Heroes to the Fore

The Fire God Sword shot straight through a spatial rift torn open by the power of a god-king, landing with perfect accuracy in Diana's hand.

The hilt was warm to the touch, and familiar divine power spread from her palm to every limb. Diana instinctively tightened her grip on the sword.

Almost simultaneously, another streak of silver light sped from the depths of the Temple, a divine power shield firmly attaching to her left arm.

But at this moment, the gods standing in the shadows of the ruined Temple turned their gazes to the sky.

The spatial rift high above not only didn't close, but continued to expand.

Beneath the tearing space, in the distorted light, Superman's blue figure flashed, still fiercely wrestling with Zeus's residual divine might.

A large area of the Divine Realm began to ripple minutely.

Then, Shazam's red figure, wrapped in thunderous force, burst in. He immediately saw Shane in the distance, floating in the sky, covered in blood, seemingly about to collapse at any moment.

With two bodies, one large and one small, lying prone beneath :him, :he was immediately stunned.

"What the...? What the hell happened here?"

Shazam's exclamation echoed across the ruined plaza. :He blurred to Shane's side, slinging one of Shane's arms over :his shoulder, :his tone full of incredulous admiration.

"Dude, you're insane! You took down two gods by yourself? You're definitely the coolest guy I've ever met!"

Shane, however, looked at the two bodies, shaking :his head with some doubt.

The God of War didn't count. Justice League records clearly stated that as long as the concept of war existed in the world, Ares would never truly die.

But to say that :he had killed Hercules and Atlas, Shane :himself found it hard to believe.

From beginning to end, the observing gods had been too calm, and there were two of Zeus's sons among them. If :he had really killed them, Zeus couldn't have been so composed.

Wonder Woman, standing opposite the two, still held her blade aimed at Shane. Bound by her divine oath, she couldn't casually withdraw from the battle.

But Diana could still speak.

"They only deployed avatars composed of divine power, like the Goddess of Discord—otherwise, how could mortals compete with gods on the same level?"

Seeing that Shazam was still somewhat disbelieving, Diana was speechless.

"If :he could really kill the true forms of the two gods who granted you your power and endurance, how could you still be standing here now?"

Now Shazam finally stopped questioning, but still couldn't help but examine the two bodies, muttering.

"So, these two are Atlas and Hercules? Wow, to be honest, it's my first time seeing them, in this strange way."

Shazam awkwardly raised :his other free hand.

"Aren't they getting cold lying on the ground like this? Should I say hello?"

Shane closed :his eyes and turned :his head away. Diana couldn't turn her head; she was still in a state of "full commitment," and could only roll her eyes at Shazam with all her might.

Zeus ignored the three conversing, or rather, :he couldn't spare any more energy.

The God-King looked at the spatial rift that Superman continued to widen, and after a long silence, suddenly gave up suppressing the space with divine power.

The rift instantly expanded again into a massive spatial gate, and Superman soon appeared in the Divine Realm as well.

Superman's blue eyes scanned Shane's body, X-ray vision piercing through layers of blood and damaged armor, confirming that while the injuries looked horrific, there was no actual danger to :his life. Only then did :he slowly turn, :his gaze locked onto Zeus before the Temple, :his expression solemn.

The surrounding air pressure seemed to be decreasing at a visible rate.

"You are the legendary God-King Zeus, attacking a child?"

Before Zeus could speak, Athena proactively stepped out of the Temple's shadow.

"Superman, it's not like that. The Divine Realm is only..."

"No need to explain, Athena."

A pair of enormous eyes, constantly flashing with lightning, appeared in the sky. Zeus's voice exploded in everyone's ears like thunder.

"Superman, if you insist on disrupting the Divine Realm's ritual today, then there will be no more peace between the Divine Realm and the mortal world."

The figure of Zeus on the ground had disappeared. Superman looked up at the sky, :his attitude unwavering.

"If the God-King means launching such a war to harm a child, then please, gods, step over my corpse first."

Just as the two sides were deadlocked, the roar of the Batplane finally sounded from behind the spatial gate, and then, like a black arrow, it pierced through the spatial rift and landed firmly on the rubble at the edge of the plaza.

The hatch opened, and Cyborg, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash, and others filed out. When they saw the scene before them, everyone subconsciously stopped.

The once-magnificent Temple had been mostly dismantled, the dome collapsed, the stone pillars broken, the ground covered with giant pits of varying depths, rubble intertwined with dried divine blood, and Superman seemed to be confronting a pair of huge eyes in the sky.

"Shane actually managed to wreck it this badly. I thought we'd just come in to negotiate with the Divine Realm—is there even anything left to negotiate now?"

Green Lantern Hal subconsciously tightened :his Green Lantern ring, feeling :his throat somewhat dry.

Flash, on the other hand, was constantly emitting crackling speed-force lightning, :his face full of bitterness as :he looked at the huge eyes in the sky.

"I swear this is one of the biggest scenes I've seen since joining the Justice League. We actually broke into OlympusDivine Realm. Don't tell me those eyes in the sky are Zeus's."

Despite their individual complaints, the Justice League quickly formed a confrontational stance against the God-King of Olympus.

Even Aquaman silently raised :his Trident.

Just as the atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense, Shane's voice suddenly broke the silence.

"Teacher Prince, the premise of going all out is that both sides are in a state where they can exert their full strength. Besides, we didn't agree on a battlefield or a specific time."

The massive eyes in the sky, woven from lightning, suddenly fixed on Shane.

"You personally agreed to challenge seven gods!"

A strange smile appeared on Shane's face.

"Who said agreeing means you have to do it? Besides, I'm so 'injured.' I just don't feel like fighting today."

"Speaking of which, Hercules said before that this is a hero's trial. At the very least, the person you're testing has to meet the conditions of a hero, right?"

"Unfortunately, whether it's the classical heroes defined in your myths or the modern superheroes of the Justice League, I don't meet the criteria at all."

As soon as he said this, all the gods, including Zeus in the sky, were completely stunned.

Zeus didn't seem to have expected this at all, his huge eyes staring intently at Diana, who was also somewhat dazed.

"You are Diana's student. You directly defeated the Discord, who incites people's hearts. You didn't actively steal the Golden Apple, but you still dared to venture alone into the Divine Realm to save your teacher..."

Even Athena couldn't help but step forward.

"You are magically insulated. We can't use magic to confirm your condition at all. If you want to use clever tricks to escape, it's useless. Diana's divine oath was also made based on the fourth ring of the hero's trial."

Diana also seemed a little dumbfounded.

"If the most basic condition of the hero's trial is that the gods must recognize the test-taker as a hero..."

The shackles of the divine oath on Diana's hands and body shattered silently, and the sword and shield also fell to the ground.

"I can only admit that he is indeed my student."

Not far away, the corpses of Hercules and Atlas scattered in the wind, and the blood seeped into the ground. Even the Temple, which had been torn to pieces, began to gradually recover.

In the shadows of the Temple, Hercules poked Atlas's knee.

"I told you Zeus wouldn't succeed. He's taking a shortcut."

A moment later, the members of the Justice League and Shane, all with equally confused expressions, were kicked out of the Divine Realm in an almost rude manner.