Selina's powerful strike left many beast-man killers severely wounded. The toxins in their bodies surged wildly, and their remaining sanity rapidly faded.
Soon, even more grotesquely transformed beast-men rose from the ground.
Surprisingly, they didn't target Selina first. Having completely lost their minds, they no longer distinguished between friend and foe. Compared to Selina, who stood at a distance, their nearby companions made more convenient targets.
The beast-men fell into chaotic melee combat, their toxin-enhanced strength making each attack devastatingly violent.
One beast-man suddenly punched his companion hard in the head, then followed with a powerful kick that sent the other flying.
The recipient of this attack wasn't helpless, however. Enraged by the sudden assault, he kicked off the ground and launched himself like a flesh cannonball toward his attacker.
Similar scenarios played out everywhere as the beast-men turned on each other.
Selina wasn't surprised by this development. From the beginning, she had hoped these creatures would destroy each other.
Her all-out attack had eliminated what little sanity the beast-men had retained.
What remained before her was merely a pack of mindless beasts—nothing to worry about. The real threat faced by her and Bruce were the owl-masked assassins dressed like Bruce's opponent.
Glancing at the energy whip in her hand, Selina hesitated momentarily before retracting it, transforming it back into a short staff that she secured on her back.
Using the energy whip consumed her battle suit's power, and with no way to know how long the fight would continue, conserving energy seemed prudent.
Drawing the dagger from her waist, Selina watched the approaching Talons with caution.
After Selina's warning, Bruce understood he needed to end his current battle quickly.
His rapier launched a flurry of attacks, while his free hand reached for the dagger at his waist.
The weapon Marcus had given him and Selina was exceptionally sharp. He would use both weapons to rapidly eliminate the Talon before him.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Horizontal slashes, vertical cuts, and thrusts flowed continuously from his rapier. Throughout this barrage, the dagger in his other hand waited for the perfect moment to deliver a fatal strike.
Bruce's relentless assault, combined with the Talon's already severed arm and blood loss, had completely shifted the balance of the fight. The wounded assassin could barely defend against the endless sword strikes.
Swish!
With a crisp sound, Bruce and the Talon separated after a clash. The Talon had managed to block Bruce's rapier.
But he failed to notice the dagger in Bruce's other hand. The sharp blade traced a red line across the Talon's neck.
He collapsed to the ground, head and body now separated.
Shaking blood from his dagger, Bruce moved to stand with Selina as they prepared to face more Talons.
"How are you holding up?" Selina asked.
"I'm fine, but my battle suit won't last much longer."
The intense fighting had consumed much of Bruce's suit energy, forcing him to make quick decisions.
As they stood guard, the approaching Talons drew closer. The pair fell silent, fully alert to the danger.
"Strange... has Bruce disturbed the fabric of space?"
Watching Bruce and Selina's defensive posture from afar, Marcus frowned. He sensed unusual spatial fluctuations, as if something was exploiting the disturbance to cross between dimensions.
Ignoring his students for the moment, Marcus concentrated on the surrounding space.
Snap!
With a flick of his fingers, a spark shot from his fingertips, condensing into a small portal that connected him to the source of the strange fluctuations.
On the other side, the ground glowed dark red. An unpleasant sulfurous odor wafted through the opening.
In the distance, demonic entities with crimson skin and twin horns shrieked with bloodthirsty grins.
"Is this... Hell?" Marcus raised an eyebrow.
He knew that Hell existed in this universe, as did Heaven, but he hadn't expected Bruce's use of the portal-infused amplitude crystal to accidentally connect Gotham's space to the infernal realm.
Numerous minor demons had gathered on the other side, apparently preparing to cross through the spatial disturbance into Earth.
"Exorcism would be Constantine's specialty, wouldn't it?" Marcus mused.
He thought briefly of the chain-smoking exorcist John Constantine, a master of powerful magic who relied more on his wits than raw power. In Constantine's world, every spell exacted a price—which was why he so often resorted to trickery and deception to navigate supernatural threats.
"Better not involve him. With Constantine around, Gotham might become even more chaotic."
Rather than summoning the unpredictable exorcist, Marcus decided to handle the situation himself.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Not far away, Bruce and Selina fought fiercely against the Talons, while the beast-men continued their chaotic battle.
Most of the surrounding buildings had been demolished during the fighting. Smoke and dust filled the air, reducing visibility significantly.
"Gordon and Harvey have arrived too," Marcus noted as the two police officers entered his range of perception.
The officers moved cautiously, weapons ready to fire at any moment.
"I wish you luck," Marcus murmured.
His priority now was the intensifying spatial disturbance. Soon, the demons in Hell would open a channel into Gotham.
Hell
Countless demons gathered near the dimensional boundary, sensing fluctuations in space-time. Recently, the scent of the human world had driven them into a frenzy.
The assembled demons grew increasingly agitated as the soul-energy from Earth intoxicated them.
"Souls! Living human souls!" one demon roared, barely containing himself.
Saliva dripped from its maw onto the crimson ground. Where it landed, blue smoke rose as the acidic substance corroded a deep pit in the rock.
The demons had always known of passages to the human world, but such gateways were treacherous. Without significant power, attempting to cross was essentially suicide.
Now, they had discovered a new channel. The consistent spatial fluctuations suggested this pathway was more stable than any they had previously encountered.
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