"Thank you!" General Zod took a deep breath, watching Reagan leave with the other Kryptonians while Clark made no move to stop them. He turned to Clark with sincere gratitude.
"They haven't harmed any innocent people, so letting them go isn't a big deal. But you're different. Not only do we have personal grievances, but you're the one who ordered the burning, looting, and killing on Earth. So I won't let you go," Clark said softly, shaking his head slowly.
"I never expected you to. To be honest, I'm curious. Why are you so much stronger than the rest of us Kryptonians? I'm even more curious if the power you've shown so far is really your limit," General Zod replied with a smile, his eyes locked onto Clark.
"If possible, could you show me your true limits? I want to see just how powerful a Kryptonian can become..."
Clark fell silent for a moment after hearing Zod's words. After a long pause, he looked deeply at Zod and nodded. "Alright."
As soon as Clark finished speaking, a powerful aura erupted from him. To General Zod, it felt as if he was once again facing the sun. But this time, the sun offered no strength, only a sense of mortal danger.
In the universe, Clark couldn't control the sunlight that Kryptonians draw power from. But Clark himself was like a sun, and all the energy from this sun was under his control.
With a loud bang, General Zod's body was flung high into the air. He felt himself suffering severe damage, but the speed of the attack was so fast that he couldn't even discern which part of his body had been hit.
Now, General Zod felt as though he was trapped inside a sun, surrounded by its scorching rays, leaving him completely disoriented, even to the point where his consciousness began to blur.
In this dazed state, Zod's body continued to take damage. In a trance, he saw everything from Krypton's past—its prosperity, its decline, and his once youthful self...
Meanwhile, on the battlefield below the space portal, Robert had moved to a new location. The number of Chitauri was overwhelming, like a swarm of locusts filling the sky.
Robert was killing Chitauri much faster than Kara. Even so, he hadn't completely eradicated them, but he had managed to prevent them from spreading across Earth.
"Are there really this many of these aliens? I refuse to believe they can't be wiped out!" Robert's eyes flashed with a cold light as a Ki blast formed in his hand, aimed at the Chitauri in the sky.
After a moment, the energy in Robert's Ki blast finished gathering, and the blast split into multiple smaller blasts that shot toward the Chitauri in the sky.
Yes, all of them! Robert had used this move, "Falling Rain," before, but that was against dozens or hundreds of enemies. Now, there were tens of thousands of Chitauri.
But even with so many enemies, none could escape Robert's Falling Rain. When they saw the rain of blasts, their instinctual fear drove them to flee, but they were still caught and pierced by the blasts.
"What the...?!"
"No way?!"
"Holy...?!"
Shouts of surprise erupted from all around. The Avengers were used to Ki blasts, and the few Kamar-Taj disciples were familiar with Robert's abilities, but the Atlanteans were shocked.
The Atlanteans watched in disbelief as the Chitauri they had been fighting were pursued by Ki blasts, unable to dodge, and ultimately blown apart.
And this wasn't just an isolated case—it happened to all the Chitauri. Whether they were wreaking havoc or fighting, they all died, and Earth suddenly became much quieter, until new waves of Chitauri poured through the portal.
This terrifying power scared the Atlanteans. Even though Robert wasn't an enemy, his strength made them uneasy.
Atlantis, a secluded underwater civilization, had developed faster than the surface world. Though they took a different path, they were more advanced in essence.
You could say that Atlantis was like a terrestrial civilization with energy weapons universally deployed. Their energy weapons had seemingly endless power since they used water as their energy source.
Don't underestimate the power of water. In the battle against the Chitauri, the Atlanteans not only held their ground but even had the upper hand, performing on par with some of Tony Stark's armors.
But even so, they were still intimidated by Robert's Ki blasts. Similarly, the Chitauri entering through the portal were terrified.
Those who had arrived earlier witnessed their comrades being blown apart by the Ki blasts. As for those who had come even earlier, they had already been locked onto and killed by the blasts.
Even though the Chitauri had shown no fear of death before, they now hesitated because Robert's speed in killing them was too fast. Their swarm tactics were losing their effectiveness.
But just as the Chitauri hesitated, a sound echoed in their minds. Their eyes turned red once more, and they resumed their furious assault on Earth's surface.
"They really are endless, aren't they? Interesting... From the way they act, they clearly fear death. But it seems they are more like mass-produced beings," Robert mused as he watched the Chitauri resume their attack, his eyes flashing with thought.
Robert knew that entering the space portal might be the best way to eliminate the Chitauri, but the problem was that he had no idea how many Chitauri were on the other side or where the portal led.
He was certain the portal led to the vast universe, but exactly where was unknown. It wasn't even near the solar system.
Robert wasn't worried about being ambushed on the other side, but he did worry that if he entered the portal and it suddenly closed, he wouldn't be able to return.
The portal's energy was far more powerful than that of the Guardians' portals. Robert had even asked the Guardians to try probing it, but their power couldn't reach through.
This meant that if Robert charged through the portal and it closed behind him, he could indeed get lost in space.
Robert had the power to survive in space for a while, but the vastness of space made it uncertain whether he could find his way back to Earth, especially without knowing instant transmission.
As for the Space Stone, Robert had looked into it. He could feel the immense power within, stronger than his own, and he had no way to sever its connection to the portal.
He even tried crushing the cube around the Space Stone, but worried that doing so might cause a spatial disturbance, so he decided to try killing all the Chitauri first to see if the invaders had any new tricks.
"Hmm?" Just as Robert was about to continue killing the Chitauri, he sensed something and looked up at the sky.
A small spaceship flew into view. It was the same one that had followed Clark and Kara to Earth, but instead of heading straight to the battlefield, it had made a detour to check something in America before arriving.
"Where are the Chitauri? Weren't they supposed to be invading Earth? How come I didn't see anything on my way here? Did I come too early, or did I get fake news?" Inside the spaceship, a young man scratched his head, puzzled.
"Chitauri detected," the ship's alert sounded. The young man had set up this detection system before returning to Earth, though its range wasn't large. Fortunately, it was now proving useful.
The young man hadn't flown directly to the battlefield but had been patrolling across America. Only now did he finally find traces of the Chitauri.
"Those space pirates, they're worse than us Ravagers! How dare they invade my homeland!" The young man, Peter Jason Quill, also known as Star-Lord, had been taken from Earth by the Ravagers as a child and hadn't returned until now, after hearing that the Chitauri were invading Earth.
The main reason Star-Lord returned was his fear that his mother's grave might be desecrated. After confirming it was intact, he began searching for the Chitauri.
"Engage autopilot! Target Chitauri and fire at will! Open the hatch—it's time for me to make my grand entrance!" Star-Lord pressed a few buttons, leaped out of the ship, and activated his rocket boots to fly, pulling out his laser guns, ready to show off.
"A human?" Robert's eyes flashed with surprise when he saw Star-Lord. He had sensed Star-Lord's presence before, but now, seeing him, he was sure of his Earthly origin. However, Robert had no idea where Star-Lord had come from.
"Is this some official agency finally stepping in? But why is there only one guy?" Robert frowned, but his actions were swift as he launched another Ki blast, turning it into Falling Rain that swept over the Chitauri he had targeted.
The Chitauri, diving down like moths to a flame, were instantly engulfed by the blasts, leaving none alive. The sky briefly cleared until more Chitauri poured through the portal, once again filling the sky.
"No Chitauri detected. Unable to engage. Chitauri detected. Targeting..." The spaceship's voice droned on, seemingly less than intelligent, while Star-Lord himself was equally confused.
Star-Lord had wandered the galaxy for years and thought he'd seen it all, but the scene before him was entirely new.
He knew that Earth's technology was far behind in the cosmic scheme, and that humans were average in terms of physical prowess compared to other species, especially those with extraordinary powers.
Over the years, Star-Lord had encountered many species with superpowers and advanced civilizations, but he'd never seen individual combat power on this level.
In Star-Lord's eyes, the strongest person he knew was Yondu, who could control
an arrow with his whistle. Yondu could barely be called a one-man army, but even he would be hard-pressed to take out a hundred Chitauri, let alone wipe out the entire swarm.
"Oh my God! Today was supposed to be my day to shine, but I ended up running into a saint!" Star-Lord muttered as he looked in Robert's direction. Then his eyes began to gleam with an idea as he started flying toward Robert.
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