Watching the Resentful Woman reveal a whole lot of information, Su Ming was overjoyed in his heart. Hecate was truly a kind person; even before her death, she explained the story clearly.
Knowing so much of the gods' dark past, his tactical options are now enriched.
It must be said that Hecate chose a good time—the Origin Wall is shattered, the Totality descends, and the Justice League can't spare her a thought.
Something strange has happened to God; his angels are now having fits and waging war with Hell.
The Inverted Man is causing chaos outside the wall, rendering 90% of the world's magic ineffective.
Even from Su Ming's perspective, this was the perfect time to take revenge.
And Hecate's training has evidently shown great results. Now, in addition to the powers on Diana and Circe, Hecate, counting her own, already has four portions of energy.
She's still managing it all well.
Su Ming felt as if in the next second she might grow two horns on her head, spread bat wings, and shoot to the skies beneath the full moon to announce to everyone.
'I've been imprisoned for ten thousand years and exiled from my homeland. Now, you dare to intrude into my domain—truly courting death! Courting death!'
She's just here for revenge; whether or not the world faces destruction, she simply doesn't care!
"Can we still negotiate?"
Actually, it wasn't her who was wrong at the start; it's just that this timing for revenge was not quite right.
If Earth had dealt with the destruction crisis, and then she sought revenge on anyone, Su Ming wouldn't mind. If the price were right, he'd even be willing to give Hecate a hand.
But now it's not feasible; if the DC Universe is ruined, Su Ming might be able to escape back to Marvel, but his commissions haven't been spent yet, and he won't agree to them turning into waste paper.
"Negotiate? I will no longer negotiate with humans!"
The Resentful Woman's face showed murderous intent; she had said enough, and now she wanted to erase the little worms and transform the magic array underneath their feet into the final step of her plan.
The two young faces on either side of her head didn't speak, they simply shed silent tears.
"So there's no room for negotiation?" Su Ming shrugged and turned to Zatanna at his side: "Let's begin."
Zatanna took a deep breath, as if gathering all the strength within her, and loudly shouted: "Open the door!"
Su Ming made a gesture as if cleaning his ears; actually, she didn't need to be so loud. Her reversed speech magic is closely tied to the Inverted Man, like drawing blood from him.
Don't even talk about using teleportation magic; even if she wanted to conjure a pigeon, it would open the world's fissures.
She merely created a small hole, and the Inverted Man would exert power to open a dark door.
As soon as she finished speaking, a giant black magic array appeared at the top of the hall, and a monster covered in white scales, with black slime, slid out upside down.
"Hiss... this sweet aroma, after waiting hundreds of thousands of years, I've finally found the little thief who once stole my things."
The Inverted Man, hanging upside down in the air with only a large mouth on his face, took a deep breath like he was sniffing Hecate's scent.
From his mouth, saliva-like substances flowed; it seemed he'd recently learned a lot, perhaps attended some performance training classes?
He knew that humans, when faced with food, would secrete saliva to express the food's deliciousness.
However, he clearly didn't know what a reasonable amount is; his saliva poured down like rain, drenching Hecate beneath him like a drowned rat.
Hecate found her powers completely useless; the power of witchcraft within her immediately submitted when facing their original owner.
Yet the Inverted Man posed a darker, more terrifying threat to everyone; how dare these mortals summon it?!
"No! What have you all done?!"
Hecate let out a scream, staggered on her feet like an ordinary old woman trying to run away.
The Inverted Man wouldn't give the thief a chance to escape; he immediately emerged from his door, coiling around Hecate like a python.
He opened his bloody maw and took a bite at her neck.
No blood or shredded meat; the Inverted Man's bite was akin to eating cake, absorbing a chunk of 'concept' invisibly.
"Ah!!!"
"Haha, truly delicious."
Hecate writhed in pain on the ground, unable to escape the Inverted Man, who seemed to have drawn much inspiration from snakes. This Old Tree Root technique was truly like a giant python.
He firmly trapped Hecate, feasting while letting out soothing laughter and praise.
But his vocabulary was limited; he only repeated how delicious it was.
Su Ming crossed his arms, watching indifferently as it all unfolded; once Hecate had refused to negotiate, she had to be eliminated.
She had done good deeds and made mistakes, but none of that mattered now. When a concept perishes, she wouldn't even get to see 'death'.
From now on, the DC World would no longer have the term 'Witch Mother', nor the concept of 'witchcraft'.
Only unfamiliar concepts from outside the wall remain—the former dark side of witchcraft, today's 'magic', the Inverted Man.
Snakes often swallow their prey in one gulp, but the Inverted Man was quite meticulous, devouring Hecate bit by bit, like eating ice cream, licking occasionally with a long tongue.
No matter how much he wished to prolong the enjoyment, Hecate was only so big, and he finished soon enough.
He turned his gaze to Su Ming and Zatanna; he remembered these two, both had once obstructed him.
Yet now, it was them who opened the door, welcoming him back; he was puzzled by their intentions.
Humans are truly complex creatures.
He extended his long tongue to lick his lips, as if there were two invisible things stuck there.
"You people are strange; aren't you planning on fleeing for your lives?" The Inverted Man tilted his head to look at the two, his neck stretching like a rubber band.
Seeing this, Su Ming finally recalled why he always found the Inverted Man to be so familiar.
This hanging position from the ceiling, along with the white scales everywhere, plus the neck that could stretch and retract at will, and the face with only the big mouth...
Could it be that before coming here, he was always outside the wall playing Monster Hunter? Isn't this the Electrolizard?
But given his intelligence, it's unlikely he could play games in other worlds; this appearance must be a coincidence.
"Now that you've reclaimed most of your power, what do you plan to do next?"
Su Ming reached his hand behind his back, secretly signaling Barry, indicating that he could get ready.
While Su Ming and Zatanna waited for Hecate to arrive, Barry had brought over a large batch of mechanical equipment.
He excavated a hidden observation room in some wall of the hall, where he'd operate the equipment to coordinate with Deathstroke's actions.
Of course, if the Inverted Man could be talked to, Su Ming didn't intend to unleash such indiscriminate weaponry.
But if negotiation failed, then he would unleash Wade.