"Shh!" Shiller gestured to the person behind him.
Strange looked at him incredulously, "I thought we were here to stop them."
"Yes, but rushing over there now might have the opposite effect." Shiller held him back.
"At least give me a bit of backstory." Strange couldn't help but say, "What is that pendant? Why is Lucifer angry?"
Shiller paused, glanced at Charles, and then said, "Could you send him the background story, Professor?"
"Was I supposed to know?" Charles was also puzzled.
"Come to the tower. I'll send it to you."
Soon, both Charles and Strange were lost in thought. Meanwhile, the Batmen seemed to need no such complex methods.
"Do you remember?" Primary Universe Batman spoke to Arkham Batman in the mental realm.
"What?"
"Mephisto," Primary Universe Batman said, "He seemed to have told us this story."
"Are you talking about something with a substitute? What did he say again?"
Now. Beside the Origin Wall. The Multiverse Justice League stood to the left of the sugar-coated haws, all bewildered as they watched Lucifer and Anatoli. The Marvel team Shiller brought stood to the right, whispering the background story.
"I'll go assure them first." Primary Universe Batman said, "And by the way, Professor, send me the background story as well."
Soon, the Multiverse Justice League also fell into contemplation.
As it turned out, when reading gossip, people's minds work quickly. Anatoli and Lucifer hadn't even exchanged more than a couple of words before both sides of the multiverse had swallowed up the juicy tidbit between them. The situation began to become delicate.
Lucifer seemed caught in his own emotions, too preoccupied to read others' minds. Thus, despite the two multiverses combined, he was the only one who hadn't recognized Anatoli.
"That's the downside of arrogance," Primary Universe Batman commented, "He doesn't care about our thoughts, so he can't discern any information from them."
"I think this is a private matter between the two of them, and we shouldn't interfere," Main Universe Wonder Woman said, "He wouldn't necessarily appreciate being watched by so many people. If he gets angry, we'll all be in trouble."
"Is that the main point?" Main Universe Superman said, "Watching us won't be the most infuriating thing for him right now. If Batman had concealed his death from me for so long and returned under a false identity, I'd be absolutely furious."
"In that light, Watson was indeed tender-hearted," Charles said softly, "I remember he fainted right away when he saw Holmes return?"
"If only someone would faint," Shiller sighed, trying to ignore his own boiling mind, "It would be fine if any of them fainted."
"Not very optimistic," Strange shook his head, "I think we'd better prepare for a fallen angel's battle."
"You mean this?" The First Lantern reached out and took down the pendant, "I won this over drinks with someone."
He lightly emphasized the pronunciation of "someone," making it sound slightly heavier. But Lucifer was still lost in his thoughts, replaying the situation from that day.
"What's this?"
"Nothing." Lucifer took a deep breath, "Did Constantine give it to you?"
"Yes. He told me it contains the breath of Satan's wrath, capable of expelling angels. It seems unexpected to you that this ended up with me, Mr. Satan. Did he steal it?"
"No," Lucifer said through gritted teeth, "It might have been left behind at his place."
"Oh, I see. There's not much use for me to keep this." The First Lantern handed it over, "Help me return it to its rightful owner."
Lucifer finally realized he might have behaved a bit inappropriately. Even at his lowest, he was Hell's Master, and running up to someone demanding something was undignified.
Moreover, people from both sides of the multiverses were watching. Accepting it just like that would make it seem like a blatant robbery.
Though The First Lantern said it was useless to him, it totally sounded like an excuse. Like saying, "I can't beat you anyway, so if you want it, I have no choice but to give it to you."
Yet Lucifer couldn't find a suitable reason. He remembered that he might have been drunk and smashed the glass. While he picked up all the pieces, one might have been missed, perhaps not because Constantine stole it. Accusing someone wrongfully was beneath him.
Since it was something he dropped and Constantine picked it up and gave it to someone else, his furious questioning seemed overly aggressive and rather graceless.
Lucifer took a deep breath and said, "No. You keep it."
"Can you tell me what this thing is? After all, Constantine isn't always reliable. Isn't that right?"
Did he tell you what it is? Lucifer only instinctively glanced up, or perhaps out of politeness, looking at someone's eyes while speaking. But when he saw those eyes, he felt something was off. This strange feeling lingered in his heart, yet countless threads intertwined, unable to grasp that fleeting inspiration.
"Shards of Satan's chalice," The First Lantern said. "Forgive my curiosity, I honestly can't imagine what circumstances would lead Satan to smash his own chalice. Did angels invade Hell?"
"How dare you think that way?" Lucifer's face darkened, "Do you think I'm someone who would toss my cup aside out of fear from angels invading Hell?!"
"I don't know." The First Lantern shook his head, "It seems you must cherish this chalice, otherwise you wouldn't be so angry. I also can't imagine under what circumstances you'd smash it."
"I was drunk," Lucifer said.
"Really? I think alcohol is just a catalyst, never the cause of the thought itself. Since it's in my hands making you unhappy, I'll return it to you. I don't want to cause trouble, Lord Satan."
The First Lantern directly tossed the pendant out. Lucifer widened his eyes, catching it, then stared coldly at The First Lantern: "What you did doesn't seem like avoiding trouble. Are you trying to use me as leverage in front of the Multiverse Justice League? That would be a foolish decision, disaster recruit."
"It should've been. But considering you're acting like a British football hooligan, forget about it." The First Lantern shook his head.
"How does he manage to act so confidently?" Arkham Batman asked, a bit puzzled. "Isn't he worried at all about being exposed?"
"His attitude is just terrible," Big Adventure Batman said. "Clearly, he faked his death to deceive his friends, how can he humiliate them when he returns like this? It's really somewhat..."
"Shameless?" Primary Universe Batman followed up.
"Why is this happening?" Big Adventure Batman truly struggled to understand.
"Perhaps he really believes he's not wrong, or rather, the other side is more wrong?"
"No way," Arkham Batman said. "Lucifer did nothing wrong; he was merely deceived."
"But is he even capable of being deceived?"
Arkham Batman glanced at Primary Universe Batman. Primary Universe Batman said: "The Universe administrators can directly view the backend data. Him not recognizing it proves he has never looked at it. Even now, he hasn't."
"But that only shows... he's not diligent at work." Big Adventure Batman wracked his brains, "It doesn't mean he doesn't care about his friends, right?"
"Yes, that's not quite right." After so much discussion, Primary Universe Batman finally put forth his argument, "If he's not really a shameless person, then he must be doing it deliberately."
"I don't get it." Arkham Batman shook his head.
"Why do I feel The First Lantern is deliberately provoking Lucifer?" Strange asked, "Keeps pressing about the shards of the chalice and calling him a football hooligan. That's something no one can endure, right?"
Shiller was also observing. After all, he wasn't here just for a show; he wanted to know why Anatoli was hiding from Lucifer, and how he managed to do so.
One must know, Lucifer can view the backend data. Logically, he shouldn't be unable to discover it. But he just didn't notice. This proves he never looked at it, and even when he saw the pendant on Anatoli, he never doubted.
This might be because, when Anatoli used Shiller's body previously, he had Shiller's appearance. And now, this appearance should be his original look. There's quite a difference between the two.
Shiller's appearance leans more towards mixed-race, with certain Eastern characteristics. But Anatoli is a very standard Slavic appearance, with a prominent brow ridge, high nose bridge, deep-set eyes. Though not blond, those blue eyes are almost exclusively owned by white people. Appearance greatly impacts demeanor and aura, so it's understandable Lucifer couldn't deduce through looks alone.
As for why he doesn't check the data, Shiller thinks it may still be due to Lucifer's arrogance. Firstly, he believed Anatoli was dead and wouldn't change his view easily. Secondly, he outright disregards characters like The First Lantern. Though The First Lantern's powers are set to be quite strong, it's still not enough before Lucifer. Handling such characters doesn't even require the Universe administrator's strength, even if he uses his Archangel or Satan's power, it's sufficient, making it unnecessary to bother looking at the data.
This is the downside of not taking work seriously. Shiller thought, surely the doctor knows Lucifer's work routine, slacking off every other day, forgetting to check the backend data for decades, thus daring to be so blatant.
As for his attitude now, it doesn't seem like sincere feelings of reverse blaming, rather as if he's constantly provoking Lucifer. And because he's very familiar with Lucifer, such tactics work quite effectively. Lucifer absolutely cannot tolerate such humiliation, his wings already fully spread open, a prelude to taking action.
However, Shiller couldn't allow him to act just like that. Because once they start fighting, Anatoli could stage The First Lantern's retreat, smoothly slipping away.
Afterwards, Lucifer still wouldn't remember this defeated opponent and wouldn't investigate what all this is about. That won't do.
"Send me over." Shiller turned and said.
Charles seemed a bit hesitant, but Erik had already taken action. As they approached Lucifer, Shiller called out, "Lucifer!"
Lucifer's flapping wings stiffened. He turned to look at Shiller and said, "What are you doing here?"
"You know, arrogance will only unscrupulously fish for his lousy student. I need to figure a way to get Earth down from the Origin Wall. But what about you, what are you doing here? Weren't you telling me you were fixing compatibility issues?"
Lucifer opened his mouth, clearly unsure how to respond. He hadn't planned to show himself at all, so when Shiller messaged asking about the progress of the compatibility fix, he habitually replied with, "Fixing it." Unexpectedly, skipping work and got caught red-handed.
With Shiller's interruption, half of Lucifer's anger dissipated. He awkwardly changed the subject: "How do you plan to get Earth down?"