Bardi had just fallen into the mental world, yet in just two or three seconds, he broke through.
He accepted the structure of the mind magic, but he had set the outcome from the beginning. It ended as soon as it began.
Anyone who falls into mind magic, no matter who they are, will be subjected to countless fears, pains, loves, happinesses, and more. Within it, a cycle is created, guiding and drawing the soul's will deeper and deeper, making it nearly impossible to escape the magic's pull.
In the world shaped by mind magic:
The joyful will revel in their happiness.
The fearful will tremble in terror.
The pained will weep in agony.
Those in love will remain entangled with their lovers.
Once trapped, no being can easily escape the mind magic's influence and control.
Even negative emotions like fear and pain are not so simple to break free from. The human psyche has a masochistic tendency, extracting a twisted form of pleasure from suffering and fear. When amplified by the spiritual world, one unconsciously falls into a cycle—fearing, hurting, and yet finding a painful solace in it.
Yet Bardi defied expectations.
Even Zatara and Raven had no idea what he experienced in that moment within the world. Why had it ended in just two seconds?
Zatara was certain that there was nothing wrong with his spell. For a brief instant, Bardi had indeed been trapped, completely at the mercy of others. But in just two seconds, it was over.
There was no precedent for this.
It was as if, in that fleeting moment, Bardi had already experienced all the happiness, all the fear, all the pain, all the love, every most extreme emotion. And after enduring it all, his will had been tempered to an unshakable, rock-solid state. The world collapsed, reality reasserted itself, and the burning crimson gaze of his heat vision burst forth.
It was as though he had been honed by the most intense emotions of hell, experiencing them all in an instant.
This man is terrifying.
High above, Zatara gazed down, his usually composed face unable to hide his shock. Bardi had shaken him to his core.
If a person's will could be visualized, if ordinary people were mere sheep and magicians like Zatara were towering skyscrapers, then Bardi was the sun, the stars… or perhaps a black hole, drawing everything into his abyss.
Raven's eyes flickered slightly in surprise. Even she didn't know what had just happened to Bardi.
But with such an indomitable will, he could likely endure the assault of Trigon. Within the mental world, Bardi would hold the advantage. If Trigon's attack power were significantly weakened, he might even be able to seal the projection.
She nodded slightly, then lowered her gaze and continued eating her chocolate.
Unless something unexpected happened, this battle between the Kryptonian warrior and the magician was already decided.
The outcome was inevitable.
The magician had already taken to the skies, launching long-range magical attacks, reducing Bardi to a stationary target.
Just as Raven expected. Against Bardi who lacked flight and with magic specifically designed to counter Kryptonian physiology, the magician's control over elemental forces became fully evident.
On the grasslands, black energy surged, and razor-sharp earthen spikes erupted from the ground, relentlessly tracking Bardi's every movement.
In the forest, trees suddenly came alive, transforming into towering treants. Their massive branches lashed out, trying to hinder Bardi's movements.
Vines slithered through the night like thousands of writhing serpents, pursuing him relentlessly.
From above, a meteor streaked across the sky, its tail ablaze with fire, crashing down with explosive force. The impact turned the landscape into an inferno, sending debris flying, creating an apocalyptic scene in an instant.
Yet Bardi countered each attack with sheer combat experience, battle instinct, and overwhelming power. He unleashed bursts of heat vision, obliterating obstacles. With raw strength, he tore through the treants. And with precise movements, he dodged the relentless assault as much as possible.
But then, the rain came.
And with it, the water turned to ice, sharpened into countless needle-like shards, covering every inch of space. There was no way to evade them.
Of course, such widespread magic couldn't truly harm Bardi. The damage was minimal. But even so, the ice needles embedded into his body, leaving him bloodied, resembling a human pincushion.
And yet, Bardi still stood amidst the ruined wilderness.
Around him, flames from the meteor still burned. Ice needles jutted out from the shattered, uneven ground. The battlefield was a chaotic blend of fire and frost.
His body trembled once, sending ice shards scattering. Mist rose around him, partially obscuring his towering figure.
His expression remained unreadable as he lifted his gaze, locking onto Zatara with cold, calculating eyes.
Waiting to see what spell Zatara would cast next.
For him, this was an opportunity, a chance to analyze a magician's combat style, to study and memorize their techniques.
The more he could force his opponent to reveal, the more prepared he would be in the future.
Next time, when he was ready victory would be his.
Dealing with Bardi was proving to be too difficult. His combat awareness was exceptional, and his recovery ability was astonishing.
Powerful single-target magic was clearly dangerous, and Bardi knew it. He relied on his combat instincts and experience to evade every attack, step by step.
Take the meteor magic from earlier, the spell had immense power, and the magical energy contained within it was enough to pose a real threat to Bardi's life.
But in mid-air, Bardi instantly calculated the meteor's landing point, factoring in physical inertia, kinetic energy, and even the strange magical reactions from the flames created by friction.
And he dodged in advance.
That made things extremely frustrating for Zatara.
He had barely condensed the meteorite when Bardi had already repositioned himself, making it impossible to land a direct hit.
Even when Zatara tried adjusting the meteor's trajectory mid-flight with magic, Bardi immediately noticed and adjusted his own movements accordingly. No matter how he tried to angle the attack, Bardi adapted, making a direct hit impossible.
This battlefield data collection, real-time calculations, and near-supernatural combat intuition left Zatara at a loss. Even with the advantage, he had no effective way to deal with Bardi.
After all, if he flew too high, his spell trajectories became too obvious.
But if he flew too low, it would be even worse, Bardi could leap up and strike him down.
So, Zatara frowned and cast another spell, one that manipulated the five senses.
But Bardi's senses were too sharp. He was too difficult to control, too difficult to deceive. His consciousness was simply too strong, like a machine built for war.
Zatara continuously cast spells to distort Bardi's perception, layering illusions on top of them, creating bizarre and disorienting visions before his eyes.
Raven appeared before him, offering him chocolate.
Hundreds of thousands of people knelt at his feet, worshiping and surrendering to him.
A stunningly beautiful woman lay before him, unclothed.
He stood amidst the stars, plucking them like marbles.
One illusion after another, each more extreme than the last.
But in the end, Bardi simply stared at them, and they vanished.
Of course, Bardi didn't understand magic. But his sheer force of will made illusions ineffective. The moment he focused, he could break free.
Some mirages remained, but they couldn't harm him. His sharp combat instincts allowed him to distinguish between illusions and reality, avoiding real attacks while ignoring the false ones.
Finally, Zatara used his trump card.
He seized the moment when Bardi was caught in the illusion and manipulated his five senses, just long enough for his final move.
The sealing spell, which had been pre-arranged across the island, activated.
A dark vortex appeared.
And in an instant, Bardi was swallowed whole.
Just like that, it was over.
It was a strange loss to the magician.
Yet, even now, Bardi didn't feel the fight was truly over.
He could have continued. He could have observed more of his techniques.
After all, he still had a solar capsule hidden in his mouth, enough to prolong his observation of Zatara's magic for a while.
Until Bardi clearly perceived the passage of time, one minute and thirty seconds had passed.
Suddenly, his vision brightened.
The starry night sky came into view once more.
Zatara stood to the side, his clothes in tatters, his face pale, his pupils unfocused.
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