Chapter 296

"Willpower is, in fact, a very broad concept—it can be simply summarized as the quality of resolving to achieve a goal and mobilizing all emotions and thoughts to fulfill that resolve." Schiller's voice echoed through the empty theater; though he was explaining a somewhat dry concept, his rhythmic intonation kept listeners engaged.

"This concept also involves other aspects, such as self-control, mental stability, coherence of thought, and focus…"

"Batman lacks none of these—he possesses an extremely rapid ability to make decisions, intense focus on his goals, smooth analytical thinking to weigh advantages and disadvantages, and unwavering perseverance to see them through. But even mastering all these still falls within the realm of ordinary humans; true willpower extends far beyond this."

"It is difficult for a person to believe in a goal that is utterly impossible and persistently strive toward it—for instance, almost no one believes they have four eyes, nor does anyone truly think their head is square, because these are obvious facts. Even if they once fantasized about what it would be like if such things happened—perhaps you could try imagining it now…"

Soon, two extra eyes appeared on Victor's forehead. He asked, "Like this?"

"Correct. That's thanks to your rich imagination. But let me tell you—you do not have four eyes."

With a loud *pop*, the two extra eyes on Victor's forehead vanished. He blinked in surprise. Schiller explained: "This is the struggle within a dream. You imagined yourself with four eyes; I told you otherwise. In that instant, your imagination shattered—and so the dream's corresponding form disappeared."

"Because deep down, you know the you living in the real world has only two eyes. Most people are the same—they may dream of having four eyes, but upon waking, they merely laugh it off, thinking it was a ridiculous dream."

"But if you truly believed with absolute conviction that you had four eyes, then my statement that you don't would be meaningless—you would still retain four eyes."

"Conversely, you could do the same to me—for example, you could say my head is not a globe…"

Victor took a deep breath, focused his mind, and said to Schiller: "Your head is not a globe. No human head could ever be a globe. You know this…"

But Schiller showed no change. The globe atop his head continued to rotate slowly. Victor crossed his arms and asked, "So… you really believe your head is a globe?"

"Precisely. In plain terms, I hypnotized myself into believing something fundamentally impossible. This grants you greater power within dreams."

"Put another way, this is a clash between affirmation and negation. I believe being slashed by a knife won't injure me; you believe slashing someone with a knife causes harm. When our beliefs conflict, the one you believe in manifests as reality—because in reality, slashing someone with a knife does cause injury and bleeding. The belief I hold is nearly impossible…"

You, in the affirmative position, find it easy to believe something that aligns with your common sense and memory. I, in the negated position, find it difficult to believe something that contradicts common sense and memory. Therefore, if you now produce a knife and strike me, your attack is easy, but my defense is nearly impossible.

"This is precisely the situation Batman now faces."

As he spoke, the play on stage had just begun.

Batman, having once used the Gray Lantern Ring, knew the rules of dreams: "What you believe becomes true," "Believe and receive." But now he was confronting Schiller's will—and he was facing the very predicament Schiller had just described.

He closed his eyes and whispered: "... y hand now holds a batarang—it's non-reflective carbon-black, with a sharp blade..."

At the same time, Schiller's voice echoed: "... o. You were hastily driven from your home by a brutal killer—you had no time to grab weapons. You just woke from bed—you should be wearing pajamas, not your Batsuit..."

As he spoke, the batarang Batman was forming dissolved, and his signature suit and cape slowly transformed into silk pajamas. Bruce closed his eyes and muttered, "I wear the Batsuit because I am Batman."

Yawen

His Batsuit slowly reformed. At the boundary between silk pajamas and Batsuit, an invisible force struggled—but in the end, perhaps because of Bruce's final words, the Batsuit slowly covered his body. Yet the black cape was gone.

He glanced behind him, his expression grim.

Logically, Batman's willpower was invincible—especially after declaring, "Because I am Batman." Any stronger attack would simply avoid him.

But the reason Batman could not do this now was manyfold. First, he is young. This may sound abstract, but consider this comparison: Marvel's Spider-Man, Peter Parker, is seventeen this year and only recently got his driver's license. Batman, Bruce Wayne, is nineteen—just a sophomore in college. Bruce is only two years older than Peter.

Compare their aesthetics: though Batman appears to be two centuries older than Spider-Man, this cannot hide the fact that Bruce is still a teenager. Mental maturity develops with age, and this rookie Batman, only a year into his career, is nowhere near the iron-willed Old Man Batman he will become.

Another, more critical reason: Schiller had warned him not to waste energy unnecessarily—because Schiller knew Bruce's self-designed mental device for emergency awakening from dreams was extremely draining. Insufficient energy leads to distracted focus—a biological limit even Schiller could not escape; after repeated use of his flash ability, he too felt mentally unfocused.

Batman had repeatedly activated his emergency awakening device—like pushing his flash ability beyond its limit. Now, he was suffering from a persistent, violent headache. The fact that he could still focus enough to manifest a batarang was already extraordinary.

Batman took a deep breath. He felt his mental reserves had been utterly depleted. Now, if he stepped just one pace beyond Wayne Manor's front gate, four lethal weapons—glowing with deadly light—would strike from every angle, leaving him no escape.

His belief that he could not be hurt might slightly affect one or two weapons—but with so many ruthless killers attacking at once, his weakened state left him powerless to resist.

And the reset function forced him into repeated encounters. He could not retreat to Wayne Manor to devise a proper plan. As everyone knows, ambushes are one of Batman's greatest weaknesses.

After another dozen attempts, Batman made only slight progress. He realized that among the four killers, if he had to pick the easiest target, it was the one with the chainsaw.

Through intense headache, he barely controlled his body: first rolling right to dodge the descending cleaver, then swiftly shifting left to evade the iron claws on the wall.

At that moment, the chainsaw killer on the left was still activating his weapon—using it required core strength, forcing him to lean back, shifting his center of gravity. Batman lowered his stance, swept one leg out—and the chainsaw killer collapsed.

Batman didn't understand why this killer used a chainsaw. In his view, it was a poor weapon—slow to activate, often obstructing vision.

Batman noticed differences among the killers: the chainsaw killer lacked refined combat skills; when faced with Batman's lightning-fast leg attacks, he didn't know how to evade. The red monster with iron claws was the slimmest of them all—but could teleport.

The pale-faced man and the hockey-masked man were both tall, swung their weapons with extreme speed, and possessed solid combat defense. But differently: the pale-faced killer's background music induced tension and anxiety in Batman; the hockey-masked brute was immensely strong and immune to pain and injury.

After a few more desperate attempts, Batman's vision darkened. His consciousness space began to collapse—and then he fainted.

When he awoke, Bruce felt as if his head would split open. Still, he gritted his teeth and activated his alert protocol—confirming he had indeed returned to reality.

Somehow, he felt relieved. The human brain's self-preservation mechanism forced unconsciousness after extreme exhaustion. If he opened his eyes now and saw those monsters standing at the door, he wasn't sure his willpower could sustain another counterattack.

Bruce took a deep breath. He was about to lie back down and rest when a frantic phone rang. He forced himself upright, staggered down the stairs, and answered.

Gordon's anxious voice came through: "The head of the Lawrence family is dead. The Twelve Families are in chaos. Batman, Gotham needs you."

Bruce replied: "I'm on my way."

His voice, hoarse and exhausted, startled Gordon. He asked: "Are you okay? You sound..."

"I'm fine." He started to hang up when Gordon gasped: "Oh my God! Why is that lunatic on TV again?"

"Batman, hurry over! The clown-faced psycho has taken over the TV station! Who knows what he's planning!"

Through the phone, Batman heard the Joker's voice from the broadcast: "Batman! I've prepared a big surprise for you!! Hahahaha!!!"

At that moment, an alarm sounded in his upstairs room. He had to climb back up, grab the wrist device from his Batsuit, and through the static, Jason's youthful voice came through: "Batman? Are you there? We're trapped. Can you come?"

"Trapped? What happened?"

Then came the voice of the Kid: "Someone's chasing us. We hid. We're safe for now—but there's nothing here. Can you get here fast?"