The portal opened up, and a figure rose from it.
“So, how does it feel to die?” Looking at the Atlantean Prince, Amari smiled.
He was smiling, but Orm wasn't.
“I...... What...... I.....”. Orm seemed to be in a daze, muttering words that made no sense.
“What? Too much?” Amari tilted his head.
This seemed to wake him up.
“...... You….”. Orm tool several steps backward in panic. To
“What was that?”
“What exactly?” Amari's eyebrows couldn't get any eyebrow.
“The silence after it all, or the feeling of having yourself explode at once. The pain should be indescribable, right?”
“You just........ Killed me”.
Orm roared.
“Yep. Cool, isn't it? The Joker took it a lot better though”. Amari shrugged.
“Now back to business. Ready to kneel yet?”
“I........ Of course, I won't….”.
He had barely finished his words when Amari's eyes glowed.
Once again, the Atlantean prince was blown apart to nothing but bits and pieces.
Five seconds later....... The portal reappeared again, and Orm was revived good as new, standing on his own two feet.
“What about now?” The calm voice fell into Orm's ears causing him to shiver.
Cold sweat had begun to develop on his forehead, neck and back.
“I........”. Once again, his eyes glowed. Once again, Orm was reduced to slag.
Moments later, the portal appeared again and Orm was once again intact.
But this time, the prince immediately fell to the ground with a frightened expression on his face.
His Atlantean physique was sweating profusely, and his expression contorted as if he had just experienced something horrifying.
In fact, he had.
The pain of having your entire body explode wasn't something anyone could handle.
What made Orm have such an expression wasn't the feeling of death, but the pain that came before it. Amari made sure to make him feel it all the moment he was brought back to life in the real world.
It was terrible.
“You.......... Get away from me”.
Orm crawled backwards with an expression of despair.
“Oh........ I wouldn't make such an expression if I were you. It'll ruin your image and dignity”. Looking at the frightened Orm, Amari couldn't help but smile.
This....... Honestly, this was fun.
“After all, what's happening here is being broadcasted to every television show, news network, mobile device, the internet, everything capable of receiving information all over the world. So, as we speak, you can assume that seven billion people have been watching this whole thing since the moment I brought you here”.
Orm's face changed drastically.
“You........”.
“Yep”. The smile on his face grew brighter.
Amari wasn't kidding. He had ordered Alice to hijack the satellites all over the world.
Then, he warped reality to connect what was happening right now to play out perfectly like a movie scene.
Perfect lights, camera, angle..........
The whole world was watching what was going on at the moment.
Even the people of Atlantis were no exception.
Gotham, Metropolis, Star City, Paris, Taipei, New Orleans, Bludhaven......
The scene of Orm acknowledging his identity as Ocean Master and being killed three times over was played on the billboards, phones, televisions, computers, Tablets........
The entire world was silent at this point.
One could predict that in a few hours from now, this would become worldwide news.
“I thought about how to let the rest of your group know I was fulfilling what I promised earlier and then....... this came to me. Make the whole thing public, so there's no way they don't know what's happening”.
“Brilliant, wouldn't you agree?”
Orm couldn't utter a word. He was sure of it now. The man before wasn't an alien but a monster.
Even if he was willing to kneel, at this point, his pride wouldn't allow him.
“So....... Are the rest of you watching this? Well, I hope you are because your member count is down by one”.
His eyes glowed, Orm blew up......
Many people watching couldn't hold it in anymore and looked for the nearest suitable place they could find and threw up their lunches.
The portal appeared. Orm was reborn.
“Well, now the count is back up”.
Orm gasped and wheezed. What he felt was beyond anything any mortal man had ever experienced.
“Did you really think bringing back the Joker would mislead me?”
Bang!
Orm blew up.
“Well, I'm sorry to disappoint. But it won't work. Your Injustice League is nothing more than a ruse. A proxy for the real seven individuals behind the scenes. And would you look here...... I found your first member”.
“Now of course, he was rather prideful and very determined to die to the end. So I made him a deal. If I can't convince him to kneel eventually, then I'll pretend like all this never happened. Well....... Let me extend the offer”.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Suddenly, Amari thought of something and smiled.
“As long as Orm doesn't break, then I'll pretend as if our whole farce never happened. It will be like you never offended me and the entire world will forget this ever happened”.
“What do you think? Great deal right?”
And so, he turned his attention to the sweating Orm.
“Why are you so pale? Relax. As long as I wish it, I can always bring you back from the dead. Your soul won't even have enough time to make it to hell”.
“You.....”. Orm's body was trembling. His teeth clattered, and his legs were shaky.
“You never said you were going to kill me”.
“Why? You said you wouldn't kneel even if I killed you. You didn't really think you would only die once in your life, did you?”
His eyes glowed.
Bang!
The portal opened.
Bang!
Portal open
“You know, I admire your conviction”. Amari said with admiration and his eyes glowed.
Seeing this, Orm stretched his hand to ask Amari to stop.
Too late.
Bang!
The whole world was silent. Deathly silent.
“Come on, hang in there. Your members are depending on your brave sacrifice to save their lives”.
Bang!
“Let them see your unyielding spirit. Learn by example”.
Bang!
“Don't worry. I'll grow tired eventually. Just a little longer”.
Bang!
The portal opened, Orm was back.
Seeing that Amari was ready to kill him again, Orm hurriedly shouted.
“Enough!”
“Oh! What's up?” Amari raised an eyebrow.
“Want to add something more.......”.
His voice ceased as Orm feel to his knees.
“I........... I give up”. Tears welled up in the man's eyes.
“Just please........ Please stop”.
Silence enveloped the atmosphere. Amari frowned slightly.
“Honestly......... Yeah! I thought so too”.
His frown disappeared, followed by a plain expression.
Then....... His eyes glowed.
Bang!
Blood flew everywhere for the Nth time. Then there was silence.
The waves washed against the coast and the raging waters filled his ears.
“Sigh....... How comforting”. Amari took a deep breath, closed his eyes, tilted his head to the sky and showed a smile.
He meant the sound of the raging waters not far from him. The sound of the ocean....... The melody of nature.
This wasn't the case for those watching, however.
Many people felt their scalps go numb.
This......... This guy was a monster. A monster that looked like a human.
“Ok...... I've had enough fun. Orm failed. So.....”.
The portal opened for the last time. Orm's figure appeared, sitting on the floor. His eyes were dim, his face was dull, and he looked like he had just lost his soul.
“You......”.
“Relax. We're done”. Amari shrugged indifferently.
“We........ We are?” Orm's eyes lit up with a trace of brightness. Like a locked up prisoner who hadn't seen the light for many years.
“I said as long as you kneel, I'll consider letting you go. Since you've let go of your pride and at the moment I've lost all interest in toying with you anymore, your life is your own”.
“After all, I hold my word in high regard”.
He placed his hand on his chin, seemingly in thought.
“Of course, your life will only get difficult from now on”.
“Huh? Wait a second. What?” Orm was confused.
"I told you I don't like liars, so in the sense that I'm letting you go, you're not going scot-free. Check yourself carefully. Do you feel the same as before?"
Orm's puzzled expression showed doubt...... Then...... Confusion...... Then incredulity..... Then shock and panic.
“Ah! There it is. Do you feel it now?”
“My Gills!” Orm placed his hands on his neck and felt everywhere. His expression grew from bad to worse.
“You....... You took away my gills”.
“Close. I took away your Atlantean bloodline. Your missing gills are the side effect. From now on, you won't have your strength, durability, underwater breathing, underwater vision, Sorcery, Atlantean speaking capability....... In simple terms, you're no longer an Atlantean, but a human that you despise so much. You're welcome”.
The bright smile seemed particularly sinister.
“No....... No.....”. Orm's eyes couldn't get any wider.
He knew what this spelled for him.
His identity had been exposed, his brother and his people knew who he really was. His strength was gone, his powers were gone.
From now henceforth, he would no longer be able to access the power of his Trident. If anything, it might kill him if he tried.
He no longer had anything. His supporters would definitely turn their face away now that he was a human. If anything, they would kill him or hand him over to his brother for punishment.
This ......... This was a fate worse than death.
“You can't. You can't do this to me”.
“I can..... And I have. And I'll be leaving you here. As for whether your brother or your enemies find you first, that's up to the universe to decide”.
Amari turned away.
In fact, he had done a lot more than just turn Orm into a human. Orm's genes had been altered severely.
He would never be able to harness magic again. No form of sorcery could be used to give him abilities. No super serum, alien substance or cosmic meteor could offer him powers.
Any form of buff spell wouldn't work on him while debuff spells would have twice the effect.
In other words, Orm could never chase power in his life till the day he died. He would be the way he was now. Forever Mortal.
For someone like Orm....... This was worse than killing him.
And so, Amari walked away with a spring in his step.
The Live broadcast was cut off, leaving the world in a storm.
...........
Several hours later........
Arkham Asylum.
The Joker's special cell.
Jack Oswald White wasn't in his usual, cheerful mood at this time.
He wasn't cracking jokes, he wasn't laughing maniacally, hell, he didn't even have his grin on his face.
In his mind, the scene where Amari looked at him and sent him telepathic instructions were all he could think about.
“If you don't want to go back on Vacation, your assignment is simple. Find Lex Luthor. The one who made your other half. Destroy everything that belongs to him. Hunt him down, torture him. Make sure you do it, regardless of who stands in your way. After you're done with that, go after Batman. It's time for both of you to put an end to this game. Either you kill him, or he kills you. There are no exceptions. As for your other half......... You probably want him dead more than I do, so I'll leave that as a bonus. I'll be checking in on your progress and if it doesn't satisfy me..... Poof…. Vacation time. So go ahead, do whatever comes to that crazy mind of yours”.
The words played in his cracked mind over and over and over like a broken record tape.
The silence in his cell was particularly disturbing.
At least for the guards who were assigned to keep watch. This wasn't their first time.
And this clown, never kept silent.
Slowly, time passed.
Just when they were feeling restless.
“Hahaha Ha hahaha HAHAHA”.
The loud laughter once again echoed in the Asylum.
The two guards breathed a sigh of relief. The clown they knew was back.
..........
Bat cave.
Bruce Wayne watched the Live video that had gone viral once again. The frown on his face had never been so deep.
“His wanton actions will have a major impact, sir”.
Alfred beside him muttered.
“There's more to it than that Alfred”.
Bruce replied in a solemn tone.
“This isn't him being wanton. This is a disguised warning”.
The video came to a halt at Amari's smiling expression.
“A warning to everyone in the world”.