HISD Chapter 70: The Beginning of Doomsday Superman
The blazing sun sank into the horizon and was extinguished.
DC Universe, Earth. Southern Italy, the heart of the Mediterranean Sea.
Boom!!
Like a meteor crashing down from the night sky, the sea suddenly exploded upward, water spraying dozens of meters high under the moonlight and darkness!
But this time, instead of leaping into the air again, the figure kept plunging downward into the depths of the ocean!
Atlanna, wrapped tightly in the massive gray-white bony hand, clutched the sleeping infant close to her chest. They were dragged rapidly into the deep sea. Two blazing streams of destructive crimson energy grew ever more violent, and Poseidon's Trident—an artifact—automatically pushed back the waters as they entered.
Bubbling currents!
Very quickly, the bone-spiked monster dragged them ten thousand meters below, with no bottom in sight.
"I remember… this region of the deep sea had no undersea civilization."
Atlanna, Queen of Atlantis, could see across vast distances underwater. She was secretly relieved, until her pupils shrank. Tens of thousands of grotesque, twisted black figures were swarming toward them!
They were neither fully human nor fish. Gray, ugly, covered in scales and spines.
Humanoid sea monsters, their numbers overwhelming. Dense clusters filled the waters, enough to make her scalp crawl.
Atlanna's heart pounded in horror. "The Trench! Right, this is the deep-sea region where the kingdoms offered sacrifices to the Trench!"
The Trench, once one of the six great races of Atlantis before its empire fractured. With time, they degenerated into mindless, cannibalistic sea monsters.
These savage abominations could wipe out a small undersea kingdom with ease!
Atlanna trembled—until she felt the firm grip of those gray-white bony fingers. Suddenly, she wasn't afraid anymore.
As expected.
In the next instant, two massive beams of crimson heat vision tore through the abyssal waters. With a single glance from the spiked giant, seawater boiled and evaporated. Countless Trench monsters were cut clean in half by heat rays that stretched for kilometers!
Blinding red light carved apart the depths, the sea hissing and steaming into whirlpools. Remnants of Trench corpses scattered everywhere.
"Waaah!"
The survivors fled in terror, scrambling away desperately.
Atlanna sighed, closing her eyes, unwilling to watch further.
If one were to speak of monsters, there was none in this world greater than the being before her...
The bone-spiked existence didn't bother chasing the fleeing Trench. It carried Atlanna and the child deeper, until they reached a natural whirlpool roaring like thunder at the bottom.
This whirlpool seemed to lead to the other side of the world.
Before Atlanna could react, the creature plunged them straight inside!
The waters split apart as they surged into the vortex—
And then, they burst out into a new ocean. The view opened wide before them.
"This is…"
Atlanna's eyes widened in shock. From the depths of the whirlpool, they had reached the Earth's core. Floating mountain ranges hung suspended in the air. Above, the dome of the inner earth was covered in multicolored crystal, pouring down beams of radiant sunlight!
A vast primordial island stood across the waves.
Ancient pterosaurs, long extinct, soared above—yet upon sensing the bone-spiked terror, they shrieked and fled in fear.
"The Hidden Sea at Earth's Core…"
Atlanna's mouth dropped open. They had arrived at the legendary mythical land, the resting place of the Trident.
Thud!
Yi Meng, in his Doomsday form, leapt high from the ocean, landing upon the primordial island. He set his burdens down and looked toward the crystal canopy above.
Yes. This was indeed the Hidden Sea at Earth's Core, where the Trident had once been kept.
Yi Meng remembered, in the movie Aquaman, this place radiated light that never dimmed.
Now, as he stood beneath that light, the crimson blaze of destruction in his eyes dimmed slightly.
Just as he expected.
The crystals embedded in the dome had absorbed solar radiation for billions of years, converting it into the same kind of energy as the sun.
In other words, the crystal light here had the same effect as yellow sunlight on Kryptonians.
Perfect for him at this moment.
Until he fully mastered the power of Doomsday, this could serve as his stronghold.
Right. There was one more thing he needed from the outside.
Yi Meng suddenly leapt up. Under Atlanna's stunned gaze, he climbed the crystalline wall and wrenched loose a chunk of sun crystal.
Boom—
The spiked giant clutched the radiant crystal, plunged back into the sea, and returned the way he came.
Behind him, Atlanna sat dazed on the island's sands, holding the Kryptonian infant in her arms.
…
Outside, Antarctica.
Suddenly, light flared.
A researcher stationed at a science outpost looked toward the night sky, doubting his own eyes.
It was supposed to be eternal night at this time of year—yet before him, a blinding little sun was falling toward the depths of the Antarctic ice.
Thud!
On a towering iceberg, snow cascaded down as the three-meter-tall spiked creature landed, holding the sun crystal.
"Good… it works."
The ancient Doomsday's crimson eyes flickered with a thread of reason. He looked down at the glowing crystal.
This crystal radiated yellow sun energy endlessly. It slightly weakened the destructive frenzy gnawing at his heart.
Only slightly.
What truly allowed Yi Meng to cling to reason and humanity… was something else.
From his brow, a faint trace of warm golden light shimmered—the fragment of the Mind Stone he had taken from the Marvel dreamscape, resisting Doomsday's will.
"It works! It really works!"
Yi Meng's excitement surged. The shard's power truly carried through to reality, influencing his Doomsday form here in the DC dreamscape!
Though it couldn't fully suppress the destructive hunger, it extended his clarity, by half an hour.
Was its power weakened due to him being in a different world? Yi Meng couldn't tell.
Time was short.
Yi Meng needed to act quickly, to seize the object he sought in the DC Universe before reason slipped away.
His gaze swept across the Antarctic ice. Nothing could escape his vision.
"Found it."
His eyes blazed crimson, cutting into a neighboring iceberg with searing beams. Ice walls melted from the outside in, carving a massive tunnel.
Clutching the crystal, Yi Meng leapt into the passage.
Inside, embedded in ice, lay a black alien ship.
His crimson eyes burned quietly.
A Kryptonian vessel. More specifically, a Kryptonian probe ship.
Long ago, Jor-El, father of the natural-born Kryptonian child, had dispatched this unmanned ship to seek habitable worlds.
It eventually arrived on Earth, leading Jor-El to send his son here.
Yi Meng knew all this from his memories of the films.
The ship was supposed to stay frozen for decades, to be awakened only by Superman as an adult.
But now, Yi Meng had unearthed it early.
He set the crystal aside and exhaled gently. The fiery breath melted the frost sealing the hatch.
In the films, this ship could not be opened from the outside, unless one forced it, or… carried Kryptonian genes.
Yi Meng stepped forward. At once, the hatch chimed and opened.
"Genetic match confirmed. Welcome, Kryptonian child!"
A pleasant AI voice spoke.
Yi Meng smiled. Even as Doomsday, he still carried Kryptonian DNA. He strode inside without hesitation.
The corridors were spacious, but still cramped for his three-meter form. Along the walls, compartments popped open, revealing Kryptonian bodysuits of various styles, all bearing the House of El's emblem of hope.
He considered trying one on—but chose instead to continue to the command deck.
The moment he entered the cockpit—
A voice rang out: "My son, Kal-El. I knew you would come here."
A holographic projection appeared. A middle-aged man with calm eyes and a warm smile.
Jor-El.
"As a fragment of virtual intelligence, I have waited for this moment," he said.
"Now, be ready to learn of your Kryptonian heritage, and inherit the will of our house—"
His words cut short.
The hologram froze. His eyes lifted.
Before him stood a monstrous spiked titan, its gaze burning with crimson fire.
The cockpit fell silent.
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