Chapter 2444: The Struggle of the Bats (Seventeen)_1

"...That's the way it is." The Master of Trauma sighed, "He vanished long ago, and the guy outside who calls himself David isn't really David himself—it's just the largest piece of David."

"Sounds a bit creepy," Barry shivered and said, "David's energy was split among different personas, why does it sound so much like... dismemberment?"

"You've been in Gotham too long," Harley said, then she turned to the Master of Trauma and added, "I totally get what you're saying. David, who possessed tremendous energy, split himself into many parts, but why didn't he become many versions of himself and instead became you all?"

Barry obviously understood why Harley was puzzled because they had seen a living example of this before, Shiller.

Shiller's situation was very similar to David's but the opposite. Shiller couldn't be considered to have Dissociative Identity Disorder because no matter how many there were, they were all him. However, David split into different people who didn't think they were David and wouldn't cooperate with one another.

"Why is there this difference?"

Upon hearing this question, The Master of Trauma sighed and said, "We cannot know his true intentions, but perhaps he felt his existence was meaningless."

Harley and Barry exchanged looks again, she looked at the Master of Trauma and said, "Something happened, right?"

"A catastrophe," the Master of Trauma hesitated but finally spoke, "Something that deeply saddened him, so perhaps..."

Soon, everyone left the house, and Harley was about to mention that they had too few clues about reality when they encountered Batman, Batwoman, and Charles's group arriving to successfully meet up.

With Charles there, they finally learned what David had been through in reality, and Charles also gave Shiller's theory—that due to the terrorist attack, David's ego first crossed the moral line by killing the Superego and then, trapped by morality for a moment and not following Instinct, failed to save his loved ones, causing the Instinctual aspect of the Id to also hide away, disappointed.

Combining this with the information they'd gathered earlier, the group roughly figured out the progression of David's mental development up to the current chaotic situation.

Firstly, when David was born, his psyche wasn't that stable, but this wasn't uncommon—many people think their mental issues are caused by their environment, but in reality, some people's psyches are inherently less stable, more sensitive emotionally, with empathy that is stronger or weaker. Those who are above or below the norm are more prone to mental issues.

Then, during his childhood, because his mother brought him to live with his stepfather, the restructured family meant that for a long time David didn't have a stable living environment, subjecting him to more stress. The brain, trying to alleviate this stress and protect David, shifted his focus to imaginary friends.

Certain personas, derived from toys or dreams, emerged during this period, essentially a product of David's psyche's self-protection mechanism.

As he grew older, David's mutant abilities began to emerge. Perhaps at that time, he tried to share his psychic energy with these imaginary friends. However, because his mental state was still relatively stable, it wasn't enough to split into separate personalities; these personas couldn't control his body, and so their abilities weren't used in reality and thus went unnoticed.

The turning point came during the terrorist attack. Seeing his stepfather's horrific demise added insult to injury for David's already unstable psyche.

What was more fatal was that David began to question his own choices. He first chose to obey morality, but it resulted in dire consequences, and in the end, he also denied his own instincts, causing two of the elements within the Superego, Ego, and Id to cease functioning.

So the catastrophe occurred. David's super-strong psychic energy collapsed completely due to a lack of governance and was divided among the personas that had always been hiding in his heart.

The personas that obtained this energy not only gained tremendous superpowers but also, with the main personality collapsed and absent, could freely surface and use these abilities in reality.

However, the only good news among all the bad was that one persona obtained the largest energy shard, the one previously controlling the body and self-proclaiming as the fifth persona, the God-like mutant.

Because he received the most energy and became the strongest, he could suppress all other personas, take control of the body alone, and prevent those other personas from recklessly causing chaos.

But looking at the current situation, the fifth persona, that version of David, had encountered some trouble. The Master of Trauma was reluctant to say more, and Harley knew that it probably had something to do with the battle that Charles saw on the prairie when he first arrived here.

"Could it be that some personas have allied to try and seize control of the body?" Batwoman speculated, "Since they have their own personalities and abilities, there must be all kinds of people: some understand the rules and act with restraint, and then there must be some who act recklessly without care."

"That's not impossible, and if that's really the case, these two factions are likely to be held responsible. Charles, did you see members from either faction during the battle?" Batman asked.

Charles shook his head and said, "I only looked from a distance, but I could tell that the personas involved in the big battle weren't as strong as the ones we've encountered."

"But there were many of them, right?" Harley found the key point and said, "This suggests that the personas left in the city might be relatively rational, despite differing views, they still think about solving problems, but those on the prairie might..."

"I think we should find a high place to take a look," Barry said.

So everyone turned their heads in one direction; where else could Barry's high point be but the Eiffel Tower?

Batman estimated the distance in his mind, and after communicating with Charles, he said, "That might be Flame Gang's territory, and likely the place where their Boss is. Hearing only one side of the story is hardly fair; we also need to ask their Boss."

"I have no objections, but the guards around there could be trouble."

Everyone turned to look at the Batmonster Vehicle which squinted its eyes and said, "Are you questioning my speed? Get in, I guarantee those personalities won't even see my taillights."

After Helen and Doctor Strange took Doomsday Batman away, they found a nearby room to set him down. Helen began to replace the virus in Doomsday Batman's body with her own Destruction Day Spores. Just like she said, it took about half an hour to barely complete the task.

When Doomsday Batman woke up, he didn't immediately roar or choose to attack the people around him, Helen breathed a sigh of relief. Anyway, it seemed to be a success.

But then they were faced with another problem: this Batman had a mental breakdown.

The reason was simple, and it could always be summed up in those same two words—Superman.

The huge figure leaned listlessly in the corner of the room. No matter what Helen said, she couldn't get through to him. Finally, frustrated, she gritted her teeth and stamped her foot, saying, "I really don't understand these love-struck fools!"

Doctor Strange rolled his eyes, thinking that only someone love-struck understands someone love-struck. He cleared his throat and said, "It's a pity you never fought him back when you were on Earth. Now that you finally have the power to contend with him, you don't plan on going back. If it were me, I would definitely go back and give him a good beating."

Doomsday Batman's eyes suddenly lit up.

Helen's eyes widened, and she immediately gave Doctor Strange a thumbs-up, telling him to continue.

"But it's hard to say," Doctor Strange shifted his tone and said, "If I remember correctly, Doomsday's strongest ability is evolution. You haven't been Doomsday for long and haven't had many opportunities to evolve. I don't think it's likely that you can beat Superman."

Doomsday Batman narrowed his eyes.

"However..." Doctor Strange's tone shifted yet again and continued, "this strange psychic world does happen to have quite a few masters. If you spar with them, you might be able to grasp their powers. I've heard there's even someone who can manipulate time. What if you learn that skill? Would Superman still be a match for you?"

Helen, shoved out the door by the charging Doomsday Batman, stumbled, but immediately turned to Doctor Strange with a broad smile, and they gave each other a high-five.

By coincidence, at that moment, Bruce, also known as Spider-Batman, was being chased by that gravity-manipulating personality to this spot.

Unsurprisingly, Spider-Batman didn't stand a chance against this personality. It wasn't that his powers were weak; it was that the other's gravity manipulation seemed limitless. Since Spider-Batman wasn't the genuine Batman, he couldn't come up with a strategy and could only withstand the gravity, almost having his brain squashed out.

Although his debut as a new identity ended up badly beaten, Spider-Batman at least had the self-awareness to know he couldn't win by force; he had to run. Coincidentally, he bumped into Doomsday Batman who stormed out angrily.

Spider-Batman gesticulated and shouted at him, trying to reveal the Gravity King's intelligence to him, but it seemed like the other didn't listen at all and just charged forward with a roar.

Spider-Batman continued to run backward and then crashed into Helen and Doctor Strange who had come out. After exchanging a quick recap, they all understood the current situation.

"Hurry up and stop him; the other one might squash him to death," Spider-Batman said with a note of urgency. "The gravity he controls is limitless; it got to the point where I couldn't even stand up."

However, Helen's eyes suddenly widened. "Are you sure? Limitless, and even you—I mean, even Spider Man—can't withstand it?"

Spider-Batman nodded vigorously, afraid that Helen wouldn't take it seriously, but the next second, Helen let out a roar and became Doomsday herself, charging forward.

Spider-Batman was dumbfounded, while Doctor Strange patted his shoulder, saying, "Unrestricted increasing pressure is no different than pie falling from the sky for Doomsday."

"Huh?"

Doctor Strange shook his head, "You'll know soon enough."

When the big and small monsters charged towards the Gravity King, he hesitated for a moment, confused about how that rookie suddenly turned into a monster.

However, since the opponents were already at hand, he couldn't do nothing, so he started with a hundred-ton gravity to test their limits.

Gravity King lifted his hand, and the smaller monster, who was barely maintaining humanoid shape, screamed and fell to the ground.

But in just a few seconds, the smaller one's spikes began to change, becoming blunter but also heavier, and then it too roared, standing straight up.

Gravity King snorted, "Again, five hundred tons!"

Spider-Batman watched as the Gravity King's pressures kept increasing, but within seconds, both monsters were able to stand up again. And as the gravity grew stronger, their muscles visibly started to become more robust.

Eventually, the Doomsday that Helen became withstood the pressure of who knows how many times the Earth's atmosphere and charged up to the Gravity King, knocking him out with a bang.