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Chapter 241: This is Science
The Newborn, having returned from his seal, had envisioned all sorts of situations he might encounter. For instance, being led into a trap by the gods, or being besieged by them.
But he never would have dreamed it would be like this.
An Amazonian demigod, who wasn't even of pure Olympian blood, leading a group of mortal teammates who had nothing to do with the gods, had beaten him so badly he wouldn't even recognize Hera.
Could it be that he had been away from reality for too long, and mortals had now developed to such a heaven-defying extent?
Of course, shock was one thing, but his resolute goal would never waver because of it. All the suffering and trials had made his willpower even firmer than Nth Metal. No matter who stood in his way, nothing could stop his revenge.
"Get out... of my head!"
He let out a furious roar, and sound waves erupted from his mouth like a transparent shockwave. The burst of psionic power was like a ferocious beast; even the Martian Manhunter suffered a backlash, his consciousness forced to temporarily withdraw from The Newborn's mind.
"Unbelievable. He's as wild as a Klyarov," the Martian Manhunter muttered. "Even I find it difficult to control such rampant psionic power."
"Klyarov?" Diana took a moment from the hectic battle to look at him.
"They were once monsters on Mars, but they should be extinct by now. They were very powerful, and their chaotic, ferocious minds had an innate talent for resisting telepathy," the Martian Manhunter explained.
At this moment, blocking The Newborn's path was Kara, who had also changed into her uniform. The Newborn's gaze fell upon her, and he soon let out a laugh of undisguised contempt.
"You? Seriously? Ha," The Newborn sneered. "Just how desperate must you gods be to drag a slip of a girl like this in front of me?"
Kara pouted indignantly.
Why does everyone say that about me?
I'm totally fully grown!
"But don't think this will make me go easy on you. If I had even a shred of compassion when I was born, it was buried long ago by my father, along with my humanity.
Now, anyone who stands in my way will face only death!"
With that, he lunged forward, charging at Kara like a starving tiger pouncing on its prey!
"Watch out!" Superman warned. "His strength is no less than ours!"
The Newborn was already known for his strength among the gods. The reason he had just been bested by Superman was largely due to underestimating his opponent's power. If they were to fight for real, with his combat technique and bloodline enhancements, even Superman would not have such an easy time taking him down.
But Kara was not flustered at all. She simply stood her ground, calmly assuming a ready stance.
BOOM!
With the sound of the earth cracking and the ground sinking, a terrifying and invisible force slammed into The Newborn without warning, smashing his mid-air body into the ground like a pancake.
Meanwhile, Kara stood a short distance away, watching smugly with her arms crossed, looking as if she hadn't done a thing.
"What happened?" Diana asked.
"I set a trap, a capture-style gravity well. It's Brainiac's technology. You can think of it as a bear trap, but with a super-strong gravity field. It activates automatically as soon as he steps into its effective range."
Kara explained smugly, then glanced at Diana and saw she still didn't seem to quite understand, so she added a simplified explanation.
"Science."
"Oh." Diana understood.
But The Newborn, befitting his status as a strength-type Old God, shakily pushed himself up against the gravity, the paving stones by his feet shattering as his ankles sank deep into them.
"This little bit of... gravity, is nothing—Urgh!"
Kara followed up with a blast of Heat Vision, hitting him right in the abdomen. The sun-like heat and powerful impact forced The Newborn to involuntarily double over, once again half-kneeling on the ground.
The same second he fell to his knee, several invisible devices in the surrounding area activated again. Aided by optical camouflage, unseen machinery fired beams of light, which wrapped around his limbs like energy chains crackling with electricity.
The gravity shackles, in coordination with the energy chains, violently yanked him back down to his knees.
Restraint Chains, one of the capture devices developed by Orin Vale. It was modified from his own "Capture Ring" skill and was also a trigger-type trap, similar to a bear trap.
When Kara developed this new battlesuit of hers, she referenced many of Orin Vale's weapon designs. She found many of them interesting, wanting this one and that one, and after much picking and choosing, she still ended up stuffing a whole bunch of them into the suit.
Diana pondered for a moment and said, "This... is also science?"
"Yep," Kara said proudly. "The House of El has been a line of scientists for generations."
Diana glanced at Superman, then at Kara, looking like she wanted to say something but held back.
Scientists...?
To be honest, up until now, her image of Kryptonians was that they would start throwing fists at the slightest disagreement, which was far too similar to the fierce customs of her own Amazons.
And yet, they were both Kryptonians, and even siblings from the same family, so why did their styles seem so different...?
However, The Newborn actually started to slowly rise again. Withstanding who knows how many times normal gravity and enduring the crackling energy that was constantly eroding his body, he gritted his teeth, his muscles tensed all over. His monstrous strength pulled on the emitters of the surrounding energy chains, causing them to crackle and pop.
"Gods, he's really strong!" Kara exclaimed in surprise.
Diana's expression also grew solemn. She could now see that the prophecy was indeed true. If not for the help of these friends, she alone, in her normal state, would be no match for him.
He even looked like he was about to break free now.
"Kal!" Kara yelled. "Freeze him!"
Superman understood and took a deep breath in unison with Kara. The two Kryptonians exhaled at the same time, and a terrifyingly cold current swept through the entire street, seemingly covering every inch of land. Frost formed on the streetlights, and ice crystals coated the cars and the shattered ground along the way. In the center of the gravity field, The Newborn, who had been struggling to get up, was instantly frozen into an ice sculpture, locked in place mid-rise.
Kara clapped her hands. "All done."
But just two seconds later, with a *crack*, a fissure appeared on the ice sculpture in the center of the gravity well.
It was as if a wild beast was desperately trying to break out of its cage.
"Whoa," Superman muttered. "He really is a tough one."
Kara flicked her right hand, and a long, thin black object shot out from it, enveloping the ice sculpture from head to toe.
It was a lasso.
Like a sentient water snake, the lasso swiftly tightened after landing, automatically constricting around the ice sculpture.
The cracking finally stopped. The beast within ceased its struggles.
The Lasso of Lies. Anyone bound by it will be trapped by lies, falling into a cycle of self-deceiving illusions.
The Newborn finally quieted down.
Kara looked at Diana and said, deadpan.
"The Lasso of Lies—this one's magic."
"Yes, I know."
This time, Diana nodded, indicating that she understood this one.
"It's my mom's."
(end of chapter)
The Newborn, having returned from his seal, had envisioned all sorts of situations he might encounter. For instance, being led into a trap by the gods, or being besieged by them.
But he never would have dreamed it would be like this.
An Amazonian demigod, who wasn't even of pure Olympian blood, leading a group of mortal teammates who had nothing to do with the gods, had beaten him so badly he wouldn't even recognize Hera.
Could it be that he had been away from reality for too long, and mortals had now developed to such a heaven-defying extent?
Of course, shock was one thing, but his resolute goal would never waver because of it. All the suffering and trials had made his willpower even firmer than Nth Metal. No matter who stood in his way, nothing could stop his revenge.
"Get out... of my head!"
He let out a furious roar, and sound waves erupted from his mouth like a transparent shockwave. The burst of psionic power was like a ferocious beast; even the Martian Manhunter suffered a backlash, his consciousness forced to temporarily withdraw from The Newborn's mind.
"Unbelievable. He's as wild as a Klyarov," the Martian Manhunter muttered. "Even I find it difficult to control such rampant psionic power."
"Klyarov?" Diana took a moment from the hectic battle to look at him.
"They were once monsters on Mars, but they should be extinct by now. They were very powerful, and their chaotic, ferocious minds had an innate talent for resisting telepathy," the Martian Manhunter explained.
At this moment, blocking The Newborn's path was Kara, who had also changed into her uniform. The Newborn's gaze fell upon her, and he soon let out a laugh of undisguised contempt.
"You? Seriously? Ha," The Newborn sneered. "Just how desperate must you gods be to drag a slip of a girl like this in front of me?"
Kara pouted indignantly.
Why does everyone say that about me?
I'm totally fully grown!
"But don't think this will make me go easy on you. If I had even a shred of compassion when I was born, it was buried long ago by my father, along with my humanity.
Now, anyone who stands in my way will face only death!"
With that, he lunged forward, charging at Kara like a starving tiger pouncing on its prey!
"Watch out!" Superman warned. "His strength is no less than ours!"
The Newborn was already known for his strength among the gods. The reason he had just been bested by Superman was largely due to underestimating his opponent's power. If they were to fight for real, with his combat technique and bloodline enhancements, even Superman would not have such an easy time taking him down.
But Kara was not flustered at all. She simply stood her ground, calmly assuming a ready stance.
BOOM!
With the sound of the earth cracking and the ground sinking, a terrifying and invisible force slammed into The Newborn without warning, smashing his mid-air body into the ground like a pancake.
Meanwhile, Kara stood a short distance away, watching smugly with her arms crossed, looking as if she hadn't done a thing.
"What happened?" Diana asked.
"I set a trap, a capture-style gravity well. It's Brainiac's technology. You can think of it as a bear trap, but with a super-strong gravity field. It activates automatically as soon as he steps into its effective range."
Kara explained smugly, then glanced at Diana and saw she still didn't seem to quite understand, so she added a simplified explanation.
"Science."
"Oh." Diana understood.
But The Newborn, befitting his status as a strength-type Old God, shakily pushed himself up against the gravity, the paving stones by his feet shattering as his ankles sank deep into them.
"This little bit of... gravity, is nothing—Urgh!"
Kara followed up with a blast of Heat Vision, hitting him right in the abdomen. The sun-like heat and powerful impact forced The Newborn to involuntarily double over, once again half-kneeling on the ground.
The same second he fell to his knee, several invisible devices in the surrounding area activated again. Aided by optical camouflage, unseen machinery fired beams of light, which wrapped around his limbs like energy chains crackling with electricity.
The gravity shackles, in coordination with the energy chains, violently yanked him back down to his knees.
Restraint Chains, one of the capture devices developed by Orin Vale. It was modified from his own "Capture Ring" skill and was also a trigger-type trap, similar to a bear trap.
When Kara developed this new battlesuit of hers, she referenced many of Orin Vale's weapon designs. She found many of them interesting, wanting this one and that one, and after much picking and choosing, she still ended up stuffing a whole bunch of them into the suit.
Diana pondered for a moment and said, "This... is also science?"
"Yep," Kara said proudly. "The House of El has been a line of scientists for generations."
Diana glanced at Superman, then at Kara, looking like she wanted to say something but held back.
Scientists...?
To be honest, up until now, her image of Kryptonians was that they would start throwing fists at the slightest disagreement, which was far too similar to the fierce customs of her own Amazons.
And yet, they were both Kryptonians, and even siblings from the same family, so why did their styles seem so different...?
However, The Newborn actually started to slowly rise again. Withstanding who knows how many times normal gravity and enduring the crackling energy that was constantly eroding his body, he gritted his teeth, his muscles tensed all over. His monstrous strength pulled on the emitters of the surrounding energy chains, causing them to crackle and pop.
"Gods, he's really strong!" Kara exclaimed in surprise.
Diana's expression also grew solemn. She could now see that the prophecy was indeed true. If not for the help of these friends, she alone, in her normal state, would be no match for him.
He even looked like he was about to break free now.
"Kal!" Kara yelled. "Freeze him!"
Superman understood and took a deep breath in unison with Kara. The two Kryptonians exhaled at the same time, and a terrifyingly cold current swept through the entire street, seemingly covering every inch of land. Frost formed on the streetlights, and ice crystals coated the cars and the shattered ground along the way. In the center of the gravity field, The Newborn, who had been struggling to get up, was instantly frozen into an ice sculpture, locked in place mid-rise.
Kara clapped her hands. "All done."
But just two seconds later, with a *crack*, a fissure appeared on the ice sculpture in the center of the gravity well.
It was as if a wild beast was desperately trying to break out of its cage.
"Whoa," Superman muttered. "He really is a tough one."
Kara flicked her right hand, and a long, thin black object shot out from it, enveloping the ice sculpture from head to toe.
It was a lasso.
Like a sentient water snake, the lasso swiftly tightened after landing, automatically constricting around the ice sculpture.
The cracking finally stopped. The beast within ceased its struggles.
The Lasso of Lies. Anyone bound by it will be trapped by lies, falling into a cycle of self-deceiving illusions.
The Newborn finally quieted down.
Kara looked at Diana and said, deadpan.
"The Lasso of Lies—this one's magic."
"Yes, I know."
This time, Diana nodded, indicating that she understood this one.
"It's my mom's."
(end of chapter)
