"Lana?"
Eric looked at the woman in front of him, wondering why she had called him to the deserted cheerleading practice room. "If you told me you just wanted to look at me like this, I'd suspect you called me here to mess around."
Eric frowned, looking at the Lana who seemed a bit different now, and said.
"Not messing around. I'm quietly sensing the presence within you."
Lana reached out and caressed Eric's chest. "This feeling is truly a long-lost familiarity, Eric. You and I are both people who like to hide ourselves, and the energy within you is so vast it's almost unimaginable."
"I was attracted to you, probably because I was drawn to that presence."
Lana stroked Eric's chest, stood on her tiptoes, and leaned closer to him.
"You're not Lana, are you?"
Eric said words that astonished her.
"What?"
Shocked, Lana looked at Eric and took a step back.
"I can smell your soul, a decaying scent, as if it's been buried in the ground for centuries. Hmm…"
A mocking smile played on Eric's lips. "Who exactly are you?"
"I should have known!"
The smile on Lana's face quickly vanished. "Those things inside you, you're a male witch!"
"It truly broadens my horizons that male witches still exist in this century! But you, you arrogant child, you've truly angered me!"
Saying that, she took a step back and chanted a spell.
With a bang!
All the chairs in the cheerleading office flew towards Eric.
However, Eric simply extended his hand and blocked them all.
"If your magic is only this level, it's far from enough to vent your anger!"
Eric extended his hand and simply pushed forward.
Lana felt her vision blur, then a sharp pain throughout her body.
Her body uncontrollably flew backward, slamming into the wall with a bang.
Thump!
Lana, who had crashed to the ground, was about to get up when Eric appeared before her.
"You were wrong about one thing, I'm not a male witch!"
Shaking his head, Eric was about to reach out and grab her collar.
A strong gust of wind suddenly blew past.
Although the strong wind didn't knock Eric down, it caused his body to pause.
Not only was there the effect of the strong wind, but he could also feel an invisible force restraining him.
Eric's Homelander template combined with partial Kryptonian physique made his physical defense incredibly powerful. Although he had some knowledge of Black Magic, his magical defense was still incomparable to his Man of Steel physique.
The moment Eric's body paused, Lana quickly got up.
At the same time, the room door opened, and Louise and Chloe appeared in the doorway.
The two women, dressed impeccably, looked at Eric in surprise.
"Be careful, he not only has super speed, but his physical strength is also very strange," Lana said to the two women.
"Then I'm even more excited!"
Chloe chanted a spell and raised her right hand.
Following her movement, all the sharp metal objects in the cheerleading preparation room charged towards Eric.
The sharp metallic noise pierced the air, emitting a shrill sound.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
However, to the surprise of the three women, the high-speed metal projectiles were all shot down by Eric using Heat Vision.
"What?"
It was Chloe's turn to be stunned.
Whoosh!
A gust of wind flashed by, and Eric rushed in front of Chloe, grabbing her somewhat revealing clothes and lifting her completely off the ground.
"Tell me, who are you? Where did you come from? How did you occupy their bodies?"
Eric coldly asked Chloe.
"We have come across centuries, carrying our master's command. We are unwavering and will never be stopped by the magic of a farm boy like you!"
Lana extended her hand, a glowing crescent symbol appeared on her forehead, and her eyes emitted a pale light.
Eric immediately sensed an uncontrollable force filling the air around his body.
Bang!
His body uncontrollably crashed backward.
The moment he hit the wall, Eric's eyes emitted Heat Vision, shooting towards the opponent.
Louise, who had been chanting a spell, immediately blocked in front of Lana.
"I can feel your power, and I can strip it away!"
Louise said, reaching out to Eric, but she was struck by Eric who had ricocheted back through the air.
Boom!
Louise's body flew directly out of the window, the crashing impact and shattering glass sounds reaching the students' ears, immediately eliciting a gasp.
Whoosh!
Eric, who temporarily didn't want to expose his identity, immediately activated his super speed and left the school.
The Lana trio also chased after him a little later.
Thud!
Eric's feet landed on the ground, and he turned to face the pursuing trio.
The area where they were was a deserted forest, some distance from the school.
Eric gazed at the three, a cautious look in his eyes.
Although the opponents were not the kind that would cause him serious trouble, the magic they used made him feel a deep sense of apprehension.
This magic could bypass his defenses and cause him harm.
Shaking his head, Eric extended his right hand forward.
Bang!
The next second, the Star Scepter flew into his hand.
"Although fighting is restrictive, fearing I might accidentally damage your bodies, if you think I can't deal with you, you are gravely mistaken."
Eric extended the Star Scepter, and a beam of energy impacted Lana's chest.
Lana, who didn't have time to chant a spell, was immediately blasted away.
Chloe immediately created a strong wind to surround Eric.
A purple magical energy beam shot towards Eric, who was at the center of the storm.
Eric, fixed at the center of the storm, fired red Heat Vision from his eyes, aiming at Chloe's body, while using the Star Scepter to absorb the impact of the purple magical energy.
Bang!
The air suddenly exploded, and Chloe was directly blasted away by the Heat Vision.
She spat out a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground, looking disoriented.
At this moment, the only remaining Louise had moved in front of Eric at some unknown time.
And Eric was extremely mentally and physically exhausted by this never-before-seen magic.
Although the magic did not cause him a fatal injury, it was affecting his physical structure, making him increasingly weak.
Louise reached out and grabbed Eric's clothes, tearing them open.
She then touched Eric's chest and chanted a spell.
But before she could fully try to extract the power from Eric's body, she was struck by him using the Star Scepter.
Louise, her clothes tattered and covered in blood, crashed to the ground, unconscious.
Although the trio had used all their strength, they were ultimately dealt with by Eric.
Looking at the three women lying on the ground, Eric took a breath and prepared to step forward.
But a powerful energy sphere instantly enveloped his body, and a magical array constructed of purple misty qi rose from beneath his feet.
Whoosh!
Because his body was unable to move, Eric was instantly teleported away.
"Huff! Huff!"
Lana, lying on the ground, panting heavily, let out a long sigh of relief after seeing Eric teleported away.
Ignoring the blood on her face, a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
"Finally done! This monster! Even using the power the Goddess bestowed upon us couldn't stop him, we had to rely on this last resort."
After muttering to herself, Lana looked at her two companions.
Chloe leaned against a large tree, wiped the blood from her face, and smiled slightly at Lana.
Louise, who was more severely injured, was lying on the ground, motionless.
Clark was unaware of what happened at school.
He was participating in activity training outside of school and only learned about the fierce conflict in the cheerleading practice room in the evening.
After seeing the scene, he quickly determined that Eric had caused it.
After leaving school, he kept trying to find Eric's whereabouts but was unable to locate him.
"Lana?"
He remembered that Lana often went to the cheerleading practice room, so he decided to go ask her.
As soon as he entered Lana's house, he found the atmosphere was a bit off.
Usually, Niel would be home at this time, but now the farm was unusually quiet.
Clark walked to the stable and found that the few remaining ponies in the stable were also gone.
Turning around, he found Lana suddenly standing behind him.
"L-Lana?"
Seeing Lana's eerie expression, Clark was startled.
"Why are you here, Clark?" Lana asked in an unfriendly tone.
"I wanted to ask if you've seen Eric?"
Although he didn't know why the Lana in front of him had such a changed demeanor, Clark still asked the question he wanted to ask.
"I haven't seen him."
Lana shook her head and turned to leave. "Perhaps you should ask a detective agency to look for him. I hear no one is better at finding people than them."
"Lana."
Clark called out to her as she was about to leave. "Are you alright?"
He felt that Lana's mental state was a bit off, so he asked with a frown.
"Why don't you just tell him?"
Suddenly, a voice came from behind Clark.
Clark looked back and saw it was Chloe.
"Chloe? You're at Lana's house too."
"To be precise, I've always been here, you just didn't notice. I have to say, your sense of smell and agility are far worse than your brother's."
Chloe smiled at Clark and said in an unceremonious tone.
"Eric?"
A bad premonition suddenly arose in Clark's heart.
"W-What happened to him?"
"He went to hell."
Chloe showed the smile that Clark usually found sunny, but now seemed incredibly harsh.
"Chloe, what do you mean?"
Clark retreated a few steps in a panic, asking again in a disbelieving tone.
"Mmm-hmm, just as it sounds, your brother Eric was killed and then went to hell."
Chloe's smile widened, and she placed a hand on Clark's shoulder.
Boom!
A huge purple energy exploded on Clark's body.
The powerful magic instantly sent him flying.
Bang!
Clark's body crashed heavily to the ground, creating a deep crater.
Clark, lying in the crater, stumbled to his feet.
At this moment, only one sentence kept repeating in his mind.
"Eric is dead!"
No!
How could that be?
How could Eric, who was far stronger than himself, die so easily?!
Unfathomable and unacceptable!
Eric, who pulled him back when he went astray; Eric, who always sarcastically criticized him but always helped him, how could he have such a fate?
Chloe used magic to control a huge rock and hurled it at him.
Clark, in a mental breakdown, was instantly blasted away.
Lying on the ground, he struggled to stand up.
His face was stained with liquid and dirt, adhering to his skin.
He thought he was bleeding, but when he wiped it, he found it was his own tears.
Standing up and looking around blankly, he realized he had to accept a fact: he no longer had a brother!
Clark, in an extremely unstable mental state, clenched his fists, blocking the incoming magical energy beam.
As he was blasted backward, Jor-El's words echoed in his mind.
If he was unwilling to accept his fate, then his family would be harmed.
Is a life of injury, Death, and destruction all predetermined?
If cowardice leads to such a fate, then abandon such a life!
Following Jor-El's voice in his mind, Clark closed his eyes, letting instinct control him and take command of his body.
Opening his eyes, hands clasped tightly, the black in Clark's eyes flashed.
The next second, he shot straight up into the sky.
Clark, who had always longed to fly and wished to possess the ability to fly like Eric, after abandoning what he now considered restraints, allowed Jor-El to control his mind, and instantly mastered the power of flight.
No need to painstakingly follow Eric, training on the windmill tower, no need to constantly think about overcoming the fear of weightlessness.
He simply released all his shackles and mastered this talent he had previously sought in vain.
Even so, there was not a trace of joy in his heart.
Boom!
Accelerating in the air, flying upwards at supersonic speed!
The sound of air exploding echoed in the night sky, and conical clouds formed and then quickly dispersed.
Feeling the fierce wind by his ears, Clark flew emotionlessly to the cloud top, then plunged downwards.
Lasers, infinitely more powerful than before, shot from his eyes towards Chloe on the ground.
Chloe, greatly surprised, immediately used magic to teleport away.
Boom!
The Heat Vision, infinitely more powerful than before, struck the ground, causing a huge explosion.
The entire farm was completely covered by Clark's Heat Vision, undergoing indiscriminate bombardment.
The stable, cow sheds, and grain silos—all buildings were bombarded by Clark's Heat Vision.
Chloe and Lana quickly used magic to teleport, managing to escape the farm bombarded by Heat Vision.
Due to being injured earlier in the conflict with Eric, the two could only temporarily evade Clark's onslaught.
"Is he… like Eric, also a monster?"
Chloe, whose soul had been occupied by a witch, shook her head. "Or rather, have we encountered all the monsters of the twenty-first century?"
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