The batwing dove toward the outskirts of Gotham.
Within minutes the forest appeared beneath him.
Except something was terribly wrong.
Batman slowed the Batwing to a hover.
The forest below wasn't alive anymore, every tree stood blackened and brittle. Branches stretched upward like skeletal fingers, their leaves gone. The ground itself looked drained of life, as if the very soil had been poisoned by a death plague.
Batman leaned forward slightly.
Then he saw it.
At the center of the dead clearing
Reality had been ripped open. A massive tear stretched across the forest floor, crimson energy seeped from its edges, swirling upward like smoke escaping from the depths of Hell itself.
The Batwing's systems immediately erupted with warnings.
DIMENSIONAL BREACH DETECTED.
ENERGY LEVELS: UNKNOWN.
Batman frowned beneath the cowl.
"…That's definitely it, now where is..."
Then he noticed something else.
Movement.
Two figures stood near the tear.
Batman adjusted the Batwing's optics, zooming in through the waves of distortion.
The first one, an armored being wrapped in black armor that looked like it had been forged from living shadow. Violet lines pulsed faintly across the armor, and a spear crackling with lightning rested in his hand.
The second
A woman, or something that used to be a woman.
She stood with massive demonic wings spread wide behind her, horns forming a crown above her pale face as black mist poured from the ground into her body.
The power radiating from both of them made the Batwing's sensors glitch violently.
Energy readings shot past safe limits.
Batman stared down at the scene in silence.
For once, he didn't immediately have an answer.
"…Alfred."
"Yes, Master Bruce?"
Batman kept his eyes fixed on the two figures below.
"You're seeing this too, right?"
"Yes, sir."
There was a short pause.
Alfred cleared his throat politely.
"I must confess, I'm having some difficulty categorizing the situation."
Batman leaned back slightly in the pilot's seat.
His voice dropped into a quiet mutter.
"…What the hell is going on down there.."
The two beings moved.
And it was no ordinary fight.
Because what Batman was witnessing below hardly resembled a conventional fight.
Inside the cockpit, Batman leaned slightly forward, his eyes narrowed beneath the cowl as the Batwing's optical systems zoomed in further.
On the main display, the figures became clearer.
Batman's expression tightened.
"…Now I'm more than sure."
Over the comm channel, Alfred Pennyworth responded calmly.
"You do, sir?"
Batman didn't answer immediately, Instead he watched as the armored figure moved again, fast enough that even the Batwing's enhanced optics struggled to track the motion.
He appeared beside the winged creature in an instant.
The resulting shockwave destroyed the surrounding dead trees.
Batman exhaled quietly.
"…Arthur."
Alfred was silent for a moment.
"You're certain, Master Bruce?"
Batman's eyes followed the movements below.
"No one else fights like that, besides the whole shadow thing around him is a dead giveaway."
Another clash erupted below.
The spear carved through the air with a flash of violet lightning while the winged figure answered with a violent burst of darkness that rippled outward.
The Batwing shook slightly even from their distance.
Batman frowned.
"…Though I've never seen him like this, in that form."
He studied the armored figure more carefully.
The shadowed armor looked ancient.
Alien and almost… cosmic.
Arthur's silhouette inside it looked less like a man and more like something that had stepped out of a myth.
"Whatever that armor is," Batman muttered, "it's amplifying his power."
Alfred spoke again.
"And the… other participant?"
Batman shifted the display.
Even the Batwing's instruments struggled to measure the energy levels surrounding her.
Batman's brow furrowed.
"…That's what I'm trying to figure out."
He leaned back slightly in the pilot seat.
"And the tear."
His gaze dropped toward the massive rift splitting the forest floor open.
Batman's voice lowered slightly.
"…Arthur was in Hell not long ago."
Alfred answered immediately.
"Yes, sir. And considering that tear is right next to him..."
Batman nodded faintly.
"That tear might lead there."
Below, another shockwave erupted as Arthur's spear collided with a wave of black energy.
The impact sent a ripple through the ground.
Batman watched the two figures exchange blows that would have leveled entire buildings.
"And if that's true," he continued quietly, "then the only question left is…"
He zoomed the display further onto the winged figure.
"…what he brought back with him."
Alfred took a moment before replying.
His voice remained polite.
Measured.
"Given the horns, wings, and the rather theatrical absorption of darkness from the earth…"
He cleared his throat lightly.
"…I would venture a guess that Master Arthur is currently fighting a demon."
Batman gave a dry grunt.
"That's one way to describe it, I know it's a demon but.."
Below them, Lilith lifted one hand.
The ground cracked further.
A violent pillar of darkness erupted upward as Arthur answered with a spear strike that split the air like thunder.
The Batwing's sensors flickered wildly again.
Alfred spoke once more.
"I assume, Master Bruce…"
"…that intervening would be unwise?"
Batman watched the clash below carefully.
Arthur moved again faster than before.
The two figures collided mid-air with a shockwave that shook the forest.
After a long moment, Batman finally answered.
"…Understatement of the year."
His eyes stayed fixed on the battle.
"But if that thing wins…"
He let the sentence hang.
Alfred understood immediately.
"…Then Gotham may find itself hosting something considerably worse than its usual assortment of criminals."
Batman nodded once.
"…Exactly."
Below, the battle had grown worse.
Much worse.
The ground around the dimensional tear was barely recognizable now. Entire sections of the forest had been flattened by the force of the clashes between the two figures. Trees had snapped like twigs, and the soil itself had cracked open in jagged fractures spreading outward from the glowing rift.
Every few seconds the darkness below erupted again.
A shockwave.
A blast of violet lightning.
Or a violent burst of black mist that twisted through the air.
Batman watched the scene through the Batwing's tactical display, his expression tightening further with each passing moment.
Another violent clash erupted below.
Arthur vanished in a flash of motion, his spear streaking through the air like a comet of violet light. The winged demon answered instantly, unleashing a wave of darkness that tore through the clearing and split the earth apart beneath them.
Even from several hundred feet above, the Batwing shuddered slightly.
Batman's grip tightened on the controls.
Over the comm system, the calm voice of Alfred Pennyworth spoke again.
"Master Bruce."
Batman didn't take his eyes off the display.
"Yes, Alfred."
"Again.. I would strongly recommend putting a little more distance between yourself and that… situation."
Batman remained silent for a moment as another explosion of energy tore across the forest floor.
Alfred continued.
"While I admire your dedication to gathering intelligence, it seems rather unwise to observe a clash between what appear to be two godlike entities from such close proximity."
Batman exhaled slowly.
"…Fair point."
He adjusted the controls.
The Batwing drifted backward slightly, increasing altitude while maintaining its stealth field. The aircraft remained invisible against the dark clouds above.
"I'll pull back," Batman said.
His eyes remained fixed on the battlefield below.
"But I'm keeping visual range."
Alfred sounded unsurprised.
"I suspected as much."
The Batwing moved further away from the clearing, climbing higher into the night sky.
Below them, Arthur and the demon clashed again.
A burst of violet lightning split the darkness as Arthur's spear collided with a massive claw of black energy. The shockwave rippled through the clearing like a miniature earthquake.
Batman frowned slightly.
Then something happened.
Arthur paused.
Mid-fight.
For only a second.
He straightened slightly and looked up directly at the sky.
Directly at the Batwing.
Batman's brow furrowed.
"…That's impossible.."
The aircraft's stealth systems were active.
The Batwing was completely invisible against the cloud cover.
And they were far enough away that even enhanced vision shouldn't pick them out in this unnatural darkness.
Yet Arthur was clearly looking straight at them.
Batman muttered under his breath.
"He can't possibly.."
Then the voice arrived.
It didn't come through the Batwing's communication system.
It didn't come from the speakers.
It appeared directly inside his mind.
Clear and calm.
'Bruce.'
Batman's eyes narrowed.
'It's Arthur.'
The voice continued,
'As you can probably see… I'm a little occupied right now.'
Below, Arthur dodged a sweeping strike from Lilith's wings, sliding several meters across the shattered ground before launching himself back into the fight.
Inside the cockpit, Batman sat perfectly still.
'Do try to keep your distance,' Arthur's voice said calmly inside his head.
'And you might want to start evacuating the parts of the city closest to this forest.'
Batman's eyes flicked briefly toward the glowing tear in the earth below.
'I'll try to close the rift myself,' Arthur continued.
There was a brief pause as another explosion rocked the clearing.
'But if I fail…'
'…then a large number of demons will have a direct path into Gotham.'
Batman spoke quietly.
"Understood."
Arthur's voice returned almost immediately.
'My soldiers are guarding the other side of the tear.'
Another violent clash erupted below.
'No demon will cross it while I'm still alive.'
Batman watched Arthur hurl the lightning spear forward the spear turning into a massive lightning bolt, slamming into Lilith with enough force to send her skidding backward through the shattered earth.
Then Batman spoke again.
"It seems you've been busy."
For a moment
Even in the middle of a battlefield
Arthur laughed softly.
'That I have.'
Batman leaned back slightly in the pilot seat.
"Very well."
His voice returned to the calm authority he used when dealing with city-wide crises.
"I'll make sure to get the people to evacuate."
Arthur's reply came with a quiet note of relief.
'You have my thanks.'
The connection faded.
Below, the battle resumed in full fury as Arthur launched himself forward again, violet lightning tearing across the clearing.
Batman watched for another moment.
Then he reached for the Batwing's communications panel.
"Alfred."
"Yes, Master Bruce?"
Batman turned the aircraft toward Gotham.
"We need to wake up the city."
Alfred paused briefly.
"I assume the situation is… that serious?"
Batman looked once more at the massive tear glowing in the dead forest below.
"…That's one way to put it."
/-\
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