MARVEL/DC: DOCTOR IN THE MULTIVERSE

The crushing gravitational pulses vanished.

The sky above Metropolis slowly returned to its natural color.

For the first time since the World Engine activated, the city could breathe again.

Amid the ruins, Captain America knelt heavily against shattered concrete.

His hands pressed into the rubble as he fought to steady his breathing.

Nearby, his vibranium shield remained embedded diagonally in a collapsed section of roadway, driven nearly half a meter into the ground by the World Engine's relentless gravity waves.

Moments ago, every movement had felt like dragging mountains.

Now the pressure was gone.

Gravity had returned from four times Earth's normal force back to one.

Steve slowly pushed himself upright.

His uniform was torn in multiple places.

A deep laceration along his left arm exposed damaged tissue beneath.

Fortunately, the Super-Soldier Serum continued doing its work. The bleeding had already begun slowing.

He raised his head.

And looked skyward.

The masked figure remained there.

Hovering.

Motionless.

The falling debris had already settled.

The last rays of sunset reflected from the white mask.

For several seconds, Steve simply stared.

One question dominated his thoughts.

Who is he?

Back during the Battle of New York, the mysterious masked individual had already defied explanation.

Now that same man had destroyed a planetary terraforming machine from the inside.

Steve realized his hands were trembling slightly.

Not from injury.

From the mind's natural response to witnessing something it struggled to comprehend.

Across the city, Tony Stark stood atop a partially collapsed building.

His armor was battered.

Several systems remained offline.

Yet his attention never left the sky.

"Jarvis."

His voice sounded unusually dry.

"What was the energy output of that machine before it broke apart?"

The AI responded immediately.

"Sir, structural stress analysis indicates the World Engine was destroyed by a singular internal impact point."

A brief pause followed.

"Based on debris velocity and kinetic-energy projections, estimated instantaneous force output exceeds sensor calculation limits."

Another pause.

"My hardware is unable to generate a reliable figure."

Tony said nothing.

He simply continued staring upward.

Far above Metropolis, Lynn casually brushed dust from his sleeve.

Then his gaze shifted.

Beyond the atmosphere.

Beyond Earth itself.

Toward a specific target.

The All-Seeing Eye locked onto the Kryptonian mothership orbiting the planet.

Despite losing the World Engine, the vessel remained operational.

Its primary systems were damaged.

Its engines were compromised.

Yet it still possessed maneuvering capability.

For the moment, that wasn't Lynn's concern.

Someone else would deal with it.

Most likely Superman.

Lynn lowered his gaze toward the city.

The devastation was immense.

Entire districts had ceased to exist.

Collapsed skyscrapers.

Twisted steel.

Burning wreckage.

Yet life remained.

The All-Seeing Eye detected survivors throughout the rubble.

Faint heartbeats.

Weak respiratory signals.

People trapped beneath mountains of debris.

His attention lingered briefly on one cluster.

Then moved elsewhere.

A different signal.

One far more powerful.

General Zod.

The All-Seeing Eye focused on the Kryptonian mothership.

Inside its command center, Zod's biological indicators were escalating rapidly.

Heart rate exceeded two hundred beats per minute.

Stress hormones had reached extreme levels.

Neural activity spiked continuously.

The emotional profile was obvious.

Rage.

Grief.

Desperation.

And something even more dangerous.

A complete psychological collapse.

The destruction of the World Engine had destroyed more than a machine.

It had destroyed Krypton's future.

At least from Zod's perspective.

Lynn observed the data.

Then flexed his hand.

Residual power still lingered inside the muscle fibers of his arm.

The aftereffects of the punch that shattered the World Engine.

Warm.

Stable.

Endless.

More importantly—

He was still growing stronger.

Every second.

Every moment.

The Intermediate Immortal Divine Body continuously absorbed solar radiation.

The yellow sun above Earth fed his cells without interruption.

The longer he remained exposed, the stronger he became.

Lynn rolled his shoulders.

A series of faint cracks echoed from his neck and knuckles.

Then the communication network erupted.

"Attention everyone!"

Nick Fury sounded far more urgent than usual.

"Satellite detection confirms an object has launched from the Kryptonian vessel."

A brief pause.

"Trajectory confirmed."

"Destination: Metropolis."

Immediately, another voice cut in.

Bruce Wayne.

"Speed?"

"Exceeding Mach 25."

Fury answered instantly.

"Atmospheric entry in less than forty seconds."

Bruce didn't hesitate.

"Object size?"

The response came immediately.

"Humanoid."

"Single target."

Silence.

Everyone understood.

No explanation was necessary.

Lynn looked upward.

A brilliant streak of light appeared high above the atmosphere.

A meteor.

Or rather—

A Kryptonian.

The object descended at impossible speed.

To ordinary observers it resembled a star falling from heaven.

A blazing white lance cutting through the sky.

The atmosphere ignited around it.

Air molecules ionized instantly.

Plasma trails stretched across the heavens.

Cloud formations several kilometers wide were ripped apart by the shockwave.

Thirty seconds.

The All-Seeing Eye locked onto the figure inside the inferno.

General Zod.

Lynn immediately noticed something interesting.

The Kryptonian commander had removed his armor.

Gone was the military battle suit.

Gone was the helmet.

Only a black Kryptonian underlayer remained.

Every inch of his body was now exposed directly to Earth's yellow sun.

And the results were dramatic.

The All-Seeing Eye recorded the changes in real time.

Cellular activity surged.

Muscle density increased continuously.

Bone strength climbed higher every second.

His adaptation rate exceeded Fiora's by a considerable margin.

Which made sense.

Unlike Superman, Zod was a product of Krypton's military breeding programs.

In both comics and film adaptations, Kryptonian military castes were genetically engineered and trained for combat efficiency and environmental adaptation.

Kal-El had spent decades adapting gradually.

Zod was different.

His body was built for rapid adjustment.

For conquest.

For war.

The moment yellow-sun radiation entered his system, dormant genetic pathways activated explosively.

Twenty seconds.

Zod's physical parameters approached Superman's current levels.

Still rising.

Lynn remained calm.

Watching.

Observing.

Calculating.

Meanwhile, the battlefield reorganized.

Captain America retrieved his shield.

Thor pulled his hammer free from the rubble.

Lightning crackled weakly around him.

Batman continued issuing tactical commands from a damaged rooftop position.

Every hero understood the same thing.

The next battle was beginning.

Ten seconds.

A roar tore through the atmosphere.

The sound shattered the sonic barrier repeatedly as it descended.

Even before translation, everyone understood the emotion behind it.

Hatred.

Pure hatred.

Then the words followed.

"You destroyed Krypton's future!"

It was Zod.

Five seconds.

The descending figure became completely engulfed in plasma.

No longer a man.

A living meteor.

Lynn noticed something important.

Zod wasn't aiming for the ground.

He wasn't targeting the city.

He wasn't targeting Superman.

He was targeting him.

Directly.

One second.

The distance vanished.

Zod's furious scream shook the atmosphere.

The plasma surrounding his body reached maximum intensity.

The sky itself seemed to split apart.

Then—

Impact.

BOOM—!

Visit /ShiroTL for more chapters