Seeing the cunning Titans subdued one by one, Aib felt his strength return. He picked up the magic staff knocked to the ground, ready to give them an electric shock.
"Aib."
Just as Aib approached the Martian Girl, ready to strike, Bai Qi's voice came from behind.
"Find someone else. I still have a use for the Martian Girl."
Although Aib felt some dissatisfaction at Bai Qi's words, facing the Holy Lord with a vast disparity in strength, he obediently retreated and began tormenting the tough Superboy.
Bai Qi walked to Megan, squatted down, and looked her over, muttering, "Tsk, tsk, Martian. Tell me, why did you come to Earth? Wouldn't it be better to stay on Mars?"
Megan attempted to control Bai Qi with telepathy.
As the Martian Hunter had said, Megan was the Martian with the most terrifying mental power he had ever encountered. However, Megan had not yet tapped into her full potential, let alone face an ancient monster born alongside Earth.
As soon as Megan's mental power touched Bai Qi, it was shattered by an even more terrifying mental force. The resulting backlash nearly knocked Megan unconscious.
Seeing Megan tilt backward, Bai Qi caught her. He then pulled out something resembling a syringe and, with the needle piercing Megan's body, began to draw her Martian blood.
"Hey! Don't touch her!"
Conner's emotions immediately flared upon seeing Bai Qi's actions toward Megan.
In his rage, Conner unleashed astonishing strength, scattering the two troll ninjas restraining him.
"Stay down, you mongrel."
Seeing Conner break free, Alan didn't hesitate to swing his staff, sending an electric current through Conner.
Watching Conner kneel on the ground again, Alan smugly approached him, increasing the output of his staff.
However, Alan underestimated the resilience of a Kryptonian. Even though Conner was only half Kryptonian, he was still no match for a fake magician.
When Aib was less than two steps away from Conner, the downed Conner suddenly surged up, turned, and snatched the staff from his opponent, breaking it with a gentle twist.
Without his staff, Aib was merely an ordinary person with slightly better physical abilities.
With that, Conner's punch landed, knocking him unconscious.
"You're both so disobedient."
Seeing Conner charge at him after knocking Aib out, Bai Qi unleashed a psychic blast, slamming him into the distant stairs.
Bai Qi's objective was simple: to extract Megan's blood for research.
Unlike Bai Qi's ability to alter his appearance with magic, the Martian's shapeshifting ability was innate, stemming from their unique blood.
Beast Boy, who would join later, gained the ability to transform into various animals after being injected with Megan's Martian blood.
Although this ability was somewhat redundant for Bai Qi, who possessed magic, he believed in taking opportunities. Since the Helmet of Fate was destined to be taken by the Wizard, there was no harm in him acquiring a few trinkets.
However, Martian blood samples alone were not enough to satisfy Bai Qi's desire for collection. Even Kaldur, an Atlantean, did not escape Bai Qi's clutches, and his blood sample was collected as well.
After all, Atlanteans had evolved from an ancient race that had once been one of Basa's favored creations. If he could uncover something significant, he might be able to deal with Basa, that stinking fish, first.
Just as Bai Qi was halfway through his blood collection, the Golden Bell behind him suddenly emitted a dazzling light, followed by Anka emitting golden rays.
Wherever the golden light passed, all the Shadow Ninjas turned into black smoke and dissipated. Even Bai Qi's skin burned under the glare.
But these were not the main points. The key point was that the Wizard had lost. How could he lose despite such an advantage?
Although the specifics were unknown, the appearance of Anka indicated that the Wizard had been defeated and had fled. Otherwise, Nabu wouldn't have had the freedom to deal with their Shadow Ninjas.
"Forget it."
Bai Qi withdrew the collector from Kaldur, looking at the half-filled blood sample within.
"This trip was not in vain."
With that thought, Bai Qi casually threw a lightning strike bomb, shattering Anka. He slowly stood up and walked into the Shadow Realm.
Afterward, Bai Qi inquired about the matter with the Wizard, but the latter was reluctant to discuss it. It was only from Tik that Bai Qi learned the full story.
Both the God of Chaos and the God of Order found it difficult to descend to the material world without a vessel.
Nabu used the Helmet of Fate as a medium. When a host wore the helmet, Nabu could descend. The Wizard, however, disdained this. Although he also used a medium, his was an animal, specifically the tiger-striped cat, Tik, that he always carried with him.
Whether Tik was a real cat or not was uncertain, but it was clear that if Tik were harmed or even killed, the Wizard would be banished from the material world.
Nabu exploited this point, feigning an attack on the Wizard while actually reaching out to a defenseless cat.
The effect of Tik being harmed was immediate, and the Wizard's body began to flicker.
With no other option to avoid banishment, the Wizard had to retreat.
However, none of this mattered to Bai Qi. The important thing was that Bai Qi needed a container with a larger capacity and higher efficiency.
While absorbing the power of the Helmet of Fate, Bai Qi had noticed the drawbacks of the dial.
The dial indeed had advantages: it was convenient to carry, could absorb almost any power, and when activated, could stably grant the contained power to the user. However, its disadvantages were equally obvious: its capacity was too small, and the speed of power extraction was too slow.
If the dial had a larger capacity and faster extraction speed, Bai Qi was confident he could drain all the power from the Helmet of Fate. Then, it would be nothing more than a golden helmet, and even if someone wore it, Nabu wouldn't be able to descend to the material world.
Bai Qi wouldn't personally handle research. Firstly, he lacked the time, and secondly, it wasn't his field of expertise.
Professional matters should be handled by professionals. If he tried to do everything himself, Bai Qi would wear himself out. Therefore, Bai Qi decisively handed this major project over to Octavian, along with a substantial research budget and the most advanced scientific equipment, which was continuously transported to Octavian's laboratory.
He also gave Octavian the five dials containing Nabu's power, tasking him with the goal of merging these five powers into one.
Looking at the large research fund and the advanced scientific equipment before him, and then recalling the research mission assigned by the Holy Lord, Octavian was unsure whether to laugh or cry at that moment.