Chapter 318: Luthor Wants to Fight Jovian

Panic...

The entire world had descended into panic.

Their great God, the God Among Men, was no longer a hero. He had even killed someone in front of a live audience!

Countless people condemned Jovian online for what he had done, praying that someone would step forward and destroy this lawless monster who believed himself above all authority.

"Jovian, the entire internet is talking about killing you now. Aren't you nervous?"

Inside Jovian's office, his secretary walked over on a pair of long, shapely legs and stopped beside him.

"Heh..."

"Aren't you afraid of me?"

"People online are calling me Satan on Earth now."

Jovian skimmed through the comments on the internet and merely smiled with disdain.

"Heh. Most of them have never even met you. How could they possibly know what kind of person you really are?"

"They're just a bunch of keyboard warriors blindly following whatever story happens to be trending and leaving pointless comments because they have nothing better to do."

His secretary smiled softly. She found the opinions of all those self-righteous internet crusaders utterly ridiculous. In her eyes, none of it meant anything.

"You've got a good head on your shoulders."

Jovian smiled at her words, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked to the window.

He gazed down at the peaceful city below, his expression perfectly calm.

Traffic filled the streets.

Countless people went to work and carried on with their daily lives, seemingly unaffected by everything being said about Jovian online.

No one understood Jovian better than the people of Metropolis.

They had grown accustomed to living safely under his protection. Even when self-righteous strangers online endlessly exposed one supposed atrocity after another, the people of Metropolis simply laughed and treated it all as a joke.

Did those people living hundreds or thousands of miles away from Jovian really think they understood him better than the people who lived beside him every single day?

Obviously not.

"..."

Watching the people below go about their lives, Jovian continued smiling.

Good.

Very good.

This, too, was another part of his game.

As for Jovian's family, Jonathan and Martha had both made their position clear. No matter what decision Jovian made, they would support him.

Clark also stood firmly behind Jovian.

His only disagreement was that Jovian should not have killed the reporter. Doing so made Jovian appear unnecessarily brutal, and Clark thought that was a mistake.

Jovian had said nothing in response.

Another week passed.

Monday morning arrived.

Atlantean warships once again landed on American shores.

This time, however, the Atlanteans had come to apologize.

Armored Atlantean warriors had tied Orm to a cross and planted it in the middle of an empty field, leaving the half-dead king hanging beneath the scorching sun.

At the same time, the Atlanteans presented mountains of pearls, treasure, and various pieces of advanced technology.

None of it was being offered to the United States.

It was all tribute to the great Jovian.

The news immediately spread throughout the world, causing another massive uproar.

"Maybe that reporter really was the one in the wrong..."

Some people online had already begun criticizing the reporter Jovian had killed.

"Everyone says you shouldn't speak ill of the dead."

"But being dead doesn't automatically make someone right."

Others posted comments that sounded superficially objective.

"Long live Jovian!"

"What's wrong with the great God Among Men killing a few stupid mortals who behaved disgracefully? Isn't punishing them exactly what a god is supposed to do?"

Jovian's fanatical followers also flooded the internet, shouting that Jovian was always right and proclaiming his greatness.

Jovian saw every one of those comments.

He simply did not care.

"The entire world has finally put Jovian under the spotlight!"

"Now it's time for me to drag him down from his pedestal!"

Every day, Lex Luthor enthusiastically opened the internet and posted a hundred messages attacking Jovian before sitting back and watching the likes roll in.

Frankly, this had been the happiest period of his entire life.

In the past, even the slightest criticism of Jovian would cause those damned Jovian fanboys to swarm him from every direction.

But things were different now.

He finally had a whole group of like-minded friends.

At this point, Lex only had to deal with a portion of Jovian's most deranged fans.

He did not need to do anything else.

He could simply sit at home and hammer away at his keyboard.

It made him incredibly happy.

And lately, Lex Luthor had become convinced that his moment had finally arrived.

After finishing his daily barrage of posts, Lex logged out of his online account and headed toward his laboratory.

He was not worried about anyone discovering it because the exterior of his building had been wrapped in a thick layer of lead.

Even someone with Jovian's abilities should not be able to see through it.

At least, that was what Lex believed.

Several enormous containment tanks stood inside Lex's laboratory.

Within them floated gigantic, grotesque masses of flesh that constantly twitched and writhed.

These creatures had been created by Lex using the bodies of dead Kryptonians.

They were called Doomsday.

Doomsday was a superweapon originally engineered on Krypton. Its power surpassed that of an ordinary Kryptonian, a living engine of destruction capable of bringing doom to virtually any living creature.

Lex believed his adorable Doomsdays would perform their mission beautifully.

They would kill Jovian.

"Go..."

"Destroy Jovian."

Once Lex finalized his plan, he logged back into his account.

Countless private messages immediately flooded his inbox.

Some insulted him.

Others praised him.

Given how extreme his posts usually were, those were essentially the only two kinds of messages he ever received.

"Gentlemen."

"I have an announcement to make today!"

Luthor entered the online group he had created.

He was the administrator.

The group was called The World Needs No God.

Luthor's username was No Gods Among Men, which fit the group perfectly.

"What is it, boss?"

"Hey, boss!"

"Looks like the boss has something important to say!"

One group member after another responded to Luthor.

For many of them, participating in this little community was one of the few ways they could make themselves feel important.

"I'm about to destroy Jovian!"

"Tomorrow at eight o'clock in the evening, I'm going to erase this world's so-called God once and for all!"

Luthor announced arrogantly to everyone in the chat.

"Holy shit, boss!"

"That's insane!"

"But seriously, don't do anything stupid!"

"Jovian might be an asshole, but he really is insanely powerful. Humans can't fight that kind of strength!"

His group members immediately responded.

"Relax. I have a solution."

"I've developed a special weapon specifically to deal with him."

"Just watch me tomorrow."

Luthor answered their warnings with complete confidence.

It did not take long for countless members to spread his announcement across the internet.

Soon, screenshots of Luthor's posts were being pinned and reposted everywhere. Eventually, even the operators of several major websites began deliberately or indirectly boosting the story.

When Luthor logged back in later, he discovered that his private messages had exploded.

"Interesting."

"Someone behind the scenes is deliberately giving this more attention."

"In that case, I certainly can't disappoint my audience."

Luthor had already prepared his stage.

Then he publicly revealed his true identity.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Lex Luthor. I believe most of you already know who I am."

"To be perfectly frank, I can't stand Jovian."

"So tomorrow night, I'm going to drag him down from his pedestal."

"I'm going to show him that humanity rules this planet!"

"It doesn't matter what alien world you came from or how powerful you are. You will submit before the power of mankind!"

"My name is Luthor."

"And I do not fight for myself."

"I fight for humanity!"

"And Jovian, the man people now call the God Among Men, you'd better listen carefully!"

"Tomorrow night, I'm going to kill you!"

"Do you understand me?"

"I said I am going to kill you!"

"You're not even truly strong!"

"Without those godlike powers of yours, you wouldn't even be able to handle some random punk off the street!"

"You hear me?!"

Lex Luthor finished recording his message and uploaded the video to the internet.

His declaration immediately sent shockwaves across the entire web.

Countless people began discussing it.

"Who the hell does Luthor think he is?"

"Heh. Five bucks says he's a complete idiot."

"Nobody's even going to show up tomorrow."

"Move along, everyone. Humans can't defeat God."

Comments like these spread everywhere.

Of course, there were also people genuinely moved by Luthor's words.

Most of them remained silent.

Anyone capable of rational thought understood that defeating Jovian was basically impossible.

That was simply reality.

Still, Luthor had succeeded in attracting an enormous amount of attention.

Once the story had gathered enough momentum, he made another post.

"Tomorrow night, eight o'clock, Liberty Park."

"Be there!"

"Anyone who doesn't show is a coward!!"

The post was ridiculous.

At least Jovian thought it was hilariously ridiculous.

But Luthor's announcement changed the minds of many people who had originally believed there was no chance he would actually go through with it.

They began to suspect that Luthor truly possessed some secret weapon designed specifically to defeat Jovian.

Business leaders and political figures immediately began trying to contact him.

Luthor rejected every single one of them.

He spent the entire day preparing himself mentally.

Then, shortly before eight o'clock, he arrived at Liberty Park accompanied by a professional livestreaming crew.

Countless cameras had already been positioned throughout the park, along with drones hovering overhead.

Everything had been arranged in advance to record his duel with Jovian.

What came next would be the story of humanity slaying a god.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The watch around Luthor's wrist began sounding.

Almost simultaneously, a sonic boom tore through the air.

Jovian appeared in the sky above him.

Hum...

The instant Jovian saw Luthor, his eyes began glowing red.

"Stop!"

"I can't believe you actually came!"

"My dear neighbor... and the rival I've chosen for myself!"

"But unfortunately, even though I'm the one who challenged you to this fight, I'm not the one who'll be fighting you!"

Seeing Jovian prepare to unleash his heat vision the moment he arrived, Luthor immediately panicked.

He wildly waved his arms in the air, looking utterly deranged as the words poured from his mouth at incredible speed.

Boom!

The next second, two enormous shipping containers beside Luthor suddenly exploded.

Sheets of metal went flying through the air.

Then two gigantic, muscular monsters with savage features stepped from the wreckage.

"Jovian, do these two look familiar to you?"

"I certainly hope they do!"

"Because these are your Doomsdays!"

Luthor shouted excitedly at Jovian.

"ROAR!"

Before Luthor had even finished introducing his weapons, one of the Doomsdays roared, launched itself from the ground, and hurled its massive body toward Jovian.

Boom!

But the instant Doomsday reached him, Jovian answered with a punch powerful enough to blast apart the surrounding air.

"Guh..."

Doomsday was sent flying backward.

When it crashed into the ground, its head had been twisted completely around.

"...What?"

Luthor stared wide-eyed at the Doomsday lying on the ground with dim eyes, its body twitching uncontrollably.

Disbelief filled his face.

"Weren't these weapons supposed to kill Jovian easily?"

Luthor stared at his fallen creation in confusion.

"Hmph."

Jovian merely looked at him with disdain before gently descending beside him.

"ROAR!"

At the same time, the second Doomsday charged toward Jovian.

Jovian stopped its attack with one hand.

Then he casually applied a little more force and punched a massive hole through Doomsday's abdomen.

He took out the Kryptonite he had prepared in advance and shoved it directly into Doomsday's heart.

"Rrraagh..."

The Doomsday that had been bursting with energy only moments earlier immediately collapsed to the ground and began convulsing.

A rush of displaced air sounded behind Jovian.

The first Doomsday, whose neck Jovian had nearly snapped completely apart, had already regenerated from its injuries and was charging toward him again.

"..."

The corner of Jovian's mouth curled upward.

He casually raised one hand.

A long green spear appeared in his grasp.

Then he vanished from where he stood, slipped past Doomsday's attack, reappeared behind the creature, and thrust the spear straight through its body.

"Blegh!"

Doomsday vomited a massive amount of blood before collapsing onto the ground, completely motionless.

"Is that it?"

Jovian looked at the two Doomsdays he had eliminated almost effortlessly.

Then he walked over to Luthor and towered above him.

"I..."

Luthor no longer knew what to say.

He had spent so much effort cultivating his Doomsdays because he believed they would be powerful enough to kill Jovian.

Yet in less than ten minutes, Jovian had slaughtered both of them.

Before Luthor could say anything else, an enormous force clamped around his throat.

Jovian lifted him high into the air with one hand.

The overwhelming strength in Jovian's grip left Luthor completely unable to breathe.

"You'd better have something else up your sleeve."

Jovian turned Luthor toward the cameras broadcasting the confrontation to the entire world and spoke coldly.

Once again, the world fell silent.

Most people were not particularly surprised.

Jovian winning had never been the unexpected outcome.

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