Marvel: Extraordinary Comprehension

Chapter 146: Lifeform Scan Skyrockets! He's Not Human! The Ultimate Path! Erasing All With a Single Punch!

Click. Click. Click!

In an instant, dozens of elite Kryptonian soldiers in heavy armor took aim with their high-energy beam rifles. Countless red targeting lasers locked squarely onto Lucci's chest, head, arms, and legs.

Lucci didn't even blink. He merely glanced at the tense Kryptonian warriors and chuckled.

"So this is how you treat a guest? To me, these toys are no different from firewood."

"Stand down—all of you!"

General Zod's deep voice echoed as he curbed his subordinates' impulsiveness. As a seasoned Kryptonian general, he sensed from Lucci an abyssal, unfathomable, and terrifying yet restrained aura.

He stared fixedly at Lucci.

"So you're the one—Prince Lucci? I assessed you through intercepted signals. You killed Thanos. You're indeed…remarkably talented."

"It's not about method. I just cleaned up some trash," Lucci replied calmly and effortlessly. "But Zod, I know you want to revive Krypton, and you covet Kal-El's Growth Codex. Yet, you shouldn't have acted so rude the moment you entered my territory."

"Courtesy is for the strong."

With a sneer, Zod strode down the stairs. With each step, his overwhelming gravity forced the ground to groan and crack.

"On this planet, I obey no one's rules. Kal-El betrayed Krypton. The Codex is Krypton's rightful property. Hand him over, or I'll deal with you and dig him out of the ruins with my own hands."

"You seem quite confident," Lucci replied, his eyes boring into Zod. "Is it because the sun empowers you? Or do you really think you can turn Earth into a second Krypton with your two world engines?"

A dark light flickered in Zod's eyes.

"If you know about the world engines, you should realize—you're merely delaying extinction by a few minutes. If I will it, this planet will become hell in an instant."

"Then by all means, give it a try."

Lucci suddenly stepped forward.

With that step, the air on the bridge, quiet to the bone seconds before, turned instantly frigid.

Without warning, everyone except Lucci felt an immense, horrifying gravitational pressure descend upon them.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The armed Kryptonian soldiers didn't even realize what was happening before they felt themselves pressed hard to the floor by an inescapable divine force.

Their alloyed armor twisted, the floor cracked, and even their proud Kryptonian physiques seemed feeble before that pressure. Even someone as strong as Faora groaned, face distorted by shock.

Only General Zod, empowered by the yellow sun, could remain upright.

"You… what did you just do?" Zod clenched his teeth, forcing out the words.

Lucci stood before him, looking down with a god's gaze.

"Is this the power you covet most?" Lucci's voice was calm as ice. "You want to destroy Earth with gravity? Then let me show you the real law of power. Zod, don't judge my capabilities by your shallow technological understanding."

"I'll give you a choice now," Lucci said, unruffled.

"Order your fleet to the Indian Ocean and recover the engine. Then kneel obediently in orbit and wait for me to finish here. If you do well, Krypton may still leave a bloodline behind."

"And if I refuse…?"

Lucci's voice became a demon's whisper.

"I'll reduce you to the tiniest speck of cosmic dust in an instant."

Hearing this, General Zod stared at Lucci, his gaze full of violence and arrogance. As former Supreme Commander of Krypton, he held nothing but contempt for lesser civilizations. From his perspective, Earth's supposed "powerhouses"—unable to conquer even their own solar system—were just strong ants crawling in the mud.

But Lucci's display was beyond belief!

"Fascinating…"

Zod straightened his posture, his muscles radiating explosive power in the yellow sun's light.

He let out a mocking laugh that echoed across the empty bridge.

"You think this pitiful strength can cow the Kryptonian Legion? Under this sun, we are gods—and you're nothing but a deluded mortal longing for death."

Yet Lucci's only response was a faint, unconcerned smile as he raised his power again.

Instantly—

Beep! Beep! Beep...!

Suddenly, a piercing electronic alarm shrieked from the bridge's virtual control screens.

It was Krypton's most advanced lifeform detection system—capable of quantifying the strength of all known cosmic life through bio-electric fields, cellular activity, and energy overflow readings.

"What's wrong?" Lieutenant Faora turned to the control panel, her face paling.

"Why is the alarm at the highest alert? Has a massive stellar-level attack arrived?"

"No… It's no external assault!"

The Kryptonian technician monitoring the readouts was trembling. Staring at the violently oscillating red line, he screamed in a shrill, distorted voice.

"The target—! Energy reading in the target is skyrocketing!"

"What?!"

Zod frowned and instinctively glanced at the central screen.

On the huge monitor, Lucci was now engulfed in dazzling red light.

Value: ,■,■, ■... Value: φ,■,■,■... Value: Ω.ΩΩΩ.ΩΩΩ...

Bang!

With a muffled boom, the warship's high-precision sensor—worth billions of Kryptonian credits—overloaded and belched black smoke.

"The readings…surpassed the system's limit, General!"

The technician collapsed in despair, pointing a shaking finger at Lucci.

"The system judges that the energy reaction in that lifeform is beyond a supernova's explosion! This isn't bioenergy, it's the miniature law of the universe!"

Zod's arrogant expression froze.

For the first time, a chill ran down his spine.

Even with the yellow sun's power that made him feel able to shatter mountains, the data from the probe placed him face to face with a slumbering cosmic behemoth.

He stared at Lucci, breathing ragged, words of disdain stuck in his throat. He finally managed, after a long time, to squeeze out trembling words:

"No! You—you are not human! Human frail carbon-based genes cannot handle this level of energy! What…are you?!"

Zod could not believe it.

The Kryptonian soldiers around them, still holding their weapons, felt their palms sweat profusely. Inside their helmets, the readings synced—and all showed a string of desperate zeros.

Lucci gazed at Zod's fear and confusion, with a mischievous smile.

"Only now did you notice? It seems your Kryptonian tech could still use some improvement in response time."

He brushed imaginary dust off his clothes, the casual gesture somehow infuriating.

"But you're half right. As you now realize, I no longer 'fit' among humans. If you ask who I am…"

As Lucci stepped forward, the entire steel deck beneath him sagged several centimeters, spiderweb cracks spreading from under his foot—unable to bear the subtle force he exuded.

"Consider me…the will of this star system. Or more bluntly—"

A golden shimmer floated in Lucci's eyes—his look utterly detached and indifferent.

"I am the disaster you homeless wanderers should never have touched."

"Disaster?" Zod felt Lucci's cold, humiliating speech churning his pride and rage. The detector's readings made his back shudder, and his reason screamed that the young man before him was overwhelmingly dangerous. Yet as Krypton's former commander and, under this yellow sun, its mightiest warrior, Zod could not accept backing down.

"Even if you're a blasphemer in human skin, even with those readings—this is still Krypton's flagship!"

Zod roared, the red light in his eyes burning brighter as his heat vision built.

"If a mediocre human like Kal-El can be called a god, why can't I, Zod—the strongest warrior of Krypton's bloodline—defeat you?"

"All units! Follow my command!" Zod violently waved his hand. "Activate the ship's gravity suppression field! All warriors enter genetic overdrive mode! Even at the cost of our lives, slay this heretic! We are Krypton's final brilliance. We bow to no native!"

Roaaaar—!

Dozens of elite Kryptonian warriors on the bridge bellowed as one.

They already felt suffocated by Lucci's aura. Now, spurred by their commander, they unleashed their bioenergy to the limit.

Vrrrr—

Atop the ship, the gravity generator screamed.

In an instant, the gravity on the bridge increased to several hundred times Earth's.

This terrifying force could flatten a tank in a heartbeat and blast a human into a mist of blood instantly.

But—

Standing calmly at the very center of this storm, Lucci was unruffled.

"Is this your last resort?"

He sighed, disappointment flickering in his eyes.

"Zod, I gave you your chance. Stop your engine now, and you might truly have survived. But now..."

Lucci lightly clenched his fist.

Creak—

What had seemed indestructible Kryptonian alloy was instantly reduced to dust between his fingers—vaporized into nothing under crushing gravity.

"You seem to like commemorating a new home with blood."

"Go to hell!"

General Zod could no longer bear being toyed with.

The killing intent boiling in his eyes burst forth like two crimson laser dragons, slicing through the air as he unleashed heat vision at Lucci's face!

At the same time, Faora and the surrounding warriors, moving with blinding speed, struck—a rain of black afterimages surging from all directions.

The entire bridge erupted into a dazzling web of energy beams and turbulent shockwaves.

At that moment, the flagship Black Zero itself rocked violently from internal energy clashes—Earth's monitoring stations wondered if the giant ship was about to self-destruct.

On the surface, far away from Metropolis, Superman watched breathlessly as the events played out on the warship's screen, screaming inside:

"Prince Lucci—please, clear the way!"

The Avengers, the Justice League, billions worldwide observing through hacked feeds—all held their breath.

Who would win?

Would it be the Kryptonian army—pinnacle of technology and godlike power? Or would it be this ever-calm, unshakable 'Unknown God'?

The answer would be revealed in just the next second.

At that instant, time itself seemed frozen.

Zod's heat vision was but a breath from Lucci's lashes. Faora's iron fist had already brushed the hem of his shirt.

Lucci moved.

His motion was not fast. In fact, for a battle of this scale, it almost seemed slow and awkward.

He didn't unleash any flashy magic or world-ending sword lights, nor did he manipulate the magic web.

He simply, calmly, formed his right fist and thrust forward.

That punch.

There was no ear-splitting crash.

No showy beams sliced through the sky.

Not even a ripple formed in the air.

Yet in that moment, to Lucci's perception, the entire universe seemed laden with some overwhelming "meaning."

This was the ultimate truth known as the Law of Force.

Vrrrr—!

When Lucci's fist collided with Zod's heat vision—supposedly powerful enough to destroy cities—there was no explosion.

The twin crimson rays vanished in utter silence at the contact point, like snowflakes meeting the blazing sun.

"What…"

Zod's widening eyes reflected the oncoming fist.

He tried to dodge, but was horrified to realize his hyper-reflexes were useless against this strike.

His senses closed off.

His fate was sealed.

Before this punch, space thickened like a mire, and time lost all meaning.

Lucci's fist finally landed softly on Zod's chestplate—the badge of Kryptonian glory.

"This punch is farewell for the Earthlings whose lives you disrupted," Lucci intoned coldly—the last sound Zod heard in his life.

Szzz—

A faint, almost inaudible cracking noise rang out.

Audiences worldwide witnessed a sight they would never forget.

General Zod—Krypton's former Supreme Commander, iron-willed and free under the yellow sun—

From Lucci's touch, a bluish-white crack spread across his chest, less than a quarter-inch wide.

And then—

There was no blood, no explosion of limbs.

Zod's breastbone, organs, skin—even his vaunted heavy armor, supposedly impervious to nukes—were at that moment completely "erased" at a microscopic level by a higher-dimensional power.

With that casual punch, he was instantly reduced to the most primitive quark particles, drifting in blue glowing motes across the bridge.

In that single instant, the once-invincible Zod vanished from the cosmos.

Not even a fingernail remained.

"Gen… eral…"

Faora froze mid-air, her fist less than a fraction of an inch from Lucci—unable to bring herself to swing.

She stared at the man before her, his clothes untouched, then at the now-empty command chair behind.

Overwhelmed by despair rising from her soul, she collapsed to the floor.

This was terror—not just of the unknown, of the gods, or even of the rules themselves.

Faora wasn't alone.

Now—

Superman stood gaping in total shock.

He had always believed Kryptonians to be invincible. Yet now, Lucci had shattered his worldview with a single punch.

Iron Man, watched from his Mark Armor, completely stunned—his systems frantically displaying,

["Error! Cannot analyze attack logic! Target unit has been completely erased!"]

Batman gripped his launcher, his hands shaking.

He had made plans for every scenario involving Superman, Kryptonite, and more. But watching Lucci's punch, he suddenly realized—against such absolute force, all his strategies were as laughable as Stone Age tools.

For billions worldwide, there was a moment of silencing death—then the world erupted in a frenzy of nearly mad cheering.

…