What are you laughing at?! The three of them laughing one after another made Apollo's expression darken. As a major pillar of the Greek pantheon and the self-proclaimed heir to the throne of the God King, Apollo's fury erupted.
Energy surged within his body. Golden flames burst simultaneously from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Apollo's expression turned savage—this island had mocked his authority. He would sink Themyscira directly.
"Not a chance!" Thea casually fired a shadow arrow. Since his entire body radiated light-based energy, the shadow arrow could create a momentary delay, preventing the attack from launching.
Hera reacted just as quickly. Though appearing to lead from the center, her divine power fell far short of Apollo's. Seeing Thea intervene, she refused to be outdone and fired a water arrow that neutralized the shadow arrow.
Thea immediately retaliated. Spells of every color rained down like a deluge.
The Goddess of Discord, Eris, had been watching with cold laughter the entire time, showing no intention of helping. Hera had no choice but to focus and respond. As Zeus' queen and nominal mother to most of the main gods, her magical attainment was quite profound. If not for her severely depleted foundation, Thea wouldn't stand a chance against her.
The two immediately launched into an intense magical bombardment. On the other side, Supergirl also began her assault on Apollo.
"Boom—!" With an explosive sound, Apollo's technique ultimately failed to complete. He'd only accumulated about half the energy before Supergirl interrupted him. But his application of divine power truly had unique qualities.
He moved the explosion's center to right in front of him—between himself and Supergirl.
The plan was solid: his own energy definitely couldn't hurt him, so his opponent facing this impact head-on should be finished, right?
But the result shattered him. He was indeed fine, but so was Supergirl. The adorably clueless Supergirl's energy had surged by another huge amount. For the first time, she felt genuinely powerful. The young woman was thrilled, and her fists carrying ten thousand pounds of force rained down on Apollo's head.
Apollo's ultimate attack certainly had formidable power. Though the explosion's center lay between him and Supergirl, some shockwaves still ravaged the surroundings. Hera casually shook her peacock feather cloak to block the impact. Thea absorbed sunlight naturally and didn't need defense.
But the Themyscirans lacked such abilities. As a pure warrior, Diana couldn't shield such a large area.
In the midst of battle, Thea could only hastily construct a defensive barrier to block Apollo's residual energy impact.
Her moment of distraction immediately gave Hera the upper hand.
"I can handle it." Seeing Diana about to help, Thea stopped her. Eris the Discord Goddess' attitude remained unclear. Diana needed to stay in reserve.
Several energy sources converged within her body. She raised her hand and fired a lightning bolt at Hera.
To her surprise, Hera exploded instantly. "I am Zeus' wife! How dare you use lightning against me!!"
As it turned out, Hera—being Zeus' number one wife—also knew lightning magic. She just didn't normally use it. Thea traded a few blows with her and discovered the lightning spells made her somewhat hysterical, losing her usual judgment. Inwardly delighted, she imperceptibly began turning the tide.
Diana focused intently on Eris the Discord Goddess. But not only did Eris not help, she actually pulled a glass of wine from thin air and sipped it leisurely, occasionally making sarcastic comments.
Things like "Mother, be careful," or "Does daughter need to help?" or "Watch out, red cape girl, Apollo's going for your shoulder."
You couldn't tell whose side she was on from her endless chatter. She seemed indifferent to whoever won.
Diana threw out her Lasso of Truth. Eris didn't resist. She said whatever she wanted, and if you ignored the fact that her power far exceeded the lasso's binding force, everything she said was the truth.
She just wanted to provoke everyone into fighting. The more heated the battle, the better.
Whenever anyone's momentum weakened, her silver tongue would stir things up until both sides fought with fierce intensity. Only then would she be satisfied.
Diana tried to gag her, but it was useless. Her voice still carried to everyone present.
Discord and provocation—these were her divine duties, her nature.
Of the four combatants, Hera and Apollo naturally knew her style well. Thea, having endured constant media bombardment, could tune left ear in and right ear out.
Supergirl suffered the most influence, though fortunately she held the absolute advantage. The impact wasn't too severe.
Apollo was utterly miserable. Battle-hardened and experienced as he was, he could see his opponent possessed a sunlight-absorbing constitution. Such enemies were rare but not unheard of. Setting aside distant examples, nearby Thea clearly had that constitution too.
But Apollo's impression of sunlight-absorbing constitutions and this red-caped woman were completely different concepts. She absorbed too quickly, with too high efficiency. After exchanging a dozen moves, Apollo could feel his power draining away while hers surged at an alarming rate.
His energy—practically without loss—was simply converting into someone else's power. How was he supposed to fight something like this?
If Supergirl used heat vision or similar energy attacks right now, Apollo could absorb them back. But Supergirl, having decided not to let him launch any big moves, directly engaged in physical close combat, beating Apollo into bitter suffering.
As the Sun God, he'd pursued power's purity—similar to Thea's purification process—leaving him with only light-attribute attacks as his means. He couldn't win in close combat, his energy attacks were absorbed. Add Eris occasionally dropping sarcastic comments, and Apollo felt frustrated enough to bash his head against a wall.
He considered switching opponents with Hera. Thea's constitution—he'd seen it. She could only absorb partial sunlight. Just increase the energy output and he could definitely injure her. Though still difficult, at least he could land some hits!
The Supergirl before him left him with zero ability to fight back. Apollo urgently tried to signal Hera with his eyes.
Then he despaired. Hera was currently consumed by jealous rage. Who knows what she was thinking about—she was trading lightning magic blows with Thea right now. Forget eye signals—even if Apollo died right in front of her, she probably wouldn't spare a glance.
Useless teammate! Apollo didn't know this term, but the meaning was identical. Though it would damage his dignity as the Sun God, today he could make a strategic retreat.
His only question was whether to run with these two ignorant women or escape alone.
But escaping wasn't so easy when he wanted to. Diana had long since seen through the battlefield dynamics. Thea and Hera's side didn't need concern—at their current level, they wouldn't determine a victor in three or four days. She angled her charge to block Apollo's retreat.
Supergirl's combat experience was terrible, but Diana was battle-hardened. With Supergirl as the main damage dealer, Diana—still not fully recovered from her injuries—backstabbed from behind.
Basically like a tank dropping her shield to play rogue.
Hermes arrived late with Zola and saw exactly this deadlocked scene.