Chapter 137: Super Xi Nian!
For the past five days, Victor had been plagued by nightmares.
In his dreams—
He was back in the vastness of outer space, aboard the spacecraft his company had designed to withstand cosmic storms, working alongside Reed, Susan, and the others in the ship's cabin conducting scientific research.
It was the eve of the approaching cosmic storm. The five of them, as usual, were carrying out preparations.
Then, an accident occurred.
But it wasn't the cosmic storm arriving early—it was something far more terrifying.
Through the window of the spacecraft, the five first noticed a distant artificial satellite suddenly exploding. Orange flames erupted brilliantly in the endless black void of space. From within the fiery burst, a small figure shot forth at incredible speed, trailing streams of molten debris like a cannonball barreling straight toward their ship!
In just a blink, under their stunned gazes, the figure closed in on the spacecraft. They could clearly see it was a tall, bare-chested man!
It was—
Superman resurrected!
Victor's mind instantly realized what he was looking at. Staring at the figure hurtling toward them, with no time to react—and knowing reacting would be useless anyway—his entire being tasted despair and the inevitability of death.
But in the next instant—
Another radiant figure, bright as day, streaked across the cosmos like lightning. With a speed surpassing even Superman's, he caught up and kicked the man's body away, sending him crashing into the far-off moon!
Behind this figure glowed a divine golden halo, silver hair cascading over his shoulders, radiating a destructive brilliance. He wore a black Kryptonian suit with a dark cape. His body, sculpted to perfection, brimmed with divine strength, arcs of thunder crackling around him.
Like an invincible god, the young man stood above the universe. Even though he lingered beside the spacecraft for less than a second, Victor and the others were left with an indelible memory, one that nearly shattered their lifelong faith in science.
At the end of science—was theology?
Victor would never forget that existence, so far beyond human comprehension, which made even a proud man like him feel as powerless as any ordinary mortal.
From that day on, every time he awoke from his nightmares, he burned with a desperate hunger for power beyond humanity.
And when his body was exposed to the cosmic storm, then returned to Earth yesterday—
Victor finally awakened extraordinary abilities that transcended human limits. But the price was his face being utterly ruined. Forced to hide behind a steel mask, he had thought himself the only lucky one. Only when Reed came to him did he realize the other four had also gained powers.
And Reed hadn't even been scarred!
Jealousy, arrogance, hatred, destruction—these roiled within Victor's heart. He decided he would kill the other four who had gained powers. He alone would reign as the city's superhuman ruler!
…
Downtown Los Angeles.
Blue-white lightning flashed, the air thick with the acrid stench of burning.
"What is this… How can you possibly wield such power?!"
Victor's exposed eyes widened in disbelief as his twin thunderous plasma blasts were blocked by an even greater energy shield.
Susan, the Invisible Woman, looked equally confused. Even she didn't know what was happening, though the energy forming the shield felt incredibly familiar—almost like it came from her own body.
"This is…" Susan's gaze instinctively lifted upward.
And there—hovering over the street a dozen meters high—
A blue-haired boy descended from the night sky, his body wrapped in a faint energy film. In his arms sat a petite green-haired girl, hugging her backpack to her chest, her pale ankles swinging like a child on a swing.
It was Polaris, Lorna Dane—and her brother, Max.
Impossible.
Susan's lips parted in shock, her expression even more stunned than Victor's.
"What are you staring at, Susan?"
Noticing her abnormal gaze, Victor looked up as well, rasping with confusion.
He couldn't see them?
Susan quickly glanced around. The Thing, Ben Grimm, and the panicked bystanders all showed no reaction to the two above. Suddenly, it hit her—
It wasn't just Victor. No one could see the siblings—except her.
They were invisible!
But not in the way Susan could manage. She could only turn her body invisible, and even then, she had to strip off her clothes to fully vanish. Worse, any attack she launched would instantly reveal her.
Xi Nian, however, had fused Susan's power with Lorna's magnetism. Holding Lorna in his arms, he drifted down before Susan, floating a meter above the ground. His blue eyes fixed calmly on Victor, whose armored form radiated a bizarre blend of sorcery and technology.
"Who's there?!"
Victor glared at the empty air ahead. Though he couldn't see Xi Nian and Lorna, he could faintly sense something alive nearby.
Xi Nian didn't answer. Lorna didn't bother to, either.
"Show yourself!" Victor roared, raising both hands. Bolts of lightning as thick as bowls exploded forth, weaving into a deadly net that surged forward. But just ten meters out, it slammed against a translucent blue shield that shimmered into being from nothing.
"Found you!" Victor sneered. He tried to summon more lightning—
But suddenly froze.
He couldn't move.
Victor's eyes darted wildly. His arms remained raised, his body locked in place as though encased in solid cement, or embedded within steel.
Hovering just ten meters ahead, still invisible to all but Susan, Xi Nian's hands remained occupied with holding Lorna. His blue eyes glowed with unfathomable light.
Even without Lorna's help, her magnetic power was already Victor's greatest weakness—his entire body was clad in metal armor. But fused with Susan's powers, Xi Nian had raised control to an entirely new level.
To say he commanded all things was no exaggeration.
"Down you go."
Xi Nian's eyes and body pulsed with dazzling blue arcs. Yet even this radiance remained unseen, shrouded in invisibility.
And so—
Only Susan could witness what was happening.
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