mtl008 Chapter 4617 The Day of Brightest Day (76)
Chapter 4617 The Day of Brightest Day (76)
Chapter 4617 The Day of Brightest Light (Seventy-Six)
To be fair, Batman has a pretty good attitude. Or maybe it's too good. From the moment they set off from the main universe until now, their journey has been nothing short of incredibly unlucky.
They were originally there to deal with the multiverse crisis brought about by the Black Death Emperor. However, the multiverse crisis wasn't caused by the Black Death Emperor at all. In fact, if they hadn't gone, Bruce, the Black Death Emperor, and Darkseid would all be hanging on the wall. That would have been a win-win situation for the multiverse—eliminating three major enemies of the multiverse at once. The multiverse Justice League would be laughing all the way to the bank.
They went, which was fine, since they weren't entirely unprepared. They knew this Nameless Bat was going to cause trouble, and they'd have to bring out Jack the Clown to fight him. They'd even made arrangements for their escape route; if anything happened in the real universe, they could retreat directly to the Dream Realm—a safe haven where they could attack or defend. But then, the Dream Realm was corrupted by the Black Death Emperor.
Even so, Batman still had a way. He devised a plan to use the Outer God's mental corruption against the power of death, which should have given him the upper hand in the mental realm. But then Anatoly suddenly returned, scaring the Outer God away.
Nyarlathotep must have practiced this many times; he ran away so cleanly. Not only did he take his family with him, but he also packed up all his valuables, leaving him with almost no strength. It was completely insufficient to protect Batman, let alone repel the power of death.
Even so, the Batmen were not about to give up. After a long and winding journey, they arrived in the Merge Universe and made contact with Professor X, the most powerful psychic.
Moreover, they weren't there seeking refuge, but rather to find teammates to organize a counterattack. Seeing that Professor X was outnumbered and unable to awaken the Sandman, they simply stormed the Temple of Eternity, having Eternity take them to the neighboring Great World.
The Batmen were well aware that their sudden arrival would certainly raise suspicion. The Sorcerer Supreme wasn't known for his good temper; a mishap could easily escalate into a fight, leaving them not only without their teammates but also a host of new enemies.
However, the Batmen are known for their foresight. They know Greed welcomes them, and his words carry considerable weight in this universe; he's adept at leaving others with no other choice. The Sorcerer Supreme, seeing them arrive, will undoubtedly seek out Greed first, minimizing the chances of conflict. Greed will treat them with courtesy, allowing them to discuss cooperation.
But unexpectedly, because Anatoly returned, Strange, who had entered the tower to search for Greed, was elbowed out and couldn't contact Greed for a while. Strange didn't dare let Batman out, so he could only invite them into the brains of the horde.
This is hardly a pleasant place. Keep in mind, David himself is an Omega-level mutant. Although most of his personalities have left his body, David is programmed to constantly generate new ones. It hasn't been long, and yet another new personality has emerged. It's less like inviting them over and more like finding a place to lock them up, and this prison isn't exactly safe either.
Throughout this journey, Batman has always had a plan, but everything he does is subject to change. He's quick-witted and has excellent execution skills, but unfortunately, his luck is just too bad; it seems like God's hand has struck again.
Even so, Batman didn't give up. He didn't even intend to settle for second best and ensure his own safety first; instead, he continued to try to save the multiverse. This is why, despite the comings and goings of various powerful characters, Batman remains DC's darling.
Schiller, reflecting on Batman's journey, had come to understand his stubborn nature. Because his goals remained unchanged, and he refused to bow to this messed-up reality, he seemed to have a good mindset and even had the time to sit here and listen to such a long backstory.
“Let’s get the manpower together,” Schiller said bluntly. It was because Batman’s insistence on him going through the plot had already wasted a lot of time. What couldn’t be skipped here, they could only make up for elsewhere. “I’ll talk to Strange and have him find some good men to wake up Sandman and clean up the mess in the Dream Kingdom.”
After saying that, he stood up to leave, but the main universe Batman quickly called him back and said, "Wait a minute, our goal now is not just to solve the Dream Kingdom problem."
Schiller then remembered that the string of candied hawthorns was still hanging on the Origin Wall. But he shook his head and said, "You don't need to worry about that, First Lantern Knight will find a way to solve this problem."
The main universe's Batman narrowed his eyes: "How does he plan to resolve this?"
Admittedly, he admired the original Lantern's character. However, considering the backstory, the way this guy solved problems was just too breathtaking. If there were only Black Death and Darkseid on the wall, Batman wouldn't even bother asking questions, but there was also Earth on it. Even if it was that bastard Bruce Wayne's Earth, it still needed to be protected; it couldn't be allowed to be blown up.
"Don't worry, I've already damaged his cannon," Schiller said. "So the plan to blow the Earth up is definitely not going to work..."
"He's really planning to blow it up?"
Arkham Batman looked at Schiller and asked, "How do you know where his cannon is? What's your relationship with him?"
“Can you please stop asking?” Schiller said. “If I finish this story, the Dream Kingdom will be beyond saving, and you can just wait for the Black Death to unify the multiverse.”
Before Batman could say anything, Schiller got down to business: "Saving the Dream Kingdom is extremely important. Because if Lantern One manages to bring those things down—I mean all of them, and it seems that's probably the only way—once the Black Death Emperor regains consciousness, the spread of the contamination will be incredibly rapid, potentially engulfing the entire Dream Kingdom in an instant, or even directly corrupting people's minds from within the Dream Kingdom. At that point, the entire multiverse will be turned into zombies."
Batman Arkham tapped his fingers on the table. “We’ve certainly taken that into account,” he said. “Our original plan was to deal with the Dream Kingdom issue first, and then take that thing down. But we can’t come back here to gather everyone again, so it’s best to get everyone together all at once.”
Schiller didn't refute this point; he simply said, "The number of people we can send isn't about how many we need, but about how many people they can free up. And you know, the multiverse war happened here, and the compatibility issues here have been fixed. But that's not necessarily true over there. Our superheroes will be weakened to some extent when they go there, and they might even be incompatible. That's a big problem."
"Can't we ask Lucifer to speed up the work?"
“I’m not sure if he has time to catch up right now,” Schiller shook his head and said, “but I’ll send him a message to ask.”
Schiller thought it would be good to have Lucifer rush the work, so that he wouldn't find out Anatoly was back for a while and could better figure out what Anatoly was up to.
Schiller sent a message to Lucifer first. Before he could reply, he went to Strange to take stock of the men.
“It’s not a question of whether you send people or not, but how many you send,” Schiller said, standing in the principal’s office at the magic academy. “You probably don’t want Batman to stay here indefinitely, do you?”
Strange, sitting in his chair, shook his head and said, "If I could, I'd want the crisis resolved in the next second, and then they'd all be gone. But the question is, how?"
"First, we must awaken the sleep demon."
“That’s the problem.” Strange tapped his finger on the table. “Our wizards are completely different from those next door. What works here might not work there.”
Schiller thought for a moment and asked, "What would you usually do in this situation?"
“That won’t happen,” Strange emphasized. “If any of the Daedric Lords here dared to sleep like that, they would have been torn to pieces by the Ancient One long ago. Even the most inert Cyttorak would wake up instantly if a human entered the Crimson Dimension.”
Schiller was speechless for a moment. He thought about it and it seemed to make sense. The demons on Marvel's side were relatively more inactive, operating 24/7. Even abstract entities like Infinity and Annihilation, while supposedly asleep, were actually just maintaining an automatic operating mode and could be manually controlled at any time. At the very least, throwing an alarm clock in would wake them up.
But the Sandman was completely different. Charles had searched the area extensively several times, and the elderly Professor X had tried as well. Even Joseph stared directly at him, completely unsuspecting, which could be considered a form of intrusion, and a very strong one at that. With so many powerful psychics trying to wake him, he simply wouldn't wake up; Schiller even suspected he was dead asleep.
Strange was clearly in a bind. He placed his hands on the table, tilted his head to the side, and after a long while said, "You brought Constantine with you?"
"Yes, the most professional one."
"Ah, of course, I've seen him, the one with the black hair. Bring him in, I need to find out what's going on."
Schiller nodded. Soon, Constantine entered Strange's office. While the two mages discussed the plan, Schiller followed Charles to the mutant school.
There weren't many people at the school; most were in the Andromeda Galaxy or the Southern Cross. Charles sat down in his office and said, "We definitely need to go to the mutants. Helping Batman would also benefit us; his wisdom is a cosmic treasure, and I'd love to hear his thoughts on the development of mutants. But we need to deal with our current problems first."
"Who are you planning to send? Scarlet Witch?"
Charles shook his head and said, "It's uncertain whether the chaotic power Wanda uses is compatible, so it's best not to. However, the fundamental cosmic forces that Eric and Lorna possess should be the same in both universes. Therefore, I think we should send them."
Schiller nodded, agreeing with Charles's point. Sending just these two mutants would suffice; after all, there was more than one Magneto in the multiverse, and one Magneto could do a lot, at least ensuring Earth's safety while they were taking it down.
"Who else do you think would be a good candidate?" Schiller asked. "What about the Aesir?"
“Not very good,” Charles said. “Although their divine power comes from themselves, their interference with the rules of the universe is very limited, so they are probably not very capable of dealing with this matter. But I think you could consider going to those scientists and see if they can come up with a relatively safe solution.”
“I think you have some misconceptions about the scientists on your side,” Schiller said. “None of them can be considered reliable.”