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Arthur's words did it.
H'El's expression twisted. Fury exploded across his face, and he lunged a blur of speed and raw Kryptonian power that shattered the air between them. He slammed into Arthur, fists raining down in a relentless storm. Each blow cracked like a thunderclap, the ground beneath them fracturing from the force.
But Arthur didn't budge.
A sphere of pitch-black energy erupted around him a solid, seamless shell forged from shadow itself using his shadow ring. The punches struck the barrier like meteor impacts, each one sending ripples of violet light spiraling across the surface. H'El's rage only grew, his attacks faster, heavier, until with a deafening crack, the sphere shattered into shards that glittered like obsidian glass.
Arthur with a flick of his wrist, those shards froze midair then twisted. The fragments lengthened into spears and blades of living shadow, all turning toward H'El in perfect unison.
The next second, they rushed him.
A storm of black steel cut through the snow. The sound was deafening a thousand knives slicing the air. But H'El moved through it with inhuman precision, weaving between them, swatting others aside. When the barrage ended, not a single blade had pierced him. His face smeared with soot and blood but his flesh remained unbroken.
Arthur exhaled slowly, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"It's a funny thing, isn't it?"
H'El's eyes burned with wrath, his fists already glowing with heat as he closed the distance again. Arthur met him strike for strike, weaving between punches, the twinblade flashing darkly in his hand.
"You…" Arthur said between blows, "were supposed to carry Krypton's legacy, the keeper of its laws and customs after its destruction…"
He ducked a punch and drove a kick straight into H'El's chest, sending him tumbling backward through a wall of ice. Arthur continued, his tone turning sharp and mocking:
"Yet you yourself… are a clone."
H'El froze midair for a heartbeat, disbelief clouding his features long enough for Arthur to appear in front of him again and plant a savage kick to his face. H'El crashed through the snow and ice, sending a shockwave across the plain.
Arthur landed softly, smirking as he brushed frost off his shoulder. "And I'm pretty sure cloning was forbidden on Krypton, wasn't it? A taboo."
A scythe of darkness unfurled in his hand, shadows curling along its blade like living smoke. Arthur rested it across his shoulder, his voice low, teasing.
"So what are you going to do about that?"
Kara landed beside him, her torn cape snapping in the wind. Her expression was full of worry.
"Are you sure riling him up is a good idea?" she muttered.
Arthur didn't take his eyes off H'El. "He was already angry," he said dryly. "Well since Clark is here I'm just trying something I normally wouldn't do... to change his mind."
H'El rose from the snow, his face unreadable now the fury still there, but tempered by confusion. "You… lie."
Superman floated forward, his expression solemn, voice steady. "He's not lying."
H'El's head snapped toward him. For the first time, there was something almost fragile in his eyes. "What are you saying, Kal?"
Clark met his gaze. "Much like me the first natural birth in generations, you were another taboo. Another act of defiance by my father." He hesitated, the weight of truth heavy on his tongue. "You were cloned from several Kryptonians engineered to be perfect. A vessel for our people's knowledge and history."
H'El's lips trembled. "Lies…" he whispered, the word shaking.
"Raised to believe you were born naturally," Clark continued, "and sent to carry out Krypton's legacy among the stars. My father believed you were a symbol of what we'd lost but he kept the truth from you to protect you."
"Lies!" H'El roared and his fist met Clark's jaw, sending the Man of Steel crashing through a glacier.
Kara gasped and took a step forward, but Arthur lifted a hand, stopping her. His eyes didn't leave H'El. "Not yet."
Superman rose from the shattered ice, blood tracing the edge of his mouth but his voice was steady. "It's the truth. All of it."
H'El's breathing quickened. His hands went to his head as if trying to crush the thoughts out of existence. "I… you're saying my life...my purpose... was a lie?"
Clark stepped closer, eyes filled with empathy. "No. That's not what our father..."
"Silence!" H'El screamed, "He is not my father now... not after this!" his voice breaking into a thunderous echo as he threw out his hand. The telekinetic blast sent Clark flying backward, carving a trench through the snow.
H'El's eyes blazed red, fury and anguish twisting together into something monstrous. "I will hear no more of this!"
Arthur exhaled softly, lowering his scythe, his tone calm.
"Of course not," he said, his voice almost pitying. "Denial's a hell of a shield, stronger than any Kryptonian."
The air warped with the weight of H'El's scream.
"I'm a clone?" His voice fractured, echoing through the broken Arctic like a chorus of ghosts. "Then everything... everything I am! is a lie!"
Crimson light pulsed through his veins, lines of power streaking under his skin like molten fire. The snow around him evaporated, the air itself twisting under the heat. His eyes burned with an unnatural red-white glare as his rage found focus. He turned toward Kara, gaze locking on her like a blade.
"Then you shouldn't exist either!" he roared. "None of you should!"
The blast that erupted from him was instantaneous a violent pulse of Kryptonian energy that cracked the glacier beneath their feet. Kara's eyes widened; she threw her arms up, trying to brace herself.
She wouldn't have made it in time.
A violet flare shot between them Arthur's hand raised, fingers curling as if grasping the air itself. Ruler's Authority ignited, unseen force slamming into Kara and launching her back across the snow, out of the blast's reach.
Arthur met H'El head-on, violet energy bleeding from his eyes like molten fury. His voice was calm, but edged with threat.
"Careful," he said, his tone low and cold tilting his head with a smile. "She is my girl after all."
H'El's features twisted into hate. "Then you'll die with them!"
Arthur didn't respond. His pupils thinned to razor points, his aura bursting outward like a detonation of shadows and violet flame. The snow exploded beneath his feet and in an instant, both of them were gone.
The world blurred.
The two streaked into the sky, one violet, one red, colliding midair with a shockwave that shattered icebergs miles away. The sound that followed was like thunder breaking the heavens apart. H'El lashed out with a flurry of blows, every strike strong enough to level a mountain, but Arthur met every one parried, redirected, countered.
Arthur's gauntlets cracked against H'El's ribs, then his jaw, then his stomach the rhythm was relentless. When H'El tried to form a telekinetic shield, Arthur's own will surged, tearing it apart with invisible force before ramming a knee into his chest that sent him spinning across the sky.
They clashed again, higher this time. The aurora above warped from their energy violet and crimson colliding in a storm of light. Every impact rippled across the horizon, sending tidal waves rolling beneath them.
Arthur weaved through the air like a shadow given form, vanishing and reappearing with every strike.
H'El swung wildly, eyes glowing, but Arthur ducked under a punch, twisted, and slammed his elbow into H'El's spine, sending him crashing downward.
The impact carved a crater into the snow far below. Arthur didn't wait. He dove after him a violet comet trailing lightning and struck again, his blows coming faster than thought. The ice cracked, split, melted.
High above, Superman hovered next to Kara, both watching as the battle ripped the Arctic apart.
Kara's torn cape fluttered violently in the shockwaves. "Kal, we should aid him."
Superman didn't move. His eyes were locked on Arthur on the sheer ferocity of his assault. There was, no restraint, no hesitation between thought and action. It wasn't even rage; it was precision unleashed.
"He was holding back earlier…" Clark muttered under his breath, disbelief etched across his face.
Kara glanced at him, frowning. "Which one are you talking about?"
"Arthur," he said quietly. His eyes reflected the violet flashes below. "I said I wouldn't hold back against H'El. But even now… even now I find myself holding back. Always worried about what I'll destroy, who I might hurt."
He exhaled, the breath fogging in the cold. "I don't think I'll ever be able to fight like that."
Kara followed his gaze, watching as Arthur and H'El tore through another glacier, shadows and energy scattering ice into the air like shards of glass. Despite the violence, there was something calculated about Arthur's movements.
She smiled faintly. "Actually," she said, "he's not even going all out. Trust me."
Clark turned to her, incredulous. "Not all out? That's tame to you?"
Kara shrugged, her smile tilting. "Surprisingly tame, yeah.. Might be because it's about us since H'El is also Kryptonian and all..."
Clark blinked, then after a pause, glanced at her sideways. "Isn't he your boyfriend? You should know for sure."
Kara turned sharply toward him, cheeks coloring just enough for him to notice. "I can't read his mind, Kal!" she snapped.
Clark chuckled under his breath, the first sign of levity in hours as the sky split open again below them, violet and red light colliding once more in a storm that could be seen from orbit.
/-\
If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.
&
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my patreon at
"https://www.patreon.com/FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want