Upstairs, Bruce was still wearing the Batman suit, but he appeared quite different. He was emaciated, with his chest completely open, filled with intricate mechanical structures spreading into the lungs and heart, while his ribs expanded outward like wings.
In his hand, he held a scythe with an iron chain. When he sensed Jack's presence, the scythe, embued with the Power of Death, instantly swept towards him, and Jack dodged with a roll. He lay on the ground, gasping for breath before mustering the energy to get up. He glanced back, but blood had already filled his eyes, making the scene blurry.
With a "thud", a Batman dart pierced straight into the flesh. Jack let out a muffled grunt, and the scene before him grew increasingly surreal. Around him were children running through the warm corridors of the East District Building, then cold winds in the corridor's decay.
Jack used all his strength to reach the front corner. He struggled to breathe, trying to refocus his attention on responding to the previous voice. The next second, with a loud "bang", that dreadful monster flew far away in front of him, and several people rushed over.
"Jack!" Shiller shouted. He hurriedly helped Jack up from the ground. Charles thrust a glowing white object into Jack's arms, and the Life Force dispelled the Power of Death, causing Jack's wounds to heal rapidly, though his face remained pale due to excessive blood loss, making him look more like the Joker.
"Thank you." Jack sighed with relief, "I feel much better."
Only then did Shiller have a moment to look at the monster that had been sent flying. Upon seeing its form, he instinctively exclaimed, "Mad Laugh?"
But upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn't. Although the figure and outfit didn't match, the blue eyes were identical. Shiller took a deep breath, showing surprise for the first time.
"Just a nightmare monster," Jack said.
"You sure have a vivid imagination," Shiller remarked, studying the monster in amazement. "Why couldn't you beat him?"
"He isn't truly Batman, so naturally, I can't become the Joker. My healing power isn't derived from the Joker Virus but from the Kingdom of Dreams' authority."
"That's precisely why I'm asking why, despite having authority, you couldn't defeat him."
"The power of the Black Death Emperor is devouring this place. The Kingdom of Dreams is nearly out of control," Jack said with a frown, "Besides the dream god, no one rules here; I can't stop him."
Shiller looked at him. After a pause, Jack said, "I thought you knew. Bruce wasn't Batman anymore; naturally, I wasn't the Joker. I still have Joker traits because Batman owes me."
Jack pointed to his head, saying, "Madness is a flaw, but also power. Without the Joker's madness, I'm naturally not unbreakable in the Psychic_Battlefield."
Shiller understood. Batman and Joker are bonded. Bruce discarding the Batman identity resulted in Jack no longer being the Joker. However, he retained some Joker traits because remnants from a past era remained, like the IOU Bruce gave him, allowing him to keep the better attributes of the Joker, such as the Self Healing Power from the Dionysus Factor. But he was no longer as mad.
A normal Joker, though unable to control the Kingdom of Dreams, wouldn't be trapped by nightmares. What Joker would be scared by his own nightmares?
What's more, this nightmare isn't about Batman refusing to play with him, but rather Gotham's destruction, Batman constantly hunting him, a dream come true for the Joker; another Joker could indulge in such a dream all day.
Yet, evidently for Jack, who had escaped the Joker's madness, Gotham's redevelopment plan's failure, turning the city into a dead zone and Bruce becoming a monster, indeed qualified as a nightmare.
On the brighter side, some real-world moments must have made him genuinely happy about Gotham's transformation benefits, causing his fear of potential failure. Only having gained something makes one fear losing it.
"Where's your car?" Shiller asked.
"Gave it to Batman," Jack said, "Originally, according to the plan, I could take them all away. But midway, we unguardedly entered a polluted area, where I used the dream god's authority to divert a group of enemies so they could drive away. However, lacking follow-up strength, I fell into my own nightmare."
Shiller nodded without pressing further. "Where is Batman's destination?"
"The Prime Universe," Jack said, "We planned to return to the Prime Universe via the Kingdom of Dreams, but encountered mishaps along the way. Didn't they arrive back?"
Shiller shook his head: "Because they haven't returned, we came looking. It seems some other issues arose en route; we must consider where they might have gone."
Bat Cat jumped from Charles' shoulder to Constantine's shoulder, who reached out to steady it. Bat Cat flicked its tail, saying, "The Batmen would never head to the Prime Universe. Bringing the Power of Death there spells doom. The Primary Universe Batman wouldn't allow it."
"Where would they go then?"
"Entering any universe is unsafe," Bat Cat said, "Unless, there's something there that can counter the Power of Death."
"Such as?"
"In the real world, finding it is easier; just locate places with light or Life Force. But the Kingdom of Dreams is different; being a Psychic_Battlefield requires sufficient spiritual power to combat the Power of Death."
Shiller immediately thought of a Batman. He said, "Evil God Batman, from the universe interacting with Outer Gods..."
When speaking here, he paused, then said, "But the Outer Gods are gone."
The others looked at him. Shiller didn't know how to explain; Anatoli's story was too long; starting from the beginning would take ages, risking Batman's peril. So he quickly waved his hand, saying, "Charles, find a way to see if you can locate traces of the Outer Gods."
Previously, Evil God Batman mentioned that when Nya withdrew, he deleted a lot of things, including some of the followers' memories. But it was definitely not everything, because Evil God Batman still remembered, which proves that it wasn't cleaned thoroughly, and it is still possible to find it.
Charles put on the Cerebro. This search took quite a while, but in the end, it succeeded. After taking off the helmet, he said: "I found some, but it's very weak. We can jump over and take a look, but don't hold out too much hope. This level of spiritual pollution is likely unable to resist the Power of Death."
So, they took Jack and began a new round of jumping. However, since there was no Black Death Emperor manipulating things from behind the scenes, the conditions of various dream bubbles were pretty much the same, and they handled them with ease. This time, they moved much faster, and soon, they jumped into a dream and discovered that it was actually Jerome's dream.
His situation was much better than Jack's. However, when the team members found him, he was also being besieged by zombies, but he was still able to hold on. It was not difficult to see that if no one came to rescue him, he probably wouldn't last long.
"Hey, you guys," he said, "how did you get here?"
Jerome actually didn't know these people, but he recognized Shiller's face, even though it was a younger version, but obviously Shiller had left a deep impression on him before, so he recognized him right away.
"We're here looking for someone. Where's Batman?"
"He didn't come," Jerome said, "a batch of Batmen came here before, but they left quickly."
"Why?"
"The power of the Gods disappeared and could no longer protect this place, so the Batmen had to find another way."
"Why wasn't the Batman from your universe here?"
"He rarely enters the Kingdom of Dreams," Jerome said, "he probably didn't find out."
"Didn't the Batmen contact him?"
"How to contact him? Directly enter his subconscious? Is Nya's power so easy to deal with?"
Shiller then realized that the Batmen's plan might be to utilize the power of the Outer Gods to combat the Power of Death spreading in the Kingdom of Dreams. This would undoubtedly be effective because the Outer Gods are experts in the Spirit Domain.
However, we cannot underestimate the spiritual pollution of the Outer Gods. The Batmen probably wouldn't risk directly contacting Evil God Batman because we don't know what might be in his Psychic_Battlefield. If they rush in, they might be caught by Nya.
Never underestimate Nya; even if he doesn't attack Batman directly, if he leaves a virus or something in their Spirit Body, it's a big trouble. So Batman didn't connect to Evil God Batman's psyche, which made him completely unaware. So when Shiller approached him, he didn't mention anything about the Batmen.
And Anatoli's return and Nya fleeing with his whole family was an unexpected situation. The plan of the Batmen utilizing the power of the gods collapsed, and there was no point in staying here, so they needed to find a new, safe shelter and left.
"Where will they go?" Shiller asked.
"They're going to seek the asylum of a powerful mind power user," Jerome said, "I'm not really sure where exactly, but I heard them mention something about 'Fusion Universe'."
Shiller immediately realized: "Earth-One!"
Even in the face of so many unexpected situations, Batman is still Batman, and his mind is still quick. Earth's 616 Main Universe of Marvel and Earth-One from DC had merged; that universe contained both DC heroes and Marvel heroes, most importantly, the experienced former Prime Universe Professor X.
It's well-known that the power of Mutants in the comics is quite strong. By the time it developed into the stage of that 616 Main Universe, Magneto and Professor X pretty much reached a happy ending. It's not just "this world doesn't deserve you, and I am its well-deserved sin," but also more of "I want to give you a home."
By this time, Professor X could be said to be the strongest, not necessarily weaker than the full brain-amplified version of Charles from the Greed Universe. The Batmen indeed should seek his help.
As for why they didn't go initially, the long distance was one aspect, and the complexity of the situation on the Marvel side was another. Mutants had big fights every three days and small skirmishes every two days; going there might not necessarily be safer than soaking in the Power of Death.
It's estimated that the Batmen also noticed the severity of the unrestricted spread of the Power of Death and had to risk getting Professor X to turn the tide. They were not just seeking refuge but went to save the Multiverse.
"Let me see where they are," Charles said. This time the communication took exceptionally long, and Charles' face changed several times.
When he took off the helmet, he sighed gently and said: "This place is a bit far, on the edge of the Kingdom of Dreams. But precisely because of that, the pollution hasn't spread there yet."
"Did you manage to contact that Professor X?"
Charles nodded and said: "Because it's too far, the signal isn't good. I just said a few words to him. We'll have a detailed talk when we arrive."
They went through another round of jumping, this time to absurd lengths, probably jumping over hundreds of dream bubbles. Towards the end, everyone was somewhat exhausted, and it was Joseph and Charles, these two mind power users, who fought their way out of the encirclement.
Luckily, they arrived at the destination smoothly. When they jumped into Professor X's Psychic_Battlefield, many Mutants were there. When they saw young Charles coming out, everyone was stunned.