"This island should be designated a forbidden zone from now on. The seal's key remains your trident." Under several outsiders' watchful eyes, Thea effortlessly traced countless irregular lines. A purple energy gently swept across the scene, and the spread of madness and chaotic energies in the air immediately halted.
Diana and the others were fine, but Jimmy Olsen and the other survivors found it dazzling and incomprehensible.
As for the forbidden zone she mentioned, everyone shuddered at the thought. No one planned to return to this cursed island anyway, so whether she forbade it or not didn't matter to them.
The surrounding seas had been affected by their battle. Waves still surged violently, and countless vortices churned beneath the surface. Good-hearted Aquaman called the survivors to board the ship while he and Mera supported it from underwater, leaving this sea area.
Thea and Diana bid the couple farewell, watching them depart with the survivors.
The previously noisy island fell silent, but the destruction from various energies and the corrosive blood flow had destroyed what little vegetation existed.
Thea first piled various sealing spells on Heracles, then fitted him with a large array of black-tech restraining devices from A.R.G.U.S. Amanda had used these to contain Lobo; presumably, they'd be effective against Heracles too. With layers of restraints, even if he suddenly woke up and violently resisted, he'd have little lethality.
Thea first examined the fierce warrior as if he were mentally ill, stuffing him into the largest medical pod. After scanning for ages, the result was useless—human psychiatric treatment methods were completely ineffective on him.
His problem wasn't brain damage but a soul issue. There was no quick cure; she'd need to figure something out slowly back home.
Thea instructed Diana to watch him while she dealt with the primordial beings' corpses on the island.
These creatures' bodies were objects of extreme evil. Hand them to those in the Cult of the Cold Flame and they could create at least a hundred magical artifacts—all in the categories of curses, chaos, and confusion. Leaving them in the world posed too many problems. Purification was the best choice.
She gathered all the corpses together, holding her holy sword and quietly adjusting her state.
Softly reciting the inscription, the holy sword responded simultaneously. Light gathered instantly at the sword's tip. Thea's own magic power rapidly converted. This wasn't the light from the Light spell that any apprentice mage could cast.
It was spiritual light condensed from the wishes of all beings—the light of wisdom, the light of the soul.
Thea sensed that if this beam of light continued upgrading endlessly, its endpoint might be that "light" when God said "Let there be light"—representing the world's first beam of light.
Of course, she was just purifying some monster corpses now; there was no need to go that far. Even multiplying her magic power tenfold couldn't convert to that level. Given Thea's current strength, she could make some waves on Earth, but in the eyes of truly powerful beings, she was barely stronger than a microorganism. She obediently withdrew part of her magic power.
The entire island was shrouded in radiance. The survivors and Aquaman couple not far from the island also stopped, watching intently.
"Nuclear bomb?" Jimmy Olsen snapped a couple photos with his camera, disappointed to find only white blankness in the lens, nothing visible.
He could only ask Dr. Daniel Evans nearby. Though an archaeology PhD, he was still a PhD! Jimmy felt his day's experience was like filming a movie—the protagonists endured various hardships to escape alive, then the government dropped a nuke to destroy all evidence. No wonder he overthought it; these types of movies all followed this script.
Evans, after years of archaeological work, had encountered various supernatural phenomena. His doctorate wasn't for show; he forced an explanation using his worldview.
"Definitely not a nuclear bomb. Maybe they're sinking the island into the sea, or burning the monsters' corpses..." The doctor immediately deduced five or six possibilities, speaking with lingering fear.
The other survivors also chattered with speculation.
On the island, Thea didn't know she'd become their topic of debate. She only felt her intent for covert operations was completely blown. As her magic power flowed into the holy sword, a massive pillar of light formed on the island.
A light column with a thousand-meter radius shot straight into the clouds! The overflowing rays reflected across the entire North Atlantic. Forget satellites from various countries—people in nearby Portugal and Spain could probably see it with the naked eye.
The seawater moved without wind. Countless fish surfaced—no mutual devouring, no conflict, just enjoying the rare peace. Seabirds called joyfully, and even the eagles that usually opposed Thea joined in.
As the spirits of all things, humans also sensed something unusual. Many stopped in their tracks, asking passersby if they heard Scottish bagpipes in the air. Several deep mountain monasteries rang their bells, and many devout church monasteries echoed with faint hymns.
Media worldwide were alarmed. Several major religious organizations immediately claimed responsibility for the phenomenon. A Central Asian country's spiritual leader even spoke on the news channel for an hour and a half, presenting facts and reasoning just to prove one thing: He did this!
Thea didn't know that before she'd even finished her work, a bunch of people were lining up to take credit. She had only one feeling: This holy sword was too flashy!
Her total magic power, even reduced by thirty percent, far exceeded contemporary mages. Even so, with her restricting part of the sword's power, over half her current magic remained consumed.
Sensing the light energy had accumulated sufficiently to purify those corpses with ease, Thea didn't exert force visibly. Holding the sword with both hands, she aimed the tip at the corpse pile's center.
The light beam pierced like a needle popping a balloon. Space spread from the impact point in all directions. Everything covered by light energy rapidly disintegrated. The primordial beings' corpses melted like snow under boiling water before her eyes.
Two primordial beings—whether they'd been playing dead or from conditioned reflex—twitched their legs. Unfortunately, the dissolution was too fast. Their struggles were meaningless; all were dissolved one by one, the light beam purifying the evil thoughts in their hearts and their bodies.
Great masses of pure energy spilled from these ancient evil beings' bodies, dissipating into the air.
"Hmm?" Leaning on her holy sword, Thea sensitively felt the magic power in the air. Though still terribly thin, it was considerably richer than before.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Diana wasn't that sensitive. She thought Thea had been drained by the earlier light pillar.
Thea hadn't time to answer when a rough voice came from nearby.
"Daughter of Zeus, your companion is fine. However, she purified those primordial beings, and the entire world will benefit. But trouble will follow as well. Hard to say if it's fortunate or unfortunate."
The stubble-faced Heracles slowly sat up. You could see the restraints were still in effect, but his originally crazed eyes, though still somewhat cloudy, now held a glimmer of intelligent light.