Steel screamed and glass shattered as Superman's fist connected with Black Adam's face, the impact so immense it sent a shockwave throughout the Watchtower. The corridor warped under the blow's force, walls crumbling, alarms shrieking. Black Adam flew back, his body smashing through bulkheads and embedding into a titanium wall with a grunt that fractured the structure. Blood trickled from his split lip, painting the metal with crimson.
Superman didn't pause.
His body blurred into motion again, fists thundering into Adam's body, each strike a seismic detonation. One punch broke a rib, another caved in the villain's chest armor. The fourth sent Black Adam hurtling through a security blast door, shattering it in a burst of fire and molten steel.
Adam, coughing blood, rolled with the momentum. He spat red onto the scorched ground and wiped his mouth.
"You're strong, Kryptonian," he growled, magic crackling in his voice. "But you're still just flesh."
Lightning exploded from his core. He bellowed as mystical energy surged from his body, a white-hot blast that slammed into Superman like a freight train. The Man of Steel flew backward through two walls, landing hard and skidding through shattered glass and steel beams. Blood streamed down his temple. He gasped, chest heaving.
Superman stood, his already swollen eye bled, a chunk of hair burned away, cape tattered even more, and clinging to him in bloody rags.
Superman remained quiet, his cold eyes locking onto Black Adam's.
And.
They collided again.
This time, there were no holds. No grace. With the sole thought of victory.
Superman slammed Black Adam into the ceiling, his fists piston-driving into Adam's face, each punch leaving splatters of blood across the room. Adam responded with a brutal uppercut that snapped Superman's jaw sideways. Blood fountained from the Kryptonian's mouth. Before he could recover, Adam drove a lightning-infused punch into his gut, ripping through the lining of his suit and searing flesh underneath.
Superman coughed violently, a thick spurt of blood painting the floor. He staggered but didn't fall. With a roar, he caught Adam's arm, twisted it with a sickening crack, and drove his knee into the villain's sternum. Bone shattered. Adam howled.
The walls around them buckled under the fury of the battle. The floor collapsed beneath their feet, sending both titans crashing into the power core of the Watchtower. Sparks erupted as machinery burst, electrical fire climbing the walls.
They rose from the debris, bloodied, bruised, and breathing like beasts.
"Why do you fight so hard?" Adam snarled, wiping blood from his eyes. "You're dying."
Superman's reply was a whisper, voice thick with blood. "Because....I have something to protect."
"And you only have yourself!"
With blinding speed, Superman tackled him, dragging them both through a wall and into the cryo-labs. He slammed Adam's face into a cryo-pod, then another, until the reinforced glass broke and the icy gas hissed outward. Adam lashed out, raking his nails across Superman's face, carving a gash down his cheek.
In response, Superman drove his elbow into Adam's throat, crushing his larynx. Adam coughed violently, blood and spittle flying. But even choking, he refused to fall.
He whispered, "Shazam!"
Lightning fell.
The bolt slammed down onto them both. Superman screamed as it lit his veins on fire, scorching deep into his nervous system. Skin blistered, bone cooked. He fell, twitching.
Adam rose again, burned and smoking. His cape was gone. His teeth were chipped. But his eyes still gleamed with manic fury.
"I will tear your heart out," he hissed.
Superman surged up from the ground, eyes glowing bright red. His heat vision roared, scorching a searing trail across Adam's chest, cauterizing flesh and burning bone. Adam wailed.
Then Superman was on him.
Fists flying. Knees rising. Elbows crashing. He unleashed everything he had left.
He broke Adam's nose. Dislocated his jaw. Shattered ribs and split skin. He lifted Adam and brought him down spine-first onto a jagged piece of rebar.
The metal impaled him.
Adam gasped, his body convulsing.
Superman, panting, collapsed to his knees beside the wreckage. His hands dripped with blood, his own, Adam's, it didn't matter. His vision blurred, a ringing filling his ears.
But Adam was still moving.
Barely.
He reached up, whispering the word again, weak, frail.
"Sha…zam…"
Superman lunged forward and punched him in the throat before the word could finish, silencing the invocation.
"You're not saying that again," Superman said hoarsely.
Adam fell limp.
Silence returned.
Smoke curled around them. Fires flickered in the corners. The Watchtower creaked above, barely holding.
Superman stood again, dragging Black Adam's body away from the edge of a crumbling power core. He didn't do it out of mercy, but to ensure he could secure himself.
Then a flicker of movement caught his eye. Another figure Kai, stumbled into the room, blood staining his clothes, wide-eyed with fear. Superman turned, blood in his mouth as he forced a nod.
"You're safe now," he murmured.
Kai dropped to his knees beside Hawkgirl, who still lay unconscious, barely breathing. His hands trembled, unsure if she was alive.
Superman limped over, placed two fingers on her neck, and nodded slowly.
"She's alive. But we need to move."
Suddenly, a low groan echoed.
Black Adam, pierced and bloodied, twitched.
Superman turned, eyes narrowing. "Stay down."
But Adam's eyes burned with something new, desperation, maybe madness. He clawed toward a console, trying to speak the word again.
Superman roared and launched himself forward.
He grabbed a jagged piece of metal from the ground and rammed it through Black Adam's arm, pinning him to the floor. Adam screamed.
Superman leaned in, nose inches from Adam's. "You had your chance."
His eyes burned, hotter, Hotter, HOTTER!!!
And then, the force of the sun came crashing down on Black Adam.
"AUUUGHGHHHH!" he screamed, his voice raw and inhuman as his eyes liquefied in their sockets, spilling down his scorched cheeks. His flesh bubbled and peeled away, bone melting like wax under a blowtorch, his brain reduced to steaming, bubbling sludge.
Superman stood motionless, staring at the smoldering ruin before him. His hands trembled just for a moment—before he clenched them into fists, forcing himself to steady his breath.
"We need to go. Now," he said quietly.