Seeing the figure of the Sanguine Demon, Raven was completely dumbfounded.
This array was actually for summoning the Sanguine Demon?
The Sanguine Demon spoke as well, "You wanted to summon me, couldn't you just call me directly? Instead, you set up a sacrificial array, making it all formal..."
Raven was still in a daze when Dick had already snapped out of it, he quickly nudged Raven with his elbow. Raven came to his senses, cleared his throat, and said, "Of course, because this is a formal transaction. Don't you want to expand your trading partners? Here it is."
The Sanguine Demon seemed very pleased and said, "Alright, which one of you wants to trade with me? The offering is not bad, state your terms..."
The others looked at each other, unsure who was meant to trade; they were all tricked into coming here by Shiller.
Just then, Dick's phone suddenly rang, and upon answering, it was Tim's voice.
"Turn on the speakerphone, Dick."
Dick pressed the speaker button and Tim's voice came through again, "Honorable Demon Lord, it is I who wishes to trade with you. As you can see the offering, that is my sincerity. Let us discuss the specific details..."
The Sanguine Demon was obviously extremely satisfied with the offering.
After all, now inside Shiller's body was one of Hecate's Three Phases, the young girl, along with Witch Circe, who possessed Witch's Hour.
Remember, Witch Circe, having been betrayed by an Elder God who gained power from her, had since lost trust in everyone, believing that they all coveted her power. As a result, she divided most of her power into five parts, creating the Witch's Hour.
Now, even though she had revived, she hadn't reclaimed her full powers. Despite having some special abilities, her strength was hardly a tenth of what it was at her peak. Otherwise, the Magic Goddess wouldn't need to skulk and scheme from the shadows.
Witch Circe was the holder of the Witch's Hour, meaning she had one-fifth of Hecate's power, making her like an indestructible pest, unkillable despite all the turmoil.
However, despite her strength, she was naturally suppressed by the source of her power, Hecate. Therefore, as soon as the young girl arrived, she had been constantly suppressed and tortured for information about her mother's whereabouts.
At this moment, within Shiller's body, the young girl created countless illusions to force Witch Circe to divulge the whereabouts of her mother. These environments, to put it mildly, made the top ten tortures look like child's play.
Her mother had indeed disappeared within this body's psychic battlefield, the mutual sensing of the Three Phases couldn't be wrong. Thus, at this time, Circe was unable to defend herself—the mother hadn't been disposed of by her, could it really be the original owner of this body—a regular human male?
Hecate was overly concerned about sunk costs, feeling they couldn't lose one part of the Three Phases. Therefore, the young girl continued to torment Circe, utterly oblivious to the external changes and the arrival of the Sanguine Demon.
The Sanguine Demon knew quality. Though he had no need for human offerings, the power of the Magic Goddess was special, capable of creating so many Elder Gods, not something any Tom, Dick, or Harry could match. The business his daughter brought this time was quite impressive; his effort in empowering her was not in vain.
The Sanguine Demon sent everyone else out, bargained with Tim. When he reopened the door, there was no trace of any souls in the room, the two women within Shiller's shell had disappeared.
The Sanguine Demon was obviously overjoyed, with a grand gesture, he granted Raven a lot of power and even included a verbal commendation, encouraging her to strive for greater heights.
"Did we really just complete this quarter's performance?" Raven said incredulously.
"Demons collect offerings by quarter?" Aisha was even more surprised.
"It wasn't originally by quarter, but since Dick and the others kept talking about quarters, he heard it and wanted it too."
"What about next quarter?"
"Oh, a demon's quarter is 3000 years, I can take a vacation for the remaining 2998 years!" Raven stretched and cheered loudly.
"I guess our mission should be completed now?" Aisha said uncertainly, then suddenly remembered, "Wait a minute, we haven't used the Angel Aperture yet."
"I get it," Jason said. "If one of the Phases inside Shiller's body is the young girl, according to Raven's description, then there's still one Phase unaccounted for."
"The Crone?"
"Exactly, the mother is missing, likely trapped by the Justice League, the young girl was taken by the Sanguine Demon, that just leaves the Crone, who oversees witchcraft."
"She won't also come here, will she?" Raven said with some concern, "The power of witchcraft is strong, even though I've gained quite a lot of power, I'm not confident I can defeat her."
"No need to defeat her, you just need to hold her for a moment, then we can trap her with the Angel Aperture."
"So, this was a chain trap," Dick said. "First sacrifice the young girl, then use the young girl to draw the Crone here. That way we resolve two of the Three Phases and the remaining one is negligible."
"Let's get ready," Raven said anxiously. "The power of witchcraft is too bizarre, even holding her for a moment could lead to unexpected incidents. You guys go out first, I'll use magic to make a prison here…"
Raven was busy inside for a while. When Jason and Dick entered, they noticed no changes in the room except that some faint patterns seemed to have appeared on the walls.
Suddenly, Raven screamed, "She's here!"
With a harsh laugh, they saw a huge, aged female face appear in the darkness. Raven roared and a purple light suddenly enveloped the world.
But several runes quickly broke through the purple light's blockade, shooting towards Raven's true form. Dick leaped and tackled Raven as she raised her hand and the patterns on the wall lit up, pausing the Crone's second attack for a moment.
"Great opportunity!" Jason released the halo.
Bang!
The halo imbued with God's Power struck directly on that big head, instantly stunning the old crone, while Raven used magic to conjure a ribbon that caught the thrown halo and tossed it out like a lasso.
The halo gradually enlarged in mid-air and, upon reaching the old crone's head, suddenly constricted like a Tightening Spell, firmly securing around her head.
But the old crone only had a head, without any hands, so after being trapped, she could only let out continuous, harrowing screams and do nothing else.
Just then, everyone felt an indescribable dark emotion surge within them, and a hoarse voice echoed above Jason's head.
"Give her... to me..."
Jason struggled to suppress the panic in his heart and slowly looked up, seeing pale, smooth skin and a round head with a wide gaping mouth as the sole feature.
"What the hell is this..."
Jason couldn't help but curse.
"I'm not... just something... I am... the Inverted Man..."
As the name was spoken, everyone shivered collectively, the terrible dark emotion still devouring their hearts.
Jason took a deep breath and feigned calm, "Give you what? What do you want?"
"Her..."
The upside-down Inverted Man turned his head around, and despite having no eyes, everyone could feel his focus on the old crone, who was controlled by the Angel Halo.
"Alright, how do I give her to you?"
"Remove... that... halo..."
Jason swallowed hard and said, "If I remove the halo, she will resist..."
"Remove..."
The eerie dark aura grew denser, and Jason knew he could not delay any longer. He slowly moved beside the old crone, reached for the halo, and forcefully lifted it upwards.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"
The shrill evil scream pierced the room, and the intense Magic Power nearly killed them all in an instant.
The screaming abruptly stopped.
There was no intense combat, no collision of forces; the Inverted Man with his pale body wrapped around the large head, his mouth gaping like a Black Hole, swallowed the old crone whole.
After the dark aura dissipated, the group sat on the floor gasping for air, feeling the cold sweat recede; this creature was the most bizarre thing they had encountered.
In the Fake Mercury Prison, Bruce sat in a chair, leaned back, and slowly looked up to see the swirling dark aura gathering above the ceiling.
After a long while, the pale head slowly descended, and the lean, upside-down figure appeared before Bruce.
"You have taken her," Bruce confirmed. "I said I'd keep my word; your revenge is complete. Now, would you like to join us?"
The Inverted Man's crimson tongue flicked out to lick his fangs. Though he had no eyes, when he focused on something, his eerie dark aura clung like a persistent infection, making one want to scream and run away.
"I promise you..." he said.
Bruce smiled, the grin cold and sinister on his handsome face, as he expressed in a light tone, "Then welcome to the Dark Council. When our plan commences, I'll call you."
"I need... the cosmos..."
"I've said it, wait until the plan starts. Don't forget, without me, you couldn't have bypassed Hecate's barrier."
"She's careful. Even those cracks meant for revenge against the gods only allow a fraction of your power through. Without my help in deceiving her, you'd never touch the edge of the Light Universe in your lifetime."
"I understand..."
The Dark Power dissipated, the ceiling returned to normal, and Bruce's sitting posture seemed unchanged, only Hal, sitting at the head of the table, glanced at him but dropped his gaze, saying nothing.
"When exactly are we supposed to wait here until?" Diana couldn't help but speak out anxiously, "There are still so many students on Mercury. What if someone sneaks in again..."
"I don't want anyone to question the security capabilities of the Green Lantern Corps, ma'am," Hal turned to Diana, "Let's wait a little longer, shall we?"
His tone was gentle, but the floating green light around him showed his impatience, and Diana eventually chose to remain silent. After all, the Green Lantern energy making up the planet around them was ridiculously abundant; Hal could exhaust them to death with it.
Suddenly, Hal frowned, his figure instantly disappearing, and after a while, Shiller reappeared in the conference room, holding a bottle of liquor.
He nodded to everyone and said, "The research on mother's abilities is showing progress. Now, all of us will enter the Dreamworld, where a renowned psychologist will provide diagnosis and treatment for everyone."
With that, he didn't wait for any reaction from the others and directly smashed the bottle on the floor. Accompanied by the rich aroma of the liquor, everyone sank into the dream world.
And when they woke up, what they saw was a bald old man standing beside Shiller, smiling kindly at them.