The atmosphere inside the Watchtower’s conference chamber had shifted the mont Arthur appeared, not because he had done anything threatening.
In fact, he looked completely relaxed and that was exactly the problem.
The seven vessels of the Rulers had expected many things when the Justice League summoned them. Lectures, warnings, secret information, maybe even praise.
But they had not expected the Shadow Monarch himself to casually erge from a pool of living darkness in the middle of the eting.
Arthur stood beside the conference table with his hands in his pockets while the shadows beneath his feet slowly settled.
Across from him, Elias Kruger observed him with undisguised interest.
The German hunter had remained mostly calm throughout the eting, content to listen while Batman explained the truth behind the vessels and the Monarchs.
Now, however, there was a visible spark in his eyes.
The kind Arthur had seen countless tis before, the look of a warrior who had just found a mountain he wanted to climb.
"And you must be Arthur Blackwynd."
The room turned toward Elias and Arthur simply looked at him.
Elias smiled faintly.
"I’ve actually wanted to et you."
The German leaned back in his chair.
"Ever since what happened in Gotham."
Arthur already knew where this was going unfortunately.
"I watched the recordings," Elias continued. "The gate war, how you fought those so-called Monarchs, the monsters..."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"And I always wanted to test myself against soone strong enough."
A collective sigh almost escaped several mbers of the Justice League simultaneously.
Arthur rubbed his forehead.
"I don’t think that’s a good idea.."
The answer ca imdiately.
"Why not?"
Arthur looked at him for a mont.
Because there were at least a hundred answers to that question and most of them involved hospitals or graveyards.
Elias mistook his silence for consideration.
"Seeing how easily you handled Renshiro made want the duel even more."
That statent detonated like a grenade.
Renshiro’s eye twitched and Arthur closed his eyes.
’Here we go again.’
"Handled?" Renshiro repeated.
The Japanese hunter slowly turned toward the German.
"Handled?!"
Elias didn’t even look at him and that made it worse.
"You heard ."
The silence that followed felt dangerous.
Renshiro rose from his chair.
"Who do you think you are?!"
His pride had clearly suffered permanent damage ever since Mount Fuji.
"I can defeat both of you!"
Arthur imdiately facepald.
The sound echoed through the room.
Flash nearly choked and Hal Jordan looked away to hide his laugh.
Even Wonder Woman appeared mildly amused. Jean-Pierre Gustave, anwhile, looked like a man watching two trains accelerate toward each other.
The French hunter raised a hand.
"Now hold on."
His tone remained calm and diplomatic.
"I don’t believe this is necessary."
Gustave glanced toward Arthur.
Then toward Elias.
Then back again.
"With all due respect, Mister Blackwynd appears to be... well..."
He searched for the correct wording.
"...far beyond what most of us can take on."
That was probably the safest sentence spoken all day.
Gustave spread his hands.
"I’m not entirely convinced any of us vessels could match his strength, you did ntion that he is a Monarch too."
Elias scoffed.
"You can watch then."
His gaze remained fixed on Arthur.
"I still want the fight."
The confidence in his voice was absolute, it was almost admirable to Arthur.
"I don’t care what any of you cowards might think."
Across the table, Renshiro felt sothing unpleasant twist inside his chest.
Because Elias had just done sothing he himself hadn’t dared to do.
To Challenge Arthur directly.
He didn’t dare to after the office incident, not after Mount Fuji and not after witnessing a Fragnt of Brilliant Light speak to Arthur as if addressing royalty.
Renshiro hated that realization, which naturally led to the worst possible conclusion.
"Who says I’ll watch?"
Several people groaned internally.
Renshiro pointed toward Arthur.
"I’ll fight too."
Arthur slowly lowered his hand from his face.
Of course he would.
"I want to see the real distance between us and that man."
Arthur stared at him.
Then at Elias and then at Batman.
Batman looked completely unsurprised.
The Justice League mbers looked sowhere between entertained and exhausted.
Only Ethan Jones seed genuinely concerned.
The young hunter shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
"Ehm..."
Nobody listened.
"Ehm..."
This ti a few heads turned, the teenager swallowed.
"Is it really necessary to fight amongst ourselves?"
The question sounded painfully reasonable.
Which was exactly why nobody wanted to hear it.
Ethan looked around the room.
"I an... we know who the enemies are now." He gestured awkwardly.
"If it’s just a harmless duel, then maybe exhausting ourselves before dealing with actual threats isn’t the best..."
"Stay out of grown-ups business, kid."
Elias said it instantly.
Renshiro nodded in complete agreent.
"Exactly."
The two n had found common ground, and unfortunately it was bullying the teenager.
Ethan froze and sothing flashed behind his eyes.
For the briefest mont, golden light ignited within his irises.
The pressure inside the room shifted, it was subtle.
Arthur noticed imdiately.
So did Batman.
The teenager looked ready to say sothing.
Batman simply lifted a finger.
A tiny gesture, nothing more and Ethan imdiately stopped.
The golden glow disappeared.
The young hunter leaned back into his chair and remained silent.
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
’Very interesting.’ He thought to himself.
Beside Batman, Martian Manhunter’s voice echoed inside Bruce’s mind.
’Little do they know.’
Batman didn’t visibly react, years of experience prevented that.
’I know.’
His gaze remained fixed on Ethan.
’The kid is stronger than both Elias and Renshiro combined.’
Martian Manhunter nodded slightly.
’Possibly by a considerable margin.’
A third voice suddenly joined the telepathic exchange.
Arthur’s.
’I figured.’
Batman didn’t look at him.
Arthur didn’t look at Batman, yet the connection remained.
’His presence is different,’ Arthur continued.
’Much different.’
Batman agreed.
’He’s the one I’m most concerned about.’
’Concerned? Why is that?’
’Because he doesn’t know what he is capable of yet.’
Arthur glanced toward Ethan.
The teenager looked embarrassed and awkward, completely unaware that the strongest minds in the room were discussing him.
Arthur almost smiled, then he looked back toward Elias, toward Renshiro.
Then finally back to Ethan.
A thought occurred to him, a terrible thought. Which naturally made it entertaining.
"I accept your challenge."
The room froze and Elias grinned imdiately, he looked victorious.
Renshiro looked horrified. ’What have I done...’ he thought to himself.
Batman already knew Arthur was about to make things worse.
Arthur raised a finger.
"I have one condition."
Elias nodded.
"Na it."
Arthur pointed directly at Ethan.
The teenager blinked, then pointed at himself.
"?"
"Yes."
Arthur’s smile widened.
"You."
The room beca silent again, even Superman looked confused.
"I want the kid fighting alongside you."
Elias frowned.
"What?"
"I’ll fight all three of you."
Now everyone was staring.
Even Batman raised an eyebrow.
Ethan looked ready to fall out of his chair.
"Wait, what?"
Renshiro looked offended.
"Why him?"
Elias pointed toward Ethan.
"Him? He only recently awakened."
Arthur nodded.
"Correct."
"He barely has any real combat experience." Elias added.
"Also correct."
Elias looked genuinely confused now.
"Then why bring him? He might be also a vessel but he..."
Arthur shrugged.
"Training."
The answer sounded harmless.
Batman imdiately knew it wasn’t.
Arthur continued casually.
"He’ll learn sothing from you guys."
Elias looked toward Ethan again.
The teenager looked like he desperately wanted to disappear and the German considered it for several monts.
Then slowly nodded.
"When you put it that way..."
Arthur already knew this man had completely misunderstood the situation.
"...I suppose that makes sense."
Inside his head Arthur imdiately arrived at a professional conclusion.
’Idiot.’
Outwardly he simply smiled.
"Great."
The smile on Elias’s face grew and the smile on Arthur’s face grew as well.
Only one of them understood what was happening.
Arthur folded his arms.
"Now then."
His violet eyes swept across his future opponents.
"We should probably discuss where this duel will take place."
His gaze lingered on Ethan for half a second longer.
The teenager sohow looked even more nervous.
Arthur found that amusing.
"And more importantly..."
The Shadow Monarch’s smile sharpened.
"...the rules of this duel."
Batman leaned back slightly, because judging from the look Arthur had just given Ethan, the duel Arthur had accepted wasn’t really about Elias Kruger.
Or Renshiro.
The Shadow Monarch wanted to see what the youngest vessel could do.
And judging by the tone Arthur suddenly seed to have...
Batman suspected the results were going to surprise everyone.
/-\
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