mtl008 Chapter 4615 The Day of Brightest Day (74)
Chapter 4615 The Day of Brightest Day (74)
Chapter 4615 The Day of Brightest Light (Seventy-Four)
Upstairs, Bruce was still dressed as Batman, but he looked completely different. He was emaciated, his chest cavity was completely open, filled with intricate mechanical structures that extended to his lungs and heart, while his ribs spread outwards like a pair of wings.
He held a scythe with an iron chain in his hand. Sensing Jack's presence, the scythe, imbued with the power of death, struck in an instant, but Jack dodged it with a quick roll. He lay there catching his breath, then struggled to his feet. Looking back, blood blurred his vision, making the scene indistinct.
With a soft "thud," the batarang sank straight into his flesh. Jack let out a muffled groan, and the scene before him grew increasingly surreal. At times, he was surrounded by children running and jumping in the warm corridors of the East Wing building, and at other times by the chilling wind of a dilapidated corridor.
Jack mustered all his strength and reached the corner ahead. He gasped for breath, trying to focus his mind again to respond to the voice he had heard earlier. The next second, with a loud bang, the terrifying monster flew far away in front of him, and the group rushed towards them.
"Jack!" Schiller called out. He rushed over and helped Jack up from the ground. Charles shoved something glowing white into Jack's arms. The life force dispelled the death force, and Jack's wounds began to heal rapidly. However, due to excessive blood loss, Jack was still somewhat pale and looked more like the Joker.
"Thank you." Jack breathed a sigh of relief. "I feel much better."
Schiller finally had a chance to look at the monster that had been sent flying. Upon seeing its appearance, he instinctively exclaimed, "Mad laughter?"
But upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn't. Although the build and attire were different, the blue eyes were exactly the same. Schiller took a soft breath, showing surprise for the first time.
“It’s just a monster from a nightmare,” Jack said.
"You certainly have a vivid imagination," Schiller said, marveling at the monster. "Why couldn't you beat him?"
"He's not the real Batman, so naturally I can't become the Joker. My healing factor doesn't come from the Joker virus, but from access to the Dream Kingdom."
"What I'm asking is why you have the authority but can't beat him."
“The power of the Black Death Emperor is eroding this place, and the Dream Kingdom is about to get out of control,” Jack said, frowning. “No one here is the master except for the Dream God, and I can’t stop him.”
Schiller looked at him. Jack paused for a moment before saying, "I thought you knew. After Bruce stopped being Batman, I naturally stopped being the Joker. I still have some Joker traits because Batman still owes me."
Jack pointed to his head and said, "Madness is a flaw, but it's also a strength. Without the Joker's madness, I'm not invincible in the mental world either."
Schiller understood. Batman and the Joker were intertwined; Bruce had shed the identity of Batman, which meant Jack was no longer the Joker. He still retained some Joker traits because of things left over from the previous era. For example, the IOU Bruce gave him allowed him to retain some of the Joker's better attributes, such as the healing factor from the Dionysian Factor. However, he was no longer as insane as he once was.
If it were a normal clown, while they couldn't control the dream world, they wouldn't be trapped by nightmares. What clown would be terrified by their own nightmares?
What's more, this nightmare isn't about Batman refusing to play with him; it's that Gotham has been destroyed, yet Batman is still relentlessly hunting him down. This is a dream come true for the Joker; any other Joker could play here all day long.
But for Jack, who had already escaped the Joker's madness, the failure of the Gotham City renovation project, the transformation of the entire city into a dead city, and Bruce's transformation into a monster, was indeed a nightmare.
On the bright side, it must be because at some point in the real world he experienced genuine happiness from the benefits of Gotham's changes that he felt such fear of potential failure. Only those who have gained something truly fear losing it.
"Where's your car?" Schiller asked.
“I gave it to Batman,” Jack said. “The plan was for me to pick them all up. But on the way, we unsuspectingly stumbled into a contaminated area. I used my Dream God privileges to lure away a group of enemies so they could drive away. But I ran out of steam and fell into my own nightmare.”
Schiller nodded and didn't ask any further questions. "Where is Batman headed?"
“The main universe,” Jack said, “we were trying to return to the main universe via the Dream Kingdom, but something went wrong along the way. Didn’t they go back?”
Schiller shook his head: "We came here precisely because they didn't return. Something else probably happened on the way. We need to figure out where they might have gone."
Batcat jumped from Charles's shoulder to Constantine's, who reached out to steady him. Batcat flicked his tail and said, "The Batmen will never go to the main universe. Because once they bring the power of death to the main universe, it's all over. The main universe Batmen won't allow it."
Where will they go?
“It’s not safe to go to any universe,” Batcat said, “unless there is something there that can control the power of death.”
"for example?"
"In the real world, it's relatively easy to find; just look for places with light or life force. But the dream realm is different. It's a spiritual world, and you need to have a sufficiently strong spiritual power to fight against the power of death."
Schiller immediately thought of a Batman, saying, "The Fiend Batman, the one who's connected to Outer Gods in this universe..."
He paused here, then said, "But the Outer God is gone."
The others looked at him. Schiller didn't know how to explain, after all, the story of Anatoly was far too long; if he started telling it from the beginning, Batman would probably be dead by the time he finished. So he simply waved his hand and said, "Charles, try to find some traces of the Outer Gods."
Previously, Batman the Fiend mentioned that Nyarlathotep deleted a lot of things when he left, including some of his followers' memories. But it certainly wasn't all of it, because Batman the Fiend still remembers it, which proves that it wasn't completely erased, and it's still possible to find some of it.
Charles put on a brainwave amplifier. The search took a long time, but it was ultimately successful. After removing his helmet, he said, "We found some, but very faint. We can jump over and take a look, but don't get your hopes up too high. This level of mental pollution probably can't withstand the power of death."
So, they took Jack and began a new round of jumping. However, since there was no Black Death Emperor manipulating things behind the scenes, the conditions in each dream bubble were similar, and they handled them with ease. This time, they were much faster, and before long, they jumped into a dream, only to discover that it was Jerome's dream.
His situation was much better than Jack's. However, when the team found him, he was also being attacked by zombies, but he was managing to hold on. It wasn't hard to see that if no one came to rescue him, he probably wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer.
“Hey, you guys,” he said, “what are you doing here?”
Jerome didn't actually know these people, but he recognized Schiller's face. Although it was a younger version, Schiller had clearly left a deep impression on him before, so he recognized him immediately.
"We're here to find someone. Where's Batman?"
“He didn’t come,” Jerome said. “A group of Batmen came here earlier, but they left quickly.”
"why?"
"The power of the gods has vanished and can no longer protect this place, so the Batmen have to find another way out."
"Where's the Batman from your universe?"
“He doesn’t often enter the dream realm,” Jerome said. “He probably didn’t discover it.”
"Haven't the Batmen contacted him?"
"How do we contact him? By directly accessing his subconscious? Is Nyarlathotep's power really that easy to deal with?"
Schiller then realized that the Batmen's plan might be to use one enemy against another, employing the power of the Outer Gods to combat the deathly force spreading through the Dream Realm. This would undoubtedly be effective, since the Outer Gods were experts in the spiritual realm.
However, the mental pollution from Outer Gods should not be underestimated. The Batmen probably wouldn't risk directly contacting the evil Batman, because they don't know what's inside his mental world. Rushing in might get them caught red-handed by Nyarlathotep.
Despite Nyarlathotep's seemingly unreliable nature, he'll eat any takeout that comes his way. Even without directly attacking Batman, leaving a virus or something similar in their minds would be a huge problem. That's why Batman didn't connect with the mind of the Fiend Batman, leaving him completely unaware. Therefore, when Schiller approached him, he didn't mention anything about Batman.
Anatoly's return and Nyarlathotep's escape with his entire family were also unexpected. The Batmen's plan to use one enemy to defeat another had failed, and there was no point in staying any longer. They needed to find a new, safe haven, so they left.
“Where will they go?” Schiller asked.
“They’re going to seek the protection of a powerful psychic,” Jerome said. “I’m not sure exactly where, but I’ve heard them mention something about ‘merging universes’.”
Schiller immediately realized: "Earth One!"
Batman, true to form, managed to keep his head up even after facing so many unexpected situations. Marvel's former 616 main universe merged with DC's Earth-1. That universe contained both DC and Marvel heroes, and most importantly, it included the battle-hardened former main universe's Professor X.
It's important to understand that mutants in the comics are incredibly powerful. By the time things reached the 616 main universe, Magneto and Professor X had essentially reached the point of mutual demise. It wasn't exactly a case of "This world doesn't deserve you, and I deserve it," but rather "I want to give you a home."
At this point, Professor X was arguably at his strongest, perhaps even stronger than the fully-fledged, brainwave-amplified version of Charles from the Greed universe. The Batmen should definitely seek his help.
As for why we didn't go initially, the long distance was one reason, but the situation at Marvel was also too complicated. Mutants are constantly fighting, so going there might not necessarily be much safer than being immersed in the power of death.
It's likely that the Batmen realized the severity of the unchecked spread of the Death Force, forcing them to risk having Professor X intervene to turn the tide. While ostensibly seeking refuge, they were actually on a mission to save the multiverse.
“Let me see where they are,” Charles said. This conversation was unusually long, and Charles’s expression changed several times.
As he took off his helmet, he sighed softly and said, "This place is quite far, on the edge of the dream realm. But that's precisely why the pollution hasn't spread there yet."
Have you managed to contact Professor X?
Charles nodded and said, "Because it's too far and the signal isn't very good, I only spoke to him briefly. We'll talk in more detail when I get there."
They made another series of leaps, this time incredibly far, probably jumping through hundreds of dream bubbles. Eventually, they were all exhausted, and it was only thanks to Joseph and Charles, both psychic, that they managed to break through the encirclement.
Fortunately, they arrived at their destination without incident. Many mutants were present when they jumped into Professor X's mental world. Everyone was stunned when they saw young Charles emerge.