บท 3811: Chapter 2930: When Night Falls (12)
When the alarm at the gate went off, Barbara could hardly believe her own ears.
There was clearly nothing in the surveillance!
When she switched screens for another look, she discovered that Jason was already fighting with someone. To be precise, Jason was being beaten down; the other party might have sneak attacked him, but regardless, he was lying on the ground.
Barbara quickly began using the intercom to notify the others, especially Cassandra, who was guarding Wayne Manor.
Barbara knew well that Jason's physical skills were not weak; even if it was a sneak attack, he should have had some capacity to resist. The fact that he was knocked down at first blush indicated that the opponent's ability was far above his.
Cassandra was the only one whom Batman had acknowledged as being superior to himself, and this girl could be called the strongest fighter on Earth. Now, it seemed that only she could turn the tides.
Cassandra appeared quickly at the Batcave entrance, but an awkward scene occurred, she couldn't get in.
After the alarm had been triggered, the gate was locked by force; now nobody could enter, but the Invaders had somehow gotten in, and Barbara hadn't seen how they did it. However, the defense order very successfully kept Cassandra out.
Damian had also prepared early, meeting up with Tim at a designated spot, equipped with high-power ultraviolet lights, Holy Water, and Crosses, hiding two Bibles on his person, and even hanging garlic around his neck.
"Did you see anything?" Damian, slightly paranoid, looked around, then said, "Why do I feel like I just saw a shadow?"
"Don't scare yourself," Tim assessed their surroundings and said, "The Intruder won't be able to stay hidden forever, even if they turned into a bat and hid in some corner, Barbara will eventually find them…"
Click, click, click…
A strange clattering sound came through, and both of them shivered simultaneously. Damian said, "See, I told you there might be something next to us!"
Tim listened carefully and thought the sound resembled the collision of bone artifacts, rhythmic in nature. Listening more carefully, he realized it was Morse code.
"Run..."
The moment Tim uttered the word he had decoded, a figure suddenly appeared with a whoosh in the center of the hall.
Batman, in the lab, watched the image on the monitor, then turned to Shiller and said, "Is this the opportunity you mentioned to break the situation?"
Suddenly he fixated on the person's eyes on the screen. Those pale eyes might be eerie, but Batman was not looking at that. After observing the structure of the person's brow ridge and then Shiller's,
"What is your relation to him?" For Batman, this wasn't a question, because bone structure analysis couldn't deceive anyone. Their similarity in the structure of their orbital bones was as high as 80%, a degree of likeness that left no room for concealment.
"Is he your son?" Batman asked.
Shiller just smiled without saying a word.
This made Batman have other speculations. Their age difference looked normal, but if the Battleworld was considered, another possibility existed—that the two were actually counterparts from different universes.
Despite the Batman who entered Battleworld being of roughly the same age, there were some who received the invitation but couldn't arrive in time due to various reasons. If everyone invited actually came, there would likely be a diverse mix of men, women, and children.
So, if this Doctor named Shiller was another player invited to participate, it's possible he might encounter other versions of himself from various universes, young and old, male and female. The young man who suddenly appeared in the Batcave may not be his son, but rather, a younger version of himself.
This deduction had fairly strong evidence because typically, the facial resemblance between father and son doesn't reach eighty percent. Certain facial features may be very similar, but bone structure achieving such consistency is improbable, whereas if it were the same person, it would make sense.
However, the counterargument also had its logic. First of all, the one standing on the screen and the one sitting here had entirely different styles, right?
Furthermore, to become an excellent surgeon, the one standing on the screen should have been earnestly studying in medical school by now.
But Batman could tell without needing to look that the one standing shared something in common with Dick—they simply weren't cut out for academia.
And what surprised Batman the most was that he had fangs.
"Vampire?!"
Damian and Tim also exclaimed in shock. There was no red glow in their eyes, nor had they seen a transformation into a bat, but the fangs were the best evidence.
Although they had anticipated a vampire might come to invade, seeing one in person was still somewhat surprising. Damian and Tim quickly positioned the ultraviolet lights and wielded the Crosses as weapons—
To no avail.
Because they were so flustered in readying these objects, they failed to mount an effective frontal defense. In the moment their opponent moved, both were sent flying out.
Damian's Holy Water splashed all over the other party but had no effect; he saw a faint layer of silver light illuminate the figure, rendering the vampire-targeted attacks ineffective.
Upon hearing the alarm, Dick arrived promptly; he didn't engage because he didn't know the other party's style.
To label these as vampire abilities would be a slight to vampires; Dick didn't possess this silver power. After his transformation, he acquired the capability to become a bat, use vampire magic, and transform others.
This so-called vampire magic was more akin to Telekinesis, possessing no exceptionally specific or miraculous properties, simply being able to control objects with the mind and enhance one's strength. If applied to oneself, it allowed for brief levitation and flight.
Seeing Damian and Tim knocked down, Dick immediately took action, no longer caring if others discovered his Magic. He soared into the air, like an arrow shot from a bow, rushing towards the figure.
"What power is that?" Batman asked Shiller.
"That is not my power," Shiller shook his head, "I am just an ordinary person, not a superpower user."
"Then why does he..."
"You might consider that he has a Guardian God."
"Guardian God?"
"The Moon of a Thousand Faces, that's the power of moonlight."
"Would the Moon guard a vampire?"
"The Moon would guard the strongest." Shiller seemed to think of something amusing and said, "But he probably didn't expect, this one to be a bit too strong."
Batman felt the situation was tricky as Dick, who had charged in, had already been sent flying back, the opponent's strength was almost unbelievably great.
First and foremost, that power of moonlight made him nearly immune to magic attacks and also unaffected by the methods used against vampires. Batman could tell that his physical skills were also top-notch, as well as his bodily strength was much more than Dick's.
This type of physical strength was completely non-scientific, causing Batman to look again at Shiller next to him. His body structure should not permit him to have such immense strength.
However, during their last scuffle, Batman discovered that Shiller had a kind of extraordinary explosive power.
"Can you remove the limits on your muscles?" Batman guessed at last, because he was too experienced. To some extent, Joker could also do it; madmen all have something in common.
"I usually wouldn't do that." Shiller essentially admitted it.
"Why?"
"I'm not as young anymore."
"That is to say, you often did it when you were young."
This was not a question either, because Barbara had deactivated the security on the main gate and let Cassandra in, and the rest of the Batman Family didn't talk about martial virtues either, they just went in for a group beating.
Apart from Cassandra, who could exchange blows evenly with the man on the screen, the rest were basically just cannon fodder, being thrown out as soon as they made contact. This was obviously not something that could be achieved with ordinary strength usage.
But Cassandra was also struggling, because every now and then she would be hit by the moonlight, and as soon as it touched her, her movements would suddenly pause, and then she'd be sent flying.
"The Batman Family's resistance to magic is still too low," Batman said.
"You should be glad their resistance to magic is low."
Shiller's words confused Batman. Shiller shook his head and said, "Who do you think the Guardian God is protecting? Him?"
As Batman understood this, one of the Robins in their midst stopped moving, looked toward a corner where there was nothing, and then said, "Enough, Khonsu, withdraw your power."
The clicking sound rang out again, but this time Tim couldn't discern any pattern from it.
Dick seemed to realize something; he covered his eyes with magic and then saw a very tall figure standing there, wearing a long robe condensed from moonlight, with a Skeleton Falcon's head—its long bony beak wrapped up.
Dick thought he was seeing things; he looked away and then back, only to find it wasn't an illusion. This weirdly terrifying yet strangely beautiful monster had its long bird beak tied up with a rope.
The "clicking" sound was it trying to open its mouth but failing, the sound of the jawbones striking each other.
In the monster's hand was a long magic wand, with a mysterious glow at its center, seemingly with endless phases of the moon, and it was the silver power flowing from the wand, covering the man.
Faced with the request, the creature known as Khonsu shook its head, seemingly unwilling to withdraw the power no matter what.
"Strange," Batman said, "It's the first time I've seen a believer who doesn't want power, yet the God insists on giving it."
"Because he is the Moon God, not the God of Death," Shiller explained.
Batman looked at him, and Shiller continued, "Why do you think he turned himself into a vampire? For the trivial ability to become a bat?"
Batman narrowed his eyes; he seemed to realize something.
Vampires had too many weaknesses; indeed, it hardly seemed worthwhile to become a creature of the night just for this insignificant ability. But what if he was after those very weaknesses?
Once Dick confirmed Khonsu as the source of the power, he extended his hand, and magic energy gushed out toward that direction, breaking through some barrier, and the purple energy struck directly at Khonsu's wand.
With a bang, the wand was knocked away, and the transmission of moonlight energy was cut off.
Tim and Damian couldn't see Khonsu, but they could see the silver energy on the man suddenly weaken.
"Now's our chance!"
Immediately, Damian dived to the side, picked up the high-powered ultraviolet light that had been knocked away, and shone it on the man.
"Uh..."
Even the groan sounded incredibly eerie, as flames roared up on his body.
But the expression on Batman's face behind the screen had sunk.
"Stop, Damian," his voice came over the broadcast.
Instead, Damian leaped up and high-fived Tim.
"Ha! We did it! Ultraviolet is indeed the bane of vampires!"
As Batman hurriedly left the lab, Shiller revealed a schadenfreude smile.
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