Chapter 88:

Divine Power from the Sky, and Hera's Bad Luck

DC: The Infinite Villain

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The collection room was empty. Only a few books sat alone on the shelves.

The moment Diana followed Damon inside, she saw the photographs of Lilah and Laurie. They wore their costumes and held placards, with names, codenames, and other details written on them.

She instantly understood and said angrily, "You want me to take this kind of photograph? I refuse."

"Why can you not try respecting other people? Especially women?"

"Believe me, hanging a photograph here is the greatest respect I can give."

Damon chuckled, walked to the photography spot, wrote out the placard, and handed it to Diana.

"Hold this. Get ready."

Name: Diana

Codename: Wonder Woman

Number:

Era of origin: 1917

Location: Themyscira

Diana looked at the contents of the placard and shook her head.

"I will not let you hang this on the wall and turn me into a trophy."

Damon stood in front of her and shook his head with a faint smile.

"I have plenty of ways to force you to take the photograph, but I do not want to do that. That is why I negotiated a condition. I helped you deal with the First Born. I agreed to restore the people of Themyscira. And you agreed."

"You say I do not respect women? At least in this matter, I am respecting you."

"So..."

Damon stepped closer, held her hands, and made her lift the placard properly. Then he backed away and raised the camera.

Diana wanted to dodge, but her feet seemed unwilling to obey her.

She remembered that she had indeed agreed to Damon's condition. She remembered her mother and her people waiting on Themyscira to be saved. In the end, she cooperated in silence with Damon's photography.

In costume, and... without it.

Damon slowly lowered the camera and came to Diana.

"Move. I need to dress," Diana said in a low voice, head lowered.

"Do you know something? For a while, I almost thought I had fallen for you."

Damon hooked a finger under Diana's chin and lifted her face.

"Later, I understood. You were not my flower. I merely happened to pass by while you were in bloom."

"What... what are you trying to say?"

Diana suddenly felt inexplicably flustered.

Damon smiled but did not answer. He only moved toward her slowly and kissed her.

His movement was clearly slow. She could clearly avoid him easily. Yet Diana seemed to be under a spell, unable to move. She could only watch as he approached gently, as if tasting a flower in full bloom.

Gentle?

Diana found the thought unbelievable.

He could be gentle with her?

If he were still forcing her the way he had before, Diana would resist without hesitation. Even if the final result could not be changed, she would still do it. But now, under Damon's gentleness, it was as if her ability to resist had been stripped away, and she could only slowly sink.

After an unknown stretch of hazy time, Diana felt as if she had dreamed.

Their eyes met.

Diana silently picked up her armor and put it on, then left without saying a word.

She did not know what she should say.

Before, she could still say with righteous anger that Damon had forced her.

But just now...

More than ten minutes later, fully dressed, Damon hung Diana's photograph in front of Lilah's and stood admiring it for a moment before turning to leave.

He stepped out of the Disciple and sat on the hatch stairs. In the dim sky, Firestorm was flying freely. Not far away, Zola held her child while Diana watched Firestorm with visible wonder. Queen Hera stood to one side, chatting with the silent Laurie and apparently trying to ask about Damon. Unfortunately, Laurie had never known much, and now she mostly answered with silence, so Hera could not learn anything useful.

"Enjoying this kind of quiet now and then is not bad."

Damon muttered with a smile and looked up at Firestorm in the night sky.

At that moment, a streak of light suddenly appeared in the dark and raced toward them.

"What is that?"

Zola pointed at the light in surprise.

Diana's expression turned grave, and she prepared for battle. Firestorm flew back from the distance as well.

"That..."

"That is my divine power."

Just as the others prepared to fight, Queen Hera suddenly shouted in excitement.

"Your divine power? Wasn't your divine power taken by Apollo? How..."

Diana instinctively looked at Hera and understood at once.

"Something happened to him. The First Born."

Only if Apollo, the sun god, had suffered would he return Hera's divine power to her.

Hera opened her arms in excitement. She had endured enough of being a fragile mortal.

"I am the queen of the gods."

"I am Queen Hera."

She closed her eyes and waited eagerly for the return of her divine power.

But nothing happened.

Several full minutes passed without any reaction. Hera instinctively wanted to see what was going on. The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Damon standing in front of her, holding the light that represented her divine power.

"Give it back."

Hera reached out in agitation, trying to snatch it, but Damon easily avoided her. She fell to the ground instead. Ignoring her sorry state, she raised her head and shouted at him.

"That is my divine power. What are you trying to do?"

Damon ignored her and studied the mass of divine power.

Divine power could take form. Diana's power was golden energy. Ares's power was lightning. As for the First Born's power, that was harder to define. Powerful hatred could also become tangible and radiate from the body.

But this mass of divine power was different. It resembled a source, yet it was not quite the same.

Damon walked to Laurie and casually tossed the divine power toward her.

Laurie instinctively tried to dodge, but the divine power passed through her body and drifted away.

"No?"

Damon thought for a moment, drew it back, and walked toward Diana. Hera lunged at him again, but Damon caught her by the throat with one hand, stopping her instantly.

Holding Hera with one hand, Damon pushed the divine power into Diana with the other.

"Mine. That is mine..."

Hera shouted desperately.

The divine power entered Diana's body, and Diana instinctively closed her eyes.

"Does it work?"

Damon's eyes brightened, and he asked with curiosity, "How is it? Are you queen of the gods now?"

After a long while, Diana shook her head.

"No. I do not hold that divine office."

"What if I kill her?"

Damon lifted Hera.

"Based on past experience, if you kill her, you should be able to obtain her office, correct? Her source."

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