Chapter 4795: Royal Casino (Nine)

In the darkest corner of the hallway, where not even a sliver of light existed, everything should have been swallowed by the deepest darkness—but Lucifer's pallid skin seemed to glow on its own, making his outline faintly visible.

At the same time, he could see the approaching silhouette of Arkham Batman. Lucifer shrugged: "I'm honored that you've come after me with such a show of force."

Arkham Batman said nothing, merely stepping forward to the low, resonant tone of a cello. Lucifer showed no fear, but it wasn't bravado in the face of death—it seemed he didn't even realize he was about to die, as if he couldn't comprehend what was happening before him.

Until Batman spoke.

"Don't be afraid, child."

Bang!

Arkham Batman was suddenly knocked over from behind by a powerful figure. Heat vision flared instantly, and as Superman looked at Lucifer, the red light in his eyes hadn't faded: "Get out of here!"

Lucifer opened his pale lips, just standing there staring blankly at him. Superman probably thought he'd been frightened stupid, so he rushed over, grabbed Lucifer, and shoved him onto the stairs.

Only then did Lucifer remember to run. He staggered upstairs, while Superman flew straight up to the top floor. Halfway up, Lucifer realized he couldn't outrun Batman, turned back, and used a mind control on him—just barely making it upstairs.

He leaned on the stairwell, panting, feeling his heart race, his grip on the railing tightening until he suddenly turned to look at Superman, his eyes emitting a light that shouldn't exist in this game.

"Why did you save me?"

"We're teammates," Superman said, "of course I had to save you."

"You think he can kill me?" Lucifer's expression suddenly turned ferocious, as if his previous air of cynical detachment and slight bewilderment had been nothing but a disguise: "Don't say this is a game—he couldn't possibly hurt me for real. Even in reality, you couldn't touch me. I am Lucifer Morningstar."

"You're not a god," Superman suddenly said, "no sentient being can be called a god. That's what I learned not long ago. Where there is feeling, there is always hurt, always a weakness, always a chance to be saved."

Lucifer's lips moved. Suddenly, his features softened again, like a true angel: "Do you think I'm afraid?"

"I know I'm afraid," Superman said seriously, "so you might be afraid too—and that's why I'll come save you."

"Do you think we're the same?"

"We're not the same. But that doesn't stop me from saving you."

"Good," Lucifer suddenly snorted, "thanks to people like you, I get the chance to mock God—casting Adam and Eve out of Eden was his worst mistake."

"Good heavens, what's wrong with you two?" the agent asked, looking at Matt and Greed lying on the ground, utterly bewildered. "Is one of you Batman? Or are you both?"

They looked like they'd just fought, which meant the game allowed friendly fire—but the agent didn't understand why they'd started fighting. Matt and Greed were close friends; in this crisis, they should have stuck together, even if Greed had gone mad, Matt wouldn't hold it against him.

"It was an accident," Greed said, wiping blood from his mouth, then added, "He said he gave me authority, said what he feared most, so I said it. I just trusted Lawyer Mr. too much."

Matt said nothing.

The agent had no interest in pressing further; he simply walked over, pulled Matt up, and said: "Whatever it is, we can settle it after the game ends. For now, calm down, okay?"

Those words seemed to reignite Matt's hope. He finally regained some composure, glaring venomously at Greed: "Someone's a psychologist, yet his comforting effect isn't even as good as one sentence from an agent."

"You got that wrong," Greed said, standing up too, "the harm is greater than ten of him combined."

"Don't get cocky either," the agent said, instantly seeing through Greed's facade, "you've thought about every heartbreak in this life, just holding back a laugh, huh?"

Greed let out a soft hum and said nothing. But from their behavior, one could roughly guess what had just happened.

Batman had used a mind-affecting skill, influencing nearly everyone, and Matt was affected the most—because he was blind. He perceived everything through mental imaging, and hallucinations would trick his brain, which is terrifying for a blind person.

Greed rushed to comfort him, of course wanting to save him. Matt surely relied on him. When afraid, people always lean on those close to them. But Greed must have realized Matt depended on him more than he imagined—and now he was pleased about it.

Judging by Matt's reaction, it was less anger and more shame-fueled rage. The agent hadn't interacted much with him, but every lawyer is good at hiding themselves, and Daredevil is no exception—he's a hunter hidden in the night. If one had to describe Daredevil in a sentence, the agent would say: "When playing hide-and-seek, it's always the hunter who covers his eyes first."

Revealing his true inner thoughts was dangerous for him. That's why, even with a psychologist friend, he wouldn't see one. Even when he occasionally sought guidance, it stayed superficial—mostly venting about daily trivialities, never touching his mental core or personality.

Still, Greed seized this moment to get Matt to be somewhat honest. Though brief and incomplete, it was enough to please him. At least in the part he revealed, Greed's place was higher than he'd imagined.

No one wouldn't be pleased by this. After all, in a lifetime, wondering "How good are my friends and I?" could occupy far more time than wondering "Does my partner truly love me?"

"What now?" the agent asked mechanically, pulling them out of that atmosphere, then immediately answered himself, giving them no chance to steer the conversation back: "Hurry and find the last safe deposit box. Open it, and we win."

"Impossible," Matt said, "Batman definitely has a skill to know the safe deposit box's location. I'm certain of that. He must have timed his power-up perfectly, so he won't give us a chance to touch the last box."

"Then what do you think..."

"We can only pile up lives," Matt said, "after all, he needs to bring people to a designated point to execute them—that takes time. So others can seize the chance to flee."

The agent shook his head: "If we don't complete the mission, the only way out is for all teammates to die first, then leave alone."

"That works too," Matt emphasized, "are you still hoping for a perfect victory against a fully powered Batman? Just getting out alive is already pretty good!"

"Your victory condition was just changed," Greed also advised, "as long as you get out, you're a winner too."

"That's the problem," the agent said, "if any of you used this method to win, I'd have no objection—because you truly want to win, while I don't. Rather than let me win alone, let's gamble."

Matt looked at Greed. Greed didn't hesitate long, saying: "Fine, losing to Batman still counts as honorable defeat. Let's gamble then."

"Who said you were healed?" Matt said, as if he'd been waiting for this line, "Aren't you still as crazy as before?"

Greed just smiled at him until Matt backed down. Decision made, the three of them proceeded step by step. Finding the safe deposit box wasn't random—Matt said: "First find Superman, figure out where he opened those two safe deposit boxes. That way we'll have three box locations, and can infer the approximate direction of the remaining one."

Matt had just suffered Batman's attack, so he could now see his teammates' positions. Being with them also let him see where Batman was. He noticed Lucifer and Superman were together on the east side, but Batman was in the southeast corner, heading toward them.

With that suspicion in mind, Matt quickened his pace. When they arrived, sure enough, there was a safe deposit box in the corner. Lucifer was opening it, while Superman and Batman faced off.

Unfortunately, against the fully powered Arkham Batman, Superman stood no chance. His heat vision used to have some repulsive effect, now it was completely useless. The high-energy beams struck Batman's armor to no effect. Instead, Arkham Batman punched him and sent him flying.

During the attack interval, the agent acted fast—one tranquilizer needle struck Arkham Batman. Immediately, Matt stepped forward with a baton, not to repel Batman, but to shield Superman from a blade.

Arkham Batman swung a punch; Matt also flew back. Just as he was about to follow up with consecutive strikes, the agent activated a rocket launch from in front of him, darting past like smoke, becoming part of the air itself, and successfully blocked a blade. This also gave Lucifer time to escape.

Though Lucifer was farther away and could only flee through another door, everyone was battered but no one had fallen. Still, in those brief tens of seconds of clash, they'd gotten a taste of Batman's might.

He resisted all knockback effects, and dizziness barely affected him. The tranquilizer needle dazed him for less than a second—just enough to slightly stall his movements. Moreover, his punch speed had increased, with almost no wind-up or recovery, much faster than before.

No one dared jump down the central well, because Batman could jump down too. And aside from Superman, anyone wanting to go up had to take the stairs, losing major strategic initiative.

But they also didn't dare run as a group, since everyone was battered—if Batman landed one punch each, it would be disastrous. Those with tactical sense usually split at the right moment, while those clueless about where to go scattered due to aimless running.

Arkham Batman now faced an awkward problem: the strong opponents had bad luck and could hardly find safes, while the lucky ones lacked strength.

Logically, one should first deal with the weak-but-lucky, but the strong would come to rescue them, and rescue attempts often succeeded—leading to a situation like the Calabash Brothers rescuing their grandfather, who then rescues them back.

Moreover, Arkham Batman is quite vengeful—or rather, what he truly fears is Greed suddenly escaping from near-death via that skill. It prevents him from calmly sending people to the electric chair, because Greed could interrupt the transport at any time, get stabbed, and still get up to save someone.

Thus, Arkham Batman decided to see it through: first find Greed, then use a precious chance to open the electric chair, execute this guy, and worry about the rest later.