The theater seemed frozen in time from the last century, everything imbued with the glamour of the modern era—dark red velvet seats, yellow translucent frosted lampshades.
The brown-yellow wooden panels that made up the wall decor also revealed the aura of the era.
Of course, Su Ming and Diana, moving backstage, were more faced with the piles of miscellaneous items and props everywhere, like the large box used for the show of sawing a person in half, or the human cannon used to shoot the magician and turn them into a living performance.
They were now hiding at the side of the stage, behind the curtain, without even a place to sit, except for a small bag of popcorn.
Zatanna did not notice their presence; she was under the spotlight, smiling broadly as she performed for the audience.
Admittedly, her business was good; the large theater was packed, with everyone attentively watching her.
Because her father, Gwanyi Zatara, was a renowned top magician during his lifetime, and in people's eyes, Zatanna came from a family of magic, excelling beyond her predecessors, with her novel tricks appearing one after another, dazzling the spectators.
Of course, there were other factors.
She was a great beauty, a female magician dressed in ultra-short hot pants and black fishnet stockings.
At this moment, she appeared dazzling on stage, smiling as she took out a newspaper from her pocket, showing it to the audience, then folded and unfolded it, causing a great group of doves to fly out from within.
The applause was like a tide; although it was just an ordinary magic trick, the audience was very supportive.
"Thank you! Thank you!" Zatanna bowed to the audience, tossing the newspaper onto a nearby table.
Her father had taught her how to perform; a magic show should start with the routines most familiar to the audience, using well-known tricks.
This is the rule of performance, a kind of order.
Yet the father-daughter pair named the Magician, actually mages, showed audiences all the impossibilities that they could comprehend.
And the grandeur and terror of magic are something ordinary people can never fathom.
The newspaper turning into doves is a trick, magic performed with a prop, the doves hidden within Zatanna's tailcoat lining.
And next, with the opening over, Zatanna would use Antithesis Magic.
"The next act is about my hat!"
Zatanna smiled and took off the round top hat on her head, reaching inside while softly reciting an incantation, 'Rabbit appear in hat.'
This is Antithesis Magic, magic inherited from her father, where you say the thing you want to achieve backward, as long as it does not exceed your mental capacity, then it will become real.
Magic is about equivalent exchange, a well-known fact in the Marvel World among the Magic Realm. But here in DC, apart from Constantine and a few others, many people have not realized this.
Warlocks recklessly squander their magic power, not seeing the consequences it brings.
Zatanna did not, and now, she must face her casting cost.
She loudly chanted the 'incantation' like a magician, 'Sesame Open,' anyway, it's just for show, it doesn't matter what you say.
She pulled a rabbit out of her hat, but it was not the imagined white fur, adorable red-eyed rabbit.
Instead, it was a blood-stained, lifeless rabbit.
"This....."
Suddenly, the round top hat in her hand emitted a strong purple light, and then, indescribable terrifying objects emerged from it like vines.
They were many-segmented tentacles, covered with large mouths and eyes, whose cold gaze alone could make one's heart tremble.
It seemed to be part of some giant, continuously emerging from Zatanna's hat, expanding and extending, never-ending.
"Clap clap..."
The audience below gave enthusiastic applause, a never-seen-before magic trick, where ordinary magicians pull rabbits out of hats, and Zatanna surprisingly conjured infinite vine plants.
Brilliant, too brilliant.
However, Zatanna did not think so; she loudly shouted to the audience:
"Leave quickly! This is not part of the show! Leave this place!"
She tried to use the Antithesis Magic to make people leave the theater, but the magic was completely distorted, as countless tentacles stretched out from the monstrous thing in the hat, grabbing the people below and tossing them around like rag dolls.
"Help!"
People screamed, more turned towards the exit to escape.
"Oh my.....what should I do?"
As a mage, when magic fails, Zatanna completely lost any combat power and was somewhat panicked.
"I suppose.....this is why most magicians need an assistant!"
Diana directly lifted her cloak, leaping from backstage, wielding her shield and treasure sword, cutting off numerous tentacles, saving some people.
Su Ming naturally also saved people, but it was more efficient to use dual pistols to break the tentacles in these situations.
The Strangulation disguise peeled away, revealing the black and yellow armor below, thus people did not feel grateful towards him, but were instead terrified and accelerated their escape.
In their eyes, Deathstroke was much scarier than this unknown vine.
With the cooperation of two powerful warriors, the civilians were quickly rescued, yet the root of the problem was still unresolved, the monster kept endlessly emerging from Zatanna's hat.
It was like dropping a bunch of Mentos into a big barrel of cola, the foam emerging was thick and sticky, solidifying upon contact with air into living tentacles, with a strange magic radiance.
"Burn to ashes!"
Zatanna tried to use Flame Magic, but it merely granted this bizarre tentacle monster the ability to use a flamethrower.
"Well, you'd best keep your mouth shut now."
Su Ming shook his head, pulling the mage aside, avoiding the incoming fireball. Mages are just deadweight in situations like this, better not chant any more spells. Just hide in a safe place.
Since this monster is emerging from the hat, like vine-like tentacles. Then its root is the top hat, perhaps there's something like a teleportation gate to the Otherworld inside.
Su Ming didn't quite understand the mage's affairs, but he knew that as long as he cut off the source of it all, the problem would be resolved.
"Godslayer! Extend!"
Under his mental control, the Godslayer grew with the wind, instantly turning into a ten-meter-long blade, still in the style of a butcher's knife.
But now there was no time to care about aesthetics, Su Ming swung the weapon towards the distant hat in a thrust.
The hat was pierced, but the monster kept spilling out endlessly, seemingly speeding up, with the whole stage now covered with weird tissue particles, apart from cut scars and bullet holes.
"Withdraw!"
Su Ming thought for a moment and knew what to do.
The Godslayer directly lifted the hat, like holding up a tree planted in a flower pot, returning it to him.