But he wouldn't allow it!
He wouldn't allow it!
He refused to let Soren leave him again!!
How dare he??!
How dare Soren leave him, again and again??
How dare he just die right in front of him like this??
Superman let out a primal, beast-like howl, his face streaked with blood and tears.
He knelt down, then struggled to stand again, roaring.
"Soren!! If you dare die here, even if you leave me with nothing but a corpse—I have ways to make you wish you were alive again!!"
"Soren!!"
Soren, cradled in Clark Kent's arms, was suffering massive internal bleeding.
His body was rapidly swelling, but to his surprise, he could no longer feel pain.
Tears filled his eyes as he looked toward Kal-El, the only Superman he had ever loved.
His Clark.
That was his Clark...
His feeble fingers trembled lightly.
He wanted to raise his hand to touch Kal-El's face, but he couldn't even lift a single finger.
...<
That power had been stripped from his body, and now, his life was swiftly reaching its end.
"Clark..." he cried out, saying the name that made his very soul tremble with pain.
His face, once radiant, now looked like a white tulip being blown apart by the wind, its color fading with every passing moment.
Through hopeless tears, he looked toward the sky—toward the cosmos beyond, where a god watched everything with eyes neither sorrowful nor joyful.
"Is my mission complete?" Soren's voice was so faint it could barely be heard.
But even that faint sound was picked up by Kal-El's super hearing from a distance.
Kal-El whipped his head around sharply, but the kryptonite radiation had affected his hearing, preventing him from locating Soren's position.
In desperation, he roared, "Where are you?? Soren? Who are you talking to?!"
Amid Kal-El's furious shouts, Soren heard a familiar, distant voice coming from the void.
"…You have completed it. Kal-El will no longer destroy the world, and soon, this world will return to its rightful path."
Tears welled up in Soren's eyes as he closed them.
In that moment, he felt a wave of relief, finally letting go of the last thread of life that clung to him.
It was done… He had finally succeeded, Clark.
He had traveled across the vast universe to arrive here, originally drawn by an enticing bait.
That bait had given him family, friends, love—everything he had never dared to dream of.
It made him realize that even in his life, happiness was possible.
His previous life had been a long, lonely night.
Then came light.
And after that, love.
He had felt so, so happy.
He had naively believed that this was his reward after enduring all the suffering.
But in truth, it was punishment—for daring to desire something that was never his.
If he had never experienced it, perhaps he wouldn't have known what love felt like.
But the cruelest punishment in the world is when you are given everything, only to have it all taken away.
After having it all, he had tasted the agony of slowly losing everything.
It hurt too much, Clark…
Clark had taken everything from him, with his own hands.
His entire life.
His happiness.
He wanted to hate him, wanted to stop loving him, but as soon as he closed his eyes, all he could see was Clark.
Whenever he thought of that name, pain shot deep into his very bones.
It hurt so much, Clark.
It hurt so deeply, so painfully—how could he want to keep living??
How could he ever want to live again???
"Soren!!"
His Clark was still screaming in despair.
Soren began to bleed from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
His world was slowly fading to silence, all the noise drifting far away.
With what remained of his strength, just before his life faded away completely, Soren spoke to the deity in the void, "You said… you could grant me one wish."
"…Yes." Dr. Manhattan's voice echoed from somewhere unseen.
Soren slowly opened his eyes, his clear, light-blue eyes gazing into the distance at the Clark who was on the verge of madness.
That was his Clark...
But had Clark really done anything wrong?
Was it Clark's fault for being poisoned by Joker's kryptonite-laced gas?
Was what happened to Metropolis, Jonathan, and Martha… was that really his fault?
Was it wrong for Clark to want to protect this planet, to stop tragedies like what had happened in Metropolis from ever happening again?
Clark had once been the brilliant, radiant man of tomorrow.
Yet misfortune had dragged him into the abyss.
If he hadn't come… if he had never been here, would Clark still have remained the same as before?
Soren looked up at the Clark Kent from another world, who was cradling him in his arms.
This Apollo-like figure was unearthly handsome.
He had no strands of gray hair at his temples, and there was no trace of weariness or madness in his eyes.
He was as young and handsome as ever, but he wasn't his Clark...
"I never wanted to come to this world," Soren looked at Clark Kent, tears rolling down his face. "Let me die in the black hole, and give Clark a happy life."
In his final moments, the wish he made to the god was for his Clark to have the same joyful and happy life as this Clark Kent.
To soar once again through the blue skies of the city, to enjoy breakfast among the clouds he loved so much.
For people to adore him, for friends and family to protect him, for comrades to trust him.
For him to be the beloved man of tomorrow, the bridge between Krypton and Earth, Krypton's most precious gift to this world.
Clark deserved a better life—a life without him.
Soren gave Clark Kent a tearful smile.
My Clark... He, too, will have a brilliant, radiant life like yours.