"Thank you so much, you really were a big help." Universe Batman and the Master of the Dark Night embraced briefly, then shook hands with the Detective Chimp, saying, "If it weren't for the magical creatures you found, the construction of the pillars wouldn't have been so quick."
"Don't say that, Batman, we should be thanking you." The Master of the Dark Night looked at Batman sincerely and said, "You don't know what this means for the magic realm. You've saved almost all the wizards' lives. Once the magical defense network is built, Earth will no longer be threatened by those mysterious entities. It's practically a miracle."
"But we still can't let our guard down," Universe Batman said, "The magical defense network needs long-term maintenance and updates to become stable. During this newly-built period, there are bound to be various problems. We have to make sure, together, that no one takes advantage of any vulnerability."
At that moment, Strange walked over and said, "The pillars in the Batcave have been completed, and this will also be the control center of the Earth's magical defense network. Now we can infuse energy into it and illuminate the entire defense network."
Universe Batman took a deep breath. He pressed a button on the communicator in his hand and said, "Justice League, assemble."
About half an hour later, the entire Justice League, along with the Master of the Dark Night, Constantine, Zatanna, and many other mages, gathered around a spherical platform. Universe Batman took out a gemstone compressed with magical energy and infused all the magic energy into the sphere.
As the light grew brighter, a pillar of light shot into the sky. In an instant, nine points of light distributed evenly across Earth lit up sequentially, forming a golden shield network. With the final beam of light descending, the blue planet slowly opened its eyes.
Universe Batman looked up. Although the Batcave was underground and he couldn't see the sky, he could faintly feel the energy fluctuations. People like Wonder Woman, who could feel energy fluctuations, became excited and flew up.
"It's amazing!" Wonder Woman couldn't help but exclaim. She circled the Batcave and said, "This is not just a defense network; why do I feel that even Earth's energy field has changed?!"
"That's to be expected," Strange said, "The magical defense network will adjust Earth's internal energy field to the frequency most suitable for human survival. To be precise, it should have been like this all along, but various strange entities disrupted the energy field. Now, it's just setting things right."
The magicians all felt something. Even the usually nonchalant Constantine looked up in silence for a long while, as if sensing something.
After a while, Constantine suddenly coughed heavily twice and bent down to puke. But what he vomited was not food, but masses of black sludge.
Certain whispers in his ears turned to roars, which gradually became weaker until they disappeared. He took a deep breath, stood up, placed his hand on Batman's shoulder, and said, "Well done, Batman."
Superman grabbed him by the collar disdainfully and pulled him away from Universe Batman. Constantine didn't care. He squatted in the corner, muttering, seemingly testing some new magic.
Zatanna looked bewildered. She said, "Did something change? Why can't I feel it? Is my magic still working?"
She tried it out after speaking and found her antlanguage magic still working, so she breathed a sigh of relief. But this made Universe Batman frown. He looked at Strange and said, "Why can she still use her magic?"
Strange also noticed the strange phenomenon. When Zatanna used magic, there was no energy fluctuation around her, meaning what she used seemed not to be magic but a force that directly altered reality.
However, Strange, being experienced, directly said, "Surely, the entity she contracted is unique. Instead of just providing her with power, it changed her nature, making her an extension or appendage, allowing direct reality manipulation like her."
Upon hearing this statement, Universe Batman couldn't help but frown. Strange, however, just shook his head, not taking it seriously.
"Changing her form of existence is one thing; wanting to come in personally is another. Our universe had such an example, where eventually the contractor ended up controlling most of the power, calling the shots."
"Are you talking about the Scarlet Witch?"
"Something like that. The entity Miss Zatanna contracted may be even more magical, at least I can't see much from her. But it has remained stable over the years, indicating that it's not a big issue."
Despite what Strange said, Universe Batman clearly didn't fully believe it. Mainly, he thought Strange might not fully understand the nature of the entities in their universe.
Regardless, if this entity did explode one day, the Prime Universe would be the first to suffer, leaving them with no choice but to be wary.
Nonetheless, the future Strange envisioned was a bit tantalizing. If their universe could truly produce a Scarlet Witch, it would indeed lead to great fortune.
More importantly, Universe Batman knew Zatanna, who, though a bit naive, was inherently good-hearted, even exceptionally kind. Of course, her romance with Constantine lowered her score a bit, as she was somewhat indiscriminate. But if she could indeed become as powerful as the Scarlet Witch, Earth would gain another layer of defense.
Strange obviously noticed what Universe Batman was thinking. He cleared his throat and said, "Since we have the magical defense network as a backing, you could try to have her communicate with the entity behind her. Maybe she could extract more power."
Just then, an alarm suddenly went off in the Batcave. Everyone was startled, thinking there was a problem with the magical defense network. However, when Universe Batman checked the monitoring equipment, he found a woman in a hood appeared outside the Batcave entrance.
"Rachel?" Universe Batman opened the door. The girl entered, removed her hood, and sure enough, it was Raven.
"What did you do?" she asked, "My father was hunting me down, having escaped the Ghost Record Prison and returned to Earth, but his power suddenly vanished, and he screamed miserably before leaving. I sensed an energy burst from this direction. Did you attack him?"
"It's the Earth's magical defense network, Miss." Universe Batman signaled to Wonder Woman, who then took Raven aside to explain. Meanwhile, everyone else's faces beamed with joy.
"It seems to have really worked," Superman happily said, "Raven's father is a very formidable demon, called... called what again?"
"Sanguine Demon," Zatanna said, "he's a really tough guy, those in Hell can't compare to him. If we could stop him outside, we'd absolutely..."
Boom!
The pillar of light reaching the sky suddenly trembled violently. Everyone looked up to see. Constantine was the first to react: "It's Sanguine Demon! He's come for his daughter!"
A group of people ran out of the Batcave and looked up to the sky. But because they were too far from the magic energy source, ordinary people like Batman couldn't see anything. Only those like Wonder Woman and Zatanna, who could sense magic energy, looked changed in expression.
"It's really him!" Wonder Woman said through gritted teeth, "That guy is really twisted, he even injured his daughter!"
"Sanguine Demon has always been obsessed with his daughter," Constantine, for once, looked serious and said, "He won't stop until he takes Raven back."
"We can't let him take her," Wonder Woman said, "This girl is innocent. Plus, we need to show everyone that Earth is no longer the living room for these bastards!"
As they were speaking, Strange had already picked up his cloak and flown up, leaving only his voice echoing in their ears: "Why bother talking to a Demon God, just beat him up first!"
"You go ahead, I'll go back to suit up," Primary Universe Batman said. After a moment of hesitation, he added, "If we can keep him, it'd be a huge amount of energy."
Green Lantern and The Flash exchanged a glance, watching Batman walk towards the Batcave. Green Lantern said, "He's really different now."
"It's something that can't be helped, the Multiverse waits for no one."
"Let's go, it's time to teach these bastards a lesson, human trafficking of minors is punishable by law!"
Primary Universe Batman walked back into the Batcave. Raven was tapping on the magical protection of the Batcave. She seemed a bit anxious but her tone held no emotion. Clearly, this version of Raven in the Primary Universe hadn't yet broken her emotional seal and was as rigid as a robot.
"Has he come? Let me out. Staying here will only get you all killed."
"Calm down, miss, we won't let him take you," Primary Universe Batman said while equipping the Hell Bat Armor.
"You don't understand, Sanguine Demon is extremely terrifying, he..."
When Raven turned to look at Primary Universe Batman, all she saw was a blood-red armor radiating terrifying energy waves. She forcibly swallowed the latter half of her words and said as Batman walked out of the Batcave, "If possible, don't kill him."
"Don't worry, miss," Primary Universe Batman said, then walked out, silently adding in his mind, "We really can't kill him; keeping him for energy extraction is the real solution."
As Primary Universe Batman went out wearing the mecha, the battle had already reached a climax — it was quite intense for Sanguine Demon.
Now, the Justice League and the mages were standing inside the Magical Defense Network, and Sanguine Demon was outside the protective shield. This shield was one-way; humans could cast magic outward, but Sanguine Demon's magic couldn't get in.
Although his attacks did cause some damage to the Magical Defense Network, Primary Universe Batman checked the energy monitor and found the loss was completely acceptable. It might also be because he had previously extracted a lot from the Power of Seven Lanterns, so even if Sanguine Demon hammered away for a hundred years, he wouldn't get through.
Blame it on the Guardians of the Universe, Primary Universe Batman thought, they are really too greedy; otherwise, there wouldn't be so much energy.
Moreover, Primary Universe Batman found the magic defense network he constructed was quite different from the neighboring world's. Although it was golden at first, when activated it flashed with a multicolored glow and seemed to have a rebound effect.
Meanwhile, Green Lantern Hal discovered even more differences. He was originally shooting arrows from behind the shield but accidentally ventured out due to not paying attention to his position. After traversing the Magical Defense Network out and back, the charge in his lantern ring was instantly full!
He looked at his fingers in shock, then pulled out the Lantern Furnace. He remembered that when he left, it wasn't fully charged, only halfway, but now it was full!
Green Lantern immediately realized the difference with the Magical Defense Network. He dove headfirst into the Magical Defense Network, took a big breath, then shouted to The Flash beside him: "Barry! Send me to his feet!"
The Flash also noticed the difference in the Magical Defense Network, as he could actually run on what was supposed to be an intangible defense!
Upon hearing Green Lantern's shout, he immediately ran over, bringing Green Lantern from within the Divine Speed, then directly tossed Green Lantern beneath the giant shadow of Sanguine Demon.
First, a faint green glow appeared, then it expanded larger and larger until the center part shone as bright as the sun. The energy waves grew stronger and stronger...
Boom!!!
The enormous demon was blown sky-high. Energy shards flew everywhere. While the others were still dazed, Strange had already flown to the site of the incident, shouting back at them:
"What are you standing there for? Hurry and pick up!"