What bad thoughts can Batman have?

Chapter 989 The Companion of Justice: The Laughing Bat Enters the Battlefield

If the Batman Who Laughs had previously harbored even a sliver of wishful thinking, hoping to eliminate these disruptors at minimal cost, he no longer does.

For the Batman Who Laughs, what terrifies him most is not Batman Dragon or Perpetua and his crew. Even when others are repeatedly defeated by Batman Dragon, or even when his actions are predicted and he is outmaneuvered, the Batman Who Laughs has never been so nervous, because those are visible enemies.

But this one was different, unlike the people he had seen in his previous mad laughter. He was facing an invincible enemy... himself.

Nothing could be more terrifying than this.

Almost simultaneously, the Batman Who Laughs made a decision: he would stop it all immediately.

Even if it comes at a tiny price.

And the price to pay is obviously...

The hyper-time stream burned rapidly, and the time that the Batman Who Laughs stole from the DC multiverse was completely consumed.

As everything burned, the Batman Who Laughs regained control of his body almost instantly. He opened his eyes and saw himself in a corner of the hypertime flow.

He was panting heavily, feeling that most of the 52 seconds he had was deleted and disappeared, even the silver-white text of the Alfred Protocol on his retina had vanished completely.

very good.

But just in case, Laughter still planned to remain hidden until the matter was completely over.

He burned for 52 seconds, which only temporarily stopped those personalities from causing further chaos in his body, but did not eradicate his fail-safe plan.

He had to carefully recall what he had done and think about how to deal with his past self.

The laughing bat suddenly felt a little sleepy.

He was exhausted; even though he had mastered some of Papetua's great power, he was still physically and mentally drained.

He needs to get some rest; the Batman: Dragon project is no longer something he needs to worry about.

……

……

……

Meanwhile, the World Forger received his command and rode a beam of light straight to the edge of the universe.

The World Founders have reached the Infant Multiverse.

This place seemed no different from what he remembered.

Hanging within the chaotic rift was a crystal sword, seven feet seven inches long, its blade shimmering with countless galaxies; upon closer inspection, countless nascent universes seemed to be born and die within its light. The craftsman mused to himself, "When I forged this sword, I left an innate restriction. If this sword were to recognize its master, even Dr. Manhattan himself would find it difficult to withstand. Why not..."

What the hell?

The world's foundries were somewhat bewildered.

He was quite certain that what he had just done was not what he had just done at all, and when he looked down, the baby multiverse was glowing brightly in the omnipotent universe, so how could it have turned into a knife or something like that?
Who was lurking in the shadows, making their move? This is clearly...

But the World Founders were powerless to stop it all.

He suddenly realized that this was a trap set for him by Batman Dragon. This was definitely not the Baby Multiverse he had seen before, or rather, at the moment he left the Baby Multiverse, this multiverse was somehow filled with the power of the Void Hand's story.

The World Forger laughed three times: "From now on, I will roam freely throughout the Three Realms and Six Paths!" Just as he was about to flee, he suddenly saw black mist surging, and a mad figure wearing a tattered black robe shattered the void and came.

Suddenly, a maniacal laugh echoed from the depths of the underworld: "What an ungrateful, treacherous craftsman!" Amidst the churning black mist, the laughing bat appeared, stepping through a shattered rift in spacetime. This demon was dressed in an exceptionally terrifying manner today: draped in a patchwork robe of sin, with seven smiling copper bells hanging from his waist, and a mourning staff bound with chains of cause and effect in his hand. With each step he took, a maniacal aura emanated from him.

The World Maker stared at the Batman Who Laughs before him, momentarily unsure whether it was a trick by Batman Dragon or if the Batman Who Laughs had truly lost his mind.

But no matter what the World Forger does, a fact that is completely different from the reality he is in is spreading.

This fact is the same as, yet different from, his current location, like two completely parallel worlds, running side by side, yet complementing each other.

This feeling was exactly the same as the feeling of the World Forger being manipulated by the power of the Void Hand story, which made him feel extremely strange.

The world's forger, though startled, remained calm, holding his precious sword horizontally before his chest and shouting, "You are nothing but a mad demon, how dare you block my way?" The laughing bat did not answer, but instead hurled three blood-stained bat darts. The darts transformed into three karmic consequences in mid-air, aiming straight for the craftsman's vital points: his brow, his heart, and his dantian.

The World Forger had no intention of continuing the fight against the Bat Who Laughs. He was beginning to sense that his current state was different from when he was controlled by the Void Hand.

When the Void Hand controlled him, it completely manipulated his actions, pulling and dragging him like a puppet, forcibly taking him to the places the Void Hand wanted him to go. But now, the control he was under was like a shadow play. As he made his movements, a shadowy figure manipulated strange shadows on the screen in front of him, composing a story that was similar to his actions but completely different from them.

The World Forger felt threatened. This story wasn't as directly binding as the story of the Void Hand, but he had a vague premonition that one day it would come upon him, like a timeline overwrite, pressing down on him and completely erasing all his actions.

The World Forger is now making his move. He has completely abandoned his previous plan to go back and find the Anti-Monitor and the Monitor. If he were to go back now, the likely outcome would be that he would be able to return but not be able to get out.

He had already noticed that at the core of the infant multiverse he had once created... The World Builder's heart sank as he saw the shadow play controlled by Batman Dragon begin to unfold the plot he least wanted to see.

The craftsman hastily swung his precious sword to parry, the blade severing even the law of cause and effect. Just as he was about to revel in his victory, a young general in red robes emerged from behind the laughing bat—it was none other than Superman Chen Tao! This young general had a platinum kryptonite breastplate on his forehead that reflected the sun, a golden rope of morality around his waist, and his hand seals resonated with the stars in the heavens.

“It’s you…” The World Builder took a deep breath, turned his head, and saw the core of the universe he had once created standing in front of him.

Superman Chen Tao loudly chanted the incantation: "Heaven and earth are dark and yellow, the universe is vast and boundless! Divine weapons possess spirits, how can they be allowed to rebel?" Upon hearing this, the precious sword emitted countless cries of infants from the universe within its blade. The world's forger felt his soul about to shatter. After forging the sword, he had already used a secret method to inscribe a master-recognition seal of Chen Tao on the core of the blade, and now it was here!

"Impossible!" the craftsman roared, trying to forcefully activate his bloodline connection, only to see the seven-star pattern on the hilt of the knife reverse, shattering his bones inch by inch. Taking advantage of the situation, the Laughing Bat stepped forward, his mourning staff striking the craftsman's vital point, and sneered, "I foresaw your disloyalty, and specially requested General Chen Tao to secretly protect you. Otherwise, wouldn't it have jeopardized the Dragon Lord's grand plan of conquest?"

It is:

A craftsman's theft of a treasure caused trouble, but a wise man's laughter revealed the wickedness.

If not for heroes upholding the righteous path, how could the divine weapon and demon-slaying banner be protected?
A later poet lamented:

The master craftsman harbors wicked intentions; little does he know that there are even more brilliant minds beyond the heavens.

A true hero breaks the deadlock with wild laughter, his name forever etched in the annals of chivalry!
The world's foundry workers took a deep breath.

The story is over.

Before Batman Dragon could even react, he had already written the ending of the story for him. The filthy, cowardly little world-builder was tasked with helping the great hero Batman Dragon when he was about to slay the villain Perpetua, so that Batman Dragon could retrieve the sword that could fight Perpetua.

However, this despicable craftsman did not actually obey Batman Dragon's orders. He harbored evil intentions and was so vicious that he not only did not intend to help Batman Dragon, but also planned to steal the treasured sword and run away.

Then he received a lesson from justice. Batman Dragon's enemy, the Batman Who Laughs, came out and defeated him. The Baby Multiverse Core, which he created himself, betrayed him and, as Batman Dragon's backup plan, came out to defeat him.

The story has reached its proper ending.

That's right.

and then?
"Batman: Dragon is not the Void Hand."

"The World Founder said in a low voice."

"He wants to learn the tricks of the Void Hand to manipulate me, but that won't be so easy."

In fact, the world's foundries have already realized this.

From the very beginning, the story that Batman: Dragon built did not possess the terrifying coercive power of the Void Hand.

His initial arrival in the Baby Multiverse in an attempt to take away the Baby Multiverse was merely a story used to depict the real-world actions being taken by the World Builders in the DC Multiverse.

Batman: Dragon cannot manipulate the actions of the World Makers through story like the Void Hand; it can only tell stories based on the actions of the World Makers.

This cause-and-effect relationship is the opposite of the normal state of the Void Hand using the power of the story. Batman Dragon is just a low-level imitator who forcibly imitates the abilities of others and then creates something that is not what it seems in order to intimidate the World Maker.

And now the world's foundry workers have seen through this.

Your intimidation attempt failed.

The Batman Who Laughs has appeared, indeed. Superman Chen Tao, the core of the Baby Multiverse, has also appeared, indeed. But having the characters in place doesn't mean the real-world plot will unfold as you wrote in your story.

When the world's creators discover that they don't need to pay such a huge price to defy the outcome the story presents...

"A paper tiger is still just a paper tiger."

The World Forger looked at the two people in front of him: the Bat Who Laughs and Superman Chen Tao.

"More intriguing than knowing how Batman Dragon works is..." The World Forger's gaze lingered on the face of the Batman Who Laughs.

"I'm curious if you'd really work for Batman Dragon. I've seen you before, Batman Who Laughs, and I thought you were the kind of weirdo who would never be loyal to anyone and was only interested in yourself."

That's true.

The Batman Who Laughs is indeed the person the World Forger described, but there's a problem...

The person before us may not be the man laughing maniacally that the world's creators imagined.

But the "Bat of Laughter" continued to laugh, a laugh that couldn't be more authentic. The World Forger should have been able to tell whether this was the laugh of the Bat of Laughter, but it was clear that there were three Bats of Laughter within the Bat of Laughter.

The World Makers can at most distinguish whether a smile belongs to the Man of Laughter, but how could they possibly understand the difference between the Emperor Joker's smile, the Joker's smile, and the Batman Who Laughs' smile?

Therefore, the World Forger completely mistook the Batman Who Laughs before him for the Batman Who Laughs himself. Driven by the curiosity of a sixth-dimensional being, he began to uncontrollably speculate about the Batman Who Laughs's purpose. Because, to most people, the Batman Who Laughs's purpose was so elusive, it aroused... well, a desire to know?
"I only made a deal with Batman Dragon."

The maniac seemed unwilling to say more, and the world-forger's curiosity was limited to that. He never forgot his business, and he would not do anything foolish because of a little curiosity.

No matter what tricks Batman Dragon is playing, or what tricks he's trying to play, the outcome is already decided.

The World Forgers no longer intend to pay attention to the former core of the universe and the Bat of Laughter.

The Baby Multiverse will have its king; Batman Dragon's plan has failed, but the World Makers have not.

Batman: Dragon fabricated a story about him suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of the Batman Who Laughs and Superman Chen Tao, but it wouldn't work on him.

Everything seemed to be progressing according to the World Forger's plan, but almost at that very moment...

The World Forger saw the Laughing Bat convulsing wildly in front of him.

……

……

……

The laughing bat closed its eyes.

Transformed into Mandrak'rak and possessing the power of the Void Hand story, the Laughing Bat, who was no longer an ordinary human, should actually no longer need to sleep.

But just as Batman's Dragon fell asleep from exhaustion after becoming Barbatos's servant, the Batman Who Laughs is now feeling very tired as well.

The 52 seconds stolen from the DC multiverse is an abstract concept, not a fixed number of seconds. As long as the reality of "stealing 52 seconds" remains in the hypertime flow of the DC multiverse, the Batman Who Laughs can draw power from it, like a greedy vampire, constantly draining the DC multiverse until it bleeds its last drop of blood.

But now the Bat of Laughter has almost exhausted this power. No matter how flowing the source of the stream is, if too much power is drained at once, it will only dry up.

After laughing wildly for a short while, he opened his eyes.

Yes, that's right. He was still in the same place where he had rested before. The surrounding environment was exactly the same as before he lay down, without any changes. He sensed the reality of the hyper-time flow and it seemed that only a few seconds had passed.

He only briefly fell into a coma due to exhaustion, and the power he had previously possessed allowed him to recover quickly...

Um……?
The Laughing Bat found himself lying in a hospital bed in a bat cave, all alone.

Wait, what's going on?

The Laughing Bat felt his mind was a little foggy; for the first time in a long time, his head had been so muddled.

He sat up from his seat in a daze, lifted the blanket, and saw three IV drips inserted into his arm at the same time. He pulled the needles and medicine out of his arm, feeling the stinging pain as the needles left his skin.

A stinging sensation?

(End of this chapter)