"I haven't given up yet …"

  With a punch to the face, Apocalypse's face looked like a ton of TNT had exploded on it!

  Only half of his malicious words were uttered. Then it looked as if a gray cannonball pierced the car behind him and tumbled into a shop a block away.

  His hardened body, enhanced by his natural abilities, dragged a long, deep trail across the ground before slamming into the thick wall.

  The dust floated around and obstructed the view.

  With a few sharp coughs, Apocalypse silently pulled himself out of the wall.

  'What a powerful fist!'

  Despite his steel body, the sheer force of the punch caused Apocalypse's internal organs to almost shift and every bone in his body to cry out as if they were falling apart.

  A trace of blood spilled from his mouth. His whole body wobbled and was about to fall.

  "Keep fighting!"

  Apocalypse instilled belief in himself and propped up his bruised and exhausted body.

  He looked up and saw the tall and straight figure arriving in a flash as if he had teleported.

  The debris rolled up wildly and scattered to the sides.

  The metal boot was lifted high and swept up at Apocalypse like a powerful whip.

  Then, another uppercut!

  Boom!

  The mutant god, passively beaten, lost control of his body and flew straight upwards.

  His head smashed through layer after layer of ceilings. Those solid metal materials broke like flimsy foam sheets.

  By the time the terrifying force had dissipated, Apocalypse had traveled through 37 floors of the building and nearly burst through to the atmosphere.

  He was floating 10,000 meters in the air, and blood smeared across his grey face.

  "Do you choose to surrender? Or run away?"

  In a daze, Apocalypse heard Superman's voice.

  The other person was very cold, without mercy in his eyes, not at all like the superheroes he had met before.

  When those people fought, they were always full of hesitation and sympathy. They regarded killing as a crime or a last resort.

  Apocalypse could hear that the choices Superman gave him were just a joke.

  How could a true warrior, who had no weakness in his heart, let the enemy go?

  "There's no … honor in that!"

  Apocalypse's voice sounded weak as he gave his answer.

  He opened his eyes and caught Superman's movements.

  Hastily, he raised his arms and tried to block the punch.

  He would try to regroup and launch a counter-attack.

  But——

  He was too slow and too weak.

  The air-bursting fist broke Apocalypse's bones. He was hit head-on by a speeding train at full throttle.

  Once again, the hard body flew out uncontrollably.

  "Oops, a bit of a blunder."

  Luke watched Apocalypse fall downwards, smashing a hotel billboard run by the Mafia along the way.

  To some extent, this was his own business.

  'If I do that again, I would ruin my own property. '

  He shook his head. His dark red cloak tore through the air with a dull burst as he flew towards the site where Apocalypse had fallen.

  His super-vision didn't find the other party through the obstacles.

  'Hmm, he ran away?'

  Luke raised an eyebrow, thinking that Apocalypse didn't look like a mutant who would strategically retreat.

  He was at least a Pharaoh of Egypt, but he shouldn't be as flexible as the younger generation.

  'If he wanted to run away, he would have done so long ago; why wait until now?'

  Superman's perception was turned on. With the pure white light of Vishanti, the whole city was under control.

  Among the mutants, there were also a few with the gift of invisibility.

  A moment later, Luke discovered Apocalypse's position as the bio-force field opened up.

  'Above?'

  He looked up and saw a steamroller weighing dozens of tons crashing down!

  High-temperature rays were emitted from both eyes, directly melting the huge metal object.

  The grey, translucent figure gradually revealed itself.

  It was none other than Apocalypse!

  He didn't seem to want to smash Superman with the steamroller, raising his fists upwards in a dazzling gleam.

  This was the 'Energy Absorption' ability of mutants, which absorbed energy and violently released it.

  It was as if two small celestial bodies were floating above Luke's head.

  The terrifying energies mingled with each other like a giant ball of light.

  The heat emitted turned the asphalt road where Luke was standing into a sticky puddle of mud.

  The silvery-white flames of light were terrifyingly volatile, and a searing stream of air radiated the powerful heat that could melt gold and iron.

  "Let's go to Hell together, Superman!"

  Apocalypse hissed like a lunatic.

  All his strength was used for absorption and release, just like an extremely unstable suicide bomber.

  Once the countdown had reached zero, the whole city would be leveled.

  And Superman was at the center of it all.

  "I thought you had a new scheme. A desperate villain, pulling the protagonist into a double-suicide … no surprises at all."

  Luke shook his head as the exuberant power enveloped him, putting a degree of pressure on him.

  Superman had many ways to avoid Apocalypse's desperate attack.

  But considering the great damage caused by the other party's self-explosion, Luke rejected those choices.

  Although he never claimed to be a hero, he didn't like to be tied down to a single work style.

  But as the Ancient One said, when Superman stood at the top of the world and at the forefront of mankind, it was hard to retreat.

  He had to take his share of the responsibilities, just like how he used his share of power.

  This was an equivalent exchange.

  No one forced Luke, but he had to.

  Just as a qualified King needs to be responsible for his country, and a qualified Lord needs to protect his territory.

  "Do you know what despair is?"

  Luke asked with his head held high.

  "When you have tried to kill your enemy with all means, even at the cost of your life, you find that your efforts have been in vain."

  "This is despair!"

  Superman's voice was calm and cold.

  He glanced high into the sky out of the corner of his eye and then extended a hand.

  Slowly but powerfully, it penetrated the huge ball of blazing light.

  "How is this … possible!?"

  Apocalypse was still delivering the same uninspired, death-triggering villainous lines.

  He opened his eyes wide and saw Superman tear open the ever-growing white ball of light.

  The high-temperature heat was enough to evaporate steel, and the violent energy was enough to burn any living thing to ashes, but it didn't cause fatal harm to Luke.

  He was in the white ball of light that enveloped half the block as if he had entered the interior of the sun.

  The suit was constantly being damaged and repaired.

  His body was constantly charred and then healed.

  "Do you feel despair now?"

  Luke's face was expressionless. His arm, which was burned to the bone, gripped Apocalypse's neck tightly.

  "I can't kill you, but I can drag people down with me …"

  Apocalypse, whose body was covered with cracks and about to burst, cried out frantically.

  He had no idea that his life-threatening struggle would only marginally bruise Superman.

  That's all!

  Deep despair filled Apocalypse's heart.

  "As I said, you can't do anything."

  Luke choked Apocalypse and quickly took off.

  The hard body of the mutant god seemed like an alarm clock with a 3-second countdown.

  It would probably be too late to fly off the planet and throw him into space.

  However, there was no problem in plugging him into the body of the Phoenix.

  As an ancient force of the multiverse, it was connected to a different space called the 'White Hot Room.'

  Even if Apocalypse exploded, it wouldn't endanger Earth.

  The Phoenix, imprisoned in a lightning cage, saw Apocalypse and Superman fighting further and further away from the battlefield and once again had the idea of escaping.

  The wings flapped, sending up huge flashes of fire, and tore through a lightning bolt as thick as a column.

  But before the phoenix could squeeze out, it saw Luke flying towards it with Apocalypse, who was about to explode.

  'What does he want to do?'

  It first felt confused and then reacted.

  'Don't come here!'

  The Phoenix's mind fluctuated in panic. It finally recovered 1 or 2% of its strength. How could it be willing to return to the starting point after thousands of years of hard work?

  'I'm sorry, but for the sake of world peace and the safety of the planet, you will have to make a small sacrifice. '

  Luke replied faintly with telepathy.

  If the Phoenix could make an expression, there would definitely be several question marks on its head.

  'I'm not from Earth. Why should I make sacrifices?'

  'And as a superhero, you're the one who should be doing this, right?!'

  The Phoenix wanted to say something more, but Luke was too lazy to listen anymore.

  Apocalypse was shoved into the other party's mouth.

  Boom!

  High in the sky, the explosion didn't happen. Only an invisible shockwave dispersed the clouds.

  'Thank you for your sacrifice for Earth. I will remember you!'

  Luke briefly observed a second of silence.

  Captain America, standing on the top floor of Hotel Inferno, was puzzled.

  'What happened to the big fire Phoenix? Why is it gone?'

  …