1 DC-PHD-CH1

A thin figure knelt on the ground, in a pool of blood, and vomited profusely due to his injuries and upon seeing the death and destruction around him. Corpses and flames were everywhere as someone had bombed a soup kitchen that had hundreds of poor homeless people.

By sheer chance, the thin figure was mostly safe with relatively fewer injuries because he had been taking out the trash to help the generous staff of the soup kitchen.

"Urgh, what a dangerous transmigration, as expected of DC-Verse. Not even a day has passed since my transmigration and I am already part of a life-threatening encounter." Cain, who was the thin figure, said bitterly with slight hints of despair.

He was a regular person on Earth who watched mostly anime in his previous life for entertainment, along with some DC and Marvel movies and shows.

However, for some reason, he was transmigrated into the body of a young malnourished homeless teen on the streets of Gotham in one of the universes in DC-Verse without any prior indication. One moment he was just going to sleep and the next moment he woke up in this body, shivering from cold, fever, and hunger.

He coughed again while thinking all this and a painful groan left his mouth. His right leg was seemingly fractured, three ribs were broken, and his internal organs were in a lot of pain, most probably bleeding internally. Even though he was not dead yet, if he didn't get medical help, he was not that far from dying anyway.

The more he thought about his transmigration, the angrier he got. His body after transmigration was weak and helpless. He didn't have a background or affinity with the powerful people here. He didn't have a single cheat or special instruction.

How could he survive on the battlefield that was DC-Verse? After having experienced this world in the form of fictional works, how could he live as a normal powerless person in the same world who may have their lives forfeited any day on the whims of any villain, who seemed abundant as cockroaches in DC?

'Innumerable Gods of my past and present world: Please Save Me.' Cain pleaded in his heart.

Just as he was praying in his heart, strands of translucent wisps of energy came out of nowhere and surged into his body. He felt as if something was merging with the very depths of his soul.

In the blink of an eye, the phenomenon disappeared as abruptly as it started, but Cain could now feel something different within himself, something that he instinctively knew how to call upon and use.

But before he could do anything like that, his exhausted body seemed to have finally had enough. As he swayed and collapsed on the ground, he saw a hazy sight of a guy in a black bat-like costume swing out from the shadows like magic, right before Cain's mind sank into blissful painless darkness.

-x-x-x-

Batman looked around at the destruction of the Soup Kitchen with a tense set of his jaw. Just yesterday Wayne Corporation donated Food and Clothes to a bunch of Soup Kitchens across Gotham, including this one.

Now, one of the very same soup kitchens was blown to pieces due to a maniacal whim of the Joker and his associates. It was at times like this, when he saw old and young being slaughtered mercilessly, that his vow to not kill was put to the test.

He knelt and looked at the young teen who seemed to be the only survivor of this incident, and not far from death himself. The half-tattered and burning bags of trash near the boy's body suggested that he must have been helping out the staff by throwing out the trash, and that seemed to be the very act that saved the boy's life.

Joker had set up bombs in five different soup kitchens all across the city and had given the caped crusader hints about each location with a very short period to solve it. He had also warned to not involve the police or he would blow it up directly.

Batman had managed to solve the hints and disarm four of the five bombs but had been too late for this fifth one. As a result, just as per the Joker's plan, almost all of the inhabitants of this soup kitchen were killed.

Batman quickly sent the signal for medical facilities to be sent to the location as fast as possible. If he could save at least this boy then he could feel as a little less of a failure in this incident. The boy was an unintended innocent casualty in the perverse and deadly game Joker seemed to constantly want to play with Batman.

-x-x-x-

When Cain's eyes opened, he found himself in a private ward of a hospital. He was surprised at this as generally a penniless homeless person like him with no identity papers would almost certainly be put in a general ward. A private ward meant that someone paid for him, which didn't bode well in a place like Gotham which was a pit of evil.

Since there was no nurse around he could not inquire about his circumstances. As such he ignored that concern and examined himself. His right leg was put in a cast and his ribs were bandaged. He also seemed to be on some strong painkillers that dulled his senses.

Since he could not do anything else, Cain started focusing on the memory of the brief strange phenomenon that had happened shortly before he passed out. As he started focusing on the memory of that strange phenomenon, a surge of information appeared in his mind. It took him a while to parse through it, but when he finished he was giddy with joy.

He had received a connection to a special dimension that worked like an RPG game. He would be 'spawned' randomly in the wild where he would find and fight against various 'monsters'.

He had to defeat these monsters, who would then drop the special orbs of energy that he can absorb to improve his Physique, Mind, and Spirit. He could also see his current attributes in an Attribute Panel in his mind. There was also an inventory function that only worked for the rewards he receives by defeating these monsters, such as the orbs of energy.

The best part of this process was that Cain was immortal in this realm. The beings could kill him and he would feel all the pain of the injuries, but later he would be revived in the real world just as he was before he left it.

The only downside was that he could not abuse this function or it will strain his soul, and he would be weakened in the real world until his soul recovers. With his current limits, Cain figured that he could at most visit the dimension once per day and that too only for a maximum of three hours. After the time limit was up, he would automatically be ejected out of the dimension.

That night, as he went to sleep, Cain sent his consciousness into the Pocket Dimension and everything went dark for a moment. When Cain opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on the ground on a grassy plain.

The sky was blue and clear. The sunlight shone warmly on his face, making him narrow his eyes in comfort. A light breeze brushed past. He smelt the aroma of grass mixed with earth; it shook up his spirit.

'Fresh air did indeed make people feel good.' Cain smiled and thought, 'Moreover, my body in this dimension seems to have no injuries, huh? Even though I seem to be just as weak.'

'Maybe, it is a manifestation of how I would have been if I was not injured. This means that even if I am crippled in the real world, this dimension would manifest me in the form where I would not have any injuries, even if my physical prowess remains the same.'

'Now, where are these so-called monsters?'

As his eyes ran around the surroundings, he noticed a rabbit a few dozen meters away, calmly and slowly chewing on some grass as its eyes watched Cain unblinkingly.

However, that was not the most unnerving part about the rabbit. The most unnerving aspect of the rabbit was the fact that it was around 1 meter tall. This physics-defying one-meter-tall rabbit seemed to have very strong muscles on its hind legs, which it kept tensed as it constantly kept Cain in its sights while chewing the grass that was in its mouth.

'So that is the 'monster' huh? Well even if it's larger than normal, it's just a rabbit. I think I can defeat it.' Cain thought determinedly and prepared to get up from the ground. The rabbit that was watching this suddenly went on max alert and its ears shot up in vigilance.

The rabbit narrowed its currently bloodshot eyes at Cain and opened its cute little mouth to display rows of shining white sharp teeth. 'Bloody hell, is that a rabbit or a shark??' Cain thought in shock.

The rabbit and Cain stared at each other, the tension between them building up to a crescendo. Just as the pressure seemed to grow unbearable, the huge rabbit's powerful legs sprung against the ground, making only a slight thud. A mixture of blades of grass and earth was kicked up into the sky as the giant rabbit turned into a white beam and rapidly neared Cain.

The gap between them closed by tens of meters in just a few seconds. The giant rabbit got close up to Cain. Its originally soft and cute paws became a lethal scythe slicing at Cain's chest with a frosty glow.

Cain bit his lips and forced himself to stay conscious under the charge of the ferocious aura. He subconsciously stomped his right foot on the ground, twisted his waist, and leaned to the left.

Sksssss!

There was a slight slicing sound and the shining claws sliced through Cain's hospital gown like paper, leaving a faint mark on his chest. Blood seeped out from the wound and dripped down due to gravity.

Before Cain could even grunt in pain, the giant rabbit landed, twisted, then sprung again, turning into a white beam.

"Fuck!"

Pain and humiliation made Cain's eyes go cold. How could I be bullied by a rabbit?!

It's just a bit bigger, has some good teeth, and some sharp claws! However, it's still only a rabbit. He could not be humiliated like this by a mere rabbit.

Adrenaline rushed into his bloodstream, reducing his sense of pain and increasing his physical parameters due to desperation. There was only one thing to do… Attack!

As for whether the rabbit would end up killing him, it was not as if it would be permanent. Since the dimension allowed him to be reckless even in death, that is what he would do.

When the giant rabbit charged at him again, Cain had already calmed down completely. His eyes went cold and he focused completely, moving his legs and sidestepping slightly right one time as he dodged another attack.

At the same moment he dodged, he clenched his right hand into a fist and twisted his waist to release power the best he could. His punch landed on the side of the huge rabbit. But due to its size power and momentum, Cain was hurt just as much as the rabbit, who ended up falling to the ground and rolling for a few meters.

Cain grunted and clutched his arm. The backlash of the punch had arrived in the form of his muscles straining greatly, with probable damage to his joints and possible sprain. He thought the rabbit would be just as hurt as him, however, his thoughts were immediately proved false when the rabbit stood up without any hesitation.

Seeing the rabbit flip back up easily and charge at him again, Cain's mouth spasmed. He controlled his emotions and quickly rolled on the ground a bit clumsily but effectively to dodge the Rabbit's charge.

Seeing that the rabbit was still attacking without giving him a chance to catch his breath, Cain finally snapped. He retaliated in a bloodthirsty rage, losing his mind in a desperate attempt to cause the rabbit as much pain and damage as possible, no matter the cost.

A few minutes later, amid a torn-up grassy ground, Cain lay in a pool of his blood, barely conscious due to numerous deep wounds almost carved into his body. A few feet away was the rabbit, its ears seemingly halfway torn and damaged, its eyes gouged out, and severe damage to its internal organs, especially the brain through the eye cavities.

Both the rabbit and Cain seemed to be stubbornly holding on, waiting for their opponent to die first. Cain had never felt so much pain and weakness, but he used every bit of emotion he could muster and used it as fuel to keep himself awake.

Finally, the determination of the rabbit proved to be less than that of Cain as it finally took its last breath. Immediately, its body started disintegrating into glowing tiny particles, leaving behind two little orbs of pale red light, each no larger than the size of a pea.

A glimmer of determination flashed across Cain's eyes. Gathering every scrap of his leftover energy, he forced his body to move, crawling with a snail-like pace on the ground, despite every inch of his body screaming otherwise.

Finally, just before the two orbs were starting to flicker as if they would fade away, Cain managed to reach them and touch them with his barely intact arm. The moment he touched them they disappeared and he felt them get deposited in a storage space inside himself.

However, he seemed to understand instinctively that he would only be able to access this space in the real world once he goes back. Having finished the final task he wanted to, Cain finally let go, letting his body that was on the brink of death finally rest.

Immediately, darkness covered his eyes for a moment before he awoke on the hospital bed once more. He saw that his leg was still broken, just like his ribs. He had arrived back in the exact same condition as he was before.

He would have considered the whole experience a dream, if not for the fact that he could feel his storage space and the two orbs in it.

He first looked out the window. By the position of the moon and the shadows it cast in his room, he determined that hardly any time had passed, if any. This proved that the time spent in the Pocket Dimension was not counted in the Real World.

He would most probably not only arrive back in the same condition as when he left but also in the same moment as when he left. Further experiment with a stopwatch was needed for this, but he was pretty sure about his theory.