But three seconds later, Thea was already furious—thanks to Hal Jordan's legendary level of stupidity.
Parallax clearly didn't like the golden construct dragon Thea had planted on its face. It opened its massive mouth, yellow energy building rapidly. Thea quickly moved the dragon aside—but Parallax suddenly twisted its lips into a sinister smile. Two giant hands emerged from the smoke, grabbed the dragon, and hurled it straight at Hal Jordan, who was happily firing away.
The idiot didn't even notice it coming.
His wild barrage of energy bullets directly thinned Thea's energy shield by a whole layer.
"You moron! Do you even have eyes!?"
Thea trembled in anger.
Hal Jordan realized he'd been too trigger-happy and scrambled to apologize.
Since Thea needed time to recover the energy her own ally had depleted, the frontline tanking job fell to Superman.
Even though Parallax's fear aura grew stronger the closer he stood, Superman still stepped forward without hesitation.
"No, Superman's taking too much passive damage. Amanda, can you bring Scarecrow to the front line? Earth needs his… expertise."
Thea glanced over—Superman was relying almost entirely on his steel body to endure the fear aura, and his expression was worsening. She could only call in outside help, hoping to counter the negative effect.
"I'm on it."
Time passed quickly.
Amanda arrived dragging Scarecrow—who had been "volunteered" for the sake of Earth's safety.
Gotham truly produced specialists: the man immediately collected samples of air and drew blood from two A.R.G.U.S. agents whose veins were saturated with fear aura… even while two rifles were pressed to his head.
Moments later, Scarecrow excitedly produced a vial of blue liquid—more like a potion than an injection—and handed it to Amanda.
"Only one bottle?"
Thea asked, noticing that even Amanda was barely holding herself together.
"The materials are rare—some involve extraterrestrial substances…"
The injection was valuable, no doubt.
But who should receive it?
Obviously, the big blue spandex-wearing guy at the front, taking the brunt of Parallax's aura.
"Uh… can he drink this?"
Amanda gave her a side-eye.
"It goes into the bloodstream."
How could you not know that? her expression said.
Thea knew plenty.
She also knew Earth syringes couldn't pierce Kryptonian skin.
But she couldn't exactly say that.
She hesitated, unsure how to explain.
Thankfully, Superman's best friend solved the problem.
"I can inject him. But he'll be weakened for a while afterward…"
Batman spoke calmly.
Oh?
So at this point, Batman already had kryptonite?
Did Superman give it to him?
That was… trust on another level.
"I can help him recover his energy. Go. I'll hold this monster off."
Thea manifested another golden armored giant and intercepted Parallax.
"You can restore his energy?—"
Batman stretched the word out, digesting this revelation.
Then he silently ordered Superman to fall back for the injection.
He didn't show it outwardly, but his mental notebook had definitely added half a chapter about Thea.
Two minutes later, Batman signaled Thea:
Come back, Superman's dying…
"Green Lantern, can you stall him?"
Thea had hacked Parallax countless times and had been stabbed just as many.
It looked intense, but honestly?
They were absorbing each other's energy—neither could overpower the other.
Hal Jordan spun his thumb upward flamboyantly.
"Relax! I'm great at drawing aggro!"
Thea froze for two seconds.
…Was he saying he naturally had a face that invited hate?
A rare talent indeed.
But… could he really be trusted?
Before she could decide, five National Guard F-22 Raptors arrived, completely ignoring the difference between heroes and monsters.
They unloaded a flood of missiles onto the battlefield.
Thea quickly threw up a shield.
This cliché military nonsense made her stomach turn.
Like in the movies—the army always carpet-bombed heroes and villains alike.
If it weren't for the political fallout, she would've blasted those jets herself.
Ridiculous.
She immediately tossed Parallax at the "aggro magnet" Green Lantern and his ex-pilot colleagues, then rushed to the rear.
Seeing Superman again, Thea almost didn't recognize him.
The once-imposing titan now looked so weak a breeze could knock him over.
His blue suit, usually stretched tight, sagged loosely on his frame.
"You… can restore me? I've never heard of such an ability…" he asked weakly.
"The universe is big. Lie down first."
Thea actually respected the pair—these paragons of justice hadn't even asked how she planned to help before laying Superman flat.
If she were a villain… this trust could've killed him.
She didn't fully understand the mechanism herself.
But the Yellow Ring had explicitly stated Kryptonians could be recharged.
And the ring, stiff as it was, didn't lie.
She raised her right hand.
A pale yellow beam connected the ring to Superman.
"Incredible… it's working!"
Superman, half-dead a moment ago, immediately sat upright and began absorbing power.
He felt great.
Thea did not.
Superman's body was like a bottomless pit, draining her ring's power at terrifying speed.
When the ring dropped to ten percent, Thea forcibly severed the connection.
"Dammit—how can you absorb that much energy!? Judging by your earlier performance, you shouldn't have this much capacity.
Don't tell me your energy reserves were never full to begin with!?"
Superman looked embarrassed.
"Sorry… once I start absorbing, it gets hard to control.
But you're right—I usually operate below optimal levels.
All right—I've purged all fear effects. My energy is at eighty percent.
Leave the monster to me!"
Before she could answer, Superman shot forward at a speed Thea had never seen from him.
Without caring about Parallax's intangible form, he punched straight through it—air rippling from the force.
Time seemed to freeze for several seconds before the delayed boom finally erupted.
"So strong…"
Thea pulled out her lantern, recharging her ring, unable to help admiring that overwhelming punch.
A power on that level ignored everything—cultivation, tiers, forms…
It was pure, crushing, absolute strength.
That was the future God of Power.
Superman ignored the jets circling overhead—jets that were now targeting him as well—
and unleashed a relentless onslaught on Parallax.
Every punch, every kick carried a strange rhythm—something Thea's perception wasn't high enough to decipher.
But she could feel the immense force behind each blow.
Even though Parallax was a smoke-like entity, its attacks meant nothing against Superman's steel body.
The monster was being beaten senseless.