amaotonovel Chapter 527 The good wasn't absolute enough, and the bad wasn't thorough enough.
Chapter 527 The good wasn't absolute enough, and the bad wasn't thorough enough.
Chapter 527 The good wasn't absolute enough, and the bad wasn't thorough enough.
Tell me, Night Owl.
Night Owl heard the Joker ask, "How does it feel to be used as a sacrifice?"
"I can't... I can't just collapse here."
Thomas Wayne Jr. may feel frustrated, he may have negative emotions, but Nite Owl cannot. He should act like a precise instrument, responding immediately upon discovering an unexpected situation.
Therefore, even though Thomas Wayne was howling in despair, the Night Owl immediately sprang into action.
He fled for his life the moment he saw Batman and the Anti-Monitor arrive together.
Luther thought he had modified his thrusters, but Nite Owl had always made sure he could stop the displacement reaction at the crucial moment as easily as adding a hidden switch to a simple circuit.
The shielding network he had prepared was originally meant to prevent any crossing between the two universes, so that Batman couldn't come over or interfere with him, and Luthor's preparations could be cut off, allowing him to remain calm and collected. However, with the combined efforts of Batman and the Anti-Monitor, the two of them pierced through the protective network he had woven between the two universes like an iron spike, and appeared directly in his world.
"But this isn't over yet," Night Owl hypnotized himself. "I still have a chance to fight back."
He quickly devised a new plan for himself: "The replacement between universes can't start so quickly, especially if Lex Luthor's preparations haven't actually taken effect, or have only partially taken effect."
"If I can quickly expel the Anti-Monitor and Batman from my universe and prevent them from taking over my Propulsion Tower system, I can unleash the Speed Force Storm on Batman's universe at that close range without any scruples..."
(Note: Chapter 495 mentioned that Nite Owl's original plan was for him to unleash the Speed Force storm in the Batman universe, but he abandoned the plan after being threatened by Batman, though he still retained the ability.)
"No matter what conditions Batman and the Anti-Monitor reach, his universe will always be Batman's Achilles' heel. Once he decides to go back to save his universe, he will inevitably clash with the Anti-Monitor. This will make them too busy to deal with me."
It must be said that the plan Night Owl came up with on short notice, which was similar to the strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao," was feasible, because it was not something he came up with on a whim, but rather based on the rational use of existing resources.
But all of this has one premise.
Stop Batman and the Anti-Monitor from taking over his Propulsion Tower system.
Therefore, he had to...
"I told you, you're finished, Night Owl. It's time for your retribution."
He heard the Joker, the phantom he had imagined, babbling and mocking him.
"Your damn plans are a complete mess, useless and boring."
He heard the Joker say, "If you had decided to sacrifice the world of Batman early on, you wouldn't have wasted your time on Lord Orm and the Blood Cult."
(Note: Early on, before Nite Owl killed Metron, sat on the Mobius Chair, and definitively confirmed the Anti-Monitor's invincibility, he attempted to team up with Batman to fight the Anti-Monitor, rather than sacrificing Batman. Joker is mocking this point.)
Night Owl knew that he couldn't possibly outrun Batman and the Anti-Monitor with his speed alone. One of them could transform into a form that could utilize the Speed Force, and the other was a being that could be called a god.
Even with his power armor, Night Owl couldn't match the speed of either of them.
Fortunately, Batman and the Anti-Monitor were in a fragile space when they stepped out of the portal, which prevented them from moving immediately, giving Owl a very short reaction time.
He immediately remotely mobilized a large amount of magical energy belonging to the Heart of the Planet, channeling it through the unfortunate Greer—who was already overwhelmed after losing the help of those cosmic overlords to share and channel the energy, but Night Owl didn't care about that.
He poured all the magical energy he had guided into Natazar's body, and then used her to cast a spell of irony.
(Note: The parallel universe counterpart of the ironic magic master Zataza was mentioned in Chapter 505. Night Owl uses Zataza to manipulate energy, but this is confirmed in the conversation with Luther in Chapter 508 to be only a supplementary means.)
The powerful irony magic briefly halted the actions of the Anti-Monitor and Batman—at the cost of Nataza suffering a massive magical backlash and nearly dying.
Night Owl opened the portal, panting heavily as he collapsed onto the floor of the safe house. Here, Batman and the Anti-Monitor wouldn't detect him for a while, at least for a little while longer.
He felt his heart pounding, and his blood rushing to his brain driven by fear.
He looked up and saw the Joker appear before him in a reclining position.
"Hey, Thomas. Have you ever thought about this? If you had been clear about your goal from the beginning, treated Batman with utter ruthlessness, and woven him into your shadow step by step, with the advantage of intelligence and prior preparation, you would have already escaped leisurely and watched Batman fight the Anti-Monitor to the death, hehe!" Joker said.
The owl glared at the other party.
"Oh, darling, don't look at me like that. I am a projection of your inner self, two sides of the same coin! I am what you imagine, remember? This is the voice of your heart. Wow, speaking in my image, how romantic!"
Night Owl had no time to waste. He didn't even answer Joker's question. He staggered to the control panel in the safe house, used the backdoor he had left in the system to skip a series of complicated identity verification steps, and then started his new folder.
The Joker kept rambling on, as insane as ever, and continued, "Or, you could be kind to the end, completely open up to Batman, and the two of you brothers could team up, fucking combine your skills, fight against the Anti-Monitors, and promise never to abandon anyone—you'd be incredibly awesome!"
He shrugged and continued:
"Well, so this sounds like a classic, albeit cheesy, heroic epic. You'll likely get beaten to a pulp in the final battle, but guess what? You win!"
"This seems like a good ending."
"Warning, emergency countermeasures have been activated."
Night Owl ignored what the Joker said, his attention completely focused on the screen.
He was just in one of the propulsion towers, trying to separate the two universes by creating a shielding network.
When Batman and the Anti-Monitor broke through the shield and arrived in this universe, they were guided by the shielding network, like falling through a hole in the bottom of a giant trampoline and landing in the lower position.
In other words, the Anti-Monitor and Batman are not currently on Earth in the Night Owl Universe, but on a propulsion tower that has been placed in another cosmic sector and can be used as a target.
The owl took a deep breath.
He looked around and realized that the Joker had disappeared from his side at some point...
Well, he's lucky.
"Activating... Emergency Countermeasures Plan: A"
Text flashed rapidly on his screen:
"The Galactic Golem was originally a weapon of war with its own consciousness. It was enormous, almost the size of the Milky Way. Most of the time, it communicated with creatures much smaller than itself by condensing its energy into smaller clones."
"But he still has a weakness. Embedded in his forehead is a miniature planet, only 1/10 the size of a normal planet. That is his control core, his central nervous system, and his only weakness."
Based on the covert modifications we've made to the Galactic Golem, we're able to manipulate his actions through that miniature planet. He will be the decisive factor when necessary.
This is the log that Night Owl wrote for this plan, in case someone else he trusted still managed to execute it brilliantly even if he wasn't the one to initiate it.
This plan was originally intended to counter the numerous contingency plans left by Night Owl when those cosmic overlords banded together to oppose him after he escaped from this universe.
Now, although the Galactic Puppet has been drained, this has actually made it easier for him to control it.
Then, using the propulsion tower system, a large amount of Planetary Heart energy is poured into the Galactic Golem's body...
"I just need to get rid of them as quickly as possible." Night Owl gritted his teeth. On the wide-angle view of the screen, the colossal planet Colossus roared to the sky, smashing countless smaller planets to pieces in space.
A battle golem as huge as the Milky Way—that's where the name "Galaxy Golem" comes from.
"You really think you can fight off the anti-monitors with this? Come on, you know deep down that this thing is complete bullshit. It's useless except for giving you a little comfort right now."
The Joker's voice rang out again, clearer than Thomas had ever heard before.
"Tell me, Night Owl. My friend, my plaything, how much longer will you struggle?"
Night Owl didn't speak. He stared intently at the screen, and then saw the Galactic Puppet he was controlling, viciously swinging its fist, which was larger than a planet, at the Anti-Monitor and Batman.
Countless innocent planets were obliterated in this galaxy-spanning attack. Night Owl felt his mouth go dry; the opponent's immense power had created a slight illusion for him.
He looked at another screen showing Batman and the Anti-Monitor in their current state. Batman had transformed into a form with wings growing from his ribs, looking like a dragon wearing human skin.
Look, Batman seems to be about to use some of his power.
This gave Night Owl a false sense of security, making him genuinely believe that he could...
The next moment, the screen went black, and another image was quickly switched to the main screen, followed by a mechanical notification sound:
"Plan failed, the Galactic Golem is dead. The Galactic Golem has been destroyed head-on."
A tremendous feeling of suffocation gripped the owl's heart.
He felt like he couldn't breathe.
He felt as if his hands were clasped behind his back, he was lying on the ground, and Batman was pressing his neck down with his knee.
He can't breathe.
"Initiating: Emergency Countermeasures Plan B"
A large number of Amozzo robots were released by Night Owl's pre-programmed commands. Each of them was as powerful as a regular Green Lantern, except that they had no emotions. That was their only weakness.
Human wave tactics, when facing Anti-Monitor and Batman...
It's completely useless.
He looked at the robots floating in space, those that had survived the Anti-Monitor's attack.
Dr. Ivo poured his heart and soul into his creations, but he probably had no idea that they were all under the surveillance of the shameless plagiarist Night Owl, who had even mass-produced them.
Dr. Ivo still considered himself an important ally of Night Owl thanks to the Amozzo robot, but in reality, he was just a researcher.
"Warning, initiating: Emergency Countermeasures Plan C."
"A bombardment of magical energy infused into the heart of a planet. Warning: Doing so could potentially cause irreversible damage to your universe. Confirm...?"
Night Owl confirmed it quickly, but he also guessed that such an attack would be no different from a tickle to an opponent of Batman and the Anti-Monitor's caliber.
At this point, he should have continued to develop plans until he was able to temporarily push the two enemies away from his universe, just as he envisioned.
however……
"I told you, Thomas."
The owl computer in front of the owl automatically activated Emergency Plan D.
But Night Owl knew very well that these plans were getting weaker and weaker. If the previous Galactic Golems couldn't do anything about them, then these little things were even less likely to be of any use.
"You had a choice before this. If you had chosen either of those two options the same way, you and your universe wouldn't be in this situation today."
Night Owl heard the Joker say, "But you can't have both, Thomas. Traitors and warriors are completely different species; you can never be both."
"So why hesitate? Why did you want to team up with Batman in the first place?"
Night Owl sat blankly in the chair. He knew very well that his plan was useless against the two men, but he had no other plans.
He sat blankly in the chair, like a robot that had lost its purpose.
then……
Everything around him began to disappear; this safe house was also part of a push tower system.
If Batman is determined to empty his universe, then everything in this safe house that is connected to the Propulsion Tower system will be taken along with it.
So now, the night owl can only groan.
He collapsed to the ground, utterly helpless, like a wounded wild beast in despair.
He tried to hypnotize himself into believing he could do something, but he could no longer.
"Choosing either direction would have been the right choice, but you chose neither." Night Owl heard the Joker crouch down and whisper softly in his ear.
"You're not good enough, but you're not bad enough either..."
The Joker lowered his head and sighed softly:
"You...you."
"That's why it's so painful."
(End of this chapter)