Chapter 3094: Mercury Chronicles (44)

Arthur and Barry arrived at Atlantis almost instantaneously. Mera was not lying in a hospital bed; although she and Arthur had not yet formally married, the situation was urgent, and she was managing affairs as the Quasi-Queen of Atlantis.

When Arthur returned, Mera sincerely embraced him, showing a hint of fatigue as she said, "Thank heavens, you're back so quickly. The army has been mobilized. Shall we set out now?"

Arthur took a deep breath, and by this time he was no longer panicking. He asked, "Where is your Trident?"

"I left it in Zeber. It's useless against Poseidon. We are just Sea People, but he is the master of the ocean."

"Alright, let's talk about the specifics when we get back. I'm off to lead the troops and stop him..."

"Wait! I'm coming too. You have to take me!"

"No, Mera, you've already been injured by him. If you force yourself to fight, you might make it worse, and Atlantis needs someone to stay behind to guard against any madmen rushing in."

Mera knew Arthur was not one to easily change his mind, so she could only look at her future husband with worry before nodding in agreement.

Upon reaching the training ground, Arthur saw that the vast majority of Atlantis's able-bodied populace had been mobilized here. Descended from Ancient Gods, Atlantis could virtually be a nation of warriors. They had managed to assemble an impressively large army, and despite being a somewhat diverse group, the military formation was striking.

Arthur knew, in his heart, that Mera was better suited to be the ruler of Atlantis than he was. However, Zeber had once been a place of exile for criminals of Atlantis. Although it was now quite powerful, it was still somewhat remote, which meant Mera's claim was not seen as entirely legitimate.

Some thoughts quickly crossed his mind, but Arthur did not stop. He stepped into the center of the training ground and began to mobilize the troops.

Seizing the moment, Barry entered his Divine Speed to take a quick look at Poseidon, who was inexplicably raging in the middle of the sea, ceaselessly roaring and slapping the water, creating waves. Barry attempted to shout out to him a couple of times, but there was no response.

After sharing this with Arthur, Arthur fell into deep thought. He said to Barry, "Bruce mentioned you have some special abilities, but those are our trump card, we don't use them unless absolutely necessary."

"The Atlantean army will confront Poseidon head-on, and if possible, you should do your best to rescue those who are critically wounded and place them in calm waters, where they can heal themselves with Water Magic."

"No problem," Barry said with a nod. In truth, unlike many Flashes across the cosmos, he was not without his own combat capabilities. His Divine Speed was an amalgamation of the darkest powers of this world.

Barry had tested it before; even the Godspeed Reaper had to recoil when faced with his power. If he got serious, not even the Underworld God could hold Poseidon back from his force—that's what I'm saying.

However, Barry sensed something off about Poseidon, and acting hastily might play into the enemy's hands, so he decided to hold his ground and observe a bit longer.

Arthur quickly led the Atlantean army to where Poseidon was rampaging. At that site were huge waves and howling winds so intense that almost nothing could be seen.

Poseidon's figure was immense, his trident linked with lightning as he threw it out and pulled it back, causing the turbulent sea surface to spray even higher.

Arthur called out to him a few times, but to no avail. Instead, the marine creatures in the sea suffered—a number of the indigenous Sea Clan lurking in the Deep Sea were stirred up to their demise by his actions.

The Atlantean warriors watched with righteous indignation. Most of the native Sea Clan in Atlantis worshipped the original Spirit of the Ocean, and to them, Poseidon was just an impostor who had stolen the Authority of the Ocean. Now, he dared to harm the Sea Clan who had lived here for generations—it was time to teach him a profound lesson.

Arthur led the charge with a roar, opening a gap in the wall of waves, and countless Atlanteans surged forward, brandishing their weapons, determined to bring the Sea God down from the skies.

Poseidon was not to be outdone. He flailed his arms madly, his trident slashing and sweeping through, hurling numerous Atlantean warriors away, their blood staining the surface of the sea.

At this point, the two teams tasked with freezing the ocean had essentially accomplished their goal; the waves, caught mid-roll, were frozen solid, forming a natural protective barrier. The subsequent waves could not breach this wall as long as they were not higher than it.

However, it seemed that Victor had brought too many freezing devices—there was half a truck leftover after meeting the objective.

Upon realizing this, the teams led by Dick and Jason almost synchronously roared in agreement.

"Keep moving forward! Freeze the entire damn Atlantic!"

The two drivers were not timid; the idea of freezing the Atlantic suited their tastes far better than any flood relief.

The two groups hit it off immediately, forgoing the initial plan to return and instead charging ahead, continuously firing freezing devices from their launchers.

Victor at the rear sensed the abnormality, but he too gritted his teeth and stomped his foot, Mr. Freeze's bloodline activating the freeze! To hell with it!

It had been proven that one should never provoke the crazies of Gotham. In good social conditions, they worked for a living and led peaceful lives. Now, with the economy already in a slump and making money an arduous task, this curse of constant disasters compounded the loss. Damn it all then; nobody could live like this!

Arthur had been leading the Atlanteans and Poseidon in a desperate fight. Countless water magic attacks hit Poseidon's sturdy arms. Although the cumulative damage created increasingly severe scars, many Atlanteans were struck by Poseidon's counterattacks and fell back into the deep sea.

Although The Flash was helping to treat the wounded, there had been many sacrifices. The entire ocean turned blood red, the wind mourned like the cries of the Sea People, and the rain wept like the lament of the Spirit of the Ocean.

Arthur managed to leap onto Poseidon's shoulder, then grabbed his hair. As Poseidon roared and reached to grab him, Arthur nimbly jumped onto his head and drove his trident into Poseidon's eye. Just as he was about to repeat the move on the other eyeball, Arthur noticed a vast white mist rising from the distant horizon.

Arthur was caught off-guard and failed to dodge Poseidon's great hand, which grasped him tightly, crushing his bones with a crunching sound, blood immediately covering his entire skin.

Arthur let out a pained howl.

Barry, who was treating the injured, turned around and looked incredulously at Arthur's dreadful state.

"Arthur!!"

Barry's eyes bulged with fury as he stepped into the Divine Speed.

A golden glow flashed, and then a fine golden thread appeared in space, followed by another.

Numerous golden threads filled the entire space, and at the central point, a black ink-like color began to spread, interweaving with the gold as space shattered. Then, time began to show dark cracks.

All the Atlanteans with any strength left were shocked as they looked up at this unbelievable spectacle, gripping their weapons in terror.

The threads began to snap and break, everything in their path destroyed, and in an instant, time, space, and the cosmos shattered into brilliant streaks, leaving a void where nothing remained.

Just then, with a faint hissing sound, several small objects emitting a blue light were thrown over, followed by a soft clicking sound as white frost spread upwards from Poseidon's feet.

The majestic and statuesque god was truly turned into a sculpture. Seeing that Poseidon had been subdued, Barry quickly halted his actions and, in the last second before the freezing was complete, pulled Arthur from Poseidon's grasp.

He jumped into the sea, and the Atlanteans gathered around. Arthur was gravely injured, with almost every bone in his body broken, and his organs rapidly rupturing. Had he been a human, he would certainly have been dead.

Fortunately, he possessed the royal Atlantean bloodline. As soon as he touched the water, his wounds began to slowly heal.

The two teams that arrived on the ice finally joined up. Seeing familiar faces, Jason, Dick, Raven, and Aisha all got out of the cars and rushed over.

Initially, the Atlanteans were on guard, but once Barry explained that these were allies, they were allowed to approach the injured Arthur.

Raven and Aisha had special powers, but neither excelled in healing. Zatanna, who was better at this, was still on Mercury, and it wasn't safe to leave Arthur here either.

Thankfully, Mera arrived just in time. She organized the remaining Atlanteans to move Poseidon's ice sculpture back into the sea, taking it to Atlantis for imprisonment, and then to take the severely injured Arthur back as well, to be treated by the special doctors of Atlantis.

The ocean finally calmed down, but the incident was far from over.

From start to finish, no one knew what had driven Poseidon insane. In addition to stopping him, Arthur needed an explanation for his actions.

And now, with Poseidon frozen, although it was an effective method to stop him, it clearly wasn't conducive to communication. To understand what was happening, someone would have to make a trip to Mount Olympus to find out what was going on there.

Otherwise, if today a Sea God causes havoc across the four oceans, then tomorrow a Fire God sets the seven continents ablaze, how is the human race supposed to survive?

Dick thought it over and felt it was indeed necessary to investigate Mount Olympus. Diana's absence suggested she, too, might be in trouble, so it was better to act than to rely on others.

Gordon and the others had to stay in Gotham. With Victor's help, they would de-ice the docks used by the residents for work. Atlantis was overwhelmed, and Arthur needed to recover. The investigation was indeed up to them.

They decided, except for Killer Croc, who needed to return and fix his company's facade, and Joker Jack, who went home to sleep, the rest would form a temporary investigation squad.

However, there was a slight disagreement on the name. Some wanted to call it Young Justice League, others wanted Teen Titans, but then they figured, since it's all imitation, why not imitate the biggest one – Young Avengers!