Chapter 4083

Only after seeing their condition did the Arkham Batman realize that he had been able to reach this place so smoothly because those crazy Schillers had been lured away by their teammates and opponents.

At this moment, Eric's upper body was drenched in blood, looking as if his lungs had been ripped out and stuffed back in; Jack was holding his own severed left hand and half a shoulder with his right, grimacing while using his fingers to pick at the exposed scapula; Constantine, whether from coughing up blood or vomiting his entire stomach, was covered in visceral fragments; one of Doctor Strange's eyeballs was missing, and he was currently using Dream Power to condense a new one to stuff back into the socket.

The Arkham Batman didn't even really want to ask what had happened to them, because just looking at these injuries, he could mentally reconstruct the brutal battle that had just taken place. If nothing else, besides the damage from opponents, there was also friendly fire.

Of course, "opponents" here didn't refer to the two sides, but rather the confrontation between humans and the Schillers; with an entity capable of manipulating emotions present, it was all too easy to accidentally injure allies once the fighting got heated.

But now was clearly not the time to dwell on that. The Arkham Batman walked over and said, "Let's have a temporary truce. Once we find that door, we'll each rely on our own abilities, how about that?"

The three people opposite had absolutely no strength to reply to him. After catching his breath for a moment, the Dream Power Doctor Strange nodded and said, "If I had known this dreamscape was like this, I never would have started this competition. I suppose I've implicated you all."

The Arkham Batman felt somewhat surprised by his humility, as most Doctor Stranges were relatively arrogant. However, since this one could master the power of the dreamscape, he naturally had his own unique qualities.

"Let's not talk about that," the Arkham Batman said. "Do you have any clues about the exit?"

Charles kept his mouth shut and pointed downward, then said, "There's a drainage pipe at the very bottom where the water flow is a bit abnormal. I originally wanted to warn you, but they chased after us... *urp*..."

It was unclear what had happened, but Charles seemed to have been triggered as well and began to retch. He didn't know where he had gotten a wheelchair to sit in, as if he had returned to an elderly state overnight.

The Arkham Batman looked down with some helplessness. Had he known the exit was below, he wouldn't have swum upward. But if he hadn't swum upward, those Schillers might have targeted him.

Even if he didn't want to return the way he came, he had no other choice. Everyone went downstream again and, sure enough, saw the abnormal water flow. After following the current into the pipe, they arrived inside a mysterious building.

It looked like some kind of temple, but it was devoid of anything; only the patterns on the floor and the excessively high dome gave one pause for thought. It was an empty building, with nothing but repetitive wide rooms, covered bridges, and clouds floating outside.

"Wait, what is that?" Constantine looked toward a huge window. The group walked over to check and discovered a door floating in mid-air, and on that door was written "1509".

"Great," Constantine said, his face showing joy. "This must be the door. Schiller, tell us who you're going to go with."

The others also looked at him, prepared to hear him give his answer. But just at this moment, those Schillers killed their way over again, and the group couldn't avoid having to fight. Fortunately, the Arkham Batman was in good condition, and with Charles and Eric covering for him on the sidelines, he could barely hold these people off by himself.

Although Constantine had also suffered some injuries, he felt he could still fight. Just as he was pulling things out of his box, he suddenly noticed Doctor Strange approaching that door, and the space around him began to fluctuate.

"Wait," Constantine suddenly spoke up, "there's something wrong with him!"

Everyone turned their heads to look, but where was there any Doctor Strange? There was only a strange man wearing a black robe, radiating a ghostly green light all over, and grinning hideously.

"Who are you?!" Charles was the first to speak; neither he nor Eric recognized who this person was.

But the Agent thought for a moment and said, "Nightmare?! You..."

"That's right, it is I. I am the master of the Dream Dimension. Dream Power Doctor Strange? Just a clown who stole authority. But it doesn't matter; I have already obtained most of the Dream Power. The Dream Dimension will return to the human world!!!"

"When did you..." Charles was clearly shocked. He truly hadn't expected that the one fighting side-by-side with them all this way wasn't the Dream Power Doctor Strange, yet he hadn't seen any issues—and he was a telepath.

"This is a dreamscape," Nightmare said with a cold laugh. "Is your so-called telepathy really telepathy? It was just me using the dreamscape to mimic the way you exert your abilities. You are all the same; all the powers you can display in the dreamscape are simulated by me. If you don't believe me..."

He waved his hand, and everyone directly lost the ability to fly, falling downward continuously. But after falling for a long time, they landed right back where they started.

"Nightmare, what do you want to do?" the Agent asked with a frown.

"Of course, to let the Dream Dimension descend into the real world! Only a dreamscape chaotic and crazy enough can output enough Dream Power!"

"So you chose me?" The Agent narrowed his eyes as he looked at him. "So this so-called competition was a conspiracy you planned long ago?"

"That's not it; it was only halfway through the competition that I discovered you. But I have been waiting for this opportunity for a long time."

"Where did you put the Dream Power Doctor Strange?"

"That idiot fell into my trap so easily. He wants to rule the Dream Dimension? He's still far from it!"

The Agent frowned. Perhaps the Dream Power Doctor Strange was having some trouble adapting to the Central Universe; his grasp of the Central Universe's Dream Dimension wasn't comprehensive enough, and Nightmare had exploited the loophole.

However, it seemed not every dreamscape allowed Nightmare to output Dream Power to the real world; his own dreamscape might be special, and he could use this dreamscape to achieve a breakthrough.

"So that's how it is," the Arkham Batman said. The others turned to look at him, and the Agent thought for a moment, as if he had also remembered something.

"In that dreamscape of Constantine's, Doctor Strange didn't appear," Jack said. "Clearly, that dreamscape was the one that needed a magician the most, yet he never appeared. That was when you tricked him away, right?"

"That's right. Just because that dreamscape needed him the most, I used a little trick, and he rushed over in a hurry, then fell headfirst into the trap, where he is still trapped to this day. What an idiot!"

The Agent looked at the Arkham Batman; he knew that if Batman had sensed something beforehand, he couldn't possibly have failed to prepare.

"Opening the passage still requires some power. You should feel honored." After finishing, Nightmare reached out toward them, and a ghostly green light encroached. Eric immediately resisted, but his power was greatly suppressed—Nightmare seemed to possess supreme authority within the Dream Dimension.

But just at this moment, a burst of magical light suddenly lit up on the Arkham Batman's chest. He waved his hand, pulling Charles and Eric over, and the group was shrouded under the magical radiance; the power of the Dream Dimension seemed unable to shake them.

"You actually know magic?!" Nightmare said in disbelief. "How is this possible! In your mental world, I didn't see..."

"I hypnotized myself before I came," the Arkham Batman said. "If I want to hide a secret, no one can learn it through telepathy. Professor X can't, and neither can you."

The Agent breathed a sigh of relief; the Arkham Batman had indeed kept an ace up his sleeve. He must have prepared before entering the Dream Dimension, hypnotizing himself to forget that he knew magic, so that even in the mental world, no one could learn of his magical abilities by prying into his memories.

And the Arkham Batman's magical ability wasn't weak; while it might not compare to the Sorcerer Supreme, it was still a force that couldn't be ignored. This led to Nightmare's misjudgment.

He thought he had dealt with the Dream Power Doctor Strange, and since Charles had been severely injured earlier, his abilities were already weakened, and Constantine was using religious elements which were the wrong fit, there was no magical power left that could threaten him. He hadn't expected the Arkham Batman to also be a powerful magician.

"What are the consequences if Dream Power is outputted?" the Arkham Batman asked while holding off Nightmare's attacks.

"The Dream Dimension will descend into the Prime Dimension, and dreams and reality will become confused. And Nightmare, who possesses supreme authority within the Dream Dimension, will also be able to use this authority to control the real world."

Knowing this, the Arkham Batman no longer hesitated. He threw several shining gemstones at Nightmare; these were new types of magical bombs he had manufactured through re-compression, and their power was quite astonishing.

When the first one exploded, even Nightmare was blasted away. He roared, just about to counterattack, but seemed to be tugged by some invisible force, and the move didn't go through.

"It must be the Dream Power Doctor Strange resisting," Jack said. "Nightmare isn't nearly as powerful as he claims; the Dream Power Doctor Strange can shake his authority. We just need to stall, and once Doctor Strange breaks free..."

Before he could finish speaking, the Schillers appeared again. These people seemed completely unaffected by Nightmare's control, attacking whoever they caught; they were completely indiscriminate, and yet they could actually hit Nightmare. Nightmare was practically cursing out loud.

"Damn phantoms, I am the master of the Dream Dimension, you have to listen to me! You... you can't hit me! I've never seen phantoms as crazy as you! Get lost!"

Responding to him was a massive blade of light.

Both sides began an endurance race; neither would leave, just dragging it out, hoping to exhaust the other side to death. Logically speaking, the Arkham Batman and his group of outsiders definitely couldn't outlast Nightmare, but Nightmare seemed afraid of the Dream Power Doctor Strange breaking free, constantly diverting energy to suppress him, and everyone had to find time to deal with the Schillers.

In order to let the Dream Power Doctor Strange break free as soon as possible, the Arkham Batman constantly attacked Nightmare with magic. The two tangled continuously until they reached the door. The Arkham Batman scattered another handful of gemstone bombs; seeing he was about to be hit, Nightmare hurriedly dodged to the side, but it just so happened that two bombs landed on the door.

With a boom, the door was blown open, and both of them were stunned.

Nightmare was overjoyed. He originally needed some explosive power to help him open the door, but the Dream Power Doctor Strange had been pestering him, causing him not to dare use too much power. He hadn't expected this dark-looking kid to have bombs of such high power, capable of blowing open the passage between two dimensions. Wasn't this a huge help to him?

The Arkham Batman also knew things were bad, but what he was concerned about wasn't whether the dimensional barrier was blown up or not, but that after a huge hole was blown in the door, all the Schillers had run out!

"Which dimension is outside?" the Arkham Batman asked.

"Why would I tell you?! Don't even think about stopping me..."

The Arkham Batman slapped him away and shouted at Jack: "Drive! Hurry up and go!!!"

In the Dark Dimension office, the Prime Universe Batman was watching the surveillance equipment when Batwoman walked in and said, "The plan worked. Owlman brought the news to the other side, and they got the fake address. When are we setting off for the target location?"

"Don't be in a hurry. Thanos told me that the middleman possessing the Soul Stone isn't hard to deal with, but the middleman is usually in the same dimension as the Lords of Chaos and Order. These two entities possess very powerful strength; we need to think about how to deal with them."

"I'll lead the team myself," Batwoman said. "The Dark Multiverse Batman is ready to go; it's time for us to make our move."

The Prime Universe Batman nodded and said, "Your strength is very high, and your abilities are comprehensive, but you must be cautious. Many mysterious entities in this universe are very powerful; you must not take them lightly."

"Understood," Batwoman said. "But I think that since the other side are locals, they should realize very soon that there is no stone at the fake address, and they might also rush toward the real address. We need to finish this quickly."

The Prime Universe Batman nodded and watched Batwoman leave. What he didn't know was that the moment the Dark Multiverse Batman team left the Dark Quadrant, they had already been targeted.

"You didn't lie to me after all," Loki, standing on a planet not far away, let out a cold laugh, turned to look at Owlman behind him, and then said to the communicator, "Batman gave us a fake address; the one this group is going to now is the real address."

Owlman crossed his arms and said smugly, "Don't I know Batman's tricks? How could I fall for such a childish bait-and-switch? Follow them closely, and you'll soon find the whereabouts of the Soul Stone."

Loki and Owlman followed behind the Dark Multiverse Batman the whole way and soon discovered the real dimensional entrance. He muttered to himself, "It's actually here. Could it be that the stone is in the hands of the Lord of Order or the Lord of Chaos? That would be easy to handle."

The Dark Multiverse Batman carried out Batman's cautious style; because he didn't understand the situation inside the dimension, he didn't rush in, but planned to scout it out first.

But Loki was very familiar with this place; he had entered and exited several times, had met both the Lord of Chaos and the Lord of Order, and could be considered on speaking terms with them. Taking advantage of the Dark Multiverse Batman resting, he prepared to go in directly. If the stone was really in the hands of these two, he was confident he could get his hands on it directly.

"You wait here, I'll go in and take a look," Loki said to Owlman.

After saying that, he entered through the dimensional entrance. But just a few seconds later, he came back out, with a look on his face as if he'd seen a ghost.

"What's wrong?" Owlman couldn't help asking.

"I might be too tired and having hallucinations," Loki said somewhat blankly. "Otherwise, why would I see a group of Schillers wandering around in the universe?!"

"Loki! Loki!" Stark and Strange, who had just received the news, walked out of a portal. As soon as Strange saw the dimensional entrance, he understood and said, "Oh, so it's the dimension of these guys. I know them; I'll just have a word with them."

"Let's go, grab the stone before them, and they'll never be able to collect them all."

"You wait!" Loki was still a step too late; the two of them rushed straight in.

Loki closed his eyes in despair and stood in place counting: "Three, two, one..."

"AH!!!!!!"

"OW!!!!!!"

?? Infinite Big Event + Morbid Crisis hahaha