Their heads, arms, and thighs were all immobilized—like statues frozen in plaster. Yet the platinum energy around them had not extinguished; it continued to burn and surge.
In fact, if one looked up close, they would see their hair rippling under the impact of the photon energy, and their eyes darting about frantically!
Vara, Tari, G'iah, Somalia… every single Skrull had been dreaming of life after the war just a second before launching their attack. And less than a second after they acted, despair descended upon them.
"Sigh…"
Suddenly, a sigh echoed beside every Super Skrull's ear.
Their eyeballs swiveled in terror, but all they could see were the panicked, screaming humans below—none could see the one who had spoken.
Not until a few seconds later, when voices came through their earpieces—two humans speaking.
One of them said, "You Skrulls really love sprinting full speed down the road to death."
The other was Gravik: "Su—Superman!? How could you possibly have detected our operation?"
…
At the very moment the Super Skrulls began their assault, on the other side, on the balcony of a Brooklyn apartment—
Lyon's formless spiritual power spread out, instantly seizing control of every corner of the globe.
Then he couldn't help but let out a deep sigh.
These guys were once again disturbing his peaceful, sun-soaked solitude.
He had already handed all the Skrull-related affairs over to M.I.B., SHIELD, and Tony to handle.
If it hadn't been for Captain Marvel suddenly showing up uninvited, he probably wouldn't have even bothered to glance their way.
Tony and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were kindhearted and didn't want to commit genocide.
And Lyon didn't feel like wasting energy dealing with it either.
So as long as the Skrulls relocated somewhere else, they could wreck havoc however they pleased.
But of course, these aliens just had to rush headlong to their deaths.
They had all seen the footage of his battle with Captain Marvel, and still dared to make a move.
Honestly, this was the first time Lyon had encountered such a thing.
It was like a farm pig seeing its master's cleaver rusting from disuse—so it throws itself onto the blade just to help sharpen it.
Speechless as he was—
Since they'd made a move, he had no choice but to see it through.
When Lyon took action, he preferred to do it in one clean stroke.
His figure vanished from the balcony and, in the blink of an eye, reappeared before Gravik in the Amazon rainforest.
That was the conversation the Super Skrulls had just heard through their communicators.
"How could you possibly have detected our operation?!" Gravik felt like he was going mad.
The plan had run into trouble at the very first step.
"Detected? You say that like you were being subtle or something," Lyon said, expressionlessly digging at his ear.
"In truth, the moment you released your energy, I could sense it. Then, within a millisecond, I could react and freeze you all like this."
"Talk about being 'detected'…" Lyon shook his head.
"But that's not actually how I caught onto your plan this time."
"It's because you wouldn't shut up yelling Superman this, Superman that all the way out at the edge of the universe. It was hurting my ears!"
Lyon's super hearing, having been modified by the Origin Will, had long since taken on a space-time attribute—allowing him to hear any movement within the solar system.
Normally, he suppressed this ability by using his super brain to filter out irrelevant information.
But these Skrulls, upon returning to the solar system, wouldn't stop chanting "Superman this, Superman that," like some kind of séance.
If they had been shouting that nonsense on Earth, it might've been tolerable.
But no—they were doing it out past Neptune.
Seriously, what kind of Superman fans go hold comic-cons or prayer meetings out there?
Even those lunatics from his own Superman cult wouldn't go that far, right?
Lyon couldn't help but raise his hand and give Gravik a few slaps to the face—smack smack—loud and crisp.
"Next time, if you really have to come back, don't yell 'Superman.' Use a different name. Call me 'You know who' or something. That way I might actually not notice."
Gravik stared blankly at Lyon, utterly speechless.
The once vicious, predatory glint in his eyes had dulled, as if covered by a layer of ash—completely devoid of hope.
"No, no way, this can't be! In that Tony Stark movie, didn't you fall just because of ice forming at high altitude?!" Gravik mumbled, desperately trying to argue back.
Poor thing—didn't he read the disclaimer at the start of those films? "All content is purely fictional." And yet this alien goblin believed every word of it.
Lyon didn't bother explaining. He simply looked up toward the depths of space.
He said, "You know, I actually enjoy battles where every punch lands solid."
"Not long ago, I had a pretty intense brawl with a big black bear from the Dark Dimension. Back and forth, punch after punch—it was exhilarating."
"Then a few days back, this glowing mosquito came buzzing over. Not much power, but so noisy. So I slapped her across the sky."
"But now… a bunch of maggots from the toilet have crawled out, trying to disgust me. That… is a bit harder to tolerate."
"Tell me—if it were you, how would you deal with maggots, Gravik? When it comes to you lot, I don't even feel like lifting a fist."
Lyon waved his hand. "Better to just burn it all clean with fire."
Sometimes, Lyon felt he was a bit like Daigo, the human host of Ultraman Tiga—always leaving aside more convenient, more powerful options like telekinesis, energy beams, and techniques, just to charge in using that brute-force red form.
Sure, it was less efficient—but it made him happy.
But this time, Lyon truly had no desire to switch into the red form and engage in close combat.
He focused his telekinetic power, gradually tightening and strengthening it—preparing to crush all the Super Skrulls to death through sheer pressure.
Honestly, this was the least efficient way to use telekinesis…Well, maybe he was still in his red form after all.
On the other side—unlike Lyon's relaxed, leisurely demeanor—when the invisible pressure around them suddenly intensified, a tremendous fear exploded in Gravik's heart.
His entire body, from flesh to soul, trembled violently as he felt death creeping closer.
And it wasn't just him—Skrulls all over the world were shaking in terror, their bodies quivering like leaves in a storm.
Some of the young Super Skrulls who had just been shouting "Earth belongs to the Skrulls" and dreaming about bringing their dear old mothers here after the war were now crying uncontrollably in sheer panic.
"No, no! NO!" Gravik screamed in unwilling defiance, releasing his photon energy with all his might.
But as Lyon increased the intensity of his telekinesis, Gravik soon found himself unable to make a sound—not even the word "no" could escape his lips anymore.
He was drowning in despair, fully aware that there was no escaping Superman's grasp.
This was a demon. A butcher.
A being like this would never let him go.
It didn't matter if he died—but if the others died too, then the Skrulls would be finished!
Suddenly, a static crackle came through—a private channel opened on Gravik's communicator.
"Brother Gravik, why isn't anyone replying? Are you all okay?" came a soft, sweet girl's voice from the other end.
Her tone was innocent and clear. "Is the mission going smoothly? Hmm? Why is it so quiet? Don't tell me you're already back inside the pods, getting ready to return?"
!!
Gravik's eyes widened in shock.
On the other end of the line—was one of the children aboard the fleet.
They had originally been today's cheering squad for their victorious return.
______
Read ahead of WN at Patreon.com/LiveLifeLove