Battle of Living Hell (Part Two)

Batman did not linger in the corridor for long. He knew that once the local residents discovered him and too many people started pursuing him, he might not be able to escape this terrifyingly complex maze of buildings.

So, following his own deductions, he found another small door and slipped into one of the intestinal passageways. After climbing another two floors, he exited through a different door and found that his guess had been correct. This was another rooftop, and on its side was yet another small door leading through such passages into another building. The entire Living Hell spread layer upon layer through this kind of architecture until it covered the whole area. People here could reach every corner without ever leaving the buildings, like a gigantic hive.

It left Batman utterly amazed.

He had systematically studied architectural engineering and structural design. Even so, this bizarre and grotesque form of construction lay beyond his understanding. In his previous conception, every building had to be designed in order to combine function and beauty. That was the meaning of architecture.

But Gotham’s Living Hell seemed to trample human architecture beneath its feet. It was an architectural miracle spontaneously built by civilians who knew absolutely nothing about architecture. It was filled with chaotic, unplanned illegal additions. The proper structural elements had been almost completely ruined, intestinal passageways crisscrossed messily through every building, the water and electrical systems were a disaster, and pollution treatment was practically nonexistent.

Yet it had truly achieved a union of architectural function and beauty. Yes, Batman believed there was a kind of beauty here.

Before he could study this Hell within Hell any further, he heard a faint sound from upstairs, like metal scraping across stone.

Batman looked up and saw a figure standing atop the neighboring building. That building was also part of Living Hell, though it was somewhat taller. Batman stood below it, hidden in the shadow at the base of a wall, and the person above apparently had not noticed him.

He stepped forward two more paces and got a clearer view of the rooftop. It seemed that two people were facing off there.

Judging by their clothing, neither of them was a resident of Living Hell. That made Batman extremely curious. Who else would come to a dark Slums in the middle of the night, just like him?

So he found an angle and threw something in his hand with all his strength. It was a Batarang fitted with a listening device. With a whoosh, it flew to the wall of that building and lodged itself in a crack near the roof. Batman put on his earpiece and clearly heard the sounds from across the way.

But the two seemed to have no intention of talking. The person standing near the edge of the roof was large in stature, with a sharp blade strapped to his forearm. He charged straight at the other person, but the other person vanished in an instant and reappeared behind him.

Batman blinked. He was certain it had not been an illusion. That person had just vanished and reappeared out of thin air.

Then an incredibly familiar voice came through his earpiece. "I knew you would show up sooner or later."

It was the voice of his Psychology Professor, Schiller.

The other person seemed to be using a voice changer, making his voice sound somewhat shrill. He said, "From the moment you offended us, you should have expected this day. You may start thinking about your last words."

Batman shifted his footing. He was certain that was Schiller, his university professor. His first instinct was to go help, but Schiller’s next words stopped him. There seemed to be an even greater secret between them. He heard Schiller say, "You needn’t keep pretending. I know you are not my enemy in Metropolis."

The man did not answer and continued rushing at Schiller. Before Batman’s unblinking eyes, his university professor, who claimed to be an ordinary man, truly vanished in an instant and then appeared again.

During the Assassin’s momentary pause, Schiller said, "Perhaps I should call you… Talon?"

The person opposite him stopped moving. He slowly clenched his fingers, and the blade on his arm shifted direction. Then he asked, "How did you know?"

Then he said, "No matter how you learned it, Gotham can only have one king of the night, and that is the Court of Owls."

"You needn’t repeat your creed to me. I only want to tell you that you have the wrong person," Schiller said.

The Talon seemed to receive some kind of command. His speed instantly increased, and his arm began to glint. Then Batman saw Schiller’s figure suddenly disappear. A mass of gray mist appeared in his place, and soon gray mist began spreading across the air above the entire rooftop, mixed with black particles.

Batman suddenly found it difficult to breathe. An extreme excitement spread from deep within him, and he felt himself beginning to lose control completely. Batman dropped to one knee, clutching his throat with both hands as veins bulged across his skin.

"Who are you? Who are you?!"

"Who am I?"

"Who am I?"

"Who the hell am I…?"

"I’m Batman!"

"I’m Batman…"

The voices in the hallucination became clearer and clearer, gradually taking over Batman’s mind. He was nearly screaming himself hoarse as he felt an uncontrollable consciousness taking over his body.

As the mist grew thicker, Batman suddenly fell backward onto his knees. Black Slime erupted and enveloped his entire body. Then a huge black monster leaped onto the rooftop.

Neither person on the roof had expected this. Schiller instantly retreated, staring at the black monster as he said in a low voice, "Venom? How did you get out?"

But the monster seemed to have lost its mind and charged madly at Schiller.

Schiller had no time to worry about anything else. He transformed into a mass of gray mist and retreated rapidly. When the monster reached him, it seemed to regain some of its senses—or rather, Venom’s consciousness gained the upper hand.

"I’ll eat your brain!" Venom said.

Schiller opened his mouth, suddenly noticing that something about Venom’s shape was wrong. What was with those two pointed ears on its head?

It couldn’t be…

Then Schiller said to Venom, "I think before you worry about eating, you may have a bigger problem to deal with…"

"What?" Venom froze for a moment.

Then Venom felt a violent wave of dark emotion erupt from within its host. That terrifying black tide made Venom lose control of the body almost instantly.

In this Symbiote’s brief life, it had never felt such terrifying, intense dark emotion. Symbiotes fed on emotions; any emotion was food they could devour. They should not have been afraid of their food.

But now, Venom seemed to be swallowed by a terrifying flood in an instant. It did not even make a sound before losing control of its host and every cell in the body.

Soon, Schiller watched helplessly as Venom’s form began to change. Originally, Venom’s shape had been closer to the liquid armor it had taken while on Stark.

But now, the armored portions of Venom’s body remained. It let out a pained roar, and the black monster struggled onto one knee as the Slime on its body began to gather again.

Pointed ears, fangs, and wings. A bat emblem gradually appeared across its chest, while a pair of enormous bat wings unfolded from its back. Venom Bat instantly soared into the air and dove at Schiller at incredible speed.

Schiller transformed into gray mist and dodged the attack, but the bad news was that this Venom Bat had probably gone out of control.

Even without knowing the details, Schiller could guess part of what had happened. He did not know how Venom had ended up on Batman, but who was Batman? He was the culmination of the dark side of the entire DC Universe. There was no way a Symbiote could control a person like that. Instead, it had most likely provoked the darkness buried within Batman’s heart.

The Symbiote’s consciousness might have been trapped outright. The one controlling this body now was an out-of-control dark Batman.

This was going to be a serious problem. Batman had originally been only flesh and blood, relying more on strategy and intelligence. But Symbiotes themselves were an utterly unreasonable existence in the Marvel world. The stronger the host, the stronger it became; the stronger it became, the stronger the host became.

It could fully unleash the potential hidden within its host’s body and directly convert it into combat power. There was no need to say how great Batman’s potential was.

The Venom Bat in midair was still undergoing shocking changes. Its body grew larger and larger, while the black Slime expanded without end. Countless tentacles formed from black Slime wrapped around the monster like an insect cocoon.

Spikes began emerging across its body. Under the moonlight, a monster more than ten meters tall, with enormous spiked wings, appeared over Living Hell.

It was an incomparably terrifying black bat. Its entire body was jet-black, save for a silver bat emblem on its chest. Its eyes glowed like the eyes of Knull, the creator of Symbiotes, with a flame-like radiance that made it look savage and horrifying.

Schiller looked up at the gigantic monster and asked Gray Mist in his heart, "Are you sure you know how to fight?"

"I just don’t like fighting, not that I can’t fight! I’m going to beat him up!!!"

As soon as Gray Mist finished speaking, Schiller’s gray-mist form also began to change.

The gray mist changed from thin and sparse to thick and dense. Amid the churning mist, a circular sun composed of countless strange mist patterns slowly condensed and rose.

Countless streams of gray mist spread out from the densest center like drifting solar particles, or like clawing shadows and unseeable tentacles.

This bizarre sun made of gray mist gradually became deeper and darker. The mist condensed ever more densely, its color deepening. Under the moonlight, another enormous and terrifying monster was born.

This parasitic race, born of chaos, raised in chaos, and destined to return to chaos, was forever filled with an eerie and dreadful beauty. When these two gigantic monsters appeared above Living Hell, the moonlight grew brighter.

Soon, they became entangled, darting rapidly through the grotesque city that seemed almost alive.

Bright moonlight, the immense twisted city layered behind them, and countless electrical wires tangled together like the Web formed a backdrop as strange, grim, and magnificent as the battle itself.

A huge full moon rose. Mist and Slime flew before it, while buildings backlit by moonlight became pitch-black silhouettes. Between layers of wires, towering garbage bags, and countless broken bricks and tiles, cold moonlight pulled black and gray through the city at blinding speed.

A drifting plastic bag froze in midair for an instant, like a jellyfish plated in cold light. Countless soda cans flying through the air also solidified, becoming glittering fish in a frozen tidal wave. In an instant, a tidal surge of particles swept past, and a soundless storm tore everything apart. Dust fell from wooden planks, and metal flashed with floating light.

The scenery raced backward. The gaze passed through the chaotic, interwoven support structures of layer upon layer of buildings. As it climbed along electrical wires to the highest point, the giant city looked from above like the gaping mouth of the Abyss.

Then the plunging speed made the wind ripple at the edges of vision. Mist and Slime spiraled ever faster, while the moonlight grew brighter and brighter.

In an instant, time stopped. Moonlight halted. Amid frozen wind, every point of light congealed in midair. As they spun around countless lights and approached the center, it finally became clear that two forces had collided soundlessly, sending tens of millions of particles surging into a huge Mushroom cloud.

In the silent explosion, there was not a spark or a sound, only eerie stillness. Then waves of brain activity rose, and countless sharp cries erupted on the spiritual plane.

In almost a single exchange, the battle on a microscopic level beyond human sight had already entered its tens of millions of rounds.

In the blink of an eye, the first collision ended. The battle, visible only in the moonlight, began again. Moonlight made the city stretch out countless dark shadows like the curtain of an opera, drawing the line between gray and black.

Tonight, Gotham played silence and sound waves together, made stillness dance with conflict. Living Hell surged with a black tide, and the city screamed.

At the peak of a black building silhouette beneath the moonlight, a figure utterly tiny compared to the monsters finally collapsed amid extreme fear and chaos. With his last shred of consciousness, he said into his earpiece, "It cannot return… not now…"

"…The Court of Owls must never return now!!!"

Today’s ten thousand words are here!

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