Its upper and lower halves separated, with the lower half crashing to the ground and the upper half releasing its grip on Clark.
Clark flew out of the crater, and at that moment, the Batwing arrived beside him.
Inside the cockpit, Batman quickly asked, "Are you alright?"
Clark nodded, signaling he was fine, but as he turned back, he saw through the billowing dust that the creature, which had been split in half by the heat beams, had already begun to regenerate in a short amount of time.
The mutated cells were healing and reconstructing, imprinting the memory of the heat vision's intense temperature and impact force.
The altered molecular structure continuously reinforced the previously sliced wound, and the black, scaly exoskeleton covering its body emitted a hissing sound, as it started to grow a new layer of defense, sturdy enough to withstand future heat vision blasts!
Clark charged at it once again.
With godlike strength, he lifted Doomsday and burst through the clouds, raining down a barrage of punches on its body.
Then, with a final blow that could shatter a mountain, he punched Doomsday straight through the cloud layer!
Doomsday was sent flying by the forceful strike, but in an instant, it sprang back up like a raging storm, grabbing Clark by the collar.
From its grotesque eyes that were buried deep beneath layers of thick armor, a faint red glow began to intensify.
Then, just as the red light was about to erupt, two crimson beams of heat vision shot directly at Clark!
… In the moments after being killed by the heat vision, Doomsday had learned to replicate Clark's heat vision.
Clark was hurled below the clouds by the impact of the heat beams.
Doomsday gripped his shoulders with both hands, relentlessly sweeping the heat beams across Clark's chest, then raised its right fist and once again began pounding down with rapid strikes!
Its punches hit with such force that sparks flew from Clark's face, and the shockwaves from the blows dispersed the clouds in rings like smoke.
Clark was pummeled from thousands of meters in the sky down to the ground.
They crashed into an office building, smashing through floor after floor, falling from the seventy-second story all the way to the bottom—
It was early morning, and there weren't many employees in the building.
Most of the floors were empty.
At the very bottom floor, Clark was slammed into a deep crater.
Doomsday leaped high into the air once more, crashing through the second floor of the skyscraper, then stomped down hard on Clark's chest!
Debris scattered everywhere.
It stomped on Clark's chest repeatedly, over a dozen times.
His ribs shattered, blood trickled from his ears, and the Kryptonian suit he wore began to tear apart.
Under the relentless assault of Doomsday's crushing blows, Clark struggled to breathe.
His blue eyes, hit by his own blood, flickered open and shut.
In that half-conscious state, he heard Soren's voice, distant and far away, the voice from sunset, whispering in his ear: "You must protect everything on this Earth."
I must protect everything on this Earth…
I will protect everything on this Earth!
With great difficulty, Clark turned his head.
He spotted, on the first floor of the building, behind a large reception desk, an ordinary blonde woman, rising in a crouch, terrified and sobbing as she held her head in her hands.
Above her, the beam that Doomsday had smashed was creaking, ready to collapse—
In the brief moment when Doomsday leaped into the air again, Clark broke free, using his body as a shield, positioning himself to block the multi-ton beam.
The beam crashed onto his back, shattering into pieces.
Blood dripped from his forehead, but it only made his blue eyes appear even more vivid and intense.
The woman, under his protection, remained unharmed.
She sobbed, looking up at him with tear-filled eyes, as if she were gazing at a sun god, "…Superman…"
Clark blinked his blue eyes slowly, struggling to rise to his feet, wavering with every motion.
But just as he steadied himself, Doomsday grabbed him from behind, yanked him by his cape, and hurled him violently out of the building!
He flew over a hundred meters, crashing through a building and shattering the statue of Athena in front of the Metropolis Library.
Struggling to rise from the debris of bricks and columns, his torn suit revealed his back that had been covered in scars, with muscles bulging alongside his spine like mountain ridges.
Wiping the blood from his brow, he saw Doomsday charging out of the building, ready to pounce on him.
His blue eyes locked onto the Kryptonian monster, and with a burst of strength, he flew head-on to collide with it!
Flying alongside him were a golden lasso of truth, a massive green energy hammer, Poseidon's golden trident, and a miniature electronic beam cannon…
All his friends had arrived at the same time.
…
Soren was jolted awake by violent tremors.
His head was spinning, and he clutched it, feeling disoriented for a long moment.
Slowly, he fumbled his way off the bed, only to realize he was in Clark's small apartment.
—Where was Clark?
He felt lost, like a child who was suddenly deprived of protection, desperately searching for his only source of security.
Where had Clark gone?
Was he going to abandon him?
Panicked, Soren began pacing around the apartment, frantically rummaging through Clark's belongings.
Then he noticed the computer on the desk, where a new email notification had just flashed.
He quickly opened the email.
Inside were several photos of Luis Lane who was bound with thick ropes to a rusted water pipe, her mouth gagged.
Yet her violet eyes stared defiantly into the camera, unbroken.
Attached to the email was an address, it was located at the Metropolis harbor.
He panicked immediately.
Luis Lane… Luis Lane… Luis Lane was Clark's friend from the newspaper.
He couldn't let Luis Lane be in danger, or Clark would be heartbroken.
He had to rescue her!