Time stopped.
Space froze.
General Zod's heat vision—beams capable of melting anything—came to an abrupt halt less than a meter from that family of three!
The flowing beams of light had transformed into crystalline crimson icicles that radiated an eerie red glow!
The collapsing building was frozen mid-fall!
Flying debris, exploding flames, panicking crowds, a desperate Superman...
Everything, in that single moment, was encased in a layer of visible blue ice crystals emanating absolute-zero cold!
The entire city of Metropolis had, in an instant, become a magnificent yet deathly silent city of ice sculptures!
And at the eye of this storm, General Zod—the mighty Kryptonian ruler—received special attention.
His expression of rage and destruction was perfectly preserved.
His body, from the inside out, from every cell to every atom, was completely frozen under that "Absolute Zero" that transcended the very concepts of time and space!
He had become a lifelike, artistically striking human-shaped ice sculpture.
[KOF NESTS Core Technology - Ice Superpower: Absolute Zero]
—Activated!
This was the ultimate ability of the "Ice Princess" Kula Diamond!
A rule-type power capable of completely freezing even space-time itself!
Kryptonians were powerful, yes.
Their bodies were indestructible, their strength capable of destroying planets.
But before the laws of reality, all beings were equal.
What good was overwhelming power? What good was an invulnerable body?
In the end, they were merely specimens sealed within ice.
"Done." Cloud snapped his fingers and released his hold on "time."
The next second, the world resumed its flow.
But General Zod remained frozen in his heat-vision-firing pose, hovering in mid-air like a ridiculous statue.
Superman was stunned. He felt the mountainous pressure on him vanish.
He looked up and saw the building that should have crushed him was now suspended motionless in the air, supported by thick layers of ice crystals.
He also saw General Zod not far away, frozen solid like a popsicle while still in his attack stance.
And he saw that "crimson icicle"—Zod's heat vision, solidified mid-beam.
Superman was completely dumbfounded.
"What... what just happened?"
He wasn't alone. Everyone who had survived in Metropolis was equally stunned.
They stared at this miraculous, incomprehensible sight, their minds blank.
That was when Cloud finally rose from the hotel sofa.
He stretched lazily, then stepped out the window.
His appearance instantly drew every gaze.
Superman looked at this man wearing a bathrobe and flip-flops, yet radiating an aura ten thousand times more terrifying than Zod's, his eyes filled with shock and wariness.
"Did you... do this?" he asked uncertainly.
Cloud ignored Superman. Instead, he circled the "Zod Ice Sculpture," examining it like an art critic appraising a newly completed masterpiece.
"Hmm... not bad, not bad." Cloud stroked his chin and offered his assessment. "The composition has excellent tension. The expression really captures it too—full of rage at reality and accusation against his own powerlessness. I'd give it a nine out of ten."
"The only flaw is that it's too solid."
He reached out and knocked on the ice sculpture.
Clang clang—harder than diamond.
Superman, Clark Kent, flew over. He looked at the frozen Zod, his eyes filled with complicated emotions.
He tried using his heat vision on the ice sculpture, attempting to "rescue" Zod.
He still didn't want to kill Zod. He wanted to try talking to him again.
However... his heat vision, capable of melting anything, simply reflected completely off the blue ice crystals like light hitting a perfectly smooth mirror! It didn't cause the slightest damage!
"Don't waste your effort, Smallville," Cloud said lazily from the side. "This isn't ordinary ice. This is Absolute Zero. Your little sunbeams aren't going to melt it."
"Who... who are you?" Clark finally asked the question. His eyes remained guarded.
"Me? I'm just a concerned citizen passing by who couldn't stand watching someone make a mess in public." Cloud smiled.
Then, ignoring Clark entirely, he walked back to the "Zod Ice Sculpture."
"Alright, done admiring the artwork."
"Now it's time to put the finishing touch on this piece."
He slowly extended his index finger, and under everyone's bewildered gazes...
He concentrated the power of Yashiro Nanakase—the "Parched Earth's Heavy"—that earthquake-inducing "Shock" force with exquisite precision onto his fingertip!
It was a high-frequency resonance calibrated specifically to disrupt material structure!
He extended that finger charged with resonant frequency toward the "Zod Ice Sculpture's" forehead—frozen harder than any alloy—and flicked it lightly.
Boing~
A soft sound, gentle as a water droplet falling into a lake.
Then, reflected in Superman's suddenly dilated pupils filled with absolute horror—
CRACK—!
A crisp sound, like the most perfect porcelain developing its first fracture!
Fine cracks spread like a spider's web from where Cloud's finger had touched, instantly covering General Zod's supposedly indestructible Kryptonian skull!
"Im... possible..."
General Zod's consciousness was clear in that moment!
He could distinctly feel his body—that Kryptonian physique capable of withstanding planetary collisions—had become more fragile than the most delicate glass!
And that bathrobe-wearing demon had exploited precisely this!
Using a vibrational frequency calibrated to the atomic level, he had effortlessly shattered his body's structure!
This wasn't a contest of strength!
This was a physics-based dimensional reduction strike!
In the final moment before his consciousness faded to black, only one thought remained in General Zod's mind, filled with terror and regret.
—What kind of monster have I provoked...?
...
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