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Chapter 224: Just Burn Him
A single blast from an energy cannon sounded the horn for the final battle. One second they were on the same side, and the next, the Almerac warships and the Machine Hunter Legion were suddenly fighting amongst themselves.
The physical kind.
The Manhunters and the carrier shuttles began to exchange fire, and for a moment, laser special effects crisscrossed the sky. This turn of events caught even Cyborg Superman by surprise. Enraged, he whipped his head around and glared viciously at Norland. "You! Traitor!"
As he spoke, his figure shot forward. The ground shattered beneath his feet, and a wave of dust erupted behind him. His metal body instantly burst forth with astonishing speed, charging straight for his 'plastic' ally.
Cyborg Superman didn't just look a bit like Superman. The mechanical half of his body was assembled from components based primarily on Kryptonian technology, with various other technology systems mixed in. The organic part was said to be a body with strength on par with Superman's. His individual strength was, at the very least, on the level of an ordinary Kryptonian.
Of course, in Orin Vale's eyes, a Kryptonian was now nothing more than a unit of combat measurement.
Even Cyborg Superman couldn't react before a hypervelocity impact struck him from the side. His body flipped through the air, flying a great distance. Like a skipping stone, he bounced repeatedly off the ground before crashing through a mountain peak, buried beneath the rocky ruins.
Wreathed in electric arcs, Orin Vale appeared out of thin air as if by teleportation, his feet dragging a long line of cracks in the ground as he screeched to a halt. Norland, who a moment ago thought he was about to be instantly killed by Cyborg Superman, was still cowering with his head in his hands. When he looked up, he saw that Orin Vale had taken his place, flashing in front of him.
"Th-thank you," Norland said stiffly.
"No need. I'll just need you to take a message back for me in a little while."
As Orin Vale spoke, he turned his head and saw the stone ruins explode with a boom. Cyborg Superman, who had been buried underneath, shot into the air and, with a great shout, charged forward again, breaking the sound barrier.
"Hmm, wait a moment. I'll take care of this."
Communicating via telepathy was much faster than speaking. As he conveyed the thought, Orin Vale had already moved to intercept.
Cyborg Superman sprinted at full speed, his fluttering red cape seeming to trail two white streaks behind it. But Orin Vale moved unhurriedly. With each step forward, transparent ripples seemed to burst from beneath his feet. Cyborg Superman's supersonic punch, so fast it was almost invisible, abruptly slowed as it entered the domain expanding in front of Orin Vale.
The accelerated processing of the light-quantum brain, and the effect of Speed Force energy on spacetime. Electric currents, like fine threads, wrapped around Cyborg Superman's body, forcing his mountain-shattering punch to slow down along with the stagnating spacetime.
Orin Vale leaned his upper body slightly and evaded the sweeping, powerful punch. Cyborg Superman's heavy punch, trailing a shockwave, missed its mark. He immediately screeched to a halt, spun around, and threw a 180-degree wide swing back at him.
But in terms of speed alone, he would have trouble keeping up with the current Superman, let alone the present Orin Vale. Furthermore, his wind-ups were long and his movements were telegraphed. In Orin Vale's eyes, he was practically riddled with openings, revealing at least a dozen or two with just his first two moves.
Orin Vale leisurely slid past his outer side, leaning back slightly to dodge the wide arc of the punch. A superspeed-enhanced uppercut to the abdomen slammed into Cyborg Superman, causing his body to arch as a transparent air ring exploded on his stomach.
Orin Vale followed up with a hand-blade strike that landed on his shoulder. It was another fierce blow that shook the ground. Cyborg Superman slid backward, his body nearly cracking apart from the shock.
By this point, how could Cyborg Superman not understand that he was absolutely no match for this opponent? But Hank Henshaw had already experienced a cycle of death and rebirth. Now, supported entirely by a single-minded obsession with revenge, his eyes turned red as he recklessly charged at Orin Vale once more.
"Why are you stopping me!" he roared with rage. "I'm just fighting for the justice life deserves!"
"You've made countless people die for your revenge," Orin Vale said.
Cyborg Superman lunged with a "Superman Punch"—a move from freestyle combat, so named because its posture resembles Superman's flight pose. In the ring, it's a flying punch launched from the ground, but between these truly superhuman characters, it was a literal Superman-style charge.
A technique that involved instantly unleashing maximum flight speed for a heavy punch lunge.
But Orin Vale leaped into the air, pressing a single palm against Cyborg Superman's forehead to vault over and land behind him. Speed-running, a simple yet stylish parkour maneuver for clearing obstacles, had evolved into The Flash's classic evasion technique when enhanced by superspeed.
Cyborg Superman shouted, turned, and threw a punch, but Orin Vale anticipated it, catching his arm in a grappling hold. He slammed him to the ground with a shoulder throw, then followed up with a punch to the face that made the ground beneath his iron head explode with a boom.
Even Cyborg Superman's indestructible head seemed to have been cracked, the metal seams dented and fragments of parts sent flying.
"Your mind has been twisted, Hank Henshaw. Solar radiation warped your thoughts, and the loneliness of drifting through space filled your mind with delusions about that incident.
"Perhaps we should talk."
Orin Vale said calmly, a soft ball of light, dotted with crystalline specks, already brewing in his hand.
"No, I know exactly what happened!" Cyborg Superman yelled, trying to get up. "Superman killed them all, and he's the reason I became this. I must—"
Pow.
Another punch landed on the bridge of his nose, slamming his head back into the deep crater in the ground.
*When I say we're going to talk, we are going to talk.*
Though his fist was flying, Orin Vale's voice remained gentle.
"Everything will be all right."
A gentle light ray spilled from his palm, enveloping Hank Henshaw's entire body.
Purification Ray.
Orin Vale was no Master Gao; purification techniques were not his specialty among his light-based skills. But now, with the enhancement from the Blue Light's purifying attributes, he thought it might be worth a try.
"No!" Cyborg Superman waved his arms wildly. "What are you doing to me? Let me go! I must have my revenge! It's all Superman's fault! I must find Superman! I must..."
The violent aura in his one remaining eye dissipated bit by bit. Hank Henshaw's crazed eye briefly regained its clarity, reflecting the blue brilliance, a hint of astonishment appearing within it.
"This... you're Terri?" he murmured in disbelief. "But how is that possible..."
That was the effect of the Blue Lantern's power.
The Light of Hope from DC Comics, which has the ability to soothe the spirit and allow people to see constructs of their hope. And for Hank Henshaw, the form that appeared was that of his deceased wife, Terri.
Orin Vale looked around.
Hmm... there's actually only one construct.
So it seems those two friends of Hank's who died weren't as close as he claimed...
"Terri, you... how..."
His eyes filled with confusion as he walked forward.
The woman, a construct of the Blue Lantern light, reached out, gently caressed his face, and said softly, "Listen to me. It wasn't Superman's fault. It wasn't anyone's. It was just an accident."
"No." He shook his head stubbornly. "He hurt you, he hurt all of us. That hypocrite—"
"No. Although we were mutated, Superman's X-ray Vision saw our corrupted DNA. He recognized us. He was only trying to stop us from causing casualties while getting us help.
"And he did. He brought in people from S.T.A.R. Labs—the best experts, the best technology. But they were helpless. No one had a solution.
"What happened to us was a tragedy. It's no one's fault, Hank. Please, promise me you won't let this torment you any longer, okay, Hank?"
"I... I..."
Hank Henshaw grasped her hand and closed his eyes.
A tear trickled from his last remaining human eye.
"Don't be afraid, Hank. Everything will be all right."
Hank gently held the hand she had placed on his face, feeling that its touch was exactly the same as the Terri he remembered from when she was alive.
Watching the beast gradually calm down, Orin Vale couldn't help but nod slightly.
*As expected, Master Gao was right. We Ultraman should value peace above all. When we can negotiate, there's no need to resort to violence...*
The next moment, Hank Henshaw violently pushed Terri away, a vicious look reappearing in his eyes. "If this were a month ago, maybe. But now, there is no so-called hope left in my heart.
"What I see now is a grander design. No one can stop me, not even you, Terri!"
The construct vanished abruptly, and Cyborg Superman let out a roar as he pounced forward once more.
Only to be kicked in the face by Orin Vale and sent flying a great distance again.
Orin Vale let out a soft sigh.
*Fine then. As expected, Master Gao was still right.*
*Negotiations don't always work.*
*When talks break down, just burn him.*
(end of chapter)
A single blast from an energy cannon sounded the horn for the final battle. One second they were on the same side, and the next, the Almerac warships and the Machine Hunter Legion were suddenly fighting amongst themselves.
The physical kind.
The Manhunters and the carrier shuttles began to exchange fire, and for a moment, laser special effects crisscrossed the sky. This turn of events caught even Cyborg Superman by surprise. Enraged, he whipped his head around and glared viciously at Norland. "You! Traitor!"
As he spoke, his figure shot forward. The ground shattered beneath his feet, and a wave of dust erupted behind him. His metal body instantly burst forth with astonishing speed, charging straight for his 'plastic' ally.
Cyborg Superman didn't just look a bit like Superman. The mechanical half of his body was assembled from components based primarily on Kryptonian technology, with various other technology systems mixed in. The organic part was said to be a body with strength on par with Superman's. His individual strength was, at the very least, on the level of an ordinary Kryptonian.
Of course, in Orin Vale's eyes, a Kryptonian was now nothing more than a unit of combat measurement.
Even Cyborg Superman couldn't react before a hypervelocity impact struck him from the side. His body flipped through the air, flying a great distance. Like a skipping stone, he bounced repeatedly off the ground before crashing through a mountain peak, buried beneath the rocky ruins.
Wreathed in electric arcs, Orin Vale appeared out of thin air as if by teleportation, his feet dragging a long line of cracks in the ground as he screeched to a halt. Norland, who a moment ago thought he was about to be instantly killed by Cyborg Superman, was still cowering with his head in his hands. When he looked up, he saw that Orin Vale had taken his place, flashing in front of him.
"Th-thank you," Norland said stiffly.
"No need. I'll just need you to take a message back for me in a little while."
As Orin Vale spoke, he turned his head and saw the stone ruins explode with a boom. Cyborg Superman, who had been buried underneath, shot into the air and, with a great shout, charged forward again, breaking the sound barrier.
"Hmm, wait a moment. I'll take care of this."
Communicating via telepathy was much faster than speaking. As he conveyed the thought, Orin Vale had already moved to intercept.
Cyborg Superman sprinted at full speed, his fluttering red cape seeming to trail two white streaks behind it. But Orin Vale moved unhurriedly. With each step forward, transparent ripples seemed to burst from beneath his feet. Cyborg Superman's supersonic punch, so fast it was almost invisible, abruptly slowed as it entered the domain expanding in front of Orin Vale.
The accelerated processing of the light-quantum brain, and the effect of Speed Force energy on spacetime. Electric currents, like fine threads, wrapped around Cyborg Superman's body, forcing his mountain-shattering punch to slow down along with the stagnating spacetime.
Orin Vale leaned his upper body slightly and evaded the sweeping, powerful punch. Cyborg Superman's heavy punch, trailing a shockwave, missed its mark. He immediately screeched to a halt, spun around, and threw a 180-degree wide swing back at him.
But in terms of speed alone, he would have trouble keeping up with the current Superman, let alone the present Orin Vale. Furthermore, his wind-ups were long and his movements were telegraphed. In Orin Vale's eyes, he was practically riddled with openings, revealing at least a dozen or two with just his first two moves.
Orin Vale leisurely slid past his outer side, leaning back slightly to dodge the wide arc of the punch. A superspeed-enhanced uppercut to the abdomen slammed into Cyborg Superman, causing his body to arch as a transparent air ring exploded on his stomach.
Orin Vale followed up with a hand-blade strike that landed on his shoulder. It was another fierce blow that shook the ground. Cyborg Superman slid backward, his body nearly cracking apart from the shock.
By this point, how could Cyborg Superman not understand that he was absolutely no match for this opponent? But Hank Henshaw had already experienced a cycle of death and rebirth. Now, supported entirely by a single-minded obsession with revenge, his eyes turned red as he recklessly charged at Orin Vale once more.
"Why are you stopping me!" he roared with rage. "I'm just fighting for the justice life deserves!"
"You've made countless people die for your revenge," Orin Vale said.
Cyborg Superman lunged with a "Superman Punch"—a move from freestyle combat, so named because its posture resembles Superman's flight pose. In the ring, it's a flying punch launched from the ground, but between these truly superhuman characters, it was a literal Superman-style charge.
A technique that involved instantly unleashing maximum flight speed for a heavy punch lunge.
But Orin Vale leaped into the air, pressing a single palm against Cyborg Superman's forehead to vault over and land behind him. Speed-running, a simple yet stylish parkour maneuver for clearing obstacles, had evolved into The Flash's classic evasion technique when enhanced by superspeed.
Cyborg Superman shouted, turned, and threw a punch, but Orin Vale anticipated it, catching his arm in a grappling hold. He slammed him to the ground with a shoulder throw, then followed up with a punch to the face that made the ground beneath his iron head explode with a boom.
Even Cyborg Superman's indestructible head seemed to have been cracked, the metal seams dented and fragments of parts sent flying.
"Your mind has been twisted, Hank Henshaw. Solar radiation warped your thoughts, and the loneliness of drifting through space filled your mind with delusions about that incident.
"Perhaps we should talk."
Orin Vale said calmly, a soft ball of light, dotted with crystalline specks, already brewing in his hand.
"No, I know exactly what happened!" Cyborg Superman yelled, trying to get up. "Superman killed them all, and he's the reason I became this. I must—"
Pow.
Another punch landed on the bridge of his nose, slamming his head back into the deep crater in the ground.
*When I say we're going to talk, we are going to talk.*
Though his fist was flying, Orin Vale's voice remained gentle.
"Everything will be all right."
A gentle light ray spilled from his palm, enveloping Hank Henshaw's entire body.
Purification Ray.
Orin Vale was no Master Gao; purification techniques were not his specialty among his light-based skills. But now, with the enhancement from the Blue Light's purifying attributes, he thought it might be worth a try.
"No!" Cyborg Superman waved his arms wildly. "What are you doing to me? Let me go! I must have my revenge! It's all Superman's fault! I must find Superman! I must..."
The violent aura in his one remaining eye dissipated bit by bit. Hank Henshaw's crazed eye briefly regained its clarity, reflecting the blue brilliance, a hint of astonishment appearing within it.
"This... you're Terri?" he murmured in disbelief. "But how is that possible..."
That was the effect of the Blue Lantern's power.
The Light of Hope from DC Comics, which has the ability to soothe the spirit and allow people to see constructs of their hope. And for Hank Henshaw, the form that appeared was that of his deceased wife, Terri.
Orin Vale looked around.
Hmm... there's actually only one construct.
So it seems those two friends of Hank's who died weren't as close as he claimed...
"Terri, you... how..."
His eyes filled with confusion as he walked forward.
The woman, a construct of the Blue Lantern light, reached out, gently caressed his face, and said softly, "Listen to me. It wasn't Superman's fault. It wasn't anyone's. It was just an accident."
"No." He shook his head stubbornly. "He hurt you, he hurt all of us. That hypocrite—"
"No. Although we were mutated, Superman's X-ray Vision saw our corrupted DNA. He recognized us. He was only trying to stop us from causing casualties while getting us help.
"And he did. He brought in people from S.T.A.R. Labs—the best experts, the best technology. But they were helpless. No one had a solution.
"What happened to us was a tragedy. It's no one's fault, Hank. Please, promise me you won't let this torment you any longer, okay, Hank?"
"I... I..."
Hank Henshaw grasped her hand and closed his eyes.
A tear trickled from his last remaining human eye.
"Don't be afraid, Hank. Everything will be all right."
Hank gently held the hand she had placed on his face, feeling that its touch was exactly the same as the Terri he remembered from when she was alive.
Watching the beast gradually calm down, Orin Vale couldn't help but nod slightly.
*As expected, Master Gao was right. We Ultraman should value peace above all. When we can negotiate, there's no need to resort to violence...*
The next moment, Hank Henshaw violently pushed Terri away, a vicious look reappearing in his eyes. "If this were a month ago, maybe. But now, there is no so-called hope left in my heart.
"What I see now is a grander design. No one can stop me, not even you, Terri!"
The construct vanished abruptly, and Cyborg Superman let out a roar as he pounced forward once more.
Only to be kicked in the face by Orin Vale and sent flying a great distance again.
Orin Vale let out a soft sigh.
*Fine then. As expected, Master Gao was still right.*
*Negotiations don't always work.*
*When talks break down, just burn him.*
(end of chapter)
