American comics: Damn it, I’m surrounded by those who worry about their fathers!.

Chapter 377 Zatanna's New Father——Peter Padrick
Dream world.

Zatanna is performing with her father in a theater in Boston.

That was the happiest and most beautiful time of her life.

At that time, Zatanna was just an ignorant child.

More than ten years have passed, but she still remembers that night.

The magician's father forgot his corsage, so Zatanna ran upstairs to get it for his father's performance.

As soon as Zatanna walked up the dimly lit staircase and corridor, she noticed something was wrong.

It seemed like something evil was approaching him.

"Oh!"

The stairs shook, and in her frightened eyes, a dark shadow slowly walked towards her.

Zatanna, her heart filled with fear, immediately ran back.

As a result, the next second, the figure pounced towards her.

"No!"

The shadow held a dagger in his hand and stabbed towards Zatanna's neck.

Although Zatanna dodged, her arm was still cut by the dagger.

Blood immediately gushed out from the wound.

Zatanna was hurt in the dream world, and blood immediately flowed from her arm in the real world.

After being injured, she immediately understood what had happened.

In the dream world, the girl who was running away in a panic instantly turned into the image of Zatanna.

She turned around and knocked the black shadow that attacked her away.

With a "bang", the black shadow fell to the ground and turned into an ugly little devil.

"Damn it! Get out of my dream, you greasy little nightmare!"

Zatanna immediately recognized the creature before her as the infamous nightmare - Fuseli.

A hellish creature that has the ability to enter the dream world of others and make what happens in the dream affect reality.

Seeing that Zatanna recognized his identity, Nightmare smiled at him, "Don't worry, Zatanna, I'm just taking you back to a precious memory."

"Memories? These are not my memories. My dreams don't develop like this."

In the beautiful memories I had with my father that day, I didn't encounter any attackers.

Nightmare took a step closer to Zatanna, "That's why I exaggerated it a little bit."

He smiled at Zatanna and said, "As long as I get into the mind of a sleeper, I will modify their memories, add anxiety and uneasiness, and when the person screams, I will replay the scene."

"You know, even though it's a little risky to deal with a magician, I just can't resist the challenge of temptation."

Zatanna looked at him seriously, "I'm not afraid of you. As long as I can face my nightmare and catch it, I can wake up!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Zatanna pounced on Nightmare.

Dodging Zatanna's attack, Nightmare looked at her in surprise, "You want to drag me back to your world? You can't do that."

"Stop talking big!"

Zatanna stretched out her hand and immediately cast a spell of irony at him: "I will leave the dreamland! The disturbance will be stopped by me!"

As the irony magic was recited, a torrent of magical energy rushed towards Nightmare.

With a "bang", the nightmare was hit and disappeared in an instant.

But before Zatanna could breathe a sigh of relief, the voice of Nightmare sounded again around her.

"Good job, sis! But in my world, using magic isn't that easy!"

As Nightmare finished speaking, Zatanna suddenly discovered that her pajamas had turned into a magic dress.

A floor-length mirror suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Wow!"

The floor-length mirror shattered instantly, and Zatanna was pulled into the mirror in the flying glass lens.

“Here, I peel away the false appearances on the surface of reality, so that you can face the truer self.”

"Damn it!"

Trapped in the mirror, Zatanna hammered the mirror hard and asked him, "Who asked you to come?"

She didn't remember any interaction with this little nightmare.

"That's a problem. You need to use your brain and think about who you have offended recently."

Nightmare stood outside the mirror, looking at Zatanna in the mirror triumphantly, "Everyone sees you as a powerful magician, but only I know the truth. Just like those silly magic cards and tricks of yours, the great Zatanna is actually a liar!"

With a "thump", as Nightmare's words fell, Zatanna found herself in an uninhabited wilderness.

Surrounded by death and loneliness.

The rotten leaves and dry trees imprisoned her tightly.

"Even if you do have some magical power, it would only bring a curse to those closest to you."

"Your poor, deceased mother"

As the sound that made Zatanna feel miserable was heard, the image of her mother appeared before her.

Zatanna reached out, trying to grab her mother.

But her mother disappeared in the blink of an eye, and instead a burning flame appeared in front of her.

In the flames, her father was being burned and screaming in pain.

"no no!"

Seeing her father burning in the flames, Zatanna finally couldn't hold on and fell to her knees in pain. Seeing that Zatanna's spirit had collapsed, Nightmare Fuseli transformed into a nightmare creature and attacked Zatanna.

Just as he was about to defeat Zatanna, an accident suddenly happened.

The giant snake that attacked Zatanna was suddenly grabbed by a hand.

"Crack!"

The giant snake was grabbed by the emerging black shadow and twisted into two pieces.

At the same time, flames rose from the ground, instantly burning the nightmare creature created by Fuseli into ashes.

Fuseli stared blankly at Peter who appeared in Zatanna's dream.

His whole body exuded a terrifying yet powerful force, which even made him, who was also a nightmare creature, feel a sense of trembling.

This powerful and unfathomable pressure from the dream world even reminded him of that man.

"This is the first time I've seen someone dare to break into my world."

Peter said coldly, looking at Fuseli.

"Boom!"

Before he could react, a platform rose from the ground, raising the ground where Fuseli was.

Chains spewing fire emerged from the ground and locked up Fuseli who was trying to escape.

Peter looked at the terrified monster, explored the dreams of the people around him, nodded and said, "I see, you can't enter Zatanna's dream directly, so you use the dreams of the people around you as a springboard, and you can also change other people's dreams at will."

"Tell me, who told you to deal with Zatanna?"

Peter asked the other party in a cold voice.

"Yes, it's the Dark Night Monk!"

Without any hesitation, Fuseli directly revealed the mastermind behind the scenes.

He was now being burned by the fire from the chains, and was feeling severe pain all over his body.

"Night Monk?"

Peter frowned slightly when he heard the name the other party said.

He had never heard of such a name.

Probably some unknown villain in the magic world.

"very good."

After getting the answer he wanted, Peter moved his mind slightly, and Fuseli was pushed in front of him by an invisible force.

"What do you want to do?"

"I know that in every nightmare you created, there is a trace of you lingering, so I will send you back to the dreams of these people at the same time. In this way, your body will be torn to pieces, and your spirit fragments will appear in the dreams of countless people."

Fuseli was stunned by Peter's devilish whispers.

After he realized what was happening, he immediately begged Peter for mercy with a look of fear on his face.

"No, please, great God, have mercy on me, I will do anything as long as you forgive me!"

"That's not like you just now."

Peter shook his head and activated his ability.

As he begged for mercy, Fuseli's body gradually fell apart.

As if being pulled by something, the body gradually disappeared piece by piece.

Faced with the opponent's screams, Peter remained unmoved and watched the opponent's body being completely decomposed.

After dealing with the nightmare, Peter walked over to the distraught Zatanna.

"Xiao Zha."

Peter knelt down and reached out to hold Zatanna's hand, "It's okay, I'm here."

Feeling the warmth from Peter's hand, Zatanna threw herself into his arms and burst into tears.

Peter patted her shoulder gently and said, "It's okay. It's all over."

Zatanna cried and said to Peter: "I'm sorry, I lied, sir. I actually know where my father is. Madam Xanadu told me what happened."

"Father, Father, he was at Winters Manor, engulfed in flames during a meeting."

(At Winters Manor, Constantine hosted a meeting to explore the truth behind the Great Darkness. Three powerful magicians were burned to ashes in the search for darkness, including Zatanna's father.)
There was uncontrollable sadness and pain in Zatanna's voice, "I have been deceiving myself all this time, deceiving myself that my father is still alive, creating a dream for myself that I can never escape from."

Zatanna, with red eyes and tears streaming down her face, hugged Peter tightly, her body shaking.

"Dreams are the most beautiful reality, Zack, but reality is the cruelest nightmare."

Peter was also feeling a little heavy-hearted. He whispered to comfort Zatanna, "Each of us is dreaming a dream that we can never escape from in our lifetime."

Zatanna listened to Peter's words with uncontrollable sadness in her eyes. "Dad once told me that magic is beautiful, terrifying and magical at the same time. Without it, the universe will become a cold and dead place without any miracles. But... it really seems like a curse to me."

Peter didn't know much about magic, but through what Zatanna told him, he could roughly guess what kind of person Zatanna's father was.

After thinking for a while, he put his hand on Zatanna's hair and said to her: "I think this is not a curse, Zatanna. That is why it needs to be protected. Your father has been training you, probably hoping that you will play this role."

Zatanna listened to Peter's words and released the hand that was around Peter's shoulders.

"Protect?"

"Yes, guard."

Peter held her cold hand, "Not only magic, but everything you love that is worth protecting."

Looking into Peter's eyes, Zatanna felt an overwhelming surge of emotion.

If it were my father, he would say the same thing to me.

(End of this chapter)