Chapter 1510 C: Twilight Grand Event (Sixteen)_1

Gabriel, who is controlling Constantine's body, exits the alley with a look of pure terror on his face. The wound he received earlier hasn't healed yet and now he has two fresh claw marks on his back and face that came from a vampire.

Although Gabriel is an archangel, he is not capable of defeating Cain. However, to set a trap for Batman, he forcibly inserted the key core fragment that seals the Spirit of Wrath into his own body. This piece not only seals God's Spirit of Wrath, but also hinders his power, putting him in a dilemma.

If he abandons Constantine's body and leaves it to Bruce, Bruce will surely find a way to both remove the core fragment and preserve Constantine's body. If he doesn't abandon it, he will be stuck inside, taking a constant beating.

A divine light forms a barrier. Claw marks appear in the blood mist. With a "splashing" sound, the barrier shatters into pieces, and the weak holy light instantly disappears. Then, Constantine's body again takes another hit.

A vampire's claw will usually only scratch you, but Cain has learned how to use blood magic from Lilith. This allows him to enter the body through the wound, slowly corroding it. Gabriel has to use his strength to expel the blood toxin from the body to prevent Constantine's body from giving out, enabling him to stay and continue to pose a threat to Batman.

Being distracted on two fronts soon results in additional wounds on Gabriel's body. The blood mist keeps invading Constantine's body and even starts to swallow Gabriel's holy light.

The image of Gabriel filled with anger freezes in the screen, the dim light of the theater makes the image seem brighter. The rows of seats extend to the back of the screen, revealing two familiar figures in the center of the last row.

One is Arrogant Schiller, and the other is an affable elderly gentleman dressed in a black tailcoat. Schiller's face seems calm, but there is a hint of joy hidden in his eyes, while the older man's furrowed brows indicate that he is seething with anger.

Within the cinema of the Tower of Thought, the scene cuts back to Bruce Wayne, who is still within the alley, leaning against the wall with his arms folded, enjoying the fight between the vampire and the angel.

As twilight falls, the golden-red light is reflected in Schiller's pupils, echoing the brilliant sunset reflected in the river of Gotham City.

A few weeks earlier, Schiller, who planned to leave Gotham and head to Washington for an academic conference, came to Gotham Cathedral on the evening before his departure.

Father Daniel warmly welcomed him. After exchanging pleasantries, Father Daniel went off to finish his other chores, while Schiller started his prayer under the statue of the crucified Jesus.

"O Almighty, the great and merciful Lord, I pray to you before dinner, for I'm about to travel. Over the past few years, my stagnation has been a great burden on your kindness, but thanks to your guidance, everything has finally ended well."

"My student Bruce Wayne graduated with excellent results, and I am finally able to leave Gotham City and catch up with my old friends. These are blessings from you. I..."

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew into the cathedral, and the crucifix creaked. Schiller, nonetheless, acted as if he heard nothing and continued with his prayer.

"With an undying sincerity, I inform you that my educational endeavor has made significant advancements. You once taught me in the Bible that 'you shall teach them diligently to your children', and so I hurriedly share this joy with you..."

"Unfortunately, I failed to 'make loving you, God, their greatest passion.' Given the chance, I'd absolutely teach him to be devout. Of course, you also mentioned..."

"Enough!"

A deep voice filled with anger echoed from the crucifix, followed by what could only be described as gritting of teeth.

"Schiller! Even if your student graduated with excellent results, do you really need to pray more than four hundred times within three days??!! Are you sick?!"

Schiller was not surprised at all. He simply cleared his throat and continued: "All of my small achievements are due to the guidance of our merciful Lord. Oh, how could I forget, the merciful Lord's own son is currently running away from home..."

A shadow fell behind Schiller. He turned his head and saw an old man at the entrance of Gotham Cathedral. His silhouette was unremarkable under the sunset, but Schiller recognized him: "The omnipresent God (The Presence)"

The face of God was as dark as Gotham City's day-to-day weather. He walked in front of Schiller with his walking cane and said with exasperation: "Can't you please stop starting with 'O God' and ending with 'O Lord' every time you mention Bruce Wayne's excellent graduation?! You called me more than a hundred times a day, when did you become so devout?! Arrogant!"

Schiller slightly raised his chin. Smiling, he said: "Please believe, great Lord, though I am the only being in this world not created by you, my faith in you is more devout than anyone else's."

God responded irritably: "Only within the week of Bruce Wayne's graduation?"

"Don't say it like that, Your Majesty. Despite my arrogance, I can still show you my devotion to certain matters. Regardless of the reason, wouldn't you consider a hundred prayers a day as devout?"

"Consider it harassment!" God's tone worsened.

Of course, looking at this matter alone, it isn't considered a serious provocation. God's omnipotent and omniscient, naturally, He receives prayers from everyone. It's not only the good people who pray. Many people, after doing something guilty, pray to God to soothe their own consciences or in hope of absolving their own sins.

In today's era, where religion is increasingly turning into entertainment, some prayer contents are unbearable to see, but God simply doesn't care.

Many people think it's not a big deal that Batman graduated from Shiller as an excellent graduate. When Shiller's friends heard about this, they were very happy for them, but that was only because they didn't understand how special Batman is. But God does.

So, the Joker could let Batman accept treatment from him and then graduate with honors from him, but God could only watch His own son run around the world, going everywhere but home.

Does God have a way to get Lucifer back? Actually, He does, and He has many ways to do so. But does He have a way to make Lucifer willingly come back and be reluctant to leave when it's time to go? He really doesn't.

Perhaps someone might say, can't the Almighty God brainwash or rebuild Lucifer, making him into the traditionally devout angel?

But God will also be stuck in a philosophical dilemma. Just how many parts of an old boat need to be replaced before it can be considered a new boat? After the part of Lucifer that longs for freedom is eliminated, would he still be Lucifer?

God still has a headache over this. Even though billions of years have passed, in God's mind, His son's leaving home and the fight with his brother took place just the other day.

That is to say, imagine a luckless father had a big quarrel with his rebellious son, leading to his son leaving home. The very next day, the neighbor kept calling day and night, bragging about his child who graduated excellently from a prestigious university, while constantly quoting, "Thanks to your advice, I was able to educate so successfully."

God was so angry that He plucked several of His own beard hairs in a day.

But in truth, despite His anger, God does understand the relationship between the Joker and Batman better than anyone. Or rather, this is a field He can't fully control, so naturally, He knew how remarkable it was for Shiller, the former Joker, to make Batman undergo such a change.

Between those hundreds of harassing calls from Shiller, God had also thought carefully about how Shiller succeeded. He looked through historical message records and then realized that this might not be suitable for Him and Lucifer.

Batman and the Joker torment each other, at most causing a bit of mayhem in Gotham, which is already rotten to its core, with only room to improve. But what if God and Lucifer torment each other, could the world even survive?

God believed Shiller had a solution, but He didn't want to ask, because both He and Lucifer knew well that Shiller hated everyone equally, including God. His way of reconciling both sides was not to heal the one who had gone mad but to drive both sides mad, like him and Batman.

Yes, in God's eyes, while both Shiller and Batman are mad, Batman is relatively the more normal one. He is just a bit more paranoid than the average person, whereas Shiller is creatively mad.

The torment over these years can't be simply said as Shiller curing Batman; it's more like he drove Batman madder. They then were able to understand each other in the same level of madness. Those who are clueless might think this is a successful case, but God won't be fooled by him.

Next, God appeared in Gotham Cathedral, looking at Shiller standing in front of the podium, and said, "Stop preaching about Bruce, start talking about Lucifer."

"I can't make him willingly return to heaven." Shiller said bluntly, looking straight at God.

God was taken aback by Shiller's frankness. He thought Shiller would make a long and detailed analysis of their father-son relationship, but it seemed like Shiller had no plans of doing so.

"Do you think I'm going to analyze the relationship between you and your son, pinpoint the problems, and guide you on how to get along with him better?" Shiller gently tapped the podium with his fingertip and said, "That's the job of a psychiatrist, I don't have the patience."

God gripped his staff, waiting for him to continue. Shiller shrugged and said, "I prefer to achieve the goal directly, no matter what method is used."

"I know you want him to return willingly because it would prove that he loves you, but the truth is, he might not return willingly for you, nor for love."

Shiller turned his head to look at the glowing cathedral stained glass windows bathed in twilight, and said, "Hatred generally lasts longer than love. If I wasn't the Joker that Batman hated the most, he wouldn't have changed because of me."

"Love is only half of the truth when it comes to manipulation, the other half is hatred—only the intertwining of love and hatred, the entanglement of life and death can be intimate enough. Only when both sides are in debt, both hurting each other until both are defeated, can the dispute go on indefinitely."