American comics: What kind of evil intentions could Batman have?

Chapter 1151 The Darkest Hour, the Manifest Destiny

Chapter 1151 The Darkest Hour, the Manifest Destiny

The Riddler never imagined that, after painstakingly scheming and believing he had found the opponent's weakness, guided by Batman Dragon, and infiltrating the Anti-Monitor's lair through Reverse-Flash, just as he was about to proceed along the so-called perfect route planned for him by Batman Dragon, he would suddenly encounter such a dimensional-reducing turn of events.

"Do you really think I'd be so stupid as to try and replicate my glory days from Crisis on Infinite Earths now that the dust has settled in the DC multiverse?"

The Riddler clutched his head, feeling his consciousness being devoured and erased by the Anti-Monitor. Layers upon layers of the trans-temporal copy were superimposed on his body. In an instant, the Riddler seemed to see hundreds of versions of himself, like standing between two mirrors, turning around suddenly, and seeing hundreds of your own shadows looking at you with the same movements.

But the riddle-maker knew it wasn't a mirror.

All sorts of bizarre and uncanny Edward Nigma stared at him, some dressed like knights, some wearing Western cowboy hats, some in high-tech clothing, their armor made of unknown materials bearing green question marks.

The anti-surveillance agent distorts the existence of the riddle-man, like stirring up a jar of water to make it easier for him to insert himself into it.

The so-called "fishing in troubled waters" —

That's probably right.

"The Batman Who Laughs has lost his madness; he has ascended to become the Hand of Origin; the DC Multiverse has completed its mission."

'

The Riddler knew that these weren't the words spoken by the Counter-Monitor, but rather that he had read the Counter-Monitor's thoughts.

Their thinking began to align.

"Our DC multiverse has always been a vampire universe, an abnormal universe. It should never have been able to give birth to transcendent beings, such as the Hand of Origin, like in a normal universe. However, the self-destruction of Doctor Manhattan and the merging of the Watchmen universe created a once-in-a-lifetime anomaly."

The emergence of Manhattan activated the potential that had been dormant in the DC multiverse after being altered by Perpetual. —22

Batman, Bruce Wayne, successfully transcended and left the DC multiverse, while Chen Tao was forcibly snatched from the jaws of death, leaving the DC multiverse with the 5G era. The remaining history of the DC multiverse was reshaped into a timeline where Chen Tao never appeared, and my opportunity lies within that timeline.

"Batman Dragon wants to cram the 5G era into that baby multiverse and become its master, a new universe with a past and a future. This is far superior and more perfect than the original concept of Alphaus, the world-builder. And the ruler of that universe could be Chen Tao—or it could be me."

"Chen Tao once merged himself with the Anti-Monitor Dragon on the timeline of the multiverse—there couldn't be a better opportunity than that."

The nameless old dragon was originally a treacherous act by Papetua against Chen Tao. Although Chen Tao managed to break free from the endless historical loop through his own schemes, this part of history remains a wound that can be attacked in Chen Tao's time-travel narrative.

If the anti-surveillance agent were to directly distort history and vie with Chen Tao, the Batman Dragon, for the right to define historical reality, he might be outmatched. However, if he were to first incite conflict, misleading the Batman Dragon into believing that he wanted to replicate the history of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and actively induce the Batman Dragon to create a historical timeline of "the cause and effect of the successful stripping away of the 5G era," he could easily trick the other party into handing over the most useful candidate for distorting history—the Riddler—to his doorstep!

"Ah! Richard!" When Mr. Nigma realized this, he began to struggle desperately.

Batman Dragon was manipulated by the Anti-Monitor. The timeline he created not only failed to become a weapon to suppress the Anti-Monitor, but was instead used by them. Once the Anti-Monitor completely possessed the Riddler's body, they could establish a twisted connection between him and Batman Dragon:

The Riddler in the main universe is controlled by the Nameless Dragon → The Riddler is controlled by the Nameless Dragon → The Riddler is also controlled by the Anti-Monitor → Therefore, the Nameless Dragon is the Anti-Monitor → And the Nameless Dragon is Batman's Dragon Chen Tao → So Batman's Dragon Chen Tao is also the Anti-Monitor!

The anti-monitors could seize Batman's position as the Dragon by twisting this chain of logic and disrupting the timeline of history—in his most vulnerable moment after his resurrection!

"Hurry, hurry up!"

After Edward the Riddler read such a massive amount of information from the Anti-Monitor's memories, he struggled desperately to fight back.

He wasn't entirely without options; he had anticipated potential problems in extreme situations. Not far away, Reverse Lightning Elberdswan had taken two steps back, intending to escape.

Yes, escape.

What a joke! He lived safely in that world for decades. Perhaps he once had thoughts of making the world a better place in the Flashpoint world, but those decades have passed and all of that has been worn away.

What a load of bull, this Flash controversy, this damn obsession with speed. If it weren't for Lincoln March's coercion, he wouldn't even be in this damn place.

And things were just as messed up as he had imagined. It was time to think about himself and run away. He was the unambitious Elberdeswan, the most unspirited of the countless Reverse-Flash isotopes in the multiverse.

But then, he felt a wave of dizziness.

The world suddenly slowed down.

He heard a muffled thud, as if someone had suddenly stopped after running at full speed.

He turned his head.

He saw a younger version of himself, although his appearance had become less aged due to the amber gold—but that younger version of Reverse-Flash was not him.

He still has aspirations, he still has ambitions, he wants to be a hero, he wants to be the Flash, he holds onto the dream that the now-old Reverse-Flash has abandoned for many years.

In that instant, the elderly Reverse Lightning felt as if an electric current had passed through his entire body, and every hair on his body stood on end.

"Are you kidding me?!"

The aged Reverse-Flash realized that the young Reverse-Flash was merely a figment of his imagination, just like the Joker and Night Owl in Fool's mind. Lincoln March must have tampered with his brain; he was still the only living speedster in this world of Dead Man's Cheap, with no one to share his speed with.

But all of this felt so real.

He saw the rubble kicked up by the feet of the younger Reverse-Flash.

He saw the smile on the other person's lips.

Then he pulled up his hood.

He heard Lincoln March whisper in his ear.

"Run, Swann—"

"run!!!!!"

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