[Third Person Pov]
Clark held out his hand and with a sharp twist of his wrist, the suspended artillery shells began to move and twist in unison. They slowly started to spin and rotate like massive drills. With a powerful swing of his arm, he sent them all flying straight back the way they had come.
The shells crashed violently against the enormous alien vessel hovering in the sky, triggering powerful explosions that erupted across the armada’s hull in a brilliant display of fire and debris.
The people below cried out in surprise, some still cheering wildly as they watched the dramatic reversal.
Clark glanced down at the civilians on the ground, taking everything in for a brief moment. “Sol, activate the empty space function.”
In an instant, both the armada and Clark were swallowed into an empty dimension that perfectly replicated the city and sky around them, isolating the battlefield.
“What? What happened?”
“Where did they go?”
“Was everything just an illusion or something?”
The civilians below whispered and speculated among themselves in confusion, staring up at the now-empty sky.
Inside the alien ship, chaos reigned. Red warning lights flashed urgently across the bridge while monitors displayed extensive damage reports to both the exterior and interior of the vessel.
Geryuganshoop, a large squid-like alien with powerful psychic abilities, was communicating telepathically with the rest of the crew. He quickly established a direct link with the captain.
“Lord Boros,” Geryuganshoop communicated calmly, “things are taking an unexpected turn. We’re experiencing resistance from this world. The ship’s shielding has been taken down along with some of the weapon systems. They are no longer operational. We’ve also been pulled into an Empty Space.”
Lord Boros, the captain of the Dark Matter Thieves—a notorious group of space pirates—sat lazily on his throne-like seat in his private quarters, wearing a rather bored expression.
“Resistance? From this backwater planet?” He responded nonchalantly, completely unconcerned by the explosions that had just shaken his pirate vessel. “You’re not making any sense to me.”
“It’s not from this planet, Captain. It’s from a single individual,” Geryuganshoop clarified while simultaneously trying to stabilize the ship, his attention split. “He seems to be the one who deployed the Empty Space.”
“Do we have a visual on this rather daring individual?” Lord Boros asked calmly, a spark of mild curiosity finally entering his voice.
An image instantly appeared before Boros, showing Superman with his hand extended outward, eyes glowing with menacing intensity.
“From a quick search, I was able to find out he goes by the name of Superman,” Geryuganshoop reported. “That’s not all—he’s also Princess Lala’s fiancé, the son-in-law to Emperor Gid. There is little else of note, except that he portrays himself as a guardian who assists people from deep space. Nothing particularly impressive.”
“Well, my interest is now certainly piqued,” Boros said, leaning back on his seat with a growing smirk. “Send out Melzargard and have him test out this Superman. See how super he truly is. Oh, and cancel out the Empty Space. This needs to be a spectacle after all, to show them our might before we pillage this planet.”
“Melzargard is already out confronting Superman as we speak. Canceling the Empty Space around us in 3… 2… 1…”
…
The Empty Space around them suddenly burst like a fragile bubble, and the rush of reality flooded back in. Clark’s face twitched as he let out a low groan of annoyance.
“There they are again. They’re back.”
“What do you think happened?”
“Go Superman!! We believe in you!”
“Sol,” Clark called out, his face morphing into clear irritation, “what happened to the empty space?”
“…It seems that they’re running a bit of interference,” Sol replied rather meekly.
“What the heck is the point of this thing if it never works half the time?” Clark growled through clenched teeth.
Ahead of him, a figure exited the ship, immediately drawing Clark’s full attention back to the situation. The being was close to five meters tall, with five distinct heads, each wearing different expressions. His body appeared to be made of a strange clay-like substance, with large protrusions extending grandly from his back as he floated menacingly in the air.
Clark withdrew his spiritual aura so it clung tightly to his body once again. He stood with his arms crossed and asked calmly, “If I politely ask you to leave and stop whatever foolish idea for conquest you have planned, would you please comply and save me the trouble?”
“You stopped our attack and damaged our spaceship in the process,” the main head of Melzargard responded. One of the smaller heads added in an eerie tone, “Yes… he did do that.”
“For standing in the way of our objective, you must be taken out permanently,” another head joined in, with a smaller one echoing, “Yes, he must. That is good.”
“You’re not going to comply, are you—?” Clark began to ask, but he barely got the question out before Melzargard suddenly vanished from sight due to his incredible speed.
He appeared directly in front of Clark and delivered a devastating punch across his face with enough force to send a powerful rippling shockwave erupting outward around them.
“Sol,” Clark ordered casually, acting almost as if the massive alien monster floating right in front of him wasn’t even present, “deploy the Superman Robots to ensure no one is hurt in the aftermath.”
“What?” Melzargard questioned, his multiple heads showing a mix of surprise and confusion. Not only had his powerful attack done absolutely nothing to Clark, but the hero’s words had also left him bewildered.
“Is your name Sol? I’m obviously not talking to you,” Clark said, rolling his eyes in mild exasperation. “And back up—you’re way too close for comfort.”
Clark gave him a light shove, but the seemingly casual push was more than enough to send the giant clay-like alien flying backwards, tumbling chaotically through the air.
“Do not take us lightly, or you will soon regret it!” one of the heads snarled once they had managed to stabilize themselves. They charged back in with even greater determination than before.
Their fists started shooting out without restraint toward Clark, each devastating impact carrying the force of a small earthquake.
Clark began redirecting the punches effortlessly with just a single finger. He watched the barrage in slow motion as the attacks seemed to multiply due to their incredible speed. With precise movements, he used a finger to push each punch aside, causing them to only graze his skin harmlessly.
Finally, Clark retaliated with a single punch to the gut. The force ruptured a massive hole right through Melzargard’s body, sending him flying backward.
“Ughhh, yikes… Did not mean to do that,” Clark said with a wince. Due to his recent power surge, he was still having trouble precisely controlling his strength.
However, the blood and clay-like substance that had erupted from the wound was quickly pulled back toward the hole in his stomach. The damage sealed itself up almost instantly.
“Hohoho, so you heal,” Clark said, an excited grin spreading across his face. “And just when I was looking for someone to help me control my strength again too.”
From a distance, a news helicopter approached the scene, its cameras recording every moment of the intense confrontation between the two powerful beings.
“It seems that today Japan has found itself in the middle of an alien invasion!!” the female reporter shouted over the loud roar of the helicopter blades. “But worry not everyone—it seems that our own local alien, Superman, is here to save the day!”
Superman and Melzargard battled fiercely through the air at speeds that were almost impossible to follow. They would stop for only a fraction of a second before clashing again. Superman unleashed a precise beam of his heat vision, cutting the clay-like man clean in half—only for him to reconstruct himself instantly.
“Are you getting all this?!” the reporter asked her cameraman excitedly.
“I am trying to!” the cameraman muttered, frantically adjusting the camera angle to capture different shots of Superman against the alien threat.
Every punch Superman unleashed left gaping holes across the alien’s body, which sealed up almost immediately. The two vanished and reappeared in a matter of seconds, with Superman dodging and weaving effortlessly through the onslaught.
Suddenly, Superman appeared directly in front of the helicopter and stopped a large incoming fist with the palm of his hand. The resulting shockwave shook the helicopter violently, causing those inside to scream in terror.
Superman reached out with his free hand and stabilized the aircraft by grabbing onto the metal rung.
“Ahhhh!!” the reporter shouted as she lost her balance and fell right out of the helicopter.
She didn’t make it far. Superman instantly caught her safely with one arm while simultaneously tearing off the attacking arm of the creature before him. Using the severed hand he slapped the alien away and helped the shaken reporter back inside the helicopter.
“Is everyone okay?” he asked calmly.
The reporter was clutching her beating heart, staring at Clark in a dazed, starstruck manner. “I love you… Let's start a family together” she blurted out.
Clark froze for a second, looking between the woman and the camera before turning back to her. “I’m honestly just going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
Clark had a smirk on his face as he shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Anyways, city to save—you know the drill. Later!” He saluted playfully, shot a quick wink at the camera, and dove backwards with his arms spread wide.
He spun gracefully through the air before shooting forward toward Melzargard, who had just finished regenerating his arms. Clark tackled him hard, cutting across the city in a powerful blur. He drove the alien straight into the massive spaceship, tearing a gaping hole right through its hull with their bodies as Clark disappeared inside.