The President had given up, reaching a state of indifference to praise or blame. General Swanwick couldn't afford that luxury—he felt his position as Secretary of Defense could still be salvaged.
If this were a normal era, the military power in his hands could crush American forces from any period. Unfortunately, this era wasn't normal.
Learning that he was commanding the military, Thea even took time to brief him on Atlantean history.
To him, these words sounded like pure fantasy. Undersea people? You've got to be kidding me! But satellite imagery undeniably told him that what Thea said was true, leaving the Secretary, whose worldview had always been firm, completely helpless.
"Please rest assured, Mr. Secretary. Superheroes will help resist them. I'm not asking frontline soldiers to also refrain from killing—that would be unfair to them. However, our side cannot provoke first. This matter is just a conspiracy by a small group. There's still a chance to salvage the situation."
Thea chattered away, explaining "reason" to generals from various countries.
Those who listened cooperated well enough. Those who didn't and thought too highly of themselves were directly overwhelmed with divine power. She was doing this for everyone's peace and felt absolutely no guilt.
Thea coordinated relationships non-stop from all sides. Superman handled the skies, the Flash handled the ground, and the remaining heroes took their positions, preparing for the enemy's imminent first wave of attack.
Aquaman's mother was named Atlanna—a beautiful name. After treatment, she'd gained some walking ability. Understanding the full context of events, she too didn't want war between surface and sea, and despite her weakened body, insisted on stopping the conflict.
This aligned perfectly with Thea's plan. She currently had no time to ask about Poseidon. She teleported once more, bringing Atlanna and the Aquaman couple to the Atlantean landing points to make them cease operations.
The first two landing points proved fairly successful. Neither generals nor soldiers had expected the respected Queen to still be alive. They'd come for revenge—this made them feel manipulated and resentful toward the Elder Council.
Danger was averted at two locations, with commanders on both sides ordered not to trigger any incidents.
Unfortunately, they encountered obstacles at the third landing point—major obstacles at that.
Wearing fish-scale armor and wielding a magic halberd, Ocean Master Orm emerged surrounded by followers. Seeing his biological mother alive, he pointed at Atlanna expressionlessly and loudly told his subordinates:
"This woman is absolutely not my mother. She's been transformed by that surface witch!"
Blatant lying—that described him perfectly, and some people actually believed it.
Following behind him were three old men. In Thea's view, their attire could definitely be called magnificent. All three heard Orm's words and, before he'd even finished speaking, immediately spoke up in support.
One said, "Exactly! The Queen couldn't possibly be this weak, as if a gust of wind could blow her over."
Another pointed at Thea. "This is all the surface witch's transformation trick to deceive you! The Queen's body still rests in Atlantis, waiting for you to avenge her!"
If Orm's words still carried some bluster, then these old fellows' acting skills could be called consummate.
They seized upon Atlanna's weakened body and Thea's teleportation to make an issue, cleverly linking the two together. Their purpose was outright denial—turning truth into falsehood.
The soldiers below were thoroughly confused. Generally speaking, attacking surface dwellers had some market in Atlantis, but most people opposed it. Their physiological structure had completely changed—they simply couldn't survive on land. Killing all surface dwellers meant they'd still have to return to the sea. This kind of war, besides giving leaders some satisfaction from conquest, held absolutely no meaning for lower-ranking soldiers.
"Kill that witch to break all magic!" An old man pointed at Thea and ordered. Earth had satellites; Atlantis had similar monitoring methods. Thea had been teleporting worldwide for several hours—discovering her wasn't difficult.
In their view, once this Earth woman died, contradictions between both sides would intensify. On the other hand, they were also very annoyed by this come-and-go-as-you-please teleportation.
Most soldiers didn't blindly follow. They could still sense the smell of conspiracy in this. However, there were always a few simple-minded oddballs who, hearing the command, fired at Thea without thinking.
Having spent these past hours exhausting herself verbally to help both sides resolve their conflict, and now being treated as a soft target by them, the Goddess of Trade and Fortune was thoroughly enraged.
Her rolling divine might was no longer suppressed, pouring entirely toward the other side—an invisible force that everyone could feel swept across the Atlanteans.
Next, she witnessed Atlantean advanced technology. They activated some kind of force field device. A sky-blue energy wall enveloped them.
Thea was somewhat surprised. She discovered this device ran on water power. Their water controllers—Mera's kinspeople—were endlessly pouring seawater into the device to maintain the energy shield.
The several old men who'd been scared witless moments before, seeing their safety guaranteed, became smug again. One even gave Thea a challenging look, meaning: You're so powerful, right? I'm standing right here—what can you do about it?
Thea's temper flared too. Her brainwashing of Constantine had been disrupted. Coming out to find someone had produced a pile of troubles. These past days hadn't gone smoothly at all. Now even nameless extras dared provoke her. She decided to give these people a harsh lesson.
Her abundant divine power became like a giant hammer, beginning to pound their protective shield. Several people operating the defensive device all changed expressions drastically. They directly turned one switch to maximum while water controllers desperately poured in seawater to convert into energy and resist the divine power's suppression.
It had to be said: their energy utilization rate far exceeded Earth's. The energy contained in seawater was converted almost one-to-one into the shield.
Watching the shield constantly change colors—deep blue, light blue, pale blue, aqua blue, cycling endlessly—the old men looked at each other, their expressions none too good. They didn't know what invisible energy Thea controlled. Scientists all remained in Atlantis rather than accompanying the forces, but they knew this fierce pounding of the protective shield definitely held no goodwill.
Seawater consumption was dramatic. Everyone was busy beyond measure, yet quantity still couldn't match quality. Relying on black technology and countless mortals' efforts still couldn't stop a true deity. Thea was confident that just three more strikes would break through this turtle shell.
Just as she was about to break their opponent's shield in one go, an immensely huge vortex appeared at the edge of her vision. Simultaneously, a sharp yet extremely authoritative divine power slowly rose from within.
Damn it! Even someone who considered herself quite ladylike couldn't help cursing. What kind of coincidence was this?! Thea stopped her attack, looking somewhat speechless into the distance with a self-deprecating smile. Well, this saved some trouble—no need to ask Atlanna about Poseidon's whereabouts, because Poseidon had come looking for her himself!