Zola thought she must be dreaming. Never having lived in Metropolis, she harbored doubts even about Superman's existence. Were these two women casually hurling lightning, frost, and flames actually real?
She felt tonight's experience must be a delusion—a not-too-terrifying nightmare. These people had dragged her here for no apparent reason, mainly because this was her dream, which was why she could be here in the first place.
As Zola entertained wild thoughts, Hermes paid no attention to her mental state. As long as the person stayed alive, that was enough. The plan had changed too drastically. His earlier intention to befriend Diana through Zola had long since died.
He turned to look at the other battle and nearly popped his eyeballs out. Supergirl and Diana had Apollo pinned to the ground and were beating him senseless.
This is the Sun God who's fought for tens of thousands of years and now ambitiously seeks to inherit the throne of the God King?
Hermes' power had dropped catastrophically, but his perception remained sharp.
He could see Diana was injured—her true strength not even fifty percent. The one thrashing Apollo senseless was that red-caped girl.
Is this really a modern mortal? Her speed drew even his attention. Not to mention her strength—just look at Apollo getting pummeled with his head in his hands.
Could this young-looking girl be about to commit deicide? Then obtain his Speed God divinity and directly ascend to the throne of the God King?
Hermes' head was splitting from overthinking. Just then, Supergirl's powerful punch struck Apollo square in the chest. "Pfft"—he spat out a huge mouthful of golden divine blood.
In that instant, Thea—who'd been trading blows with Hera—had her attention drawn away. God blood wasn't easily obtained. While this divine blood was useless to her, it could still benefit those few people at home.
Apollo's divine blood attracted Thea, and naturally also drew the gaze of Hermes in the sky.
The Sun God who'd fought for tens of thousands of years without a single injury had been wounded by humans today! Thrown into the Homeric epics, this event could fill hundreds of words. Though present witnesses were few, everyone except Supergirl understood. One fact lay before them: Apollo was going down!
Hermes felt his teeth ache. Apollo had been spreading rumors all over that Zeus' firstborn would kill one of them and then ascend to the throne of the God King.
Now the firstborn's shadow hadn't even appeared yet, but this rumor-spreader was about to die.
Hermes deliberated repeatedly and decided to scrap the original plan. If soft methods didn't work, he'd use hard ones.
His killing move—usable only once. Who should he use it on?
Diana definitely not—he'd need her later. Supergirl was unnecessary—just a mere mortal in his eyes. That naturally left Thea. As an unexpected interloper, Hermes genuinely disliked her. Plus that Supergirl who was about to beat Apollo to death—she'd been called in by Thea too. Hermes made his decision.
He looked at Hera, entangled with Thea, with some regret. Hermes laughed coldly to himself. You all have fun.
From the void he pulled out a feather—one of the trump cards he'd left during his prime. This feather's power represented the pinnacle of his Speed and Thief God abilities.
Holding the feather between two fingers, he watched for the right moment and threw it at the center point between battling Thea and Hera. This was a reverse teleportation array. The principle wasn't complex—the feather stuck in the ground would swap the earth with the Underworld. Anyone on that patch of ground would naturally enter the realm of the dead.
Hermes originally intended to swap only Thea, but remembering Hades' instructions, he felt no guilt about including Hera in the circle.
Once he made his move, his previous disguise would be completely blown. He no longer hesitated. Sneering inwardly: You'll regret this soon!
Wiping the vicious expression from his face and resuming his weakling appearance, he followed through the portal.
The feather drifted like a gentle breeze, falling vertically and stabbing into the center of Thea and Hera's battlefield. Since he hadn't aimed at the two fighters but at the ground, neither sensed anything.
When the teleportation began activating, Thea jolted with alarm. What is this?!
"Hermes, you dare!" Hera shrieked, but the teleportation activated extremely fast. Both were a step too late. Within a hundred-meter radius, the earth and both women were instantly swapped to the other side.
Thea only heard Diana's cry before the teleportation began.
Seeing Hera wrap herself tightly in her peacock cloak, Thea also pulled out her ring and manifested a large house to duck into.
She'd never seen such a bizarre technique. Hera hesitated for a moment. Wrapping herself in a cloak and crouching on the ground wasn't exactly elegant. Seeing Thea hadn't closed the door, she awkwardly squeezed inside too.
"What technique did Hermes just use?" While maintaining the construct against the spatial turbulence, Thea asked. Though they'd been fighting fiercely just ten seconds ago, the young woman was extremely practical and immediately began turning enemy into ally.
The constantly posturing Hera said quite haughtily, "That rat only knows these two tricks of teleportation. He's used this technique before—it should be an Underworld swap."
"The Underworld? Hades' place?"
Hera's face looked terrible. She nodded, then observed this golden manifested cottage. This definitely isn't magic, but what is it?
Somewhat awkwardly, she asked, "How long can you maintain this thing?"
Thea smiled. With her ring capable of two-hundred-fold emotional amplification and her control over the yellow lantern's central power source, as long as fear existed in the universe, she could maintain this low-intensity expenditure indefinitely.
But there was no need to tell Hera the truth. She chose her words carefully, deflecting vaguely: "Should last a while. Your expression looks quite poor—do you have a grudge with Hades?"
Thea adopted a humble posture, her tone gentle and curious as she slowly drew information out.
Hera felt this opponent from ten seconds ago wasn't so hateful after all. Most crucially, she could tell Thea had no connection to Zeus—at least no blood connection. This softened Hera's attitude considerably.
Though still arrogant, she'd answer two out of three questions, letting Thea roughly grasp the situation.
As Thea listened, a picture began to form. Hera wasn't quite the monster the legends made her out to be. She'd been utterly faithful to Zeus—but Zeus was a philanderer, a complete scumbag who'd repeatedly thrown her devotion back in her face. That would drive anyone to occasional hysteria.
Even so, Hera had never betrayed their vows. She and Zeus had only two sons and three daughters together. All the rest of the Greek pantheon's massive roster? Illegitimate children. Including Diana.
Facing dozens of bastards her husband had sired, day after day—even the strongest woman would crack eventually.
The patriarchal society had ignored her faithful love and forcibly branded her as "jealous."
Zeus the philanderer received universal praise, while Hera—who'd only tried to protect what was hers—was condemned as worthless.
Too proud to explain herself, she'd only grown more maligned with each failed attempt to set the record straight.
Looking at Hera now, wrapped in her peacock cloak with that complex expression, Thea felt an unexpected flicker of sympathy.