"Horus, Apollo, Jehovah—are these deities all real? Who else is included? Diana Prince, perhaps? What role does Dr. Queen play in all this?" Luthor looked at Thea with eyes full of curiosity.
On this topic, Thea had no reason to lie. Besides, except for Jehovah, the last one Luthor mentioned, she knew all the others... She'd even developed a decent relationship with Hera recently. Thea pulled out the big guns.
"Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they don't exist. The divine is real. They've been silently protecting this world all along."
Seeing Luthor about to speak, Thea raised her hand to cut him off. "I know what you're going to say. Let me tell you—they're not perfect. They have their own thoughts, their own positions. Gods are not omnipotent, so naturally they can't be all-good and all-perfect. And I'm not some deity either. I'm just an ordinary person."
General Lane turned to look at her. "At least you're still on our side, right?"
Thea nodded. From the perspective of stopping Luthor, she was indeed on the same side as the military. Calling her "military-aligned" was a bit narrow—she should be considered on the side of order.
"General, right now we share the same position. But I've warned you many times—the threat of Brainiac still exists. Don't develop artificial intelligence. You're gambling with the lives of seven billion people on Earth. Don't tell me that thing beside you is just a simple robot."
Lane said nothing. Instead, the robot beside him spoke up. "I am Red Tornado. My core directive is to protect humanity. Dr. Queen, we are not enemies."
Thea remained noncommittal. "You're going to bring serious trouble. But today, I'll still help you."
The heiress never mentioned her own AI. Rules for thee, not for me—she took this philosophy to the extreme. First, she stood on the moral high ground of all humanity and used righteousness to lecture the military people. Whatever problems arose in the future would be their fault.
Lane's approach was to ignore it! Never mind later—just get through today first. Several people secretly monitoring Luthor had all reported energy reactions far exceeding their calculations. After multiple fruitless negotiations, the military had no choice but to take desperate action, bringing their latest robot model to arrest him.
Unfortunately, they were still a step too late. The genesis chamber before them wasn't the swimming-pool size from the movie, but as large as a football field. The liquid in the pool rippled in the dim light. A translucent membrane was slowly rising to the surface, and two arms could be seen struggling inside.
"Haha! I don't care if you're a deity or not. I only know the time has finally come for humanity to break free from the old era—and leave you useless gods behind! This is the Doomsday for both Kal-El and for all of you!" Luthor's mental state seemed unstable. He spread his arms wide, as if pronouncing some judgment.
"Stop him!" General Lane felt danger warnings screaming in his mind. He hastily issued orders to Red Tornado.
Thea scoffed. Where were you earlier? Now you're in a rush? Too late! Still, she canceled her transformation spell, revealing silver-white armor and drawing her long sword, making a show of charging forward.
Red Tornado had wind-manipulation abilities and extreme speed. With Thea deliberately holding back, it shot directly toward Luthor, attempting to capture the ringleader first.
Metallo, with his full metal skeleton and kryptonite heart, directly intercepted Red Tornado. The two non-human constructs engaged in a rapid exchange, speed against speed. Red Tornado's velocity gave it a clear edge, but Metallo's powerful defense kept the damage minimal.
Thea directly knocked Luthor down and tossed him to General Lane, then turned her attention to the distance with a grave expression. Doomsday had finally reached the moment of birth.
"Ancient Kryptonian abomination—behold, this is the harbinger of descending darkness!" Luthor had been knocked flat by General Lane in three moves, but he seemed oblivious to his own condition. Like a madman, he shrieked loudly.
"Run! Get your people and run!" Thea shouted back at them, then ignored them entirely. She gripped her sword with both hands, taking a defensive stance. At this moment, Doomsday felt even stronger to her than Horus had when he'd descended in person. Though their realms differed and classifications varied, in a certain sense, Doomsday could also be considered a true god—and one at full power.
Thea didn't hesitate. Waiting for the enemy to fully emerge before fighting? She wasn't that brain-dead. She channeled all her magic power. The Divine Aegis armor converted massive amounts of lightning magic. Thea infused it all into her holy sword, leaped high, and brought it crashing down on Doomsday.
Massive amounts of lightning struck Doomsday's membrane. It too sensed the situation's urgency and tore frantically at the membrane. Finally, the instant before lightning enveloped its body, it thrust out two giant claws and forcibly caught the holy sword.
The power of life and hope collided with the force of death and destruction. This first clash, with Thea fully prepared, ended in complete victory.
Doomsday's left hand was severed at the wrist. Its body, which had already risen halfway, was slammed back into the pool by the massive impact.
To maintain her pretense of ignorance, Thea obviously couldn't immediately pull out kryptonite weapons and end the fight in three seconds—that would be too obvious. To gain more praise and power after the battle, she needed to fight back and forth with this big guy for several rounds, maybe even let it evolve a few times.
She no longer cared how disgusting the pool's slime was. She jumped straight in and hacked down at Doomsday relentlessly.
*CLANG!* In less than thirty seconds, Doomsday had completed one upgrade. Its left hand had fully regenerated, and its strength and speed had both massively improved. It swatted Thea away with a backhand.
The ten-meter-tall monster finally revealed its true form. Hideous features, not a single hair on its head, a skull-to-body ratio slightly off, muscles bulging abnormally all over, with a layer of barely-visible bone armor covering its skin.
The towering Doomsday roared. The entire underground facility shook from the sonic waves. Both combatants simultaneously stopped their attacks.
"Oh my God!" Metallo barely managed to drive back Red Tornado. Only now did he see the monster behind him. With his energy detector, he cried out in alarm. Never mind Luthor now—he turned and bolted down another passage.
General Lane had no energy detector, but years of military service had given him instincts for crisis moments.
Thinking of how the big shots told him to bring back Luthor's research results, he could only smile bitterly. Was that a joke? How was he supposed to bring this huge monster back?
Especially seeing even Thea struggling a bit, his heart went cold. Grabbing Luthor by the neck, he ran for the exit.
"I order you—come with me now," he told the slightly dazed Red Tornado.
"I refuse your order. My mission is to protect humanity. This monster is too powerful. I must help that woman." Without another glance at General Lane, its body spun at high speed, transforming into a whirlwind that charged toward Doomsday.