AM I SUPERMAN?

Kaius's body was rapidly lifted into the sky, and for a moment, gravity seemed to lose its grip on him.

The rushing air felt like a gentle hand brushing against his cheek, giving him an odd sense of comfort even as he soared upward.

But just as he was about to reach Faora-Ul's spacecraft, high-altitude air currents began to buffet him. Earth's gravity seemed to reassert itself, tugging him back down relentlessly.

"Steady… steady…" Kaius muttered, trying to keep himself aloft. "I just have to believe I can fly… I can fly… wait… ahhhhh!"

Gravity won the battle, and Kaius plummeted uncontrollably, falling in an erratic parabolic arc.

"Ahhh! This is way too high!"

From thousands of meters above the ground, Kaius fell like a small meteor. His body smashed into the peak of a mountain, which crumbled under the impact. He shot straight through it, carving a destructive path to the ground below.

The earth trembled violently when he finally hit the ground. The once-majestic mountain peak collapsed like a punctured balloon, breaking apart into a cascade of rubble. Massive boulders tumbled down the slopes in a roaring landslide.

Buried under the debris, Kaius groaned and clawed his way out of a gravel pit. Looking up, he saw Faora-Ul's spacecraft shrinking into the distance, now a mere speck in the sky.

His stubbornness flared. "I don't care if I haven't unlocked Superman's full powers. If he can fly, so can I!"

Planting one knee firmly on the ground, Kaius adopted a runner's stance. He focused on the sunlight warming his skin, the air surrounding him, and even Newton's long-suffering laws of physics.

Everything.

The rocks around him began to tremble, some even rising into the air, swirling in a strange, spiraling motion.

"Hup!"

With a powerful yell, Kaius shot upward. It was unclear whether he had jumped or truly flown, but the ground beneath him fractured, sending cracks radiating outward like a spiderweb.

Higher and higher he went, rapidly closing the gap between himself and Faora-Ul's fleeing spacecraft.

"So this is what flying feels like… it's amazing!"

The air thinned as Kaius ascended, but the lack of oxygen didn't bother him. At 20,000 meters above sea level, the Earth below looked like a miniature painting. Kansas had become a tiny patch of green and brown, but Kaius had no time to admire the view.

He reached the spacecraft and grabbed onto its hull.

Clang!

The sound of his impact echoed like a hammer striking a bell. The ship lurched slightly, its speed decreasing as Kaius clung to it. Using the momentum of the ship, he swung himself toward the engine.

With a loud crash, he smashed directly into it.

Inside the engine, Kaius was greeted by intense heat—hotter than anything he'd experienced before. It wasn't like any Earth-made technology; the energy it emitted resembled nuclear fusion.

Kaius didn't need to understand the science. All he knew was that his body could endure the punishment—barely. Even with his superhuman durability, the scorching heat stung his skin.

Seconds later, he burst out of the engine, smoke trailing behind him.

"Damn, my clothes are gone!" he exclaimed, looking down at his now-charred outfit. "This is awkward. If I go fight Faora like this, she's definitely going to get the wrong idea."

Fortunately, Kaius spotted a spare suit in the spacecraft's crew cabin. It wasn't quite like the armored battle suits worn by Kryptonian soldiers. This one resembled Superman's tights, but it was entirely black. He quickly donned the suit, muttering, "It'll have to do."

The Control Room

Meanwhile, in the spacecraft's cockpit, Faora-Ul frantically worked the controls. The engine's destruction had disabled the ship's ability to jump through space, leaving her stranded far from General Zod's location.

"No! No! No!"

She shouted in frustration as she pored over the ship's systems, searching for any alternate means of escape. Despite her efforts, it was no use—the ship was crippled.

Kaius smirked as he approached the control room. "Looks like you're not going anywhere, Faora."

At this moment, Kaius appeared behind Faora-Ul, her rage reaching its peak. "You ruined my plan! I'll kill you!"

"Oh, is that so? Funny, I never planned on letting you live either."

The battle erupted instantly. Both figures disappeared in a blur, reappearing mere seconds later in a fierce clash.

Kaius swung his fists, aiming for Faora's face, but her combat techniques were precise and relentless. Though her strength was slightly inferior to Kaius's, her superior fighting skills compensated for it.

The old saying, "Strength overcomes skill," holds true only when there is a significant gap in power. In this case, Kaius's strength advantage was marginal, making Faora's combat prowess a major factor.

"After this, I really need to learn some proper techniques," Kaius thought, dodging another strike. "Maybe I'll train with Arrow or Batman—they're experts at hand-to-hand combat."

The spacecraft trembled violently, halting its ascent. Then, with a groan of metal, it began to plummet toward the ground.

Caught off guard, Faora-Ul stumbled, unable to stabilize herself in the chaos. Despite having extraordinary powers under the yellow sun, she had yet to master the ability to fly.

"Wait, you… can't fly?" Kaius asked, watching her flail and tumble around the ship. He couldn't suppress a chuckle. Here he was—a half-trained amateur—soaring through the air, while this "orthodox Kryptonian" couldn't even take off.

The irony wasn't lost on him. He thought about it briefly: Kryptonians knew their powers were enhanced under a yellow sun, yet they rarely ventured to planets like Earth, where such stars existed.

Perhaps there was an explanation. During their age of expansion, some Kryptonians might have colonized Earth-like planets, passing their powerful genetics to their descendants. This might have been the origin of Earth's myths and legends. Over time, as the Kryptonian bloodline diluted, the myths faded. Meanwhile, Krypton itself turned inward, focusing on technological control and artificial societal constructs, leading to its stagnation and eventual decline.

Faora's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Even if you stop me, General Zod already knows the location of this planet. He will come. When he does, you and everyone here will die! Krypton will rise again!" she yelled, her eyes alight with fanaticism.

Kaius sighed, her words drenched in the zeal of someone thoroughly brainwashed. It wasn't inherently wrong to want to save one's civilization, but to sacrifice another to do so was pure villainy.

"I sympathize with Krypton's fate," Kaius said coldly. "But you should never have targeted Earth."

With that, he ascended slightly, then shot forward at incredible speed, colliding with Faora.

CRASH!

The hull of the spacecraft gave way under the force of the impact, and the two hurtled toward the ground. Faora struggled fiercely, attempting to free herself from Kaius's iron grip, but her efforts were in vain.

They plummeted like meteors, tearing through a dark cloud layer before breaking into the sunlight.

Faora hit the ground first, crashing into an island and leaving a massive crater. The earth trembled under the impact, the sound echoing for miles.

Kaius slowed his descent as he reached a height of three kilometers, hovering in midair. He looked down at the deep crater where Faora lay.

A gentle breeze swept across the island, rustling the trees and blowing Kaius's cape dramatically behind him as he floated in the sunlight, a silent guardian overlooking the battlefield below. (So cool!🥹🥹)