"Come on, everyone has a pirate in their heart." Black Manta flicked out two daggers from his hands, each flying towards two Sea Gods. His specialty as a mercenary was throwing weapons: "I'll make you all kneel, but first, let out a loud wail!"
Whether it was flying knives, crossbow arrows, or fish spear guns, Black Manta handled them all exceptionally well, and he was as fast as lightning.
The Lone Brave Captain rushed at the front, initially planning to strangle Black Manta with his octopus-like arms, but he was directly stabbed in the heart by a dagger.
"Ahhhhh!"
Just as Manta predicted, he let out a cry of agony and then fell to his death.
The other dagger was supposed to pierce Admiral Nu Tao's chest, but Arthur intervened at the critical moment, using his hand to block the dagger's path.
Manta's dagger was made of Promethium Metal and coated with the Tear of Extinction. Arthur had lost his invulnerability, so the weapon went through his hand and still stabbed into Nu Tao's chest.
However, due to a slight angle change and the thickness of the hand, the hit wasn't lethal, merely gravely wounding Nu Tao.
Arthur found that the Power of Life within him had awakened under the stimulus of the Tear of Extinction. He wasn't affected by the tear, just a bit stiff, and he retreated with Nu Tao onto the Justice League's ship.
"Admiral." Arthur cradled the Sea God, warily watching Manta.
"Death Sea Demon... you must stop Manta." Admiral Nu Tao said weakly, finally realizing they had been used by the bald man.
Everything was wrong.
"Uh, should we keep fighting?"
Beast Boy whispered to Raven beside him. Earlier, they said they'd kill the Sea Gods, and now they're mostly dead, with one half-dead remaining. Yet why does the situation feel different?
Raven rolled her eyes, pulled up her hood, and wore it; she didn't want to talk to fools.
Didn't Mera keep staring at Arthur's hand? Watching him constantly run his hand over the alien Sea Goddess, Mera's eyes were practically on fire.
Even if there was action to be taken, it wouldn't be Titan's turn, right?
Actually, Arthur was instinctively checking on the spread of toxins within the Sea God, using his Power of Life to dispel these extincting forces, not taking advantage.
He had no other thoughts on the battlefield; he was a pure-hearted warrior.
"Manta?! What's going on? We acquired the Totality and the power of extinction, the ocean and our plan aren't related, quickly open the teleporter! Don't..."
Luthor's voice blared through Manta's headset, and he, too, hadn't anticipated this. Manta had gone utterly mad.
"And what if I don't open it? You say the oceans are unrelated to us, but I think the seas are mine! Not just Earth's oceans, but every sea in the Multiverse!"
Luthor was furious. How dare Black Manta defy his will?
"Manta, how dare you?!"
Black Manta casually cut off the communication: "Sorry, Lex, we're through."
Manta ordered the Death Sea Demon to come closer, preparing to deal first with the Justice League people. However, the Death Sea Demon didn't seem very obedient to his command, slowly descending.
"You can't control the demon, only Zhen Hai can." Admiral Nu Tao said despairingly to Manta, pressing her chest wound: "It will destroy all planets in its path, all life, including you, Manta."
Black Manta didn't believe it. He pressed one hand on his head, the other on the Bone Ring, mimicking Zhen Hai to command the Demon.
"Sea Demon, kill these bugs on my deck!"
In the distance, the massive Sea Demon indeed ignored commands, its tentacles spreading out like roots, preparing to contact the sea.
"No! Obey me, why won't you obey?!" Black Manta immediately tried several times, but the result was the same.
No matter how he howled, the Death Sea Demon continued to act on its own.
"Damn, you'll doom the entire cosmos!" Arthur leaned Nu Tao against the ship's side and charged toward Manta: "Mera, take the others to stop the Demon."
Sea King lunged at Black Manta. He wanted to personally kill this guy. Nu Tao had just returned his Trident to him, and he intended to skewer Manta on it like a grilled fish.
But Manta had been watching for this. Seeing Arthur coming, he immediately sprayed two red energy beams from his helmet's visor, sweeping across the deck in an instant.
Arthur also presented the Trident horizontally, intending to take the hit head-on.
Dodging was impossible; behind him was the critically wounded Sea God. Nu Tao realized her mistake and couldn't die here; Earth's seas needed her to heal them, and the transformed humans needed her to restore them.
Not to mention that there were Titans and the children of the Shadow Contract behind him, Sea King wouldn't dodge.
Just as he tensed his body, ready to take the hit, a golden Shield appeared before him, followed closely by a black cloak and Great Sword slicing through.
The red lasers were instantly extinguished, Deathstroke stood with a Shield in front of Arthur.
"Honestly, you can wield that fork with one hand, ever considered pairing it with a Shield?"
Deathstroke shook his head, turned the Shield back into a saber, and turned to throw a jibe at Arthur, wasn't it just a steel fork? Who said it had to be used by two hands?
Arthur breathed a sigh of relief, scratching his head with a sheepish smile.
For some reason, he felt much more at ease after Deathstroke appeared, clearly Deathstroke had ample plans for the Death Sea Demon as well.
If Deathstroke had no plan, could he stand there cracking jokes?
But things weren't looking good for Manta. When he saw Deathstroke, he was in despair; the power gap was too big, he couldn't possibly fight back.
In previous battles captured by video footage from the Otherworldly Deathstroke, both Sinestro and Grud had faced him and nearly got killed.
It's not just fighting techniques but also strength, speed, self-healing ability, tactics, and experience—there are vast differences between mercenaries.
In a few undocumented battles, Deathstroke even killed conceptual entities like Hecate, which was unimaginable.
Manta quickly retreated, warily watching the opposite ship's deck, trembling as he activated the communicator: "Luthor! I'm ready, get me out of here."
Luthor's cold laughter came through the communicator: "Sorry, Manta, the signal here isn't great, sizzle, hiss, you hear, just like that, later."
The wind howled high above, the ship's sails flapping incessantly.
Watching as Deathstroke twirled his Great Sword in sword blossoms, and Arthur behind him, flaunting and posturing like a fox borrowing the tiger's might, Manta's heart sank...