Bruce actually wanted to run. Because the task Batman assigned him was just to keep an eye on Brainiac and Doctor Manhattan, the game's outcome had nothing to do with him. But when Brainiac openly declared his greed, Bruce was a bit unhappy.
Though, as a Shredder, this thing is indeed a bit overly active. But why provoke it when it's not shredding paper? It got bitten and blamed me, is that fair?
Bruce was fuming, and anger fueled his courage. If I can't beat Shiller, can't I beat you, Shredder?
Bruce is indeed not weak; often he just doesn't want to fight. With a wave of his hand, dense dark energy burst forth, forming an impenetrable net, directly enveloping the Shredder.
The Shredder struggled desperately, and the shadow by the door was following closely. Bruce ignored the final boss, only using dark energy to grab the Shredder and smashed it out of the building.
The last time Bruce realized that Shiller seems unable to leave the Psychology Department building. But then again, if he could roam around, how would the players survive?
After bringing the Shredder to an open space outside, Bruce wielded his Great Sword in a flurry of slashes, making the Shredder scream uncontrollably. But unfortunately, the person he wanted to summon couldn't come out.
"How do you tame this thing?" Bruce asked Brainiac.
"There are two methods. One is to write the Shredder's forging method in a Psychology Department exam paper. You could have taken this route, but now you can't. The other way is to beat it into submission."
Hearing this, Bruce didn't hold back, and launched a fierce onslaught. The more he slashed, the angrier he got. When he sought out Diana, he had equipped all the combat runes, using the best materials, so attacking now was particularly strenuous. A shield or healing skill would come up occasionally, and after half a day, the damage didn't drop much.
Bruce thought that continuing like this wouldn't work. So he flapped his wings and dragged the monster towards another part of Gotham University.
He planned to find another small boss and make the two monsters fight each other. After all, the Shredder didn't seem to ally with anyone, so it could fight with any regional boss.
This trick indeed worked. While passing the gymnasium, a regional boss in a football uniform rushed out. The two started fighting; the football player tackled the Shredder to the ground, and Bruce seized the chance to slash wildly.
Unfortunately, the football player was eventually devoured by the Shredder. Bruce could only drag it along and continue running. Unconsciously, they had left Gotham University. Bruce weighed his options and chose to head to the South District.
The small monsters along the way were no match for the Shredder's iron teeth and copper jaw. Occasional regional bosses were also mostly eaten. However, the damage caused by these regional bosses healed during the long escape.
Bruce wasn't worried about this, because his target was the Wayne Building.
If he couldn't handle this thing himself, he'd let another self do it. This was all learned from Shiller. The best way to release your grip is not to spare yourself.
When he arrived at the Wayne Building, Bruce instinctively looked up. Sure enough, a dark figure stood on the top floor of Wayne Building. Just as Bruce wondered how to bring him down, the figure voluntarily jumped down.
When two Batmans face each other, there is basically only a difference in special effects. Bruce had wings and Holy Light, while the other Batman was backed by an endless dark tide. It was like a light Batman versus a dark Batman.
The scene was quite magnificent and striking; the only problem was the Shredder on the side, its style looking out of place, as if it came from the set of Tom and Jerry, making the atmosphere impossible to stay serious.
After bringing the monster over, Bruce gracefully retreated. As expected, Batman and the Shredder were not likely to be allies. The two monsters soon engaged in a fight. It's unclear whether the Shredder was specifically targeting Brucester; a small boss could actually battle the final boss on equal footing.
Honestly, no one can resist laughing at a counterpart's mishap. But unfortunately, Bruce's counterparts are all too powerful. It's rare for Batman to have a setback. Especially when a group of Batmen gathers, it almost becomes immune to encounters, making it less entertaining.
Unexpectedly, Brainiac gave him this opportunity. Although the opponent isn't a true counterpart, watching him get chased and bitten by the Shredder is quite amusing. No wonder Arrogant didn't warn Greed about the Shredder's bites back then. This thing is quite entertaining.
Bruce was enjoying the show when he suddenly heard a shocked exclamation from the side:
"Whoa, what happened?!"
Turns out it was a player stationed at Viscount Manor, coming to Wayne Manor to gather intel on the final boss, only to stumble upon the Shredder versus Batman showdown. Tim was shocked, what's going on?
Bruce did not show himself; he needed to appear as little as possible in front of people in this universe, otherwise, he'd be too easily recognized.
"This looks like..." Tim hesitated.
"Why do I feel like this monster shouldn't be here?" Lilith asked, "Their styles are just different. Brainiac, is your system malfunctioning again?"
"Not at all," said Brainiac.
"Surely Batman isn't planning to fish his thesis out of the shredder, is he?" Tim said, surprised. "Is that really necessary?"
They saw it, yes, but they didn't plan to intervene. After all, they were just here to gather intelligence. Tim observed Batman's moves and shook his head. "This Batman is way too weak."
Indeed, this Batman's attack style is just the old Batman routine—hooks, Batman darts, and the like. The dark tide around him has some corrosiveness, but the moves are very rigid.
But that's normal; Batman's greatest strength is his intelligence. If Brainiac could simulate Batman's intelligence, he wouldn't need to go through so many twists and turns.
Moreover, the monster's design simply lacks any sense. Without the greatest advantage, Batman is left only with disadvantages. On one hand, he's human and lacks superpowers; on the other, Brainiac doesn't dare modify Batman too drastically. If some petty Batman were to discover it, he'd be in trouble.
"I said we should take down this boss first," Tim said. "Think about it, an unstrategic Batman without plans can't be stronger than the other ones."
"Why not call them back?" Lilith suggested. "I think we can ambush while these two monsters fight each other…"
"No need to call them," Tim thought for a moment. "We should be enough on our own. Let's go back and prepare some explosives and gear; maybe we can take out two monsters at once. Worst case, we'll deal with that mini-boss; it seems likely to drop good equipment."
Tim went back to prepare—actually, there wasn't much to prepare, mainly explosives, explosives, and more explosives. Also, to rehearse the monster-luring process with Cassandra.
It's not that Tim didn't want to go himself; he just knew he didn't have the skills. When these two monsters are fighting, they need to be lured successfully to a location. This task could only be handled by Cassandra, who is quick and agile. If it were anyone else, they'd easily get killed by these two monsters.
When they arrived at Wayne building, Tim first planted the explosives. He wasn't sure if the yield was enough to blow up both monsters at once, but it's the highest price he's willing to pay; if it doesn't work, so be it.
Then Cassandra went to lure the monsters, while Lilith kept an eye on her inner thoughts. Soon enough, Lilith shouted, "Here they come!"
Tim concentrated, ready to detonate the explosives. The two monsters charged in, one after the other, and Cassandra used the hook to escape. With a boom, a small mushroom cloud rose at the entrance of Wayne building.
Tim bared his teeth and grimaced. Uncle Jack really has a knack for this; it looked like ordinary commercial-grade explosives, yet somehow he managed to mix them, so the blast was much more powerful than the yield suggested. Plus, the more simultaneous detonations, the greater the power. That was close to collapsing Wayne building.
Tim believed they succeeded, but there was no task completion prompt. Tim scanned the area; the shredder was indeed gone, and a few pieces of equipment were dropped on the ground. However, Batman's figure was missing, no body, no equipment.
"What's going on?" Tim asked, "Brainiac, you're not planning to swallow…"
"Bosses have special skills," Brainiac replied, "Confirming death would give a prompt; no prompt means it wasn't defeated."
Tim sighed, wouldn't Batman be fighting his way out of the Netherworld right now?
But he didn't give it much thought and went directly to pick up the gear. The shredder which was able to match Batman was indeed impressive, and the equipment it dropped was extraordinary. Among them, what puzzled Tim the most was, the shredder dropped eight fragments.
Logically, only legendary equipment would have fragments. But actually, these eight fragments were Bruce's thesis, the item named "Bruce Wayne's Thesis."
This could be pieced together into a whole item, and if the title was guessed correctly, it should be used to counter the final boss based on Professor Shiller's prototype.
But the biggest problem is, this thing needs to be assembled personally, and Tim has no idea how to do it. Bruce wrote this thing, and Tim feels confused reading it.
It's not that Tim is criticizing it from an expert's standpoint thinking it's poorly written. If he were an expert, he could probably understand Bruce's thought process. The problem is his own psychoanalysis method level is also mediocre, like one struggling student explaining to another, both end up confused.
Tim could only helplessly take these fragments back, to see if he could find Professor Shiller or Batman to piece it together. The former can understand the technical terms, the latter can grasp Bruce's mindset; there must be a way to assemble them.
Although Tim thought that having Professor Shiller piece this together, he might rather let the whole game lose. Letting Batman piece this together and Bruce's masterpiece spread throughout the Batman realm, then the issue might not be about the game's outcome.
"Consider putting it together for me directly," Tim offered a kind reminder, "Brainiac, playing with fire comes with a price. You better have a way to deal with Professor Shiller."
"I don't, so don't ask him to assemble it." Brainiac replied confidently, "Learn a bit, I've given you the study materials."
Tim was exasperated. So that purple textbook which dropped earlier was meant for this?