Orm's expression was ugly.
He truly had not expected that victory had already been within his grasp and that he was about to take Paradise Island.
Yet at this critical moment, a stranger had appeared.
A powerful stranger.
One who had easily destroyed an Atlantean warship.
Losing this war was not the real issue.
But having a warship destroyed would certainly damage his authority as king.
When he decided to declare war on the surface world, there had been many opposing voices within Atlantis.
He had suppressed them all by force.
He had even already set up a plan to "persuade" the other kingdoms to support Atlantis.
If what happened today spread through the seas, reached those kingdoms, and reached the ears of those kings, they might lose confidence.
They might back out.
They might reject his decisions.
Thinking of this, there was no way Orm could look kindly upon Alex.
But he had become a king not through recklessness.
He had long since passed the age of not knowing when to advance or retreat.
After seeing Alex destroy a warship with ease, Orm understood that he could not possibly be Alex's opponent.
He was already thinking of retreating.
The only question now was how to withdraw while maintaining his dignity, and how to restore his reputation after returning home.
At that moment, he heard the man say, "Atlantean, aren't you going to give me an explanation?"
Alex folded his arms and looked at Atlantis's young king with a smile.
Of course he knew Orm's identity.
He also knew this king was full of ambition.
He was simply curious.
'Why did Atlantis attack Paradise Island?'
'That never happened in the movie.'
Orm coughed and said, "Our Mother Box was stolen."
That did not surprise Alex.
"Oh? What does that have to do with attacking Paradise Island?"
Orm struck the ground with his trident and said loudly, "Of course it does!"
"When the creature that stole the Mother Box left, it pointed out that the Amazons had betrayed us and given it our coordinates."
"So I believe the Amazons owe us an explanation!"
Alex let out a short laugh, "Steppenwolf knows how to frame others too? I thought he was the type who only knew how to charge forward."
"Then you should know by now that Paradise Island could never have done that."
"There's no reason for them to."
"If the Amazons knew your coordinates, then the one who stole the Mother Box wouldn't have been Steppenwolf."
Orm's heart sank.
Naturally, he understood what Alex meant.
If the Amazons had known Atlantis's coordinates, then Alex would have stolen the Mother Box instead of Steppenwolf.
Although Orm had never met Steppenwolf, after witnessing Alex's destructive power firsthand, he fully believed it.
Forget the small number of guards at the Doomsday Outpost.
Even if their numbers were increased tenfold, they still could not stop this man.
The King of Atlantis quickly said, "In that case, it seems this really may have been a misunderstanding."
"We were blinded by anger. For the harm caused to the Amazons, I sincerely express my regret."
"However, since you have also destroyed one of our flagships, let this matter end here."
Hearing Orm try to erase everything with a few casual words, the Amazons immediately erupted in anger.
"You were the ones who started this war. Do you think a simple 'regret' is enough to dismiss it?"
"How many of our sisters died at your hands? Blood debts must be repaid with blood!"
The crowd roared with anger.
Orm looked at Alex with some tension, "How about this? We can provide compensation."
Alex smiled, "Let's hear it."
Orm said in a deep voice, "We will provide Paradise Island with two hundred elite warriors to serve the Amazons for one hundred years."
"In addition, we will provide one hundred sets of armor and one hundred sets of weapons."
"Along with jewels, minerals, and other resources."
Just as Alex was calculating the value of the compensation, he suddenly heard a rushing sound.
Then Diana landed beside him.
Wonder Woman's expression was grim.
"Steppenwolf took the Mother Box."
"He used my people being drawn here as a distraction and took the chance to invade the palace."
"I failed to protect the Mother Box."
Orm froze.
This was beyond his expectations.
The smile on Alex's face slowly disappeared as well.
He had originally planned to squeeze some compensation out of Atlantis.
But after hearing that Steppenwolf had taken the Mother Box, he immediately lost interest.
His eyes darkened as he looked at Orm.
"So it turns out you're working with the enemy."
"No!"
Orm shouted.
"I would never do such a thing!"
"Please listen to me. This is a misunderstanding!"
Whoosh!
Wind rushed past.
Orm's vision blurred.
He saw Alex suddenly appear right in front of him.
Then the tall Orm was lifted into the air by Alex.
Alex looked at him coldly.
"You have three seconds to pray."
"Pray?"
"No!"
Orm instantly understood what Alex intended to do.
'This man is going to kill me.'
Orm roared.
His trident suddenly shone with dazzling silver light, creating an impact like a tidal wave in an attempt to blast Alex away.
A ring of silver phantom seawater spread outward, forming a powerful shockwave.
Diana removed the round shield from her back, stepped in front of her mother, and raised it to block the impact.
Protected by Diana, Hippolyta was completely unharmed.
The other Amazon warriors were not so fortunate.
They cried out as the shockwave threw them away.
They flew hundreds of meters before crashing down one after another and were unable to get up for a time.
However, Alex, who was closest to Orm and took the attack head-on, did not even blink.
Then he raised a hand to his head and casually fixed the hair that had been blown out of place.
"How is that possible..."
Orm was horrified.
His strongest attack had only messed up the other man's hairstyle?
Despair filled him.
Orm shouted, "Don't kill me. I can—"
Before he could finish speaking, two golden lights appeared in Alex's eyes.
Then those two points of light rapidly expanded in Orm's vision.
In the end, all he could see was gold.
Then he lost consciousness.
Two streams of golden light entered Orm's eyes and burst out from the back of the King of Atlantis's head.
When the beams disappeared, two charred holes remained in Orm's skull.
Alex casually threw the corpse onto the ground.
His face was dark.
BOOM!
Golden flames erupted from his eyes again.
The two streams of golden light swept through the Atlantean deep-sea warriors.
Wherever they passed, soldiers in white armor were cut in half, and blood surged into the air.
The beams swept back and forth.
Atlantean soldiers died in groups.
In his foul mood, Alex had no interest in negotiating with them anymore.
He only wanted to kill these fools and wipe them out.
At once, screams filled the beach.
Fear and chaos spread.
Out at sea, Vulko grabbed Mera's hand and shouted, "Quick, Princess!"
"We have to leave!"