Chapter 67

"I'm sorry; I promise that I won't do it again."

Dio apologizes once more, this time sincerely.

"Yet another man was tamed by a woman, how pathetic."

Dr. Psycho didn't help with his words, but this time Dio stopped himself from hitting him.

"That's enough!"

Diana said angrily.

"Hestia's Lasso compels you to tell the truth. Answer our questions!"

Diana shouted, which gave another tug on the Lasso.

As if understanding Diana's words, the radiant golden lasso shone even brighter.

"Are these people seriously hurt?"

Diana asked and looked at the civilians on the ground.

Dr. Psycho is now struggling not to answer, but with each passing second he resists, the Lasso shines more brightly, and in the end, he yields.

"No!"

Dr. Psycho finally answers with a shout.

"So why won't they wake up?"

Diana asks the question again.

"Their minds have been 'turned off.' It takes a decent telepath to wake them up."

Dr. Psycho answered, this time more quickly.

"Where is Steve Trevor?"

Diana asked next.

"He's not here anymore!"

Dr. Psycho shouted.

"Where is he?"

Diana asked again.

Once more, Dr. Psycho doesn't answer and tries to resist Lasso's magic.

The amount of sweat on his face shows that he won't be able to resist for long.

"Answer!"

Diana shouted and gave another tug on the lasso around his body.

"I handed him over to complete the deal!"

Dr. Psycho gives in.

"What deal?"

Dio asked with confusion.

"The deal I made to get the drug I used in the bullet to weaken her was giving them Steve Trevor after taking control of him!"

"But now that I've broken your device, Steve must already be out of your control, and he was somewhere."

Dio said.

"No, I didn't give him to them while under control. Instead, I used hypnosis to keep him under control. It was one of the conditions of the deal."

Dr. Psycho explained.

'That was clever; whoever it is predicted his defeat.'

"Who are 'They'?"

Diana asked.

"I don't know; I only know that they are part of an organization whose name I don't know. They introduced themselves as the Poison!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Soon after he finished speaking, four shots were fired in four different directions, but they were unusually quiet compared to regular gunfire due to the use of silencers.

They were ready for their super hearing, but the city was in complete silence because its entire population was now asleep on the ground.

They were both already looking for them as the bullets made noise as they left the gun barrels.

The shots at Dr. Psycho came from the left, the right, the front, and the back, and they were all aimed at a vital part of him.

Dio was closer to the bullet that was aimed at his forehead, so he pulled out his sword and changed the trajectory of the bullet before it hit him.

Dio raised his shield in front of the bullet coming from the left to protect himself.

Diana had an even easier time.

The bullet that came from the right hit her bracelet, and then she turned around to hit the bullet that came from behind, easily stopping both threats.

"You take two, and I'll take the other two."

Dio said while getting up and eager to hunt down the snipers.

"Wait!"

Diana shouted, and when Dio turned to find out why, he saw Dr. Psycho on the ground.

"What happened?"

Dio asked.

"Look at his neck."

Diana replied.

Dio moved his body to the side and saw a small dart embedded in his neck.

He removed it, and he doesn't even need to get close to it to know he's been poisoned.

Whoever did this pulled off a brilliant move.

The four shots were distractions; the real attack came through a gun, an archaic weapon that has a silencer, and a standard gun can be fired from up to twenty-five meters away.

A professional could shoot from even further.

"Can you heal him?"

Diana asks while bending down and laying him face up on the ground.

In the few seconds since he was hit, his condition has worsened rapidly; he's now foaming at the mouth.

"Put him on his side so he doesn't choke."

Dio instructs first, and Diana complies.

"I technically have a healing spell, but it's very unpleasant, and I've never tested it on anyone."

Dio said.

"If we don't do something, he'll definitely die. Try it now."

Diana insisted.

"Very well,"

Dio responded.

Dio held Dr. Psycho's chin and straightened his head, then applied a bit of pressure to open his mouth.

Dio places his free hand just above his mouth and aims at his throat.

"Επικαλέστηκα την τιμωρία του ποταμού Φλέγηθων!"

(I summon the Punishment of the River Phlegethon!)

As Dio mentioned before, he has no talent for healing mystical arts, but this spell comes close.

There are many rivers in the underworld, but the Phlegethon River is one of the best healing.

It can bring even damaged souls back to their original state.

But it was made to punish people, like everything else in the underworld.

The surprise with the Phlegethon River is that its waters are like liquid fire.

It's literally a river of fire.

The idea is quite simple: let's heal the sinner so they can even more suffer, but why not hurt them while they're being healed?

The water from the Phlegethon River will heal anyone, but it will hurt as much as being burned alive.

There are beliefs that souls that enter it will be burned and healed forever and will never be able to get out.

That's why Zatanna classified this spell as a healing/attack, the first of its kind since the two branches are very separate.

Of course, a light healing spell can be used to harm a creature, like an undead, but Dio's doesn't require the target to be a specific type of being to inflict damage.

A drop appears below his hand, red as blood and glowing like magma, and it falls into Dr. Psycho's open mouth.

The result was as expected. Dr. Psycho tried to scream in pain, but Dio closed his mouth so he wouldn't spit out the drop, as conjuring one was a huge effort.

The pain on his face was clearly visible, and his body convulsed wildly on the ground, his legs kicking uncontrollably.

Dio feels he punished him enough for his earlier words.

The pain of having liquid fire go down his throat and then spread through his blood is punishment enough.

In fact, Dio was starting to feel sorry for the poor man, who was now crying.

After a minute of torment, which must have felt like hours to him, Dr. Psycho finally faints.

In addition, it is interesting to know that the Phlegethon River doesn't allow those who use it to go unconscious.

Otherwise, how could they feel the pain?

"That seemed worse than I imagined."

Diana remarked. She remained silent throughout the "healing" process.

"I told you, it's unpleasant."

"Is he healed now?"

Dio conducted a quick examination of Dr. Psycho and said, "His breathing is stable; he'll be fine."

"Great, wake him up; we need to find out where Steve was taken."

"Aren't you going to track down the assassins?"

Dio asked.

"No, they started fleeing seconds after they fired."

Diana replied.

"Ξύπνα!"

(Wake up!)

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

When Dr. Psyco woke up, the good doctor screamed with all his might until he couldn't anymore.

"Are you feeling okay?"

Dio asked.

"Please don't hurt me anymore. I'll tell you everything I know. I'll be a good boy."

Dr. Psyco said while looking at Dio with fear in his eyes.

'Now I'm feeling like a villain who tortured an innocent victim.'

"Where was Steve Trevor taken?"

Diana asked Dr. Psycho, who was in tears.

"I'm not entirely sure. The person who came to me for the deal was wearing a strange suit with psychic dampeners.

Dr. Psycho explained with tears streaming down his face.

"The device you used to enhance your powers and the drug you put in the bullet that hit me, did they come from the same person?"

Diana continued.

"Yes, they said I represented the ideal they defend, and they wanted to help me achieve greatness."

He was clearly a pawn in an elaborate plan to kidnap Steve, but the question is why.

Whoever is behind this is undoubtedly long gone, so finding them will be incredibly difficult.

"We can leave the signal-blocked zone, then ask for help from the League and the Titans. We can conduct a global search with two speedsters with us. It shouldn't be impossible."

Dio suggested it to Diana.

"Flash can certainly search the entire globe in seconds, but from my own experience, organizations that operate like this are incredibly good at hiding. The chances of finding them that way are very slim."

Diana explained it and rejected his plan, growing a bit colder.

"Is there another way, a location spell? But for that, I need unique materials."

Dio suggested.

"What materials?"

Diana asked more eagerly.

"Something personal from Steve; the more personal, the better. It can be a highly sentimental item, or even better, something from his body."

Dio explained.

"I've used this spell before to find Vanessa when those bastards nearly attacked her."

'Just thinking about it makes me want to go after them again and curse them once more.'

As for his suggestion, Dio wasn't confident in it.

Dio got something from Vanessa by living with her—in this case, her hair.

Diana smiled happily and reached into her chest when Dio finished talking.

...

https://www.patreon.com/Abyssuit

If you want to support me, you can find up to 25 advance chapters at my patreon 

👇DROP SOME STONES👇