mtl008 Chapter 3821 The School Doctor's "Daily Life" (36)
Chapter 3821 The School Doctor's "Daily Life" (36)
Chapter 3821 The School Doctor's "Daily Life" (Thirty-Six)
Night Owl was still somewhat absent-minded today. Even the magical portal failed to pique his interest. His experience last night had left him rather depressed.
Saffir finally agreed to help him contact a powerful demon god, but summoning this demon god was no easy task. Saffir first taught him a very complex magic circle, which Night Owl spent some time memorizing. The summoning ritual failed again due to incorrect pressure during the drawing process.
The magic circle was finally completed, but problems arose when he tried to communicate through meditation. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't succeed in meditation, let alone connect with the hell dimension.
Saffir repeatedly emphasized to him the importance of concentrating. The owl swore he was concentrating, but he couldn't hear anything except for some crackling noises.
If there were no sound at all, the owl might suspect there was something wrong with the method. But when concentrating to the extreme, it could indeed hear echoes from hell, and even vaguely see scenes of hell. However, it just couldn't make contact with the powerful beings in the hell dimension.
Faced with this situation, Sapphire began to doubt whether he was suitable to contract with this demon god. Only a lack of talent would result in repeated summoning and meditation without response.
No talent? Impossible! Night Owl was furious. He was the most evil of all Batmen; how could he not have talent?!
But sometimes he felt guilty. Saffir also told him that evil was only one standard, or rather, a basic standard. Moreover, there were many kinds of evil, and it was hard to say whether his kind would meet the tastes of the Lord of Hell.
Night Owl was extremely unwilling. It wouldn't be so bad if he hadn't witnessed the power of the Lord of Hell. However, Mephisto's powerful appearance in the Enchanted Forest that day had left a very deep impression on him. Even the Sorcerer Supreme himself had to intervene to banish his avatar. Just how powerful must his true form be?
Night Owl has suffered several defeats against the main universe's Batman. His greatest desire now is to get revenge, ideally to utterly crush the main universe's Batman. He can already picture the main universe's Batman having only contracted an ordinary minor demon, while he himself has become an apostle of the Lord of Hell, and then brutally beating the main universe's Batman in front of all the other Batmen.
He also felt another sense of crisis. Although he was evil, Arkham Batman was no less ruthless and cruel. If he didn't seize this opportunity, the Lord of Hell might not choose him. He had to act first to reverse the current situation.
So even though Saffir hinted that he shouldn't put all his eggs in one basket, the Owl just wouldn't listen. But the more he refused to listen, the less progress he made. Now he was both angry and questioning the meaning of life.
Little did the Night Owl know that Schiller had already conspired with Mephisto. As long as Mephisto didn't respond, he would never hear a reply in his lifetime.
Night Owl hadn't anticipated that the inability to contact Mephisto wasn't his problem, but Mephisto's. If he had been with a different demon god, things might not have turned out so badly.
But that wasn't actually feasible, because the magic school was isolated from the outside world. The students inside had no way to contact any of the demons outside; they could only choose from the few within the school. And under Schiller's constant enticement and hints, Night Owl was clearly determined to hang himself on this one tree.
If he were even a little more rational and could step back from the current situation, he would realize that every mage in the school who can use magic currently has a contract partner. If Mephisto, recommended by Saffir, doesn't work, why not ask other professors for recommendations?
The other Batmen have already started doing this. Ever since they skipped grades and started teaching about contracts, the Batmen have been openly and secretly inquiring about which demons each professor has contracted with, and have heard the names of some demons from them, such as the Great Shadow of Sithon, Dormammu, the Lord of Darkness, Cytorak, the Lord of the Crimson Dimension, and the Triune Vishanti, etc.
While neither of these explanations sounds particularly righteous, the professors emphasized that the nature of a demon and your own nature are two different things. Even if you've made a pact with the Lord of Darkness, you can still use that energy for good. At most, this power might not be suitable for healing, but rather for attacking. But isn't fighting bad guys also a form of punishing evil and promoting good?
After the various professors took turns introducing the demons, the more popular ones were the Great Demon King Sythorn and the Triune Vishanti. The Great Demon King was chosen because Professor Wanda assured him he wouldn't cause trouble, while the Triune Vishanti was chosen because he was the contract partner of the previous Sorcerer Supreme—the Ancient One, the most powerful Sorcerer Supreme in history.
As for Mephisto, he's not very popular in Batman. Because he's a named mythological figure, Batman often avoids such characters.
The more this happened, the more Night Owl wanted to contract Mephisto to prove himself. But the more anxious he became, the less Mephisto responded. After several days of this, he finally fainted from anger during class one day.
Actually, it wasn't so much anger that caused him to faint. His rib injury hadn't fully healed, and then he went out to take exams, attending classes during the day and practicing extra at night. The fact that he managed to hold on until now before collapsing is quite remarkable.
But this time, it was a blessing in disguise. While unconscious, Night Owl vaguely heard a voice calling his name. He saw the flames of hell, the ashes of burning bones, the screams and wails of living beings, and those blood-red eyes deep within hell.
Night Owl sat up abruptly. The instant he opened his eyes, the whites of his eyes and pupils were covered in blood red. He seemed completely unaware of it, then collapsed back onto the bed, too weak to move.
A pair of hands waved in front of him.
"Are you alright?" Schiller's voice rang in his ears.
Night Owl's eyes widened suddenly, but the experience felt like a dream. The only difference was that the wound in his chest no longer hurt. But he couldn't be sure whether it was because Schiller had given him painkillers or if something truly special had happened.
“You…” Night Owl managed to utter just one word before realizing his voice was incredibly hoarse. Schiller poured him a glass of water. Night Owl drank a full glass of water and felt much better.
But he soon discovered that his throat was very sore. No matter what he said, it felt like it was on fire. And whenever his concentration wavered, terrifying images of hell would flash before his eyes.
Although Night Owl wasn't afraid of the scenes of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, their constant appearance did affect his mental state. He sat there and drank two or three glasses of water, but it still couldn't relieve his throat symptoms.
Schiller examined him, then shook his head and said, "Your throat isn't inflamed. I suspect this might be somatization symptoms caused by anxiety. Shall I prescribe some calming medication?"
Night Owl was about to nod when he realized what was happening, and then shook his head sharply, saying, "No need."
He knew that the so-called relaxation was just about making him sleepy and then going to sleep. But he couldn't sleep now; he needed to concentrate and figure out what was going on.
That night, although the owl felt weak all over and had a sore throat, he still insisted on going to the Magic Forest and met with Saffir, where he told her about his situation.
“Looks like I should congratulate you,” Schiller said with a sneer. “He has gained another loyal servant.”
"You mean I've fulfilled the contract?"
"It's still early. You've only made contact with Mephisto, but you still have to pass his test."
"test?"
"Yes, didn't you say your throat hurt? I had the same thing when I first made a contract with him. This is the result of his power gradually manifesting in you. If you can't handle it, you won't be able to accept more power."
Schiller wasn't making this up. Mages do indeed experience this symptom: when they first form a contract with a demon, the attribute of the power manifests within them. For example, the power of fire and ash will make them very thirsty, while the power of ice will make them feel cold. This is actually a rejection reaction caused by the human body's inability to adapt to this foreign energy, and it usually subsides after two or three days.
Now, due to the revival of spiritual energy in the nine kingdoms, this problem no longer exists. However, there are still exceptions, namely when both parties are novices—humans are making a contract with a demon god for the first time, and demon gods are also making a contract with humans for the first time, making it easy for them to miscontrol their strength.
But Mephisto wouldn't have these problems. The symptoms Night Owl is currently experiencing are purely due to Mephisto's antics.
"What should I do next?" Night Owl asked.
“Ignore these unpleasant symptoms and continue trying to meditate and connect with him until you can hear his complete words, then ask him for strength.”
Schiller wasn't exaggerating. There was indeed a period when humans made contracts with demons and gods, though that was likely during tribal times. The Middle Ages were far more civilized than that.
Despite his discomfort, Night Owl continued trying to contact Mephisto. Mephisto would occasionally respond with a word or two, but it was always intermittent. Night Owl also failed to gain any power from him.
Until Schiller learned from Stark that the main universe's Batman and his crew had made a breakthrough in their research on magical energy compression. They seemed to have studied the Sling Rings in great depth, drawing inspiration from their structure to compress the magical energy within the gems to the extreme, turning them into extremely dangerous magical bombs.
Because it already looked dangerous, and the Stark armor's energy readings made it look even more dangerous, no one dared to test its detonation. They could only infer from its principles that its power would be considerable.
That very night, Owl suddenly heard someone calling his name in his dream. This time, he finally heard the voice clearly and was finally able to communicate with it.
"Who are you?" Night Owl asked in his mind, suppressing his excitement.
"My name is Mephisto, lord of the Hell dimension. Why do you call upon me?"
"Great Mephisto, I need power!" Night Owl gritted his teeth and said, "I need the power to crush them all under my feet!"
"I admire your anger and greed. Sign a pact with me and become my apostle—bring the fires of hell to the world!"
Some people say that the LEGO Batman can't possibly have hands the size of a palm, but it really is! A palm! Not including the fingers!