บท 3936: Chapter 3052: Mercury Chronicles (Part 2)
"Long, long ago, the Earth was very different from today, and the human race was still in its tribal stage, with the Gods as we now know them yet to descend,"
"One day, a Goddess came to Earth and generously shared her Divine Power with those who craved it, turning them into the first deities on Earth, who called themselves the Greek gods."
"The Goddess sensed the force of Dark Magic approaching Earth, so she created a barrier to block the source of Dark Magic from invading Earth forever."
"Years passed, and the Goddess thought the gods would use her power to guide humanity, to make life on Earth flourish, and to build great civilizations here. She joined them, hoping to live among the gods and witness the transformation of this planet."
"But she hadn't anticipated that the gods' pursuit of power would be endless. The gods wanted to know the source of the great power bestowed upon them but did not want to thank her. Instead, they sought to take her remaining power and become even more potent beings."
"Finally, they discovered the difference in the Goddess, realizing that her power was much greater than theirs. Disaster struck, and they imprisoned her using the very force she had given them. Her husband, Hades, even took another wife."
"The Goddess's heart was shattered. In addition to her roles as a maiden and a mother, she now harbored a visage of hatred. That face took control of the Goddess, and she wanted to destroy everything and make those greedy villains pay."
"She opened the barrier that once intercepted Dark Power, allowing a thread of Dark Magic to reach Earth. Countless people learned and mastered this Dark Magic and began to fight against the gods."
"Later, the imprisoned Goddess divided her power into five parts, each infused into five women. She hoped these women would become powerful warriors who could break the gods' seals."
"And when she returns to Earth, she will erase all existing Magic Power, redefine the existence of magic, and make witchcraft the most potent force in this world."
"These five powers are called the Witch's Hour, and the former witch, Calchas, also known as Circe, is the only one among them who knows the truth about the Witch's Hour. She has always wanted to release the Goddess."
"And you..."
The appearance of Shiller gradually merged with Diana's, and the surroundings started to shimmer with flowing lights.
"And I..."
"Diana."
"am another woman who possesses the Witch's Hour. When the God of Witchcraft, Hecate, returns, I will become her mightiest warrior, joining her to topple Mount Olympus and completely overturn the existence of magic."
As Diana spoke, Clark looked worried, Bruce and Lex pondered, seemingly comparing the legend with mythical stories.
Arthur, holding a wine glass, somewhat lightheartedly said, "So it's your whole clan who betrayed a goddess named Hecate, and now she wants to settle the score, right?"
Diana nodded reluctantly, but added, "Professor Shearer told me her goal is to completely transform the nature of magic. I'm not sure how extensive this transformation will be. If she intends to change the fundamental energy structure of the cosmos, then our human society will also be affected."
"Perhaps this sounds like I'm making a mountain out of a molehill to save Mount Olympus, but in fact, I don't care whether Olympus falls or not. The era of the gods is long gone, and their living among ordinary people isn't a bad thing."
"It's just that these self-proclaimed sources of some power are often arrogant. They think the whole cosmos owes them, and they feel entitled to their actions, no matter how chaotic. So no matter how big a mess they create, we must bear it silently. To resist is to be a betrayer."
"They consider other beings living on this planet as nothing, and won't care about them. With such an attitude, they will surely create unprecedented chaos. Earth really can't take any more of this."
"We really need to study this carefully," Clark said. "This Hecate doesn't sound like a good person. Even if the gods did betray her initially, she shouldn't wreak havoc on Earth, which I won't allow."
"However, I don't know much about magic and don't know if I can defeat her, not to mention the so-called five parts of power. If this God of Witchcraft dies, will it affect Diana?"
"Come to my place," Lex spoke up. "After the banquet, we can have a temporary meeting..."
"Temporary? How temporary?" Bruce rolled his eyes; he couldn't stand Lex at the moment, having not gained the upper hand in recent business negotiations. Though the result was evenly matched, Luther Group had already swallowed up much of Wayne Enterprises, putting him at a loss overall.
"Remember what we discussed earlier? We need an organization to defend Earth," Clark brought up again, then said, "We've talked about establishing it before, but everyone just went their own way, and we don't even have a constitution yet."
"There's no time like the present," Diana said. "Let's establish the name and members today, then find a place to build the base."
"Do we even need to decide?" Arthur, sipping through a straw, said, "The name is Justice League, the founders are seven, Justice Hall is built in Washington, and just launch a space station to complete it."
"No, we can't just copy the Justice League outright," Clark objected. "For starters, we can't gather those seven people, we don't have Cyborg, and we don't know the Martian Manhunter."
"That's easy, let him join," Arthur pointed at Lex, then after a moment's thought said, "As for the remaining spot, I think Professor Shearer would be suitable, but I guess he wouldn't be willing, so maybe just the six of us…"
"No," Diana spoke again, refusing, "the number six represents demons; it's too inauspicious, either five or seven."
"Lex, do you plan to join?"
Lex shook his head vigorously and said, "I won't get involved with you group of superpower users. I'm human, and I need to represent the entire human race to oversee you, to prevent misuse of your powers."
"Alright, that works."
"So that makes five people," Clark counted, "me, Bruce, Diana, Arthur, and Oliver."
"Hal isn't coming?" Bruce asked.
"He's nearly too busy," Diana put a pastry from her plate into her mouth and said, "He has won over several elders within the Lantern Corps, and now he has become the boss of Green Lantern, busy restructuring the Green Lantern Corps. He probably doesn't have the time."
"It's also okay if he isn't positioned yet," Clark said. "The nature of the League isn't so tight, everyone can do their own thing normally, just need to come together for important matters."
Diana shook her head and said, "Don't forget, Hal still has a boss above him. Last time Darkseid fought with the Lantern Corps, Clark and I got somewhat famous. If the Guardians of the Universe learn that Hal is working for another organization we belong to, he might be suspected."
Clark was still somewhat puzzled, but Bruce and Lex had already figured it out. If Hal were just an ordinary Green Lantern, the Little Blue People wouldn't care about him, but now, he could be considered the leader of the Green Lantern Corps. Such a status added to joining another somewhat well-known organization might seem inappropriate, and could also make his subordinates feel he might sacrifice other civilizations' interests to favor Earth, which could hinder his work.
"Then the members are decided," Diana said. "Five people in total, but I think we can still incorporate some other powers, hire others with different talents as advisors, like Pamela with her strong plant powers, Constantine and Zatanna who have made contributions in Magic, Professor Shearer who can see through people, and Professor Fries whose freeze technology isn't bad either."
"Then we'll need to establish an advisory system," Bruce said. "Let's each draft a list of advisors we have in mind, list the personnel, and then vote, a majority approval suffices as an invitation, any problems?"
The others agreed with this idea, and Bruce continued, "We also need to deal well with official organizations; I think we can invite Amanda's Federation Shield and people from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to join."
"Is that really necessary?" Clark felt some aversion, he said, "These people won't make life easy for us, they just want to use our powers to help them conquer the world."
"I can assure you Amanda doesn't think that way, and as for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it's for balance, and it would be great to use their power for some minor investigations."
"But we also need to establish our own talent training system," Arthur said. "Now there are many young talented individuals who do not receive proper guidance, and we are short of personnel; why not establish a youth reserve team, both guiding them positively and solving our staff shortage?"
"I agree," Diana said. "Perhaps we can establish a Young Justice League."
"Sounds like we're old," Bruce said somewhat dissatisfied. "Aren't we the Young Justice League?"
"Stop it, only you are pretending to be young here," Lex mercilessly exposed him. "We're all of parenting age, only you still think you're forever in your early 20s."
"That's because my parents are still alive, unlike some people..."
Seeing that they were about to argue again, Diana quickly tapped her cup and said, "No fighting. I'm so much older than you; averaged with you, it would double your ages. Do we need to call it the Elder Justice League? It's just a name."
Bruce could only purse his lips, conceding, and Arthur said, "I suggest we look for others based on the list of young heroes from other universes, gather the young ones with strong abilities and good character for early training as a way to plan ahead."
"So let's send an email to everyone who participated in Battleworld," Diana suggested, "list all the capable and kind young heroes they've encountered in the instance, and try to find them. If they're too young, we hold on to them, those about the right age can join the Young Justice League."
"There's also the issue of the base," Clark said. "I think there might be an invasion from an external universe later, so it's probably best not to build in the same place as other Justice Leagues, otherwise, it's an easy target for criminals."
"Where should it be built then?" Diana asked.
"Since everyone here can fly, let's not pretend otherwise, why not build on another planet? If it gets bombed, it won't affect Earth."
"Don't forget, Oliver can't fly."
"Then I'll just fly with him, or probably just open a Teleportation Portal, that shouldn't be hard, right?"
"I think it can be on Mercury," Bruce suddenly said.
All eyes turned towards him, Bruce scanned them and then said, "Tim got a complete set of Mercury Base equipment from another universe; not only can it serve as a sturdy base, it can also extract limitless clean energy from the sun."
"This thing was launched yesterday, it's currently landing and under construction. Let me check the time... it should be about done. Want to visit?"
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