Chapter 114: The Battle of the Living Hell (Part 2)

Batman did not linger in the corridor for long, for he also knew that once discovered by the locals here and triggering a pursuit by too many people, given the terrifyingly complex architectural structure of this place, he might not actually be able to escape.

So, following his own deduction, he found another small door, drilled into that intestine-like passage, climbed two more floors, and exited through another door. He found his deduction was correct: this was another rooftop, and on the side of the rooftop was yet another small door. Through such passages, it connected to another building. The entire Living Hell spread layer by layer within such architectural structures, covering the entire area. People here could reach every corner without even leaving the building bodies, like a massive hive.

This simply left Batman awestruck.

He had systematically studied architectural engineering and structural mechanics. Even so, this bizarre and eerie architectural form exceeded his cognitive range. In his previous understanding, any building must be designed to embody the combination of function and aesthetics; this is also the meaning of architecture.

But Cat Getan's Living Hell was like trampling human architecture underfoot. This was an architectural miracle spontaneously constructed by commoners who knew nothing about architecture. It was filled with a massive amount of chaotic and disorderly illegal constructions. The necessary architectural structures were almost completely destroyed. Various intestine-like passages were messily interwoven in every building. The water and electricity structures were a complete mess, and pollution treatment was barely existent.

Yet, it truly achieved the combination of architectural function and aesthetics. Yes, Batman believed there was a kind of beauty here.

Before he could delve deeper into studying the hell within this hell, he heard a faint sound from upstairs, like metal scraping against stone.

Batman looked up and saw a figure standing on the rooftop of the adjacent building. That building also belonged to the Living Hell's structure but was slightly higher. Since Batman stood below in the shadows at the base of the wall, the person upstairs seemed not to have noticed him.

He took two more steps forward and clearly saw the situation on that building. There seemed to be two people confronting each other there.

Judging by their clothing and appearance, neither of these two was definitely a native of the Living Hell. This made Batman very curious. Who else would come to a dark slum in the middle of the night like him?

So, he found an angle and threw something in his hand with force. It was a Batarang, but it was equipped with a listening device. The Batarang "whooshed" and flew to the wall of that building, getting stuck perfectly in a crack near the rooftop. Batman put on his earpiece and then clearly heard the voices from the opposite side.

But those two did not seem to intend to speak. The person standing near the edge of the rooftop was tall, with a sharp arm blade on his forearm. He rushed straight at the other person, and the other person vanished in an instant, reappearing behind him.

Batman blinked. He confirmed this was not his hallucination; that person had just vanished into thin air and reappeared.

Immediately after, he heard an incredibly familiar voice come through the earpiece: "I knew you would appear sooner or later."

That was the voice of his psychology professor, Schiller.

The other person's voice seemed to use a voice changer, sounding somewhat shrill. He said: "Since you offended us, you should have expected this day. You can think about your last words."

Batman's foot moved. He confirmed that was definitely his university professor, Schiller. His first reaction was to rush forward and help, but quickly, Schiller's words made him stop. Because there seemed to be a bigger secret between them, he heard Schiller say: "You need not continue to disguise yourself. I know you are not my enemy from Metropolis."

That person did not answer, continuing to rush at Schiller. In Batman's unblinking gaze, his university professor, who claimed to be an ordinary person, indeed vanished in an instant and reappeared again.

In the pause when that killer stalled, Schiller said: "Perhaps I should address you as... Claw?"

The person opposite stopped his movement. He gently clenched his fingers, turned the arm blade on his arm, and then said: "How did you know?"

Then he said: "No matter how you know, there can be only one King of Cat Getan's Night, and that is the Court."

"You need not repeat your philosophy to me. I just want to tell you, you have found the wrong person," Schiller said.

That Claw seemed to have received some order. He instantly increased his speed, and his arm began to shimmer with some luster. Then Batman saw Schiller's figure suddenly vanish, and a cloud of gray mist appeared in the original spot. Immediately after, gray mist began to spread across the sky above the entire rooftop, mixed with some black particles.

Batman suddenly felt his breathing become difficult. An extreme excitement spread from within his heart. He felt he was starting to lose all control. Batman knelt halfway, clutching his own throat with both hands, veins bulging.

"Who are you? Who are you!!!"

"Who am I?"

"Who am I?"

"Who exactly am I..."

"I am Batman!"

"I am Batman..."

The voice in the hallucination became increasingly clear, gradually occupying his mind. Batman was almost hoarse from screaming; he felt an consciousness beyond his control was taking over his body.

As the mist grew thicker, in an instant, Batman fell to his knees on his back. Black slime erupted, enveloping his entire body. Then, a massive black monster leaped onto the rooftop.

This was an unexpected event neither person on the rooftop had anticipated. Schiller instantly retreated, then stared at that black monster. He whispered: "Venom? How did you get out?"

But it seemed that monster had lost its reason, rushing madly at Schiller.

Schiller had no time to worry about much else. He turned into a cloud of gray mist and retreated rapidly. When the monster rushed to Schiller's front, it seemed to regain some sanity, or rather, Venom's consciousness took the upper hand.

"I will eat your brain!" Venom said.

Schiller opened his mouth. He suddenly realized something was wrong with Venom's form. What was up with those two pointed ears on his head?

Could it be that he...

Then Schiller said to Venom: "I think, before considering the problem of eating, you might have a bigger trouble to deal with..."

"What?" Venom paused for a moment.

Then Venom felt a surge of intense dark emotions erupt from within his host's body. That terrible black tide made Venom almost instantly lose control of the body.

In the symbiote's brief life, he had never felt such terrifying and intense dark emotions. Originally, as a symbiote that fed on emotions, any emotion was food they could devour; they could not possibly fear their food.

But now, Venom was as if instantly swallowed by a terrible flood. He didn't even make a sound before losing control of the host and all cells.

Quickly, Schiller watched helplessly as Venom's form changed. Originally, Venom's form was more like the liquid armor he had when on Stark.

But now, the armor part on Venom's body remained. He let out a somewhat painful roar. The black monster struggled to kneel halfway, and then the slime on his body began to re-condense.

Pointed ears, fangs, and wings. A bat symbol gradually emerged from his chest. A pair of huge bat wings unfolded behind him. The Venom-Bat instantly took to the air, diving at Schiller at high speed.

Schiller turned into gray mist to dodge this impact, but the bad news was that this Venom-Bat was probably out of control.

Even by guessing, Schiller could figure out some clues. Although he didn't know how Venom ended up on Batman, who was Batman? The ultimate embodiment of the dark side in the entire DC Universe. A symbiote simply could not control such a person; instead, it was very likely to stimulate the darkness hidden within Batman's heart.

The symbiote's consciousness might be directly trapped. Now controlling this body was the out-of-control Dark Bat.

This was a huge trouble. Originally, Batman was merely flesh and blood, relying more on strategy. But the symbiote itself was a very unreasonable existence in the Marvel Universe. The stronger the host, the stronger it becomes; the stronger it becomes, the stronger the host becomes.

It could fully develop the potential hidden within the host's body and directly convert it into combat power. How great Batman's potential was went without saying.

The Venom-Bat in mid-air was still undergoing astonishing changes. His body began to grow larger and larger. The black slime expanded endlessly. Countless tentacles made of black slime, like insect cocoons, wrapped around this monster.

Spikes began to appear on his body. Under the moonlight, a monster over ten meters tall, with huge spiked wings, appeared above the Living Hell.

That was an extremely terrifying black bat. His entire body was pitch black, with only a silver bat symbol on his chest. His eyes, just like those of his creator Knull, emitted a flame-like glow, appearing ferocious and dreadful.

Schiller looked up at that giant monster, then asked the gray mist in his mind: "Are you sure you can fight?"

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

As soon as the gray mist finished speaking, Schiller's gray mist form also began to change.

The gray mist, initially thin, began to become dense. Amidst the churning gray mist, a circular sun composed of countless strange mist patterns slowly condensed and rose from the mist.

Countless gray mists, like scattered solar particles, radiated from the densest center, also resembling clawed shadows and unlookable tentacles.

This strange sun composed of gray mist began to gradually become deeper. The mist condensed more and more, the color becoming darker and darker. Under the moonlight, another massive and terrifying monster was born.

This parasitic race, born in chaos, raised in chaos, and destined to return to chaos, is forever filled with an eerie and terrifying beauty; when these two massive monsters appeared above the Living Hell, the moonlight grew even brighter.

Soon, they began to entangle with one another, darting swiftly through this strange city that seemed like a living creature.

The bright moonlight, the layers of twisted giant city behind them, and countless wires tangled together like a great net collectively formed a background as eerie, chilling, and magnificent as the battle itself.

A huge full moon rose; mist and slime flew past in front, while buildings against the moonlight turned into pitch-black silhouettes. Between layers of wires, towering garbage bags, and countless broken bricks and tiles, the cold moonlight drew black and gray together as they sped through the city.

rice ball.

A floating plastic bag froze in mid-air for an instant, like a jellyfish plated with cold light; countless soda cans flying halfway up were also solidified, becoming shimmering fish in a frozen tide. In an instant, a wave of factors surged past; a silent storm tore everything apart, wooden planks dropped dust, and metal rose with floating light.

The scene rushed backward; the view passed through the chaotic, interwoven support structures of layer upon layer of buildings. When climbing to the top along the wires, the giant city, seen from above, looked like the gaping maw of an abyss.

Then, the speed of the descent made the wind ripple at the edges of vision; the spiral of mist and slime flew faster and faster, and the moonlight grew brighter and brighter.

In an instant, time froze; between the moonlight halting and the wind sound solidifying, all points of light were suspended in mid-air, rotating around countless beams of radiance. As they approached the center, it finally became clear: two forces collided silently, and ten million factors erupted into a huge mushroom cloud.

In a soundless, lightless explosion, there was not a spark of fire or a sound, only an eerie silence. Afterward, waves of brain activity rose, and countless sharp shrieks erupted on the mental plane.

In almost a single glance, the battle at the microscopic level, which humans cannot directly gaze upon, had already reached its tens of millions of rounds.

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

Tonight in Cat Getan, silence and sound waves played in unison; stillness and conflict danced together; the Living Hell rose with a black tide, and the city screamed.

Beneath the moonlight, atop the silhouette of a pitch-black building, a figure incomparably tiny compared to the monsters finally fell amidst extreme fear and chaos, saying into the earpiece with his last consciousness: "Cannot return... cannot return at this time..."

"... The Court of Owls must not return at this time!!!"

----------Author's Note----------

Ten thousand words delivered today!

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