Chapter 41
The Godkiller Sword pierced through a spatial rift torn open by the same divine power of the King of Gods, flying straight in and landing with pinpoint precision in Diana's palm.
The hilt felt warm in her hand, and familiar divine energy spread from her palm through her entire body. Diana instinctively tightened her grip on the sword.
Almost simultaneously, another silver streak flashed from the depths of the temple, and a divine shield attached firmly to her left arm.
But now, the gods standing in the shadows of the shattered temple turned their gazes toward the sky.
The spatial rift high above had not only failed to heal but continued to expand.
Beneath the tearing fabric of space, amidst the distorted light, Superman's blue figure flickered briefly as he continued to fiercely wrestle with Zeus's lingering divine might.
The very fabric of the God Realm began to ripple with fine tremors.
Immediately after, Shazam's red figure charged in with the force of thunder. He spotted Luka hovering in the distant sky, covered in bloodstains, looking as if he might "topple over" at any moment.
At his feet lay two corpses, one large and one small. Shazam was so shocked his mouth fell open.
"What the hell?! What happened here!"
Shazam's exclamation echoed across the shattered plaza. In a flash, he was at Luka's side, slinging one of Luka's arms over his own shoulder.
"Dude, you're insane!" His voice was filled with incredulous admiration. "You took down two gods by yourself? You're absolutely the coolest guy I've ever met!"
Luka, however, glanced at the two bodies and shook his head in mild doubt.
The God of War didn't count; the Justice League's records clearly stated that Ares would never truly die as long as the concept of war persisted in the world.
But the idea that he had actually killed Hercules and Atlas? Even Luka himself found it hard to believe.
Throughout the entire battle, the observing gods had remained remarkably calm. Moreover, two of Zeus's sons were among the fallen. If he had truly killed them, Zeus would never have remained so composed.
Across from them, Wonder Woman still held her sword pointed at Luka. Bound by the divine oath, she couldn't simply withdraw from the battle.
But Diana could still speak.
"They only sent avatars made of divine energy, just like the Goddess of Discord. Otherwise, how could mortals ever compete with gods on the same level?"
Seeing that Shazam remained skeptical, Diana nearly sighed in exasperation.
"If he could truly kill the true forms of the gods who granted you your strength and endurance, why would you still be standing here?"
This finally silenced Shazam's doubts, though he couldn't resist staring at the two corpses, muttering to himself.
"So, these are Atlas and Hercules? Wow, to be honest, this is my first time seeing them... in such a weird way."
Shazam awkwardly raised his other free hand.
"Aren't they getting cold lying on the ground like this? Should I say hello or something?"
Luka closed his eyes and turned his head away. Diana, still in her "full-power" stance, couldn't move her head, but she managed to roll her eyes at Shazam with great effort.
Zeus paid no attention to their exchange. Or rather, by now, he had no more energy to spare.
The King of Gods stared silently at the spatial rift Superman was steadily prying open. After a long pause, he abruptly abandoned his attempt to suppress it with divine force.
In an instant, the rift expanded fully into a massive spatial gateway. Soon after, Superman himself materialized within the divine realm.
Superman's blue eyes swept over Luka's body. His X-ray vision penetrated through the layers of bloodstains and torn battle suit, confirming that while his injuries looked horrifying, he was not in any real danger. Only then did he slowly turn around, his gaze locking firmly on Zeus before the temple, his expression grave.
The surrounding air pressure seemed to drop at a visible rate.
"So you're the legendary King of Gods, Zeus. And you raise your hand against a child?"
Before Zeus could reply, Athena stepped forward from the temple's shadow.
"Superman, it's not what you think. The divine realm merely—"
"Save your explanations, Athena."
In the sky, a pair of enormous eyes crackling with thunder appeared. Zeus's voice detonated like heavenly thunder in everyone's ears.
"Superman, if you insist on disrupting the divine realm's ceremony today, then there will be no peace between the divine realm and the mortal world from now on."
Zeus's figure on the ground had vanished. Superman looked up at the sky with an unwavering stance.
"If the King of Gods means to wage such a war over harming a child, then the gods must first cross over my corpse."
As the stalemate held, the roar of the Batplane finally echoed from behind the spatial portal. Like a black arrow, it pierced through the rift and landed steadily on the rubble-strewn ground at the edge of the plaza.
The hatch opened, and Cyborg, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash, and the others filed out. The moment they saw the scene before them, they instinctively froze in their tracks.
The once-magnificent divine temple had been largely demolished, its dome collapsed, stone pillars shattered, and the ground riddled with craters of varying depths. Debris and dried divine blood were intertwined across the landscape, while Superman appeared to be locked in a standoff with a pair of colossal eyes in the sky.
"Luka actually managed to tear this place apart? I thought we'd just come in to negotiate with the divine realm. Is there even anything left to negotiate?" Hal Jordan instinctively tightened his grip on his Green Lantern Ring, his throat suddenly dry.
Flash, meanwhile, crackled with Speed Force lightning, his face etched with anguish as he stared up at the massive eyes. "I swear, this is one of the craziest things I've seen since joining the Justice League. We've actually stormed Olympus. Don't tell me those are Zeus's eyes up there."
Despite their muttered complaints, the Justice League quickly formed a defensive line, facing off against the King of Gods of Olympus. Even Aquaman silently raised his trident.
Just as the tension reached its peak, Luka's voice suddenly cut through the air, shattering the oppressive atmosphere.
"Ms. Prince, for a fair fight, both sides need to be at their full strength. Besides, we never agreed on a battlefield or a specific time."
The massive eyes woven from lightning in the sky suddenly glared at Luka.
"You accepted the challenge of seven gods!"
A strange smile crept across Luka's face.
"Who said a promise must be kept? Besides, I'm so 'severely' injured. I simply don't feel like fighting today."
"By the way, didn't Hercules say this was a heroic trial? At the very least, the one you test should meet the definition of a hero, right?"
"Unfortunately, whether it's the classical heroes defined in your myths or the modern superheroes of the Justice League, I don't fit the bill at all."
At these words, all the Gods, including Zeus in the heavens, froze in stunned silence.
Zeus seemed completely blindsided by this revelation. His colossal eyes fixed on Diana, who was also staring back in a daze.
"You are Diana's student. You single-handedly defeated the Goddess of Discord, who sows chaos and discord. You didn't steal the Golden Apple, yet you dared to storm the divine realm alone to rescue your teacher..."
Even Athena, the goddess of wisdom, couldn't help but step forward.
"You're magically insulated. We can't use magic to verify your situation. If you're trying to escape with clever tricks, it's futile. Diana's divine oath was sworn upon the fourth stage of the heroic trial."
Diana seemed both amused and exasperated.
"If the most fundamental condition of the heroic trial is that a god must acknowledge the candidate as a hero..."
The divine oath shackles on Diana's hands and body shattered silently, and her sword and shield lowered.
"Then I can only acknowledge that he is my student."
Nearby, the corpses of Hercules and Atlas dissolved into the wind, the bloodstains seeping into the ground. Even the shattered temple began to gradually restore itself.
In the shadows of the temple, Hercules nudged Atlas's knee.
"I told you Zeus wouldn't succeed. He was taking shortcuts."
Moments later, the Justice League members, all looking equally bewildered, along with Luka, were unceremoniously kicked out of the divine realm.