The bishop barely had time to react as the figure closed in. Superman's fist hurtled toward him with unimaginable force.
As the punch landed, something strange happened. A light blue ripple spread across the bishop's body, absorbing the full force of Superman's attack. The impact that should have caused an earth-shattering explosion instead resulted in a faint, almost quiet sound. Even more bizarre was the visual effect: it was as though Superman's fist had struck water. The incredible strength behind his attack seemed to vanish into the ripple.
Then, the backlash came. It wasn't a physical force but something far stranger, tied to time itself. The energy rebounded into Superman, splitting him into seven or eight copies of himself. These weren't ordinary duplicates; each one looked slightly different. Some wore dark blue suits, others light blue. Some had black emblems on their chests, others red. Even their capes varied, with some showing a golden "S."
These versions of Superman were fragments of him from different timelines—pieces of his existence scattered across space and time. For a brief moment, the duplicates stood separate, each one distinct. But just as quickly as they appeared, they merged back into the original Superman, their timelines aligning once more.
The bishop stared in disbelief, his voice trembling as he muttered, "What are you...?"
He had used a weapon that manipulated time itself—a temporal field designed to counter overwhelming power. The harder someone hit it, the stronger the backlash would be. In theory, it should trap its target in chaotic timelines or tear them apart completely. But Superman defied logic. His timeline was unlike anything the bishop had ever encountered. It felt as though Superman had lived countless lives, each one overlapping and intertwining in a tangled, incomprehensible mess.
While the bishop stood frozen, trying to make sense of what he had just witnessed, Superman moved again. He spread his fingers wide and grabbed the bishop. With a single motion, he crushed the small figure in his hand. But instead of dying, the bishop dissolved into glowing blue particles that scattered into the air. Those particles quickly reformed into multiple copies of the bishop, each one identical. Around them, the metallic battlefield shifted and reformed, creating new weapons and defenses.
Superman stopped and listened to the voice in his ear—Friday, his AI companion. "Superhuman senses should help locate the real bishop," she said calmly. "But there's a better option available."
"What is it?" Superman—Charlie —asked, his tone sharp but curious.
Friday replied, "Your experience bar has reached its limit. You can upgrade, sir. And if you do, you'll gain access to abilities that could change the outcome of this fight entirely."
Charlie's eyes lit up with excitement. "You mean I can use that? Let's do it."
Without hesitation, Charlie changed tactics. He shot into the sky, abandoning the fight with the bishop. For a moment, the bishop hesitated, confused by Superman's sudden retreat. Then, realizing his opponent was escaping, he unleashed his full arsenal of weapons, sending waves of attacks after him. But Superman moved too quickly. He tore through the battlefield, heading straight for a massive space battleship hovering above.
Superman slammed into the ship with the force of a meteor, reducing it to a ball of fire in seconds. The enormous structure crumbled and burned, its destruction adding to the chaos of the battlefield. But Charlie didn't stop there. He moved on to the next ship, and the next, dismantling them one by one with incredible speed and precision. Each time he destroyed a ship, he absorbed the experience it provided. His experience bar, which had been stuck at its maximum, finally began to shift.
By the time he destroyed the sixth battleship, the bar had filled completely. Charlie brought up the upgrade interface, his mind racing with anticipation. Without hesitation, he selected the ability upgrade module. His choice was clear—he would copy the full powers of the hero he had unlocked during his last upgrade.
The interface opened, and Charlie made his selection: Dr. Manhattan.
Dr. Manhattan was no ordinary hero. He was a being of godlike power, capable of bending reality, time, and space to his will. Charlie had unlocked Dr. Manhattan in a previous upgrade, but until now, he hadn't been able to use his abilities directly. This upgrade would change that.
"Upgrade complete," Friday's voice announced.
As the process finished, Charlie felt the transformation. A surge of power coursed through him, unlike anything he had experienced before. He was no longer just Superman. With Dr. Manhattan's abilities added to his arsenal, he had become something far greater. Time and space bent around him, the battlefield shifting as his newfound powers took hold.
The fight wasn't over—but now, Charlie had the upper hand. The bishop and his army of clones would soon learn the true meaning of unstoppable.