The guard who'd just been scolded by Vivian snapped to attention and saluted on the spot.
"Yes, ma'am! We'll let everyone through immediately!"
Moments later, the whole group smoothly passed into the danger zone.
Only now, the way everyone looked at Vivian had completely changed.
Saitama and the cold, stunning beauty at his side—Vivian—had both proven they were absolutely capable people.
To so casually navigate a place this dangerous… that wasn't something just anyone could do.
Sara Lance, however, looked a little annoyed.
If Vivian hadn't said what she did a moment ago, Sara had fully intended to stir up some trouble, then beat these guys senseless.
It had been so long since she'd really stretched her muscles that she was starting to forget she'd once been a superhero.
Inside the hall.
By the side of a nuclear warhead, a man with slicked-back hair dressed like a Soviet officer—Vandal Savage—was running his hand slowly along the weapon's casing.
As more people filtered into the hall, Savage addressed the crowd.
"This," he announced, "is a variable-yield nuclear warhead. When it detonates, the force it unleashes is equivalent to a trillion tons of TNT.
"If used properly, it could erase a small nation from the map."
Savage made no effort to hide his admiration for the weapon in his hand.
"Since it's so powerful, we'll start the bidding at one hundred million dollars."
Someone in the crowd raised a paddle and began the bidding.
But when a man with silver hair in a plain silver-white suit joined in… the heroes immediately sensed something was off.
"If I'm not mistaken," Saitama murmured, "that guy is Damien Darhk."
"Looks like him," Atom Palmer said, "but can we be sure?"
Meanwhile, Damien swept a cold gaze over everyone present.
"I've bid one hundred and twenty million," he said. "Anyone want to go higher?"
Up on stage, Savage's lips curled into a chilling smile.
"So you've finally arrived," he said.
His tone was thick with malice. "Hawkman. Hawkgirl. Did you really think we didn't notice when you slipped in?
"We let you in so we could catch you alive."
With that, the room erupted into chaos.
Hawkman and Hawkgirl launched themselves straight at Savage.
Sara Lance, Captain Cold, Heat Wave Mick and the others dove into the surrounding mass of black-suited gunmen.
Only Saitama once again stood face to face with Damien Darhk.
"I'm curious," Saitama said. "What are you doing here?"
"That would be thanks to magic," Damien replied. "With magical power, I can accomplish all kinds of things that defy common sense."
He glanced toward Savage.
"Saitama, are you interested in making a deal? I can kill Savage for you. In return, from now on, you stay out of my business.
"How does that sound?"
Saitama met his eyes.
"Damien Darhk, don't think I don't know what you're really planning," he said flatly. "Your so-called 'killing Savage' is just you buying him more time.
"Until Hawkman and Hawkgirl completely kill him, Savage will never really die."
A flicker of shock stirred in Damien's heart.
He hadn't imagined Saitama would know even that.
His gaze hardened.
"In that case," he said softly, "we can only cross fists again."
As he spoke, Damien raised both hands, conjuring a blazing orb of silver-white light between them, the same shade as his suit and hair.
With his clothes and hair reflecting that glow, the silver light shone even brighter.
"Saitama," Damien declared, "I lost to you last time by accident. Now I've got another chance to test myself against you—this time, I will not lose again!"
He thrust the ball of light toward Saitama.
In the next instant, Saitama felt his entire body swallowed up by silver luminescence.
The pressure pouring from that light was immense. For a split second, Saitama felt as though he were facing Central City's Doctor Light from the metahuman registry.
But very quickly, he realized something else.
The power radiating from Damien's hands was even stronger than Doctor Light's abilities.
Because this was magic—a force that followed a completely different set of rules.
Saitama couldn't help a quiet sigh.
He hadn't expected the DC world to have magic this extraordinary, so unlike any of the powers he'd encountered before.
But fear? That, he didn't feel at all.
If anything, he was getting excited.
Saitama took a deep breath, then simply drove his body straight through Damien's silver radiance.
A heartbeat later, he drove his fist at Damien.
Damien continued weaving his spell.
"Stop," he intoned.
As Saitama's punch flew toward Damien's face, its momentum began to bleed away, bit by bit, long before it ever reached him.
"How about it, Saitama?" Damien asked. "Still confident you can beat me?
"You should know I'm even stronger now than when you met me in Star City. Right now, I'm in my prime."
Saitama had no interest in figuring out how old this magic-using metahuman actually was.
He just lifted one leg and casually kicked Damien flying.
Damien's eyes went wide.
"W-what?" he gasped. "Since when did you get this strong? By all rights, you should be under my control!"
By then, Saitama had already leapt into the air.
With a twist he donned his familiar cream-colored coat and flame-red cape, then unleashed a flurry of Serious Consecutive Punches to loosen up his shoulders.
"There's no such thing as destiny carved in stone," Saitama said calmly. "If you're allowed to get stronger, why shouldn't I?"
Blow after blow crashed into Damien.
Saitama hammered him so hard he was only a hair's breadth from death, until Damien's face slowly relaxed into a strangely relieved smile.
"Hit me," Damien rasped. "One more punch and I'll die.
"Believe it or not… once I'm dead, I'll come back again."
"Oh, is that so?" Saitama's lips curled in a mischievous grin. "Then I guess there's only one thing left to say.
"Close the door and release Barry."
"Barry, you're up!"
Whoosh.
A bolt of lightning appeared in the middle of the hall.
A figure of living light streaked back and forth, crisscrossing the battlefield. In the blink of an eye, everyone still standing was knocked flat.
Then the speedster skidded to a stop beside Saitama and pressed a pair of power-dampening cuffs into his hand.
Click.
Saitama snapped the cuffs around Damien's wrists.
"Buddy," he said, "let's see you act all cool now."
Damien's face instantly sagged.
For superpowered people like him, a pair of cuffs that suppressed metahuman abilities was practically a death sentence.
Now that his magic had been sealed away, the mere thought of what might happen next made him shudder.
"Now you admit defeat, right?"
(End of Chapter)
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