Low faith-deity probability meant high probability of a primordial god or nature god. These deities were born from the world itself. Like Zeus—from humanity's perspective, he was a philanderer and total scumbag. But from his own standpoint, he was part of nature, pursuing beauty was his nature. How could you impose human standards on him?
Nature gods were generally stronger than faith gods. Though Zeus was an Old God, he could go toe-to-toe with Highfather. That said everything.
Facing this Mars god of unknown depth, she felt hesitant. Thea's DC knowledge was surface-level at best—far from expert. She knew Animal Man existed but not his name. This mysterious Mars god gave her pause. Not knowing the details—what if they had space, time, or death-related divine domains? That would be trouble.
Just as she considered going back to gather reinforcements for a group run at this unknown entity, Martian Manhunter—unable to wait any longer to see his relative—shouted and used his powerful psychic abilities to forcibly tear a gap in the divine barrier.
Martian Manhunter charged through first. Thea could only follow helplessly while calculating mentally. If she could win, she'd fight. If not, she'd open a boom tube back to New Genesis. She had backing, after all. Highfather wouldn't stand by and watch. Besides, apart from Batman-level freaks, nobody (no god) could single-handedly assault the Fourth World.
If the opponent was so overwhelmingly powerful even Highfather couldn't match them—well, Thea would have to accept fate. But that probability was infinitesimally small, nearly nonexistent. This was the most pessimistic outcome.
Right now, Thea felt quite confident. One or several unknown Mars gods should still be within her acceptable range.
"Good lord... I never knew there was this area underground." Martian Manhunter, who'd charged in first, quickly stopped, seemingly unable to believe what he saw.
Bizarre architecture, a semi-illusory style—ten thousand meters underground hid a miniature city. But now it was quite ruined. Thea crouched and swept her hand across a fallen column's stone fragments. The material here was completely different from Earth's, as if constructed from mental force.
Surrounding walls were covered in text. Thea pulled out a power ring, switched to language translation function, and read carefully.
Maleca'andra—the Martian name for their own planet, meaning "Star of Hope, Harbor of the Mind."
This miniature city had been secretly built by the nobles Martian Manhunter mentioned to worship a deity called Heronmeer. The wall text was quite vague, only alluding several times to "praising art." Was this an art god?
Thea considered this good news. Her heart settled back into place. An art god—couldn't be that dangerous by the sound of it.
She hadn't forgotten the search mission. Pulling out the compass to reconfirm direction, they walked and stopped through the miniature city, finally reaching a palace front.
A smaller figure lay flat on a mental-force-constructed table surface.
"M'gann, M'gann!? Wake up! I'm your Uncle J'onn." Martian Manhunter was so excited seeing one fellow Martian he could go three days without sleep, let alone a relative. Though their family was rather large—Thea figured the girl probably didn't remember having a commoner Uncle J'onn...
"She seems to be in deep psychic sleep. Should I wake her?" Thea examined the green-skinned girl. Very young-looking. No injuries, but she'd suppressed her mental force into the deepest mind-realm. Waking her required preparation.
"No, she's using an advanced Martian psychic technique. I have a better way to wake her..." Martian Manhunter's words cut off, interrupted by a bizarre voice.
Bizarre because the sound didn't seem to come from vocal organs but resembled fire scorching wood, creating a "sizzling" sound. The sounds connected rhythmically like speech.
The language was Martian—both present could understand. "You can't just touch this collectible. Hmm? Another surviving Martian? I only wanted to collect one Martian. Why did another pop up? So troublesome."
With the voice came scorching heat. Air temperature rose rapidly. Both Thea and Martian Manhunter began sweating.
Martian Manhunter sensed fire's shadow. He knew he shouldn't retreat now, but his body wouldn't cooperate. Forcibly maintaining his stance made sweat constantly seep from his green skin.
Thea was literally sweating. What the hell was this? Was this Mars god actually a fire god? This left her depressed. Martian Manhunter could once again happily slack off. That freeloader!
Slightly annoyed, she looked toward the voice's source. The other party hadn't given her an overwhelming feeling. After ascending to godhood, she increasingly trusted her instincts. Those weaker than her were obvious. Those stronger—but not Highfather-level—she could roughly gauge.
This unseen speaker hadn't triggered danger signals. Actual combat strength was hard to estimate, but presumably weaker than Zeus or Highfather. She relaxed somewhat.
"I'll go look. You guard here." Thea instructed. Martian Manhunter tried stepping forward several times, but pyrophobia made movement nearly impossible.
"Be careful. Retreat if you can't manage."
Feeling the opponent was weaker, she dropped most of her caution. With the hood hiding most of her face and leaving only her smooth jade-like chin visible, a trace of pride crept in. "Don't worry. I'm a deity too."
Leaving Martian Manhunter to watch his niece, Thea followed the voice's direction. When she saw this Mars god in the lava, she almost laughed.
In a spacious, massive lava cave, she immediately spotted this long-distance Mars deity. His form towered one hundred meters tall. Compared to him, Thea looked like an insect. This lava pool near the planet's core was quite broad, but for his massive frame, it was like a small pond.
Thea carefully examined the Mars god. He looked nothing like Martians—barely humanoid with a head, torso, and limbs. Unlike Thea's divine body, his form was mostly composed of flame, the remainder high-heat rock.
Despite never encountering an elemental deity, Thea's perspective had long transcended mortal levels. This Mars god wasn't fully elementalized—the rock in his body proved it.