After Su Ming roughly described the situation about Namor to him, the Magic Prince fell into brief contemplation. In the room, the only sounds were the mechanical ticking of an old clock and the rustling noise of rabbits eating in other rooms.
Outside the window, London City was submerged in a curtain of rain.
"Are you saying the King of Atlantis has gone missing, which will cause a shift in the world's timeline? Was it the Ancient One who told you this?"
His first thought was of the Eye of Agamotto, a gemstone that could inspect the endless timelines and possibilities to avoid harm and make plans.
Su Ming could never say he himself discovered that events deviated from the original comics; this secret must never be known: "Mm, yes, that's it."
"Alright, I'll give it a try. Do you have any of his personal items or something like hair or nails?" Monac turned his gaze to Su Ming, pulling out a piece of coal-like black stone from his person.
"No... Does knowing his name count?"
Monac's smile didn't change, but he shook his head and sighed: "Magic isn't omnipotent; without related items, it's impossible to smoothly conduct the ritual. I can indeed do something to select the owners of these names, but there are at least tens of thousands of people with the same name."
Su Ming's brain spun rapidly. Sitting on the sofa, he leaned forward: "But among these Namors, only he is closely tied to the sea..."
Monac was taken aback for a moment, his eyes rolled: "You're right, among the Atlanteans, there may be only this one Namor. Wait a moment."
He took off his top hat and pulled out a rabbit from it, whispering a few incomprehensible words to it.
"Eee, ee ee."
"Ee!"
Then the rabbit ran off, squeezing into a small door in the wall. Soon, it brought back a cup of seawater.
Monac petted the rabbit's head, its snow-white soft fur poking through his fingers, and the rabbit seemed quite happy, looking at him with shining eyes.
Then he forcefully twisted its neck.
Tears flowed from his tightly closed eyes, his shoulders constantly shaking.
"Sorry, the cost of magic. I just cast a teleportation spell to send it to Bermuda and bring it back; this was a location spell, and next, I have to use divination magic. I... forget it, let's not talk about this topic..."
Su Ming didn't know what to say either, and could only nod, signaling Monac to proceed as he pleases. He understood the grief of killing one's child, but in reality, it was just a rabbit.
Killing people was no big deal for Su Ming, let alone a dead rabbit. Was he expected to be upset?
But Monac had already deeply hypnotized himself; he saw something completely different from Su Ming. It was as if he had just killed a person, a person who was his child. His rationality could distinguish a rabbit, but psychologically, it was different.
So Su Ming gave him some time to calm down.
A few minutes later, a recovered Monac continued the magic, using a finger to dab a few drops of seawater from the cup onto the black stone, surrounding it with lots of animal parts like frog legs and bat wings.
Then he began chanting a spell, using incomprehensible words and changing various hand gestures with his hands.
A purple-black illusion of Earth emerged from the stone, composed of light, like a magic version of a holographic projection, with a more eerie atmosphere.
The temperature in the room also dropped by a few degrees, and the power of dark magic always gave people an unpleasant feeling.
But the magic worked, and many small light points lit up on the black Earth, shining like fireflies in the night.
"The good news is we found the person you mentioned." Sweat trickled down Monac's forehead, maintaining this magic was very taxing: "The bad news is... he's everywhere."
"Are you saying he was dismembered after death?"
Su Ming raised an eyebrow; if Namor was dead and the Ancient One didn't care about worldly affairs, then there would be no one to counter U Demon.
"Not exactly. It's possible that some of these light points are real, some are namesakes among the Atlanteans, others might be warlocks interfering with my magic, or the person you seek is magically fragmented in soul and body." Monac, seeing Deathstroke had noted all the locations, withdrew the magic, took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat, then picked up a wine glass for a sip: "However, all these are living beings; this spell only locates the living."
Su Ming recalled in his mind the locations where Namor might exist, realizing it was truly a global journey; he needed to think.
"Magic can dissect a human body and still let them live?" Holloway inquired, feeling as if his worldview was about to shatter.
Being a surgeon, he knew missing any part of a body could cause someone to die from massive blood loss, and now he heard something akin to a building blocks game.
"Yes, magic can do it. Many spells can." Monac admitted frankly; mages indeed did this more than once.
Holloway stroked his mustache, as if recalling something: "When I was a child, I saw a talking head in a circus, it was in a glass jar. I thought it was fake, you know, those tricks with someone hiding under the counter."
Monac raised his glass and clinked with the two of them, feeling a bit down and needing the solace of alcohol: "Some are fake, but in Gypsy circuses, many are real. Those with casting ability are also called warlocks, and they sometimes lose their collections, mostly heads."
"Hehe, sounds like Celtic customs." Holloway drank his wine, helplessly pursing his lips, realizing the magic realm retained many barbaric traditions.
The Ancient Celts had a habit of collecting other people's heads. They went to battle with only a necklace as armor, painting their bodies with woad dye, screaming and dancing wildly toward enemies.
But when they returned home, they would bring back enemy heads, preserved in lime, as gifts for their wives. The more one brought, the more respected he was.
Wives would also compete over who had more dead heads, just like today with brand name bags and high heels.
In their legends, if you were a true warrior, and your speed with a flame-shaped sword was fast enough to behead your enemy, the head would remain alive, becoming a talking head.
The talking heads had many functions; reportedly, the main one was weather forecasting in those days, and they were said to predict the arrival of storms or the duration of droughts.
If back then you owned a talking head and brought it home to your wife, you'd become a local celebrity, no less renowned than a dragon slayer of legend.
You might become a village chief, annex surrounding small villages, establish a town, lead hundreds, and reach the pinnacle of life...
Monac shrugged, for Holloway, these were mere stories or legends, but in the magic realm, they were not uncommon, and Celtic legends also held truth, except those talking heads had powers not of predicting weather but cursing it foul.
"In any case, all the aforementioned possibilities exist."
While Holloway and Monac chatted, Su Ming quickly drew a map from his memory, a world map with potentially inaccurate details but precisely marked key highlighted locations.
"Alright then, let's find this guy. If it's a fellow sea race member, toss him back into the sea; if it's an enemy interference, eliminate the enemy; if Namor is shattered, piece him back together and keep him far away from land."
Monac had no objections; upon receiving the Ancient One's message, he was ready, only wanting to save more people: "I thought you were looking for a friend."
Su Ming stood up, shook his head, and fastened his helmet, with the symbiote spreading across his skin, making his voice even deeper and more terrifying than before.
"Trust me, normal humans wouldn't want to be friends with him. He hates humanity, and after this, he'll probably hate it even more."
Actually, Su Ming had considered finding Namor's pieces and simply destroying them, but considering the potential uncontrollable impacts on the future, he refrained.
Throwing Namor back into the sea, letting him manage the undersea people to keep out of trouble, was the most beneficial choice.
Until U Demon is not defeated, Namor cannot perish; his bloodline and ruling power are still useful now.
Namor also has a weakness: Atlantis is above all in his heart. Once Su Ming gains the power to threaten all undersea people, Namor will have to hold back.
For now, let's play the good guy first...