Immediately, Su Ming felt the beautiful weapon in his hand turn into a golden burden, tasteless if consumed, a pity if discarded.
Nevertheless, it was free of charge. The Fire God likely gave the Divine Artifact as a gift due to Barry being Diana's teammate, though he claimed to be indifferent to Diana's lifestyle, his actions clearly hoped for their assistance.
In an instant, many thoughts flashed through Su Ming's mind. He was somewhat puzzled; the gods clearly knew about Barbatos' invasion and were prepared for it, as if waiting for the heroes to seek help.
Yet, they had no intention of joining the battle, acting merely as spectators.
Now, the various Divine Systems were clearly treating it as a spectacle, making Su Ming feel as if he was back in the mythological era, where epic heroes fought tirelessly, seeking help from the gods, and then defeated monsters.
But Barbatos was too powerful, far from being a mere plaything for the gods to watch. How could they be so confident? Su Ming couldn't figure it out for now.
He didn't plan to persuade the gods. After all, gods don't care much about humans; they only care about themselves.
Su Ming picked up several magazines and started loading bullets, then packed them into his gear: "Our actual purpose for coming here is to seek a Divine Artifact, one that can generate high-voltage electricity for a long time."
The Fire God showed a hesitant expression, one Su Ming saw for the first time, realizing he too could be in a difficult position.
"There is indeed such a Divine Artifact, but..."
"But?" Barry quietly put away the Divine Gold Hand Grenade, planning to hand it over to Su Ming later. He already got the point; after all, free is free.
"It's in the hands of my father god, named 'Thunder.' It's always in the shape of twisted lightning, symbolizing my father, the God of the Sky's Divine Authority, as well as the Master of Olympus. Whoever wields the power of Thunder's divine retribution is the King of Olympus."
The Fire God crossed his arms, black slag smeared his chest, having no intention of coveting Thunder. That Divine Artifact is only for the Main God to use. Zeus places his ruling position above all else; anyone who touches it will die.
Su Ming remained silent; this was like a king's scepter, not only was it impossible to ask for it, even borrowing it would be out of the question.
"But if you can mark the enemy's location, I can ask my father god to activate the Divine Artifact once." The Fire God's eyes burned with flames, representing his shifting thoughts, and he immediately proposed a method.
"Thank you, but how do we mark it?" Su Ming understood; Zeus loved striking people with lightning. Anyway, a strike is a strike, and helping out casually at a critical moment also helps maintain Divine Authority.
The Fire God rummaged through his apron pocket, some tools fell out. After some searching, he pulled out a gleaming phone, shinier than any titanium alloy phone Su Ming had seen before: "We can add each other on Facebook, then you send a GPS snapshot when the time comes."
Su Ming: "..."
The style seemed off, but it was indeed a method. Though many major cities were destroyed, the satellites in Earth's orbit remained unaffected, operating as usual.
Unfortunately, he didn't even know which world he came from, and though he had a phone, neither Earth -11 nor the Main World had a signal.
Barry eventually went back to Midtown, fetched his phone from the laboratory, and got a prepaid phone for Su Ming as well.
Barry's complexion wasn't good. Someone from Star Laboratory got injured in this incident and was still in hospital care.
But there was good news too; Barbatos and the Laughing Bat currently hadn't moved, seemingly unaware that the Red Death Demon had fallen, sparing Midtown for now.
Su Ming needed to act quickly, eliminating as many scattered enemies as possible before they reacted.
At this point, if the Dark Knight Order hadn't noticed yet, then the Laughing Bat, Tyrant, and Killing Machine should be with Barbatos in Gotham, guiding the Cosmic Tuning Fork to concentrate Dark Energy. If they're grouped, he must avoid them first.
The Merciless Iron Fists was likely dueling Wonder Woman in the Celestial Eye Association's underground, while Dawn Deceit Lantern fought with Green Lantern Hero Hal Jordan beneath Binhai City.
Su Ming protected Earth -11, but surely another Batman from a dark Earth had become the Drowned, likely with Sea King at Ci'en Port.
With himself and Barry here, having also gained Zha Kang's Magic Scroll and the Fire God's automatic rifle, their strength had increased yet still lacked effective countermeasures against the Drowned. Underwater combat was a shared weakness for Su Ming and Barry.
For now, following the original plan, the two should first assist Diana in dealing with the Merciless Iron Fists, a Batman with purely physical output was easier to handle.
Thinking of this, Su Ming glanced at the honest-looking Fire God, his molten rock-filled brain probably had the same idea?
Being so enthusiastic, it was actually for his sister, Diana.
"It's about time; we should prepare to help Wonder Woman now. Can you help me modify this warhammer to be more handy?" Su Ming said, taking Hawkman's Warhammer off his back.
His original plan was to have the Fire God enchant his sword with Bat Gold here, but Bat Gold was given to Zha Kang, and now the only usable weapon was the hammer.
The Fire God extended his large hand, took the Warhammer, weighed it in his hand, and carefully examined it closely. Though the Warhammer was blackened, it was unclear what he could actually discern from it.
"Hmm... a weapon made of N Metal, good material, but the craftsmanship and design are trash, it's really clumsy."
"Can it be modified?"
"Sure, just melt and recast it, takes a few minutes." The Fire God headed out with the Warhammer, signaling the two to follow him back to the forge: "What kind of weapon do you like?"
"Anything's fine, long spear, giant sword, tachi, wolf fang club." Su Ming wasn't particular, as he could wield any weapon, but then he remembered: "Preferably a cold weapon."
The Fire God nodded, leading them to the volcano's center, where the magma was blocked by his strange device, its energy accumulating in a colossal container.
He threw the hammer into it, and with Earth's energy and the Fire God's Divine Power at work, the massive container melted the N Metal instantly with principles beyond mortal comprehension.
Pressing a few buttons, the liquid metal flowed through a pipeline into a nearby mold, with some additives thrown in, letting it cool briefly before he grabbed the still-red hot metal and hammered it repeatedly on an anvil.
Minutes later, a jet-black giant sword appeared before Su Ming; it had no sheen, as deep as nightfall.
The sword's blade was forged, not ground, yet paradoxically sharp. The weapon was exceedingly thin, barely thicker than paper, with a hammer's worth of material becoming a 1.5-meter long, 20-centimeter wide giant sword.
Su Ming wasn't worried about the thin sword breaking. With the Fire God's creation, it was certainly a Divine Artifact. Such implausible and unscientific occurrences were typical here.
"Thank you, we'll be off now." Su Ming took the giant sword; the Fire God had also provided a scabbard. Su Ming detached the Fire God's Sword he took from another Hero, sheathing it at his waist and slinging the new giant sword on his back: "I'll name this sword Nightfall; a Divine Artifact should have a name."
The Fire God stared at the weapon at Su Ming's waist, appearing deep in thought before nodding slowly: "Alright, I approve of that name. You must ensure Diana's safe return to Olympus."
Su Ming arched an eyebrow, precisely as he expected: "Rest assured, I'll accept this commission."