They'd already extracted all the information they needed. No point in further talk. Thea opened with raw violence. This place had already begun manifesting characteristics of the Rotworld. Unlike Hades' death-saturated underworld, the fire, earth, and dark elements in the air here had reached a certain scale.
Thea would defeat the enemy with its own specialty. She instantly cast a Fire Tornado to neutralize the ultimate move it had been charging for ages, then under its horrified gaze, she shaped a fire dragon from pure flame.
The blazing dragon tore Set apart in moments.
"Human mage, you cannot harm me. I am immortal!" Shattered to pieces, the Storm God couldn't use wind to transmit its voice this time. It reverted to its old method—using the damaged vocal cords of rotting humans.
The skeleton reassembled quickly. Before it finished speaking, the scattered remains of the Storm God reformed into a rough humanoid shape. However, this time the bones seemed randomly extracted from human and animal bodies, lacking the previous craftsmanship.
Thea frowned slightly. If it couldn't be killed, that was annoying. Actually, it could be killed—it just had the Rot backing it. Unless Thea erased the Rot's influence entirely, Set could continuously resurrect.
Erasing the Rot would mean complete imbalance in nature. She definitely couldn't do that.
"Human mage? Is that what your eyeless head observes? You blind fool, I am a New God!" Thea dropped her playful attitude, finally getting somewhat serious.
So what if it couldn't be killed quickly? Big deal. Stories had provided a solution for heroes facing unkillable demon kings—seal it!
Thea had prepared several sealing devices for Doomsday. When Diana had used her ultimate to reduce that creature to near-death, the seals never got used. Perfect for today.
She and the fire dragon worked together, tearing the half-reformed Storm God back into fragments.
"Useless, useless! No matter how hard you try, you can't kill me. You're just wasting energy. Uh?" This trash-talking champion hadn't finished speaking when half its reformed head got stuffed into a cage. Then the woman claiming to be some New God activated a switch. Brilliant electrical light flashed, and Set lost consciousness completely.
"Enhanced quantum containment cell! How's it taste?" What Thea pulled out was black-tech from the A.R.G.U.S. arsenal—seized when establishing the Alien Management Committee. The original was a prison designed to contain super-powered individuals, now enhanced by Thea with additional alien technology.
She'd specifically tested it. Not only could it hold living beings with flesh and blood, but even Boston Brand—that dead man whose nature nobody could explain—could be trapped by the quantum cell. This nameless minor god was nothing in comparison.
When scattered, Set's consciousness dispersed and the cage was ineffective. But when it reconsolidated, an energy core inevitably formed. Once Thea found that core and locked it in the cell, there was no coming back.
Heroes could only bury demon kings deep underground—Thea found that approach far too unreliable. She directly opened a portal and without checking what was on the other side, chucked the cage a dozen light-years away. Want to resurrect? Good luck with that!
With the Storm God, Set, thoroughly separated from his domain, the heroes worked together to sweep up the remaining debris. The city finally returned to peace, though the once-lively town would never regain its former glory.
The terrain was completely destroyed, the city layout obliterated, drinking water contaminated, and bacterial levels in the air far exceeding normal levels. This place was uninhabitable for the foreseeable future.
Two minutes after Thea reported the situation to the White House, she received some absurd news.
The President had been so worried about affairs of state that he'd just slipped, and his head had an intimate encounter with his desk. He'd been rushed to the hospital. After discussion, his aides concluded: If you superheroes are capable, handle it yourselves! The White House is too busy to help right now.
That old bastard was playing the injury card! Thea called around and discovered the Vice President had left on a state visit two hours ago, while the Secretary of State hadn't shown up for work at all today! Wyoming's governor had been straightforward—he'd submitted his resignation to the state legislature an hour after the disaster began.
In short, all the politicians who could take charge were shirking responsibility. You couldn't really blame them either. From an ordinary person's perspective, at least one hundred thousand had died, and the entire state of Wyoming was devastated. This was too big a mess to take the fall for. If it were a biohazard, they could find a corporation to scapegoat. But this wasn't a biological attack—every single one of them chose to hide!
Thea had no choice but to help with local disaster relief first. After floods and hurricanes, there's still rescue work to do. The Rot was simpler—everyone who made contact died, and those alive hadn't made contact. Very easy to determine.
Batman and the others withdrew first to search for Anton Arcane. Thea, with her high profile and near-household-name recognition, began coordinating local relief efforts.
Injured? There were virtually no injured people—only casualties. All the deceased were cremated at high temperatures. Campbell County's broken city built from piled bones—nobody had the aesthetic appreciation for that. Local forces deployed thermobaric bombs and completely destroyed it. Police and National Guard were all armed to maintain order and arrest anyone attempting to loot.
These bastards completely ignored the principles of trade, which greatly displeased the Goddess of Trade and Wealth! Several of the worst offenders were directly charged with treason!
All essential supplies were provided by Queen Consolidated. Citizens whose homes were destroyed could receive three days' worth of supplies.
Clearing highways, restoring power and water, reestablishing cell signals, gradually lifting network restrictions—Thea kept the remaining local agencies running at full tilt. It wasn't until evening, when the state legislature temporarily elected an acting governor to take over all operations, that she finally flew back to Metropolis.
Two minutes of combat, several hours dealing with tedious matters. After drinking some water, she finally asked Beast Boy, who'd stayed behind.
"Did they find that Anton Arcane guy?"
Facing the demoness, Beast Boy was still somewhat uncomfortable. "Ah! They found him. They all went to... what was that place called...?"
Seeing Thea raise her fist to strike, the green kid panicked. "...Oh right, Batman left you a note!"
Thea took the note and read it. "Carpathian Mountains? That's quite far."
Beast Boy said ingratiatingly, "Abby said that's where her family castle is. Her evil uncle must be there. They all followed, and Batman hid Lonnie Machin somewhere. He only left me to watch the place... Boss Lady, can you take me to see?"