Her form was like a startled swan, graceful as a swimming dragon. Radiant as autumn chrysanthemums, luxuriant as spring pines. She seemed as light clouds veiling the moon, drifting like snowflakes stirred by the wind. Gazing from afar, she shone like the sun rising above morning mist. Drawing near to look, she blazed like a lotus blooming upon clear waters. Her figure was perfectly balanced, neither too tall nor too short. Her shoulders were sculpted, her waist slender as bound silk. Her neck was long and elegant, her fair complexion unveiled. She needed no fragrance, no powder or paint. Her cloud-like hair rose high, her slender brows arched gracefully. Her vermilion lips were radiant, her white teeth gleamed within. Her bright eyes held a captivating gaze, dimples adorning her cheeks. Her bearing was stunning and alluring, her manner calm and poised. Her gentle expression and soft demeanor made her words enchantingly tender. Her extraordinary attire was unmatched in the world, her form as if painted in a portrait. She wore a shimmering silk robe, adorned with jade and precious stones. Gold and emerald ornaments crowned her head, luminous pearls embellished her body. She walked in embroidered shoes designed for distant journeys, trailing a skirt of mist-thin gauze. The faint fragrance of orchids lingered around her as she hesitated, pausing by a mountain corner.
— Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River
Zod studied the figure he had just sculpted. Fortunately, she had originally been a 3D character like Tifa, so reshaping her wasn't too difficult. The truly challenging ones were animated characters like Esdeath, who had cost him considerable thought and effort.
Flame Spirit.
Beyond the standard Kryptonian soldier genes, she also carried the mutant genes of a pyrokinetic and a telepathic mutant.
With Esdeath, they could perfectly play with fire and ice.
"Hmm, should I make Liang Bing next, or maybe someone like Angel Yan?"
Zod mused, just as Flame Spirit's memories finished integrating and the electromagnetic stimulation awakened her brainwaves.
Although Zod would have preferred her in ancient attire, he'd put her in a uniform instead, considering how out of place that would look in modern society.
But wearing that uniform, Flame Spirit somehow became even more alluring.
"Zod..."
Flame Spirit recognized him. She stretched lazily, then stepped forward in her high heels.
"Let me introduce you to your companions," Zod said.
With that, he led Flame Spirit to meet Esdeath and Tifa.
He wasn't in a rush to create all the figure girls at once. After all, he'd need time to cultivate some emotional bonds with each of them.
Esdeath and Tifa hadn't thought that deeply about it. Seeing Flame Spirit, they felt only a slight discomfort at having one more sister.
But they quickly recalled Zod's beast-like impact and stamina. Normally, half an hour of pleasure would suffice, but since Zod and they were all Kryptonians, things tended to drag on a bit longer... long enough to rival a snake's endurance. Even then, they'd all lost to Zod every single time.
Especially lately—Zod had become even more ferocious, leaving them barely able to withstand him.
After letting Flame Spirit bond with Esdeath and the others, Zod went to find General Ross.
"You want me to give up being Secretary of State and join the Sword Bureau as an S-Class hero under a new identity?"
Ross hadn't expected Zod to come to him for this.
"Secretary Ross, you're the Red Hulk. The monsters are getting stronger and stronger, and there's even the threat of aliens now. Compared to all that, the Secretary of State position hardly matters. Besides, you know very well how important the Sword Bureau is."
Zod simply felt the Sword Bureau lacked enough star power right now.
Sure, Ben Grimm had replaced Steve as one of the Big Three, but Ben's strength against the monsters Zod himself had created was, at best, that of a punching bag.
As someone determined to build the Avengers—no, the Sword Bureau—into an even stronger superhero team than the Justice League, Zod couldn't leave things as they were.
He'd already made preparations. First, Blonsky would rampage through the streets, demonstrating his power, and then join the Sword Bureau as an S-Class hero.
Then Zod himself would convince Ross to do the same.
Super Abomination, Red Hulk, Green Hulk, Ben Grimm, and Iron Man Tony Stark—that would make the Big Five, wouldn't it? A lineup that could even go toe-to-toe with a Superman-less Justice League.
Of course, Shazam and the Martian Manhunter couldn't be in that fight. J'onn alone would take down three big guys single-handedly.
Right now, Blonsky was already out in the streets, transformed into Super Abomination and causing chaos. Ross saw it happening in real time because Zod had pulled up the live feed.
"You see, Secretary Ross? Humanity needs you. We need all the strength we can muster. Only then will we stand a chance against the hidden Monster Association and whatever alien threats are coming."
Zod spoke calmly.
Ross chewed on his cigar. It wasn't a difficult choice for him, really.
After all, the Sword Bureau now effectively operated above the authority of any national government, with countries pouring in funds and support. That was far better than being Secretary of State for a single nation like the United States, especially when that office didn't even hold that much real power.
S-Class heroes had practically become the career most American teenagers dreamed of. Even the presidency had dropped to third place, because second place now belonged to the Sword Bureau's A-Class heroes.
All the Sword Bureau's resources and agents were dedicated to serving superheroes. Superhero pop culture was gradually spreading. Under that influence, many who might have become super villains now thought—wouldn't it be better to just become a top-tier superhero instead?
In fact, the reason Zod had rolled out the Sentinel robots wasn't just to help evacuate civilians in emergencies. Naming them "Sentinels" had also been about having them oversee the superheroes.
He didn't want his superheroes developing the same unsavory habits as the ones from The Boys. If any misconduct was discovered, they'd be detained immediately, no hesitation.
So far, over a hundred superheroes had been arrested this way.
Zod was doing this because he didn't want certain ugly things to happen.
In the future timeline, the Illuminati had formed as Earth's secret rulers, and the Avengers had evolved into humanity's behind-the-scenes leaders.
Once the Avengers understood how vast the universe truly was, and that there were multiverses beyond that, the lives of ordinary humans on Earth stopped mattering so much to them. These superheroes began to grow cold.
When the Nullifier and the Abyss reached Mars, they turned Earth into their testing ground, destroying several cities and killing millions.
The Avengers rushed to Mars to fight the Nullifier. They fought to mutual exhaustion, exchanged a few verbal jabs, and then the Nullifier joined the Avengers. His massacre of millions of Earth's people? Swept under the rug, never resolved.
By then, the Avengers no longer saw themselves as champions of ordinary mortals. They had adopted the perspective of the cosmos and the multiverse. A single life, a million lives, were just statistics. They weren't worth the value of a single cosmic super-being.
Pinning all hope on the moral integrity of a handful of superheroes, manipulating them into infighting and mutual destruction—that was the highest political scheme of Marvel's human rulers. And the superheroes fell for it every single time, tricked again and again into fighting to the death until both sides were broken.
/-\
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