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Chapter 371: Doomed
Some ancients believed that death was an illusion that accompanied that final moment.
It was an illusion that encompassed not just the dying person's past, nor only what they knew, but one that revealed their true self from when they were alive.
For Bruce Wayne, this was such a moment.
In the ancient Wayne Manor, in a moonlit hall devoid of light, Bruce Wayne sat alone in a chair. He was deep in agonized thought, pondering something he had always been searching for, yet never knew what it was.
Until the glass shattered with a crash, and a bat flew in as if from the moonlight itself.
"Yes, Father. I shall become a bat."
That was the moment his current life truly began. From the birth of that philosophy, it was as if he had been granted a new life.
But what he saw this time was different from his memory.
That bat should have crashed into the Manor. It should have become his inspiration, the beginning of a legend. But instead, he saw an owl fly by.
The owl caught the bat with its predator's talons. In the end, the bat failed to fly into the Manor. Instead, it became the owl's meal. Perched on a branch, the owl disemboweled it, devoured its flesh raw, and ate it until nothing was left.
The ancients believed that the illusions of the dying were composed of a person's most hidden truths. These visions sometimes revealed secrets even the person didn't know while alive. Sometimes these secrets comforted the spirit, but other times they were heartbreaking.
Regardless, the ultimate purpose of these visions was to make the person feel that their life was complete. Once they knew everything concerning their life, they could pass away in peace.
The illusion showed his true form, reflected in the burning eyes of the deity he believed in.
Batman had already accepted this fact. He had failed. He was dead. Escaping the Court's palace was his last gamble, a final burning of his life force. The owl had eaten the bat, just as fate had ordained.
But just as he accepted this, in the darkness, there seemed to be... a light.
The illusion began to shatter. The owl on the branch let out a harsh screech and was torn to fragments. Even death itself seemed to lose its chill before that brilliance. From the void, a giant, glowing hand seemed to pierce through the illusion, grabbing him and, without question, pulling him toward the surface of the water.
"..."
"...I can see his vital signs are steadily rising."
In the HISHE Coffee Shop, Kara craned her neck, leaning in to observe Batman.
"Amazing..."
Just as she said that, Batman suddenly shouted, "No!" and shot up from the bed like a spring. Kara was in the middle of peering over, and when Batman sat up abruptly, his head slammed right into her outstretched forehead.
A Kryptonian's skull is tougher than steel. The impact sent Batman, who had just managed to recover a sliver of health, right back into the red. His vision went black, and he fell back down.
A sit-up, basically.
"Ah!"
Kara quickly pulled her head back, rubbing her forehead. She looked at the once-again unconscious Batman and felt like she'd caused a disaster.
"I just wanted to check on his condition," she said, looking at Orin Vale innocently. "Who knew... who knew..."
"It's fine."
Orin Vale patted her head and smiled.
"He's out of danger," he said, then looked at Batman with a slight frown.
He didn't tell anyone, but when he had saved Batman a moment ago, he seemed to have sensed something.
It was a very faint reaction, extremely inconspicuous. Anyone not on Orin Vale's current level would have been completely unable to detect it. It felt as if something was influencing Batman, or at the very least, that some high-level existence was watching him.
But when Orin Vale noticed the strangeness and tried to trace it back, that wisp of a trace vanished into thin air, as if it were just his illusion and had never existed at all.
However, Orin Vale was certain it wasn't a delusion. And this was definitely not some mutant or metahuman targeting Batman; something of that level wasn't worthy of his attention. The level of this presence was far higher.
Moreover, he already had a suspect in mind.
The Dark God, Barbatos.
At the dawn of the universe, matter and antimatter were born, and with them came The Monitor and the Anti-Monitor, who corresponded to each. But few knew that besides these two, there was a third being at the origin of the universe, whose mission was to watch over the things of the future, like a blacksmith forging the hopes and fears of all living beings into countless universes.
Barbatos was once the pet of that third being. But it found an opportunity to turn on and consume its master, becoming the ruler of the Dark Multiverse. It is the personification of destruction and darkness, a synonym for despair.
And from across the countless multiverses, it saw at a glance its most favored human, the unique sentient being who wore its emblem.
Batman.
There was nothing more severe than the consequences of an invasion by this being.
"What a world, fraught with peril," Orin Vale murmured.
He had actually come quite a long way. From being just an outstanding graduate of the Land of Light at the beginning, he was now confident he had surpassed the vast majority of his race.
But it was far from enough. He had rarely met his match so far, but that didn't mean he could get complacent. Beyond this world, various powerful opponents were lying in wait, and he was far from ready.
Of course, there was no use in rushing; a meal had to be eaten one bite at a time. He would set a small goal first: unlock the Seven Lights of the Emotional Spectrum one by one, and then move on to uncovering the secret of the origin of life.
Nekron, who represented Death, felt like the most imminent high-level Boss. He would deal with him first before considering anything else.
"Are you heading out?" Kara asked, looking back at Orin Vale.
"Yeah, I called Alfred. He'll be here to pick him up soon. Just keep an eye on things." Orin Vale waved his hand. "It's almost time for my meeting with Power Girl and the others. I have to make a trip to Central City."
"Oh," Kara nodded. "Have a safe trip, then~"
Orin Vale waved back without turning his head.
But before that, he'd take care of a small nuisance.
Across from the coffee shop, in the shadows of an alley, a particular dark figure stood silently.
A Talon, but not just any mass-produced one from the Court. He possessed exoskeleton technology that other Talons lacked, owl-shaped armor that covered his entire body.
The identity he currently used in Gotham was Lincoln March, a candidate running for Mayor, and also the candidate publicly endorsed by Bruce Wayne. Bruce had once believed this upright mayor would bring a future to Gotham.
But that was not the truth.
He was a Talon, here to take back what was his.
"Lucky you, Bruce. That's not the way you're meant to die. It would be letting you off too easy," Lincoln muttered to himself.
Just then, a voice sounded from behind him: "Then what is the way he's meant to die? Why don't you enlighten me?"
Lincoln: "!"
He whipped around in shock to look at the supposedly empty alley, only to see a red and silver suit of armor standing silently behind him, having appeared there at some unknown moment.
Orin Vale floated in mid-air with his arms crossed, smiling inside his helmet as he sized up the uninvited guest.
Lincoln March's pupils contracted. Even his instinctual impulse to counter-attack seemed frozen.
Because he recognized this guy. A person he felt shouldn't be here under any circumstances, someone regarded on Earth as a synonym for "invincible."
It was at this very moment that he realized.
He was screwed.
(end of chapter)
Some ancients believed that death was an illusion that accompanied that final moment.
It was an illusion that encompassed not just the dying person's past, nor only what they knew, but one that revealed their true self from when they were alive.
For Bruce Wayne, this was such a moment.
In the ancient Wayne Manor, in a moonlit hall devoid of light, Bruce Wayne sat alone in a chair. He was deep in agonized thought, pondering something he had always been searching for, yet never knew what it was.
Until the glass shattered with a crash, and a bat flew in as if from the moonlight itself.
"Yes, Father. I shall become a bat."
That was the moment his current life truly began. From the birth of that philosophy, it was as if he had been granted a new life.
But what he saw this time was different from his memory.
That bat should have crashed into the Manor. It should have become his inspiration, the beginning of a legend. But instead, he saw an owl fly by.
The owl caught the bat with its predator's talons. In the end, the bat failed to fly into the Manor. Instead, it became the owl's meal. Perched on a branch, the owl disemboweled it, devoured its flesh raw, and ate it until nothing was left.
The ancients believed that the illusions of the dying were composed of a person's most hidden truths. These visions sometimes revealed secrets even the person didn't know while alive. Sometimes these secrets comforted the spirit, but other times they were heartbreaking.
Regardless, the ultimate purpose of these visions was to make the person feel that their life was complete. Once they knew everything concerning their life, they could pass away in peace.
The illusion showed his true form, reflected in the burning eyes of the deity he believed in.
Batman had already accepted this fact. He had failed. He was dead. Escaping the Court's palace was his last gamble, a final burning of his life force. The owl had eaten the bat, just as fate had ordained.
But just as he accepted this, in the darkness, there seemed to be... a light.
The illusion began to shatter. The owl on the branch let out a harsh screech and was torn to fragments. Even death itself seemed to lose its chill before that brilliance. From the void, a giant, glowing hand seemed to pierce through the illusion, grabbing him and, without question, pulling him toward the surface of the water.
"..."
"...I can see his vital signs are steadily rising."
In the HISHE Coffee Shop, Kara craned her neck, leaning in to observe Batman.
"Amazing..."
Just as she said that, Batman suddenly shouted, "No!" and shot up from the bed like a spring. Kara was in the middle of peering over, and when Batman sat up abruptly, his head slammed right into her outstretched forehead.
A Kryptonian's skull is tougher than steel. The impact sent Batman, who had just managed to recover a sliver of health, right back into the red. His vision went black, and he fell back down.
A sit-up, basically.
"Ah!"
Kara quickly pulled her head back, rubbing her forehead. She looked at the once-again unconscious Batman and felt like she'd caused a disaster.
"I just wanted to check on his condition," she said, looking at Orin Vale innocently. "Who knew... who knew..."
"It's fine."
Orin Vale patted her head and smiled.
"He's out of danger," he said, then looked at Batman with a slight frown.
He didn't tell anyone, but when he had saved Batman a moment ago, he seemed to have sensed something.
It was a very faint reaction, extremely inconspicuous. Anyone not on Orin Vale's current level would have been completely unable to detect it. It felt as if something was influencing Batman, or at the very least, that some high-level existence was watching him.
But when Orin Vale noticed the strangeness and tried to trace it back, that wisp of a trace vanished into thin air, as if it were just his illusion and had never existed at all.
However, Orin Vale was certain it wasn't a delusion. And this was definitely not some mutant or metahuman targeting Batman; something of that level wasn't worthy of his attention. The level of this presence was far higher.
Moreover, he already had a suspect in mind.
The Dark God, Barbatos.
At the dawn of the universe, matter and antimatter were born, and with them came The Monitor and the Anti-Monitor, who corresponded to each. But few knew that besides these two, there was a third being at the origin of the universe, whose mission was to watch over the things of the future, like a blacksmith forging the hopes and fears of all living beings into countless universes.
Barbatos was once the pet of that third being. But it found an opportunity to turn on and consume its master, becoming the ruler of the Dark Multiverse. It is the personification of destruction and darkness, a synonym for despair.
And from across the countless multiverses, it saw at a glance its most favored human, the unique sentient being who wore its emblem.
Batman.
There was nothing more severe than the consequences of an invasion by this being.
"What a world, fraught with peril," Orin Vale murmured.
He had actually come quite a long way. From being just an outstanding graduate of the Land of Light at the beginning, he was now confident he had surpassed the vast majority of his race.
But it was far from enough. He had rarely met his match so far, but that didn't mean he could get complacent. Beyond this world, various powerful opponents were lying in wait, and he was far from ready.
Of course, there was no use in rushing; a meal had to be eaten one bite at a time. He would set a small goal first: unlock the Seven Lights of the Emotional Spectrum one by one, and then move on to uncovering the secret of the origin of life.
Nekron, who represented Death, felt like the most imminent high-level Boss. He would deal with him first before considering anything else.
"Are you heading out?" Kara asked, looking back at Orin Vale.
"Yeah, I called Alfred. He'll be here to pick him up soon. Just keep an eye on things." Orin Vale waved his hand. "It's almost time for my meeting with Power Girl and the others. I have to make a trip to Central City."
"Oh," Kara nodded. "Have a safe trip, then~"
Orin Vale waved back without turning his head.
But before that, he'd take care of a small nuisance.
Across from the coffee shop, in the shadows of an alley, a particular dark figure stood silently.
A Talon, but not just any mass-produced one from the Court. He possessed exoskeleton technology that other Talons lacked, owl-shaped armor that covered his entire body.
The identity he currently used in Gotham was Lincoln March, a candidate running for Mayor, and also the candidate publicly endorsed by Bruce Wayne. Bruce had once believed this upright mayor would bring a future to Gotham.
But that was not the truth.
He was a Talon, here to take back what was his.
"Lucky you, Bruce. That's not the way you're meant to die. It would be letting you off too easy," Lincoln muttered to himself.
Just then, a voice sounded from behind him: "Then what is the way he's meant to die? Why don't you enlighten me?"
Lincoln: "!"
He whipped around in shock to look at the supposedly empty alley, only to see a red and silver suit of armor standing silently behind him, having appeared there at some unknown moment.
Orin Vale floated in mid-air with his arms crossed, smiling inside his helmet as he sized up the uninvited guest.
Lincoln March's pupils contracted. Even his instinctual impulse to counter-attack seemed frozen.
Because he recognized this guy. A person he felt shouldn't be here under any circumstances, someone regarded on Earth as a synonym for "invincible."
It was at this very moment that he realized.
He was screwed.
(end of chapter)
