But the moment she heard Lucci's words, the Sea Queen's expression changed dramatically! A flash of vigilance flickered in her turquoise eyes!
"Mother Box?"
Her sharp gaze sliced toward Diana like a knife!
"Is this also about Themyscira?"
Her voice was cold, sharp, and full of the fury of betrayal!
"Diana! You and I are both descendants of the Olympian god, and our waters and yours have never interfered with one another. Each of us preserves the balance of the world!"
"Yet today, you actually brought a land-dwelling man who covets our tribe's holy relic into the waters of Atlantis!"
"Are you trying to provoke war between our peoples?!"
Hearing this, Diana suddenly felt overwhelmed. She quickly waved her hands in explanation,
"Mera! Please calm down! Things aren't as you think!"
"This time I'm not here as a representative of Themyscira! Instead, I'm accompanying Prince Lucci… Please, just listen!"
"Prince Lucci?"
Mera frowned even deeper. She swept her gaze up and down the man in black, who throughout had remained indifferent as if none of this concerned him. She could sense in him a terrifying, unfathomable power as vast as the sea of stars itself.
"Where is this 'Prince'?"
She asked coldly.
Diana drew a deep breath and introduced him in an extremely solemn tone.
"This is Prince Lucci, ruler of the Nine Realms and Crown Prince of the Asgardian Divine Realm!"
"What?!"
The moment these words were spoken, it was as if a ten-thousand-ton boulder had been thrown into a tranquil lake! For the first time, the ever-cold and proud Mera showed genuine shock.
Asgard? The divine realm that once led vast armies and ruled the Nine Realms millennia ago? He… he's the Asgardian Crown Prince?
Not only her, but even the seasoned Royal Guards of Atlantis behind her were thrown into an uproar at the mention of "Asgard"! Their faces were filled with awe and astonishment.
Yet, Mera was, after all, the queen of a mighty kingdom. After the momentary shock, she quickly composed herself, suppressing her inner fear, and raised her chin to look directly at Lucci. In her turquoise eyes, the hostility diminished, but a monarch's pride and unwavering resolve remained.
"Hmph!"
She sneered coldly, her voice still icy and hard.
"Even the Divine Realm of Asgard should not be so arrogant!"
"The Mother Box is the property of Atlantis, paid for by the blood and lives of countless ancestors!"
"If you want it, why not ask for it?"
A fierce fighting spirit blazed instantly in her eyes.
"You want the Mother Box? Fine!"
"Let's see if you can take it by force!"
Before she finished speaking, the Trident of Poseidon in her hand—symbol of Atlantis's royal authority—slammed into the sea.
BOOM—
In an instant, it was as if the entire ocean had erupted in fury! A roar like that of an ancient sea beast thundered up from the depths!
Immediately, in everyone's shocked gaze, a terrifying wave hundreds of meters tall appeared out of thin air, blotting out the sky and sun! This was no ordinary wave—it was a blue wall of seawater, billions of tons in mass, rolling at high speed!
With the power to destroy both the world and the earth itself, it crashed fiercely toward Lucci and Diana in the sky!
Yet, before Lucci and Diana could even react, the nearby aircraft carrier—having already kept its distance from this "battle of gods"—was the first to suffer!
BOOM—!
A tidal shockwave, like an earthquake and tsunami, swept forth! The steel giant, displacing over 100,000 tons, shook violently before this wrath, swaying like a fragile leaf! In the command room, people were instantly thrown off their feet, sparks flew from various instruments, and piercing sirens blared throughout the carrier!
"Goddamn!"
"What happened?!"
"Are we… under attack?!"
Captain William clung to the console, barely steadying himself. He looked up at the apocalyptic scene on the main screen, utterly dumbfounded!
It was… that red-haired woman!
Could she… Could she really control the entire sea?
Was the legend of Atlantis true after all?
"Emergency evasive maneuvers! Hard to port! Engines at maximum! Get us out of here!!"
The captain roared hoarsely.
But it was too late.
Before the monstrous wall of water, the surrounding sea curled up, and waves dozens of meters high bore down!
They were completely surrounded—there was no escape!
The soldiers on the carrier stared in despair and terror at the incoming wave, as if it were divine retribution itself!
They began to pray, wishing that the pride of human industry—their ship—could withstand such a force.
Otherwise… they'd be joining that "unknown god" in a watery grave in the endless deep sea!
In the sky, Lucci gazed at the oncoming wave, his expression unchanged. He glanced at Diana, who smiled helplessly beside him, and said lightly,
"See? In the end, things must be settled with fists."
Diana sighed powerlessly. She knew this was inevitable—whether Amazon or Atlantean, the pride and unyielding spirit of the Olympian god ran in their bones. If you wanted a holy relic guarded for generations, unless you had overwhelming power, they would never submit!
"Understood."
Diana smiled wryly and spread her hands. "Then, Prince Lucci, I'll leave it to you."
Hearing this, Lucci's lips curled into a faint, indifferent smile. He raised his hand, pointing gently at the massive wave about to engulf them.
"Don't move."
He uttered quietly, as if issuing a divine command.
Instantly!
The law of ice activated!
An invisible force from the origin of the universe—absolute zero—manifested in an instant!
Ka-chak, ka-chak, ka-chak…!
Time itself seemed to freeze!
The overwhelming, thunderous wave, less than ten meters away from Lucci and Diana, instantly froze solid!
It was like a three-dimensional painting frozen in a split second!
The surging waves and splashes were all entombed in layers of dark blue ice crystals visible to the naked eye!
And that wasn't all!
The terrifying freezing power, at a speed that defied the laws of nature, continued to spread desperately downward!
Ka-chak—
Thousands of massive, wave-shaped ice sculptures stretched toward the sea at a speed visible to the naked eye!
Queen Mera and the Atlantean warriors behind her were dumbfounded, faces filled with terror at this unbelievable sight!
They could feel a soul-freezing chill assailing them from all directions!
"Not good! Out of the water!"
Mera was the first to react! She shouted, surging with divine power, and led her warriors into the sky, quickly distancing themselves from the rapidly freezing sea!
But the freezing continued!
Centered on Lucci, the dense blue ice crystals spread in all directions like a plague!
A few seconds, a dozen seconds…
And within mere breaths, to everyone's shock and disbelief, as far as the eye could see, the entire sea!
Tens or even hundreds of kilometers in radius, the blue sea formed a single mass, reflecting endless cold light—an endless glacier!
Even the nearby carrier was frozen to the sea's surface by ice dozens of meters thick—utterly immobilized!
In this instant, the world fell into dead silence—as if it were the Ice Age!
Mera, her subordinates, and the Atlantean warriors floated above, staring blankly at the miraculous, cataclysmic sight. Their minds went blank, utterly unable to think.
This… what kind of terrifying freezing power was this?
Could a human being really do this?!
At the same time, on the frozen carrier, everyone in the command room was utterly dazed. They stared out the window at the endless glacier, no longer feeling any swaying. Each was like a puppet whose soul had been sucked away.
The aircraft carrier… frozen?
What should they do now? Were they saved, or about to face an even more terrifying, unknown fate?
The hearts of all were filled with confusion and fear…
After freezing the entire sea, Lucci nodded slightly, then slowly descended from the sky with Diana. Diana, too, was awed. They landed lightly on the smooth, mirror-like glacier.
On the other side stood the Atlanteans, faces pale and dull with shock.
"Now, can we talk properly?"
Lucci's voice wasn't loud, but it struck Mera and the others' hearts like a drum at dusk or a bell at dawn!
Mera's body suddenly trembled! She snapped out of her extreme shock!
Not even bothering to think about her opponent's terrifying, godlike power, her first concern was for her kingdom and her people!
"Where is Atlantis?!"
Her face turned as pale as paper! Her voice trembled uncontrollably with fear.
"You… what did you do to Atlantis?!"
If their kingdom beneath the sea was frozen together with the lower waters, it would be an unimaginable catastrophe!
Lucci glanced at her lightly.
"Don't worry."
"I acted carefully."
"Only a few kilometers of ocean depth are frozen."
"Atlantis is untouched. Your people are safe."
Hearing this, Mera and her warriors finally breathed a sigh of relief, their backs drenched in cold sweat.
Mera looked up at Lucci again. All the earlier pride and fighting spirit had vanished from her turquoise eyes, replaced only by deep reverence and disbelief.
"You… are you really the Crown Prince of Asgard?"
She asked in a dreamy voice.
Lucci nodded. "Unless I'm a fake."
Receiving this confirmation, Mera showed a bitter and helpless smile.
"Understood…"
She sheathed her trident and bowed lightly to Lucci.
"Forgive my rudeness, Prince Lucci."
"But… Prince Lucci."
"The Mother Box is a sacred relic guarded by my people for generations."
"Why… must you take it?"
Facing Mera's question, Lucci succinctly explained how the Mother Box in human hands had been stolen by Apokolips, and Steppenwolf was gathering all three boxes to open a permanent portal, ushering in the ultimate arrival of Darkseid.
"What?!"
Hearing the names "Apokolips," "Steppenwolf," and that world-ending terror "Darkseid,"
Mera's expression changed dramatically in an instant!
"The demons of Apokolips… have returned?"
Her voice was filled with shock and deep fear!
Lucci nodded. "Yes."
Mera unconsciously sought confirmation from Diana. Diana nodded gravely and testified for Lucci.
"Mera, everything Prince Lucci says is true."
"Right before we came here, Steppenwolf attacked Themyscira."
"If Prince Lucci hadn't arrived in time, the Mother Box of Themyscira would have been taken."
With Diana's confirmation, any last trace of hope or doubt vanished from Mera's face.
She knew the Princess of the Amazons would never lie in the face of such world-shaking good and evil.
Apokolips… the terror empire that dealt a devastating blow to the allied forces thousands of years ago! They've really returned!
Mera's face became extremely solemn. She knew the gravity of the situation was far beyond imagination. This was no longer just a matter for Atlantis—this concerned the life and death of the entire Earth!
After a long silence, Mera finally nodded heavily.
"I understand…"
"Since this concerns the invasion of Apokolips, Atlantis cannot stand idly by."
"Follow me!"
With that, she prepared to lead Lucci and Diana to the hidden kingdom of Atlantis, deep 10,000 meters below the sea.
But as she turned, she saw the endless glacier beneath her feet, and her face turned somewhat embarrassed. She glanced at Lucci with a hint of awkwardness.
"Um… Prince Lucci… could you lift this ice?"
Lucci nodded. For him, this was but a trivial matter.
He reached out again.
This time, instead of blue frost capable of freezing everything, what condensed in his palm was a golden lotus of flame, as if forged from pure sunlight!
Origin True Fire!
"Melt."
He uttered softly.
In the next instant!
That golden lotus of flame split into billions of streams, its golden sparks soaring in all directions like a magnificent meteor shower!
Zzzzzz—!
As those golden sparks landed upon the unbreakable ice, another unbelievable sight occurred!
…