"BANG!" The two exchanged positions in midair. Diana spotted another opening. Her bracelet carrying ten thousand pounds of force, she punched Superman in the abdomen.
Even the Man of Steel—this punch made Superman nearly retch.
Thea glanced at Lois inconspicuously, wondering if this punch would affect their future "happy" life together.
Superman realized he was at too great a disadvantage trading techniques. He instantly changed his attack rhythm, beginning to leverage his powerful physical capabilities. No longer pursuing any particular technique, he used pure strength to drive speed, his fists raining down on Diana like drops in a storm.
As he grew serious and his punch frequency increased, the yellow solar energy absorbed within his body naturally overflowed somewhat during operation. On this dim planet, viewed from a distance, he looked like a gradually heating, glowing sun—brighter and brighter, as if a wheel of fire was rising from the horizon.
Diana likewise refused to show weakness. Discarding the Godkiller sword, her Guardian Bracelets sensed her fighting spirit. Though not unsealed, endless divine power began flooding her body. She lacked the blazing heat of the sun, possessing only the conviction of protection. Silver light flickered across her body's surface before sinking within. She charged at Superman.
One radiated brilliant light, each punch carrying tremendous power. The other resembled a bright moon in the sky—supreme defense, yet capable of deadly counterattacks within.
After fighting in the air for less than a minute, they both descended to the ground. Aerial combat didn't suit this attack style. Whenever Superman threw several punches, Diana need only fly back dozens of centimeters to make his efforts useless. The same applied to Diana's attacks. It truly violated the purpose of sparring.
Entering ground combat finally allowed Diana's martial arts to reach their full potential. Each of her attacks carried waves of cold light—clear yet hazy. In a short time, Superman took two punches and a kick.
"What a shame," Thea sighed.
"Shame about what?" Though Thea had cast far-sight on Lois, she was still watching in dazzled confusion—a complete layperson who truly couldn't see anything.
Thea's spontaneous comment came from thinking Diana's abandonment of the divine sword to compete in hand-to-hand with Superman was unwise. However, she also knew that giving up the shield and then the sword was the natural consequence. For Diana, wielding a single-handed sword wasn't as good as fighting barehanded.
In the future, Hephaestus would forge two single-handed swords for her. Perhaps dual-wielding was her true path?
"Thea, can you do things at this level too? Are you... are you also a deity?" Lois watched the two occasionally carve trenches in the ground or bore holes in mountains, asking with lingering fear.
Thea laughed it off. This question was too amateurish—how should she answer? Boasting that she was a demigod seemed too showy and unnecessary. "I'm just an ordinary Earth person. Can't compare to them. Haha!"
Lois rolled her eyes where Thea couldn't see. Ordinary person? Yeah right! I'm the ordinary Earth person here!
Especially as Superman and Diana's battle moved farther away, and Thea could only control the construct beneath them to follow, it confirmed Lois's thoughts—of these four people, only she was ordinary...
As the two combatants employed greater energy, their destruction of the planet began showing.
Superman had used super-vision early in the battle to scan around. This planet had no intelligent life—even microorganisms were rare. He destroyed things with zero psychological burden.
Diana even less so. As long as they weren't Earth humans, whether alien life died had nothing to do with her. Even if the planet was destroyed, everyone could return home. Fighting without any concerns whatsoever.
"HAH!" Diana gripped hard with both hands, tore up an entire section of ground, and hurled it at Superman.
This crude combat style perfectly suited Superman's intentions. He raised his right fist and leaped up, directly punching through the projectile. Not to be outdone, he scanned left and right. Suddenly his eyes brightened. He flew to the side, gripped with both hands, and tore a mountain section dozens of meters high, weighing hundreds of tons, from the ground.
When he raised it overhead intending to throw it, he suddenly noticed something. His eyes involuntarily looked into the distance.
Diana reacted quickly, realizing something had changed, and stopped attacking.
Seeing Superman holding a mountain like a great ape, Thea was about to laugh when she noticed their changed expressions and sensed something wrong. Switching to super-vision, she looked in Superman's direction of concern.
When searching out to fifteen hundred kilometers, Thea finally discovered the anomaly. Two alien spacecraft had landed on the surface one after another. The first had essentially crashed—fugitives. The second was unmistakably pursuers.
Bringing Lois down to ground level, the trouble-magnet still didn't know what was happening, looking nervously at the superhumans.
"What is it?" Diana could see very far—fifteen hundred li was within her capability, though she'd need to fly to high altitude.
Thea truthfully explained what she'd seen to the two women.
Lois became more certain that capitalists never spoke a word of truth. Your Earth people can see fifteen hundred kilometers away?
Superman somewhat regretfully set down the mountain. Holding it continuously was quite tiring.
What now? Or rather—should they mind this business?
"Did they say anything? You can hear them, right?" Thea asked Superman.
As the only male present, Superman listened seriously, then said somewhat helplessly, "I can hear them, but I don't understand their language."
What a hassle! Thea exhaled deeply. Even coming to an abandoned planet to watch a show, they encountered such melodramatic events. This indirectly proved just how thick the protagonist aura was on Superman and Diana.
If she were here alone, she'd pat her butt and leave directly. Diana might mind the matter before her eyes, but from over a thousand kilometers away, she might not necessarily care.
Unfortunately, this group included the Superman couple. Both were busybodies, the type who couldn't sleep if they didn't mind other people's business.
Thea could only bite the bullet and get involved. Glancing at the thirty-plus people front and back, all wielding technological weapons, she couldn't immediately assess their combat capability. She could understand several mainstream alien languages, and if that failed, she could translate through the ring. The only limitation was her hearing wasn't that powerful.
Softly chanting an incantation, she released one of Morgan le Fay's true simulations, immediately followed by a water-mirror projection, reflecting the people's movements and voices in the mirror for real-time translation.
She watched as the group behind chased the one in front. The pursuers occasionally shouted. The one in front was wrapped tightly—their clothes seemed to contain lead. She couldn't see what kind of person it was at all.
Thea listened for a while, then smiled bitterly. Couldn't understand. She could only pull out the ring.
Concentrating to listen for a bit, she finally told the others, "The one in front is a princess from Tamaran, called Koriand'r. The people behind were sent by her sister to kill her."