In an instant, the group of black creatures was engulfed by the energy jet burst from the umbrella tip. Aisha, who was waiting for her food, saw the pie that had fallen from the sky disappear, and cried out in disappointment.
Dick quickly picked her up to comfort her. Constantine withdrew his magic array and asked Shiller, "Can you use magic too? You never mentioned this before."
"And your magic.. is a bit odd? What were you yelling just now? A spell?"
"No big deal, you don't need spells." Shiller appeared to have fulfilled some strange sense of achievement and visibly brightened up. He reseated himself on the couch and placed the umbrella upright in front of him, resting his hands on its handle.
"As far as I know, magic that require spells are often powerful, where did you learn that magic? Can you teach me?" Constantine leaned over towards Shiller.
In fact, Shiller can't use magic at all. He had simply discharged all the fleece energy that he previously stored in the grey mist from Nal.
If one did not use some mystical means to utilize this energy, it could only achieve one effect.
If Shiller used this energy to spray a real-world owl earlier, the owl's soul would have been torn out of its body and dispersed. If the soul was strong enough, it could dodge or defend against it. It did not have as many functions as magic.
In the Marvel World, whether it's demon gods or mages, to utilize this energy more efficiently, they must undergo special processing, which is the so-called "spell".
The energy is like a bullet, and the spell is like a gun. Shiller did not have a gun, nor did he know how to make one. If he threw the bullet at people, it would hardly hurt them and would be a waste.
However, for the Dark Owls, who have no physical bodies and are only made of energy, this kind of shock is lethal.
Any energy that wants to form a certain shape requires a structure, and Shiller's action of sweeping the Dark Owls with this energy jet is equivalent to using a unknown energy to completely disrupt the energy structure of the Dark Owls. Consequently, they were wiped out.
As for the spell, no one can resist the urge to wave something in their hand and yell a spell when using magic.
Although Shiller couldn't even control the energy to form an animal shape, he was still satisfied. After all, it's rare to encounter enemies who happen to meet various release conditions. If a magic was released and there was no response from the other party, it would look very stupid.
Shiller took Aisha, who wouldn't stop crying in Bruce's hands, and patted her back, saying, "Alright, I was the one who took your food, but we can find more."
Aisha sniffled and wiped away non-existent tears with her hand. She struggled a bit and jumped down from Shiller's arms. She then tilted her head back, opened her mouth, and tried to continue singing.
"No, wait a second." Shiller picked up Aisha again. This time, Aisha was not happy. She was constantly moving, trying to escape from Shiller's arms, but Shiller ignored her and handed her over to Alfred. Once in Alfred's arms, Aisha calmed down.
Alfred took Aisha back to bed, while Dick was left behind. Shiller patted him on the head and said, "Last time when I was tutoring you, you told me you joined the school's choir?"
Dick nodded. He had also seen the terrifying creatures in the magic circle just now. He said nervously, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have sung that song..."
"It's fine, in order to fit in with the choir, you should learn how to sing well." Shiller turned his head to look at Constantine and said, "I have a plan…"
After almost a year, Gotham Cathedral was finally renovated. As Bruce had promised Father Daniel before, he financed the refurbishment of the entire church.
By the way, he used a lot of bat devices to protect the Dionysium pool in the basement. The protection was very strong. Apart from Batman, no earth movement or natural disaster could destroy the pool.
Today, Gotham Cathedral became lively once again after a long time. Father Daniel led a group of children into the church. The children were chirping and chatting. The leader of the group, a boy in a jacket looking rebellious, crossed his arms, turned to another slightly older child and said,
"Dick, are you kidding me? If other gangs find out I've joined some church choir, I won't be able to hang out!"
"Jason, could you stop thinking about fighting and killing?" Dick shook his head helplessly, saying, "You should participate in social activities. Even if you don't believe in God, occasionally taking a day off to sing songs here is not so bad is it?"
Jason snorted coldly and said, "You don't know, every member of the Tail Gang is very busy now. We are currently in charge of delivering newspapers on three large streets near Living Hell, and there are some smaller kids who have to sell flowers on the small plaza next to Green Street…"
"Just to organize them, I have to spend a whole day's time. Where do I have the time to sing songs here?"
"It's not just you." Dick patted Jason on the shoulder and said, "See, the kids from the vocational education school came too, didn't they? Some of the heads of the newspaper boys from a few blocks and even their so-called Cobblepot are here."
Jason glanced back at the slightly older kids - Cobblepot, Tire and the one from the Red Truck - who were lagging behind, herding the younger ones ahead?
He snorted, then said, "Alright, but don't get your hopes up. I have zero talent for music. When I start singing, you'd better plug your ears."
"It's okay, I know the nun who will be teaching us the song later. I'll ask her to be patient with you."
"A nun?" Jason asked, puzzled. "I thought Gotham only had a priest. When did they get a nun?"
"You forgot? The high school I attend is a church school. They are the nuns from the school."
"Oh, those ones," Jason clearly knew. On the East Coast, most church schools have clerics who are different from those in the church, serving also as teachers.
Jason clearly didn't care for these clerics. He reluctantly climbed up onto the choir platform, jostling and joking with his companions.
Father Daniel didn't mind. The Gotham Cathedral hadn't felt this fresh and vibrant in a long time, reminding him of his youth. Hence, he only stood by with a big grin, not reprimanding the mischievous children.
The teacher who stepped forward was an old nun, only slightly younger than Daniel. She brought a music stand and stood in the center of the choir platform. With a fluctuating tone, she began speaking, "Alright, children, let's learn the lyrics first. Repeat after me, Court of Owls… watches your every move…"
These children had obviously been briefed. Even though they didn't understand why they suddenly switched from technical training to music, they were interested. They had never been exposed to any artistic programs since they were little. Doing something for the first time always held a certain novelty.
"Court of Owls… constantly… watches your outing..." They recited messily, skipping words that were hard to pronounce, some even ad-libbing the lyrics, lacing in expletives.
However, the old nun teaching music was seemingly briefed too. She didn't seem to care and demonstrated by singing the song once on her own.
This old nun teacher was a retired professional choir member. Even the toughest original songs flowed smoothly from her mouth, with a touch of baroque style, achieving a standard and pleasing performance.
Sweeping across the cathedral floor downwards, next to the Dionysium pool was another room. Dozens of flames lit up in the room where several people were in a magical circle, endowed with spirit vision. Bruce stroked his chin, "I didn't see any of those creatures. Does this song not work on adults?"
"That's not unusual," Constantine explained, "Some mysteries only come into effect for certain groups, right down to age, gender, or even specific physical features. For instance, demons prefer to make deals with people who have green pupils. It is no exaggeration."
They observed from the underground room for a long time, but no matter how the old nun sang, no creature showed up.
After rehearsing for half a day, the children's choir finally began. The first choral performance was very disorganized. Some didn't remember any lyrics, some sang off-key. In the chaos of the first three seconds, it was impossible to tell what they were singing.
However, the moment they began singing, the world seen through Spirit Vision began to change. Dark Owls started appearing in the air. At the same time, Shiller teleported instantly to the roof of the Gotham Cathedral.
There was a platform on the roof of the newly constructed Gotham Cathedral, originally designed to hold gothic spires. But the spires were urgently dismantled by Bruce. Shiller disintegrated instantaneously into gray mist. The energy obtained from Nal filled every particle of the gray mist.
Suddenly, the gray mist engulfed all of the Dark Owls, consuming their energy entirely.
Shiller teleported back once more. He said: "Technically, it's feasible. This energy can be absorbed. However, it's not compatible with the energy I use. I can only store it, not utilize it. We need to find somewhere else to store them."
Shiller was stating a fact. This energy from the DC World was different from the Origin Energy in the Marvel World. When they were stored in the gray mist simultaneously, they conflicted.
The quantity of dark energy was manageable at this point, but once the two kinds of force became equal in size, problems might arise.
Shiller pondered, then said, "Before, I verified a law — the 'color passage' theory. Green energy can be stored in green things, Green Lantern energy can be stored in Kryptonite Crystal."
"So, black energy should be able to be stored in black objects. The energy of the Dark Owl, it can be stored in..."
As Shiller pondered about what was black, suddenly, Bruce saw Shiller slowly turn his head and look at him.
However, as soon as his gaze fell on Bruce's face, Shiller paused, as though recalling something, then lowered his gaze to the bat suit. Shiller asked,
"How is your study of the Ark Reactor going?"