amaotonovel Chapter 3847 The Nameless Bat (7)
Chapter 3847 The Nameless Bat (7)
Chapter 3847 The Nameless Bat (Seventeen)
"Batman...you're insane..."
Mount Olympus, beneath the throne of the god of war. Ares, his chest blasted open, leans weakly against the armrest of the throne. His bloodshot eyes glare at Batman Arkham as he says, "You damned madman...you will pay for your brutality!"
Arkham Batman toyed with a colorful gem in his hand, his gaze calmly fixed on the person before him. Ares slowly reached out and removed his helmet. Arkham Batman paused for a moment, then also reached out and removed his mask.
“Diana will never forgive you,” Ares said. “She was worried about your safety even as you committed these terrible acts of destruction… You have completely betrayed her!”
“I don’t need anyone’s forgiveness, I don’t need anyone’s concern, and I don’t care who I’ve let down,” Batman Arkham said. “The greatest gratitude and respect I can give her is to lock her up before I go into Mount Olympus.”
"Why did you do this?! You... cough cough... cough cough cough..." Ares was already extremely weak. All his divine power had been absorbed into the Infinity Stones by Batman Arkham using a strange machine. The other gods of Olympus also failed to escape this fate—the stronger ones would become weak like him, while those who were not strong enough to begin with could only face death.
“I don’t have time,” said Batman Arkham. “I rule the Federation, I have complete control of the Justice League, and I have reliable allies outside the universe. This means that anyone who dares to lay a hand on me must think they have more backing than me. If that’s true, they’ll definitely target Wonder Woman and Superman.”
"Then you shouldn't have attacked the gods! We will protect Diana!"
“You won’t,” Arkham Batman said. “You’ll only hold her back and distract her from fighting for Earth.”
"So, in order to control her, you destroyed her family?!"
“Olympus is not her home, Paradise Island is,” Batman Arkham said coldly. “It is precisely to protect her home that I have to take action against you.”
Prior to this, Ares was unaware of what was happening on Earth, so he was baffled by Arkham Batman's words. But Schiller, sensing something amiss, deduced something—
Batman from Arkham is racing someone.
While Arkham Batman is considered one of the more radical versions of Batman, he is still Batman. Generally speaking, he wouldn't portray himself as a tyrant blinded by the lure of power. Even if he were, he would try to conceal it, rather than doing what he did now—first shutting down the Justice League, then storming Paradise Island, and finally storming Mount Olympus.
Given enough time, he would have taken a more gentle approach. For example, he would have tried his best to persuade Wonder Woman, and even if he couldn't, at least he would have tried, instead of just locking her up without any explanation. Even the Lord of Justice might not be this reckless.
The downsides of doing this are obvious: Wonder Woman would definitely object, and Themyscira would see him as a mortal enemy. If Olympus were completely wiped out, that would be fine, but if a few remained, they would cause him endless trouble in the future. How could Batman not understand all this? But he still did it, which proves he had no other choice.
Arkham Batman's urgency, besides his desire for magical powers, must stem from his awareness of something. He senses someone plotting something in the shadows, and through subtle clues, he deduces that this person is formidable.
Considering the conflict between Batman and Wonder Woman in Arkham – a diplomatic incident between the United States and Amazon – it's not hard to see that escalating the conflict between the two countries to this point might not have been Batman's intention.
There may be someone behind the scenes pushing for the deterioration of diplomatic relations between the two countries, with the aim of sowing discord between Batman and Wonder Woman.
Schiller recalled the first incident that led to the deterioration of diplomatic relations between the two countries: Batman Arkham missed his routine visit to the Amazon because he was visiting other countries.
It has to be said that this kind of diplomatic demonstration is rather low-level, looking more like something a real estate tycoon would pull, and is really not in line with the political maneuvering level of Arkham Batman.
Of course, the subsequent diplomatic incident might be that Batman from Arkham realized he had been tricked, so he turned the tables and deliberately expressed strong dissatisfaction with the Amazon's reaction. Then, under the guise of control, he would protect Wonder Woman and other Justice League members and storm Themyscira as quickly as possible to reach Mount Olympus.
While it may seem absurd, this tactic is actually a case of fighting fire with fire. The mastermind wanted Arkham Batman to deal with the Amazons, believing this would sow discord between Wonder Woman and Arkham Batman, but Arkham Batman simply destroyed Mount Olympus. In comparison, the Amazons, who were only diplomatically sidelined, seem much luckier.
In fact, this is the best solution. Wonder Woman Diana doesn't actually like Mount Olympus. In this universe, she and Ares aren't mortal enemies, or rather, they were at odds before, but their relationship has improved. Her only attachment to Mount Olympus is that of Batman Arkham; as long as Batman Arkham doesn't kill Ares, even if he destroys Mount Olympus, Wonder Woman won't become his mortal enemy.
Conversely, wiping out all the Greek gods would perfectly showcase Batman Arkham's power. Then, looking back at the unscathed Amazons and Paradise Island, Wonder Woman would surely think, "You're so powerful and yet so peace-loving, that's wonderful."
To put it bluntly, if Arkham Batman appears to be going all out to deal with Themyscira, Wonder Woman will definitely be unhappy. So, if Wonder Woman understands that Arkham Batman is truly going all out and could directly bring about Ragnarok, it would prove that he is actually quite merciful to the Amazons and Themyscira, and Wonder Woman won't be so dissatisfied.
And that's exactly right. Batman in Arkham didn't even physically assault a single Amazonian resident; even stealing the keys was done with Schiller's help, using a clever, non-violent method. Comparing that to the fate of the Olympian gods, Schiller might even think Diana was his true love.
The moment Arkham Batman stormed Mount Olympus, he drove his beat-up car into Zeus's palace, sending Zeus and his lightning bolts flying dozens of meters. By the time Zeus reacted, Arkham Batman had already activated his energy draining device, draining most of Zeus's divine power and pouring it into a gem. He then used the gem to nearly kill Zeus and pinned him to the throne with Zeus's own lightning spear.
After taking all of Zeus's divine power and life force, Arkham Batman slaughtered his way through. Goddesses like Hera and Artemis couldn't withstand the explosion of the gems; they were basically incapacitated after just one hit, and subsequent blows were effortless.
Even the stronger God of War and the God of the Underworld who arrived later were no match for Arkham Batman, who had absorbed so much divine power. Even if he didn't use this power on himself, the Batmobile, which could overturn even Mephisto and Zeus, along with the series of explosions, would be enough to give them a run for their money.
Neither of the two gods died. After Hades had almost all of his divine power drained, he fled back to the underworld; Ares didn't run away, but Batman from Arkham didn't intend to kill him either, only absorbing all of his divine power and most of his life force before letting him go.
Because Batman Arkham arrived so suddenly, the gods on Mount Olympus were completely unprepared, and Schiller was an expert at blocking paths, resulting in everyone except Hades escaping. Mount Olympus could now be declared destroyed.
Schiller felt nothing as he watched island after island of the gods fall. The Greek gods were really lazy and irresponsible. If they had truly taken on the responsibility of being the rulers of the nine kingdoms, like the gods of Asgard, and protected the creatures within their own territories, Batman would have given them the respect they deserved.
But Mount Olympus truly does nothing; on the contrary, it has caused humanity a great deal of trouble since ancient times. Ironically, they themselves don't seem to care about humanity, and the protection of their divine realm is practically nonexistent. They seem to have never even considered what would happen if someone stormed in and killed them.
They didn't have the immense pressure of the Ragnarok prophecy weighing on them, so they didn't care about their own safety at all. They also didn't have their own army and starships like Asgard. In short, they were useless at everything, and living was just a waste of entropy.
Given that Batman Arkham needs energy, it's perfectly normal for him to target them first.
After finishing up Mount Olympus, Arkham Batman didn't leave immediately. He picked up the axe of Ares that he had picked up earlier, handed it to Schiller, and said, "Take this and give it a shot."
Schiller gave him a question mark with his eyes. Arkham Batman didn't want to say anything more, but simply took a few steps back, giving Schiller room to make his move.
Schiller hesitated slightly. He gripped the axe and said, "This isn't some trap you set to renege on your debt, is it?"
“I assure you it wasn’t you; I told you to do it,” Arkham Batman said. “If you’re really worried, we can sign a contract guaranteeing that we won’t pursue this attack against you.”
Schiller probably already knew what he was planning, so he sighed, withdrew the power of the moonlight, and instead used the divine power of Ares that was already attached to the axe to slash at Batman.
The night was deep in Gotham.
Wonder Woman looked at Schiller and Natasha standing in front of her and said, "So, you want me to believe that this might be someone else pulling the strings behind the scenes, and not entirely Batman's fault? Is this some new tactic you're using to persuade me not to act rashly?"
“I’m simply stating a fact to you, madam,” Schiller said calmly. “The only reason I’m telling you this is because I believe that even in this situation, you have the capacity to rationally discern the truth. Do you?”
Wonder Woman stared at Schiller, who had just spoken, and remained silent for several seconds before looking away and slowly nodding, saying, "I had my doubts... because he didn't seem like Batman, like President Wayne, like that great politician who could turn a federal system into a monarchy within a year of being elected."
“Very good.” Schiller nodded slightly. “Now I only have one question—what kind of person could make Batman get his routine visit time wrong?”
“I’m sorry, but I really don’t know,” Wonder Woman said.
"Boss!! Boss!!!" A deafening roar came from outside the door, followed by heavy, disordered footsteps. A group of agents pushed open the door and shouted to Natasha, "The President has been assassinated! He's at the medical center now! The President wants to see you!! Quickly!!!"