"He's here! He's right here! I can hear his words!"
Superboy shouted inexplicable words.
"I sense extreme anger and hatred!"
Beast Boy and Starfire stood up simultaneously, looking at Superboy with concern.
"Conner! What happened? What are you doing?"
"What happened to me? No, nothing happened, I've never been better than I am now."
Suddenly, Superboy stopped his strange behavior and gave the two of them a smile that looked eerie no matter how you looked at it.
"No! He's not... Conner!"
Just then, Robin's voice rang out. He weakly lay on the ground, warning Starfire and Beast Boy.
"He's Jericho! He controlled Deathstroke and me earlier, and now he's switched to Conner!"
"What! You're saying Jericho? That's impossible!"
Beast Boy said incredulously.
"Watch out! Gar!"
Just as Starfire shouted, Superboy possessed by Jericho was diving toward Beast Boy, his right fist clenched and poised.
In desperation, Starfire lifted Nightwing with one hand and grabbed Tim with the other, swiftly soaring into the sky.
Beast Boy immediately transformed into a seagull and fled from the ground.
Boom!
Superboy's punch struck the ground, producing an explosion-like sound.
A large crater dozens of meters in diameter and over ten meters deep appeared on the shore. The intense shockwaves radiated outwards, even causing the entire coast to tremble.
Within San Francisco Bay, a small-scale earthquake was triggered.
Gravel and dust soared into the air, burying the unconscious Deathstroke lying on the ground in sand.
"No! Don't use my body for this!"
At this moment, Superboy went wild again, with Conner's willpower now battling Jericho's willpower.
Although Conner had overwhelming physical strength, his soul essence wasn't that powerful. In fact, when he was initially cloned, he didn't possess a genuine soul. It was only after his humanity developed that he formed his own soul.
Hence, Jericho didn't have much trouble seizing control of Superboy's body. However, while Conner's soul might not be overpowering, it was resilient and pure. When it came to tenacity and purity, he was unmatched by ordinary people, giving him a fighting chance against Jericho.
"Why resist, Conner? I'm helping you all. I don't want you kids to be in danger. Why can't you understand?"
Jericho roared within Superboy's body.
"You're nothing but a delusional narcissist! Get out of my body now!"
Conner fought with all his might and managed to regain temporary control of his body.
To prevent Jericho from causing havoc in downtown San Francisco, Superboy, still conscious, quickly flew towards the sea. He reached a distant island farther from the coast than Alcatraz Island.
The shockwave also affected Yuri's location. He had to pick up Raven and, utilizing XLR8, instantly escape the earthquake zone to join Starfire and the others.
"Does anyone know why Conner suddenly went berserk? Whoever provoked him should apologize."
Yuri asked directly.
"It wasn't Conner, it was Jericho. He's controlling Conner's body!"
Tim explained again, summarizing the recent events briefly.
"Sure enough, Jericho didn't die. I knew superhumans with soul abilities aren't so easily killed."
Ever since Yuri heard that Jericho could transfer his soul through eye contact, he suspected the man might still be alive. Now, it turned out to be true.
But Jericho is Deathstroke's son, right? It was one thing to be killed by his own father, but he actually managed to survive within his father for several years and eventually take control of his body.
His recent actions completely disregarded Deathstroke, who was right there. Yuri wondered if Deathstroke could survive this impact.
Yuri was willing to give them a full score for this father-son relationship.
"Has Conner always been this strong?"
Beast Boy clicked his tongue, shuddering a little with aftershock.
"Good thing I didn't mess with him and even told him a secret."
"What secret?" Starfire asked curiously.
"Nothing! It's just a guy thing!" Beast Boy shivered and gulped, clearly nervous.
"The power he displayed just now is just a fraction of Conner's strength. Jericho hasn't fully adapted to Conner's body, and Conner is resisting with all his might."
Robin, who understood Superboy the most, spoke up. "If we want to defeat him, it's only possible now!"
Yuri looked at the horizon. The once calm sea was now turbulent, with waves exceeding five meters in height.
"If this continues, the worst-case scenario might trigger a tsunami, putting all the city's residents in danger."
The group left Nightwing, Raven, and Tim in this relatively safe location and quickly headed towards Superboy's direction.
XLR8 clearly couldn't cope with the current situation anymore, so Yuri immediately transformed.
Speedstar!
A flash of blue lightning, and Yuri crossed over Starfire and Beast Boy, covering over a dozen kilometers of the sea in an instant, arriving where Superboy was.
At that moment, Superboy was kneeling on a small island, struggling fiercely between his two hands.
"Conner, let him go for a moment!"
Yuri decelerated to below the speed of sound and shouted loudly, making sure Conner could hear him.
In an instant, Conner's soul understood the message. He immediately relaxed, allowing Jericho to regain full control of his body.
Then, in the next moment, Yuri accelerated again and reached Superboy, floating in mid-air after a light jump.
In this almost frozen environment, Yuri extended his leg and kicked Superboy frantically, kicking his feet back and forth, each time hitting a vital part of Superboy's innards.
In less than a second, Yuri kicked more than five thousand times, all strikes landing on Superboy's crucial points.
Bang!
In Jericho's vision, he saw Yuri swiftly kick towards him, then a colossal force filled his entire abdomen.
In a split second, Superboy was thrown back over a kilometer, plunging into the sea and creating massive waves.
Since Jericho currently controlled the body, he bore the brunt of Yuri's attack. The pain significantly affected his focus.
"Give my body back to me!"
At this moment, Conner's soul surged with power, gradually gaining the upper hand against Jericho.
"No! Great Trigon, grant me greater power. I'll offer you my soul!"
An extremely evil surge of soul power merged into Jericho's soul, giving him an edge over Conner, seizing full control of the body.
Only then did he truly sense the body's might.
"Huh? My eyes!"
Suddenly, Jericho felt an intense burning sensation in his eyes.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle!
On the sea's surface, Yuri noticed a sudden surge of bubbles as if the water was about to boil.
Boom!
The next second, two beams of red light shot out from the sea.
°°°
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