signingbooks Chapter 258 Black Manta Ray: Absolutely no gaming experience, thumbs down.
Chapter 258 Black Manta Ray: Absolutely no gaming experience, thumbs down.
Chapter 258 Black Manta Ray: Absolutely no gaming experience, thumbs down.
"Let me guess, you're planning to have Mudface impersonate Aquaman again," Amanda Waller said. "But do you really think that will fool him?"
"Of course not," Chen Tao said. "Black Manta has been chasing Aquaman for too long, and has been obsessed with him for too long."
"In some ways, he is the person who understands Aquaman the most in the world, a lifelong nemesis."
Chen Tao said:
"Just as even a great actor like Clayface couldn't fool me by impersonating Bane (Joker: ?), it's clear that Clayface impersonating Aquaman couldn't fool Black Manta either, much less extinguish his rage."
"So what exactly do you want to do?"
"I already told you to send a live Aquaman to him and let him kill him."
"I remember you as Batman, not the Riddler."
"I mean it literally. The mastermind is Black Manta, and he doesn't want to kill Aquaman."
While communicating with Amanda Waller via the car's computer, he transformed his head back into Batman's pointed ears, retaining only the mechanical internals, and reshaped it into a decorative mouth and nose.
Then he walked up to Aquaman Arthur, reached out his hand, and patted him on the shoulder in a friendly manner.
"Hmm? Batman, what's up?"
Still chatting with two Kryptonians and completely unaware of the situation, Aquaman Arthur turned his head curiously: "We're about to reach the Atlantean prison. Rath, the leader of the Flood Beasts who plotted the attack on the surface, is imprisoned here."
He said, "If you could, you could make a video to prove to the United States that they are just a group of terrorists. Every country has terrorists, doesn't it? Blaming an entire country for the actions of terrorists is absolutely absurd."
He pulled over a young girl dressed like a seahorse: "Oh, right, I just saw you tapping your earpiece with two fingers on the phone, so I didn't disturb you. This is Regent Tula, who came to greet us while you were on the phone."
He then pulled over a man with a scar on his face: "This is Commander Muke, the commander of the Atlantis Vanguard Army."
Regent Tula nodded slightly in respect, but Commander Muk made no attempt to conceal his hostility: "Your Majesty, the people on land will only take away our freedom and rule. You should not have invited them to Atlantis; it was an absolute mistake—"
"Enough, Muke! Shut up!" But before Commander Muke could finish speaking, Regent Tula interrupted him.
"Excuse me, I don't have time to deal with your dispute right now," Chen Tao interrupted Regent Tula again.
He ignored the other person and instead called out loudly:
"Hey everyone, look over here, come here, look at me. Yes. Hold on a minute."
Two Kryptonian superboys, Supergirl and Supergirl, walked over, looking rather clueless. Aquaman Arthur, equally clueless about what was about to happen, followed closely behind.
"Please be quiet for a moment and listen to me. I have something to announce."
Everyone was waiting to see what Batman was going to say.
"We're going to kidnap Aquaman Arthur and hand him over to Black Manta!"
"?"
Everyone present was stunned for a moment, none of them able to process what was happening.
In that split second, silvery-white particles surged from Chen Tao's body, instantly turning him into a Crimson Death Demon state, a blend of gold and red.
Chen Tao grabbed the still-dazed Superboy Connor—literally lifted him up—and used him like a strange weapon, the One-Legged Bronze Man, spinning him around them five or six hundred times at a speed beyond the limits of normal human reaction. Then, using the momentum, he slammed the living man onto Aquaman Arthur's forehead with a thud.
Please forgive him, but he didn't have a crowbar on hand, nor did he have anything hard enough around him to knock out a superhuman like Aquaman Arthur who was tough and resilient.
Anyone who has slaughtered a pig knows that the key is to smash the pig's head open with the first blow, rendering it completely incapable of resisting. Otherwise, if the pig squeals and runs around, catching it will only make things more complicated. The same applies to kidnapping.
So this was a swift and decisive move. Aquaman originally thought they had already settled things and that the rest was just a formality, so he was completely unprepared.
Caught off guard, he was knocked unconscious with a clean and decisive blow.
"Huh?"
The young regent Tula, the future water spirit, stared wide-eyed. She drew out a sound:
"Eh?!"
With a bang, Regent Tula's eyes rolled back, and he was promptly beaten unconscious.
A supergirl appeared behind her, cautiously raising her little fist.
"you……"
Bang!
Chen Tao once again wielded the one-legged bronze man, Superboy Connor, and Commander Muke soon followed suit.
"What on earth is going on?!"
Having taken down two of Aquaman Arthur's ministers, Supergirl Kara couldn't help but complain loudly, "Why did you suddenly start hitting people?"
She touched her fist, feeling a little aggrieved: "Now I have to get hit too!"
"I don't have time to explain to you, get in the car quickly," Chen Tao said.
"What do you mean?"
"I want to go back to my old ways."
The next second, the black bat, without saying a word, placed Superboy Connor and Supergirl on its shoulders, then scooped up Aquaman Arthur and tucked him under its arm, bringing its legs together and transforming them into two wheels with a whoosh.
"?"
boom!
The water flow couldn't stop the spinning tires at all. The steel rims and rubber on the tires automatically flipped up, transforming them into the propellers of an underwater submarine, providing power for the entire person.
"What?"
Not far away, some Atlanteans finally spotted their king rolling his eyes as a large bat tucked under his arm, and alarm bells rang immediately.
"Hold on tight and hold on tight," Chen Tao said. "I'm about to start sprinting."
Before Supergirl and Connor, who had just been used as a weapon to hit Aquaman on the head and was now dizzy from the blows, could answer, Chen Tao shot off like an arrow.
Not far away, he had already created a gap in Atlantis's shield with the bat mage's magic when he entered, just in time for his escape.
……
……
……
Port Punta de Alta, Azores.
NEMO temporary command base.
at last.
A long-cherished wish.
"NEMO won't hide forever; we must let the world know we exist and our capabilities..."
The black manta ray was speaking.
At this moment, he was sitting in the NEMO conference hall, his gaze lingering on the faces of every senior executive.
He sat in the main seat, looking down at them as if he were looking down at a chessboard from the edge of the world.
He was calm, yet excited, a feeling that captivated him.
He felt as if he had been split in two, as silent as grass and trees, and as resolute as an antelope leaping across a cliff with its life.
"...We'll give ourselves up once we're ready. I know Arthur Curry and Batman better than any of you... Never underestimate him. Treating him like a punching bag is suicide. He'll fight back..."
The black manta ray was fiddling with a golden ball under the table.
This is the secret behind his previous ability to teleport through the golden vortex-shaped spatial gate: the Death King's treasure—the Golden Pearl.
It is one of the six pieces of the Death King set, and has the function of long-distance teleportation. It is one of the six artifacts created by the Death King, the ancestor of the ancient Atlantean king.
He was able to find the treasure and become its owner only by temporarily obtaining a legitimate identity by working for Batman.
He has spent most of his life pursuing one goal.
revenge.
He became a mercenary to earn money for revenge, and working for Batman to gain legal status was also for the purpose of revenge. He studied science and single-handedly created this high-tech armor specifically designed to target Aquaman, all for the same reason: revenge.
No one knows how much he sacrificed for this goal, no one knows how many arduous struggles he went through.
This is Black Manta, a super monster with no superpowers, yet who, through his armor and fighting instincts, stands shoulder-to-shoulder with top-tier villains like Lex Luthor, the Joker, and Brainiac. Even in his darkest moments, Black Manta never considered giving up on revenge.
That misunderstanding about killing each other's fathers permanently changed not only Aquaman Arthur Curry, but also him. From that moment on, their fates were inextricably intertwined.
Black Manta died on the night Aquaman Arthur killed his father.
Deep down, he knew exactly what had caused this misfortune, he knew exactly how he had provoked Arthur Curry's wrath, and he knew that he, not his father, should have been the one to die that night.
Overwhelmed by guilt and grief, he was consumed, devoured, and gnawed at his very bones. Then came a deep-seated hatred, which finally transformed into a raging inferno.
The goal of revenge forever drives Black Manta, becoming the meaning of his life and turning him into a walking corpse.
Apart from that, his life had long since become nothing else.
He was filled with both anticipation and trepidation.
He had anticipated and achieved his long-held goal: to murder Aquaman, yet he was also terrified of losing his goal of revenge, wondering what his purpose in life was. But ultimately, he had something he was looking forward to, so he didn't hesitate for a moment when he decided to take action.
"Activation is complete, sir. Ready to launch, but..."
The black manta ray looked up at the other.
"You know the code, soldier. Fire."
"Sir, I'm a little worried. Once activated, this thing will be unstoppable," the soldier said. "The hairy man is a monster that only knows how to destroy; it doesn't distinguish between friend and foe."
"I'm a fisherman, don't question me. Launch!"
"……yes."
The soldier manipulated the dial for a while:
"Initiating... Launch site: Atlantic seabed, Pharos Reef, 80 miles northeast of Atlantis."
"Activation complete."
"Wait, sir, there's a problem. The earthquake detector is reporting damage to the protective case. This means the hairy people's route may have deviated."
"Launch confirmed. Ignore it."
"Sir? We must select a target while basic navigation is still available. Once we reach full firepower, we will lose control. If the programmed path in its mind deviates, it might end up on land—"
"You know where the target is."
"That's what Black Manta Ray said."
"His home."
The hairy man, enchanted by the Meditation Mite, can nullify the teleportation magic on the Atlantis Shield, and even if it is teleported away for a short time, it will immediately return.
With their unparalleled strength, the hairy man was able to break through Atlantis's magical shield with brute force, smashing a large "hole" in it.
Then, the blood mage Atositas, piloting the chemical waste monster, will follow closely behind.
After passing through the large hole that was smashed open and entering the interior of Atlantis, he will be able to use magic to completely dismantle Atlantis's shield from the inside.
Next...
The long-haired man will be unstoppable, single-handedly carving through the entire nation of millions, while the chemical waste monster will spew venom, wantonly polluting the entire sea area inhabited by the Atlanteans.
To deal with the two Kryptonians, it had already ingested two tons of artificial Kryptonite. Although this Kryptonite was too impure and ineffective, the sheer quantity made up for it. Combined with the highly toxic chemicals inside the Chemical Waste Monster's body, it would become even more lethal.
The outsider, a crisis specialist planted within the US government and whose mind has been controlled, will simultaneously coordinate an attack on Atlantis, dispatching genuine US troops and the government's hidden "trump cards" specifically designed to target the superheroes.
They will block the news from the Justice League, cutting off Batman's communication with the Justice League, the key being to create a time gap for everyone to react.
Everything is ready. Even if Batman and Aquaman Arthur can hold off the long-haired man and Atositas with their individual strength, the chemical waste monster's group damage and toxicity will completely pollute the waters of the Atlanteans.
Millions were displaced, Aquaman was in unbearable pain, and he lost everything. This was the sweetest revenge, and the scene Black Manta had always dreamed of.
Not to mention that the United States would actually participate in this war to destroy Atlantis. With millions of people in Atlantis, there would always be survivors, and they would become mortal enemies of the United States under their own guidance.
And what about Aquaman Arthur, who had been guiding Atlantis and the land dwellers to live in peace? How would his people view him?
I am a black manta ray, and I am on the move.
Do you want to unite the land and the sea? You've made this vague ambition your life's goal?
What right do you have! You have no right!
You're being unrealistic.
The world fears you, and they should fear you too.
You destroyed my world, you shattered me. Those people… Arthur. All those people you tried so hard to win over, they didn't know your deepest secret, did they? Not as much as I did.
You are a murderer.
This kind and noble king, who hoped to be loved by the world, was a murderer.
You will never be whole, Arthur Curry, never.
The point is the destruction of you and everything you represent. There will be no compromise, no hesitation.
Today, he will finally do it himself...
boom!
Just then, with a deafening explosion, a monster that was half-human, half-car, and half-bat crashed through the outer wall of the mobile base ship and stopped right in front of Black Manta amidst the flying building materials, uttering Batman's voice.
"It's you, Black Manta! Old friend, I've finally found you!"
In Black Manta's dazed gaze, he saw the monster shrink its body, transform into Batman's form, grinning widely, and casually toss the half-dead Aquaman—the target of his long-cherished revenge, the enemy he had painstakingly tried to eliminate—onto the ground with ease.
"It's just killing Aquaman, what's the big deal? If you had told me earlier, I would have helped you, wouldn't I?"
Black Manta watched as Batman pulled out a whole bunch of random weapons, which looked like standard-issue weapons from the Atlantean regular army—firearms and melee weapons—piled up on the ground in a messy heap, and then pushed them right in front of him.
"Come on, pick whatever you want, use whatever you want. Killing the Sea King is all about the ritual."
"Do you like it? Are you satisfied? Do you feel happy? Do you feel fulfilled? Do you feel this is meaningful?"
The black manta ray stared blankly at everything before it.
He wanted revenge, but... not in this way!
(End of this chapter)