章 148: Chapter 148 Straight At The Face
New chapter guys. PS, PS, PS. More Powerstones please.
Hope you enjoy it.
......
"Ugh!" A muffled groan rang out as a male youth stirred from his slumber.
"I …".
Slowly but surely, two eyes open, revealing the blue irises within.
"I … What the ….". His voice took a noticeable change. As after opening his eyes, all he saw was darkness.
At first, he thought it was the sequelae of waking up from a deep sleep, but that thought was overturned after seconds passed and everything remained the same.
Connor turned his gaze in all directions hastily.
No matter where he turned, regardless of which way he looked, all that was before him seemed to be an endless black space.
That was until he looked down. Then, his expression changed drastically.
As below his current form was an endless rift stretching as far as his eyes could see.
Wisps of darkness emerged out of the rift and dissipated constantly in repetition, filling the surroundings with large amounts of negative energy.
"Where ..... where am I?"
'Awake are we, little one?'
It happened then.
The endless black space trembled slightly as a thick, deep voice fell into his ears.
Connor's eyes widened as he fixed his gaze downwards.
For this compelling voice was calling out to him from the very abyss he now floated over.
Just as he was about to speak, the wisps of darkness dissipating randomly all began to converge in different directions.
Two spheres of energy as black as night appeared a distance away from each other, so dark that they stood out even within the endless darkness.
And under Superboy's shocked and horrified gaze, those lumps of darkness fully converged and emitted a blood-red glow.
"Oh my ….". Connor didn't believe in God.
In his short few months of conscious life and literal life, Connor had seen and confronted a lot of things. Things regular humans would only dare to dream about.
The Injustice League, Amazo Android ... Even an untimely demise. In the short few months he had lived, he had already experienced death itself and had come back from it.
As a living clone of Superman, he could literally be described as a representation of what was once thought to be impossible.
But this was the first time he found himself in such circumstances.
As so, a young Kryptonian found himself in a peculiar situation, floating above a massive pair of blood-red eyes.
"You ….". The boy raised his hands in alarm at the sudden change.
".... Who the hell ... or what the hell are you?"
'That? You will find out soon enough'.
Those were its last words before the massive eyes once again diffused into clouds of black energy.
Only this time, they didn't dissipate but turned into streams, shooting towards the unsuspecting clone.
Connor was caught off guard.
"No ..... No ….".
Before he could react, his form was engulfed with negative energy completely.
His sapphire blue eyes were as wide as stars before they were engulfed in the darkness.
And then ... Nothing.
It was a strange feeling really. One, Connor didn't really know how to react.
Everything went … dark. Like he had been knocked unconscious again, yet still somehow conscious in a weird sense.
He couldn't hear, he was unable to see, he couldn't feel, but he could sense. Vaguely sense the surroundings.
Time passed. Connor didn't know how long he stayed in that state, completely incapable of doing anything.
Until .....
Badump.
He heard a beat.
Badump.
It was a heartbeat, his heartbeat. And with the passing of a few more moments, everything began to return.
The boy's eyelids opened slowly as he resisted the urge to groan. They felt heavy, like they had been lined with large amounts of Lead.
'I. …'.
As the darkness faded and his vision restored, he saw himself in yet another unfamiliar place.
Once again, it was dark. But his wasn't the darkness he previously saw.
There were large crates everywhere and the air gave off a musty smell. Wherever he was, there was no light in the area.
Not from bulbs or from the afternoon sun, as there was no place that allowed entry for light.
It looked ..... Abandoned. As for how he knew all this, the vision of a kryptonian far surpassed anything a human could achieve.
It mattered not whether he was half human in that regard as his vision automatically brightened his surroundings.
Well, that and the glowing red light that was illuminating the place instead of the .....
'Wait! What?'
Connor's eyes widened once more as he looked down.
His body was suspended in the air, had a meter floating off the ground. And below him was a circular symbol with countless rune marks releasing large amounts of mystical power.
Chaos Magic.
Not that he knew what it was or what it represented. He was, however, smart enough to realize that it was the reason he couldn't move.
Yep. Currently, Superboy found himself completely immobilized, unable to move anything from the base of his neck downwards.
"Ughhh!" Veins appeared as the kryptonian tried his hardest to move, to break free from this circle shackling him.
".... Your efforts are pointless".
At that moment, a voice fell into his ears, causing him to pause in his actions.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The sound of heavy footsteps resounded in the silence, and under Connor's gaze, a figure appeared from behind one of the crates.
Connor's eyes narrowed.
The person in question didn't stop, changed his direction and walked towards him, stepping into the light to reveal himself.
And to Connor's slight surprise, what stopped before him was an eight-foot tall man dressed in pitch-black battle armor.
The Greek style helmet covered his features, revealing nothing but a pair of blood colored pupils.
"That circle could give even Superman a headache". Ares muttered indifferently.
"And from what I've seen, you're not up to par".
The Old God swept his gaze all over the awakened youth.
This one bore a large resemblance to the famous Man Of Steel.
"Oh yeah?" His eyebrows narrowed even more at Ares's words, apparently not intimidated by the enemy's imposing stature.
"Let me out of this thing, and I'll show you just how up to par I am".
However, the giant offered him no reply.
After all, would a human bother to converse with insects?
Ares raised an eyebrow under the helmet. His gaze held not a single speck of emotion, showing clearly that he was not amused.
He wasn't one of those Inferior villains the heroes of earth could chase around.
He was a God. A superior lifeform who had lived long enough to surpass human civilization itself.
As such, he had no thoughts to return the contemptuous taunt or participate in a Q&A session with this insignificant mortal creature.
It was nothing more than a kryptonian clone. One whose life was about to be sacrificed.
"Why you …. Agh...". Receiving no reply, Connor opened his mouth and released a shout filled with anger.
However, his sentence was cut short as a weird pulse spread throughout his entire body.
If not for the fact that he was currently immobilized, he would have keeled over.
'What the .....'. Pangs of dizziness assaulted the clone as the pulse spread like a vibrational wave.
Everywhere it travelled, a feeling of weakness appeared, as if he had been hollowed out.
'Hehehehe, looks like the process is starting already'.
Ares stood a few feet away, watching with cold eyes. His mind momentarily drawn away from the bad luck he had been experiencing in the past few hours as he examined the Superboy before him with interest.
Like a lab rat that was about to participate in an intriguing experiment.
Badump!
The pulse reappeared once again. The energy it emitted causing his very being to tremble.
"What's ... Happening to me .....?".
Superboy asked aloud in fright.
This was the first time he had felt such a thing. As, unlike Supergirl, Connor Kent had no experience with Kryptonite.
'Guys! Can you hear me?.....'
He called for help through the mind link.
"...". No response.
Connor's heart sank.
'Megan? Aqualad? Robin, come in. Where are ….'?
'It is pointless child'. It happened then, that deep sinister voice once again emerged.
The source of his current predicament.
'I have telepathically shielded your mind. Your Martian friend can't reach you'.
"You .....".
Badump! The pulse reappeared.
Stronger than the last two. So this time, he clearly felt where it was coming from.
His heart ... Only, if he had the chance to look within himself at this moment, he would find that it was pitch black. The surface swirling with clouds of chaos magic and negative energy.
"Who are you?"
'I am Loki. God Of Chaos. And rejoice, for you have been given the great honor of offering your being as my host body'.
The voice replied. His words, for the first time, frightened the young kryptonian to no end.
"Damnit! Keep your damn honor. I'm not interested".
'That ..... Is not your decision to make, child'.
The voice fell, and waves of chaos magic emanated from the portal below him.
'I have chosen my vessel. Hence, you will be part of this whether you want to or not. Today, you will know the glory, of Loki'.
And in that split second, Connor felt pain like no other tearing straight through his mind.
"Arghhhhhh!"
A loud, horrifying shriek tore through the endless space, reflecting itself in reality as the unconscious body of the Kryptonian clone on Earth -1 let out a beastly roar.
At the moment, every inch of Conner's body was covered with intricate rune symbols, running together like a complex algorithm.
His Caucasian skin was colored with dark and red lines in all directions, and the miserable howl that escaped his mouth was enough to show just how much pain he currently found himself in.
This was the possession process.
As right as and there, Loki was integrating his soul into Connors body while swallowing his.
Squelch!
The sound of flesh tearing and bones breaking resounded in the air.
And under Ares's gaze, the Kryptonian Halfling floating in the air over a magic circle began to transform.
The arms, legs, back and chest muscles began to twist and turn. Deforming in directions that wasn't possible for any living being.
Not even a Martian's body would react like this during their morphing process.
The visual effect, added together with the constant cracking of bones made for a chilling experience.
Superboy's figure began to grow bigger as the physiological change continued to take place.
And with it, was accompanied unspeakable pain, both physically and mentally.
"Arghhhhhhhhh!" The shrill roar escaped his vocal cords travelling through the air to the ears of those capable of hearing them.
Meanwhile .....
"Ughhh!"
The loud roar immediately fell into Kara's ears, causing her flying figure to contract together.
Both hands were placed on her ears as she instinctively tried to block out the bone chilling scream
A few minutes ago, the team had discovered to their horror that Superboy was missing.
However, before they could perform an effective search, they were attacked by Parademons.
Squelch!
'Supergirl? What's the matter?'.
Waving his water blades and slicing a monster in half, Aqualad inquired urgently with a solemn face as Kara's pained groans resounded through the mind link.
The mission was to assist Superman in whatever way they could while he solved the fundamental problem.
With their current situation, it wasn't supposed to be an issue.
But now an issue had risen. Superboy was missing.
If something happened to Kara as well, things would instantly go from bad to worse.
'Are you alright?'
'I hear him. I can hear him'.
'What?'.
'Its Superboy...'
Shutting off her senses, Kara replied.
'And he's in pain'. Following which, she blasted forwards towards the outskirts of the city.
'Kara be careful. You don't know what you're up against. Do not engage, I repeat, do not engage'.
There was no reply.
A trace of anxiousness appeared on Kaldur's face.
'Megan, where is she?'
'She's heading south'.
'Kid, you got that?'.
'I'm on my way'.
Wally, who was zooming through the city immediately, hit the brakes, turned around and began dashing towards the opposite direction.
'Miss Martian, take us through the bioship'.
'But what about Superman?' Robin asked out loud, causing everyone to look towards a certain direction.
The scene of buildings constantly getting smashed to rubble fell into their line of sight.
"Problems?" Batman frowned.
"Yes". Kaldur replied. "One of our own has been taken".
The expression of The Dark Knight returned to normal.
"Go".
"But ….".
"Go. We can handle ourselves here". He uttered in a tone that left no room for questioning.
"Superman is taking care of Superman. It isn't a battle we can interfere in. You'll be more of a burden if you do".
Bruce spoke gloomily while turning his gaze to the battle of Kryptonians. His world's Justice League had been taken down just trying to defeat one Superman.
The battle between the two was not something someone could withstand.
One accidental hit and for some, it was basically over.
".... Understood". Aqualad replied after a moment of silence. Bruce was right, the level of destructive power unfolding before his eyes was not something even Supergirl could involve herself in.
And that was saying something, judging that she was physically the strongest member of the group.
The position which originally belonged to Connor was taken away when he met a peer with an outrageous double absorption speed of solar energy.
"Robin, you're with me. Artemis, stay. Miss Martian, get us to Superboy".
'On it'.
Bang!
In the distance, a figure was punched away, crashing straight through a building with unceasing momentum as he sped further and further into the distance.
Following him was a similar silhouette in red and blue tights, eyes blazing red.
He quickly approached the unstable Superman, who hadn't regained his composure and threw out a punch.
Bang!
The attack sent the other flying farther into the distance as he chased after him.
"Enough!" Clark yelled as his figure came to a halt in the air.
His eyes glowed red as he fired two rays of burning hot lasers.
They were dodged nonetheless.
Negative Earth Superman flew around and approached from the other side. A bruise clearly visible on the side of his face.
Regular Superman, on the other hand, looked a little more roughed up.
Blood flowed from the side of his lips as he flew forward without fear and engaged his counterpart blow for blow.
Their punches were resounding as they fought. Dodging and taking hits from each other that would collapse buildings if it landed on one.
And so it did, as any standing structure still left in this city was destroyed during their clash.
With a loud crash, the battle left the area and returned to the earth as the two came crashing down.
A twenty-meter wide crater appeared in their crash spot.
With the negative Superman pinned down, Clark immediately took the opportunity to throw several punches in a row.
Each one was filled with amazing power, disorienting the enemy so he couldn't muster a proper attack.
Following which, his eyes released solar rays, bombarding the opponent.
Boom!
The result was a massive explosion covering up both of them.
Three seconds later.
Another collision resounded and Clark was punched out into the air.
Not too far though as he stabilized himself a distance away.
"Hah…. Hah….". Small pants emerged from his lungs, but his eyes were fixed intently on the explosion point.
And undoubtedly, Negative Superman walked out. His face covered with blood and his uniform slightly torn.
"I'll ask again. Give up. You're tired and injured". Clark uttered while staring straight at his evil counterpart.
Those sapphire blue eyes shone with unprecedented rage and murderous intentions.
Using his arm, he cleaned the blood off his face and uttered coldly.
"Not as injured as you're about to be". The ground underneath his feet cracked.
However, just when he was about to attack ....
The space a distance away suddenly distorted into swirls.
The distance was close to a dozen meters away, but under their perception, it didn't matter.
Seeing the signature space distortions that he was unfortunately familiar with, Clark's pupils shrank to the extreme.
'He's here?'.
Earth -1 Superman narrowed his gaze as under their watchful eyes, a human being emerged from the swirling space.
Dark hair, blue eyes. Clark's breath unconsciously hitched.
Earth -1 Superman was slightly stunned at the new arrival.
Who the hell was this guy?
Unfortunately, that surprise was immediately followed with shock. Then, it morphed into murderous intentions the moment he saw what was within the other party's grasp.
The Helmet Of Fate.
'Impossible'.
With Nabu's helmet within his grasp, Amari had just stepped out of the void when two blazing hot solar rays shot straight towards his face.
....
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