"Are you awake yet? Do you remember who I am?" Robert's voice echoed in Clark's ears after he had been punched into a daze, his eyes clearing slightly.
However, to Robert's surprise, his voice didn't seem to wake Clark up. Instead, Clark's eyes grew even fiercer, resembling the Hulk's rage when provoked.
"Still not awake? How stubborn can you be?" Robert muttered telepathically, a mix of frustration and excitement in his tone as he noticed the dim glow around Clark brightening once more.
Of course, Robert knew he couldn't waste too much time on Clark. After all, there was still the wildcard—Darkseid.
Even though Ancient One held the Time and Space Stones, Darkseid had seemingly obtained something on Earth that wasn't inferior to the Infinity Stones. Who knew what Darkseid might become?
It was just that Clark held a higher priority in Robert's heart. Robert was worried that Clark's unconscious state might be harmful to him. Otherwise, Robert would have left Clark alone and dealt with Darkseid first.
After all, Darkseid had been intentionally spared by Robert to deal with Earth's dimensional consciousness. But now that Darkseid had achieved his goal and Earth's dimensional consciousness hadn't truly manifested, Darkseid had to be dealt with—just after Clark regained consciousness.
As Robert's thoughts raced, the furious Clark, realizing he still couldn't free his fist from Robert's grip, floated higher and suddenly headbutted Robert.
"???" Seeing Clark's attack, Robert was momentarily stunned.
Wait, I've only got one of your hands. Don't you have another hand? Don't you have two legs? Why resort to a headbutt?
Despite his surprise and confusion, Robert didn't dodge. If it was a contest of who had the harder head, Robert wasn't afraid of anyone!
Besides, the headbutt was one of Robert's signature moves. No matter how hard Clark's head was, it couldn't be harder than Robert's!
"Boom!" The next moment, Robert's head collided with Clark's. Both of their bodies shuddered, but it was clear that Robert remained unfazed, the purple aura around him unchanged. Meanwhile, the glow around Clark dimmed once more.
Even more noticeably, when Clark raised his head again, the fury in his eyes had vanished, replaced by a clear, albeit confused, gaze.
"Are you awake now?" Seeing the change in Clark's expression, Robert quickly asked again through telepathy.
But for some reason, Robert's telepathic message seemed to trigger Clark. He instantly became agitated, his eyes blazing with intense light as he shot a heat vision beam at Robert's head at lightning speed!
"Whoosh!"
When the heat vision struck Robert's head, Robert raised an eyebrow. He could feel that Clark's heat vision was terrifyingly powerful, even more so than Darkseid's Omega Beams!
But Robert wasn't panicked. If he were in his Super Saiyan 2 form, he might have needed to exert some effort. But in his Super Saiyan God state, Robert had even chased down Galactus. How could an unconscious Clark pose a threat?
"Smack!"
Robert's hand, shaped like a blade, pierced through the heat vision, splitting it in two. As the force of Robert's strike extended, Clark's head jerked back, and the heat vision was cut off.
"Looks like I'll have to help you wake up a bit more!" Robert shook his head, seeing the faint glimmer of clarity in Clark's eyes. He didn't think Clark would wake up just yet, so Robert decided not to stop until Clark begged him to.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
In the next moment, Robert vanished, his strikes landing on Clark one after another, much like how Clark had been pummeling the unconscious Darkseid earlier. Now, Clark was on the receiving end, unable to fight back.
Although Clark's current state was indeed stronger than Robert's Super Saiyan 2 form, it was no match for Robert's Super Saiyan God transformation. Clark had no chance of retaliating.
As the blows continued, Clark's expression didn't grow clearer. Instead, he remained in a state of rage and ferocity, constantly trying to counterattack but failing due to his lack of strength.
It was as if Clark was in a state of helpless fury, but this fury didn't help him regain consciousness—not even a hint of it.
"This is brutal. Does it feel like Robert is taking the opportunity to beat up Clark?" On the other side, the watching Avengers exchanged glances, with Pietro muttering under his breath.
Most of the Avengers had already entered the cosmic battleship. Since Robert was able to control the shockwaves of his one-sided beatdown of Clark, and with the battleship's defenses, the Avengers weren't affected.
As for Darkseid, he hadn't entered the battleship. Sentry tried attacking Darkseid's body, but compared to Clark's earlier attacks, Sentry's strikes were feeble, barely causing any damage.
In the end, Sentry had no choice but to give up, keeping a vigilant eye on Darkseid. If anything happened, he would immediately try to stop Darkseid and notify Robert.
Sentry knew he couldn't hold Darkseid off alone, but he also knew he didn't need to. Even delaying Darkseid for a second would be enough for Robert to intervene. So, Sentry wasn't panicked and even had the leisure to listen to the team's discussion.
"Probably not. It's just that Clark doesn't seem to be showing any signs of recovery, so it's understandable that Robert keeps going," Peter Parker's voice carried a hint of hesitation.
While Robert's actions could be explained, the excitement and brutality with which he was beating Clark made it seem like he wasn't worried about seriously injuring him.
"Clark's state does seem problematic. But the more Robert attacks, the more Clark resists. Could it be that this method isn't working?" Kara, who had a clearer view of the battlefield than the others, also voiced her doubts.
Compared to the other Avengers, Kara could see the excitement in Robert's expression, making her wonder if Robert was indeed taking the chance to beat up Clark.
However, if Robert had known what the Avengers and Kara were thinking, he would have vehemently denied it. He wasn't taking the opportunity to beat up Clark—he just wanted to wake him up. It wasn't his fault that Clark showed no signs of regaining consciousness despite the beating…
"Boom!"
After a while, Robert punched Clark away again. Seeing the lingering fury in Clark's eyes, Robert felt a bit helpless. He had enjoyed the fight, but beating an unconscious Clark was ultimately unsatisfying.
"Maybe I should try a different approach?" Robert's eyes flickered as he appeared in front of Clark, delivering a palm strike. This strike didn't send Clark flying but noticeably dimmed the glow around him.
"Huh? Didn't work? Is Clark's soul bound too tightly to his body? Or is it because he's still unconscious?" Robert frowned, watching Clark look up at him in confusion.
"Or is it because Clark's soul hasn't awakened yet, and his current actions are just instinctual, making it impossible to force his soul out or wake him up?"
Robert's thoughts remained unanswered, and Clark wasn't in a state to communicate. When Clark realized Robert's palm strike was weak, he looked at Robert in confusion before suddenly becoming excited. Clearly, Clark had misunderstood something and launched an attack at Robert.
"Stop messing around!" Robert caught Clark's fist again, patting him like a disobedient child. This only seemed to irritate Clark further, making him even more agitated.
"Why is he getting more worked up? Maybe I should push him to the limit?" Robert muttered, deciding to try a more drastic approach.
"Whoosh!" In the next moment, images began to appear beside Clark, controlled by Robert's power. These were scenes from Clark's past—specifically, some of Clark's black history.
For example, there was Clark being nagged by Martha about marriage, or the time Clark made noises in his room, leading Martha and Jonathan to think he was engaging in some youthful, private activity. There was also the time Clark initially designed his Superman suit with red underwear—worn on the outside.
As these images played, Clark's agitation grew. Even with both hands restrained by Robert, Clark struggled fiercely.
"Wait, I just thought of something. Is Lana here?" Seeing Clark's increased struggles, Robert suddenly remembered something and opened the team channel to ask.
"Lana went to New Earth with your parents, didn't she?" Kara's voice quickly responded.
Although Lana Lang was a superhuman with considerable strength, she had barely appeared since Clark's incident. Her sole task seemed to be accompanying the Kents in Clark's place.
In fact, even before Clark's incident, Lana had been doing this. Over the years, she had spent more time with the Kents than Clark, Robert, and Kara combined.
"I see!" Robert's voice carried a hint of disappointment when he heard Lana wasn't there. He then played the next scene—Clark awkwardly admitting he had a strange fondness for a female reporter.
"Stop!" Before the scene could finish, Clark's voice rang out. This was the first time Clark had spoken since emerging from the sun.
"If I'd known this would wake you up, I would've done it sooner," Robert said with a smirk, looking at the now black-faced Clark. "I went through all that trouble to wake you up, only to find out this was what it took…"
"Seriously, I fought you for so long, and you didn't wake up. Kara appeared in front of you, and you didn't wake up. But one scene was all it took?"
"No, I started waking up when you played those earlier scenes," Clark quickly explained. "Those images had a strong impact on my consciousness. As for you and Kara, my subconscious must've been used to you…"
"Is that so?" Robert raised an eyebrow, not entirely convinced.
"By the way, where did you get those images?" Clark, avoiding Robert's intense gaze, quickly changed the subject.
"Those are from my memories. Things I've seen or experienced firsthand. I just replayed them. Even if you wanted to destroy them, you couldn't," Robert replied with a teasing smile.
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