Chapter 13: Grand Regent Thragg
'You have nerve, to come to my world in such a brazen fashion!' Grand Regent Thragg thought with a scowl upon his face. Fists lashing out, holes punching through the hull of the ship. Digging his hands into one, Thragg tensed his muscles and then tore the ship in half, both halves later being thrown towards another two ships.
Even then, more and more ships were heading down towards Viltrum. More Viltrumites having to divert and keep the Kryptonian at bay.
'Why now?!' He demanded. 'Why after all this time do you return to us now? To claim us? Do you expect us to bow to you purely because you are Kryptonian?' Diving down, Thragg barrelled through two ships, ignoring the energy rounds that struck against him as he once again positioned himself between the Vrang fleet and Viltrum.
As soon as he did, he was suddenly engulfed in a thick cloud of smoke and fire, missiles striking against his body and knocking him back slightly. With grit teeth, Thragg burst out from the smoke and went to attack the closest ship only to suddenly be brought to a halt. Body jerking as something gripped hold of him tightly, not only holding him in place but then being dragged back.
He turned, eyes widening as he looked upon the Kryptonian, one arm drawn back and fist clenched. It rocketed forwards, smashing into his face with force the likes of which Thragg hadn't felt for many millennia.
And then he was sent rocketing back down towards the planet. His body spun rapidly and out of control as he felt the uncomfortable sensation of pain before he felt his body strike a building. It crumbling beneath his weight as he continued to tear through building after building. Till his back hit the ground with such force it cratered beneath him.
He was thankful for that, it helped mitigate some of the impacts yet even then, he bounced straight off it once more. Eyes widening once more as he saw the Kryptonian shooting towards him.
Barely having time to raise a guard, the Kryptonian's feet struck against him and drove him back into the ground once more. A second earthquake rippling out across the planet, dust and debris erupting in the sky forming a large mushroom cloud clearly seen even from the battle going on above.
Yet despite his surprise at the power and strength of the Kryptonian, Thragg couldn't help but smile. 'I thank you for this.' He thought, fingers wrapping tightly around the ankle that dug into his chest. 'I'll use this to my advantage.'
-X- Line Break -X-
Grand Regent Thragg, he was quite impressive.
I had met and fought many Viltrumites in the past few weeks. All but a select few had been unable to withstand a full-powered blow and remain conscious. Out of these few who could, Thragg was the first to do so and not only be able to keep his breath, but also retain his ability to think.
Anissa and General Kregg were the only two to actually remain conscious after a single blow.
But that was to be expected, out of all the Viltrumites in the universe there were only four I was wary of coming to blows with, three of which were loyal to the Viltrum Empire. Those three were Grand Regent Thragg, Conquest and Nolan Grayson.
And the reason for that was simple, each of them was closer to being pureblooded Kryptonians than any other Viltrumite in the universe. This was all information I had gained from Bertron, the alien scientist who had been quite extensive in his research upon Kryptonians, even looking at the various offshoots such as the Daxamites and the Viltrumites.
During the Age of Expansion, the Kryptonians that had claimed Viltrum were cut off when my people retreated back to Krypton. They had been isolated and fighting against various foes, but had actually managed to create friendly relations with the natives of Viltrum.
Kryptonians were people of light, they absorbed the yellow sun radiation to give them power, but the natives of Viltrum were people of darkness. They couldn't withstand light and instead had deep burrows under the surface of the planet with which to hide in during the day. It was these burrows that the Kryptonians had used to their advantage. The natives defended Viltrum during the night while the Kryptonians defended it during the day.
Two polar opposites managed it put aside their differences in order to save their shared world. It was like a story from a fantasy book and naturally, it led to some interbreeding between the two races, creating the first Viltrumites, half-breeds.
The polar opposites, the mixing of darkness and light led to the first generation Viltrumites being unable to absorb sunlight, yet still possessed unnatural levels of strength, speed, durability and so on. It also led to them no longer requiring yellow sun radiation in order to grow stronger. In a way, they were improved, but at the cost of no longer possessing the limitless strength a Kryptonian could possess.
However, the purer the blood of a Viltrumite was, the closer it was to being a Kryptonian, the stronger they were. Combined with my own knowledge of Viltrums that I had acquired from the data stored upon General Kregg's ship, I was able to discover something very interesting about my biggest threats.
Conquest was a third-generation Viltrumite.
Grand Regent Thragg was a second generation.
And Nolan Grayson was the first generation.
Considering that the next strongest Viltrumites were Anissa and General Kregg, fifth generations. It was no wonder that those three stood head and shoulders above the rest of their race.
But that mattered little to me at this point in time, I had to do two things in this battle. Expose Thragg to his people as a liar and then kill him. Oh, and make sure that I retained enough strength that if the Viltrumites or Vrangs or both tried to finish me off in my weakened state, I could escape.
So make that three things.
Feeling something dig into my ankles, I lashed out with a kick that Thragg avoided, he quickly flying upwards and dragging me with him. Then, once we reached a certain altitude, he threw me through the air with all his strength. I didn't hit anything on my journey, Thragg actually throwing me away from the cities, smart of him.
But nonetheless, I caught myself in midair, Thragg having been following close behind, fist mere inches from my face. I moved quickly, leaning to one side allowing it to pass by, missing by a hairsbreadth. Even then, the blow packed enough force to release a destructive blast of air out that split the clouds behind us.
For a moment we remained there, staring at one another before we burst into a blur of motion.
We zipped across Viltrum, trading blows back and forth. Each strike blocked or parried by the other sending out shockwaves across the sky. In mere seconds hundreds of blows were exchanged and not a single one struck the other and at that moment I realised something, he was my equal in every way.
Speed. Strength. Agility. Reflexes. Durability.
He was matching me equally in every category and in the case of two, was better. That being skill and experience. Not overly surprising, Thragg had been around for centuries, possibly even millennia. He had fought in the Culling and had survived the Scourge Virus. Had fought in many battles to protect a weakened Viltrum from external forces.
Thragg was a man who had earned his position as the strongest Viltrumite through many hardships. I on the other hand had only been around for less than two decades, certainly I had been training for many years, but the sheer difference in our lifespans gave him an overwhelming advantage.
'This is insane.' I thought to myself, struggling to block his blows while trying to respond in kind. 'This is nothing like my fight against Doomsday.' Despite being nowhere near as strong nor as terrifying as the unstoppable killing machine that was Doomsday, Thragg was every bit as dangerous. In fact, I'd say more so at this point in time.
In my fight against Doomsday, I had a number of advantages, speed, agility, intelligence and skill. Doomsday had been a mad beast who ran purely on instincts and while possessing overwhelming strength that I probably wouldn't be able to match for many, many years, I could dodge them.
I could outthink him.
Thragg was every bit as dangerous as Doomsday but in an entirely different way.
Parrying a straight jab, I blocked the cross with my forearm as I stepped in close. Swinging my free arm up, I went to land an uppercut into Thragg's stomach only for the man to spin around the blow and come round with an elbow that I ducked under. Going with the downward momentum, I did a front flip in the air and came up with my right heel towards the underside to Thragg's chin.
The Grand Regent of Viltrum floating back just out of the edge of my range before rapidly closing in to strike my exposed back. And unfortunately for me, he timed it perfectly, a crushing blow digging into my back.
A shockwave rang out as I was blasted through the air once more. But despite being unable to avoid the strike in time, I had been prepared for it, managing to go with the forward momentum of my blow and arc round. Thragg who had intended to follow me was unable to keep up with my momentum as I rapidly turned around and charged towards him.
Thragg shifted his stance, leaning forward slightly to better receive my blow as I collided against him, our forearms clashing against the other. As well as Thragg tried to prepare for me, it wasn't enough and we rocketed through the air.
Thragg tried to resist but with my own incredible strength combined with the momentum of my speed, it proved too much for him to stop.
"Tell me something, Thragg. How's your search to find Emperor Argall's heir going?" A shift overcame the Grand Regent at that moment, no longer trying to resist me and instead of falling back, a kick slamming into my stomach and throwing me further ahead of him.
I was able to right myself quite easily and went to prepare myself for a following up strike but nothing came. Instead, Grand Regent Thragg had come to a stop, looking to me from many miles away.
Even from this distance, I could see the many emotions in his eyes. Curiosity, anger, caution and many more. 'Good, I've got his attention now.' Discretely pressing a button upon my armour, I slowly began to float towards him. 'Now it's time to reveal you're true nature to your people, Thragg.'
And I hoped that this would be enough to convince General Kregg. He was a powerful warrior and possessed considerable influence, if I could convince him then the rest of Viltrum would follow.
However, just because I could convince him to turn against Thragg, doesn't mean he'd be loyal to me. No there was a possibility that he could still try to fight and kill me so I needed to be careful and preserve some of my strength to escape if necessary. I could always return at a later date and reconquer Viltrum and the Vrangs if necessary.
Survival was the most important factor, however.
No matter the cost, I'd survive this world and then I'd conquer it. After all, only when one stood upon the top of the universe could they truly be free to live how they choose. It'd take time and many hardships, that I was aware of.
But then again, when did anything truly worth it come without sacrifice? Without hardship?
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone