Chapter 157: Martian Manhunter

The deep red flagship Marshal's Sacrifice had already reached the outer space of Mars.

Two natural satellites, Phobos and Deimos, could be seen orbiting Mars.

Mars has an atmospheric density of only about 1% of Earth's, making it extremely dry with low temperatures, averaging -55°C. Water and carbon dioxide freeze easily on the surface. The atmosphere is predominantly composed of carbon dioxide, reaching 95.3%, making it thin and cold. The surface is covered in impact craters, canyons, dunes, and gravel, with no stable liquid water.

The southern hemisphere consists of ancient highlands filled with impact craters, while the northern hemisphere is a relatively young lowland plain.

There's a substantial amount of water ice beneath the surface in the polar and mid-latitude regions, which is the source of Martian water resources and hope for survival.

Millions of years ago, Mars was once a thriving ecologically diverse planet similar to Earth. However, like Earth with its human population, different races, wars, disputes, ecological destruction, and natural destruction, Mars gradually made its surface inhospitable.

In desperation, Martians had to create a subsurface world in the mantle, isolating themselves from the surface. They had long forgotten what the stars looked like.

Until now, many White Martians, Yellow Martians, and Green Martians believed that the rocky ceiling of their underground world was everything.

Martians remained in a state of sadness, only knowing the rocky ceiling when looking up at the sky, continuing to survive.

In the dark cosmos, the fiery red planet, Mars, gave off an aura of desolation and death, much like the Marshal's Sacrifice.

In the starry sky, the front of the Marshal's Sacrifice flagship split open, combining into a star-destroying cannon. It aimed at the mid-latitudes of Mars, and the star-destroying cannon's muzzle began to shine with a high-frequency particle cycle.

On Earth.

The blue flagship Marshal's Courage projected a chilling image that left Earth's inhabitants a bit uneasy.

"That's... Mars!"

"What is he planning?"

"He's already the uncrowned king of Earth."

"What more does he need to show?"

A few astronomers who saw the Marshal's Sacrifice's cannon aimed at the mid-latitudes of Mars had a shudder and guessed what he intended to do.

This was the simplest and easiest place to puncture Mars.

This was a stellar destruction!

"H'el! How dare you harm my homeland!!!"

The Martian Manhunter was utterly furious. Blood-red eyes bulged from the center of his irises, and his green skin and facial features contorted with anger. In the past, he had been afraid of causing sonic booms by exceeding ten Mach, which could harm surface-dwelling humans. But now, he had left those fears behind.

His furious figure broke the sound barrier, rapidly tearing through the sky, and a thunderous sonic boom wave rippled beneath him. The city below shook as cracks spread across glass windows, skyscrapers shattered, and countless shards of glass rained down. Humans cowered in corners, covering their ears and screaming.

A white sonic boom cloud streaked across the sky as the Martian Manhunter raced towards the Arctic Fortress.

He activated intangibility, merging into the heart of the fortress. Inside the temperate and brightly lit Arctic Fortress, the Martian Manhunter's blood-red eyes opened microscopes, infrared vision, electromagnetic spectrum vision, X-ray vision, scanning numerous energy frequencies inferior to his own. Finally, he fixed his gaze on H'el, whose depth was indiscernible.

"You shouldn't have laid a hand on my homeland!"

He swiftly traversed through the walls, reaching the Department of Biology. There, in front of Superman, stood H'el. J'onn's face contorted with anger. His right hand's fingers were bent like claws, poised to dig into H'el's heart.

The Martian Manhunter, who had always held back his power when dealing with Earthlings, was now consumed with rage. He used all his might to drive his hand into H'el's heart, with the intention to exit the intangible state and crush his heart directly.

At the critical moment, as if there was a telepathic connection, H'el gently extended his palm in the direction of the intangible Martian Manhunter.

A sense of impending danger surged in the Martian Manhunter's heart, but his belief in the invincibility of his intangible state and the fury within him overshadowed the ominous premonition deep within. Even though H'el clearly intended to use telepathic force to stop him, the Martian Manhunter was determined to push forward, ignoring the risk of injury, and he curved his fingers into a claw, intending to plunge them into H'el's heart to kill the Kryptonian who threatened his homeland.

Boom!

A violent telepathic force erupted from H'el's palm. The magnitude of this impact was so immense that it generated shockwaves even on the physical level. It collided head-on with the intangible Martian Manhunter.

The Martian Manhunter's eyes bulged in a ghastly fashion as if they were about to pop out. His vision suddenly blurred, and multiple H'els appeared before him. Darkness descended in an instant, and his mind was subjected to a severe blow, forcefully ejected from his intangible state.

The telepathic force extended into the physical realm, carried by its overwhelming impact, shattered the Martian Manhunter's right hand, reducing the clawed fingers to a series of fragments. His forearm bones slammed into his upper arm, displacing the humerus bone from the shoulder.

The Martian Manhunter was sent flying backward faster than his previous approach, smashing through the laboratory wall of the Arctic Fortress. He shot out from the Arctic Mountains, leaving a white sonic boom trail across the polar sky, colliding with a distant mountain peak.

The distant white mountain resounded with a thunderous noise, and vast snowflakes were thrown into the air.

"Don't mind him; get back to work."

Some guards and researchers reacted and began initiating wartime defense systems, sensing that the green-skinned intruder had invaded the laboratory once again.

H'el extended his hand to stop them and allowed them to continue their work. The all-seeing, unfocused pupils in his eye opened slowly, gradually recovering, and he closed his telepathic perception. His deep gaze remained calm as he looked at the Martian Manhunter.

In a way, he had to thank the Martian Manhunter for allowing him to develop a new telepathic skill. It was just a shame...

H'el wore an indifferent expression as he walked towards the fallen Martian Manhunter, lying in a two-hundred-meter diameter crater with a spiderweb pattern of cracks. His right hand's fingers were shattered, and his upper arm's humerus bone was dislocated from the shoulder. Such physical injuries were no longer a concern for him. His psychic pain was more intense, making his consciousness feel like fragmented, unconnected grains of sand. His thoughts seemed incapable of forming a coherent consciousness.

His bloodshot eyes had ruptured blood vessels, and blood flowed from his eyes.

In an incalculable period of mental struggle, he slowly pieced together his shattered psyche. In agonizing clarity, he became aware of what had happened, lifting himself from the fog of confusion. He opened his telepathic sight with all his strength, gazing at the Marshal's Sacrifice in the starry sky, its cannon aimed at the mid-latitudes of Mars.

"No!!!"

°°°

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