The world had entered its doomsday countdown.
Malrick's super vision and super hearing painted a chilling picture of endless destruction. Every second, countless scenes of tragedy unfolded before him.
High above the cloud sea, jet planes suddenly vanished, leaving passengers to plummet helplessly from the sky. On highways, drivers vanished mid-journey, cars crashing at full speed into gas stations, igniting roaring infernos that devoured everything in sight.
This place was called the Anti-World.
Here, everything stood as a twisted reflection of the Earth Malrick had known. The sun burned red, the ground stretched square, and even the structure of language was reversed. Words that cursed in one world became their mirror here.
Even Superman was reversed.
In this world, he was known as Bizarro—a being with ice breath instead of heat vision, empowered by green Kryptonite and a red sun, yet weakened under a yellow sun or x-Kryptonite. But this world's Bizarro was long dead, and now both worlds teetered on the brink of destruction.
Malrick noticed something unusual. Despite the red sun blazing overhead, he did not weaken. His power continued to grow, albeit slower than it did under the yellow sun.
"So that's it," Malrick realized, his eyes narrowing. "Sun-Bathing Evolution doesn't just apply to yellow sunlight. It means that under any natural sunlight, I can continuously grow stronger."
The Source Will of the Starry Universe had altered him. What was once a Kryptonian bloodline talent—strengthening under the yellow sun—had transformed into something greater: Sun-Bathing Evolution. Until now, he had underestimated it.
But one question remained.
"What about Kryptonite?"
In a blur, Malrick shifted, appearing deep inside a cavern. The battle suit on his arm receded like flowing liquid as he reached for a piece of green Kryptonite embedded in the stone.
Traditionally, green Kryptonite was Superman's most infamous weakness. It could weaken him, cause unbearable pain, and, with prolonged exposure, even kill him.
Yet as Malrick gripped the glowing crystal, he felt nothing.
"No weakness… but something else," he muttered. The sensation reminded him of when he once held golden Kryptonite. It wasn't pain he felt, but a strange instinct—an urge for transformation, guiding him to modify his genes.
After a moment's hesitation, Malrick decided to follow the pull. He had little to fear. Within him existed his Inner World, where his clones resided. Even if his main body collapsed into nothing but pulp, the Blood Sea Clone could restore him within moments.
So he embraced the change.
And died.
His body ruptured violently, flesh tearing apart, bones dislocating as blood splattered against the cavern walls. In excruciating agony, he dissolved into a grotesque pool of crimson.
By the time he realized his error, it was too late.
The pain of physical annihilation was indescribable, but Malrick's face remained calm. His willpower had grown immeasurably. Once, when he first returned to Earth after months of bathing in cosmic sunlight, he could barely endure. Now, in this DC universe, he was certain his willpower could rival a Green Lantern's, enough to wield a ring capable of planetary destruction.
As his body collapsed, his perspective shifted—from the fallen main body to his clone.
"It failed," he said flatly, though not discouraged. With a thought, the Blood Sea Clone cleansed the cavern of the foul blood and expended energy to nurture a new vessel.
Moments later, Malrick stood once again, clad in the Dormammu suit. His eyes fixed on the green Kryptonite embedded in the wall.
"The moment I died, I felt it… my genes trying to transform. I was on the right path."
But progress would not come easily. To perfect this evolution, he would likely need to endure countless gene collapses, each failure testing his will.
Unless he found another way.
"The Life Codex," Malrick whispered. "Yes… if I can obtain it, it will guide me."
The Life Codex—the genetic archive of the Kryptonian race. In the movies, Superman's father had hidden it within his son's body. Malrick was certain that within its vast record of genetic possibilities lay the key to his next leap.
The Source Will had erased his fatal weaknesses, but perhaps it had also left him with something greater: a new path forward.
Superman feared Kryptonite. The true opposite of that fear was not immunity, but evolution—using Kryptonite to grow stronger, as beings like Bizarro and Ultraman once did.
Malrick clenched his fist, certain now. His body craved Kryptonite as fuel for evolution. Combining Superman's strengths with Bizarro's resilience, stripped of their vulnerabilities, could forge something new.
But until then, he would need patience.
Collecting the green Kryptonite, Malrick vanished from the cave in a flicker. Though his time inside seemed long, in reality, only seconds had passed.
Above, passengers still screamed as they fell from the vanished planes.
Malrick's eyes sharpened. With a thought, his World Power—an energy born from the fusion of telekinesis and primal genetic force—swept across the Anti-World like an unseen tide. Time itself seemed to pause.
Passengers falling through the skies drifted gently to the ground. Explosions at gas stations extinguished without a trace. Collapsing buildings froze, cars ceased their deadly collisions, even massive cruise ships that had appeared mid-air settled safely upon the sea.
For one fleeting moment, Malrick played god. The Anti-World became his chessboard, and every life was a piece gently moved back into place.
He remembered telling Tony he would never be the kind of Superman who raced across the globe, forever a symbol of saving others. That wasn't who he was. But when disaster struck and the solution lay within his reach, he would act.
Just as he once had in his previous life, on that subway, when his choice to save others cost him everything.
Seconds later, all threats were gone, the people saved without even realizing.
Malrick exhaled slowly. It was time to return.
He turned toward the cavern once more. Deep within, a spatial gate shimmered. It connected the Anti-World to its counterpart—the Positive World. Created by the villain of this twisted Earth, it was his path back.
Stepping forward, Malrick passed through the gate and into the void beyond universes.
Ahead lay the massive black sphere of the Positive World's universe bubble. Another gate hovered there, a doorway back to Earth.
But he did not move toward it just yet.
Suspended between the two worlds was a figure radiating immense power. A woman, her aura flaring like a storm.
Ellie Alston.
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