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

“You can try moving him and see what happens,” Barbatos said, his tone much weaker than expected.

This was a test of Karl's attitude; he pretended to be indifferent, hiding his true thoughts.

But Karl wasn't fooled. When Barbatos told him to make a move, he grabbed the Red Death Demon by the neck. With just a little force, he would kill it.

"Stop!" Barbatos shouted at the critical moment.

He realized that Karl had seen through him, and pretending to be ignorant wouldn't work; the other party was really capable of making a move.

"Stop, stop for a moment," Barbatos said urgently. "We can talk about any conflicts. We don't have to go to extremes. You've been waiting for me here on purpose, haven't you?"

Barbatos was filled with hatred, but on the surface he became even more amiable. Perhaps even Barbatos' former master had never seen him like this.

When has a dragon capable of destroying the universe ever suffered such humiliation? But there's nothing he can do but endure it for the sake of his plan, unless he abandons his invasion of the multiverse.

"Just tell me what you want. As long as you return the Red Death Demon to me, I will try my best to fulfill your request, even the most greedy one."

"Our initial conflict was over the ownership of the Multiverse Tower. Although the process was very unpleasant, it was not an insurmountable conflict," Barbatos said against his will.

“Oh, so you’re planning to give the Multiverse Tower back to me?” Karl retorted.

Barbatos shook his head: "I need the help of the Cosmic Tower to invade the multiverse. I can't give it back to you, but you can join me."

After much thought, Barbatos came up with a solution: to recruit Karl.

"Think about it, my goal is almost achieved. I won't care what you do after that. We can cooperate completely. It's not about you infiltrating my forces, but about genuine cooperation."

“Completely insincere.” Karl remained unmoved and made no comment.

Barbatos had no choice but to offer empty promises again: "Superpower, if you're willing to help me, I'll give you half of the universe, and the two of us can jointly rule the multiverse. Is that enough sincerity?"

Karl was slightly surprised. He hadn't expected Barbatos to offer such a condition, which was so generous that it was almost impossible to refuse.

Unfortunately, this was just an empty promise.

Karl didn't think Barbatos was really that cowardly as to give away half of the results just because someone threatened him, but even if it were true, it wouldn't make any difference, since he wouldn't agree anyway.

Ruling the universe sounds impressive, but Carl was forced to rule Earth-3; he had absolutely no desire for such things.

Chapter 402 Betrayal First

“I can consider your proposal, but I can’t trust you completely,” Karl said to Barbatos.

He was signaling to Barbatos to make more concessions.

Although the idea of ​​jointly ruling the multiverse is itself a lie and a trap, there is much that can be done in the process.

Karl had already made Barbatos realize through their initial exchange that he couldn't easily defeat Karl, and Karl's presence with the Red Death Demon card put Barbatos at a disadvantage in the conversation.

"You mean we should start with some initial cooperation?" Barbatos said with a rather understanding tone, "I understand, you doubt the truthfulness of my words. So, to show our sincerity, we can exchange prisoners first."

As the two sides continued their conversation, Barbatos gradually calmed down and began to consider things more carefully. Upon reflection, he realized that he also had leverage to negotiate with Karl.

“Those outsiders seem to have a very good relationship with you. We remember when we first met you even covered for them. Now they’re in my hands, and I can give them back to you,” Barbatos said.

If Carl were a normal Superman, Barbatos would have directly threatened the lives of his fellow group members in retaliation.

But Carl was different. During his time on Earth-3, he never opened up to the people there, always maintaining a spiritual distance, even from people he cooperated with more, such as Owl and the Ultimate Alliance members.

This makes Carl, on the surface, appear more like a villain who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals.

Emotional threats against such villains are ineffective.

Although Karl had taken action to protect Mebius and Tiamat, it was only once. Barbatos dared not risk their lives directly, since the Red Death Demon was still in Karl's hands and he could not take the risk lightly.

“What do you think?” Barbatos asked.

"Do you think I'm stupid? You think I can just casually trade away the only Dark Batman? You're dreaming," Carl said dismissively.

Barbatos didn't show any anger, but continued, "It doesn't necessarily have to be a direct exchange. We can certainly continue discussing it, but are you really that indifferent to those outsiders?"

During negotiations, it is crucial to understand the other party's bottom line, and the degree to which both sides value the hostages is the most important bottom line.

The more you care about the hostages held by the other side, the easier it is to fall into a disadvantageous position.

As a normal person, Carl naturally didn't want to see anything happen to his friends who came to help him, but since this was a negotiation, the more ruthless he appeared, the safer they would be.

However, we can't just say we're giving up on them, because that would be unbelievable and Barbatos would easily see through our lies.

So Karl said, "It's not that I don't care about them, it's just that even if they die, I can resurrect them."

"You'd better think this through. The Red Death Demon will be completely erased from the universe after he dies in the multiverse, but others won't. It would take a lot of effort to make him impossible to resurrect, and I won't give you the chance to do that, so you'd better recognize your situation."

Barbatos took a deep breath.

If it were up to his usual temperament, he would have already crushed anyone who dared to threaten him to dust.

However, the situation is beyond our control now. There are quite a few ways to resurrect in the DC universe. Even excluding those methods that only work on DC beings, there are still several resurrection options.

In reality, if Barbatos succeeds, these resurrection methods will become ineffective, and Karl did not prepare a high-level resurrection spell in advance. White Lantern was useful, but it had long since run out of energy.

But it was enough when Carl said those words; he showed his determination, his determination to show weakness no matter what.

When both sides have knowledge of each other's objectives, one side must make concessions if they don't want a lose-lose situation.

The side that makes concessions is the one that can't hold on in the standoff and shows its fear when frightened by the consequences.

Karl placed his hand on the Red Death Demon's head and applied slight pressure, instantly causing cracks to appear all over the demon's visor. Without a doubt, if Karl had applied even a tiny bit more force, he would have blown the Red Death Demon's head off.

"You, stop right now!" Barbatos quickly called out, asking, "You've told me so much, so you must think highly of my proposal, right? If you're not satisfied with the process, you can make your demands and we can discuss it further."

Karl stated directly that he could return the Red Death Demon, but only in exchange for the Multiverse Tower.

“Only a transaction like this is fair,” Karl said.

He didn't have enough time to reclaim the Multiverse Tower before Barbatos noticed; if he wanted to, he would have to confront him head-on.

Barbatos's face was grim. He said, "Losing the Red Death Demon and losing the multiverse would both prevent me from completing my plans. You gave me one back but took another away. This won't change the situation in the slightest. I still have to confront you."

Barbatos thought for a moment and continued, "How about this, I'll return your teammates to you. You don't have to release the Red Death Demon directly, but for each person I give you, you have to allow me to add a layer of protection to the Red Death Demon. What do you think of this?"

Barbatos proposed a highly feasible solution.

If both parties are truly willing to cooperate, then this plan is a good suggestion and quite suitable for building initial trust.

Unfortunately, both sides had their own ulterior motives, and their only real thought was how to completely eliminate the other.

However, it was also necessary to get the group of friends out of danger first, and Karl really had no reason to refuse.

“Okay, let’s cooperate like this for now, as you said,” Karl agreed.

"Alright, then I'll return one person to you first, and then you can put this ball of dark energy onto the Red Death Demon."

As Barbatos spoke, he compressed a considerable amount of dark energy into the size of a fist, and then controlled this ball of energy to slowly drift towards Karl.

Karl took the energy ball in front of him, and without giving it a second glance, pressed it directly onto the Red Death Demon.

Instantly, this energy melted like water and spread throughout the Red Death Demon's body, forming a tight protective layer.

This energy is meant to protect against Karl. While it's impossible to stop him indefinitely, the more energy there is, the longer it will take Karl to kill the Red Death, and the higher Barbatos' margin for error in rescuing the Red Death.

Once the level reaches a certain point, Barbatos will likely try to take back the Red Death Demon directly, rather than continuing the cooperation.

Therefore, it is important to decide when to break the agreement, and to try to gain as much benefit as possible from the other party's actions.

That's how it should be.

Seeing Karl's actions, Barbatos did not turn back to Earth. Instead, he raised his claws and grabbed directly at the Red Death Demon, shouting, "Just one chance is enough for me!"

Barbatos was the one who started the betrayal.

Chapter 403 Backstab

The energy emanating from the Red Death Demon was only enough to stop Karl for a moment.

As Barbatos made his move, Karl also used his grip strength to pinch the Red Death Demon's head.

Both sides had incredibly sharp reflexes, wasting not a single second, and the outcome was inevitable.

Barbatos also attacked from the front, so it was actually a fairly fair contest. It was essentially a simple battle of stats, and if neither side made a mistake, there was only one possible outcome.

Barbatos had calculated the time required for both sides to operate, and theoretically he could definitely rescue the Red Death.

It's undeniable that his actions carried considerable risk, but judging from the power Karl had previously displayed, he was certain he could catch up before the Red Death Demon died.

"Give it to me!"

Barbatos grabbed the Red Death Demon with one hand and fought off Karl with the other.

"Hahaha, you lost to Superb. I know you won't believe me, but you're too naive. Our brief exchange was enough for me to see through you. You must want to make a few deals with me first, but no way. The first time alone was enough for me to secure the victory."

As Barbatos spoke, he hid the Red Death Demon under his cloak, not giving Karl another chance to threaten him.

The Red Death was bound, unable to speak or move freely, and after Barbatos rescued him, he showed no intention of untying him, but simply hid him away.

Now all Barbatos needs to do is keep the Dark Knights alive. He used to have a Dark Batman as his subordinates, but now he has completely given up on that idea, treating these guys as mere tools, not caring about their thoughts, and too lazy to even tell lies anymore.

Anyway, the Red Death Demon is now firmly bound and cannot even commit suicide, which is exactly what Barbatos wanted.

“Damn it, you got lucky this time, but don’t forget, even with Batman as a conduit, you can’t stay in the multiverse forever. You have plenty of time, but it’s not infinite,” Karl said.

Barbatos laughed: "So what if it is? I've had enough time to do whatever I want. Kill him first, and you can continue your previous plan. So, Superb, you're going to die!"

Barbatos, no longer holding back, condensed dark energy into an arm that swept towards Karl like an ever-expanding forest, covering an area of ​​hundreds of miles. He was truly going all out; his anger towards Karl made him vow to blast Karl to pieces with his own hands before he would stop.

Karl's eyes lit up, and his heat vision forcefully burned a path through them.

Even if he can't beat Barbatos right now, it's definitely not something Barbatos can do in a single move.

Barbatos was not angry but pleased: "Good, good, you've become stronger. That's how it's supposed to be fun to fight. If you keep running away, it'll be too boring."

He didn't want to fight Karl because he was worried that Karl would choose to hide again, which would prevent him from getting his revenge.

However, Carl himself knew that he could not actually retreat at this moment.

The Justice League and their friends are still trapped on Mount Barbatos, and apart from Carl, there is basically no one left to rescue them. Even if they were to save themselves, Carl would need to buy them time.

And even if you wanted to hide, there wasn't really a suitable place.

The Tower of the Multiverse has not yet been retrieved, so there is no way to break through the Origin Wall to go outside the multiverse for the time being. If we just keep going around inside the multiverse, no matter how well we hide, we will eventually be found once Barbatos takes control of all the universes.

Finally, Karl himself did not want to retreat.

Barbatos resented Karl for hindering his plan to conquer the universe, but Karl was just as angry that Barbatos had ruined his relocation plan.