...

Chapter 141: Too Calm For Too Long V

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"Has it been calm for too long?" Ian voiced his doubts as he eyed a certain individual, "Perhaps it was too peaceful for too long, so reality decided no more?"

Ian nodded quite sure of the conclusion, "So that means everything that happened and will happen is reality's doing, not mine."

He nodded again with a smile as his staff appeared in his hand, "Then reality, I will humor you because I want no trouble. He may find out, well, he will find out, but it's not my fault."

The entirety of the staff turned black in an instant, looking ominous. Dark spell formations started getting constructed, all forming a grand formation.

'It would've taken me dozens of years to fully read the book of eternity without the speed force, but thankfully, I have the speed force, given to me by the Flash, so thank you, this wouldn't have been possible without you.'

Ian showed his appreciation before casting the sinister spell only after complementing it with a bit of pure yellow speed force.

The color of his speed force was orange, but it's just a combination of yellow and red, so he simply reverted the process, and voila!

The air around Ian changed, feeling a bit chilly, but he seemed to enjoy it as the spell enveloped a certain individual without their awareness.

And they could only flinch at his cruelty, absolutely uncaring about how his actions would make the Flash feel because the cursed individual was none other than Iris Ann, the love of Barry Allen's life.

Ian, however, would beg the difference. He would say instead that they flinched because of how far he was willing to go for the greater good.

Ian remained embroiled in numerous magical spells hiding his existence just watching the spell in effect.

It was a very sinister spell, one of the many in the book of eternity which mostly contained dark spells.

The spell however was modified to become perfect for the situation as Ian cast it with both darkness and magic, complemented with the yellow speed force specifically.

At this point, Barry was still blissfully unaware of the changes he caused. He was just happy his goal was met, and his mother was alive and well.

"Very strange... The world has forgotten I exist, and..." Ian still had contact with the Roses back in Gotham and they had just informed him that they were being investigated.

Why? Because according to this world's networks, they don't exist at all. Very few people know of the Roses.

A paradox was created. Most of Gotham's people know of the Roses and all of their achievements.

There is even some information about them in the local network, but for the rest of the world, it was like Gotham's reality has just been twisted, some even suspected alien invasion.

So naturally, people were sent to investigate, a lot of people. Some of which were a tad bit dangerous.

Ian also contacted Zatanna and Xanadu to see if they remember him, and they did. Very few beings in the universe noticed the change, or at least, that's how it was supposed to go.

Now however, an entire city noticed something odd. The main point was that Gotham remained invulnerable to the changes caused by the Flashpoint.

There were also a few people outside of Gotham who noticed the change, their memories remaining intact, and there was one common point about them, they had come in close contact with Ian one way or another.

'But that doesn't explain why the entirety of Gotham was immune... Unless?' Ian closed his eyes, trying to sense something far away. Perhaps it was very faint because he couldn't sense it.

He allowed his Death force to roam free. He used everything he can to test many hypotheses to no avail. He still came to a conclusion though.

'It definitely has something to do with my Death force. Perhaps I stayed in Gotham for so long that I corrupted.

The give and take process took effect, but it's still not enough because I can not sense or control Gotham like the other things I own.'

What was happening was intriguing, to say the least. Ian noticed a trend, he rarely gets answers, instead, more and more questions came about to the point even his speed force powered brain was having a hard time processing everything.

'Anything that got a specific dose of my Death force would become immune to the changes of time... Just like how Bruce is still in the world despite this world's Batman being Thomas... Wait.'

Ian's thoughts came to a halt as a dangerous premotion emerged in his mind, 'Nah, no way... I mean, the rules and the ways it works shouldn't be the same... Right?'

He closed his eyes for a second trying to throw those nonsensical thoughts out of the window. I mean, the current situation in his view was a recipe for a universe destroying paradox, but it couldn't possibly be that simple, right?

'Definitely, Murphy has nothing on me in this one. If it was so easy to create a paradox in this multiverse, then it wouldn't exist by now. Many people have likely achieved something similar, so yeah definitely.'

Ian nodded to himself again, more convinced, so he had a bit of peace of mind. He went ahead and got himself a cup of coffee while waiting for things to move along.

"Hmm? It's already taking effect? She doesn't seem to have noticed it though." Ian observed the changes in Iris which weren't many.

Just a few small wrinkles emerged in some places while in other places, the opposite happened, "God that is such a fucked up spell... Who came up with such a thing? It's entirely on them."

Ian couldn't help but feel bad for her, especially as he watched her interaction with Barry who was absolutely clueless.

He was still in that mirage of happiness, thinking everything went perfectly though it only took him another hour to notice a few things.

This world doesn't have the Justice League. There is no Superman or if there is, he is nowhere to be seen.

That naturally caused bells of alarm to ring in his head as he started doing a bit of investigation... Until Batman contacted him on his own.

"Hello? Ah, right... Of course... Yeah, right... Of course of course... Yeah, right. Fuck off, Murphy. Not this time! I wanted to summon you so many times before but you never took effect until now?"

Ian was a bit worked up for some reason. The Flash wasn't the only one to receive some bad news. As a good friend, Ian had to share his burden.

"Ahh, boss? what?" Ralf on the other side was listening to Ian's complaints with nothing but confusion.

"Hm? Oh, right. Don't worry about it. I was just speaking to the Christ of bitchiness. Anyway, I will be there right away." Ian got his composure back, speaking calmly.

And right there he was in a matter of minutes, attired in very casual white clothes, simple white pants, and a white shirt, nothing special allowing him to go unnoticed... Because of magic.

Ian found himself standing in a specific street in the middle of the night, but it was quite bright. The sirens of the numerous police cars around gave a clear picture of the cause of Ian's worries.

The place was closed and surrounded with several scientists going about in what appeared to be a hazmat suit. They were inspecting two dead bodies lying on the street.

Ian's steps led him very close to them, taking a closer look at the two perfectly identical bodies, seeming quite odd.

They had prominent blue veins running throughout their bodies, seeming to be on the verge of exploding. In fact, one already did and from it spurted a spiky blue branch, running through the air and reaching the sky.

It looked like a fissure in the very time and space, threatening to unleash something from its ominous gap, "Too calm for too long. This is the universe's calling, not mine. It's the universe's fault, not mine... So be it."

"..."

"..."

"?"

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Chapter 142: An Odd Paradox I

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It looked like a fissure in the very time and space, threatening to unleash something from its ominous gap, "Too calm for too long. This is the universe's calling, not mine. It's the universe's fault, not mine... So be it."

"..."

"..."

"?" The man stroked his chin in wonder, seeming a bit confused, "Is it?"

"Huh?" Ian turned around, eyeing the blonde man that has just appeared next to him with a bit of surprise, "Is it not?"

"What if it isn't?" The blonde man further wondered.

"Then it'd have to be." Ian shrugged, not too surprised at the man's appearance, Lucifer Morningstar.

"Ah, of course." Lucifer nodded with an amused smile before eyeing the dark blue fissure, forming cracks in space, "This is odd, very odd. Time is my friend, so I know a lot about it. However..."

"However?" Curiosity sparkled in Ian's eyes, knowing Lucifer is definitely more knowledgeable than him in this regard.

"However, I was never able to create something like this, nor did I ever come across such a thing despite walking along the river of time many times before..."

"And?" Ian swallowed in anticipation, curiosity killing him.

"The universe is breaking, slowly but surely, and I think the process will only accelerate from now on. Perhaps a few hundred years max before its end?"

Lucifer couldn't help but stare at Ian with an odd glint, "All because of you..."

"Hm? What's with that look? You're planning something, aren't you? Honestly, you don't have to plot behind my back, you can just use me however you like as long as a bit of charity is given."

Ian smiled, trying to remember things about this world. What could Lucifer possibly give him that's useful? Well, a lot of things. Lucifer however took things the wrong way.

"Use you?" Lucifer sized Ian up with an odd look, "I don't mind. That could be fun."

"Huh?"

"Hm?"

Ian's eyes sparkled with an orange flash for a second before it dawned on him, "Oh, I see... Bye."

"Hey! Wait..." Despite saying that, Lucifer didn't do much to stop Ian from teleporting away, he just let out a sigh, "Why so shy?"

His attention returned to the crack in space and time, "But this... What if?"

Today was certainly an ominous day for the world, and it's only getting worse by the day because Ian's first step after vanishing was to check up on Iris to make sure she's okay before amplifying the power of the curse.

Things outside of his expectations were happening, so he had to adapt. He could certainly tell the Flash how to fix the problem, but won't get all of the benefits that way.

Ian was in a hurry, so he acted fast. He was pretty sure he caused a paradox somehow, and despite Lucifer saying it would take hundreds of years for something to happen, Ian thinks otherwise.

What if another paradox came to be? This one happened due to two of the same person existing in close proximity to each other in the same space-time.

So who's to say that won't happen again? In fact, it was already happening, and Ian wasn't willing to stop it because it might just accelerate things to exactly where he wanted.

'It appears that Lucifer also wants the paradox to spread... But other beings shouldn't want that, right? Perhaps he is the one stopping anyone from interfering.'

Ian observed as Iris, Barry's girlfriend in his dream; started getting older and younger at the same time. Parts of her body were getting older at quite a fast rate while other parts, it was the opposite.

Amplifying the curse naturally made her aware of her change very fast, and she naturally went ahead and asked the Flash.

Her state by this point wasn't that bad. She just had an arm of wrinkles and another arm becoming like that of a baby.

It was a truly emotional moment for the duo as the Flash especially freaked out, knowing this might be his fault. He had talked with both Batmans, so he knows he was responsible for this.

Now he just needs to find the solution, and if the paradox spreading wasn't enough to push him to his full potential, then Iris's current state will certainly do.

Batman warned him that Ian might be planning something, but did he have any choice in this situation?

He caused this by going back in time to save his mother, so he had to solve it somehow.

"Hello, darling! You wouldn't believe what's happening! There are siuuuuuu blue things going crackkkk! It looks so cool but I can't break it... Do you happen to know how?"

Ian couldn't help but let out a small laugh, listening to Harley's coy voice, trying to seduce him into her usual schemes.

This one happened to include breaking a paradox, something Ian has absolutely no idea how to do.

"Well, how about we go to the beach and have some fun?"

"To the beach? No no, I must've misheard, you mean to the house pool right right?"

Ian could hear Harley rubbing her ears in befuddlement, bringing a strange look out of him, "Well... I kinda misspoke, I meant the ocean, and is it so rare for me to go out?"

"No no, it's not rare at all, you only leave the house about one time every three months! So boriiiiiing!"

Ian hung up instantly in fear of an ear-splitting paradox getting born due to her voice, "Aghh, why so rude? But well..."

While he was here, he thought he might as well see if this timeline's people are more charitable than those of the previous, for research purposes only.

So he teleported directly to Harley, and she seemed to be waiting for him as she was in his arms in an instant, yelling, "Let's go! We gonna hunt a Kraken right?"

"Huh? A Kraken?"

"I mean, we aren't actually not breaking anything on a vacation? That's not normal?"

Ian smile, holding her in his arms while eyeing her closely, "Perhaps we will... You stopped putting on your makeup?"

"No, I'm just changing it. I will make it better. The best makeup there ever was!" Harley giggled, getting lost in her imagination until she found the scenery has changed.

They were now hovering above the ocean, not far from them was an Island. Harley could see dozens of women walking around in ancient looking armors, quite the odd thing.

Most importantly, she could see someone familiar, and that someone also noticed them, "Wait, isn't that..."

"Yeah, it is, just not the same person." Ian's words came true almost instantly as he narrowly avoided a spear making its way to his head.

The one to attack was none other than Wonder Woman herself, Diana. She attacked with the intent to kill, assuming them to be enemies.

"Oh, so are we here to crush her? I'm down! God Bat is down too!" The God killer formed from a bracelet to a bat in Harley's hand, obediently showing itself as they landed before Diana.

"You're no Atlantean... Who are you?" Diana questioned, already approaching the due with a sword in her hand, a sword rivaling the God killer, Ian noted.

"So I'm basically from another timeline and someone there wanted me to retrieve a certain item either by peace or force... I think his name was Arthur or something? And he wants the Trident of Neptune.

He also wanted me to stop the current Atlantians from losing themselves too much for a certain price, so here I am, asking for a guide to their land..."

Ian eloquently introduced bits and pieces of his past and spoke the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth...

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Chapter 143: An Odd Paradox II

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Ian eloquently introduced bits and pieces of his past and spoke the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

"Wow, hehe," Harley couldn't help but let out a giggle, drawing an odd look from Diana.

"That sounds like a lie, and I hate lies," Diana started approaching them as she spoke, and Ian has to say, she seemed quite different from how he remembered her to be.

This timeline's Diana went through a completely different life. She went through a lot that led her personality to be shaped as such,

quite ruthless.

You see, in this timeline, Hippolyta is dead by Aquaman's hand nonetheless, and the latter is also different, never gaining sympathy or love for humanity because he had grown in Atlantis.

There were other smaller details in the matter, but the gist of things was that the Amazonians and the Atlanteans were at war.

So Diana's actions were understandable, which is why Ian remained defenseless against her. He is quite kind and understanding after all.

"Lies won't be a thing under my hand, so please don't move." Not that she needed him to not move as she moved at a surprising speed, bringing her Laso out and swinging it at Ian.

Diana was quite strong. In fact, Ian believes her to be one of the strongest beings in the universe if she unlocks her potential, but even now, she is blessed by a few god Olympian gods.

Not just that, she has two godly weapons on her person, one of which was the sword and the other was a Lasso.

A weapon that seems quite similar to a whip, a golden lasso name the Lasso Of Truth. It does exactly what its name entails, anyone caught within its grasp will tell no lies unless they want to be burnt alive though it never comes to that.

It's Wonder Woman's primary tool and weapon; a magical golden lariat that forces anyone captured within it to obey the wielder's commands and tell the truth.

It's quite a precious artifact to the point Ian was almost willing to change his plans to get it just for research purposes as he can do what it can with magic.

He was under the banner of magic supremacy after all, but he stopped himself and continued with the distraction.

"Quite obedient huh? Well, thank you." She at least seemed sincere, totally ignoring Harley who was doing some research, trying to break her head open only to be met with a shield, reflecting the force at her and sending her away.

"Harley, not the time for games, so chill out a bit, will ya?" Ian gave her a death stare, drawing a pout out of her. His expression soon turned to a gentle smile as he eyed Diana.

"I guess I really didn't have much contact with you at all, so you like most remembers nothing. Then again, I really didn't have much contact with the Justice League. Anyway, ask away..."

Diana frowned, observing Her Lasso and the man, and noting that the Laso of Truth didn't have any reaction to his words, meaning he didn't lie, "What's your relationship with the King of Atlantis?"

"None at all. I mean, we were kinda in the same room in my timeline, but I think he drunk himself into a different realm, so I don't know if that counts." Ian let out a laugh, followed by a giggle from Harley as she agreed.

"Yup yup, perfect logic. If you weren't seen, then nothing happened. It's just like when I broke something some time ago. The broken thing wasn't aware, so nothing actually happened." She couldn't help but nod at her fantastic deduction.

'...' Ian eyed Harley strangely, having no idea that happened, 'It's a skull right? A live skull?'

He shook his head, throwing those thoughts outside though to Diana, the two looked like a clump of insanity, acting so weird that she found herself a bit confused, "You two... Never mind, what do you want from the King of Atlantis?"

"Of course to bring a bit of peace into his cloudy mind as his counterpart desired. The greater good basically."

Diana frowned, feeling no reaction from the Lasso... He was telling the truth? She wondered, but a hunch was constantly bugging her mind, telling her not to trust anything about him... Furthermore, she picked something from his words.

"What about my counterpart? Did she tell you to stop me from what I want to do?" She further questioned.

"Nop..." Ian's words came to a halt as he found himself getting choked by the Wonder woman herself, 'Yup, fast, extremely fast. She won't be able to keep up with me too much in the Rose of Speed, but she's not far of...'

That wasn't just intimidation, no, she was actually choking him with what seemed to be the intent to kill, "Do you believe me to be stupid? I don't know how you ignore the Lasso's powers, but you made a mistake... You lied!"

She seemed quite mad, more emotional than he'd believe her to be. I guess the circumstances really took a toll on her, "You had little to no contact with The King of Atlantis, yet here you are, saying that you were sent here by him."

She still had her guard up though, keeping him fully imprisoned, unable to move at all, and Harley didn't seem to have any desire to participate, likely because of the dozens of Amazonians already surrounding the area, watching their Queen's every move.

"A rookie mistake isn't it? I mean, of course, someone like me wouldn't make such a mistake... I was kinda just joking, so please let me go."

Much to Diana's surprise, she heard Ian's voice despite how tight of a hold she was keeping him in with not only her hands choking him but also with her Lasso.

Well, it was obvious to her that he didn't speak with his mouth. His voice just somehow reached her.

"Wha..." You see, the thing about distractions is that they always work if done right, just like one because the next moment, Diana somehow found her mouth sealed by his.

Her hold of him seemed like nothing. Neither she nor her people expected this to happen. Hell, even Harley didn't see this coming. She believed Ian was planning something like always from his behavior, but this, "God, that's so hot... Hey! When is my turn!?"

Her yells were ignored as Diana found herself sucked into the abyss of charities, gracefully returning the kiss in what seemed like confusion.

However, she reacted quickly as her hands were clenched into a fist before they were brought down at Ian, seeking to break his ribs, and she would've been able to if not for the invisible magic barriers he had around him.

However, she didn't give up and attacked again, breaking the barriers in seconds much to Ian's surprise.

She was a fucking monster, and he had no interest in playing with her, so he instantly teleported away from her while bringing Harley with him.

The poor Amazonians could only watch, unable to break through the bigger barrier that was surrounding the trio.

Ian seemed to be prepared as if he expected things to go this way or at least in a similar way though his goal was a wonder to everyone but himself and Harley.

Well, Harley at least knows that she knows despite what she knows to be the truth being not the truth.

"That was so hot. Glad you finally let go, let's get lost in seas of pleasure and degeneracy! Let's feed our desires and let them grow... Starting now!"

Harley have never seemed happier as she jumped into Ian's arms, clearly expecting it to be her turn. Her face spoke of glee, but Ian's face was of nothing but confusion.

"Huh? What are you talking about? That was for scientific purposes."

"Right right, now hurry, and let's start!" Harley let out a giggle while nodding, obviously taking his words like air.

"You two... You two!"

...

Chapter 144: An Odd Paradox III

...

"Huh? What are you talking about? That was for scientific purposes."

"Right right, now hurry, and let's start!" Harley let out a giggle while nodding, obviously taking his words like air.

"You two... You two!"

Ian turned his attention to the seething Diana, ignoring Harley's odd words, "How do you feel?" He asked with curiosity.

"Haha, how I feel? Hahaha," Diana couldn't help but let out a loud laugh. This would be the maddest she'd gotten if not for Hippolyta's death.

"You're really... I'll bring you down. Of that, I swear," Diana took a deep breath before she leaped at Ian, seeming to be flying through the air, reaching him in an instant.

"Why?" Ian was confused as he teleported away, barely avoiding her. Her anger seemed to be fueling her, augmenting her prowess.

Diana's reaction was fast as she totally ignored his words, her Lasso already traveling through the air close to where he appeared, clinging to a tree.

All she had to do was to pull with such force that it brought the tree right out of the ground with ease. That still did the job though, thrusting her towards him on the ground.

She hopped right back into the air with her sword already ahead of her, seeking to decapitate the target of her wrath.

This all happened in less than a second, at a speed inconceivable to those around them. Yup, she was extremely fast as she is blessed by Hermes.

To those around them, there was only a flash... And that's it because their brain simply couldn't comprehend how fast they were moving nor were their eyes able to keep up at all.

However, Ian still felt something amiss. Diana wasn't trying her hardest, in fact, he felt like she was going easy on him.

He deduced the reason in what can be perceived to be an instant, 'She wants to lead me away from the Island. Only then can she do her best.'

Ian glanced at the Amazonianzs or the Island a bit away by now as she carefully guided him away, gaining the ability to somehow glide through the air at someone, or perhaps she just saw no need to use it before.

'Yeah, the speed force is broken. Nothing of this would've been possible without it. Even her warrior instinct is far above mine in every regard. She is simply a beast in combat.'

And unleashing her full force will certainly cause such destruction that it would bring down the entire Island with her. Moreover, she wasn't exactly how strong Ian is but what she saw was enough to make her wary.

"I can teleport. I can use magic." Ian stated while glancing at the Island. It was obviously a threat that was followed by his desire, "Let me continue with what I was doing."

"You won't have the chance." Diana was much calmer than before, and she also seemed a lot more determined as a cluster of white energy started circling around her feet, almost forming into tiny wings.

She held a sword in hand and the Lasso in her other hand, looking graceful and grand, basically taking control of the entire scenery around her.

"Harley, be a dear and wait for me in darkness." Harley didn't react because even their words were spoken at hyper speed.

Harley just found herself in his dimension, a dark but warm dimension. A sun could be seen within though, a sun that provides little to no light, in fact, it seems to be trying to absorb all light.

That was no sun, but Trigon's flames constantly getting sucked out of his scroll, forming something akin to sun, an entire realm of flames.

"Very well, I like this very much, so I'll play with you and see if my experiment is a success." Ian smiled, bringing out his staff.

He doesn't really need to have it in his hand. He mostly leaves it floating in the center of his dimension, but it's way more effective in hand.

He can transfer his Death force to things not in contact with him due to how masterful he had become, but it's much more potent when in contact.

It's even more potent when in contact with things he likes, such as a simple kiss. Who knows, perhaps that was just an experiment, yeah, it was definitely for scientific purposes.

"An experiment? Yeah, of course..." Diana was already before him as her voice reached her, seeming to reach him instantly.

Her sword shone deep golden as she swung it at him, truly going for the kill without hesitation.

Only, Ian vanished yet again only to find her appear almost instantly right where he appeared again, "I'm faster." Ian murmured as his feet touched the cold water of the ocean, vanishing again instantly.

This time, however, he used the speed force to evade before piercing directly into her heart with the staff.

"Yet I'm better, just better." Diana countered with an easy dodge, seeming to have predicted his attack and the one following after, and after, and so on.

Ian was a monster in combat, but she was something else entirely as if she was born for just this.

She was such a monster to the point that Ian found his ribs broken despite being much faster than her, way faster.

All it took was her taking a few sacrificial hits from him as her Lasso found its way to his legs, and teleporting took an instant which was too long with how close she was.

At least he was able to redirect her sword away from cutting his neck with his staff, the result of which created a noticeable fracture in the very core of the ocean around them.

There was nothing but chaos around them, whirlpools and tsunamis everywhere, and even cracks on the ocean floor were very visible to them. Thankfully, they were far away from the Island, or else it'd be an underwater island by now.

Diana gave him absolutely no sympathy or time to get himself back together. His broken rib was of no concern to her, in fact, she wanted it more broken.

From punches to her sword slashing at him, then her Lasso trying to keep him in place or even squeeze him into charity juice. She did her best.

Ian on the other hand did not. The most he was doing was a bit of magic to amplify his defense with magic barriers and such.

He was mostly relying on the Rose of speed to keep up while using all that he had learned from Richard Dragon, switching from one fighting style to another.

Being in the speed mode allowed him to constantly improve, and eliminate his mistakes, yet it was as if everything was for naught because Diana didn't budge.

In the end, Ian was the one to find himself profusely bleeding with most of his clothing shredded. Several parts of his entire body were blue, other parts were obviously completely broken.

His attention however was on his neck... There was a cut there, making his expression a bit weird as he murmured, "That was close... You almost died. Well, likely died."

Diana for the first time gave him time to speak, not out of charity but because of his staff. It was blazing with energy very familiar to her, divinity.

"I? I would've died?" She asked with confusion while her eyes asked the other question as they were obviously focusing on the staff.

"I have no control of it despite how far I have come, and I really like you, so I should really take a bit of control despite it being from indirect means."

Ian let go of the staff allowing it to hover behind him, still releasing that rich energy that feels very similar to magic to him, especially after he had come to understand a lot of things about divinity.

"You like me you say?"

"Yeah, that's why I wanted to see if your memories can be preserved. I wanted to see what kind of wonder can be created after the timeline comes back to what it was. I wanted to see if you can remember your other memories, but... It seems that I failed."

Ian let out a resigned sigh. It was unfortunate for him. Playing with people's memories is certainly a bad thing, but to him, it was just a simple experiment, "Very well... Rose Of Divinity."

...

Chapter 145: An Odd Paradox IV

...

Ian let out a resigned sigh. It was unfortunate for him. Playing with people's memories is certainly a bad thing, but to him, it was just a simple experiment, "Very well... Rose Of Divinity."

Not much changed once he spoke those words, Diana noted that his figure still looks just as blurry, and the only change she can see was what appeared to be blurry butterflies flying around him.

"Do you know the difference between Magic and Divinity?" Ian smiled, taking off what was left of his shredded shirt, giving a view of his back. On it, there was not one petal, but two.

The last time, he only had one, but a year has passed and things changed. He worked very hard, so he deserves this, the ability to use two Roses at the same time. The Rose of Speed and Divinity.

"No? Well, let me tell you. They both have limits and restrictions. Magic is extremely vast, its field of applications being nearly infinite, but it's costly. Divinity is a very narrow road, but one can run through it effortlessly."

Indeed, magic costs a lot, but it's nearly infinite. Divinity is special, one's road is predetermined, and it's narrow but broken at the same time.

The new gods are all gods of something. That's a positive and a negative at the same time. For Ian however, it's a completely different story.

"I studied Dinivinity for a long, ever since I acquired it. I especially mine. It's a bit special, exactly what I needed. The method I gained my Divinity with was special, very different than those of gods."

"Shut up," Diana took a deep breath before speaking, "You're no god. I know what gods are like, so you must've done something to gain what you have... No, even that doesn't matter. What matters and what I know is that you're an enemy."

Ian couldn't help but let out a chuckle, eyeing Diana with a bit of delight, "Nah, you're wrong. It does matter because I was enjoying our battle very much, but you're a very dangerous opponent, and you almost took my life many times... I can't allow you to die just yet."

"Huh? What?" To say Diana was confused was an understatement, 'I must've misheard things, right? No, I don't mishear things?'

"My Divinity can minimize my death, thus minimizing the chances of your death, so dear, let's continue and please, do your absolute best."

Ian wasn't interested in using magic or any of his other powers because he wants to fight. No one he met so far was nearly as much of a warrior as her, someone who forged a bloody battle with him.

Diana on the other hand understood a few things from his words, but this wasn't the time to give them any thought as she focused on the battle, being a bit more cautious.

However, much to her surprise, Ian didn't seem to be any different, he was still the same. Even when she comes in contact with the blurry butterflies, nothing happens.

It came to the point she started to wonder about his Divinity, so she became more aggressive, still dealing more damage to him than he does to her.

She did however notice his injuries healing extremely fast, but she didn't see that as a problem because her goal was one deadly strike. That will be enough to finish him... She succeeded.

An opportunity presented itself, and she took it. Her sword reached Ian's neck yet again.

However, much to her surprise, her sword changed its course, and no matter how much force she put on her hold of it, she couldn't change its path.

It ended up evading Ian's neck of its own volition, seeming to be swimming along the white butterflies.

Ian instantly retreated with a frown, "You're good, the best even... I had hoped I won't need to use my Divinity, but I don't have much of a choice... Anyway, let's reset."

Diana remained silent as she observed Ian more thoroughly. She stayed composed even under the strange circumstances.

And so, the battle continued for what appeared to be hours of nonstop devastation. The two's state was certainly bad, to say the least. They didn't go easy on each other at all, both going for the kill.

Both looked completely fucked up but didn't seem exhausted at all, in fact, their battle reached an odd state of mutual enjoyment. Neither of them wanted it to end.

However, the world wanted it to as both of them stopped and eyed a certain direction. They could see a tsunami lunging their way, literally.

It was an odd tsunami, the likes of which Ian has never seen, so massive and strange. The source of the weirdness appeared soon after, swimming along the tsunami with surprising swiftness.

It was a blonde man adorned in strange clothing, what appeared to be a suit combining the color of gold on its upper part and vibrant green on the lower part.

The suit seemed to be made of scales of creatures never seen before, quite the exquisite thing, but nowhere as exquisite as the Trident in his hand, Aquaman has appeared.

Aquaman moved along the water seamlessly, arriving before them very quickly before glancing at Diana, "I didn't think you'd be so stupid to lose yourself in the heat of the battle while at war."

He then eyed Ian's state, "You won the battle but lost the war."

Indeed, Ian lost. He has arm was broken due to his staff and her sword colliding with such a force it broke his arm, but not hers.

She even found ways to break both of his legs in the hops of limiting his speed, well, it didn't work at all.

"Oh?" Ian finally looked at himself, sizing his state. He regained some clarity from the heat of the battle as did Diana.

"I'm becoming kinda a masochist huh? This is happening often... No, it's always been happening. I really can't escape getting fucked up in most battles. It was the same for the battle against Etrigan."

Ian let out a sigh, getting used to this was certainly not a good thing. It feels like destiny wants him to suffer at this point.

At least he can't feel any pain due to his Death force, but the same can't be said for Diana. She doesn't have such a way to eliminate pain, but she might as well have because she didn't seem to feel any pain.

And she had her fair share of injuries, deep wounds due to his staff, and a broken arm though she had a quick fix for that in the form of tying her Lasso around it to get herself back some control over her arm.

Still, the battle must've left a toll on her, so she's bound to not be in her top form, something that can be used against her by Aquaman.

"Today is a good day," Ian smiled, hovering dangerously close to Diana, seeming defenseless while she on the other hand was on guard.

"Oh? Why is that." Aquaman wondered, feeling curious about this human. He heard nothing of what they said, but he felt the vibrations of the ocean resulting from their battle, so he sought to investigate.

The result was... Well, delighting, to say the least. Someone was weakening his enemy by the minute, and he wanted a piece of the pie.

He even wanted to thank Ian. Alas, Ian's words broke any positive image he had of him, "Why? Because I not only got to have a wonderful battle, but my prey also presented itself on a silver platter."

"I, prey?" Aquaman chuckled, his previous smile slowly forming into one of anger, "I see, then..."

Yup, as Ian noted, this Aquaman is very different, seeming quite savage, but still a bit emotional because he started the battle right there and then, showing why he can contend against Diana, barely so.