The Vulcan Sword plunged straight through a spatial rift torn open by the power of the King of Gods himself, landing with absolute precision right into Diana's palm.
The hilt felt warm to the touch, and familiar Divine Power spread outward from her palm into her limbs and bones, causing Diana to instinctively tighten her grip on the longsword.
Almost simultaneously, another streak of silver light sped forward from the depths of the divine temple, and a shield imbued with Divine Power snugly fitted against her left arm.
At this moment, however, the gods standing within the shadows of the ruined temple turned their gazes toward the sky.
The spatial rift high above not only failed to heal, but instead continued to expand.
Beneath the traces of the torn space, amidst shimmering and distorted light, Superman's blue figure flashed past and vanished as he still engaged in a fierce struggle against Zeus's lingering divine might.
A vast expanse of space within the Divine Realm began to ripple faintly.
Immediately following that, Shazam's red figure rushed in amidst the momentum of rolling thunder, his eyes immediately catching sight of Shane, who was floating in the sky in the distance, covered in blood and seeming to be "teetering" at any moment.
Two corpses, one large and one small, lay flat beneath his feet, instantly startling him into dropping his jaw.
What the heck? What on earth happened here?
Shazam's exclamation echoed across the shattered plaza. His figure flickered as he rushed to Shane's side, throwing one of Shane's arms over his own shoulder while his tone filled with incredulous admiration.
Man, you are way too hardcore! You took down two gods by yourself? You are definitely the coolest dude I've ever seen in my life!
Shane, on the other hand, looked at the two corpses and shook his head somewhat dubiously.
He wouldn't even count the God of War; the Justice League had clear records stating that as long as the concept of war still existed in the world, Ares would never truly die.
Yet to actually claim he had beaten Hercules and Atlas to death was something Shane himself found a bit hard to believe.
From start to finish, the watching gods had been far too calm. Besides, two of them were sons of Zeus—if they had genuinely been beaten to death by him, Zeus could not possibly remain so composed.
Wonder Woman, standing opposite the two of them, still raised her blade to point at Shane; constrained by her divine oath, she could not simply walk away from this battle.
Even so, Diana was still able to speak.
"They only dispatched avatars constructed from Divine Power, just like the Goddess of Discord—otherwise, how could mortals compete with gods on the same plane?"
Seeing that Shazam still remained somewhat skeptical, Diana was practically speechless at him.
"If he could truly strike down the true bodies of those two gods who bestow your strength and endurance upon you, what reason do you have to be standing here right now?"
At this, Shazam finally stopped questioning, though he still couldn't help glancing at the two corpses while muttering under his breath.
So these two are Atlas and Hercules? Whoa, to be honest, this is my first time seeing them, and in such a weird way.
Shazam awkwardly raised his other free hand.
Aren't they going to catch a cold lying on the ground like this? Should I go say hi to them?
Shane closed his eyes and turned his head away. Diana couldn't turn her head because she was still in a state of "going all out," and could only heave a heavy sigh while rolling her eyes at Shazam.
Zeus ignored the three of them conversing, or rather, he no longer had the spare energy to spare.
The King of Gods stared at the spatial rift that Superman kept forcing open, remaining silent for a long time before suddenly abandoning his continued suppression of space with Divine Power.
The rift instantly expanded once more into a huge spatial gate, and Superman soon appeared within the Divine Realm as well.
Superman's blue eyes swept across Shane's entire body, his X-ray vision piercing through layers of blood and torn battle suit to confirm that although his injuries looked horrifying, he was actually in no mortal danger. Only then did he slowly turn around, locking his gaze firmly upon Zeus in front of the temple with a solemn expression.
The surrounding barometric pressure seemed to be dropping at a visible rate.
"You are the legendary King of Gods, Zeus, yet you'd strike a child?"
Before Zeus could speak, Athena walked out on her own initiative from the shadows of the temple.
"Superman, things are not like that. The Divine Realm is merely—"
"There is no need for explanations, Athena."
A pair of huge eyes flashing constantly with lightning appeared in the sky, and Zeus's voice exploded beside everyone's ears like thunder.
"Superman, if you insist today on disrupting the ceremony of the Divine Realm, then there will be no more peace between the Divine Realm and the mortal world."
Zeus's figure on the ground had already vanished. Superman looked up at the sky, showing not the slightest hint of retreat.
"If the King of Gods means waging such a war simply to harm a child, then I must ask the gods to step over my corpse first."
Just as the two sides reached a stalemate, the roar of the Batwing finally sounded from behind the spatial gate. Like a black arrow, it pierced through the spatial rift and landed firmly on the gravel at the edge of the plaza.
The hatch opened, and Cyborg, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash, and the others filed out. Upon seeing the scene before them, everyone instinctively paused in their steps.
The originally magnificent temple had been more than half demolished; the dome had collapsed, stone pillars were fractured, and the ground was littered with craters of varying depths. Gravel and dried divine blood intertwined, and Superman appeared to be locked in a standoff with a pair of enormous eyes in the sky.
"Shane actually managed to tear this place apart like this? I thought when we came in we'd at most negotiate with the Divine Realm—is there even anything to negotiate now?"
Hal Jordan instinctively tightened his grip on the Green Lantern ring in his hand, feeling his throat go somewhat dry.
Flash was crackling all over with snapping bolts of the Speed Force, wearing a bitter expression as he looked up at the pair of huge eyes in the sky.
"I swear this is one of the biggest scenes I've ever seen since joining the Justice League. We actually broke into the Olympian Realm, and don't tell me those up in the sky are Zeus's eyes."
Despite their individual grumbling, the Justice League quickly chose to form a standoff against the King of Gods of Olympus.
Even Aquaman silently raised his trident.
Just as the atmosphere grew increasingly tense, Shane's voice suddenly rang out, breaking the tension of the scene.
"Teacher Prince, the premise of going all out is at least that both sides are in a state where they can utilize their full strength. Besides, we didn't agree on a battlefield or a specific time."
The huge eyes woven from lightning in the sky abruptly turned to look at Shane.
"You gave your personal promise to challenge seven gods!"
A bizarre smile surfaced on Shane's face.
"Who says what you promise has to be done? Besides, I'm injured so 'heavily' that I just don't feel like fighting today."
"Besides, Hercules said earlier that this is a hero's trial. At the very least, the candidates you test should meet the conditions of a hero, right?"
"Unfortunately, whether it's the classical heroes defined in your mythology or those modern superheroes of the Justice League, I don't fit the criteria at all."
As soon as these words were spoken, all the gods—including Zeus in the sky—were completely dumbfounded.
Zeus seemed not to have expected this angle at all, his giant eyes staring fixedly at Diana, who also looked somewhat dazed.
"You are Diana's student. You single-handedly crushed the Goddess of Discord who incited the hearts of mortals. You didn't actively steal the Golden Apple, yet you still dared to boldly break into the Divine Realm alone to save your teacher..."
The Goddess of Wisdom, Athena, could not help stepping forward.
"You are a magic insulator, and we have no way to confirm your status using magic. It's useless if you try to use clever tricks to evade this, and Diana's divine oath was also established based on the fourth stage of the hero's trial."
Diana also seemed somewhat caught between laughter and tears.
"If the most basic condition of the hero's trial requires first that the gods acknowledge the tester must indeed be a hero..."
The divine oath shackles on Diana's hands and body shattered soundlessly, and her sword and shield dropped down accordingly.
"I can only concede that he is indeed my student."
Not far away, the corpses of Hercules and Atlas dissipated with the wind, those bloodstains soaking into the earth, and even the temple that had been smashed to pieces began to gradually restore itself.
Amidst the shadows of the temple, Hercules nudged Atlas's knee.
"I told you Zeus wouldn't succeed. He was just taking a shortcut."
A moment later, the members of the Justice League—each with confusion filling their eyes—along with Shane, were kicked out of the Divine Realm in a manner bordering on brutality.
Before you continue