Dammit, what happened to following orders? General Lane was now extremely dissatisfied with the AI the military had developed. A hint of agreement crept into his mind regarding Thea's repeated warnings about not developing artificial intelligence. No time to think further—he could only flee outside with Luthor in tow.
As Lois's father, he had some connection to Superman, the Child of Destiny. His own luck was genuinely good. Before he'd run far, he happened upon a squad of soldiers. The grunts recognized this high-ranking military officer and, after a slight hesitation, brought him along in their escape.
Setting aside the fleeing General Lane, with Red Tornado's help, Thea finally felt less pressure. But this robot was still far from their level—it could only provide containment. Defeating Doomsday would require one hundred and eighty of them.
"What's your situation?" The only one who could conduct telepathic communication at this moment was Martian Manhunter.
Thea and Doomsday's battle zone had long since left the underground base. Her golden hair was covered in dust. "Bit rough. What, you coming to help?"
Martian Manhunter hesitated before deciding to be honest. "With all that fire where you are, I really can't help. What about Superman?"
"In the Batcave. Ask Batman for details. I'm really swamped here!" The moment Thea relaxed slightly, Red Tornado took a devastating hit from Doomsday's heat vision. Two large holes were burned through the left side of its chest. Its synthetic organs suffered catastrophic damage. Its high-speed spinning body could no longer maintain form and dropped to the ground like a rag.
Fortunately, it was a mechanical construct—last on Doomsday's elimination list. Seeing Thea charge back in, the somewhat sluggish Doomsday followed its instincts and ignored Red Tornado.
The massive size disadvantage made fighting incredibly frustrating for Thea. She stopped conserving emotional energy and manifested a construct—a ten-meter-tall version of herself.
The giant duplicate also wielded an enlarged holy sword. As Doomsday stared in slight confusion, she rapidly repositioned left and right, spotted an opening, and her ten-meter sword slashed horizontally across Doomsday's abdomen. A huge mass of deep black liquid, like blood, gushed out.
Doomsday howled in agony. Thea's experiments hadn't been for nothing—its cells fundamentally couldn't replicate the holy sword. This mythic weapon was its true nemesis.
It jumped around frantically, grabbed a nearby high-rise, and hurled it at Thea.
Right now, satellites in space, nearby drones, and helicopters were all broadcasting the live feed to a massive audience. In normal times, she'd just dodge. But now she had to play the righteous hero! She erected solid defensive constructs in front of her while using emotional energy to envelop the building and create emergency stairs, letting the people inside escape quickly.
Fortunately, her backup finally arrived. With a massive sonic boom, Kara Danvers shot directly behind Doomsday. Leveraging tremendous acceleration, she delivered a punch straight to its skull.
Supergirl, trained multiple times, calculated the angle perfectly. Doomsday was sent flying toward the less populated side. Still, zero casualties was impossible.
Such a ten-meter-tall creature, weighing tons, getting punched flying—expecting zero injuries would be a miracle.
Thea set down the lucky survivors she'd rescued, worried Supergirl might overthink and affect her combat effectiveness. She flew after them.
"Why'd you call Kara too? She's still a kid! Where's Diana?" Martian Manhunter, in full protective-dad mode, immediately expressed his dissatisfaction.
Thea wasn't having it. "Diana's on her way. Besides, I'm only two years older than her! Thanks a lot—I'm a kid too, you know! Either come help or go help Superman."
After Supergirl's brutal strike, Doomsday began evolving again. Electric arcs crackled around its body. Inside, orange energy could be seen chaotically surging. The bone armor on its skin began growing wildly. Several massive bone spikes burst from its body.
Most alarming were the bone spikes that grew from the outer edges of each fist. Just looking at their sharp, solid structure, you knew they couldn't be blocked head-on.
The previously casual Doomsday, upon seeing Supergirl, seemed to activate some program. In the battle between the two women, more lethal attacks were now directed at Supergirl, leaving the young woman struggling to keep up.
"Hey—eyes on me!" Thea leaped out of the combat zone. Her hands traced complex patterns in the air while her mouth chanted awkward incantations.
She then pulled out the Death King's Staff. A full fifteen seconds passed before she could release the spell—a gray-white ray shot directly at Doomsday.
Aging Curse! Everything has its limits, and Thea's research showed that Doomsday's cells had limits too. It was just a composite will, not as straightforward as ordinary people.
Ordinary people—whether young, middle-aged, or elderly—were easy to distinguish. They could be viewed as a unified whole.
But Doomsday was an aggregate. Its mind was a composite. Some cells in its body existed in a "living" state, while others, depleted of energy, fell into a "dead" state. These dead cells were then devoured to generate new living cells, creating the false impression that its energy was inexhaustible.
Thea's solution was to attack it at the source—cutting all cellular division rates in half. Cells that could divide one hundred times couldn't even reach thirty under the Aging Curse before dying completely.
Her spell took immediate effect. Doomsday began roaring. Unfortunately, Supergirl's attacks remained sharp. Its cellular loss rate began accelerating. Massive amounts of dead skin and rotting flesh were shed by the main body. Its original ten-meter height shrank to eight meters before stabilizing.
It tried to enter another evolution cycle, but sadly, its cellular foundation had been depleted. Several attempts all failed.
"This thing's getting weaker!" Supergirl had no idea how many experiments Thea had conducted for this one Aging Curse. She understood the principle of kicking someone when they're down, though. She swung her slender fists at Doomsday's bald head.
Thea also began pursuing with her construct. According to her calculations, this aging phase wouldn't last long. As a Kryptonian biological weapon, though it had never encountered magic, many principles were universal.
Information encoded in its genes would help Doomsday find a new way out.
Sure enough, while being brutally beaten by the two women, Doomsday began actively shrinking its size. It retracted the bone armor and spikes that had been protruding outward.
Massive amounts of fresh cells entered its internal circulation. Its vitality was recovering in a suicidal, wave-after-wave manner.
Like a precision machine, Doomsday continuously squeezed every ounce of energy from each cell, then devoured and recombined them to generate new cells.
In less than a minute, it had stopped its decline and made corresponding adjustments.