Chapter 18: Suspected Human Demon
Two figures pierced through the clouds and landed steadily on a patch of overgrown grass on the outskirts of Salem City.
The soil beneath their feet was damp with morning dew. In the distance, the outline of the city loomed through a thin veil of fog, hazy and indistinct.
Luka stumbled half a step upon landing, not from lingering injuries, but from a sudden surge of irritation.
He rubbed his temples, his gaze sweeping across the sprawling cityscape. His brow furrowed deeper with each passing moment.
Batman's information had only narrowed things down to Salem. But Salem was a full-fledged city, not some isolated stronghold.
Doctor Fate was notoriously elusive and accustomed to keeping a low profile. Trying to locate a magic-aligned hero who actively concealed himself within a sea of civilians felt no different from searching for a needle in a haystack.
"What's wrong? Having second thoughts?" Diana landed beside him, her tone laced with teasing.
She had noticed Luka's eager planning throughout their journey, but she hadn't anticipated that he'd completely overlooked the most fundamental question: how to actually find the man.
Luka glanced at her, not denying his oversight.
"Yeah. I didn't think it through. I figured I'd just get here first and deal with it then."
He paused, a glint of mischief sparking in his eyes.
"Or we could try this. I head into the city, pretend to be a supervillain, flip a few cars, shout a bit. Once people start screaming for help, Doctor Fate, as Salem's guardian, should come take a look, right?"
"You wouldn't dare."
Diana reached out and tapped him on the head, her tone equal parts exasperation and helpless amusement.
She knew he was joking, but the instinct to treat destruction as a viable tactic still made her frown.
That Viltrum way of thinking really did run deep.
"Alright, no more jokes," Luka said, rubbing the spot where she'd tapped him. His playful grin vanished, replaced by a serious expression. "Ms. Prince, I need your help."
Diana raised an eyebrow, signaling him to continue.
"You're an Amazon princess, blessed with divine power. Perhaps your aura can draw Doctor Fate's attention."
It was the most reliable approach he could come up with.
Diana pondered for a moment before nodding. "It's worth trying. Doctor Fate's artifacts share a common origin with divine power. He may be able to sense my bracelets."
She led Luka to an open area at the city's entrance and raised her arms.
The pair of ancient bracers on her wrists lightly struck each other.
A clear, resonant chime rang out.
The sound waves spread outward, accompanied by a faint golden glow that was almost imperceptible to the naked eye. Like ripples on water, it flowed toward the heart of the city.
Where the light passed, the ambient magical energy stirred. Even the distant fog thinned slightly, as if pushed aside.
They waited in silence.
Just as Luka began to suspect the attempt had failed, the sky suddenly flared with gold.
A towering, golden structure slowly materialized in midair. It was shaped like a tower, its surface engraved with intricate runes that gleamed with sacred brilliance under the sunlight. Hovering more than twenty meters above the ground, it rotated slowly in place.
Then, from a ripple like water spreading across the tower's surface, a figure emerged.
He wore a deep blue bodysuit, draped in a golden cape. Most striking of all was the flawless golden helmet covering his head entirely. It had no eye slits, no openings at all. Only a faint magical glow flowed along its edges.
Doctor Fate.
Luka stared at the smooth, featureless helmet.
Doesn't that thing get stuffy?
By the time the thought finished forming, Doctor Fate had already descended, coming to a halt before them.
His voice came through the helmet, carrying an ethereal and authoritative quality, as if spanning time and space.
"Daughter of Zeus, Diana Prince, Nabu greets you."
"I prefer to be called Diana, or Wonder Woman," Diana replied, frowning slightly, clearly disliking the title "Daughter of Zeus."
Doctor Fate didn't argue. The helmet turned toward Luka, and his tone abruptly turned icy, brimming with undisguised hostility.
"Demon-spawn, leave this land."
Before the words had fully left his lips, he raised his hand, and pale golden magical light coalesced before him, forming a symbol resembling a cross.
The Ankh.
The magic, now shaped into the Ankh, radiated an intense oppressive aura, bearing down on Luka with the implicit threat: Leave now, or face the consequences.
"What do you mean by this?!"
Diana's expression shifted instantly. She stepped in front of Luka on instinct, raising her arm to intercept the incoming magical light.
"Doctor Fate, he is my student, not some demon-spawn. You owe us an explanation for such an insult."
"Student?" Doctor Fate scoffed, his voice dripping with disdain.
"Princess of Zeus, can you truly not see the real nature of this demon-spawn?"
He pointed a finger at Luka, his voice rising sharply. "In Lord Nabu's vision, the resentment and bloodlust clinging to this boy are denser than those of most demons in the depths of Hell. A 'demon-spawn' capable of angering Lord Nabu must have slaughtered at least hundreds of millions of intelligent beings."
"Hundreds of millions?" Diana shuddered, her body stiffening as she stood in front of Luka. She glanced back at him in disbelief, her eyes filled with shock and confusion.
She knew what kind of being Nabu was. An existence at that level would not lie.
But over these past few days interacting with Luka, all she had seen was a youth striving to break free from his past, wanting to live a normal life. How could he possibly be a demon who had slaughtered hundreds of millions of sentient beings?
Taking a deep breath, she turned fully toward Luka. Her gaze locked onto his, her voice trembling despite her effort to keep it steady.
"Luka... is what he said... true?"
Luka remained silent.
He had long known that his past could not be completely hidden.
After arriving on Earth, he had been honest about coming from Viltrum. Honest about that world's brutality. The only thing he had concealed was the blood on his own hands.
Not because he did not want to speak of it, but because he could not.
At this scale, it was no longer something that words like "mistake" or "repentance" could encompass.
Even if you combined all the lives taken by every supervillain the current Justice League's superheroes had faced, the total would likely still fall short of the number of lives he had taken.
Even including the interstellar criminals the Green Lantern had battled across the cosmos, it probably wouldn't be enough.
He had no way to defend himself, because what Doctor Fate said was the truth.
Those civilizations conquered by Viltrum, those weak races they used as "trial targets," billions upon billions of lives, had all died indirectly or directly by his and other Viltrumite warriors' hands.
"He was born on Viltrum," Diana said, watching Luka's silence and already knowing the answer, yet unable to stop herself from speaking up for him. "A civilization that glorifies conquest and slaughter."
"That wasn't his choice. He was forced into it. You can't tell me he feels nothing about it."
"Self-deception."
Doctor Fate cut her off without mercy.
"If he had felt even the slightest remorse for his past killings, the stench of blood and sin surrounding him would not be this dense. In the view of soul magic, his spirit is already soaked through with blood. There is no possibility of redemption."
Diana's expression hardened.
She turned to look at Luka once more, her eyes holding a last sliver of hope, waiting for his rebuttal.
Anything. Even a single sentence would have been enough for her to choose to believe him.
But Luka only looked at her. His usually emotionless eyes were now heavy with exhaustion. He let out a soft sigh.
That sigh was answer enough.
Diana's heart sank. She did not press him further. Instead, she turned her head and spoke solemnly to Doctor Fate.
"We came this time to ask for your help. My student has been targeted by the goddess of strife, Eris, and has obtained her divine artifact, the Golden Apple. We need a way to counter it, and to prepare for Eris's retaliation once she revives."
"Impossible."
Doctor Fate refused without a second thought.
"Lord Nabu will absolutely not help a blood-soaked demon. Until he leaves Salem entirely, I will keep watch over you. Do not attempt to remain here."
The golden Ankh glowed again, this time generating a massive gust of wind from thin air.
Luka stood firm against the howling wind, giving Doctor Fate a slight nod.
"My apologies for disturbing you." His voice remained calm. "I will leave immediately."
With that, he turned and soared into the sky, flying away from Salem City.
Diana watched his retreating figure, hesitated for a moment, then gave chase.
High above the ground, she wrestled with herself for several seconds before suddenly accelerating. She shot ahead of him, cutting off his path, and faced him head-on. Her expression was tangled with pain, confusion, and resolve.
"Luka, tell me," she asked quietly, "under what circumstances did you have to kill that many people?"
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