I, the anti-superman, have hacked into the chat group.

Hunting down Cal is more important because it relates to the existence of the Multiverse Tower. Barbatos also stated that this is their number one mission. However, they have really had no clue what to do lately, and instead they have recruited a new corrupted Batman.

It was a Batman dressed in ancient heavy armor and wearing a bat helmet. His entire body was covered in metal, and he exuded a terrifying aura, like a knight who had just stepped out of the battlefield.

This dark Batman is known as the Merciless Iron Fist. In his world, Ares, the God of War, forged a helmet that could amplify his divine power a hundredfold, and then ignited a massive war.

The Justice League fought with all their might to stop Ares, but they only managed to knock off his helmet. Batman then put the helmet on to make Ares pay the price.

He thought he could change the war, but unfortunately, he was corrupted by the helmet, losing his compassion and becoming ruthless, and even killing Wonder Woman with his own hands.

To date, six Batmen have joined the Dark Knights: Dawn Lantern, Red Death, Killing Machine, Drowned Man, Iron Fist, and The Batman Who Laughs.

Dawn Lamp's expression was not good. To make up for his failure to seize the Multiverse Tower, he was the one who wanted to find Karl the most. However, the signal he sensed from the Lamp Furnace had been intermittent. The signal had finally reappeared before, but now it seemed to have been cut off again.

"The location is correct, at least the direction is absolutely right," Dawn's Ghost Lantern said with difficulty.

Everyone here is Batman, so they all understand the Dawn Lantern's lack of confidence, but they've gotten used to it; this isn't the first time clues have disappeared.

“Let’s stay in this area for another two days. If we still can’t find a new signal, we’ll leave this area,” the Bat of Laughter decided.

The other Batmen here all possess some superpowers to varying degrees, but the Batman Who Laughs remains an ordinary human. However, he has his own advantages: he was the first Dark Batman to come into contact with Barbatos and is very much to Barbatos's liking, like a courtier in the king's court.

Because of this, the Bat Who Laughs not only avoids being at a disadvantage in his interactions with others, but also subtly gains the greatest power of discourse.

Everyone agreed with his proposal, which was of course because there was nothing wrong with the proposal itself.

The spaceship continued its journey, finding no new lamplight signals, but making other discoveries.

"Hmm? That universe is about to collapse, should we go take a look?"

Chapter 339 The End of the Universe

The Dark Universe has a very short lifespan and often experiences cosmic collapses. When this happens, the Dark Knights usually go to check the situation and see if there is a suitable Dark Batman.

There are many dark universes, but not every universe where Batman turns to the dark side is a Batman. Also, not every Batman who turns to the dark side survives to the end. Even if he does survive, he may not have the chance to become cosmic debris; he might simply dissipate along with the dark universe.

After filtering through layers of conditions, there are not many universes that can ultimately meet their requirements, especially the last condition. Before the universe is truly destroyed, there is no way to determine whether there will be any survivors. It is for these reasons that the Dark Knights are not very efficient in forming their teams.

At this moment, the Dark Knights' ship was rapidly approaching the universe that was about to be destroyed. Logically, they should be doing their best to find Karl's whereabouts, but apart from the Dawn Lantern, no one had any hope of finding any new clues. Moreover, judging from the current rate of collapse of that universe, they should be able to get results soon.

“Oh, it looks like we’re in luck. We can look forward to the ending of this universe,” said the Red Death Demon.

Their spaceships are reconnaissance machines; even from outer space, they can easily detect the situation on Earth. This is, of course, also related to the impending collapse of the universe.

“Is that so? As things stand, the ending of this universe should be a fairly common Bvsvs scenario, but Batman’s situation doesn’t seem too good. Objectively speaking, Superman has a higher chance of winning,” said the merciless iron-fisted man.

From the spaceship, they witnessed the battle taking place underground in Gotham City. Batman seemed to be cornered and could only escape with serious injuries, while Superman, although weakened by the underground traps, still possessed overwhelming power.

"Based on the information we've gathered so far, Batman will be caught by Superman soon. Even if he has other plans in the base, he will die from blood loss in 10 minutes," Killing Machine analyzed.

This Batman lost his butler Alfred in his universe, so he used Alfred's memories to create a new artificial intelligence. But eventually, this AI went berserk and infected and modified Batman, turning him into a ruthless killing machine.

“Since he can’t survive, why are we wasting our time here? Our mission doesn’t include collecting Dark Superman. Let’s continue trying to capture the Lamp’s signal. Maybe we’ll miss our chance to catch Superman because we’re wasting time here,” Dawn Lantern said impatiently.

However, the Batman Who Laughs ignored his eagerness, chuckled, and said, "Let's wait a bit longer. You know he's Batman too. Batman always wins in the end, hee hee."

The others said they didn't care, but War Machine continued, "Judging from his escape route, this Batman probably wants to go to Silas Stone's lab, where there's a machine with an unknown function."

“Haha, I told you, Batman always has a backup plan,” the Batman Who Laughs said to the Dawn Lantern.

The Dawn Lantern snorted, but had no choice but to wait patiently.

The Batman Who Laughs is right that Batman always has a backup plan, but that's on the premise that Batman has made sufficient preparations in advance, rather than being attacked directly by a powerful enemy while still accumulating strength, as is the case now.

Perhaps he had prepared many backup plans, but the incident happened so suddenly that he had no chance to use them. The only thing he could rely on was the methods of the Speed ​​Force Laboratory.

However, that was not a way out, but a carefully prepared trap.

Thanks to the spaceship given to them by Barbatos, the Dark Knights had a clear view of the entire battle. Batman, exerting all his strength, narrowly escaped crashing into the Speed ​​Force laboratory.

Batman dared not slow down, so he still bumped into quite a few pieces of equipment after entering the lab. After changing direction several times, he finally stopped on the most conspicuous platform in the lab.

Boom! Superman was not to be outdone. He used his heat vision to blast open the laboratory wall and rushed in. His eyes locked onto Batman immediately.

"Ah...ha...you're really good at hiding, but let's see where you can hide now?" Superman took a breath to calm the energy in his body that had become somewhat unstable due to the Kryptonite and the red sun, and then an even stronger heat vision began to gather in his eyes.

He knew, of course, that there was a trap waiting for him, so Superman planned to use a wide-range heat vision attack to destroy Batman along with the people and equipment there.

"Activate the Speed ​​Force!" Batman shouted urgently, having seen through Superman's intentions.

He's the only one left on the Speed ​​Force platform now, but Batman can't worry about that anymore. Even if the Speed ​​Force can't capture Superman, starting the fusion process will at least give him a chance to survive the heat vision attack.

Carl naturally took action immediately, but he initiated his own preparations, not the fusion process that Batman thought he was going to follow.

Yellow lightning began to surge from the platform beneath Batman's feet, instantly enveloping him completely. Almost simultaneously, Superman's heat vision also struck, and the red laser and yellow lightning collided, creating a violent explosion.

"Oh no, the Speed ​​Force is out of control!" Carl exclaimed, feigning panic. In reality, the Speed ​​Force was becoming stronger and stronger under his control. Batman had not yet figured out a way to extract large amounts of the Speed ​​Force, but Carl had.

The explosion caused the Speed ​​Force to form a spherical energy storm, which continued to expand at the same speed as the Flash's running, quickly engulfing everything and everything around it.

If Dark Superman were in good condition, he might have been able to dodge these Speed ​​Forces, but now he can only be swallowed up by this storm.

With a rumbling sound, the laboratory and even the entire underground base disappeared. However, this was not the end. The Speed ​​Force storm showed no signs of stopping and swept across the entire Earth in a few seconds, looking like a giant ball of lightning from space.

The drowning being from beyond the universe said, "The scene is quite grand, but I don't know what the final outcome will be. The universe is about to collapse; if he doesn't win now, he'll have no chance."

After the Speed ​​Force storm engulfed Earth, it tried to spread to other places, but by then the universe had reached its end and no place other than Earth existed. At the same time, the turbulence in the universe caused the connection between the Speed ​​Force and reality to become unstable, and the storm, which had lost its replenishment, began to slowly shrink.

The stars went out, the sun disappeared, and everything in the universe was heading towards darkness, until finally even the light of the Speed ​​Force lightning vanished.

In the dark space, only a human-shaped figure could be barely detected.

Chapter 340 Mixing and Incorporation

"Who survived? Superman or Batman?" the drowned man asked.

Superman is physically stronger and has the best chance of surviving the Speed ​​Force storm, but the Dark Knights believe that Batman started the storm and must have prepared ways to protect himself. Even if the storm sweeps across the Earth, Batman's chances of survival are not low.

The killing machine manipulated the spaceship's detection system, and after some manipulation, a clear image gradually appeared on the screen in front of everyone.

The first thing they saw was the prominent "S" symbol, the symbol of Superman. But just as they were feeling sorry for Batman's defeat, the figure finally revealed its full form. He did indeed have the Superman symbol on his chest, but the symbol was engraved on top of the bat symbol.

This last survivor of the Dark Universe wears a Batman helmet and black cape, his eyes glow red, obscuring his expression, while his suit is closer to Superman's, except that the "S" on his chest is covered by a larger bat symbol.

Things took the Dark Knights somewhat by surprise; the one who survived was a hybrid of Superman and Batman, as if the two had been roughly stitched together.

“I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before.” The drowned woman began to recall, and when she remembered where this feeling of déjà vu came from, the others also realized it and all looked at the Red Death Demon beside her.

"It seems his situation is very similar to yours; both of you sought an opportunity to merge with another being," the Merciless Iron Fist said to the Crimson Death Demon.

The origin story of Red Death is simple: after certain events, Batman turned to the dark side and felt that he should have faster speed and more time to fight crime, so he set his sights on his teammate, The Flash.

He captured The Flash and strapped him to a Batmobile powered by a cosmic treadmill, intending to crash into the Speed ​​Force to gain power and become the Speedster.

He successfully entered the Speed ​​Force, but the final result was different from what he had imagined. He and the Flash merged into one in the Speed ​​Force and became inseparable, thus giving birth to the Red Death.

“It is indeed very similar.” Red Death nodded in agreement. “Although the process is not exactly the same, the original purpose of this ‘me’ should have been to steal Superman’s power through the Speed ​​Force, which is similar to what I achieved.”

Then Red Death added, "However, the method of merging the Speed ​​Force is definitely not the best way to obtain power. Just like my fusion with the Flash was not my original plan, because that would also mix the consciousnesses of the two people together, and it would be impossible to be sure which consciousness would dominate in the end."

The Dark Knights are an organization that only recruits Batman. If Batman's consciousness cannot occupy an absolute dominant position, then that person cannot be called Batman. Even if it is half of Superman's consciousness, it will not work. The new consciousness created by such fusion will still not be Batman's consciousness.

Barbatos left a way to replace Batman in the main universe when his plan begins, thus circumventing the multiverse's rejection mechanism.

Therefore, the Dark Knights must ensure that every member is Batman, no matter how different they are from the main universe's Batman, as long as their 'role positioning' is Batman.

"Haha, let's go take a look then. I'm quite satisfied with his act of killing off the entire Earth in the end, and I believe he won't disappoint us, right?" The Bat Who Laughs roared with laughter.

He's a guy who values ​​rituals a lot. After receiving the plan to form a team to attack the multiverse, The Batman Who Laughs intentionally pulled out a twisted version of the Justice League to fight against the heroes of the main universe. He thought it would be very interesting.

There is currently no member in the Dark Knights who corresponds to Superman, so the Batman Who Laughs is eager to recruit this Superman-version Batman.

“Red Death, Drowned One, come with me to pick up the newcomer,” said the Bat Who Laughs.

The members of the Dark Knights were mostly recruited by the Batman Who Laughs through his eloquence, and even after the number of members grew, he would still personally take charge every time.

Even though everyone is Batman, the Batman Who Laughs's eyepatch makes it easier for him to find the weaknesses in others.

The spiked eye mask, which blocked all of the maniacal laughter's vision, contained dark metal and could see into the darkness deep within people's hearts.

This is not the same as mind reading. The laughing bat cannot know exactly what people are thinking, but it can vaguely sense other people's desires and thus prescribe the right medicine to make its words invincible.

After the spaceship continued to approach that distance, it dropped the three people into the cosmic ruins, which were spatial fragments that had not yet completely disappeared after the collapse of the dark universe.

The Laughing Bat first carefully observed the other party's desires from the outside before slowly walking inside.

'This type of desire must be a yearning for a peaceful and beautiful world, huh? Looks like Batman really is the one who survived; his desire is similar to that of the Red Death and the Drowned.'

The Batman Who Laughs had already guessed this, which is why he called on the Red Death and the Drowned when choosing his companions. In fact, he didn't need the two to do anything; he was simply pursuing a certain sense of ritual.

"Hey, what a terrible day, isn't it? You finally defeated a powerful enemy, but suddenly everything is gone, everything has vanished." The Batman Who Laughs said as he approached the Superman version of Batman.

"Who...are you?"

“Who are we? We are beings similar to you, we have all lost our own worlds,” the Bat Who Laughs said sincerely.

"Perhaps you don't understand yet, but our world is destined to be short-lived because it is by nature. The universe at the bottom will inevitably be destroyed."

"..."

"But you know what? Maybe I should say lucky, because there is a perfect world above our world, where the universe is always full of hope."

The Laughing Bat, observing the other person's expression, noticed the barely concealed but undeniable excitement. With a wave of his hand, he released several projections filled with despair.

The Red Death and the Drowned frowned, for these images contained their experiences.

"These are things that happen in the lower world. No matter how much you struggle here, it's useless. The lower world is destined for despair, while the upper world is destined for beauty."

"Now, an opportunity is presented to you. Are you willing to conquer that wonderful world?!" the Laughing Bat shouted, already knowing the answer.

"...If you have any plans, tell me about them."

Chapter 341 The Possessioner

Karl stepped openly into the Dark Knights' spaceship. He had been planning this for a long time, and now he walked alongside the Batman Who Laughs and the others, his demeanor swaggering.

"Come on, let's get to know each other. We're both struggling in the dark world, and we'll probably spend a long time together until we drag the upper world into destruction."

The Laughing Bat enthusiastically introduced each member of the Knights, unaware that he had already let a wolf into his house.

Then he turned to Carl and asked, "You already know our titles, so what about you? How should we address you? It's not appropriate to call you Batman now that you've been reborn. Besides, we are all Batmen from our own worlds, so it's easy to get confused."

“You’re right, then call me the Possessioner,” Karl replied.