The armor Kevin wore was a battle suit specifically crafted for him by the Atlanteans.
It was relatively form-fitting, and apart from not having a helmet, it was very similar to the armor worn by King Xebel.
Because of this, it was quite conspicuous from a distance, especially with the sun high in the sky.
Zod spotted a shimmering silver speck from afar, flying towards him alongside a golden trident.
Facing the incoming golden trident, Zod dodged with a flash, precisely catching the trident in his hand.
Grabbing Kevin's weapon, Zod immediately swung the enemy's weapon towards Kevin!
The thrown trident became Zod's weapon. Kevin, flying over, showed no panic; instead, as if not seeing the trident Zod was swinging at him, he calmly raised his right fist and brought it down on Zod.
Zod's strength did not diminish. With his power and the trident's sturdiness, if Kevin were struck, he would at least be sent flying backward.
However, what Zod never expected was that just as the trident was about to strike Kevin, this golden divine artifact suddenly vanished from Zod's hand!
The instantaneous change decided the outcome of this collision.
The trident in Zod's hand disappeared, and his attack landed on empty air, while Kevin's fist solidly struck his face.
Thud!!
Zod's body flew out, and Kevin landed in Zod's original position. With a flip of his right hand, the vanished golden trident reappeared in his grasp.
The Lord series skill, King's Treasury, had taken effect. It could bestow attributes like 'loyalty' upon items collected into the Treasury.
No matter where it was or in whose hands, as long as Kevin summoned it, the weapon would return to the Treasury.
This was why the trident in Zod's hand had vanished.
"Kara! Go destroy the Genesis Engine! I'll stop Zod!"
Immediately upon arrival, Kevin assigned Kara a task.
Batman's few missiles earlier had not only failed to injure Zod but had also briefly knocked out Kara, who was already under Zod's control.
Now that Kevin had arrived, Kara shook her head and stood up from the ground.
Hearing Kevin's command, Kara looked at Zod with unwillingness:
"But he killed Kal!!"
"I'll deal with him!! You go destroy the Engine quickly!!!"
The Engine had already started; any later, countless lives on both ends of the Earth would be lost.
Kevin's stern words finally made Kara temporarily set aside her hatred.
She turned and flew high into the sky, heading straight for the Genesis Engine, which was already located in the center of Metropolis.
Meanwhile, Zod tore off the armor on his body, which seemed cumbersome to him, and roared at Kevin:
"Deal with me? Do you truly believe you can defeat me!? Earthling!!"
As he spoke, Zod's body had already flown into mid-air. In an extremely short time, Zod had surprisingly learned to use his bio-electric aura!
And as his words fell, Zod shot out like a rocket. In just a blink of an eye, Kevin found that the opponent's figure had come from a distance right in front of him!
Kryptonian power in the DC Universe was indeed unreasonably strong.
Kevin believed that his Level Six physique should be able to withstand Zod's blows and keep up with his speed.
But in reality, when Zod truly gained Superman's power, Kevin couldn't even see the trajectory of his punches.
By the time he realized he had been struck by Zod, Kevin's body had already been sent flying high into the sky.
Then, before he could attempt to dodge or block, he felt a pain in his back, and his body plummeted towards the ground like a cannonball.
In just two or three seconds of engagement, Kevin could only passively endure Zod's attacks!
Boom!!!
Only when Kevin's body impacted the ground, creating a massive crater in the solid earth, did Zod cease his assault.
He hovered in the sky, looking directly down at Kevin:
"Is this your strength?! Do you intend to stop me with this strength, Earthling?"
Zod's words were filled with anger and mockery.
Zod had reason to be angry.
It was because of Kevin that his remaining people had died or been injured. It was because of his appearance that the surviving Kryptonians had suffered such immense losses on Earth.
Indeed, if Zod had not been taken away in time, Zod himself would have died by the opponent's hand!
He knew that the opponent was a strong individual, a hero on Earth, and Zod admired those who would stand up for their own planet.
However, this did not mean he would show mercy.
Quite the opposite, precisely because people like Kevin existed on Earth, Zod wanted to annihilate everyone on Earth.
The best way to eliminate resistance was to kill all groups that might resist!
As long as all these people died, as long as the Life Codex was acquired, even if Zod was the only Kryptonian left, he could rebuild Krypton on Earth!
But before that, Zod had to kill Kevin.
The biggest threat currently before him.
"This really is..."
Lying in the crater, Kevin felt a long-unfelt pain and twitched his lips.
The physique enhancement from the skill tree was a comprehensive and balanced improvement, encompassing strength, speed, reaction ability, and recovery ability.
Especially defensive power and recovery power, which were among the best.
But perhaps precisely because it was too balanced, Kevin's recovery power couldn't compare to Wolverine's, his strength couldn't compare to a Kryptonian's, and his speed was significantly slower than some speedsters.
Now, facing a Kryptonian who almost completely overwhelmed Kevin in every aspect except his own recovery and defensive abilities, he could only passively take hits.
His combat skills, his magic, none of them could be unleashed!
Zod wouldn't give him a chance to react!
It was only by virtue of his powerful physique that Kevin could ensure he wouldn't be beaten to death, barely managing to be 'fifty-fifty' with Zod.
Hmm, unable to kill the opponent, and the opponent also unable to kill himself, calling it fifty-fifty was quite reasonable.
Kevin thought to himself, amused, but he had no intention of giving up.
Before coming, Kevin had already anticipated such a result; Zod couldn't be defeated so easily by him.
Therefore, Kevin had already made preparations.
"Kryptonians, truly worthy of being the strongest race in the universe..."
Struggling to get up from the ground, Kevin used words to interrupt Zod's action before he could attack.
Hearing Kevin's praise for Kryptonians, Zod's expression remained unchanged. He still hovered in the air, looking down at Kevin.
The oppressive feeling was almost like Vegeta facing Final Form Frieza in Dragon Ball.
It felt as if the opponent could crush Kevin to death in the next second.
"Are you surrendering?"
Hearing Kevin's words and seeing that Kevin seemed to have no intention of counterattacking, Zod calmly inquired.
Kevin, however, gently shook his head and, after meeting Zod's gaze, said:
"I'm merely marveling at the power of Kryptonians. Your technology is highly advanced; you once colonized countless planets, possessing supe strength just with your battle suits. Once exposed to Earth's solar radiation, you can become true supes..."
"This innate power is truly enviable."
Kevin genuinely envied the power of Kryptonians.
If he possessed the same power as Kryptonians, growing stronger just by basking in the sun, he wouldn't have to toil for skill points.
"..."
Zod didn't know Kevin's intention in saying all this. It sounded like a self-deprecating complaint, as if he knew he was about to lose.
But looking at the smile on Kevin's face, Zod felt it wasn't so.
Indeed, after saying this, Kevin patted the dust off his body and also discarded his not-so-sturdy armor, revealing his muscular physique clad only in a black tight-fitting shirt. He grinned at Zod and said:
"However, sometimes you rely too much on technology or your own power and overlook one thing."
"!?"
"Magic."
Kevin calmly uttered a single word, and Zod immediately felt a sense of unease.
He didn't delve into the meaning of the word 'magic,' nor did he give Kevin a chance to ramble further.
Once he confirmed Kevin had no intention of surrendering, Zod instantly vanished from his spot, appearing before Kevin in less than a millisecond and gripping his neck.
But Kevin's move had already been cast.
In the sky, a massive blue magic circle abruptly appeared.
This was another ability entirely different from the ones Kevin had previously displayed.
Before, whether it was the combat system's magic patterns or the magic system's ice, water, and Mist magic, Kevin had never produced a magic circle when casting them.
But now Kevin had summoned a magic circle.
And the magic circle's range was enormous, almost completely obscuring the sky of this region!
This was neither a combat system nor a magic system.
This was a summoning system.
Summoning System Magic — Aquatic Creature Summoning!
In order to make Karathen his summoned creature, Kevin had previously leveled up both Aquatic Creature Summoning and Aquatic Creature Affinity.
Aquatic Creature Affinity had been raised to Level Four, and Aquatic Creature Summoning had been boosted to Level Five by Kevin!
Because of this, Kevin could now summon the sea monster Karathen from the depths of the ocean anywhere in the DC Universe!
Furthermore, in the future, he could even summon the sea monster Karathen as a summoned creature to a designated location in other worlds.
The only drawback of this skill was...
Summoning required time; there was a significant cast delay.
So, just now, Kevin seemed to be talking to Zod, but in reality, he was casting his summoning ability, trying to summon Karathen from the ocean to himself.
Kevin succeeded.
The large magic circle in the sky was Kevin's doing.
And only a magic circle of that magnitude could allow Karathen to pass through it.
Zod squeezed Kevin's neck but found he couldn't break it.
The benefits of investing a large number of skill points into his physique earlier were evident; Kevin's body was now as hard as a turtle shell, so much so that even Zod couldn't kill Kevin in a short time.
And that wasn't all.
Kevin had another life-saving ability.
The Form Change ability quietly activated. Kevin's body was covered in a layer of blue light, and his entire body transformed into a liquid-like shape.
The moment Zod looked up at the magic circle, Kevin turned into a puddle of water and escaped from above Zod's head.
Level Four Form Change already allowed Kevin to partially mimic a water elemental creature.
In his water elemental form, Kevin's life-saving ability was enhanced, and his control over water flow would further improve.
Slipping away from Zod's grasp, Karathen also appeared from the magic circle above.
Karathen, even larger than a Kryptonian warship, crashed down from the sky towards the ground.
Zod looked at the gigantic sea monster Karathen, but a mocking expression appeared on his face as he looked at Kevin:
"Do you truly believe that with its help, you can defeat me?!"
"To be honest, I don't think it can."
Kevin, in his water elemental state, spoke truthfully.
But then Kevin smiled at Zod:
"But who said I brought it to help me fight?"
"!?"
"Karathen!! Spray water!!!"
At the end, Kevin's expression changed, and he loudly commanded Karathen.
Karathen, who was falling from above, opened its enormous mouth and began to spew out a massive amount of seawater!
The seawater fell from the high sky like a waterfall pouring from the heavens, instantly transforming into fine Mist, enveloping the sky.
In the blink of an eye, the battlefield was shrouded in dense Mist.
And this time, the dense Mist was even thicker than the Mist Kevin had created when dealing with Faora earlier.
So thick that even breathing would cause a lot of seawater to be inhaled into the lungs!
And this was Kevin's true objective.
He wanted to use the Mist to invade Zod's internal body!