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SM/DC Chapter 150 : Fighting the Wrong Battle
🕑 Added 2025-06-16 21:39:55 +0000 UTCThe arena was massive, large enough to accommodate even Arthur’s most colossal shadow soldiers but it wasn't mystical or arcane. This was a high-tech facility, built from reinforced alloys and polished steel, with sleek LED strips lining the walls and ceiling. The lighting adjusted automatically to their presence, bathing the room in a cool, sterile white. Floating drones hummed gently above the arena’s perimeter, waiting silently for activation protocols.
Kara stepped in first, eyes scanning the empty room. Her cape swayed lightly behind her as she turned a full circle.
“So where are the punching bags?” she asked, tone clipped. “It’s empty.”
Arthur followed behind at a calm pace, hands in his pockets, his expression casual but sharp.
“Yeah... Even though I told him to make combat robots,” Arthur said, nodding toward a control console near the wall where Shadow Lex stood, waiting with arms clasped behind his back like a personal attendant. “Strong ones. Something that can take a hit from someone like Superman.”
He turned slightly. “Status?”
Shadow Lex gave the slightest shake of his head, ever composed.
Arthur sighed. “Apparently… they’re not ready.”
Kara scoffed, jaw tight. Her fists were still clenched, and her foot tapped once against the metal beneath her boots with enough force to leave a dent. She hadn’t softened since they’d entered. Her expression still held the same faint scowl he’d noticed upstairs. Something was clearly still bugging her.
Arthur’s eyes lingered on her for a second longer before he said, almost carefully, “I might have an alternative.”
With a sharp gesture, he snapped his fingers. Two silhouettes appeared and stepped forward moving in perfect sync. Ultra and Empress, two of his most powerful shadow generals. Violet energy pulsed from their eyes, and their presence shifted the mood in the room at once. The air grew colder, heavier, charged.
Ultra, a looming figure in a black and violet, hovered inches above the ground, his arms crossed. Empress, Superwoman’s shadow held a blade forged from shadows itself.
Arthur gestured toward them both. “Fight my shadow soldiers. These two are among the strongest I have.”
Kara turned slightly, eyes narrowing as she took in the two figures. She didn’t even blink. “Bring out Doomsday,” she said flatly, voice almost venomous. “I don’t want to fight trash.”
Ultra’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Empress tilted her head in silent amusement. Neither spoke but the air crackled faintly with restrained power. They weren’t used to being dismissed so casually.
Arthur blinked then laughed. Loud, honest laughter. But it was short-lived. When it faded, his face sobered almost immediately. His voice dropped, firm and unyielding.
“No.”
Kara’s head snapped toward him, her expression shifting from irritation to something dangerously close to offense. “You think I can’t handle him?”
Arthur didn’t flinch. “Yes.”
The silence that followed was a tightrope ready to snap.
Kara’s eyes burned not with heat vision, but pride. She took one sharp step forward, shoulders square, lips pressed tight. She was on the verge of losing it, and Arthur knew it.
But before she could speak, he raised a single hand calm, quiet, confident. His gaze didn’t falter. “Defeat them first,” he said simply, “and then I’ll consider it.”
Kara didn’t respond. Not with words. She stood there, frozen, the muscles in her jaw twitching. Her fingers curled slowly, but she said nothing.
Then Arthur reached into his system inventory and pulled out something wrapped in old crimson silk. He tossed it gently to Empress, who caught it with one hand. The silk unfurled as it fell, revealing a gleaming golden cord coiled like a serpent. It shimmered unnaturally, the kind of gold that didn’t reflect light, but absorbed it.
Kara’s eyes widened. “Is that… the Lasso of Truth?”
Arthur shook his head, a half-smirk curving at his lips. “No,” he said. “Not quite.”
He turned to Empress and nodded. “Use it. It was yours anyway.”
Kara tilted her head, still staring. “Then what is it?”
Arthur’s smile deepened as he looked back at her.
“This,” he said, his voice low and amused, “is the Lasso of Submission.”
The silence that followed was brief, broken only by Kara’s stunned blink, and Empress’s faint smirk as she uncoiled the lasso and wrapped it around her wrist like it was a familiar weapon returned at last.
Kara’s lips parted caught between confusion, embarrassment, and rising challenge. Her cheeks turned the faintest shade of pink.
Arthur actually caught himself smiling as he leaned forward and whispered in her ear. “Not that kind of submission…” His teasing paused just long enough for his own voice to drop. “…On second thought… it is kind of like that as well.”
He scratched the back of his hair, eyes flicking sideways at her. “Never mind...it’s a weapon. Deal with it.”
he stepped away from the arena and into the cool of the control alcove, where Shadow Lex stood at a sleek console. Arthur leaned in toward him, speaking quietly but precisely.
“Lex, this...” he gestured toward the arena floor, where Kara lingered, fire coiling around her gloved fist, “is an opportunity. Collect data. Analyze. Track performance output. If the arena gets wrecked, consider it feedback to build it stronger next time.”
Shadow Lex offered his signature polite nod, face unreadable, then tapped rapidly on his device before offering it to Arthur.
Arthur squinted at the glowing screen, brows knitting together. After a moment, he merely twitched and looked up.
“ ‘I Already Know what to do’ ” he said dryly. “Okay...”
Shadow Lex tilted his head, primly unbothered.
Arthur chuckled, then turned slightly, speaking loud enough to carry to the arena.
“Kara,” he said, voice smooth over the distance, “start when you’re ready.”
She didn’t wait.
The moment the last word slipped from his mouth, Kara launched forward with a sonic boom, her foot slamming the ground so hard the reinforced metal warped under the pressure. She shot toward Ultra and Empress with all the grace of a missile but none of the finesse. It was fast, powerful, and reckless.
Ultra stepped forward calmly, intercepting her charge with a brutal elbow aimed directly at her collarbone. Kara twisted mid-air, just narrowly avoiding the strike, only to be met by Empress’s sweeping leg, which caught her shin and sent her into a mid-spin.
She recovered quickly, hovering for a moment before descending in a hammer-fist aimed at Ultra’s head. He caught it with a single palm, boots skidding slightly across the floor before planting firmly again. Empress didn’t miss the opening—she flashed behind Kara with supernatural speed, her lasso of submission now glowing faintly violet as she flicked it around in a circular strike.
Kara dodged the lasso but caught a backhand to the ribs. The hit was precise measured not meant to injure, but to knock her off rhythm.
She flew backward, flipping in the air and crashing against one of the curved arena walls, cracking the plating. She groaned softly, but her pride was louder than the pain.
“Okay…” she muttered, flying forward again, this time swinging wildly with heat vision already charging in her eyes. “Not bad.”
But again, her form betrayed her. Punches came too wide, heat vision blasted without commitment. Empress ducked under the beam with ease and used Kara’s own momentum to shove her into Ultra’s waiting grasp.
He didn’t strike. Instead, he held her for a half-second testing her strength against his.
Kara growled and headbutted him, forcing him to release her, then followed up with a spinning kick. It landed this time, catching Ultra in the jaw and sending him skidding across the floor. But before Kara could celebrate, Empress grabbed her cape mid-spin and yanked her back violently, slamming her onto the ground with a satisfying clang.
Watching from above, Arthur folded his arms across his chest, eyes narrowing slightly. He wasn’t worried. More like… curious.
He muttered under his breath, half to himself and half to Lex standing beside him, “Is she really this frustrated?”
Shadow Lex offered no comment, only continued tapping into the glowing interface, recording every movement, every hit, every spike in energy levels.
Arthur leaned in, unbothered.
“She’s not fighting to win,” he said. “She’s fighting to vent.”
In the arena, Kara clutched her ribs and shot back to her feet, nostrils flared, lip curled slightly. Her breathing was shallow. Not tired just angry.
Ultra and Empress stood beside one another now, eyes locked on her, their forms unshaken and utterly in sync.
From the comm, Arthur’s voice came again, steady and deliberate.
“You’re sloppy.”
Kara turned toward the sound, eyes narrowing.
Arthur smirked, arms still crossed, his voice echoing across the chamber.
“Calm your mind and stop fighting like you’re trying to prove something and fight like yourself.”
