Chapter 43: An Ordinary Human No Longer

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"Humans and apparitions should just be however they want. If that would break the world, then it's better off broken."

~ Tsukasa, (Toilet bound Hanako-kun)

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<(Omniscient POV)>

"Is everything ready Cortana?" A tall and muscular Bruce asked as he laid down his lean and muscular swimmer's physique on top of a weird-looking egg-shaped machine.

"Yes, Bruce, both the Compound V and the perfected Super Soldier serum vials have been connected to the pod. The energy charges from the Kryptonite-based energy reactor are also active. We can now safely begin the procedure." Cortana's voice came back from the background.

"Good, then begin the operation... And let's just hope I don't die this time." Bruce muttered as the pod was automatically sealed by Cortana and a unique pain nullifying and nerve-relaxing gas was released inside it entering Bruce's body through his nostrils and mouse.

Tubes and syringes connected to various parts of his body began to continuously inject the two serums into his veins while the machine itself began to wheeze with energy.

[30 milliliters of Perfected Super Soldier Serum injected]

[70 milliliters of Compound V injected]

[Filtered unique Kryptonite radiation injection initiated]

[Radiation at 1% power... 5%...]

Cortana's voice began to document the entire process.

"Oh my. Oh, Great Wayne. Okay, this might be more painful than I initially thought." Bruce clenched his teeth as he felt like lava was flowing through his veins. Even the pain-nullifying gas wasn't of much help.

Bruce had initially thought of using the newer Nagel's version of the Super Soldier serum which was much simpler and faster to inject but had decided against it because it was much weaker than the original Erskine's version and that was exactly why Bruce had opted to use that original one after improving the serum with the Oz formula (Green Goblin serum) from Marvel and the mirakuru that he had developed from the blood sample that he had taken from Deathstroke.

Unfortunately for him, the resulting product was so potent that he felt like a Masochist torturing himself while trying to use those serums.

[Radiation at 75% power]

Cortana declared without stopping.

"AHAHAH. SHIIIIIITT. GOD, This was a wrong and hasty decision." He continued screaming like he was experiencing the most painful death he possibly could. He felt like his skin was on fire, his muscles were falling off and his bones were melting.

[Radiation at 90%]

Bruce could no longer yell as his muscles and skin began to visibly melt down into goo and leak through the pod, his eyeballs turning into liquid as he even lost his ability to try to ask for help from his AI assistant.

[Radiation at 95%]

[Radiation at 100%]

[Radiation is at full power]

[Injection Procedure concluded]

[Powering down]

Cortana declared as the machine began to rapidly power down until it stopped wheezing altogether.

When the entrance to the pod finally opened, liquid parts of Bruce flowed out of there with only his bones in somewhat of a solid condition. The rest of him had either turned into red jelly or boiling liquid.

"Subject perished. The experiment is unsuccessful. Bruce died in experiment Super Bat V1.9870." Cortana recorded the logs dutifully without even a hint of sadness present in her cold mechanical voice.

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<(Bruce Wayne POV)>

"Another death. Wow, how many times has it been? I think I have died too many times to remember even with my photographic memory." I joked as the simulation on the screen in front of me ended with my digital clone dying the most horrible death imaginable by mankind.

"Well, aren't you glad that you have me to depend on instead of having to test it on yourself or sacrifice some other human being?" Cortana gloated as her digital hologram held her chip up in pride.

You see, I as a cautious person with a couple of brain cells still intact inside my brain am never going to inject myself with an untested serum despite being sort of a crazy scientist. But instead of carrying out illegal human trials, I use thousands of digital simulations run by Cortana where she considers each and every possible variable and tells me the percentage of success for each of those experiments on the basis on which I decide whether to go forward with the experiment or go back to the drawing board.

These digital simulations are extremely accurate and even the digital human clones used in them are sort of 'alive' as they are based on the brainwaves of their actual human counterparts which in this particular case was me and can even be considered sentient. So, the simulations can be said to be 'almost' a hundred percent accurate, and even then they are conducted thousands of times with different variables just to be sure.

"Did you find out where we are going wrong?" I asked as I looked at the 0.49 percent success rate despite not finding the error in the experiment while performing the same simulation more than nine thousand times.

"Not particularly but I have a possible working theory... The Perfected Super Soldier serum although more potent than before is still harmless and all simulations done with it separately are successful, same with the Compound V. However the main problem always arises when the two are mixed in the presence of filtered Kryptonite radiation in your body. Even though on paper, it seems that your body can adapt to it and bear their combined power, in practice, it is the complete opposite. But I am beginning to think that this might not just be a physical or biological issue.

I think it might be more... spiritual. Remember after you began to learn about magic and its various energies, you improved the PKE meter further to sense any type of magical energy nearby? When you connected it to my other sensors, I was able to use a combination of them to even be able to sense various spiritual energies like your chi or souls and spirits. Now if I apply that knowledge and understanding to this particular simulation, then it is possible to deduce that the combined effects of the serum are hurting your soul more than your body. In fact, what is happening to your physical body may just be a reflection of your damaged soul." Cortana informed.

"Huh... That could actually explain it. I never did consider my soul in my calculations after all, even though I have no idea why any of those serums would affect someone's soul as well. Maybe, it was the Kryptonite radiation or it might even have been the mirakuru. However, even though I now know that it is a spiritual problem, I still can't develop a solution because I don't have nearly enough data or knowledge on the topic.

Even in the magical studies that I am currently undertaking underneath Mr. Zatara, souls are something of a taboo subject, even the best soul magic that I have heard of can only slightly control or scan souls but none can truly explain their workings or create and destroy them. I could learn some more about different types of soul magic but I would have to lean towards more demonic or dark arts for that which Giovanni probably wouldn't allow. So I have no other choice but to wait until I graduate from being his student which is gonna be very soon." I said as I thought deeply about my options.

I am in a major dilemma now. Do I wait for more knowledge on souls and then figure something out or do I brute force it somehow by focusing on constantly healing my body while injecting the serums?

"There is however one possible way to bypass this detriment and that is to simply take the serums one by one and let your body and soul get used to them. Injecting yourself with just one of the serums right now should not exert too much pressure on your soul and you would be able to inject another serum later without any consequences." Cortana informed.

"That's a very good idea Cortana. Run some simulations and tell me how long it will take for my soul to heal and not be adversely affected by injecting myself with two different super serums." I asked as I looked at the real-life hologram of the sixteen-year-old AI.

"About 3 to 4 years depending on if and how much you perform your spiritual exercises," Cortana informed.

"Well, that's not too bad I guess. I mean the perfected super soldier serum will alone make me strong enough to be able to handle most criminals in Gotham quite easily, so it won't exactly be a nerf for me if I am smart enough. Plus I don't exactly intend to start hunting criminals or gangs right now. It will probably be a couple of years before I do that.

And even then, I'll only do that if I consider the criminal's actual menaces to society that the regular cops wouldn't be able to handle. As for the other ordinary everyday psychos, well I have quite some plans to become the largest defense company in the world and I think the cops of this world might find some use for a few OP upgrades to their equipment while I might have some use for new connections and influence." I thought with a smile on my face.

I have already developed my connections a lot in these five years. Wayne Solutions has excellent relations with many international governments that I had thought to be noteworthy enough to befriend like the governments of Corto Maltese, Markovia, Bialya, and Kahndaq. Of course, I might have 'befriended' some of these governments to get in their good graces by giving them some donations so that I could get access to their resources like eternium of Kahndaq. Once I fulfill my objective, there is a high chance that I might even just say fuck it and take over one of them as my own little piece of haven after I retire.

As for the great country of the USA itself, let's just say a certain Kent was doing pretty well in his recent political career making it possible for me to have friends in high places. Hell, the man even had plans to stand for election as president one day.

Anyway, these past few years I have been working too hard on both my science projects and magic.

I am proud to say that on the magic front right now I am better than any seasoned street magician in escapology, sleight of hand, or misdirections, and also have memorized more than three hundred books on actual magical creatures, spells, and rituals. But I have yet to cast any true magic spells. Even after I learned some sorcery, I have still never cast a single spell mainly because I sense at least a dozen pairs of eyes on me every time I try to use even a bit of sorcery. Even the mind-shielding necklace that I always wear had exploded from overheating after I tried to use a certain spell meant for a simple exorcism.

And after years of hard work when I realized the magus gene in homo magus could not be replicated by me that easily by using pure science, I simply quit trying to master sorcery and magecraft and instead just focused on acquiring information. My goal is to perfect what I can do for now and that in magic is runes. I have an innate talent for rune formations due to my Intuitive intelligence cheat which also worked with runes of different languages and I intend to be the best in it, even better than the Zataras. However, I still need to study a lot especially the different languages of runes. For now, I merely have a basic idea of Elder Futhark and Young Futhark. Yeah pathetic, I know.

As for my advancements in science, now that's what I am really proud of. For the last few years I have been mainly working on three primary projects, my bio-serums meant for genetic alterations of the highest grade that I have been quite successful in as evidenced by my having developed both a perfected version of Super Soldier Serum and Compound V.

The second was nanotech, which would be my next method of strengthening myself. Whether it be extremis-style nano-mites from Marvel or the Nanomachine nanobots from the Webnovel, all of them can be developed with enough research in nanotechnology which I am extremely close to breaking through. I had already cracked basic nanotech but it didn't have value in my eyes since I hadn't perfected them or developed them to the potential they really possessed. My aim was to one day put Blue Beetle to shame with my nanotechnology.

The third and last one of them was atomic printers or replicators as seen in some of the most advanced sci-fi worlds like Star Trek or with Kang from Marvel that could print anything, any molecule, or any atom from anything. Whether it be making inorganic materials, organic food, clothing, medicine, or even weapons, it could replicate anything solid, liquid, or gas as long as it had the energy and equal number of atoms that it needed to produce the resultant product. Unfortunately, I am only halfway through with them as my version only worked like an advanced 3D printer.

'But at least I have perfected my sun breathing style or should I say my own Abyssal Breathing style' I confidently thought in my mind as I looked at the half-cracked wall of the cave, something I did with only a fencing foil which was scientifically impossible in real life but I had still done it with my expert sword style and my self-developed bullshit chi powered abyssal breathing style which was composed of its own unique twelve different techniques.

It was a breathing style that I had developed for myself after combining every other breathing style I knew from the Demon Slayer show and was focused on stealth, speed, and precision instead of raw strength and stamina. It of course didn't produce any fancy visual effects around me like a wave of darkness or something but it was still OP considering the massive boost it temporarily provided me in physical stats and combat style.

"Bruce, I have run the simulations about a hundred times. The Perfected Super Soldier serum is completely safe for you to take if you want to. I have even taken the liberty to produce a new batch for you." Cortana interrupted Bruce's chain of thoughts as she informed him about her actions.

"Good. I guess it's time for me to finally become... more than a human, a super soldier to be specific" I said as I buttoned down my shirt.

"Eh? Wait, you will be undergoing the procedure right now?" Cortana said like a shy maiden as she appeared flustered, another habit she picked up from watching anime shows.

"Yep, I can't delay this anymore. It's finally time." I said as I calmly walked towards the med-pod, ready to lose the very thing that made the original Batman so special, his powerlessness.

'Will I be even Batman if I do this if I get special abilities and powers?' I wondered suddenly feeling a dam of guilt weighing down on my heart for some reason, telling me to hold on to my ordinary humanity, to not get rid of my own weakness.

But I didn't stop. I didn't care if I was the right kind of Batman or not because I was not meant to be Batman. No, I am meant to be someone else, someone better, someone even Batman couldn't compare to, someone I have accepted.

"I am Bruce Wayne," I muttered to myself as I went inside the med pod.

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