"This is ancient Egyptian script. It means 'stop.'"
"This is cuneiform. It means... demon or enemy?"
"Good heavens, there are oracle bone characters here too?"
Dr. Sivana wasn't bluffing—he rapidly deciphered several ancient scripts. Of course, part of this was his attempt to prove his value to avoid being killed by Thea.
"It says Black Adam committed countless evil deeds and is permanently sealed here until someone who can completely destroy him appears."
"His enemies imprisoned him here. Later generations can release him and bring magic back to the world."
Sivana looked at Thea with some confusion as he translated this part.
"Foolish sealers, thinking they control everything—just delusional. Magic's rise and fall follows its own principles and has nothing to do with this place." Thea grew increasingly disgusted with the pompous old Shazam. Simply absurd. He actually thought he alone could represent magic. Did he even know his own name anymore?
Sivana caught the contempt in Thea's tone. He continued translating. "It says you only need to recite one word to open the tomb. That word is..."
Just as he was about to continue, Thea interrupted. "Thank you for your help, Doctor. The work ahead is ours. Do you want to keep watching or return to the surface?"
Dr. Sivana naturally didn't want his memory erased and sent back up. He stated firmly that he absolutely wouldn't disturb them—they should just pretend he didn't exist.
Thea was noncommittal. With this doctor's professional knowledge, she'd confirmed this was indeed Black Adam's sealed location. Burning the bridge after crossing it—discarding him once he'd done the work—would be somewhat inhumane, especially since this bald doctor had been busy for years on her behalf. Considering his merit and hard work, Thea decided to satisfy his curiosity after all.
But necessary precautions were still needed. She turned and instructed Deathstroke, "Watch him."
This seal on Black Adam fully demonstrated old Shazam's ignorance and arrogance. Anyone could just run here and shout "Shazam" once to unseal him. Thea was practically laughing at the absurdity. Was he joking? Throughout history, whose seal was designed this idiotically? Absolutely unrivaled.
Black Adam was also an idiot, without a shred of a proper magic villain's presence. Over thousands of years, he could have used the water-dripping-through-stone method to wear a tiny crack in the seal, then leaked out a bit of magical power to bewitch some ordinary person into coming here and shouting "Shazam" once. Wouldn't that free him?
This guy either hadn't thought of it or simply didn't know charm magic, and had stupidly remained imprisoned for thousands of years.
As for old Shazam who'd granted him power, he didn't know how to clean up his own mess either. He'd completely ignored the situation like nothing happened, just killing time. Only when he was so old he could barely walk did he suddenly remember—oh? Back when I was young, I created someone called Black Adam. What should I do? Frantically seeking a last-minute solution, he'd armed Billy Batson and had a ten-year-old child face his so-called nemesis.
This was the life of the senile old Shazam. Thea had zero favorable feelings toward such a person. Given the chance, she would definitely cut off his head to comfort all the suffering souls who'd died because of him.
As the first human to bear the name of Shazam, Black Adam might have questionable intelligence, but his actual strength was solid. This wizard who loved punching Superman in the face had some real skills.
It would be difficult for Thea to take him down without attracting attention. Fortunately, the Indigo Lanterns had provided considerable teleportation knowledge. She could drag this guy to an alien planet, where she could mold him however she pleased.
In Dr. Sivana's eyes, Thea possessed great mystique as she produced a golden staff. Vast, arcane patterns were inscribed in the air. A quiet atmosphere enveloped this chamber of less than twenty square meters. The oddly dressed Papa Midnite and Mister E were also arranging various things.
His lifelong pursuit of the mysterious world had opened a crack before him. Survival instinct urged him to leave immediately, but fanatical devotion to mysterious knowledge made him stay. Fear and fervor acting simultaneously on his body, the bald doctor trembled continuously, drawing Deathstroke's occasional glances.
In the original timeline, Black Adam seemed to only cast lightning. Thea didn't dare guarantee he knew no other magic. The key issue was that this guy could fly. If he sensed something wrong and just flew away, that would be troublesome.
Referencing Hermes's Underworld Displacement from that day, Thea had modified the teleportation array. She would transfer this entire area away. The resulting crater on the ground could be handled by Deathstroke's subordinate Terra afterward.
After checking twice with no issues, Thea turned to the bald doctor very seriously. "Dr. Sivana, are you sure you want to keep watching?"
The bald doctor was also engaged in fierce internal struggle. These people intended harm toward Black Adam—that wasn't hard to see. But Black Adam's life or death had nothing to do with him. After weighing everything, he decided to follow his heart.
"I must keep watching. This is my life's mission and belief!"
Thea was somewhat moved. For his dream, he'd reached the point of disregarding life and death. Whether he was a good person or bad, such pure quality deserved admiration.
However, this bald doctor had zero combat ability and couldn't help her much. In the original timeline, he'd pried the door open from outside, accidentally triggering a magical mechanism that granted him a magic eye through strange circumstances, launching the prelude to the battle between Black Adam and Shazam.
But his ending wasn't good. Immersed in the magical world, the magic eye had ultimately drained his life force. From this alone, one could judge he had absolutely no aptitude for becoming a mage. A crude magic eye that could only run on life force—what a tragic thing.
Moved by his persistence, Thea still tried to dissuade him. "Soon we'll be fighting on an alien planet. Are you sure you want to come along?"
She'd barely finished when she noticed Dr. Sivana's eyes radiating brilliance, his entire being in a state of excitement. He nodded emphatically.
"Fine then. My array is ready. You'll open this seal. You recognize the script on the wall, right? Recite it. Though I can't guarantee what dangers might follow."
Thea figured in the original timeline, he'd been the one to shout "Shazam," so he might as well do it here. If something went wrong, it was just his bad luck.
Sivana hadn't considered such deeper implications. Initially approaching Thea's array carefully, he later discovered he couldn't actually touch these lines floating in midair. Greatly reassured, he quickly walked to the wall and began identifying characters.
"Shazam!" At Thea's signal, Dr. Sivana shouted loudly.
As his words fell, the entire wall looked as if struck by something heavy. Massive cracks spread in all directions. The wall instantly collapsed. The prepared bald doctor had already retreated swiftly.
The dust settled, revealing a strong man in black clothing with lightning flickering between his eyes, wearing a hooded cape. His form gradually became clear.