God Of The Omniverse

Not long after the interaction, Shade brought both Roulette and Arias's body to the harbor before placing it in a batch of cement normally used to create anchors. As Shade was placing the body there, he furrowed his brows and looked in Roulette's direction.

"He's still breathing," he revealed.

To which she just smiled. "Of course he is. The poison is slow-acting; it takes at least thirty minutes for someone to die. However, it only takes a few minutes for them to slip into a coma."

"So he's essentially getting buried alive. Wow. You're one twisted woman," Shade remarked, blowing a whistle and tipping his hat before pressing the button on a machine with the pointy end of his cane.

It only took moments for a new batch of cement to be made and poured on Arias's body.

"It's just business. Loyalty is for dogs; I put my own interests first," Roulette commented bluntly just as a block of cement was formed.

'A reminder to stay away from these villainous women,' Shade thought to himself before forming a circular shadow over the block. The shadow soon engulfed the block and vanished from the scene entirely. Shade then pointed his cane towards the water in the distance before the same circle reappeared, and a large block of cement fell from it into the sea.

"Well, that's that. I'll be expecting my payment soon," Shade said, giving a small bow while Roulette watched the sea for a bit before nodding in satisfaction.

"Of course. Now let's get going. I have a lot of work to get done."

With that short exchange done, the duo left the scene entirely after Shade opened yet another portal to pass through.

…

Upon arriving back at the office of the Iceberg Lounge, Roulette gave Shade some parting words.

"It'll probably take some weeks before Arias is reported missing. At that time, stick to your story and say he left as he would any other day after talking about how he wanted to sell his property to Lex Luthor."

"On paper, the agreed payment of 1.34 billion dollars will be deposited into his account. Remember that figure as it may come up. Luthor will pay us separately, of course, and once it is declared that he is missing or dead and has no one next in line, the forged agreement to which the mayor will claim he was witness to will come into play, and we'll split the profits. Stay out of trouble and work normally until then."

Shade listened to every word carefully while nodding his head every now and then before granting full confirmation at the end. "I understand fully. We should probably get downstairs and fake that CCTV footage as well."

The conversation ended there, and the duo soon exited Arias's office with victorious grins on their faces.

Unknown to both of them, a wide-eyed Barbara, who had returned to retrieve her bag, was hiding behind the door, shocked at what she had heard. 'No way.'

…

Meanwhile, at the deep, dark bottom of the water surrounding Miller Harbor, a solid block of cement was resting on the sea floor.

Although not visible in the pitch darkness, the block had numerous cracks all over its surface. The cracks became more and more apparent until the block violently shattered.

…

A moment later, a hand grasped onto the edge of the harbor, and then another hand followed. Soon, an Arias pulled himself out of the murky dark water under the moonlight, his entire body drenched, with water dripping off his ruined suit. His cold visage wore a look of anger as he loosened his tie and removed his jacket before tossing it into the water.

[That was dangerous in your state, Ari,] a gentle voice warned within his mind, but he simply shook his head while rolling up his sleeves.

"Although I'm far from proficient in my telepathic ability, it's easy to tell when someone has malicious intentions towards me. Besides, I'm only in danger if the death is instantaneous. Poison has to first flow to vital organs; the moment it touched my tongue, the abyssal energy rid me of it."

Arias's voice carried anger, thus Àpeiro didn't push the matter further, not wanting to agitate him more than he was already.

[I understand, but until you experience your reconstruction, please don't risk your physical vessel unnecessarily. That's all I ask.]

"I won't. I only did so now so I could learn more about why she did it and if anyone was behind her. Now I do."

[You cannot trust lower life forms. If you desire them, then you can easily create them once you fully form a proper vessel to act as an extension of the abyss.]

"I don't. Letting them think you trust them is how you reveal their true intentions. Some may genuinely be loyal, while others not. It doesn't matter; you only need to look out for yourself to be genuinely safe. I've been living with criminals all my life—fake friends, treachery, and betrayals are the norm to me."

[I will never betray you, Ari,] Àpeiro revealed softly, but Arias didn't answer. Instead, he began walking away from the harbor and disappeared into the darkness of the night, leaving behind only a wet trail of footprints in his wake.

…

At around the same time, news of his demise reached Gregor, who was now ecstatic.

"Are you sure? Very sure? Haha, good! I'll even put in a little something extra for you after Luthor pays. If you're ever looking to be a secretary again, my doors are open."

[ I appreciate the offer, but office work really doesn't suit me. Just have the files ready for signing by morning.]

"Of course, of course. Goodnight."

Click~

After cutting the call, Gregor did a less-than-pleasing-to-watch dance within his office in Town Hall.

"You bit off far more than you could chew, boy. In this world, connections mean everything," Gregor spoke aloud while laughing before lighting up a cigar with a grin on his face.

…

Come morning, the transaction was complete. Although news of it was overshadowed due to other major events happening, it still made quite some noise in the business sector.

Roulette, Gregor, and a representative of Lex Luthor were gathered within the mayor's office, finalizing everything.

"Hm, everything seems in order on our end. Please confirm the payment," the female representative said, getting off a phone call and turning to Roulette, who was beaming with a smile once they said the payment was made.

She quickly opened the laptop on her lap to check, and sure enough, Arias's account now had a total value of 1.46 billion dollars within it, bringing an even bigger smile to her face. However, this smile quickly faded when the figure turned to $0.00 in the next moment.

"What's the meaning of this?" she asked, pointing the screen towards the representative, who raised a brow in confusion before replying.

"The security of your account isn't our responsibility. You can confirm that we sent the amount with our bank and yours. If you're trying to scam us, then I advise you to rethink that," she warned, causing Roulette to frown.

Roulette quickly checked the details of the transactions and saw that a transfer was made from Arias's account to an unnamed offshore account. Angry at what she was seeing, she quickly tried to check the location of where the withdrawal was initiated, only to be shocked to see that it was in that very room.

Meanwhile, in a rundown apartment in Gotham's Crime Alley, Arias was seated with a small phone in hand, its screen reading:

"Transfer complete."