Chapter 4: Zarthium Ore, A New Meta-Ability

In a forbidden region of Atlantis, there was a triangular platform with three ancient pillars on each of its ends with mysterious ancient-looking engravings on them.

A glamorous stone constantly pulsing with energy as though it was a beating heart, was floating at the centre of the triangular platform.

This place would have been completely shrouded in the darkness of the water if not for the glowing sea weeds growing on the grounds.

Swoosh!!! Swoosh!!!

Swoosh!!! Swoosh!!!

Suddenly, the silence and serenity was broke by the sound of sudden movements as Aquaman, Kaldur, Clark and Ray who had swam all the way from the palace, finally reached the platform.

"So this is the Zarthium Ore," Ray murmured, looking rather curiously at the pulsing stone.

"I must warn you that the legends say that a powerful demigod guards the ore, should you take it, he might come after you," Aquaman warned with a serious look on his face.

"A guard? Idon't see anyone here," Clark said, looking around in confusion.

"Let's not waste anymore time than we have," Ray said, heading forward to grab the Zarthium Ore from where it was floating peacefully.

Swoosh!!!

"Watch Out!!," Kaldur suddenly exclaimed in urgency, noticing a giant shadowy figure suddenly rising from the ground behind Ray.

BAM!!!!!

An extremely loud sound could be heard as a powerful force sent Clark, Aquaman and Kaldur flying, causing great turbulences in the waters with dust swimming everywhere.

"Who Dares Steal The Treasure Of Olympus?!," a loud voice roared.

After the dust and water turbulences had cleared, one could see an enormous greenish-black octopus with hundreds of tentacles, each one of its tentacles were as thick as ten trees put together.

One of its extremely heavy tentacles was currently pressing on top of Ray, who was lifting it up with one hand indifferently.

"You're the guardian of the Zarthium Ore? you're just so-so," Ray mocked, his face still indifferent as always, before punching the guardian's tentacle with his fist.

Bam!!!

"Roaaaaar!!!"

Ray's punch blew off the guardian's tentacle, leaving it roaring in great pain.

"How Dare You?!! How Dare You?!! How Dare Youuuuu?!!!," enraged, the octopus spat in anger, looking scornfully at the punching mortal before it.

"I Am Orpheneus!!! Son of The Sea Diety Poseidon!!! And You —Mortal!!!, You've. Enraged. ME!"

Hundreds of giant tentacles shot out and slammed towards Ray, who effortlessly dodged them, flashing from place to place in an incredible display of speed.

Bam!!! Bam!!! Bam!!!

The tentacles all missed Ray, slamming powerfully into the ground and rocks instead.

"I should've known, only one of the big three of olympus can be so h*rny as to mate with an octopus and have an octopus demigod for a child. Repulsive," Ray stated, his face blank, yet the disdain and disgust he felt could be heard in his voice.

It seemed as though he had touched a sore spot for the octopus as it began trembling in rage and humiliation.

"You Will Pay!!!" the octopus tearfully screamed at the top of its voice, its eyes suddenly glowing bright green before shooting out green energy beams, similar to Clark's heat vision.

They emitted a terrifying amount of power which seemed capable of vaporizing the entirety of the city of Atlantis should they hit.

Ray sighed, looking at the energy beams coming towards him in seemingly slow motion. It was moving just that slowly to his perception.

Just as the green energy beams were about to reach him and he was getting ready to take it on, Ray suddenly felt a strange sensation spread all over his body, a somewhat farmiliar feeling which he had gotten used to over the years whenever he awakened a new meta-ability.

He suddenly felt as though he had somehow connected with the energy beams, he felt as though he had connected with certain forces in the surroundings, he felt as though he could control them to do whatever he wanted, he felt as though he was a god.

Raising his right hand towards the green energy beams in front of him and they suddenly stopped moving.

"What?!!! No!! No!! Nooo!!!"

Shocked and in disbelief, the octopus added all of its energy into its energy beams but they still didn't advance any further.

"Oh?," Ray raised an eyebrow, impressed at the display of his newly awakened meta-ability. He then slightly twitched his hand and the energy beams dispersed.

"Impossible!!!!"

The guardian gasped, its heart pounding in shock and fear.

Aquaman and Kaldur —who had been observing the one-sided beating with Clark, were dumbfounded by how powerful Ray was —easily annihilating such a devastating attack.

Clark, however, wasn't too shocked —though he was a little to surprised to see another one of Ray's meta-abilities which he didn't know about.

"So my new ability is Dynakinesis, huh?," Ray whispered to himself, looking at his hands which were glowing with immense energy. This meta-ability was rather amazing, it could be ranked amongst one of the top meta-abilities Ray had awakened over the years.

It enabled him the power to create and manipulate any form of energy in existence; kinetic energy, thermal energy, electrical energy, magical energy, divine energy and so on.

'Sigh! How come i seem to keep getting stronger when i need my powers under control,' Ray thought, feeling it rather ironic.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he raised his head to look at the octopus before him, only to see that it was already kneeling and blowing in front of him.

"I Beg Your Forgiveness!!! You Can Take The Zarthium Ore! I Only Hope You Will Not Kill Me," the octopus wept, though full of bitterness and rage, but it had no other choice since Ray was able to take on its full power and destroy it as though it was nothing. It didn't want to die.

"I can take the ore whenever i want, you're nothing but a nuisance to me," Ray commented, before strecthing out his hand at the octopus, a giant sparkling golden sphere of energy shot forth —containing power unlike anything the octopus had ever felt.

"Nooooo!!! I Beg You!!!... I Beg You!!! My Father is Poseidon!!!... He Will Make You Pay If You Kill Me!!!... Please!!!... Noooo!!!... Nooooooooo!!!...," crying, begging, threatening and begging again, the octopus eventually got swallowed by the sparkling golden energy sphere.

KaBooooooooom!!!!!!!!

With an explosion rivalling the power of a thousand nukes exploding at once, the ocean shone golden and ground shook violently as the explosion began to spread rapidly.

Meanwhile, the antlanteans in the city of antlantis felt the trembling ground and ocean and they all began to panic, feeling as though the world was about to come to an end.

Aquaman and Kaldur, who were blown away by the sheer force of the explosion, were quickly caught and covered by Clark to shield them from the explosion.

'I only put a little bit of energy in that... Sigh! — even this newly awakened ability has become unstable,' Ray frowned in thought, before waving his hand, dispersing all the energy from the explosion so as to not mistakenly end the entire world because of a single weak demigod.

Whoosh!

The waters of the ocean suddenly returned to their previously calm and peaceful state, as though what had happened just now was simply an illusion.

The ground stopped trembling and the everything became tranquil once again, confusing the antlanteans who were already saying their last players to their gods, thinking that their end had come.

○○○

"It's over?"

Clark —noticing that it was all over, freed Aquaman and Kaldur, who he had hugged tight to protect them with his bio-electric aura.

"Haaa!!... Haa!!... I thought... I thought I was about to d-die... I-i could see my life... flashing... before my eyes," Aquaman knelt on the ground, eyes full of fear and horror.

"B-By the seven seas... how could one person possess such... Power?," Kaldur gasped, still reeling from the sensation of intense fear he felt when he thought he was about to die.

"This is why we need the Zarthium Ore, to build a device capable of suppressing his power," Clark, feeling worn out, explained while looking at Ray who was already heading forward to take the Zarthium Ore.

Standing in front of his goal, Ray reached out his hand to grab the ore when his hand unexpected passed right through it!

The Zarthium Ore was actually an holographic illusion.

Ray snapped, his lifeless-looking eyes suddenly began to glow in rage when a booming loud voice suddenly sounded from above.

"How Dare You Lowly Mortals Kill My Son?!!!"