Though Thea had acquired many telepathic techniques and methods from the Martian Manhunter, she primarily used mental power to control them, which consumed her own energy. The Martian Manhunter was different. This was his innate ability, like Thea's Scales of Order or Aquaman's control over aquatic creatures. His telepathy operated with very little consumption.
Comparing purely by quantity, he far exceeded Thea's current level. Though not quite matching the Heroic Spirit transformation's communion with all beings, the gap wasn't large.
With his natural ability and minimal consumption, his search was more efficient and faster than Thea's.
He rubbed his forehead. "There are indeed many polluted consciousness entities affecting his sanity. What do you want to do?"
"Uncle J'onn, with your ability, can you eliminate them?"
"It's difficult. If there were few, maybe I could try, but there are too many pollutants in his mind."
I see. Thea leaned against the wall, thinking.
He wasn't her, so he couldn't use Heroic Spirit transformation to separate wheat from chaff, nor could he use soul-splitting techniques. There were almost no simple, easy methods.
"I'll work with you. We'll use our respective methods and eliminate as many polluted consciousness entities as we can before we can't hold on anymore." With no good solution, they'd have to brute force it.
A bit crude, but the Martian Manhunter had no better ideas. Let's do it!
The Martian Manhunter's consciousness entered first as the vanguard, with Thea following behind.
They split up to search for polluted consciousness entities. Thea quickly spotted something like a skinned Cerberus. Defeating it in the mental world wasn't hard, but completely eliminating it was troublesome.
Thea shot the creature dead three times in succession, but it just shook its head and stood up again.
The polluted consciousness entities were too closely linked to Heracles' core being! Each death consumed Heracles' consciousness. Simple slaughter was meaningless and might even worsen things.
Thea looked at her now-rich wish power and extracted one-tenth of it.
A bright white beam shot from her mental projection's finger straight into the Cerberus's body. Its form immediately froze, flickering with mosaic-like waves before completely collapsing, reverting to Heracles' original consciousness.
Resolute, tenacious, brave—this small consciousness entity possessed nearly all qualities a warrior could have. Light flashing, it transformed into a miniature Heracles holding a battle axe, nodding gratefully at Thea before running toward another direction.
It seemed consciousness entities and polluted consciousness entities shared some natural connection. Thea followed closely, soon discovering another pollutant. The positive consciousness entity wielding the axe was locked in combat with it.
Looking at the wish power in her hand, already nearly half consumed, Thea didn't hesitate. She shot this beam into the pollutant. Like before, another positive consciousness entity wielding twin swords jumped out.
Excellent! This was conversion—turning enemies into allies. One less for them, one more for us! Only in mental world warfare would this work; in reality, such tactics would drive the opponent mad.
No longer concerned about wish power consumption, Thea directly converted eighteen pollutants. Keeping some wish power for emergencies, she signaled the positive entities to act freely. During the process, she'd discovered these positive entities, unlike external mental forces like theirs, could actually kill pollutants permanently. Perhaps this was the so-called "he who tied the bell must untie it."
She rushed back to the entrance. Thea's mental power and wish power were both nearly depleted; she needed to retreat.
Halfway there, she saw the Martian Manhunter in full glory. In the mental world, he'd revealed his true form—green skin, purple cape, crimson eyes. Judging by appearance alone, he looked almost villainous.
His mental projection was more offensive than Thea's. Realizing conventional methods couldn't kill the opponents, he chose a new approach.
In this mental world, using his powerful talent and understanding, he'd forcibly carved out an even deeper mental space. Those polluted consciousness entities were all beaten half-dead and thrown inside. Best if they self-destructed; if not, at least they were temporarily isolated.
This method was excellent! Thea's eyes lit up. Everyone truly had their own tricks. The Martian Manhunter was indeed a worthy master of telepathy. Heracles wasn't ordinary—he was a deity with iron-like tenacity. Being able to dig holes in his unyielding mind was an ability few could achieve.
Mental battles were like tug-of-war—one side weakened, the other naturally rose. As polluted consciousness entities were continuously imprisoned, Heracles' core will finally responded. More positive will entities joined the battle.
Thea, who'd been about to retreat, stayed to help.
Time passed—a full half hour. Even with his talent supporting him, the Martian Manhunter couldn't take it anymore. The enemies were simply too numerous. After firmly sealing the deep mental space, he called Thea to withdraw.
"How are you both? Are you alright?" Diana, unable to help at all, anxiously asked seeing them both somewhat fatigued.
"Better than expected, thanks largely to Uncle J'onn." Thea didn't claim credit. His help exceeded her expectations.
The Martian Manhunter was truly exhausted. His mental abilities were strong, but recovery was slow. Unlike Thea, who had fear emotion as a foundation and could convert some anytime to recover, he needed time to slowly recuperate.
"Thank you for your help..." Heracles had long since awakened from unconsciousness. His consciousness could now barely suppress the negative emotions. Complete recovery to normal would require several more treatments, but without provoking him, normal communication was no problem.
After brief introductions, Heracles was quite polite when normal. Especially seeing these three weren't weak—Diana went without saying; Zeus's daughter couldn't be too bad. In his eyes, Thea was also formidable. Dropped into his era, she'd easily qualify as a demigod hero.
The Martian Manhunter was what truly drew his attention. Heracles didn't know about his fire weakness. From his perspective, the Martian Manhunter was simply flawless—whether bodily strength or mental power, perfect to the extreme. Were these modern Earth people?
"What did you mean earlier about fortune and misfortune?" Diana, seeing his restored lucidity, asked urgently. His words on the island had been vague; she'd wanted to ask for a while.
Hearing this, Thea and the Martian Manhunter also turned their attention. Thea had been busy purifying earlier and truly didn't know they'd had a brief conversation.
"The primordial beings' will returned to Gaia, and the world's barriers became thin. This means... the gods are about to return!"