Gotham, Abandoned Steel Mill.
This place had once been a thriving industrial hub, but it had fallen into disuse since the last century. The remnants of industry lingered in this desolate corner, where the cold wind gently swept through the steel ruins. Spiderwebs clung to the metal beams, and the peeling walls were mottled with water stains and covered in moss.
In the maze-like alleys of Gotham, there were countless abandoned factories and warehouses like this one—places that often attracted all sorts of bizarre gangs, superpowered beings, and even aliens.
Like now, for instance—a black-clad woman descended from the rooftop, slipping through a gaping hole in the roof to land within the abandoned building.
The room was vast and silent, cluttered with forsaken containers, like evidence of time's abandonment. Faint moonlight poured through shattered glass, illuminating broken crates and torn paper scraps strewn across the floor. The air reeked of dampness and decay.
After landing, the woman walked straight toward a heavy iron door embedded in the floor. The building above was just a cover; her real hideout was in the basement beneath the factory. Down there was a spaceship—her vessel to Earth and her temporary base of operations.
The massive door creaked open effortlessly under her hand, revealing a moss-covered stone staircase spiraling down into the depths.
She was just about to step down when her brow furrowed, halting mid-step.
Right there, a short distance below her feet—
A transparent tripwire.
A trap?
She almost laughed out loud.
She immediately realized that her hideout had been exposed, but showed not the slightest sign of panic. In fact, she hadn't made much of an effort to hide her presence in the first place. The reason was simple—because there was no need.
She was a Kryptonian.
After exposure to the radiation of the yellow sun, she was basically invincible. Her body was more powerful than a starship—she was a walking interstellar weapon. On such a primitive planet, why bother tiptoeing around?
She didn't take the crude trap seriously at all and began scanning the area for the enemy's location.
Her pupils contracted as she subtly adjusted her vision. Faint blue light shimmered in her eyes.
Darkness and walls posed no obstacle to a Kryptonian's gaze. She was certain the ambusher was hiding nearby—no one could evade her enhanced vision.
And then—
She went blind.
The blinding flash exploded the moment she activated her super vision—utterly catching her off guard. The incandescent light was like a mini sun bursting in the enclosed space, instantly whiting out her vision.
In that split second, she realized the enemy's tactic.
They never expected the primitive trap to work. It was just a distraction—a lure. Its sole purpose was to prompt her to activate her x-ray vision.
Naturally, realizing there was someone hiding nearby, the first instinct would be to scan the surroundings.
Such a despicable opponent!
This tactic had been tested earlier by Shen You. Kryptonian-specific flashbangs were exceptionally effective against those actively using super vision, and particularly devastating to Kryptonians who lacked full control over their super senses.
Just simple psychology. .JPG
With her vision crippled, any living creature would instinctively panic. And knowing she was still exposed in enemy territory, she would immediately turn to her next most reliable sense to search for her attacker—
Super hearing.
In that moment, her body would instinctively engage super hearing—picking up even the faintest sound of dust settling.
But unlike Superman, who had spent most of his life learning what to listen to and what to tune out, most Kryptonians at the early stages of their power awakening could only manage a basic on/off switch—perhaps adjusting range and intensity at best. Filtering out noise wasn't something done by instinct.
So when she opened her ears and strained to listen, all she heard was—
A deafening roar.
A pain unimaginable to normal humans without enhanced hearing. It was like being pierced by thousands of arrows, all at once across her eardrums. The sheer agony nearly crashed her brain, leaving only a low, throbbing hum in her skull.
A sonic cannon.
Again, simple psychology.
Having taken multiple hits without even seeing her enemy, the woman, enraged, shouted:
"You coward! Dare to face me head-on!?"
She struck a dramatic pose of defiance, as if inviting a fair fight.
And then—
She got smacked in the face.
A bright blue beam of Spacium energy shot across the darkness, hitting her square in the face just as she opened her mouth to curse. It was a critical strike to the head.
The red-and-silver mech stood silently in the shadows, arms crossed in a T-shape, surging with energy.
But she withstood it.
Though her face was split open by the Spacium blast, blood streaming down, she steadied herself, catching the beam in both hands.
With a classic Superman-style pose, she began pressing against the light, forcing her way forward step by step—her hands glowing red and scorched, enduring the searing pain but refusing to yield.
At last, she reached the mech, like a ship pushing against a raging current. She let out a roar and lunged forward, fingers clawing at the red-silver armor—
BOOM!
A powerful hook shot from the darkness at her flank, catching her off-guard. The punch landed squarely on her cheek, caving in her face slightly, a transparent shockwave bursting from the point of impact. She was launched diagonally downward, crashing into the floor and splitting it open, nearly bringing down the entire building.
Shen You, in Ultraman form, held his punch stance—still human-sized—standing beside the mech.
He had never been inside the armor from the start.
Facing a real Kryptonian for the first time, while testing anti-Kryptonian weaponry, Shen You had opted to play it safe and fight personally—transforming but not enlarging.
Meanwhile, the mech was under Pal's control—still acting as bait.
With her sight and hearing both disabled, the Kryptonian had no way of dodging the Spacium attack and would likely charge directly at it—because it was the only way to locate her opponent.
In doing so, she would "voluntarily" take the full brunt of the sustained beam attack and walk right into the punch Shen You had been holding back—taking a second wave of damage.
Shen You didn't stop after the punch. He immediately raised his right palm, energy swirling in his hand, lightning crackling and coalescing into a glowing disk.
Eightfold Light Ring — Chase!