The climate in National City was somewhat humid, making Thea slightly uncomfortable. The city was roughly the same size as Star City and Central City, but it lacked Star City's tense, high-strung atmosphere where everyone seemed wound tight like clockwork. The greenery here was excellent, the citizens relaxed and unhurried. If one could adapt to the climate, this was a city with an exceptionally high quality of life.
Unfortunately, that tranquility had been shattered today. In the distance, flames shot skyward, and thick black smoke covered more than half the sky. Many civilians stopped in place, asking one another what had happened, while police officers shouted orders to evacuate the crowds. The entire city was in turmoil.
"Over there!"
Both women had keen eyesight. After a brief search through the smoke, they located the two combatants.
Judging by the scale of destruction and chaos alone, Thea already had a rough idea. Once she identified the targets and looked more closely, it was exactly as expected—one of the combatants was a Kryptonian with overwhelming destructive power.
However, the Kryptonian was clearly on the defensive today. With long dark-brown hair—both hairstyle and color resembling Thea's—and dressed in casual clothes with cloth shoes, Kara Danvers was being relentlessly pursued and hacked at by a nearly two-meter-tall brute charging after her. The man had an ugly ridge across his forehead and wielded a massive axe.
"This little girl is also a Kryptonian?" Faora recognized Kara at a glance.
"Yes. She's also from the House of El. Her original name should be Kara Zor-El. On Earth, she goes by Kara Danvers."
Watching the fight, Thea noted that Kara's overall physical attributes were clearly superior to her opponent's; she simply had no idea how to apply her strength, repeating the same few moves over and over.
"That fighting is awful!"
Faora endured watching for barely a minute before losing patience. Kara had virtually no combat technique at all, which deeply offended Faora's pride as a trained warrior.
Thea neither agreed nor disagreed. Superman's own fighting style was hardly refined either. Supergirl's approach was practically a direct inheritance—very much the traditional House of El style.
The House of El was Krypton's number-one "cheat lineage." Publicly, it was said that only one infant—Superman—had been sent away. In reality, during the final minutes before Krypton's destruction, a whole group of distant relatives escaped. What was even more outrageous was that they had sent Superman's dog to Earth as well—a flying dog in a red cape that absorbed sunlight and even fired heat vision.
With time enough to do that, Superman's parents still didn't bother saving themselves. Instead, the couple dramatically embraced each other and calmly watched their planet explode. Thea genuinely could not understand their logic.
After forcing herself to watch for another minute, Faora finally snapped.
"Can we fight here? I need to properly teach her Kryptonian combat methods."
Thea surveyed the surroundings. They were in an oil refinery, already turned into a choking mess by the shockwaves of battle.
"Fighting here would be too troublesome. Let's go fight at Grodd's place."
For ease of coordination with her subordinates, Thea had established a permanent portal on the planet controlled by Grodd. That location was ideal—no need to worry about collateral damage.
"Control them. The male is yours."
As she spoke, Thea produced a magical device and tossed it in place, then rapidly inscribed a magic array. Linking to a distant coordinate, she located the destination with a brief mental scan.
"You're causing too much damage to the city. Come with me."
Thanks to Thea's activities over the past few years, Kara still recognized her. Seeing Faora knock the brute unconscious with a single punch, Kara hesitated at the sight of the shimmering blue portal—but ultimately followed their example and stepped through.
"Whoa—!"
The moment she saw the purple sky, alien flora and architecture, and unfamiliar gravity, Kara immediately realized she was no longer on Earth.
"You're Miss Thea, right? I remember you—!"
Kara didn't get to finish before Faora coldly cut her off.
"Your combat technique is far too crude. That first punch—you could have dodged it completely, pivoted, and countered with a kick. But what did you do? You retreated!"
Faora rattled on without pause.
Kara was initially displeased. Anyone would be annoyed at being harshly criticized by a stranger. But listening more carefully, she noticed something different.
"You are… you're a Kryptonian…"
"Of course. I'm Faora. I used to live in District 115, Sector B15—not far from your home. Your mother was once my instructor…"
Faora spoke at length about Krypton's past. Unlike Superman, who arrived on Earth as an infant, Kara had left Krypton at twelve and still held deep emotional ties to her home. Hearing that Faora had known her mother made her eyes redden.
"Stand firm! Your mother once taught me something—"
Faora grabbed Kara by the collar like a drill sergeant addressing a recruit, nearly spraying her face with saliva.
Realizing Faora was effectively an elder, Kara shot Thea a sideways glance and shrank back like a chastened quail.
Thea returned a gentle smile. Kara was two years younger than her—eighteen this year. Perhaps Kryptonians were generally more innocent, but Kara's demeanor still felt almost childlike. Setting aside bloodlines, Thea regarded her much like a younger sister.
Faora lectured nonstop for five full minutes before Kara finally snapped back to reality.
"Why did you bring me here?"
"I'm going to train your combat techniques—using this guy as an example."
Faora kicked the unconscious alien brute.
"He's nowhere near your equal."
Kara frowned. After barely surviving the earlier fight, her confidence was shaky at best.
The brute staggered to his feet after being kicked. He was momentarily stunned by the drastic change in surroundings. He only remembered charging like a tiger down a mountain, swinging his axe with ferocious force, on the verge of killing his enemy—then everything went black.
Unlike the disoriented Supergirl, his combat instincts were sharp. He immediately identified Faora as a threat and brought his axe down in a vicious overhead strike.
Kara hadn't even finished shouting a warning when Faora calmly caught the axe with one hand.
As if nothing were happening, she continued instructing Kara.
"I haven't been on Earth long. You've been exposed to the yellow sun far longer than I have—but you haven't used even ten percent of your strength. Watch closely."
She released the axe, deliberately lowering her power to Kara's level. Grabbing the haft again, she redirected the force sideways, flicked the brute into the air with her left foot, then pivoted and lashed out with a right-leg roundhouse, the kick cracking across his face.
"See? You must engage your entire body, not just throw punches and kicks."
Faora showed no pride in defeating such a crude opponent and reached out to pull him back up as a training dummy.
Thea chuckled softly. The unfortunate brute had been knocked unconscious again. With a light tap of her finger, she dragged him back, golden healing magic flaring over his body.
"I'll handle healing him. We have plenty of time—let's train properly."