Mera was conflicted. She desperately wanted to leave right then and there, but her damn sense of responsibility kept her from doing so.
'You brought him here. You should take him away. This is your responsibility. You can't run away just because you're afraid of causing a commotion in the human world.'
Her upbringing with a strong education ultimately made Mera grit her teeth and stay.
"Hurry! Lothar!"
"The police will be here any minute!"
Mera kept urging Lothar on the second floor. Breaking in in the middle of the night like this, the police were 100% going to investigate. Mera even felt she could already hear the sirens, though it might have been her imagination.
"Quiet." Lothar, who was engrossed in checking Woz's system logs while holding his books, impatiently retorted.
In the automatically generated logs, Lothar clearly detected the intense and difficult nature of the battle. Woz was the only lifeform he could trust in this world; he wouldn't go anywhere until it returned to normal.
"Are you insane?!"
"You don't understand, if the human police come, we'll never be able to resolve this!" Mera was still doing her best to earnestly persuade Lothar, but he remained as unmoving as a stone.
"Alright, perhaps your world doesn't have the concept of police. I can explain it to you."
"Police are humans—"
Zzzzzzt!
Lothar pointed a finger, and a sharp, silver beam of light instantly pierced through the flashing headlights of the pickup truck nearby.
BOOM!!!
Several homeless people, who had hurriedly squeezed into the pickup in fear, attempting to drive away, were instantly engulfed in flames!
The blazing fire from the exploded car illuminated Lothar's face, making him appear exceptionally cold: "If you want to leave, no one's stopping you."
Mera stared blankly at the inferno. Before she could even fully process what happened, piercing sirens and flashing lights appeared before her eyes.
These were two police cars, the first to arrive at the scene after receiving the alarm.
"Don't move!"
"Police!"
"Everyone put your hands up!"
"Hands on your head, squat down!"
Four lazy, incompetent police officers, who probably thought they'd have an easy night, aimed their pistols at the man and woman at the library entrance.
"We're finished..." Mera murmured, raising both hands in extreme cooperation. There would definitely be serious consequences when she got back now. Her father had repeatedly warned her not to cause trouble in the human world. And now, she had directly attracted the attention of human law enforcement.
"Hey! I said put your hands up! Didn't you hear me?!" With jam still around his lips, the chubby police officer aimed his gun at Lothar, who stood beside Mera.
That spiky hair, that expressionless face, he looked like a typical delinquent. What normal person would smash a library door in the middle of the night?
"Lothar! Hey, Lothar, listen to me!"
"They're innocent! They're police!"
"You can't—" The moment Lothar frowned, Mera already saw the fate of those four police officers. Her impulsive plea was a step too late. An energy blast, casually flicked from Lothar's fingertip, had already shot towards the still-grumbling police officers.
BOOM!
In the nick of time, a green jeep suddenly appeared, soaring through the air to block the fatal blow for the four officers!
"Hmm?" Lothar's attention, which had been fixed on Woz's system logs, detected something amiss. He looked up at the inferno left by the exploding green jeep.
A bare-chested, muscled tough guy, sipping whiskey, slowly emerged from the flames. Unkempt, with a scraggly beard.
"Arthur?" A look of surprise crossed Mera's face as she recognized the newcomer.
The son of Atlanna, the former queen of Atlantis, one of the seven underwater kingdoms, and the human Tom Curry. The man with both land and sea blood flowing through his veins, Arthur Curry, considered a bastard and a disgrace by the current King of Atlantis, Orm.
Of course, Mera knew him only because she used to frequent Atlantis and knew Queen Atlanna had such an estranged elder son.
She had once met this man with Vulko, Atlantis's second-in-command. Vulko's purpose was to teach Arthur Curry martial arts so he could claim the throne, while Mera was simply curious to see what Queen Atlanna's eldest son looked like.
"I remember you, the woman who used to follow Vulko." Arthur Curry, still drinking, clearly hadn't forgotten Mera.
"What are you doing here?" Mera let out a sigh of relief, seeing that the four police officers were unharmed.
"You drove off in my car, what do you think?" Arthur Curry pointed to the old pickup truck, now in fragments. Mera's burgeoning smile immediately stiffened.
"If I'm not mistaken, you're supposed to be engaged to my brother, aren't you?"
"So, he's the bodyguard my brother sent?"
Arthur Curry walked towards Lothar step by step, throwing a punch.
Attacking police officers without provocation, these Atlanteans needed to be taught a lesson. Although this wasn't Gotham or Metropolis, it wasn't a place for Atlanteans to run wild either.
"Arthur! No!"
Mera, who hadn't expected Arthur Curry to attack without a word, gasped.
CRACK!
A hard punch landed directly on Lothar's cheek.
"?" Compared to Arthur Curry's muscular physique, Lothar's body appeared noticeably leaner. Yet, this much leaner body remained perfectly still under Arthur's punch.
"Is that all you've got?"
Holding the Norse Mythology series of books in one hand, Lothar, still taking Arthur Curry's punch, slowly turned his head. He grinned, a chilling smile.
As their eyes met, Arthur Curry suddenly felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.
"No, Lothar! Stop fighting!"
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!
A knee strike, an elbow strike, and finally, a devastating roundhouse kick. Lothar's "quality combo" sent Arthur Curry flying backward, shattering the police car's window.
"...Damn it..."
Groaning, Arthur lay on the police car, taking several seconds to recover.
"That's some punch. I like your style."
Arthur Curry powerfully pushed off with his legs, using the police car as a springboard to charge at Lothar!
THUD!
Lothar simply extended his hand, slamming Arthur into the tiled floor!
Debris scattered!
Tossing the Norse Mythology series of books into the air, Lothar dragged Arthur Curry, pinned to the ground, sliding across the floor!
BOOM!
The future King of the Seven Seas was, at this moment, like a lamb to the slaughter. Utterly defenseless under Lothar's hand, his muscular body was pressed firmly into the mural in the library's main hall, unable to move!
The sturdy wall began to crack. At exactly 3:00 AM, the Kansas State Library was hosting an impromptu lesson in human art.
Performers: Lothar, Arthur Curry.
Audience: Mera, police officers, and various security cameras.
"Rejoice! The great—uh, what was the next word?"
Woz, having just decisively defeated Bruce Wayne in a cyber duel, returned to normal. Seeing Lothar's victory in battle, it felt something was missing and began to sing praises, imitating the way "The Other" did in its memory.
Unfortunately, its performance was rusty, and it stumbled right after starting.
Lothar flipped, caught the books falling from the sky, and his previously expressionless face now bore a peculiar look: "Woz?"
——————————
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to my Patreon ——— patreon(.)com/PrimalDemon [remove the parentheses ( )]
There are 50+ advance chapters available for you to read!