章節 22: Chapter 20: Justice League vs Ghost Rider 2

"talking"

'thinking'

"Ghost Rider voice"

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The two moved. Superman was clearly faster and flying at supersonic speed he threw a strong punch at Edgar. The punch sent him flying even so hard that the shockwave had left a small hole where Edgar was standing.

Superman kept flying fast, throwing strong punches towards Edgar. Left and right, each punch left strong shockwaves, which made holes in the asphalt. Superman was fast, very fast, but unfortunately he was predictable, and Edgar took advantage of that.

When Superman had arrived again from the left side, Edgar had waited for him, and hit him in the jaw with a hook as Superman arrived. The force of the blow, coupled with Superman's flying speed, made the superhero unable to stop himself and sent him flying upward.

However, something stopped him from taking off into the sky when his feet were stopped by a chain.

"My turn"

Edgar grabbed his chain tightly with both hands, and with all his strength he began to spin Superman 360°, and throw him hard to the ground. But before Superman fell to the ground, Edgar pulled Supmeran towards him with incredible power, and when he got right where he was, he threw a hard punch in his face that made Superman feel like his jaw was dislocated.

Edgar didn't let him breathe when he repeated the same process, turning Superman around with momentum and bringing him closer again to hit him harder.

Each blow from Edgar caused Superman to easily propel himself upward, but the chain prevented him from flying off, backing into Edgar's fist again and again.

Superman was starting to get angry because of this, they were not the strongest blows he had ever received, but they were clearly not weak by any stretch of the imagination. When Edgar pulled him back, Superman acted.

Throwing his heat vision towards the ground desestabilizing caused Edgar to stumble and loosen his grip on the chain. This happened in just under a second, but for Superman this was enough for him to release the grip on his foot.

Superman flew free again so that he could analyze the situation. Clearly this being was very experienced in battle, more so than he was. He was also dangerous with his chain. He could no longer just hit it impudently.

Superman quickly flew again, but as he was about to arrive, he feinted to the side and released his freezing breath. This breath froze Edgar's right arm. He then moved quickly to the left side, and again generated another freezing breath that froze the left arm.

Edgar quickly began to thaw the ice with his hands, but that moment was enough for Superman to act.

While Edgar was thawing the ice, Superman had arrived right where he was and with a strong hook, hit Edgar so hard that he sent him flying more than 10 meters off the ground. Then, as if that wasn't enough, Superman intercepted Edgar's flight and, bringing his hands together into a fist, punched Edgar back.

Edgar couldn't fly (AN: he still doesn't know he can fly with his motorcycle) so he plummeted at such a speed that he created a giant crater when he crashed.

Such a fall was strong enough to knock anyone out. But Edgar wasn't anyone. He simply got up from the crater, shook off his clothes, and carried on as if nothing had happened.

Superman, though hopeful, knew that what he had done was not going to be enough. Superman continued to watch everything from the sky.

'I got it' He had found a weakness. Edgar couldn't fly, so if he took the fight to the sky, he would have the advantage and surely victory. However, how could Edgar let him do whatever he wanted.

As soon as he got up from the ground, he had already grabbed his rifle, and had it loaded with his hellfire.

'I'm sorry Superman, I didn't want to do this, but I need to leave before your friends arrive' His purpose here was to kill the Joker, and he had succeeded. Fighting with Superman was simply an unfortunate event, but he needed to defeat him in order to leave before the other members arrived.

Superman was going to use the strategy he used and take Edgar to heaven. But he had to stop when he registered as Edgar had fired his rifle. Two large fireballs were aimed at his chest at an astonishing speed.

Of course, he could easily avoid it. But, What could fire do to him? So he stood still while waiting for the fire to simply hit him.

(AN: Superman has a stupid confidence becuse he has never had an opponent to fight him on equal terms, other than his training with League members. Besides, he still thinks that his fire is just a simple normal fire since Edgar hasn't used it on him yet)

But that was a mistake, there he realized that Edgar was more dangerous to him than he expected. Maybe he should have listened to Batman and waited for the League.

The balls touched his chest, however, Superman who expected them to just attack and dissipate, was surprised when his chest registered such intense pain, the likes of which he had never felt before.

"Agggggghh" he let out a slight groan because of this.

Then his gaze flipped down and he saw how his chest had third degree burn marks. The surprising thing was that it wasn't healing. It wasn't the first time he had been hurt, but his regeneration factor was such that any wound he had would heal almost instantly, and this didn't happen right now.

The burn there, was still there, the pain as intense as ever.

'Magic' the realization hit him. Magic was the only thing that could stop his factor from activating.

Superman had a superior physique due to the yellow sun, his only recorded weakness was kryptonite. But what few knew was that magic could also be considered a weakness in the Kryptonian's eyes.

Magic was an arcane energy that ignored universal rules, which made it unaware that he had a superior physique and affected him like any other ordinary person. However, Zatara had made a study of the Kryptonian and found that his race was more easily affected by magic due to their genetics and evolution.

Their alien race was one of scientists, which made them ignorant of anything related to magic, and although there were several studies on the subject by the Kryptonians, these were never conclusive, and were quickly forgotten by other subjects easier to measure and study. After a long time like this, the Kryptonians had generated a subtle vulnerability to magic, which meant that the superhero was affected perhaps twice as much as the average person.

This was bad for him, he had been reckless and had paid the consequences. Superman had no time to complain when he quickly had to fly while dodging successive balls that Edgar sent at him.

He had discovered how dangerous they were the hard way, he could no longer let them touch him. Besides, thanks to this, he could no longer get close to him. It wasn't all bad though. Even though the balls were fast and big enough to come out of just one rifle, Edgar took a couple of seconds to reload each shot.

Enough time for Superman to employ a different strategy. At the end of the day, dodging wasn't going to do anything to defeat the one who seriously wounded his friend.

This recoil of the rifle was the reason why Edgar used it less than his beloved chain. The bullets emitted are powerful and fast, but loading them took time. Time that with opponents like Flash or even Superman himself he could not afford.

Edgar was even surprised that Superman would let himself be hit, he had been pretty stupid.

All of Edgar's weapons were special, made of the world's most malleable metal Promethium. A metal that the more energy it absorbed, the more indestructible it became.

In addition, Edgar had tied by a ritual his weapons and his motorcycle. No matter where he was, these weapons always came to him, besides, only he could use them. In short, the weapons had a conscience and recognized only Edgar as their master.

(AN: as the Mjornir of Thor)

His clothing was also special. Although, it was not made of Promethium, but was made of Carbonium. A highly malleable mineral that, like Promethium had quite similar properties and also absorbed energy, making it quasi-indestructible. In short, every tear in the clothing repaired itself, absorbing Edgar's fire.

After some time dodging Superman moved. If he couldn't use short distance, he would have to try long distance.

He quickly attacked with his heat vision, which Edgar intercepted with his bare hands. The heat vision was not dangerous enough to affect him, but powerful enough to keep him where he was, preventing him from continuing to fire his weapon.

Superman increased the power and little by little he was dragging Edgar backwards. Edgar had planted his foot firmly on the pavement, but it was beginning to give way little by little due to the power of the energy.

Superman was approaching and, in a change of pace, that took Edgar unawares, he gave him again a strong blow so powerful that this time he pulled out Edgar's skeletal jaw.

Edgar quickly adjusted his jaw, but Superman didn't give him time to breathe, he launched his heat vision again.

Edgar quickly intercepted, but Superman flew back and hit Edgar again, this time the blow had knocked him down.

Superman again used the same tactic, every time Edgar got up, Superman would again attack with his vision and then fly fast to strike. The tactic was simple. Hit and run. Not a tactic the Kryptonian liked, but the one that was most effective in this situation.

However, Superman again sinned of being predictable, as Edgar was increasingly anticipating his moves. 'Left, right, up, left' however he did not move, he let Superman continue attacking. And although he resented the situation, he knew it was not the time to move, not yet.

In one move as Superman was just flying back after landing a right punch, Edgar's chain wrapped around Superman's feet again. Superman was surprised by this. He thought he would be twisted and pulled again, but this did not happen, on the contrary, the chain caught fire, burning his feet.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGG!!!!!" Superman screamed from feeling pain like never before. The pain he felt from the burn in his chest, he was now feeling it 10 times in his ankles.

He tried to fly away, but the chain was still holding him, burning him severely as he tried to break free. Just when he thought the torture would continue, the chain went off, putting him out of his misery.

He could not even sigh with relief, as he was pulled hard to the ground at a speed equal to or faster than when Edgar had fallen. Now the conditions had been reversed. Superman had fallen like a projectile, leaving a big hole in the ground.

Superman was a mess, his ankles and part of his legs had black charred skin. His chest looked no better. That he was still awake only showed the strong will that characterized him.

Despite the pain in his legs, he tried to get up again. Emphasis on trying, because his legs were unusable. He even believed that he could not fly again, because he needed to generate a small and slight impulse with his feet to be able to rise above the ground, but he no longer had the strength.

Edgar had to give it to him, Superman was tough as hell. Burning him was his last option, since, despite their differences in ideals, Edgar didn't want to kill him, which is why he hadn't used his fire on him from the beginning.

Edgar respected him greatly, he was a true hero, and, although many would not admit it, the world needed him. Unfortunately, Superman sinned in relying too much on his power and had never worked on his combat skills or tactics.

If he could say so. Superman lacked a lot of experience against beings capable of matching or even surpassing him. Being the most powerful being in the planet, just left him with a false streak that he could defeat everyone with his strength, and he didn't understand what Edgar did, that there were always stronger and more experienced beings than you.

Edgar was not stronger than him, but his experience and magic had endowed him with the edge in the fight. He hoped this was a wake-up call to the hero to train. If he wants to remain the symbol of hope in the world, he has to become stronger.

(AN: as I said from the beginning, and I reiterate. Everyone in the League is young and inexperienced, they do not perform at their 100 like in the comics, not even Edgar)

Edgar slowly approached Superman who was trying to get up, and said.

"I respect you Superman, so I'll end it quickly"

Edgar quickly picked up momentum, and with all the strength he had, he punched Superman in the face. Superman turned his face completely around and fell to the ground.

However, contrary to Edgar's expectations, Superman got up again. Edgar struck again with the same power, which again made Superman fall almost limp on the ground, but just like the first time, Superman after a few seconds, again tried to get up.

"That's it?, my mother hits harder than you"

"Stay down" Edgar repeated the blow.

Edgar began to beat Superman up. Blow after blow, Superman each time got back on his feet. Despite that, his resistance began to wane, he was taking longer and longer to get up, even vomiting blood from his mouth, but he refused to give up, he refused to fall.

Lois, watching all this from the helicopter, could not stop crying. Here was the man she loved. The cheerful reporter from Smallville. The loving son of his parents and the symbol of hope for the entire nation and the world, being beaten again and again and again.

The nation watching the report couldn't believe it either. Superman had fallen, their symbol, their great hero, had been defeated.

"Jimmy we have to help him, tell the driver to get down" Lois pleaded.

"You're crazy Lois, that thing would kill us" Jimmy exclaimed. This action could only be described as suicide.

"We can't leave him, at this rate he'll die!" Lois exclaimed again. In her eyes she felt extremely helpless, she could only watch as this...thing, was killing him.

But as if her prayers were answered, someone interrupted Edgar's divine beating of Superman. A giant green hand had reached out and sent Edgar flying into a building.

The blow was such that the building in question began to collapse due to the destruction of the retaining walls, which caused that all the building fall into Edgar.

John Stewart was the cause of the attack. He was the Green Lantern who was patrolling the Earth and although he was slightly away from the place, he quickly took action and headed towards the threat.

He was surprised by what he saw with Superman seriously injured, but quickly acted and attacked that monster. When he went down to the ground, a blur, came to his side.

He was Flash, who was preventing the robbery of a bank that had hostiles, which prevented him from arriving earlier. It should be clarified that he was also the one who had taken the wounded Batman to the bay before returning here.

"Flash, take Superman to the medical bay, now!"

"I won't leave you alone against that, John"

"I'm not alone...."

Suddenly more and more heroes were arriving towards the area where they were.

Next to Green Lantern came Black Lightning, Shazam, Red Tornado, Martian Manhunter, Captain Atom, Cyborg, Vixen, Black Canary, and right on the roof was Green Arrow aiming towards the rubble of the building, as soon as they told him, he would shoot everything he had, and everyone knew he never missed.

Finally, the rest of the Justice League had arrived...