Firando Gomez, this superhero's code name is "Channeler Zeus." He is also a member of the "Superhero Round Table" and is ranked No.3 on the Association's leaderboard.
When Ke Mingye came across this video, he thought to himself, "What bad luck. Am I cursed to watch highlight reels of the final boss again?"
As the name suggests, Firando Gomez is a Divine Communicator. The path he channels symbolizes the supreme God King of Greek mythology— "Zeus."
Every time Firando appeared on camera, he consistently presented the same image: his face always bore the smile of an all-American boy. To be more precise, it was the kind of smile that was slightly naïve yet candid, offering a row of neatly aligned teeth.
With blond hair and blue eyes, his features were handsome, and his countenance rugged. His looks could rival the peak-era David Beckham, and some might say he even surpassed him.
Combining a superior appearance, impeccable power, and a universally recognized status, he was almost like a presidential figure in the United States.
After a national vote, multiple American media outlets named him "the most perfect man in the world" No.1; now he is undeniably the most popular superhero in Europe.
On the internet, one can easily find news and articles that lavishly praise his heroic stature to a tiresome degree.
But even as such a figure, he is ranked only No.3 within the Superhero Association.
Being third means that ahead of him, there are two more mysterious figures with abilities surpassing his, and like the No.7 ranked "Qing Ya," their information is not disclosed to the public.
Ke Mingye considered that perhaps the top two individuals in the Association's ranks would only take action in the event of an apocalyptic crisis.
After all, as a player, if he survived until the end, an inevitable confrontation with those two figures was unavoidable.
Ke Mingye's mission was to become that "crisis capable of destroying the world."
About "Firando Gomez," Ke Mingye had watched a public speech about him on Weibo the day before, discussing how "superhumans and humans should coexist harmoniously in society," touching upon various issues like employment and education for superhumans.
But Ke Mingye hadn't absorbed a single word, as at that time, his attention was entirely focused on the character panel above Firando's head:
——The combat power rating given to "Firando Gomez" by the system was "S+ grade."
In other words, apart from Bai Wenna, he was a notch stronger than anyone else in Ke Mingye's family; one could say he stood at the very pinnacle of the world without exaggeration.
It's no surprise that in the world of this parallel universe, among the chaos of superhuman categories like "Superpower Users," "Mutants," "Magic Girls," "Divine Communicators," "Blood Clan," and so on, "Divine Communicators" naturally had the highest potential.
The power system used by Divine Communicators is derived from mythology, inherently one level above the rest, saying they're ahead at the starting line is not an overstatement.
It's worth mentioning that Divine Communicators tend to appear rather average in the first five stages of their path, but once they reach the sixth stage, they achieve a qualitative leap in their capabilities.
To use "Bai Qiuwu" from his family as an example, she too is a Divine Communicator, channeling the path of "Sun Wukong" from Chinese mythology.
According to the system's extrapolation, the normal evolutionary path for this route is, Immortal Stone → Spiritual Monkey → Monkey King → Immortal Acolyte → Horses' Fortune → Great Sage Equalling Heaven → Prisoner Under the Five Elements Mountain → Golden-Hooped Monk → Fighting Buddha Sun Wukong.
Presently, Bai Qiuwu is cultivating at the fifth stage of the path, "Horses' Fortune."
And once she reaches the next stage, "Great Sage Equalling Heaven," she will be able to transform into the mythological "carrier" corresponding to the path. In layman's terms, she can temporarily take on the appearance of a deity, with a significant increase in divine power obtained from the path during this period.
At that point, her combat power rating in the system would likely leap directly from A grade to S grade or even higher.
Ke Mingye could not imagine what Bai Qiuwu would truly look like when transformed into the appearance of the mythological carrier, but there were already real-life examples, such as the previously mentioned "Channeler Zeus."
This monster, who ranked at the very top of the Superhero Round Table and even surpassed Ke Youqing, had already explored the sixth stage of the Divine Communicator's path.
According to the system's analysis, his divine communication pathway's evolution direction was:
[Oracle's Son → Thunder Wielder → Lightning Conductor → Thunder Liberator → Storm's Heart → King of Olympus → Sky Chain → Divine Arbiter → God King Zeus]
Half a year ago, he had already reached the "King of Olympus" stage, which is the sixth realm. Thus, he was qualified to summon the mythic vessel "Zeus."
Ke Mingye didn't need to search deliberately. He simply logged onto a dark web and clicked on the video with the highest views. The first video was the scene where Firando Gomez transformed into the "Mythic Vessel, Zeus."
The video documented a prison riot from half a year ago.
Firando Gomez received orders from the Superhero Association and immediately took a helicopter to the Eiffel Tower for a rescue mission.
By that time, a rebellion had erupted inside the superhuman prison in Paris, France. The plotting superhumans had killed thousands of guards, broken out of prison, and were murdering innocent civilians along their way, singing a high-pitched song as they paraded through the streets. They finally converged and partied all night under the brightly lit Eiffel Tower, as if declaring the sovereignty of the city.
All of Paris was submerged in a hysterical swamp.
At that moment, the helicopter carrying Firando Gomez flew unobscured to the airspace right above the Eiffel Tower, capturing the attention of all the criminals below.
In an instant, he leaped from the cabin, falling alone towards the bottom of the Eiffel Tower.
The criminals at the base of the tower, upon seeing this, immediately mocked the foolhardy fellow. Weapons raised, they sneered and pointed at Firando Gomez as he fell from the sky. Some whistled at him, others hurled frenzied insults, and a few jeered in mock mourning, as if conducting a ritual of a cult.
But just as he was about to reach the tip of the tower, a sudden burst of lightning shot down from the sky, engulfing Firando's body completely and forming a ball of light with arcing electricity.
Immediately afterward, a torrential roar, powerful enough to drown the world, emerged from that cocoon-like giant sphere of light.
It was as if day and night changed in that instant. The video was filled with blinding auroras, obscuring all sight, and no sound was recorded.
Dead silence...
It felt as if the world was a grand stage, performing a monochromatic mime. The sky was instantly covered by layers of clouds, and torrents of rain fell like burst floodwaters.
Beneath the widespread clouds, thousands of peals of thunder accompanied a singular figure.
That was a majestic silhouette, standing as if it were at the heart of the world, proudly upright on the black and white stage of this silent play, greedily and despotically basking in the spotlight upon itself.
The next moment, that majestic form slowly emerged from the lightning, lifting its head.
It wore a helmet forged of steel, and under the helmet's shadow, its eyes shone with the brilliance of the midnight sun. Its armor reflected the flickering lightning, glistening brightly. A pair of luminous wings, like those of a giant bird, unfurled from behind, sonorously sweeping away the harsh curtain of rain.
At this moment, Zeus's entire body was pulsating with violent lightning. Against the backdrop of lightning, its sacred and inviolable head appeared more arrogant and brutal, like a monarch surveying the world.
The rumble of thunder, like solemn ceremonial music, sounded endless in the sky above.
Looking down following the gaze of this deity, the sinners gathered at the base of the Eiffel Tower stared blankly at the towering figure in the sky, and one by one, they knelt to the ground. Only a handful still harbored the desire to resist, but their frail bodies shivered inevitably in the wind and rain.
The video stopped right there.
Until the end, no one knew what became of those superhuman criminals involved in the "Paris Riot Incident." A few informed individuals reached a consensus on this matter, keeping a verbal silence to avoid trouble for themselves. Meanwhile, the Superhero Association employed all its resources to conceal the truth of the event from the public. The whereabouts of those criminals remained unknown half a year later.
To others, this video might be significant for appreciating the heroic stance of a superhero and witnessing the divine power of a superhero standing at the world's apex.
But to Ke Mingye, this video was nothing short of a "final Boss preview scene."