In an instant, Seraphimon chased after him, swinging another punch, but this time Superman caught it with his hand.
"Enough, Soren!" Superman growled in anger, but Seraphimon couldn't hear him at all.
The angel silently drew a massive silver sword from his back, forged from the same material as his armor.
He twisted the hilt half a turn in his hand and raised the blade toward Superman without a word.
Almost no one could intervene in the battle between Seraphimon and Superman.
They flew through the air at lightning speed, and aside from the Flash, no one could keep up with them.
Seraphimon relentlessly pushed Superman back all the way to the Alaskan wilderness.
His giant sword slashed down, and the powerful shockwave flattened the snow-covered plains, felling an entire stretch of pine trees and sending up a massive cloud of snow.
The thick snow fog separated them, and within the mist, only Superman's glowing crimson eyes could be seen.
Seraphimon retreated toward the pines behind him as the giant sword in his hand disintegrated into digital streams, vanishing into the air.
Superman burst through the snow fog, charging straight toward Seraphimon, his eyes still glowing red.
The god of man forcefully gripped Seraphimon's shoulders, slamming him into the ground, trying to subdue him.
But Seraphimon clenched his hands, drawing his palms together as a brilliant white ball of light formed between them.
Crackling with lightning, the light orb pulsed with energy so intense that even the surrounding snow and leaves swirled around them, caught in the swirling force field.
Superman's hair, usually slicked back, was now disheveled, with a stray curl falling across his forehead.
The orb of light in Seraphimon's hands grew brighter and brighter in the fierce wind.
Superman glanced down at him and spoke softly, "You want to kill me? Is that what you want, Soren? If you truly want to kill me, then do it. Use your sword. Use the kryptonite blade I gave you—"
Superman's expression was pained and wounded, his Kryptonian blue eyes illuminated by the glowing orb in Seraphimon's hands.
In those eyes, the amber speck, like a nebula, seemed to expand into an entire universe.
A magnificent universe—one that Soren had been lost in countless times within his dreams.
Seraphimon finally uttered a barely audible sound, speaking softly yet firmly from behind his helmet, "No."
Superman, who knew him well, suddenly realized what Seraphimon intended to do.
But before he could shout in alarm and fury to stop him, Seraphimon, in a flash, pressed the glowing orb of energy into his own chest.
Seven Heavens!
—Seraphimon's ultimate attack, <
…From the moment of his evolution, he had already resolved to die.
The only reason he lured Superman here was to give those back at the base more time to escape.
The activation of <
A deafening blast of white light engulfed the surroundings as the entire pine forest was flattened outward in waves, like ripples on a pond.
Pine trees, which had stood in the frozen wilderness for decades or even centuries, were uprooted.
The explosion's energy unleashed an avalanche, shaking the entire mountain range.
Superman was thrown back by the shockwave, overwhelmed by a surge of panic like never before.
He crashed into the thick snow but, in the next instant, shot out like an arrow from a bow, flying straight to the heart of the explosion.
As the energy from <
He lay quietly in the snow, as if he were merely asleep.
Superman nearly stumbled in the snow.
The invincible god of men, at this moment, appeared as vulnerable as the most ordinary man.
His hands trembled as he gently cradled Soren's limp body in his arms, his eyes rimmed with deep red.
"Soren... Soren... don't scare me, don't do this," he murmured, pressing his face against the boy's smooth forehead.
His tears dripped into Soren's dark hair as his trembling fingers softly stroked the boy's chest. "Don't scare me... don't leave me... I won't push you anymore, we'll be okay, I promise..."
Hot tears streamed down his face as he suddenly felt a faint heartbeat beneath his fingertips.
In that instant, Superman choked back a sob and shut his eyes tight.
His pale, bloodless lips desperately kissed Soren's cheeks, pecking him again and again as though reaffirming that his beloved was still there.
He had almost thought he had lost him once more.
He had almost believed that he would die all over again.
The god who once stood above the clouds, gazing down at all other deities, was granted, for the first time, a glimmer of hope in his despair.
—This was already the greatest gift in his long and tragic life.
…
April 3, 2019.
Cloudy with sunshine.
Today I started writing a diary.
Kal-El said writing a diary would have a small effect on me.
But I don't understand what he means by "small effect."
Kal-El bought me a cowhide-bound book to write in.
I don't know how to write a diary.
Kal-El said all I have to do is write down what I do every day and that would be enough.
So, I listened to Kal-El.
I'm writing in this book about what I did today.
Kal-El said he would teach me how to write.
He checks my diary every day.
He says my spelling and grammar are very wrong.
Then he kisses me.
He tells me to spell the word "kiss."
However, when he kisses me, he cries.
Why does Kal-El cry?
I think it's strange.
Kal-El is sad.
When he is sad, I get very scared.
Then I forget what I did today.
Kal-El says I zoned out.
...
April 8, 2019.
Cloudy with sunshine.
I don't want to write a diary.
Writing a diary is too hard.
Kal-El says I always write a lot of words wrong.
I'm a dummy. I'm a dummy. I'm a dummy.
I cried.
Kal-El says I shouldn't draw in the book.
I always scribble in the book.
He gets very angry.
I don't want to make him angry.
So I kissed him.
Then Kal-El wasn't angry anymore.
He gave me something tasty to eat.
He called it ice cream.
Ice cream.
Ice cream.
Ice cream.
Ice cream.
Ice cream.
I wrote "ice cream" five times.
I can write it now.