"Ahhh!—" A scream echoed from the distance as Stompa took Uggha's hammer directly to the face. Uggha didn't wait for her to rise—he ran over and delivered two more hammer blows, knocking her unconscious before finally stopping.
The legion commander's victory made his cavalry legion roar with excitement. The entire battlefield felt their exhilaration.
Granny Goodness knew today's battle was lost. She immediately stopped dodging Thea's finger beams, escaping the crocodile god's jaws at the cost of having her entire right shoulder blasted through. She shouted something equivalent to "Time to bail!" and fled into the distance.
When disaster strikes, everyone flees for themselves—that was their operating principle. Covering each other's orderly retreat was impossible. Bernadeth, the Female Fury fighting Lightray, activated some secret technique, instantly boosting her speed significantly as she escaped into the distance.
Kalibak similarly escaped the battlefield at the cost of a broken arm. The three deities fled in bizarrely different directions, leaving Thea momentarily stunned. By the time she thought to pursue, Boom Tubes erupted from far away almost simultaneously. All three deities dove through them.
"Haha! These filthy maggots only know how to run. Goddess of Trade and Wealth, don't take it to heart." Seeing the awkward expression on Thea's face, Uggha actually consoled her.
While Thea hadn't planned to fight them to the death, she hadn't expected them to flee so quickly either. Hearing Uggha's consolation, she expressed her firm stance on justice and congratulated him on the glorious achievement of capturing a Female Fury.
"Haha!—You all contributed! All of you!" The dwarf warrior look-alike Uggha grinned ear to ear, laughing with pure joy. With his combat power, defeating a pseudo-deity Female Fury squad member who lacked a true divine position was utterly effortless—the credit was practically a freebie.
Two high-level combatants had been intercepted by Orion and Thea, allowing him, this side's highest combat power, to face the enemy's weakest. Achieving this opening victory, he should definitely share some credit.
With Apokolips's three deities retreating, the remaining minions stood no chance against New Genesis's grand army. After token resistance, they all scattered.
New Genesis didn't pursue. These minions were assembly-line products, all carrying Mother Boxes. The deities had no interest in such enemies. After reaffirming the principle that this planet fell under Highfather's protection, they restrained Female Fury Stompa and opened a Boom Tube back to New Genesis.
News had already spread to the rear—this was unquestionably a great victory!
Uggha received his colleagues' envy. Capturing an enemy deity was simply too significant, too worthy of celebration.
He happily handed the prisoner to Highfather. Whether the boss would convert her (brainwash) or handle it otherwise, even as a trusted aide, he wouldn't presume to ask.
All of New Genesis erupted into celebration. Many people sang and danced as if celebrating a festival.
To reward Thea's achievements, Highfather officially appointed her to establish New Genesis's fourth legion—the Magic Legion.
Over the following days, with excellent combat results as foundation, the new legion's recruitment proceeded extremely smoothly. Large numbers of soldiers with magical talent who'd previously been eliminated for poor close combat skills entered her legion. Many had been reserve members of the three great legions with high individual quality. Now having the chance to join a main combat legion, they studied magic tirelessly, day and night.
Thea spent another half a month on New Genesis. Her Earth avatar sent word that something major seemed to have occurred. She also missed Diana. After handling matters at hand and informing Highfather, she opened a Boom Tube back to Earth.
Both being deities, Highfather only required them present during meetings and battles. Lightray constantly traveled between universes, while Metron ran all over creation seeking knowledge. Highfather couldn't really restrict them. The discipline here was essentially no discipline—as long as they could be contacted when it mattered.
"BOOM!" With an explosion, Thea returned to Earth. She'd opened her tunnel entrance in the Batcave. Earlier, Batman had contacted her avatar saying the situation was dire, but hadn't discussed specifics.
The Batcave held more than just Batman. Zatanna, wearing a purple tailcoat and fishnet stockings, was also present. Both expressed surprise at her sudden appearance method.
"This isn't a spell, is it?" Batman asked his childhood friend Zatanna.
"No, there's no magical energy fluctuation." The current Zatanna didn't know they'd met before. She briefly examined the teleportation, confirming it wasn't any teleportation spell she recognized. Before she could think further about the teleportation method, Thea's appearance captivated her. Post-ascension, Thea's beauty had reached truly literal perfection.
Even as a woman, Zatanna felt stunned. Trade didn't require cold aloofness—Thea's current aura gave people a subtle sense of approachability. Even before speaking, her arrival had warmed the cold Batcave by two degrees.
"Oh? Miss Zatanna, I presume? I've heard so much about you." Thea greeted her first.
Her warm manner gave Zatanna an illusion—as if meeting some national leader. She attributed it to the billionaire status creating this false impression. Their appearances weren't even on the same baseline. She felt not a trace of jealousy.
"Likewise, I've heard much about Dr. Queen. You're even more beautiful than on television." As Zatanna spoke, she unconsciously bowed slightly.
Thea laughed it off. "Uh, you two here? I didn't interrupt anything, did I?" She gestured at the two standing mere centimeters apart.
Zatanna smiled awkwardly while Batman's facial muscles twitched slightly. The originally tense atmosphere relaxed.
"So what's going on? Miss Zatanna's here too—is this a mystical matter?" Having visited the Batcave multiple times, Thea was quite familiar with it. She found a chair and sat, asking with calm expression.
"No, I was just telling Bruce about this. It's not a mage's doing." Zatanna spoke up before Batman could.
Thea looked at Batman with confusion. Why did you call me here exactly?
"It started a month ago." Batman's voice was somewhat hoarse. After speaking, he activated multiple screens behind him, introducing each to Thea. "First, Idaho. Many farmers discovered their crops withered overnight, though it didn't attract attention initially."
"Then Utah. These are hunters who wandered there." Batman pointed at two young men on screen holding hunting rifles. A third person had filmed them from behind, capturing very clear footage meant to preserve their heroic moment for impressing girls later.
The two aimed at a wild deer. From the side, everything seemed normal. Just as they prepared to fire, the deer's full face turned toward them. Half the deer's face had completely rotted, massive diseased tissue densely packed on its body. Seeing the hunters, the deer attacked them like a rabid animal. The video ended there.
"And these. In Wyoming, black clouds of mosquitoes and flies are wreaking havoc. In California, people have seen large numbers of deformed humans staggering along highways. And..." Batman pointed at screen after screen of abnormalities.
"Such supernatural phenomena should be your professional domain. You can't expect Superman to handle this, can you?" Batman stared at the two women questioningly.
Zatanna's expression was terrible. The images were too disgusting, especially that mosquito-fly black cloud, making her extremely uncomfortable.
Post-ascension, her obsessive cleanliness growing worse, Thea also felt nauseated. Most critically, she recognized this event. If she wasn't mistaken, this seemed to be the Rotworld crisis!