Reverse Shazam

The faint glow rolling across the surface of the Golden Apple had not yet dissipated, and the strange, lingering warmth still remained on Shane's fingertips as the familiar sound of the air being torn apart reached his ears.

That was the unique sound of air-ripping generated when Diana flew, and the speed was far more urgent than on any previous occasion when she had hurried back to the training ground.

Shane's heart tightened, and the palm holding the Golden Apple subconsciously clenched.

The greed stirred up by Magic just now had not completely faded away, and a brutal thought instantly popped up.

Hide this thing away and make it his own.

On Viltrum during the civil war, any valuable item should belong to the strongest; if you grabbed it, it was yours—this was the survival rule carved into their bones.

Yet the moment this thought arose, he forcibly suppressed it.

He glanced at the black smoke that had not yet completely dissipated on the ground at the street corner, and then thought of the way Diana had patiently taught him to control his power these past few days.

Earth was not Viltrum, and plunder and slaughter could not solve all problems; instead, it would completely collapse the stable situation he had just found.

Besides, Diana had a Lasso of Truth around her waist; lying for a Golden Apple of unknown utility was not worth it.

He took a deep breath, loosened his slightly trembling fingers, and quietly stood in place waiting.

The red figure arrived in the blink of an eye, and Diana landed in front of Shane, her gaze locking onto the Golden Apple in his hand at the very first moment.

Her brows instantly knitted tightly, the aura around her body suddenly turning heavy, and she said in a deep voice.

"Goddess of Discord Eris, has she been here?"

Shane nodded, his tone concise.

"A bald woman with green eyes showed me this apple, and then I lost control briefly; her spine was snapped by me, and she turned into black smoke and vanished."

He deliberately omitted the details, stating only the most core process.

Hearing this, Diana sighed helplessly, her eyes carrying a bit of understanding as well as a bit of heaviness.

"It seems that there is still a long way to go before you completely eliminate your habitual slaughter desire and destructiveness."

Her gaze fell on the traces of black smoke at the street corner.

"What you killed was her divine body in the mortal world, not her true main body."

A trace of hard-to-notice annoyance flashed in Shane's eyes.

He killed her if he killed her, but he hadn't expected she wasn't completely dead yet.

Even though the other party had started the trouble first, it was obvious the other party was not any sort of reasonable creature.

He raised the Golden Apple in his hand, his tone carrying a bit of embarrassed inquiry.

"This thing... is a treasure?"

The desire from just now that had made him lose his composure made him instinctively feel that this apple was not simple.

"The Golden Apple itself is not considered rare in the Divine Realm."

Diana explained.

"The gods under Zeus often use Golden Apples to prolong their lives and stabilize their soul vitality."

"But Eris's one is different; it is her exclusive divine artifact."

Her tone grew serious.

"Besides its basic functions, it can stir up the deepest desires in the hearts of all life, spawning jealousy and the desire for strife. Several times in the past, Divine Realm conflicts and mortal wars were triggered by it."

Diana paused and added.

"More importantly, Eris will not perish because her mortal divine body is destroyed. Once she resurrects in the Divine Realm, the evil Magic on this Golden Apple will also revive at the same time."

Shane was shocked, the hand holding the Golden Apple instantly relaxing a bit.

Turns out this was not some treasure worth fighting for, but a time bomb that could become effective again at any time.

As for the apple's life-prolonging effect, for long-lived Viltrumites, it basically held no attraction at all.

That intense possessiveness from just now was merely the enticement and illusion of Magic.

Looking at this Golden Apple from mythological legends, Diana found herself with a headache for a moment.

Although in principle, she should advise Shane to hand the Golden Apple over to the Justice League for safekeeping.

Yet the current Justice League seemed to have no particularly good way to deal with the retaliation of an angry deity.

The Justice League, having only been founded two years ago, had not yet had time to absorb many members, and among the entire league, the only heroes currently connected to the Magic side were her and Shazam.

In his words and actions most of the time, Shazam always gave people a feeling of immaturity and unreliability.

Even, according to what Batman said, Fawcett City, where Shazam was based, seemed to have had several chaotic incidents involving missing Magic items due to Shazam's occasional carelessness.

Although it did not lead to any major disaster in the end, handing a Magic item with the potential to trigger World War III over to Shazam for safekeeping was clearly not a good idea.

As for Diana herself.

It was true that she was closely connected to the Magic side.

Yet her own abilities basically all came from the divine blessing of her bloodline and those divine artifacts bestowed by the gods.

She did know some Magic, but it was all entertainment-grade, minor spells.

She couldn't compare to the Goddess of Discord Eris at all, let alone suppress this Golden Apple capable of triggering a Divine Realm war.

And how on earth did this kid defeat the Goddess of Discord?

"Perhaps you should hand it over to the Justice League; this is not something you should get involved in..."

"No, it cannot be handed over to the Justice League."

Just as Diana hardened her sense of responsibility and wanted to persuade Shane, Shane opened his eyes and directly vetoed Diana's proposal.

"Teacher Prince, you just fell silent for a full three seconds. If you believed that the Justice League currently really has the ability to handle this apple, you would have spoken up at the very first moment."

Shane looked at the pure golden light gleaming on the exterior of the Golden Apple under the sunlight, deep in thought.

"We should first figure out why this happened."

"That Goddess of Discord wouldn't just casually pull out such a precious divine artifact to affect an ordinary person. She wanted to use the Golden Apple to make me lose control, which means that in her eyes, I have value worth doing so."

The original concern on Diana's face gradually turned into surprise amidst Shane's explanation.

"In other words, in the eyes of the gods—or rather, in the eyes of those Magic users—there should be something special about me."

Diana felt somewhat awkward; she was also a demigod, but at this moment, she couldn't offer any effective suggestions at all.

"I have already offended the Goddess of Discord. Whether I want to or not, if I hand this apple over to the Justice League, it means a group of people with superpowers will be targeted by that Goddess of Discord."

"This isn't something you heroes can just shoulder with a single sentence of responsibility, Teacher Prince."

Shane didn't say the rest of the words; everything was already self-evident.

If Superman and the Flash were affected by the Goddess of Discord's Magic, the consequences would simply be too horrific to contemplate.

Besides, the Justice League itself was still in a relatively untrusted position by the public at present.

Even if they had all kinds of means, as long as any one or several of the heroes were affected for a short while and thus did something destructive, the subsequent PR crisis would also be nothing short of a disaster.

"Whoa."

Diana crossed her arms. She hadn't had much curiosity about Shane's origins to begin with; deep down, she mostly just viewed Shane's request as yet another routine task for the Justice League.

"You and Shazam really are two extremes. By the way, are you really only fourteen as Bruce said?"

Shane smiled and shoved the Golden Apple into his inner pocket.

"If I really only had the thinking capacity matching my external age, then now and in the future, I would only be another conqueror of Viltrum."

Diana was stunned.

Who was the conqueror?

Shane, however, had already leaped into the air.

He had originally planned to go out for a stroll today and buy some fruit along the way, but his mood was ruined by this damn business.

"Wait, then what is your plan right now?"

Diana always felt that this kid somewhat lacked respect for adults deep in his bones, and she gritted her teeth and flew up into the sky to follow him.

"The Justice League should have a list, right? Don't you guys actively collect information on global anomalies or dangerous individuals and pay attention to them?"

Shane stated frankly: "The Justice League lacks professionals, but we can actively go look for them. By the way, Teacher Prince, do you really not know any Earth Magic users?"

Diana suddenly understood.

This matter required finding Batman.