Arthur accepted the artifact that was supposed to be his with suspicion.
But the moment his hand gripped the trident, his whole body trembled as if shocked!
Within the trident, the once-familiar power of the Sea God was now more than ten times greater than before!
Moreover, inside the halberd, in addition to his own bloodline's imprint, there was another presence—Mera's aura, which held authority equal to his!
This… Was this real?
He suddenly looked up at Lucci, his expression completely changed.
But it wasn't just about being strong anymore.
This was a force he couldn't understand at all—one that seemed to "set rules" and "revise" them, existing at a higher dimension!
Unconsciously, he glanced at Diana for confirmation.
Diana met his gaze and nodded solemnly.
"Arthur, what Mera says is true."
With Diana's confirmation, Arthur's wild heart finally began to accept the impossible reality.
He looked at Lucci again, his hostility gone, replaced by unprecedented gravity.
"Then… Steppenwolf… is really coming?"
Lucci nodded calmly.
"He's not just coming. He's already stolen the Mother Box from the humans.
That's why, to prevent future trouble, I want to gather all the remaining Mother Boxes."
Hearing this, Arthur suddenly realized!
He slapped his forehead hard.
"No wonder! No wonder Bruce Wayne came to me before, talking about forming an alliance!
It must have been because of this!"
Mera was relieved that Arthur finally believed her.
She looked at him seriously.
"Arthur, I have already witnessed Prince Lucci's strength.
It's a power far beyond our imagination.
The Mother Box is truly safest in his hands!"
But to her surprise, Arthur still didn't let go.
His eyes, deep as the sea, burned with fighting spirit!
He stared at Lucci and said in a low voice,
"Maybe what Mera says is true. I believe you are strong.
But!
The Mother Box has been guarded for thousands of years!
As King of Atlantis, I cannot give it away so vaguely!"
Before he finished speaking, the Poseidon Trident in his hand spun, the sharp tip pointing at Lucci from afar!
The wild, dominant fighting spirit belonging to the king soared into the sky!
"Let's fight!"
Arthur grinned, a look of excitement on his face.
"If you can beat me, not only will I gladly give you the Mother Box, I'll also lead the Atlanteans to fight for you!"
Lucci looked at his combative expression and smiled faintly.
"Very well."
As soon as he spoke, Diana and Mera exchanged helpless glances, sharing a bitter smile.
Men! Obviously, he just wanted to fight, but had to come up with so many lofty reasons!
Arthur grinned when Lucci agreed to fight.
"Excellent!"
He roared, his blood boiling.
The aura of Atlantis' king exploded without hesitation!
The Poseidon Trident in his hand swung fiercely, pointing skyward, its tip emitting a bright golden light.
Rumble—
The entire ruins, and even unknown sea areas stretching for kilometers, shook violently at this moment.
Centered on Arthur, the endless sea roared at the king's command!
A mighty undercurrent, visible to the naked eye, converged and swirled behind him, forming a massive sea vortex filled with destructive power.
The ancient stone pillars of the ruins groaned under this overwhelming force, as if on the verge of collapse.
"This is my home!"
Arthur's voice thundered, filled with absolute dominance.
In these waters, he was the uncrowned king.
He pointed the trident at Lucci with a pride unique to the strong.
"You make the first move!"
But even in the face of this terrifying power, Lucci's expression didn't change at all.
He casually held the Mother Box in one hand and snapped his fingers with the other.
Snap.
A sharp sound, almost inaudible in the raging water.
The next moment, an astonishing sight appeared.
Around Lucci's body, twelve transparent water pillars suddenly rose!
Unlike Arthur's wild and chaotic undercurrents, these were perfectly pure, as if carved from flawless crystal, without a trace of impurity.
They spun at high speed yet remained silent, containing terrifying power within, but their surfaces were smooth as mirrors and extremely stable.
These twelve water pillars orbited Lucci slowly, guarding him at the center, forming an absolute, inviolable domain.
Within this domain, all the surrounding seawater became as docile as lambs.
Lucci looked up at Arthur.
"This is my home too."
Boom!
These words struck Arthur's heart hard.
He felt the absolute control of the other's domain, a level like the very laws of nature.
A chill ran straight from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
What kind of power was this?
This was no longer about "borrowing" the power of water, but about "creating" and "defining" the rules of water!
"Damn it!"
The huge difference in power didn't make Arthur flinch—instead, it awakened the unyielding spirit in his bones.
He roared and, without any further courtesy, took the initiative to attack!
The trident in his hand stabbed forward.
Hundreds of high-pressure water arrows split from the giant vortex behind him, each one capable of piercing the thickest carrier armor, and shot overwhelmingly at Lucci!
But an astonishing sight occurred.
Those water arrows, powerful enough to destroy fleets, were quietly dissolved and melted the moment they entered the range of the twelve water pillars around Lucci, returning to their purest water elements—no ripple left behind.
"Again!"
Arthur's eyes turned red as he swung the trident again.
This time, he condensed a giant sea dragon of super high-pressure seawater, which roared and bit at Lucci with a mouth that could devour everything.
But the result didn't change.
When the ugly sea dragon crashed into that field, its huge body collapsed and disintegrated starting from the head, unable to even touch the hem of Lucci's clothes.
No matter how fierce his tactics, any water-based attack surrendered automatically as it neared Lucci, as if the soldiers lost the courage to fight their king.
"..."
Arthur's attacks ceased. He stared at the calm, composed man with unwavering eyes. For the first time, he felt the emotion called "helplessness."
In the world of water, he was utterly defeated!
…A complete joke!
"In that case…"
Determination flashed in Arthur's eyes.
He gave up his ability to control water and poured all his power into the trident.
"Let's decide the winner the most primitive way!"
He roared like a beast, his whole body turning into lightning as he gripped the trident and charged at Lucci with unyielding resolve!
This time, he was staking everything on the unparalleled physique of an Atlantean!
Lucci watched indifferently.
One hand still gripped the Mother Box, the other formed a fist.
The trident, enveloped in Arthur's power, was blown away by a punch the moment it approached.
Clang—
A metallic explosion and muffled boom instantly echoed throughout the underwater ruins!
A tremendous shockwave, formed by the collision, spread out fiercely.
The surrounding seawater was instantly evacuated, forming a huge spherical vacuum zone!
Under the force of this shockwave, the ancient stone pillars of the ruins snapped and collapsed like rotten wood split by a giant axe!
At that moment, it felt as if the entire seabed had experienced an earthquake!
At the center of the collision, time seemed to slow.
The determination and courage on Arthur's face froze the instant his fist met the trident, replaced by endless fear and pain.
He felt an indescribably vast and terrifying power rushing desperately from the trident into his body, instantly shattering all his defenses.
His arm bone cracked and broke inch by inch!
And that wasn't the end!
The remaining force continued through his body.
Boom!
Arthur's tall, burly figure was blasted out ten times faster than he'd arrived, slamming into the sea floor like a high-speed cannonball!
The extremely hard rock layer of the seabed was shattered like tofu by Arthur's impact, forming a giant, deep pit over ten meters in diameter!
Countless mud and gravel were thrown up, churning the sea into a pot of muddy soup.
Such was the power of a single punch!
A dead silence hung over the ruins.
Diana, Mera, and the Atlantean warriors were all shocked by the scene before them, their minds blank.
They stared, dazed, at Lucci calmly withdrawing his fist.
He held the Mother Box steady, unmoving as a rock, not even a strand of his hair disturbed by the earlier shock.
That punch seemed as easy for him as swatting a mosquito.
All eyes unconsciously turned to the muddy sea.
Arthur's movement was completely gone.
Mera and the warriors were dumbfounded.
"Arthur!"
"Lord Aquaman!"
Their hearts leapt to their throats.
No… No way.
King Arthur… couldn't have been beaten like that, right?
That one blow, just the aftershock alone, had destroyed the entire ruins—Arthur had taken the full force himself…
Mera quickly manipulated the current, blowing away the muddy sediment to see into the pit.
Soon, the muddy water cleared, and the giant pit was revealed before everyone.
At the center, Arthur was "embedded" deep in the hard seabed rock in a most embarrassing posture, with only his head and half his body exposed.
The Poseidon Trident, symbolizing royal authority, drooped weakly beside him, its glow dimmed.
Seeing Arthur still alive, Mera and the warriors finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Mera hurriedly manipulated a gentle current to pull Arthur out of the pit.
"Ah—painful!"
The moment the water touched him, Arthur screamed like a slaughtered pig.
"Slow down! Easy! My bones… I think they're broken!"
Mera's movement froze, and all the Atlantean warriors showed expressions of disbelief at the same time.
Even Diana gasped sharply.
One punch!
Just one!
Aquaman—strong, undefeated, who claimed to battle giant beasts at the bottom of the deep sea—had his bones broken and was pinned to the seabed like a specimen?
And this was still under the sea!
With the sea as a cushion, the force was reduced, yet Arthur still ended up like this.
If this had happened on the shore, with no protection from the ocean, the punch would have…
No one dared imagine the consequences!
Just how terrifying was the power of this man—Lucci, Crown Prince of Asgard?
…
At the moment that silence returned to the ruins, as everyone was still lost in the endless shock from Lucci's punch, his eyes suddenly flickered.
He looked up above the ruins.
Through the magical web covering the world, he clearly sensed an evil aura—filled with tyranny, slaughter, and the desire for conquest—tearing the universe in a special way and descending upon this place!
That presence was unfamiliar.
"He's come pretty quickly," Lucci sneered.
Almost as soon as the thought flashed through his mind—
A sudden change!
Whoosh!
Above the ruins, the seawater twisted without warning, forming a spatially fluctuating circular channel, and landed in the water!
Boom—
The Boom Tube!
"Careful! It's Steppenwolf!"
Diana reacted quickly, instantly recognizing this iconic teleportation method.
Her face turned solemn, reminding everyone as she drew her sword and shield.
At the same time, from within the exploding portal, countless ugly, terrifying figures burst out with shrill cries!
They had insect-like wings, dry, demon-like bodies, screeching mouths, and gripped sharp energy weapons.
It was the Apokolips Parademon army!
"Defend against the enemy!"
The Atlantean captain roared, quickly recovering from the shock.
The soldiers reflexively raised their spears, forming a battle formation.
Navy blue energy beams fired, clashing with the demon army charging at them.
Mera had no time to pull Arthur out—he was still stuck in the pit "like a corpse"—her beautiful face cold, as the surrounding seawater turned into countless sharp ice spikes, jetting out in a torrent and instantly clearing a large area.
The battle began in an instant!
The next moment—
Behind the endless demon army, a tall, burly figure in battle armor stepped down from the portal, carrying a massive battle-axe radiating scorching energy. The force emanating from his body suffocated all the Atlantean warriors present.
Steppenwolf!
"Ha… I can sense it!
The Mother Box resonance!"
"You foolish Atlanteans, you're about to—"
Steppenwolf's foot emerged from the portal, his arrogant laughter echoing across the seabed. But midway through his proclamation, it suddenly cut off like a duck being strangled.
Because, through the seawater, he saw the Mother Box calmly held in Lucci's hand, who looked up at him with a faint smile.