11 - The State

How much is the gravitational force of the sun when pulling an object roughly the same mass as the entirety of Japan?

This wasn't a question that the ordinary man would ever even consider, but if Earth's bests scientists found out what was going on right now, they'd be able to quickly discover a conclusive answer.

Huge tungsten beams were plunged deep into the crevices of a mineral-rich asteroid slightly larger than the entirety of Japan.

Attached to those beams, were a great many cables that stretched far across empty space, pulling the humongous asteroid forward with a stable pace.

And tied to those cables, was none other than me.

Whatever was the answer to the question above was what I was currently feeling right now.

In order for one to become strong, one must endure high-intensity strength and endurance training!

A few days have passed since the whole mutated Rhino incident, and I yearn for more power...

That Speedster was a dangerous foe, one that would risk my future plans if left unchecked.

This is motivation!

A top workout choice for a Viltrumite was what we liked to call a 'Solar Pull'.

Using the gravitational force of the nearby star to pull us inwards!

In this case, I was doing the weighted variant, which was why I had this whole cable and asteroid set-up attached to me, well, to my suit to be exact.

"I wonder if I can lift this weight too..." Superman said as he floated beside me, glancing at the huge asteroid.

Sound couldn't exactly travel in a vacuum regardless of how loud we were, so I had taught him about the universal sign language.

Superman was already fluent in Terra's sign language, which happens to be quite similliar to the sign language adopted by most of the Universe, so his learning process was very fast.

I wanted to say that he probably easily could if he adjusted to the proper form, but couldn't exactly respond with how tied my hands were.

Right, Superman was here to spot me. Every high-intensity, high-risk workout required a spotter, after all.

If I were to somehow get exhausted and weak enough to no longer be able to lift this weight, then I would most likely end up being pulled into the embrace of this sun.

As a non-Kryptonian, that just straight up meant death without all the fun parts.

I glanced over to Superman, he seemed way more energetic than even his usual joyful self.

For a Kryptonian, getting close to a yellow sun was like visiting their childhood hometown. Kal-El got powered up and everything as he basked in the starlight.

I wonder what would happen if I just kicked him into the sun...

There have been cases where certain Kryptonians have flown into a yellow star on their own volition, believing it to contain the philosophical answer to their existence.

Unfortunately, they all ended dying since none of them could regenerate faster than the conflagrating heat of a star.

Perhaps if one of them had a way to not die instantly, they actually would become a God.

I don't think I want to find out, a Kryptonian God sounds like nothing but endless trouble.

By Argall, it really is unfair how those Krypton mongrels can get so sturdy from just sunbathing...

Were it not for our Magic, perhaps Krypton would be a much greater force than us and not our equal.

It is truly unfortunate that the they had to carry out the ritual that ended us so soon, couldn't you have waited until I learned some Magic?

I had been too young to learn it by the time everytime died. Unlike simple combat, Magic was a force that touched the soul—it was too risky for me to try and grasp it at that age.

In fact, this is actually around the time that I was meant to learn it, but of course, who's going to teach me?

Add can't, AIs don't have souls and are thus incapapable of Magic.

And I don't want to be taught by the Magicians of this planet...

Actually, I don't think I want to learn Magic at all.

It killed all of my people.

I'll find another way to get stronger, one that doesn't rely on tapping into a hell dimension for it to work.

I felt the pulling force of the sun significantly diminish as I flew just far out enough from its orbit, the asteroid no longer being subjugated by the domineering star.

Finally feeling the release, I let go of the cables and fly to the side, resting my body and focusing on regenerating the microtears for muscle gain.

"Hey...could I try?" I glanced over as Superman signed a request. "All I do to excercise is just fly back and forth to the Moon every weekend."

Flying isn't just cardio, it was an excercise that could train a majority of the body's muscles, even more so than swimming.

Just flying in an extremely high-gravity planet was already considered a high-quality workout.

The Solar Pull was an excercise that fell under the general catagory of flying, though it mainly trains the back, lats, and shoulders since that's where the cables are attached.

"...Do as you wish." I simply shrugged.

Whilst I didn't want him getting any stronger, denying him a simple excercise for no reason would be suspicious.

"Thanks!" Superman was somehow able to convey his giddy excitement through the sign language as he quickly floated into position.

"...Uh...wait, how do I put this thing on again?" He asked, glancing back at the asteroid.

I sighed and got closer. "The cables are designed for my uniform, but it can work for you too if you don't mind the pain." I latched the cables upon his shoulders.

Superman didn't react at the pain, simply nodding.

I flew back then accelerated into the asteroid'a direction.

Landing both of my padded boots upon the rocky surface, I pushed it down at hurling speeds, the asteroid being pulled back into the sun's celestial orbit.

Kal-El was pulled alongside the asteroid as he quickly adjusted his form with both hands punching forwards and both legs pushing bakwards.

He flew forward with all of his focus.

The asteroid wasn't pulled forward at all, but simultaneously, it also wasn't pulled backwarss by the sun.

A look of struggle briefly danced upon his features, but it rapidly changed to an excited grin as Superman pushed himself forward, defying the pain with a simple smile.

Mind-to-muscle connection firmly established!

It took a few more moments of struggle and joy before he finally managed to do it, pulling the asteroid completely out of the sun's gravitational domain with great force and effort.

Not knowing how to take the cables off, I did it for him lest he start using his lasers.

"That was awesome!" He gestured with his hands. "I felt my blood surge, like I was just a toddler that figured out how to walk for the first time!"

That's probably because you've been living amongst weak insects your whole life...

Damn, now that I think about it, how did he adjust to this planet's sports activities without being completely bored out of his mind?

I tried basketball yesterday and it was nothing more than throwing a ball into a basket, effortlessly easy for a Viltrumite, let alone a Kryptonian that's been fed yellow sunlight since he was in his diapers.

Superman quickly recovered his energy reserves due to the close proximity with the sun as he glanced at me.

"Can we fight again?" He signed politely. "I have just been fighting with holograms my entire life...that fight we had was the first, real one and it was..."

Terrans naturally couldn't put up much of a fight against Superman, so he must not have much fighting experience.

But he wasn't a beginner, Superman clearly knew how to fight.

This hologram thing he just talked about...it was most likely related to that Fortress place he had revealed a few days back.

Could one really train their martial skills by the use of realistic holograms? I mean, how was one supposed to even hit anything? What was the difference between that and just fighting an imaginary enemy?

Hmm...

It isn't a bad idea, to be honest. I should consult Add about it later...

"Of course." I simply gave a curt nod. "I don't ever want to miss an opportunity to fight a strong opponent." People get stronger much faster the stronger their training partners were, it made sense.

After pushing the asteroid far enough to the side where it wouldn't be a bother our spar, we stood there upon the vacuum, face-to-face with differing expressions.

Add flew closely as a small satelite, a large monitor held in its limbs depicted a countdown.

3.

2.

1...

-BAAM!

I took the first move as my body vanished in a blur, striking Kal-El with a left-handed jab that contained tremendous force.

He raised his right arm in response, forming a sideways 'V' with his arm and intercepting my well-thrown jab.

Immediately after that, I turned my body and used the momentum to give him a right-handed strike.

-Kaboom!

Kal-El was thrown back several room's worth of distance from the sheer force of the back-to-back attacks, but managed to resist most of the damage.

His cape fluttered in the vacuum, moving in an erratic manner not due to the non-existent wind, but from the kinetic force of his movements.

Focusing the power of the sun upon his eyeballs, Superman took advantage of the recently-created distance and shot off a pair of high-temprature laser beams.

It was of a bright crimson colour, conflagrating and incinerating every tiny fragment of space debri between him and its intended target.

I smirked before turning my back on his laser and flying to the exact opposite direction, creating an even larger distance between the two of us.

Then I placed a finger upon a barely-noticeable button situated on the collar of my uniform and clicked it.

In the next second, a second and third me suddenly appeared on my left and right.

I clicked the button again, and so did the clones.

3 became 9.

I spread in all directions away from the laser beams as I projected more and more clones of myself.

Superman was visibly confused as he managed to obliterate one of my clones with his lasers.

It vanished upon impact in a flash of dim blue light, but not before creating two more in its place...

Holographic projections!

Usually, Kal-El could easily see the distinguishing charateristics between holographic projections and actual people, but the current circumstances were rather unique.

For one, he was currently using his eyeballs to shoot extremely-concentrated beams of burning light—coupled with the distance, it wasn't that suprising that these realistic holograms could fool his gaze.

After our initial bout in the north pole, I was forced to come up with special strategies to deal with Superman's Kryptonian advantages.

It was when I had used holographic imaging to veil my face in shadow did I thought about using more holograms in combat.

This was also why I had purposely made more distance between the two of us when he started blasting—such circumstances perfectly accomodated this strategy.

It was also partly inspired by the actual Cloning (Illusion) Magic often utilized by some members of the Vanguard Force to terrorize the inhabitants of their assigned planet.

Though, compared to that kind of special Magic, my projections were way more limited.

They obviously could not speak nor interact with the outside world, and they also had to stay in my close proximity—since, you know, they were projected from my suit and all.

Basically, they were only useful for specific situations, but I wasn't asking much, just enough to evade Kal-El's lasers.

And my demands were met as dozens upon dozens of me shot through the vacuum, spearheaded by a projection that was obviously not me, all of us intending to crash against Superman.

In just 2 seconds, 15 of me vanished as Kal-El burnt through the front lines, gradually being able to distinguish their holographic forms contrasting against the background as we got closer.

But...

It's just a mere distraction.

I was already in the state.

Like a shooting star, the very dimension around me roared as lightning formed across the edges of my body, cloacking me in a veritable aura of spatial distortion.

I wasn't a Speedster, but this was just the natural consequence of breaking through the universal barrier known as the Speed of Light.

There was one thing that originally set Viltrum apart from our spacefaring peers in the ancient times.

The first Viltrumite that stepped on another planet did not use a starship.

I broke through the front lines as my projections all simulataneously vanished.

Kal-El instantly locked his fiery gaze upon me, but it did not accomplish much.

The Smart Atoms of which my entire body was composed of went into overdrive as the space distorted around me, protecting my body from the ravages of FTL speed.

Coming in contact with my intense 'aura' of distortion, the lasers simply bent in unnatural directions around my body, perpetually stuck in my 'orbit'.

Superman could have probably reacted had he expected my sudden ascension in speed, but the unexpected is always, well...unexpected.

-IMPACT!

According to all laws of physics, anything and everything that breached the speed of light would achive the mass of infinity.

In a Universe ruled by omnipotent cosmic beings, there would obviously be restrictions implaced to prevent an infinite mass from fully manifesting and jumpstarting the complete collapse of reality.

If one couldn't properly contain the distortion of space to a local level, they would face the severe consequences of those special restrictions.

Speedster get around this fact with their Speed Force nonsense, but others also have their ways.

Warp Drive techonology as a whole use certain loopholes in reality to jump through vast stretches of wild space with FTL speed.

Gods use their Divine Influence to isolate and bend reality, allowing them to achive FTL speed without any side-effects or consequences.

Viltrumites have what we'd like to call, the FTL State, courtesy of our Smart Atoms.

It was a temporary state of existence where our entire being is supercharged to speeds faster than light, allowing us to travel planet to planet on our own.

There was a caveat to this state, however.

Our minds and processing power could not be accelerated to the same level of unimaginable speed—maneuvering the body was still possible, but was limited to merely changing directions, and even then, only slightly.

It's meant to only be used as a form of travel, with our bodies being shot at FTL speeds in one general direction until we manage to either run out of juice or reach our destination.

Using it anywhere inside the boundary of a planet would result in a global extinction event and maybe even the complete desolation of all life on that planet.

It was great for destroying enemy Empires in mere moments—but it usually came at the cost of not being able to conquer them afterwards.

Since, you know, they would all be reduced to ashes.

Using such a special state in combat would usually be unadvisable unless one truly didn't care about the gains and losses, but these were special circumstances.

After all, Superman would most likely be able to survive a direct impact against me in this state. We were also quite far away from Terra, so why worry?

I kind of wanted to beat him up—blessed Argall, he was even asking for it!

It was also vitally important that I get a better handle on myself in this state, it might be my only chance of catching that Speedster off-guard.

Yes, it was possible to overcome the hurdle of the limited body-control in this state and achieve true FTL speed without any side-effects. My Father, Conquest, Nowlan, the Emperor, and a few others had done so...

Kal-El's brain seem to catch up to the current situation as the blazing heat in his eyes diminished in his eyes.

"Gah!" Sound couldn't travel far in the void, but my ears could pick up on the cracking sound of Superman's shattered ribs as my fist plunged deep into the centre of his abdominal area.

Unlike going into the state, which required some time, I could instantly turn off FTL as I did so with no hesitation, the aftermath of our impact showing itself.

Despite having been hit with an object travelling travelling at a speed faster than light, Superman wasn't instantly out of it yet.

He was spinning in the void, blood splurting out of his pores and with a head more disoriented than a bowling ball.

I glanced down at my arm.

It was bone and mush, compeletely reduced to a miserable state in exhange for that sure-fire hit.

The cracks of ruined flesh and bone jutted out of the complete right side of my body, all of it being bloody and messed up.

Somehow, it seemed I was the more damaged one...

Though I wasn't disoriented since I was used to living in pain.

Superman floated in the vacuum for a few more silent seconds, and then some more, though, of course, one couldn't forget about the even more few seconds after that.

And then Kal-El opened his eyes and gasped out a rugged breath.

Good beating!