Chapter 2447: The Struggle of the Bats (Twenty)_1

After Batman put on the helmet, Spider Man found Wonder Woman and, by inquiring the Black Sun deep within the dense fog, clarified the issue of the energy flow within the helmet.

In short, it was not a creation of the Olympus Gods and completely different from their energy system, and from some traces of the energy flow, it could be seen that the energy circuit existed before the metal was forged.

That meant the energy circuit with the function of an Amplifier came with the metal itself, not inscribed by Ares.

This immediately raised Wonder Woman's alarm because if the helmet wasn't Ares's creation, then it must be hundreds of times more dangerous than they had imagined.

However, by now it was too late to say these things, as their first priority was to figure out how to remove the helmet from Batman's head.

Wonder Woman believed there was still room to persuade Batman, but Spider Man was less optimistic. Judging by Batman's earlier behavior, he seemed to believe that anyone would try to seize his helmet, a clear sign his mind was being manipulated.

Eventually, they came up with a strategy, which was for Wonder Woman to attract Batman's attention by any means, whether it be reasoning or threatening him, the goal being to keep his attention firmly on her, and then for Spider Man to knock Batman out.

They soon found Batman wearing the helmet. Wonder Woman successfully appeared in front of him and drew his attention, albeit in the worst way, as Batman indeed felt Wonder Woman wanted to steal his helmet.

Even though Wonder Woman felt profoundly sad, she still performed her duty well, keeping Batman's attention on her for a period of time before he could reach her.

Peter, using his instant movement ability within the dense fog, successfully appeared behind Batman and knocked him out, but a new problem lay before them: the helmet couldn't be removed.

Indeed, through Peter's experiments and observations, the helmet's energy circuit had already fused with Batman's brain, or rather, the energy circuit seemed designed specifically for Batman's brain, and once fused, they could not be separated.

Even if they were forcefully separated, it would cause severe damage to Batman's brain, and even if his life was spared, he would be left a fool.

Wonder Woman felt hopeless, finally realizing the helmet was a conspiracy targeting Batman, and if she hadn't knocked the helmet off initially, or had been stronger to not get knocked out by Ares, this dire outcome wouldn't have occurred.

However, Peter hadn't given up, believing there was still a chance to save Batman.

After a series of checks, Peter found that the energy circuit fused with Batman's brain was not the issue. Specifically, the principle was converting Batman's excessive mental energy into real energy, giving him formidable power. This process was logical and wouldn't cause Batman to lose his sanity.

What truly caused Batman to lose his sanity was the contamination his thoughts suffered when flowing through the energy circuit, with a core of contamination existing within the circuit. If the secret of the energy circuit was deciphered and this core removed, Batman's sanity could be restored.

At this point, the mystical knowledge Peter had learned in the Foggy Space finally came to use.

Peter, who was already relatively proficient in neurology and had researched human brain waves, combined with mystical studies on the flow of soul energy, believed he could unravel it all.

Wonder Woman also provided assistance by returning to Paradise Island and bringing a creation of the Olympus Gods, which had an energy circuit, although different in style from the one in the helmet, but similar in principle.

Though it took a long time, Peter eventually cracked it all. However, despite his theoretical knowledge, removing the core was a troublesome task because Peter didn't possess Divine Power, and he dared not let the fog invade Batman's brain easily.

In the end, Wonder Woman suggested using her Divine Power to delve into the energy circuit and remove the core, but Peter warned her that the so-called removal of the core was actually a matter of using a vast amount of Divine Power to counteract the energy surging within the circuit and that this Divine Power would be lost forever.

Wonder Woman made a decision she would always make.

So when Batman woke up, he saw a Wonder Woman without Divine Power. She no longer radiated that vibrant glow but became more real, closer to him.

After learning all this, Batman, still wearing the helmet, hugged Wonder Woman. At the same time, he knew he had to find a way to help Wonder Woman regain her Divine Power, or she would never be able to return to her homeland.

Unfortunately, the power Batman now possessed came from his extraordinary mental energy converted into powerful energy through the helmet. This energy was not Divine Power and couldn't be used to rejuvenate Wonder Woman.

At this time, Peter learned about Clark's current situation from other Spider Men and invited Batman to enter Clark's Psychic_Battlefield to confront these personalities and uncover the truth.

Batman actually did not want to go because he thought he had to stay and protect Wonder Woman, but unfortunately, even without her Divine Power, she was still Wonder Woman. She believed she didn't need protection, and since Peter had saved Batman, Batman felt he should help him.

Wonder Woman returned to her brother to inquire if the Fire God had a way to restore her Divine Power. Batman followed Peter, wanting to enter David's Psychic Battlefield through the transport portal of Battleworld.

However, unfortunately, because Peter had spent a lot of time trying to decrypt the energy circuit on the helmet, they were the last group attempting to enter the Psychic Battlefield. By that time, Superman had already gone in, completely occupying the bandwidth and even filling up the redundancy. The two found they couldn't get in.

Because Peter was on a business trip outside, he didn't understand the principle behind it very well. He thought there was a problem with the transport portal and kept trying to enter, which was essentially a sort of network attack, causing others inside to experience lag.

After Clark left, the two of them finally managed to get in and were even luckier than the other Batmen, landing directly in the middle of the main force.

After meeting up with them successfully, on their way to the castle they also found the Green Lantern Batman, who had been knocked unconscious due to a lack of energy.

After encountering the helmeted Batman and Green Lantern Batman, Batman realized something was amiss. This group of Batmen was not just the weird assortment of Batmen in the cosmos by chance. The fact that they had become what they were and had gathered here was no coincidence.

The Batmen began checking their accounts.

First off was the group of Batmen from the dark universe. After they had recounted their experiences, everyone realized that some form of contamination was key to their existence.

As mentioned before, within the plan dissected by Ultron, a mysterious brainwave carrying mysterious energy crossed numerous universes, contaminating countless Batmen. When all these contaminated Batmen gathered together, the sufficient amount of information let Batman understand that—this was someone's conspiracy.

So the question returned to the starting point: what exactly was that mysterious red substance coalesced by Batman and Batwoman using their instruments, which the figure in the fog called blood?

All the Batmen who had been contaminated began to ponder on this question, yet almost none had conclusions. The only thing they knew was that someone wanted to use them for something, and that was the source of the tragedy they faced.

To say they were not angry would be impossible, but more than anger, they felt a sense of fear, that the mastermind lurking behind the dense fog had anticipated everything.

In the end, it was Peter who broke the somber mood.

"Think about it, this mastermind made a helmet at one point and manufactured machine parts at another, even disguising them as meteors. What does that tell you?"

All the Batmen turned to him.

"It means he doesn't dare to face you directly," Peter said. "If he really dared to do so, he would have just barged into your homes, knocked you unconscious, and then injected that pollutant into you. Why bother going through such a huge charade?"

"Maybe he has other plans."

"Possibly, but the benefit he gets is definitely not worth the effort spent on contaminating you through such a roundabout way. Even if he enjoys doing so, it proves he is a coward, lacking the courage and ability for an honest fight."

"From my experience, what these people love to do most is to sow discord and engage in petty behavior. They keep whispering in your ears that the world is dark, that others are untrustworthy, and that you can only retaliate by committing bad deeds."

"But that's not the truth at all. Aren't we united right now?" Peter said, looking around.

"Everything he's done is to prevent us from standing together because although he says all this is meaningless, a futile struggle, in fact, he fears it more than anyone else."

"He forces the constant division and contamination among you, making you lose trust in others, not because of anything but his innate fear of unity, justice, and fairness."

"He may understand it rationally, but emotionally he cannot believe it, he dare not even imagine it in his fantasies, that someone used to questioning and doubting the entire world could still choose to stand with others after facing such deep tragedy."

"He thinks that falling into corruption is your inevitable end, so you must not do so. Instead, you must do the exact opposite and resolutely join forces with other sufferers, the more tragic, the more defiant, the more doubtful, the more you must believe."

"Even if we take a huge step back," Peter said with a smile, "you've organized a huge party here with countless Batmen and other interesting things like yourselves, but have pointedly not invited him. Now, who would be angry?"