Feeling the tremendous power in the spherical energy ball at his fingertips, Amari examined it closely.
In this universe, the power of the Gods were still powerful enough to be paid attention to.
With a thought, the powers of Shazam were disassembled and absorbed into his body.
As for Shazam?........ Well, just like Zatara, what was left of him was a broken magic man. Unless Shazam regained his abilities through some other methods, Billy Batson would have to start considering his future in society seriously.
"And then there was one".
Amari turned his head to the distance. He could easily spot Batman, hanging off a window ledge on a nearby building. His tightly clenched fists and gritted teeth were fully displayed close up in his eyes.
"I've had enough fun… So let's end this". Amari said to himself as he stamped his foot on the floor. A stream of destructive energy emerged from the soles of his feet, penetrated into the ground and rushed in a straight line towards its intended target.
Bruce's pupils shrank, and he quickly shot his grappling gun towards the nearest rooftop. His body had barely been pulled away when the energy stream rushed towards the abandoned building and then.... BOOM!
Flames burst out and the whole place exploded. Bruce, however, didn't escape unaffected. The shockwave hit the back of the caped crusader, affecting his escaping posture.
Batman's body fell as the hand holding the grappling gun faltered, landing hard on a nearby roof.
Nevertheless, Bruce wasn't a martial arts master for nothing. His body rolled, and he performed a handstand followed by a backflip to stabilize his landing posture.
Bruce landed firmly in his feet, but a figure appeared in front of him at a speed faster than he could react.
Amari's palm landed on Bruce's chest, sending the latter flying off the rooftop several hundred meters away. The back of The Dark Knight slammed into a tall building.
At this point, the fight had already escaped the area in Bruce's restriction and had approached more populated places in Gotham. The heavy impact caused by Batman's collision caused the wall to develop cracks, frightening the family of four who lived on that floor.
Bruce felt something, warm and metallic, in his throat. His body fell sharply from the high height and even with his customized batsuit, he was sure that he would definitely suffer greatly if he crashed into the pavement with this level of momentum.
Several sharp spikes appeared out of a section around his arms and legs. Bruce leaned towards the building and dug them into the building, causing slash marks to appear as he continued to descend.
Then, he pushed off the building when his descent had slowed down, landing with a roll.
Bruce spat out a mouthful of blood in a kneeling posture. His raised his head to the side and what greeted his vision was a timely kick to the face.
Amari stood on the side with both arms in his pocket as he watched Bruce's body crash. The coldness in his eyes were almost overflowing at this point.
"Ugh!" A groan escaped from The Dark Knight. Pain, even with the batsuit on, Bruce felt pain overwhelm his senses.
His body trembled slightly as he pushed himself from the floor. Blood flowed from his lips and nose, nevertheless, his expression remained unchanged.
"Your starting lineup was wrong". His words drifted into Bruce's ears. Batman supported himself on something as he rose from the ground.
Looking at Amari, his fists were stubbornly clenched. If glares could kill, then under the intense look in Batman's eyes, Amari would probably be dead.
"What?"
"Zatara, Green Lantern, Shazam, Martian Manhunter, Red Tornado and yourself. A worthy lineup for any foe, even if Red Tornado had to leave halfway". Amari said nonchalantly.
"Still, it wouldn't have mattered much if he stayed anyway. I would have probably had his limbs twisted off like I did j'onn's". His words made Bruce's eyes narrow even further.
"Gloating? So you came to mock me?" He asked with a cold tone.
"I never took you for an egotist".
"Yeah, and I never took you for an arrogant idiot". Amari retorted indifferently.
"Six leaguers, two were magic-based individuals, one was a defeated opponent and Martian Manhunter's greatest telepathy advantage has no effect on me. You even had the guts to let tornado leave halfway. The heavy hitters aren't complete, even Lobo could have taken you done with enough time".
His words, while plain, had a strong edge to it.
"Hehe, I've been looked down on by The Dark Knight himself. Tsk tsk.....".
Bruce frowned.
"They were selected specifically for restraint tactics. An..... Error in my calculations due to too little information. It seems magic has no effect on you". His tone was grave.
On this night, Bruce finally realized that he might have overestimated his strength. His trust in the Justice League, composed of the most powerful individuals in the world, had somewhat blinded him.
Amari's capabilities greatly exceeded his expectations. Five Leaguers. And it wasn't even a struggle like it was with Amazo, it was a complete massacre.
It didn't matter whether they were the heaviest hitters or not, but the strength that lay in their comprehensive abilities was not something any random villain could fight against, yet this.... Alien seemed to have a counter for everything.
Living up to his public alias, he was a Deviant in the true sense.
Bruce still remembered when Zatara attacked. Even with the space confinement spell on, Amari teleported as if Magic didn't affect him. As for the Space Jammers? Well, they blew up the moment he did.
And now, he had taken down four Leaguers in such a short time span. If he didn't know that Clark had never shown how strong he really was, he would wonder if even Superman could achieve such a feat.
"Oh? You're awfully calm for someone who just got beaten and had his teammates trashed, crippled and left in a state of near death".
The casual words were like needles piercing into Bruce's skin. His palms clenched tightly, and it took a considerable amount of willpower not to do something impulsive at this moment.
"It doesn't matter what happens to us. I swear on my life that you will get what's coming to you".
"Really? Then who's gonna give it to me? You or Superman?"
Bruce didn't reply, his face cold. But Amari could see it. In his eyes, there was a flash of murderous intent.
"You probably want to kill me now, don't you?"
".."
"But even if you wanted to, you can't. And so far, your countermeasures have failed. Now what? Do you plan to appeal to my human side, reason with me?"
"I doubt you have a human side but If possible, yes"
"No". Amari shook his head.
"You don't plan to do that at all. If you wanted to, you would have from the start. You're stalling. The rest of the league, or what's left of it, should be on their way here with your last countermeasure, the phantom zone projector, am I right?"
Amari asked with a raised eyebrow.
Bruce's eyes flashed for a split second. It was so fast that even someone who specializes in studying micro expressions wouldn't be able to notice it.
"Hahahaha!" Amari laughed. A hearty laughter on one hand.
"You know I can teleport, right? You don't seriously expect sending me to the Phantom Zone to be an ideal countermeasure".
"....... Everything has a limit". Bruce said after a moment of silence. Amari was right.
Right now, he was just trying to buy time. Waiting for the rest of the League to arrive.
"Maybe". Amari shrugged. "But the limits are defined by the nature of the subject in question. And FYI, my ability isn't teleportation". He said with amusement.
Finally, Bruce's indifferent facade broke.
Amari watched the change in his expression, and the amusement gradually faded away. Now he was.... bored.
This wasn't amusing anymore.
"So Mr. Dark Knight, any other ideas?"
Silence answered him.
"No?" Amari tilted his head. "Then let's get this over with". As he said so, a ball of destructive energy appeared in his right hand, spinning rapidly.
"Are you going to kill me?" Bruce asked calmly.
"Trust me when I tell you, I'm seriously considering that option". He said with a blank face. A second later, the space around both of them swirled and Batman felt an irresistible suction force envelop him.
A second later, they appeared on top of a building.
Bruce, who had appeared, had his eyes, flash with a small light.
"So that's how it works. Your ability virtually lets you travel through dimensions. You just move between the two so fast that it looks like teleportation".
"Correct". Amari remarked.
"But let's leave gathering Intel on my abilities for later. After all, that's not why we are here now".
At that moment, Bruce had an ominous feeling overcome him. He turned his head to examine his surroundings and quickly discovered where they were now.
On the rooftop of Wayne Industries.
But..... Why did he bring him here? Bruce frowned and turned to Amari.
"Why are we here".
"Like I was saying, I seriously gave it a lot of thought about killing you. Cause honestly, your actions and that of the League tonight are coming close to touching my bottom line. But I quickly realized...... Killing you wouldn't fix the problem but aggravate it".
His words were plain and concise as he gestured to the side.
"Your death wouldn't deter the Justice League from pestering me but achieve the exact opposite. Those are troubles I would rather not have to go through, so I have no choice but to take an action that would prevent you from having any more harmful thoughts".
The ball of destructive energy hummed as the size underwent multiple changes. Sometimes enlarging before shrinking again and again multiple times as if it were being compressed.
Amari finished his words and turned his vision away from Batman and looked towards the distance.
"Since you want to know so much about my abilities, then I don't mind letting you know something else. As you should already know, I can release a form of destructive energy from my body capable of destroying whatever it comes in contact with. Even Superman's invulnerability to everything but magic wouldn't change that fact. This ball in my hand....." His purple eyes returned to the condensing ball of chaos.
"... Is a swirling mass of that same energy compressed into miniature size. Its current power is strong enough to wipe a city off the map. Once it leaves my hand, it will destroy everything it comes into contact with. Stone, steel, flesh, all of it will crumble and turn to ash in a matter of seconds. Even Superman can't put a stop to it".
Bruce's face turned grave as realization struck him harshly.
"So tell me Bruce....." The indifferent tone could send chills down the spine.
"... Would your league stop provoking me if Gotham disappears permanently?"
Whatever this was initially about, it had long been forgotten.
As for Martian Manhunter's words? Whether something was wrong with the League or not was none of his concern.
This was more than just right and wrong, this was about proving a point.