Chapter 2457: Struggle of the Bat Swarm (End)

The youth, David, who was repairing his psychic battlefield within the castle, had returned to the X-Alliance headquarters and saw a younger version of himself.

"Long time no see," the older David said, "I'm very sorry for that terrorist attack..."

"That wasn't your fault," the younger David responded, "My psyche had reached a critical point. Continuing to endure would have led to even greater disasters, just like what just happened. To prevent that, I had no choice but to disintegrate."

Having said that, he turned toward all the personalities and issued a summons, with more and more personalities beginning to converge toward this place.

Then, a weary voice let out a gentle sigh.

"David, it's me, Charles Xavier, your biological father." Professor X's voice echoed in David's psychic space, saying, "I know that any apology from me now will seem very pale and ineffective, but I can assure you, if I had known your mother was pregnant at the time, I would not have let her leave, and everything would have been different."

"But I'm not blaming her. Perhaps some aspects of my behavior at the time led her to believe that I wasn't fit to raise a child with her, that ultimately I wouldn't be a good father. I'm very sorry for that, especially to your mother."

"When all this is over, I hope you can talk to me in detail about your experiences over the years. I believe we still have plenty of time. Trust me, David, whatever regrets there are, they can be fully remedied with time and effort."

For the first time, a complex expression appeared on David's face.

After Professor X finished speaking, everyone from the Luminous Alliance turned their gazes to another person—Magneto. The look in their eyes was simple and carried a message that said, "Take a long hard look at yourself..."

The young David stood in silence for a while, finally letting out a long sigh. At this moment, the young Charles appeared in David's psychic space and said, "We have prepared a sufficient number of clone prototypes; they will all have your genetics, but their appearances, body shapes, and operating methods can be defined by yourselves."

"However, I have to say something quite mood-breaking," Charles appeared very embarrassed, even more so than when he just found out that David was his son, he said, "This isn't me speaking. You have to believe I tried my best to convince them, but the creators and providers of these clones said they aren't free."

Charles immediately felt many anxious gazes as if they were about to burn a hole through his back, while David calmly stated, "I don't have that much money; my mother didn't leave me any inheritance."

"Yes, and he doesn't intend to have you pay for it either, because once these personalities enter the real world, they will become independent individuals with personalities and souls. They should be responsible for themselves, so there will be completely interest-free long-term loans provided. They can repay the debts after they start working."

Batman unanimously pursed their lips, while the rest of the Luminous Alliance either covered their eyes or their foreheads. However, the group of personalities erupted into cheers; apparently, they had never experienced the harshness of life and were so innocently lovable.

David was actually ready to speak up to stop this and felt that he should negotiate, but unfortunately, his psychic space could not last much longer. As the personalities became increasingly excited, the entire space began to wobble.

As a result, they had no choice but to begin an urgent transfer, with the two remaining Davids so busy they didn't even have time to remind the personalities to read the contracts carefully before signing.

Some personalities based on mature figures from his real life, such as David's fantasy mother and teacher, had some concept of this. But the vast majority of personalities, which derivative of things or simply fantasy friends, had little concept of what the real world was like, and they barely understood the concept of a contract; basically, they would sign without even looking.

The transfer operation continued intermittently for two days, with David, Batman, and Charles all helping to maintain order. The last personality to emerge was a massive Spider, which, despite everyone's persuasion, steadfastly refused a humanoid clone body. It demanded a Spider, a 1:1 replica at that.

Nick was indifferent, merely providing the Spider with a contract, which the Spider signed without looking. Nick was very pleased, because he didn't tell the personalities that the price of the clones was based on their size, and this Spider was about the size of a small mountain.

After signing his name on the last page of the final contract, Nick hummed a tune happily as he walked deeper into the corridor.

The first job for those personalities with the ability to control time, after they landed, was to head deep into the flow of time to capture the Godspeed Reaper.

Their way of manipulating and controlling time was different from Kang's and those clone workers; perhaps due to David's settings, their control over time leaned more towards rules. For them, this wasn't a skill, but an instinct.

Especially those whose personalities can manipulate time and even modify reality or control causality; all they need to do is to nudge the pointer of probability slightly, and they can make the Godspeed Reaper leap to wherever they want it to go.

In the end, after many personalities had given chase and laid siege, not only was the Godspeed Reaper caught, but it was captured alive. However, the immediate problem then became how to contain it.

No one knew the true nature of this thing, and it was hard to say whether a ordinary container could hold it. Fortunately, Franklin had prepared in advance, creating a pocket cosmos with a time loop inside, akin to a treadmill for time. After placing the Godspeed Reaper within it, it turned into an engine that could generate energy by moving at extremely high speeds within the flow of time.

Now, the final problem for the Stella Core Space Station was solved. From now on, this space station would not just be an orbiting spaceport, but a moving ship in its own right.

After helping to resolve the issues here, Franklin didn't leave; he stayed in David's Psychic_Battlefield, insisting on bothering David with questions about why he was ignoring him, though David didn't seem too keen on responding.

Another issue was that Lightning Batman had witnessed the entire process of Franklin creating the cosmos and the time stream. Realizing the boy's power was beyond imagination, he still wanted to question Franklin about a way to go back in time to change reality.

Franklin seemed to know the answer to this question, but he was entirely unwilling to respond. Thus, a peculiar triangle formed: Franklin chasing after David, Lightning Batman chasing after Franklin. Before Batman decided to leave, the three of them always stayed together.

When the other Batmen were preparing to depart, they too discussed this matter. Batwoman said, "Do you think that kid named Franklin will ever realize that it's not him David detests but us? Especially since he also has a pair of blue eyes that closely resemble ours?"

"That's the trouble with time travel," replied Primary Universe Batman. "It allows you to easily find the answers to all your questions, no matter how profound and abstruse, so it's easy to overlook the most straightforward and simple ones."

"Because we've been causing chaos in the city, kidnapped his friends, and even threatened to kill them," Little Bruce said. "I think we'd better leave quickly."

The other Batmen agreed with this suggestion. David's gaze was becoming increasingly unfriendly. Even though most of his energy had been distributed to other personalities, the strongest, the fifth personality, God Mutant as David's ego, still remained in the Psychic Space and was frighteningly powerful.

At this point, Doomsday Batman, as if after much hesitation, looked at Primary Universe Batman and said, "Earlier you mentioned Martha and Thomas... Are they...?"

"They're still alive." There was no trace of boastfulness or joy in Batman's tone, instead it carried a hint of weariness. He said, "They are my parents, not some clones. An accident caused by The Flash created the Flashpoint Universe. In that universe, I was the one who died, and Martha and Thomas survived. Someone found a way to bring them over from there."

All of the Batmen's eyes focused on Primary Universe Batman's face. Batwoman nervously rubbed her hands together as she said, "That... I mean, um, Silvius..."

Batman shook his head and said, "Our universes are gender-reversed; in our universe there is no Catman, only Catwoman, whose name is Selina. So far, we haven't developed anything beyond the relationship of Batman and criminal."

Batwoman's expression changed instantly. She sized up Batman, as if contemplating who could resist a gender-swapped version of Catman.

Primary Universe Batman, of course, understood the meaning behind her gaze; mainly because he currently had no time to develop any relationships beyond those kinds. To be blunt, ever since returning from Battleworld, Gotham had been running wild, and he had barely spent a few days at home. How could he have developed any special relationships?

"I don't mind if you go there to see for yourself," Primary Universe Batman said cautiously, his words as indirect as they could be. "But, after all these years, the situation in Gotham with the two of them may surprise you. Be psychologically prepared, as the saying goes, there's always a gap between fantasy and reality."

It was clear the Batmen were not listening to Primary Universe Batman anymore. Not a single Batman didn't yearn to see their parents. Even the exceptionally volatile Little Bruce relaxed his stiff mouth a bit after hearing the news.

"Also," Batman added, "you might meet a rather special Batman there, especially special in the presence of Thomas and Martha. If he does something outrageously beyond sanity, pretend you didn't see it. If you wish to express your opinions at the mansion, you better be standing on a significant moral high ground..."

By then, no one was listening to Batman. They were all packing up, calibrating equipment, thinking about what to wear to the meeting, even prepping the Batmonster Vehicle with a new wrap, while the Bat Tyrant Dragon comforted a very bashful Cull Obsidian, anxious about suddenly meeting the parents.

Batman retracted the hand he had extended, sighed inwardly, and suddenly felt very relieved that Gotham was already in ruins and had not been fully rebuilt. That way, even if things went badly, they wouldn't be too disastrous.