Chapter 148: Appearance Of The World Engine

"Jean, trust me, I'll be fine; they're not a threat to me, only a danger to everyone else. Just stay in the X-Mansion, and you'll be fine. I'm just waiting for them to show themselves again since I know they will. Alright, I'll talk to you after everything is finished. Don't do anything stupid; bye." Said Pharaoh as he talked to Jean on the phone, who was currently lying on her bed, before he hung the phone up, only to hear Jean grumbling to herself.

Lightly shaking my head, I placed Susan's phone on the table and was about to walk toward Mom, who currently had a neck brace and a cast on her arm; however, just before I did, I heard Sara calling me, and it sounded rather urgent.

"Mom, Susan, I'm leaving; Sara's calling me. I'll be back eventually." Said Pharaoh as he quickly ran forward, kissing Hana on the cheek and waving at Susan before flying toward a hatch on the ceiling, which swiftly opened up, allowing him to shoot off into the sky.

"Be careful, Pharaoh! Seeya!" Said Hana and Susan, respectively, as the former turned around and turned the TV on, only for live footage of a large object to appear off the coast of New York.

"Um, Susan, I don't know what you're working on, but I think you may wish to see this." Said Hana as she gestured to Susan, who stopped what she was doing to turn around, only to frown when she saw the TV.

"T-That doesn't look friendly in the slightest." Muttered Susan as she approached Hana, standing beside her while they watched the large object land in the ocean, only for a thick beam to suddenly shoot out from the machine's center, causing the entire planet to tremble subtly.

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Flying to New York, I headed back to the Daily Bugle, as that's where Sara was; landing beside her, I was about to ask why she called me, only for the building to tremble, causing me to grab her out of reflex in case the building was about the collapse.

"What's going on, Sara?" Asked Pharaoh with a frown as he glanced at Sara before looking around, only to freeze when his eyes spotted the massive machine sending a thick beam into the earth, only for it to release a powerful pulse that caused all of New York to shake.

"Pharaoh, is that the terraforming machines?" Asked Sara nervously with an intense frown as she pointed at the world engine while glancing up at Tut.

"I'm going to use my common sense and say yes. That's what that noise was; I had heard it, but I had thought it was merely the military testing bombs out at sea; they do that occasionally." Remarked Pharaoh with an unsightly expression as he watched the world engine send out another pulse.

"Sara, get down to the ground level; staying in a tall, multi-story building during an earthquake is dangerous, let alone this." Added Pharaoh as he placed Sara back onto the ground before slowly floating away, only for Sara to grab his cape.

"And where do you think you're going, Tut?" Asked Sara with a frown as she steadied her footing while doing her best to yank Pharaoh, though he simply flew higher into the air, causing her to dangle for a few moments before falling.

"To destroy it, obviously; what else do you think I was going to do?" Remarked Tut with a slight frown as he folded his arms and looked at Sara, who was standing up while dusting her butt off.

"If that thing is a terraforming machine meant to turn planets into Krypton, won't you get weaker by being near it?" Said Sara lightly in concern as she looked up at Pharaoh, who shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe, maybe not; I don't really know; I just can't have this thing destroying earth. You still wish to live, right?" Replied Pharaoh with a raised eyebrow while continuing to slowly float away, causing Sara to run towards the edge of the building, nearly falling off when it trembled from the world engine pulse.

"Haa, just be careful, okay, Tut? I don't want my alien boyfriend to end up dead; I'm curious to see how our children will look, well, if that's even possible between us." Yelled Sara lightly with a smile as she waved at Tut, who smirked before kissing her.

"Don't know, but we're not having kids' anytime soon; we're still young. Seeya." Said Tut with a faint smile before shrugging his arms again, only to turn around and dash through the sky, heading right for the world engine.

Flying towards the machine, I was about to fly right through it, destroying it, but before I could, these metallic tentacle arms emerged and started chasing after me, causing me to make various maneuvers as they were quite fast. Flying underneath the machine, right into its thick beam, I speedily flew upwards, crashing through the beam into the heart of the machine before emerging from the top and using my heat vision to slice it in half for good measure.

Watching the machine fall to the ground in destruction, I couldn't help but furrow my brows, mainly as to why I felt completely fine despite being in the same atmosphere as the Black Zero; I didn't weaken even the slightest bit.

'Weird; whatever, I'll go deal with the other one in the Indian Ocean.' Mused Pharaoh with a slight frown as he shook his head before ignoring the destroyed world engine and speedily flying through the sky, quickly leaving New York.

While flying towards the Indian Ocean, I heard my Father calling me, which caused me to frown, but either way, I decided to take a little detour and see what he needed; besides, I needed to ask him how to imprison everyone into the Phantom dimension.

Taking a left, I flew out into the ocean while following my Father's voice, only to arrive at the island where I had parked the original spaceship. Landing on the ground, I entered the spaceship, and the instant I did so, my Father's projection appeared before me; I was about to ask how he was still here, in this spaceship, but he didn't even allow me the chance to say high.

"We don't have much time; as we speak, Zod is currently erasing my program from the Black Zero's mainframe. I've already copied everything on the Black Zero's computer and stored them on this spaceship, along with teleporting a few things that may be useful to your future endeavors." Said Von-Al solemnly and quickly as he glanced at Pharaoh before walking deeper into the ship, prompting him to follow him.

"How do I imprison everyone in the Phantom dimension?" Asked Tut seriously as he eyed Von-Al, who waved his hand, causing the projection of the Black Zero and his space pod to appear.

"There is a machine on the Black Zero that can open the Phantom Dimension, but without my assistance, you will not be able to use it; your knowledge of Kryptonian Technology is zilch. However, the Black Zero and your space pod are both powered by a phantom drive, which draws power from the Phantom Dimension to power them. The collisions of two phantom drives should create a singularity, which will momentarily open a portal to the Phantom dimension; with that, you can imprison everyone once more." Declared Von-Al as he showed a simulation through the holograms.

"The only problem is, I've only got one chance; if I happen to fail or mess up, I'll have three ruthless Kryptonians running amok across Earth." Remarked Pharaoh with an ugly expression as he looked at the simulation, only for Von-Al to further ruin his mood.

"No, aboard the Black Zero are all of Zod's soldiers who helped the two of us when we stole the Codex of Life. If you fail, you'll have hundreds of superpowered individuals running amok across the earth." Stated Von-al as he waved his hand, causing the projection to switch to an image of the Black Zero, along with numerous red dots lining the entire ship.

"Tch, great; whether I can get Zod or not, I've got to aim for the ship. This fucking sucks, but at least I know what to do now. What about you, Father? You're connected to the command key, right? If I aim for the ship, you'll also vanish into the Phantom Dimensions." Said Pharaoh with a click of his tongue while grumbling under his breath, before looking at Von-Al in concern.

"I'm merely the collective memories of Von-Al, a fake if you will; my life is of no concern, as I don't truly live. I'm just a program, a highly advanced one, but a program nonetheless. Though, wherever the real me and your Mother is at, I know they're looking over you with a loving smile." Remarked Von-Al lightly with a shake of his head before smiling towards the end, only for his figure to suddenly vanish from the spaceship, and no amount of calling made his figure reappear.

Sighing to myself, I gave the ship one last look before quickly flying out and heading toward the Indian Ocean, only to stop and look up at the sky when I saw the Black Zero entering the atmosphere, heading right for New York. Grunting, I continued flying toward the Indian Ocean to first deal with the terraforming machine; then, I'll deal with Zod and the Black Zero.

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For those who are curious as to why the Black Zero's atmosphere weekend Tut and the World Engines didn't, well, it's pretty simple; the atmosphere within the Black Zero was from Old Krypton, which had been bathing with the radiation of a red star for millions of air, contaminating the very planet, so Tut was breathing in contaminated air. Now, the level of radiation in the atmosphere was very low, and if he were to hold his breath, he'd feel next to no difference in his strength, but he didn't know that, and by the time he started to feel weak, it was already too late.