Chapter 4423: Prelude to Darkness (Part 15)

The Queen also told J'onn and Barry about Diana's past encounters; everything else could be omitted, the key lay in the fact that Diana had always loved Steve deeply, and the other party's departure was too sudden. For a long time, Diana couldn't accept it, and even now, no one knew whether she had really let go.

For long-lived species, they could choose not to accept. Letting themselves sink into grief for hundreds of years was truly a very normal thing. Even though Steve had passed away for a long time, for Diana, it was just like yesterday. So, if Steve resurrected, Diana's loss of control was understandable.

Having learned about Diana's emotional history from the Amazon Queen, J'onn understood this was the worst situation.

Relatives and lovers are not quite the same. Everyone has fantasized about their elders leaving them, because even if they don't want to admit it, birth, old age, sickness, and death are common occurrences. The departure of relatives is prepared for.

But lovers are different. Everyone imagines growing old together with their deeply loved one and going to the grave together. Therefore, the sudden separation during the peak of love seems particularly tragic.

Although what J'onn lost were also his wife and daughter, in fact, at that time they had already passed the passionate love period, formed a stable family, and were more willing to regard each other as inseparable relatives. Dr. Stone and Eleanor were about the same, their life had already returned to plain warmth.

But Diana and Steve were different. They were in passionate love when they separated, and at that time the situation was turbulent, wars were frequent, and the two were separated more than they were together, and the love, hate, and enmity were mixed with too much family and country, so it was even more stirring and unforgettable for a lifetime.

Facing such a resurrection from the dead and long-lost reunion of a lover, it's hard to imagine who could withstand this emotional impact.

J'onn didn't dare to think further, he said to the Queen: "Do you know where Diana might have gone?"

"Of course, the Justice League," the Queen said, "I originally wanted to call you, if it weren't for considering Mr. President..."

J'onn understood the Queen's concerns. She wasn't just Diana's mother, but also the Queen of the Amazon. The Amazon was a small country, unable to compete with a behemoth like the United States. And the United States was at a critical moment now; questioning the president's personal guard, the Justice League, at this time, was definitely not a good choice.

"She didn't return to our place," J'onn said clearly. He knew Batman would absolutely not allow her to do such a thing, so not only would she not return, but she would also hide far away. But where would she hide?

The Queen thought for a while, then said: "No, the key isn't where she wants to go, but where she can realize her plan."

"What do you mean?"

"She wants to resurrect Steve. I mean, it might not be the kind of resurrection you said, not the one she wants. She also doesn't think the Steve who crawled out of the grave is the real Steve. She just wants to borrow this shell to resurrect the real Steve."

This remark was a bit winding, but J'onn still understood it, and said: "So Diana went to steal the Mother Box. Because the Mother Box is the only thing that looks like it really resurrected someone."

"That's right. So, she has to find a place that can make the Mother Box resurrect others, and then she can complete her plan." The Queen thought for a while and said, "That thing has been in our hands for so long, and no one has studied anything at all. If she knew how to resurrect, she must have known it from you."

J'onn of course was clear about this point, because the ready-made example was Victor. But he didn't know the specific principles of resurrection either, so he planned to contact Victor to ask.

But before he could call Victor, Victor had already flown over. This clearly tired him out; after landing, he was panting and said to J'onn: "Diana wants to take the Mother Box to resurrect someone. Hurry, hurry and stop her..."

"How do you know?" J'onn asked.

"I can see," Victor said, "The Mother Box has consciousness. I saw Diana holding the Mother Box walking toward a man..." 【4423-

"What about the background? Did you see where the background was?" J'onn hurriedly pressed.

Victor recalled for a moment and then said, "There seemed to be firelight."

Barry hurriedly stepped forward and said, "What are the conditions for the Mother Box to resurrect someone? What operations are required?"

"Thermal energy, it requires very powerful thermal energy," Victor said. "Although there is more than just this one condition, this is the most important one. Without it, it can't be activated at all."

The Amazon Queen, however, revealed an expression of sudden realization and then said, "The Temple of Hephaestus!"

The group looked at her, and the Amazon Queen said, "The Temple of Hephaestus has the hottest forge on all of Mount Olympus. Every strike of Hephaestus can trigger a volcanic eruption sufficient to destroy the entire Earth. Such powerful thermal energy should be enough, right?"

"Let's go, we're going to the Temple of Hephaestus," J'onn said immediately.

The Amazon Queen dared not delay and hurriedly opened a door for them. The group rushed to Mount Olympus, but their landing point was still some distance from the Temple of Hephaestus. As soon as they entered, Victor felt a bit short of breath.

"The Mother Box has been activated," he said. "That power has been fully unleashed. But Diana doesn't know how to control it; she might be consumed by it. Quick, hurry over!"

The Amazon Queen could not care about much else and hurriedly summoned a Pegasus. The group flew to the Temple of Hephaestus, only to find the entire temple radiating a golden light.

J'onn took the lead, wanting to rush in, but Victor hurriedly stopped him and said, "No, none of you go in. Once the power goes out of control, you will have no way to fight back. I will go in myself. If the power disappears and I haven't come out, go find Batman."

Although J'onn was a bit worried, he dared not rush in recklessly; if he interfered with the energy operation and it really exploded, it would be troublesome, so he said, "You must be careful."

Victor nodded and flew toward the interior of the Temple of Hephaestus. Accompanied by the eruption of the Mother Box's energy, the entire temple seemed to enter a state of spacetime stasis. The firelight and heat were completely gone, replaced by an entire golden space.

Victor walked inward all the way. Finally, he saw the man lying on the ground. The other party seemed to have fainted, but there was no sign of Diana nearby.

He recalled the scene in the Mother Box at the time and continued walking in the direction Diana had gone. Before long, he saw the corpse of an Amazon warrior. Immediately after, there were two, three...

At least a dozen corpses were laid out on the floor of the golden space. Walking further forward, Victor saw Diana holding the Mother Box.

Her expression was sorrowful, even faintly revealing a sense of despair. Victor stood before her and asked, "Diana, are you okay?"

Diana acted as if she hadn't heard. Victor looked around and then said, "The one you want to resurrect isn't Steve, but those sisters of yours who died in the war, right?"

Diana did not answer, and Victor just said to himself, "Resurrection is impossible."

"Your father did it." Diana suddenly raised her eyes to look at him.

"He didn't."

Diana looked up at Victor, and Victor shook his head and said, "The current me is just a Mother Box with the consciousness of Victor Stone; the real Victor Stone is already dead."

Diana closed her eyes tightly.

She braced herself against the ground with one hand, slowly stood up, and then said, "Steve was a hero. Sacrifice was his own choice. I will respect him, and besides, if anything happened to me because I tried to resurrect him, he would go crazy; after all, he died for me back then. However, the war between Atlantis and the Amazons was meaningless. My sisters shouldn't have died so ingloriously. I am the Princess of the Amazons, and I have a responsibility to them. If my sacrifice can exchange for their resurrection, I must do it."

"No war is meaningful," Victor said. "From the perspective of the sacrificed, glory is the least worth mentioning thing. They didn't sacrifice themselves for this, but because since the war had already happened, someone had to stand up to defend their home; sacrifice was their choice too. Precisely because you are a princess and have a responsibility to them, you must not act so impulsively. This will only harm yourself and the entire Amazon race."

Diana seemed to have reached the peak of sorrow, standing there like a wandering soul. Victor wanted to persuade her further, but suddenly, the cube Diana was holding shone brightly, and the entire golden space began to tremble continuously. At the same time, ripples began to appear in the space of the entire Mount Olympus.

"Oh no," the Amazon Queen said, "we must leave here first, otherwise Zeus will not let us off."

"Zeus?!" Barry seemed to be pushed to his limit, and he said, "He acted like a coward when fighting Steppenwolf, and now he wants to show off in front of us? If he thinks the Justice League is easy to bully, then he should think about Steppenwolf's fate!"

Hal and J'onn hurriedly pulled him back. However, despite this, the group had no intention of leaving; what Barry said was also a fact. Even Steppenwolf was crushed to death by Batman with one hand, so why should they be afraid of a Zeus?

J'onn briefly introduced the things that happened before to the Queen. Upon hearing the word "resurrection," the Queen was somewhat dazed, suddenly saying: "Steve..."

"What?"

"Diana might want to resurrect Steve," the Queen looked at them and said, "That was her former lover." ===== CHAPTER 4423 =====

"The Mother Box." The Amazon Queen answered very concisely, but Hera's expression changed instantly. "Isn't that thing..."

Before she could finish speaking, the entire Temple of Hephaestus exploded violently. Golden light swallowed half of Mount Olympus, and Zeus was so shocked that he stood up from his throne.

After the light disappeared, Victor and Diana were both lying on the ground. Victor, who woke up after a brief coma, looked at his chest in disbelief. What had just happened?

When the space began to tremble, the cube in Diana's hand seemed to grow eyes, flying straight toward him, and with a "bang," it slammed into his chest. Then, the cube disappeared, a violent light erupted from his body, and subsequently destroyed the entire Temple of Hephaestus.

Victor swallowed hard: he didn't just absorb this Mother Box too, did he?

Although unbelievable, the facts seemed to be exactly that. He had never felt so full of energy, and the cube that had originally been in Diana's hand had also disappeared.

But the next, even more terrifying scene appeared: the corpses of the Amazon warriors on the ground actually began to move slowly.

They seemed a bit confused; as they crawled up from the ground, they looked left and right, not knowing where they were. Soon, someone discovered Diana, who had been blown away, and even shouted, "Your Highness! Your Highness!"

Victor immediately realized that the trouble was huge. No matter what, this Mother Box was Amazon property. After merging with it, he couldn't explain it, and resurrection was a forbidden power that could not be known by outsiders.

The Amazons were one thing, after all, they still lived on Earth and shared its fate, so they had some scruples. But if this group of gods found out...

Victor gritted his teeth, his brain racing. He had to send Diana and the warriors back to the Amazons before the gods arrived. As long as they were gone, there would be no evidence.

This thought had just flashed through his mind when a mass of golden light suddenly flew out of his chest, landing in mid-air, and actually formed a portal. And the scene on the other side of the portal was exactly the Amazon territory.

Victor was stunned, but also felt as if he had been granted amnesty. He hurriedly directed the warriors to run into the portal, then threw the unconscious Diana in as well; of course, he didn't forget Steve. They should solve their own couple's business themselves.

Having finished everything, he closed the portal. Finally, before Zeus arrived, he restored everything to normal.

Before Zeus and Hera could speak, Hal, who saw this scene, had his brain spinning fast. As soon as he saw that Diana and Steve were not there, he understood that there would be no evidence left, so he directly took the initiative:

"You bastards, you actually tried to trick the Justice League into a trap you set! We were almost blown to death! If you don't give us an explanation, I'm not done with you!"

?? Fell while skiing again; everyone remember that it's best not to ski when the temperature is above freezing, the snow surface is all ice...