically weak for almost succumbing to an electric shock.
Shayera smirked at his words. "I will think about it." She then kicked the sides of the downed Hawkgirl. "Wake up. I have some questions." With the electrifying mace in her hand, she shocked the unconscious Hawkgirl awake.
This Hawkgirl woke up with a start. She was disorientated and looked like she could barely see with her swollen eyes. She gritted her teeth as she propped herself up to glare at her and the others, which wasn't intimidating at all with her looking like she did. It was almost painful to look at her.
Shayera, on the other hand, seemed to be having the time of her life as she hit the handle of mace into her other palm as if she was a thug threatening someone. "Let me guess, you didn't actually need our help."
"Yu- mi-underand-" Hawkgirl was about to continue when Shayera made moves to hit her when J'onn stopped her.
"Let me do it." Although he said this to stop Shayera from hitting her other version, he didn't try it with Hawkgirl. From what Clark remembered, it would be more difficult to read her mind since she was already awake and it was easier to do it with someone that wasn't aware of his intrusion. J'onn turned his sight on the other Leaguers of this world to figure things out with his telepathic abilities.
Bruce wasn't idle either as he made his way to other Batman's computer to do his research, while the rest made sure they could restrain their assailant at a moment's notice. Just as they were ready to relax a bit, he heard several figures approaching their position, and from the sounds of it; they were a bunch of robots flying toward them.
"We have company," Clark said as he hovered to meet their newcomers. He was quite surprised when several robots that looked like him entered through the cave's opening, though they were obviously modeled after his counterpart, as the suit was different.
Besides, they were hardly as durable as he was, he quickly realized when he cut through one with his heat vision. The numbers, though, were somewhat concerning, he thought as he looked at the few dozen robots circling them.
"This was going to take a while."
...
I glanced through the little peephole that I created through sheer power. The armrest of the chair I was sitting on was already pulverized, but besides that and the trembling of the Watchtower, I didn't destroy it despite having transformed into a Super Saiyan and pushing it without ascending until I could see through this reality and into another, the one that had its bounds loosened by Lord Batman's machine to travel to this universe.
The moment I sensed someone watching me, I was already alerted. After the other Martian Manhunter entered this universe, I followed their actions to the other universe as best as I could. It was quite the struggle, though ironically I had the feeling that peeking into another universe was more difficult than entering it by ripping a hole into the other universe, something I should be able to do at this point.
Something I intend on trying soon. I needed to test my current limits anyway, so might as well experiment with teleporting to another universe. It shouldn't be too difficult, right? After all, Kakarot was able to teleport to the living room while being in the dead world and vice versa, which was another higher dimension separate from the rest of the normal living universe. Traveling to another parallel universe certainly sounded easier than ascending to a higher dimension.
After making sure that the league was capable of dealing with the Justice Lords, I focused my attention on something else that was heading toward earth soon. A living being drifting through space, though strangely, I could sense Clark's life force from it. A clone, perhaps?
Kara had told me they had busted one or two facilities of Project Cadmus which were working on cloning either of the league members. They had tried to clone me as well, though with minimal success at the moment.
Weirdly, however, I couldn't sense them making any clones now. It would have been easy to sense a clone in the making, especially with ki signatures that I was familiar with, so I should be getting some positive hits by now. However, until now there were no signs of anyone on this planet trying to create a clone of us and I wasn't sure why.
Despite being busted twice, I doubted that the government would stop trying. Even if the general populace were furious about their beloved superheroes being cloned. What could the public realistically do to the rich and powerful in this world? They could whine and cry about injustice, but would the ones in power change?
Perhaps some, but many of them would burn every opposition before willingly letting go of their power. It didn't help that there were people like me around that could completely shatter their sense of control with a mood swing. Of course, they would try to make weapons to secure their peace of mind.
It was up to the heroes of the world to nip their pathetic attempts to cling to their 'power' in the bud. Just thinking about these fucks trying to abuse their power as they did to me in my past world made me simmer in anger.
Either way, there was just no way that they wouldn't continue to experiment with clones. There were only two options why I couldn't sense their attempts. First, they were able to block my sensing, unlikely but certainly not inconceivable as Batman had already proved it possible. Second option, whatever they created last, they weren't able to control it and were now too spooked - thought it was pointless - to continue in that direction.
The second option was more likely as it was easy for funding to get cut after having been busted twice and their last project being uncontrollable as well. There were safer options in the form of energy beams and the like, which would seem powerful enough if they approached planet destruction level. For normal humans, such a destructive force would suffice to make them think they were safe from someone like me. Understandable but mistaken.
I jumped out of the Watchtower and approached the life force. From the distance, it felt incredibly similar to Clark's life force, though the closer I got, the more I realized that it also felt like my life force and a bunch of others as well. It was rather obvious once I realized this. The sensation had gone unnoticed as the little drop that seemed to be part of my power was like a lighter next to the sun, when compared to the majority being Clark's life force.
The other signatures just paled and were rather difficult to be differentiated from the majority. It didn't take me too long for me to arrive at the object flying towards the earth. A meteorite with a living being on top of it. What the fuck was that? I closed in and saw a gray creature with spikes coming out of its knuckles, elbows, and shoulders, and a couple of other places that seemed to be for the sole purpose of killing.
I couldn't help but scratch my head as I thought about who this was before it hit me. It took some time to actually associate the creature with a cartoon I had seen a few years ago in another life and barely remembered. I was pretty good with normal human-looking faces, Darkseid and Trigon notwithstanding as they were kind of iconic... as was this one since I recognized it because the only thing I remembered was its bullshit power.
Doomsday.
Next to it was a broken space rocket which looked awfully earthing style. It didn't take long for me to connect the dots of my previous assumptions of the sudden disinterest in cloning from Project Cadmus to the creature in front of me.
Though I mostly remember watching a few videos about him. He wasn't supposed to be a creation of earth, right? Wasn't he like an ancient Kryptonian or something...? Whatever. It wasn't like his character was particularly interesting to me.
He just came back from the dead with the only difference that now he couldn't be killed the way he did before. At least that was what I thought his powers were, though I distinctly remember that he was beaten to death multiple times, which meant that his powers didn't give him immunity to whatever killed him. He only got stronger and more durable... With the core idea of his powers gone, he just sounded like a Saiyan that couldn't die.
He was essentially the character that a little kid would invent in the schoolyard to beat any other character. 'No, you don't win! He comes back to life and is now immune to it!'
Either way, I should nip this in the bud. Pulverize him to atoms and see whether he could come back from it. I raised my arm and generated a little white ki ball into existence, hovering over my palm as I watched the meteorite entering the solar system with its course flight ending on earth.
Hmm... I wonder how fast he could adapt. Would it be faster than a Saiyan's Zenkai? The moment this thought entered my mind, it festered and spread, filling me with the imagination of an ever-growing beast that would be almost impossible to beat. A creature getting more durable and powerful with each fight...
Something that could be my sparring partner for the end of time!
That was if he was able to keep up. It would be a welcome change in the increasingly stale gravity training sessions as my power grew so much beyond what anyone else had. Unfortunately, hardly anyone could qualify as my sparring partner if I wanted to push myself on every level.
Even Kara literally sunbathing didn't stand a chance against me, not even demon Raven, despite crazily absorbing the energy that consisted of Trigon's powers and almost all of hell from another universe. So much power stored in her claw that any magician and demon would go to any lengths to get it.
Diana was getting stronger, but she was hardly my match anymore. Neither was Shayera nor any other person on earth. If my ability to adapt was higher than Doomsday's, then his existence served no purpose other than being a distraction. Well, there was no point in guessing. I would have to test him out first.
With my mind set, I landed on the meteorite and by landing I meant crashing and punching through it, causing it to explode into thousands of pieces. Doomsday screamed, but the sound was thankfully muffled through the empty space. One of the advantages of space if one didn't want to be bothered by anyone.
Unfortunately, I had super hearing, so it wasn't like I wouldn't be able to hear him at all. Doomsday saw me through the floating pieces of rock before jumping off the piece he was standing on towards me with a growl. His fist sailed next to my face, grazing my cheek as I miscalculated the bony extensions on his elbow.
I rotated my body to his side. A hook to his solar plexus. An uppercut to his chin sent him spiraling through the mountain-sized pieces of frozen rocks.
I flew after him, watching how his life force responded to the attacks. These little punches weren't enough to kill him. They only had the force to crumble small mountains, as I didn't want him to be incapacitated for too long if he could adapt to the damage. Though I wasn't sure if he could adapt without dying. His life force was certainly active.
I teleported into his flight path and slapped him to the side. He grunted in pain as he pierced through the numerous obstacles before crashing into the biggest piece left. He was dazed from the slap and the few hits he took, though his life force responded, empowering him slowly.
It was quite interesting to observe it since it felt like Superman was manipulating his ki. It was obviously his Saiyan genes helping him. He regenerated quickly and was boosted exaggeratedly, despite the fact I didn't hit him that hard.
It was probably his body reacting to the dangers to his life. I certainly had my biggest jumps when I sensed and faced the strongest of foes.
I landed a few meters away and waited for him to stand back up. He jumped at me to throw hands while I backed away, dodging his attacks. Heavy haymakers and simple kicks which were easily avoided.
After trying to kick my legs for the third time and me jumping over it, he smirked as if he got me now. He punched out simultaneously. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. My body suddenly deified all physics and flipped over his head as I crossed my arms before I continued to fly backward as he tried to catch me.
Like a mindless beast, he unrelentingly pursued me, trying to hit me, but to no avail. He got better, but he was kind of… slow. I got bored and abruptly stopped, surprising him for a moment. Not enough time to dodge, I shoulder-checked him.
He grunted in pain before he had a rage fit. I then continued to block his attacks with my right leg only. I rose my knee to block his punches and met his kick with one of my own.
It was clear as day that he didn't have that Saiyan combat adaptability. Essentially, he had no hands. It was like fighting a random guy on the street just with a lot more power and speed, though that didn't really matter to me. He was just a big toddler to me. Considering he already had a Zenkai-like power without my genes, what did he get from my Saiyan genes if not the combat awareness?
"You! Fly! Stay still! Haaa!" He angrily shouted something. Probably pissed off too much by not being able to land a single decent hit, hehe. Did he just get a Saiyan's temper- Eh?
His life force suddenly boiled and exploded outward... An aura appeared around him like he was a damn dragon ball character. His speed suddenly doubled, almost catching me off-guard. I weaved out of his increasingly faster attacks, though we were still close to each other. I was trying to refine my close-quarter weaving, throwing in a block here and there.
The sudden burst of power, as he unearthed more and more of his potential during the fight, got my blood pumping. Now we were talking! His fists had long turned into a blur and each of them was devastating. A single hit would probably level a small moon with ease now as well. His bone knuckle spikes cut through my ki aura while leaving behind a dark gray ki trail as I dodged it.
We danced around like this for a dozen minutes longer until Doomsday's power stopped increasing rapidly. He reached a plateau. It was time for retaliation! I stepped forward and gave him a couple of body shots. When he swung at me, I had already flipped over him and kicked the back of his head. He stumbled forward and was about to drop to his knees when he was suddenly lifted upward.
I grabbed his white hair and pulled it to expose his neck as I looked into his eyes. His eyes looked rather clear now. He certainly didn't look that mindless now. Instead, there was some sort of realization in it, though there was also some fight left in him as he twisted around and went for a punch to my jaw. I let him. His hands cracked onto my chin. His bone knuckles splintered and his wrist snapped on impact. He stumbled back with a grunt as he grasped his broken wrist before glaring at me.
I raised my leg high, making Doomsday follow it like it was the scythe about to take his life. He wasn't entirely wrong. I axe-kicked his forehead, cracking the bone extensions decorating his face. I could feel his skull give in before he shot down into the last piece of meteorite. The ground shook as the other side must have been blown open by his exiting body. With a hand wave, I swept all the debris out of the way, revealing his tumbling form through space.
Even from the distance, I could see the daze in the beast's eyes as he was on the verge of losing his consciousness. At that point, his descent was suddenly stopped. His eyes widened a smidgen as stared into mine. I couldn't help but grin. He glanced down at the sphere pressed against his chest. He left an echo of a scream as he was sent into the distance before the rest of the solar system birthed another source of light by an enormous explosion. A giant detonation formed an area of death that lit up the space and would remain there for a few seconds.
Anything ordinary that touched it would be pulverized. Even space seemed to struggle under the force. I had no intention of waiting, though, and I certainly was not ordinary. I flew into the heat of my own attack and quickly found the battered doomsday. Half of his torso was gone, his legs were completely gone and his skull was indented, though I could see his body wriggling as it regenerated.
His Zenkai boost was hopefully off the charts after he healed up. His regeneration was already quite remarkable, though I could easily conclude something from watching his regeneration in comparison with his ki.
The regeneration wasn't something attributed to his ki, but something that came innately due to his genetic makeup. However, as I did with Billy Numerous' ability to duplicate himself, I could perhaps invent a technique off of it, which would essentially revive me from the dead.
With a telekinetic tug, I carried him back to earth. Although from the first impression he didn't seem like a suitable sparring partner, he could teach me a thing or two about his regeneration. Perhaps it might help me beat the other version of him that was as powerful as the comics stated.
This one, the creation of (probably) Project Cadmus, was hardly as dangerous as that depiction. True, this thing was powerful and resilient, but it certainly wasn't unkillable, as I had already sensed that the life force he had lost by his missing body parts was lost forever.
I doubted that once I pulverized the rest of his existence, he could regenerate from it. A perfect candidate for some experiments and maybe my moving punching bag, but hardly something I could rely on in the future, at least from what I saw until now. Let's hope his Zenkai would be crazy.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone