I became light in American comics.

Chapter 139 Who are these people?

Darfur town.

This is a small town born in the desert and nurtured by war. Almost since the beginning of recorded history, the air here has seemed to be filled with the ever-present dust and the smell of gunpowder. The dilapidated clock tower is incomplete, and the ancient square is cratered by bombs and rockets.

There were almost no pedestrians on the street, only the occasional armed soldier patrolling. Many of the shops along the street had been destroyed, and a crumbling wall was painted with signs such as "freedom" and "justice" in the local language, which looked rather ridiculous in the context.

Diana Prince, her face mostly hidden by a white hood, walked slowly through the hail of bullets, shells and stray bullets whizzing past her.

She arrived at the entrance of a bar, the door of which had been destroyed by a bomb. Several young men in vests and flip-flops were running around in the street, firing submachine guns and shouting.

Diana glanced at it, frowned, and said nothing. She walked through the door into the bar.

The bar was a scene of utter devastation. The air reeked of blood, which had spread to the doorway. The bodies of men and women lay scattered throughout the room, broken bottles strewn everywhere, liquor mixed with blood. The bar owner was slumped over the bar counter, his shotgun lying on the floor. A gaping hole had been punched in his forehead, blood streaming down the counter.

The most striking feature inside the house was a bald old man.

An old man with a thick white beard and a wiry, emaciated body sat at the bar, leisurely pouring drinks into his glass, seemingly oblivious to the dead bodies and pools of blood scattered throughout the room.

Diana sat down next to him expressionlessly. The old man didn't look up, but picked up his cup and gestured to her.

"Want a drink?"

"No need," Diana said curtly.

The old man glanced at her and shrugged. "Don't look at me like that. This has nothing to do with me. It's human beings killing each other because it's in their nature. They just love to do it."

"I know how this works, Ares. There's no need to explain anything more to me," Diana said coldly. "You are the God of War; wherever you go, conflict follows. And war, in turn, makes you stronger."

She paused, then continued, "But I'm not here for that today, but for the prophecy of Olympus. There's an unexpected matter concerning our father, Zeus."

Ares, the God of War, raised an eyebrow: "What? Are you implying he loves us?"

"I said 'accident,' not 'shock,'" Diana said calmly. "Apollo believed he had been murdered."

"Ha, that makes sense," Ares said lightly.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, you think my idea is so cute, little one." Ares leaned forward from behind the counter, reached inside and rummaged around for a while, then took out a new bottle of wine.

"You mean, you didn't do it?"

"Of course. If it were really me, you would have known long ago." Ares shrugged. "You don't think I would just sit here silently and say nothing if I killed Zeus, do you?"

Diana thought for a moment: "That makes sense."

"But this explains a lot of things. It turns out Zeus died, no wonder they said the Fallen Realm was about to open again."

Ares muttered to himself as he continued pouring wine into his glass.

"What is that?"

"The Fallen Realm contains artifacts crafted by some ancient beings from the divine realm. But it must be said, they are indeed rare creations."

Ares swirled his glass, examining the bubbles inside.

"Legend. Of course, it's just a legend. Once someone successfully enters the Fallen Realm and obtains something sealed within it, that person—even if they were originally just an ordinary mortal—will gain the divine power of Zeus."

Diana frowned: "If something this powerful exists, what if it falls into the wrong hands..."

"Yeah, I know some people in Olympus who've always been pretty interested in that stuff. Like our hottest buddy, for example."

"Apollo".

Diana hesitated.

"That's still considered good. Apollo may not be very likable, and he has some well-known ambitions, but he is still an Olympian god, and all he cares about is divine power and Zeus's position."

Ares continued unhurriedly.

"And if that thing were to fall into the hands of someone outside of Olympus, or to take it a step further, if it were a very ambitious mortal who was not afraid of sacrifice?"

Diana squinted at him.

Why do you sound so uninterested in this?

"Not everyone covets Zeus's power," Ares shrugged. "Our destiny is never in our own hands, but in the hands of mortals. Most of Olympus just don't realize it. But one day, the world will be ruled by war. Only war is eternal."

"You want me involved," Diana said calmly. "You want me to fight them—whoever wants to covet this power—and then there will be the conflict you desire most."

"Yeah," Ares shrugged nonchalantly, seemingly unconcerned that his thoughts had been exposed, "but even if you knew, you'd still go, wouldn't you?"

Diana remained silent for a moment, but ultimately did not refute.

"Tell me how to enter the realm of depravity."

"The simplest way is to need a key to help you open the door to the Fallen Realm. And as far as I know, that key was last seen in a human museum."

Ares took a leisurely sip of his drink.

"In cities that humans call 'metropolises'."

Elsewhere, one of the Sky Eye Society's strongholds.

A massive, unexpected explosion shattered the stillness of the night, sending flames soaring into the sky. The cracked ground resembled a gaping maw, swallowing the building whole.

Emerging from the crack were enormous, sharp claws.

Scales, gleaming with a fiery crimson light, were densely pieced together to form armor, and a pair of deep, burning eyes emerged from the earth. High brow ridges formed curved horns, and flame-like mane stretched from the top of the head to the back, burning fiercely all the way.

A giant fire dragon tens of meters tall.

The base immediately sounded the alarm, and the turrets responded instantly. Artillery fire rained down on the dragon, exploding into thick smoke and sparks, shrapnel flying everywhere. But the behemoth broke through the smoke, raising its head and roaring. The dense artillery fire seemed to scrub it like a bath, not even scratching its skin.

Its sharp claws easily cleaved through the building, and with a single kick, a heavy tank spun like a powerfully fired football as it crashed into the control tower. The tank swept through the control room with devastating force, the roof collapsing and sparks exploding. The operators who were directing operations had no time to react before being crushed into a bloody pulp amidst the piercing alarm.

The fighter jet took off, dropping two missiles from its pylons as it swooped down. The flashes from the exploding missiles licked at the behemoth's sturdy body, but to no avail. Someone unaware of the situation might have thought it was being given a sauna.

Instead, the dragon raised its head and opened its mouth, flames spreading along its mane as if gathering energy into its mouth. A ball of intense heat erupted, aiming with unbelievable precision, instantly engulfing the fighter jet and causing it to explode in mid-air!

The fiery behemoth was unstoppable; the entire Sky Eye facility collapsed like building blocks before it, and all weapons were as powerless as toys.

"Pennsylvania base, please respond! Pennylvania base, please respond!"

At the Skynet headquarters, the communications officer, after repeated unsuccessful calls, turned around in frustration: "Sir, communication with the Pennsylvania base has been lost. It may already be..."

A dark-skinned, overweight woman named Amanda Waller stood behind, her arms crossed, her face ashen.

"How long until reinforcements arrive?"

"The flight formation is expected to arrive within two minutes."

Before he could finish speaking, a sudden "buzz" filled the base. All the monitors and lights went out simultaneously, plunging everything into darkness.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know. The backup power supply is not responding."

Before I could speak, all the screens lit up again. At first, it was a chaotic screen with static, but then words began to appear in the chaos.

"You want war."

"You have won the war."

Waller's eyes widened, and he roared, "What's going on here?"

"I don't know!" an operator said anxiously. "All the equipment has been hijacked; someone is sending us this. But that's impossible."

"Some kind of alien technology!"

But in less than a minute, the text on the screen disappeared. The lights came back on, and all the equipment returned to normal.

Behind them, a programmer whispered to his colleague, "Is this an alien challenge?"

"Wait, when did we say we wanted war? This whole mess seems incredibly messy and convoluted."

"You forgot? The director said before that we were entering interstellar combat readiness?"

"Huh? Wasn't that the bureau chief just joking around at home? Oh no, what if aliens heard him?"

The two programmers were whispering and chatting away when they looked up and were shocked to see their superior, Waller, staring at them with an unfriendly expression.

The two programmers felt their hearts stop, and they quickly pulled their heads back to their own tasks.

Waller glared at them, but paid them no mind, instead frowning and deep in thought.

Again.

Aliens or monsters suddenly descend from the sky without warning, seize the "Sky Eye" (a location in the sky), and attack it. Afterward, they utter a few harsh words, saying, "You asked for it."

She felt like she'd seen this unfold somewhere before.

Wait, who are these people? When did we declare war?

Are you sick?

7,000 words again today!

(End of this chapter)