In the dark and damp crypt, sewage trickles down the moss-covered walls, dripping into the cracks of the broken floor, disappearing into the mud without a trace. Moving along the dark corridor, the flickering firelight elongates the sculpture’s shadows, increasingly resembling indescribable monsters.
Before the fire, a cloaked figure is staring blankly at the flickering flas. The white mist expelled from his mouth and nose shows just how cold it is here. His arm trembles imperceptibly, not from the cold, but from two deep gouges visible to the bone.
Two hours ago, Super Queen tracked him to his safe house and bound him with the Surrender Rope. He had to admit, the taste was very unpleasant. He felt his spirit tightly bound, and worse, the marks left by the godly rope were very difficult to heal. His magic energy was running low and couldn’t be wasted on this, so he could only endure.
Night Owl sighed silently. He didn’t know how things had developed to this point. Clearly, everything had been on track, and he had borrowed a considerable amount of energy through a contract. But ever since that failed experint, everything changed.
Sitting by the fire, those continuously swaying shadows seed to beco gradually approaching monsters. His mind began to recall Constantine’s words:
"You’re wrong, Night Owl. Magic is not a blessing; it’s a curse. Every bit of strength you obtain requires a price. Even if I could connect you with those dark presences, you don’t have the bargaining chips to negotiate with them. This transaction is destined to be a trap, from which you’ll never recover."
Back then, Night Owl felt that victory was within his grasp. Standing outside the railing, he was gazing not at the mud-covered Constantine, but at the fate destined to be bright and different from his own.
Now, upon reflection, the drooping brows on Constantine’s face marked by the passage of ti tell the story of this man’s suffering through life’s hardships. And as a renowned magician, he shouldn’t have been like this.
Night Owl felt that it wasn’t magic’s fault but Constantine’s fault. He was not talented enough, not skilled enough, hence unable to handle things effortlessly. It was his lack of proficiency that led to his tornt.
But now he realized that magic is indeed a shadowing curse. Since he began to delve into magic in his cosmos, no good thing had happened.
First was the difficulty with the contract. The dark presence he contacted didn’t seem very aware, responding sparsely. And the process of accepting energy infusion was utterly painful, almost exhausting his mind and spirit.
This energy was violent, always disobedient. And the magic skills he obtained from Constantine in the Pri Universe were chaotic and fragnted, appearing even more absurd than the black magic from another world, seeming more like dreamy talk than skill.
Intrinsically difficult to understand, it refused to obey, thus accidents happened. Night Owl couldn’t comprehend how a simple spatial displacent magic array could corrode almost all the spaces of the original base and cast his forr teammates into the void, nearly unable to return.
Moreover, this terrifying power seed to pollute his sanity. Although Night Owl knew he should apologize and explain, when his forr teammates angrily confronted him, he chose to argue and deny, ultimately ending unpleasantly.
If it were only this, it wouldn’t be much. At worst, he could find a place to quietly research, be it going to space or alien planets, there should always be a place for him to experint. Yet, he obstinately decided to curse Super霸.
Night Owl sighed inwardly. He didn’t intend to take Super霸’s life, just wanted to teach him a lesson. But he didn’t foresee that even this partially successful curse would cause such great harm.
Through contact with other Batn, Night Owl had long known that Superman of their universe was completely different, even completely reversed from other universes.
Other universes’ Superman gain abilities while fearing Kryptonite through sunlight, while theirs strengthen by absorbing Kryptonite but fear Yellow Sunlight.
Now, under Night Owl’s curse, Super霸 in their universe beca fearful of both Kryptonite and Yellow Sun. His Kryptonite, once a life-sustaining resource, turned into his death sentence. During another attempt to boost prowess with Kryptonite, Super霸 inhaled too much Kryptonite dust, imdiately fell unconscious, and woke up extrely weak, his strength less than a tenth of its original level, still unrecovered.
Originally, no one knew who did it. Curses are the most mysterious thod for injuring from a distance, Night Owl perford it from the other end of Earth, originally no one should know the truth.
But unexpectedly, a video was sent to the Wonder Woman of this universe, which is Super Queen. The video recorded Night Owl’s activities and pointed out this curse was his doing. Although it didn’t capture the curse ritual site, it’s considered solid evidence.
Super霸 and Super Queen were furious. The others naturally stood with them, for Night Owl was already unreasonable, conducting dangerous experints, blowing up the base, and stubbornly refusing to admit it. Now that he’d brought Super霸 to such a state, the group of evil criminals, who were never good-tempered, exploded on the spot.
Of course, many among them were not genuinely concerned but needed Super霸’s strength. Here in the universe of reversed values, most of them are unwelco within their respective collectives, forced to stick together for warmth. There are no sayings of blackening ten tis the strength, they can’t overpower those righteous heroes, only Super霸 could exploit carrying Kryptonite to disgust other Supern slightly. Now he’s down, their situation gets tougher, who wouldn’t be resentful?
They began frantically hunting Night Owl. First Wayne Manor and Wayne building, then all the safe houses. Wherever Night Owl fled, they chased there.
Admittedly, Night Owl’s stealth and hiding skills are average for Batman, he shouldn’t be easily located. Yet, as if the entire world conspired against him, wherever he showed up, that group would imdiately get notified, swiftly finding him.
Night Owl knew soone might be exposing his location, but he believed the safe house arrangents should be foolproof, so he didn’t comprehend how his location leaked.
Now he had exhausted nearly all safe house locations, even those remaining seed unsafe. Night Owl had no option; he could only retreat to the Court of Owls’ base.
He knew that there was always a mysterious energy protecting this place, and even the Super Queen couldn’t easily break in. But the environnt here was extrely harsh, making it impossible for him to rest. Staying here wasn’t a solution, but going out was a dead end as well.
Night Owl felt like he was walking into a dead end. He contacted his forr allies, but evidently, his previous behavior had left them dissatisfied. These people were always profit-driven, scheming and cunning, and they joined the evil camp just to gain so benefits.
Now that they hadn’t reaped many benefits and instead had to risk themselves to rescue soone, they weren’t willing. Upon hearing that Night Owl was in deep trouble, all they could do was express deep regret and offer any assistance except actual help.
Night Owl really had no other options; he could only call Bruce. Of course, he knew this bastard wasn’t reliable, but he had no other choice.
Sure, he could turn to the Primary Universe Batman, and he was confident the Primary Universe Batman would save him—Batman wanted to save everyone.
However, that would certainly an he would lose his freedom. While Batman wanted to save people, he wasn’t stupid. Once he rescued him, he would definitely take so restrictive asures, either locking him up or keeping him away from society. Night Owl had no desire to beco the prisoner of his rival, so Bruce was his only option.
When he connected the call to Bruce, the other’s lazy and relaxed tone made Night Owl’s teeth itch. At least, upon hearing that voice, Night Owl wanted to punch him through the phone line.
"It’s . I need help, Bruce. For the sake of our past teamwork, co over and help ."
"Oh? What’s wrong with you?"
"I’m trapped, the Super Queen and others are hunting down. Because of a freak accident..."
Night Owl briefly recounted his predicant, then heard Bruce’s sigh and lant on the other end.
"You’re too careless. If you had paid attention in school, you’d definitely rember the professors repeatedly emphasizing how dangerous black magic is, especially those involving space and ti. How could you be so reckless?"
Night Owl clenched his fist tightly, almost ready to hang up the phone imdiately. He couldn’t accept being lectured by soone he considered a "little brother" in his heart; he should have been the dominant one.
Besides, no matter how one looked at it, he should be the one with more authority. He led so of the Batn, opposing the most unique Batman in the entire universe; he should be the epito of evil, the biggest villain in the multiverse.
This slacker who did nothing serious should be the one who accidentally caused a huge disaster and had no choice but to co looking pathetically for him for help. Night Owl always felt that day would co.
At that ti, he would help Bruce, but he would also find a way to control him, so that he could have a perfect little brother again.
How did things get to this point? Night Owl couldn’t figure it out. It seed like their scripts were entirely flipped—he, the diligent and conscientious villain leader, had to seek help from an uneducated, marginal figure.
Night Owl tried hard to suppress the discomfort in his heart and patiently said, "There were indeed so problems, and my luck has been terribly bad. But you really should co and rescue . Without standing in front, that serious Batman would co looking for your trouble."
"You do have a point. But I’ve been quite busy lately, dealing with that damned electronic lifeform..."
"Electronic lifeform?"
"Yeah. It disrupted my research, and I’m planning to go a few rounds with it. The multiverse is all in chaos, and you didn’t know?"
Night Owl suddenly realized. No wonder those Justice Batn hadn’t made any moves recently; it turned out there was a multiverse invasion. And the fact that his location was discovered by the Super Queen and others was probably because the ubiquitous electronic lifeform betrayed him.
Night Owl secretly fud: those Justice Batn were just a bunch of hypocrites, having such a major incident and not informing him. If he had known earlier about a disruptive electronic lifeform, how could he have been chased so pitifully?
But things had reached this point, and complaining wouldn’t help. After sighing in his heart, he said, "You need to co quickly; otherwise, if other Batn find first, things will get troubleso."
"I’ll do my best," Bruce said. "After I complete this final stage of my research experint, I’ll co and save you."
"So, you’re really going to rescue him?" Clark, walking alongside the field ridge, asked, glancing at Bruce’s profile.
To his surprise, Bruce raised an eyebrow and said, "Why should I save him when I’m the one who got him into this ss in the first place?"
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