"It's like this, we came here because we wanted to..."
"Forget about it, no way, I'm not going to help you." Nelson casually placed the helmet on the table nearby.
Jason, with his arms crossed, said curiously, "You seem to know we were coming, and you have some strange animosity towards us, why?"
"It has nothing to do with you, just I'm definitely not going to help you. Please leave, I have to work." Nelson turned around and went back to sit at his desk, apparently not intending to engage with them anymore.
Seeing his uncooperative demeanor, Jason had no choice but to bring up some old history. He asked, "Professor Shearer visited Metropolis before coming to Gotham, did you meet him then?"
"What's it to you?"
"Nothing, just asking." The Master of the Dark Night said, "You strongly disagreed with Professor Shearer going to Gotham."
"That big mouth!" Nelson sounded gritted, "I blabbered nonsense when I was drunk. I have no connection with the Professor Shearer you know."
"Really? You look like a woman scorned."
Dick's eyes widened, and he quickly pulled Jason back, urging him to say less, but Nelson, as if set off, said, "Yes, I told him not to go, but he insisted on going. I was abandoned, so what?"
"The two of you indeed have a profound relationship." Jason narrowed his eyes and said, "Judging by the age gap between you two, instead of him being your senior brother, he seems more like your teacher or... father?"
Nelson fell into a rare silence for a long time. Jason could sense he was not a person prone to anger, and all this abnormal behavior had a reason.
"I'm not anymore." Suddenly Nelson said this, then stood up and added, "I need to maintain my work, I don't have time to save the world with you..."
"We're not asking you to help us save the world," Jason sighed, "We just want to ask Nabu, who might be in your helmet, how exactly he imprisoned the Magic Goddess Hecate."
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw something thrown over. Jason instinctively caught it and found out it was the helmet. Nelson seemed completely uninterested in dealing with them, letting them communicate with Nabu themselves.
Jason and Dick had no choice but to fiddle with the helmet but dared not casually put it on their heads. In the end, it was Raven who covered the helmet with Magic Power and heard Nabu's deep voice.
Nabu seemingly couldn't perceive external information without the helmet, so Dick had to briefly fill him in on the situation and learned of Hecate's return, to which he could only heave a sigh.
"We didn't use any special methods at the time, just relied on the power that could suppress Hecate," Nabu explained.
"What kind of power can suppress Hecate?"
"God's Power."
Jason and Dick fell silent.
"Actually, it's not that difficult," Nabu said. "In Ancient Times, many Divine Artifacts containing God's Power were left on Earth, and we found some of them as materials for the Array to trap Hecate."
"Doesn't sound too hard," Dick said sarcastically, "If you have God's Power, you can deal with the Magic Goddess. But if I already had God's Power, I wouldn't need to face the Magic Goddess."
Jason still held a glimmer of hope and asked, "So can we find anything that contains God's Power now?"
Nabu was somewhat silent before saying, "Everyone knows how powerful God's Power is, if there really were such a thing, would it wait for you?"
Everyone fell silent again. Nabu was right—the Divine Artifacts containing God's Power they got in Ancient Times were because there were not as many people back then, they had also tapped into Hecate's power, obviously unbeatable on Earth, getting their hands on God's Relics was quite normal.
But times had changed. After so long, the discoverable God's Relics had long been taken by others. Even if they could still find some from those people, how much of the power remained was uncertain, and if it was too diluted to contain Hecate, they would have lost everything.
Returning without success once more, Dick and the others didn't go back to Gotham directly but headed to Luthor Manor instead because they hoped Lex could persuade Nelson to join them.
It wasn't that they needed Doctor Destiny's power per se, but because Nabu was an authority on mysticism, having such an expert would make the investigation go more smoothly.
After Lex learned about their interaction with Nelson and Nabu, he said hesitantly,
"You should know that the one who helped dispel the clouds from Gotham was the Angel Aperture, right?"
"What?"
"My university graduation project," Lex said. "To help dispel the clouds from Gotham and restore clear skies, I used the power of the Angel Aperture. There could be no purer God's Relic than that, right?"
"Oh, it can't be called a relic," Lex added. "Because it wasn't left by God but given to Shearer by God. It's still fresh."
Dick and Jason were young at the time; they only knew about it but were unaware of the specifics. Hearing Lex say this, they immediately became excited.
"If that's the case, then can't we just use this thing to trap Hecate again?... Wait a second," who did you say God gave this to?
"Professor Schiller."
The group was baffled again. So this world is just a huge Mobius strip, where every clue eventually leads back to the beginning?
"Since it's Professor Schiller's Halo, why doesn't he just come back and get it himself?" Dick asked, very puzzled. "Why did he have to lead us in such a big circle to come back..."
"Professor Schiller probably ran into some trouble," Jason speculated. "Don't forget, Faust said that Witch Circe controlled him, although the truth could be the complete opposite. But at least she can now use Magic Power; otherwise, Faust wouldn't have been turned into a toad. Maybe with his current condition, touching the Angel Halo could cause some problems, so someone else had to get it."
"There's a thing in this world called a cellphone." Aisha was becoming impatient. "If he wanted us to get the Angel Halo, he could've just sent us a text!"
"How would the Young Avengers have been formed then?" Jason still understood Schiller well. "And how would we have come together to investigate and cooperate against Hecate, gaining valuable training and experience?"
Dick sighed and said, "Whatever the reason, the clues pointed by this long string of puzzles are probably indeed the Angel Halo; I guess Professor Schiller wrote the answer in the process."
"But we've gained much more than just the Angel Halo, not to mention the training. We infiltrated the Amazons with Deathstroke, met the Amazon Queen, and after arriving at Mount Olympus, we made allies like Apollo Hermes and Hera, especially Hera. She made it clear she wants to cooperate with us against Zeus. These are valuable allies."
"Let's go to Nabu, let him know we're dealing with Hecate. If we succeed afterward, wouldn't he owe us a favor then? After all, Hecate is their biggest creditor. Later we can ask Doctor Destiny for help, and he won't be able to refuse."
"Are you saying that Professor Schiller took us on such a big detour just to gather the force of the Magic realm?" Aisha asked, frowning.
"Yes, you know that Professor Schiller and Bruce were planning to bring in an outside force. This must be part of their preparation."
Aisha nodded and said, "Indeed, if we could get the help of the Olympian Gods and the Lord of Order, then we wouldn't have to worry about the strength of the Magic Side, which is what we previously lacked."
"That's all in the future. Let's focus on the present. Do you guys know where the Angel Halo is?"
Dick looked towards Lex. Lex spread his hands and said, "That was a teaching aid I borrowed, and after graduation, I returned it to Gotham University. Why don't you ask the current chancellor?"
"Don't go back to the start again!" Aisha shouted. "You call Xi Wana, and we will only go back once, grab what we need, and leave!"
Lex laughed and patted Aisha's head, but still picked up the phone. After a conversation with the other side, Lex said, "This thing is still somewhat dangerous, so it's currently stored in a safe underground at Gotham University. Professor Fries has the key; he is waiting in his office for you now."
Finally, they saw the light at the end of the long, grueling quest and returned to Gotham University, gasping for breath. The moment they saw Victor's smile, they understood that everything was probably orchestrated by Schiller, given that all key figures driving the quest were more or less connected to him.
But for now, they couldn't concern themselves with these speculations; the priority was to secure the key artifact.
Victor led them to an underground vault where they smoothly acquired the Angel Halo. The object appeared to be an ordinary, glowing hoop with an undeterminable material, but it felt very hard, so much so that even Aisha didn't dare to bite it.
It radiated a sacred glow, similar to the light they had felt at the pinnacle of the Bright Domain, which didn't affect the body but acted upon the mind, instilling a sense of relaxation and spiritual upliftment.
After obtaining the object, they didn't rush to Mercury because they were aware that containing Hecate's mother aspect was the most difficult step. They couldn't take any rash actions during this critical moment.
The group returned to Wayne Manor together, drank a cup of hot tea, and relaxed. Still, their conversation inevitably revolved around Professor Schiller.
"I think you make some sense," Aisha said. "It's possible that for some reason, Professor Schiller couldn't touch the Halo himself, but I don't believe he was constrained by anyone; he just didn't want to disrupt the plan."
"It seems you have a hunch."
Aisha nodded and said, "Let's start from the beginning. It's known that the mother aspect of the Three-Phased Goddess possesses the power to rebirth someone else's spirit body. I say this is her most formidable ability—no objections, right?"
Everyone shook their heads. They understood that witchcraft and the power of darkness were relatively easier to deal with. The most challenging complexity in this world was the human heart, especially when it is subtly and unintentionally changed.
Hecate had an almost flawless ability to change hearts, which, besides attracting people to her unknowingly, could also sow suspicion among those who opposed her.
If you don't play Werewolf, there's always a traitor among you, but playing Werewolf consumes most of your energy, ending up with the Heavenly Father slaying his brother, essentially hitting your own side.
"I speculate that Professor Schiller might have gone to restrict Hecate's ability," Aisha ventured a bold guess, saying, "We'd guessed before that rebirthing requires a medium and time, and probably can't rebirth many at once."
"In other words, if Hecate targets Schiller, wanting to rebirth his spirit, then Schiller could find ways to hold her back, preventing her from using this power on anyone else."
"That makes sense!" Dick snapped his fingers. "It would be too hard to confront Professor Schiller in the Psychic Battlefield. As long as Hecate is fixated on making Schiller her target, then this ability might as well be useless."
"I get it," Jason said. "It's like a tug of war. Not only do we need to make Hecate believe she can win, keeping her determined to take down Schiller, but also extend the fight indefinitely, consuming all her time on him, leaving her unable to harm others."
"And her inability to touch the Aperture might be due to the fear that God's power would alert Hecate. After all, she's been imprisoned by such power before. If Hecate gets frightened off, then she might start targeting others again, and we'd be left catching traitors endlessly."
Everyone agreed with this notion, and then Aisha added, "Containing Hecate is only a matter of time. Now, we just have to see how the Justice League plans to keep Wonder Woman in check."