pdf-ebookys Chapter 524 Bat's Good Teammate: The Anti-Monitor
Chapter 524 Bat's Good Teammate: The Anti-Monitor
Chapter 524 Bat's Good Teammate: The Anti-Monitor
Ok……
Chen Tao fell into deep thought.
This unexpected turn of events left him momentarily at a loss.
"I understand," Shazam said beside him.
He covered his face, which had just come into close contact with the anti-monitor's fist.
Hal the Green Lantern was glaring at him from the side.
You don't know anything.
"So we fought the Burning Legion for ages, but they're actually good guys?"
He made a Warcraft reference, but no one really reacted.
Chen Tao gestured with his eyes, and the anti-surveillance agent—or perhaps he should be called Möbius—continued.
Mobius didn't speak at first. He stood there for a moment, and Chen Tao guessed that he might also be thinking and weighing the pros and cons, but in the end he continued to say what he originally wanted to say.
My name is Möbius.
"As I know, I am the remnant discarded from the Anti-Monitor after the timeline was restarted."
Hal the Green Lantern and Shazam the Thunder exchanged a glance.
They were unaware of these things and were about to ask when Chen Tao waved his hand to stop them.
He let Möbius continue speaking:
"Go on, I know all of this. If I don't understand something, I'll ask you."
Möbius nodded.
"After the crisis caused by The Flash, Barry Allen, the existence of the Anti-Monitor was altered to that of an ordinary mortal, Mobius, but this history was quickly erased as the universe rebooted... leaving only me."
(Note: The two timeline reboots that Möbius mentioned here are Flashpoint and DC Universe Rebirth.)
"A soul that refuses to disappear...if I really have a soul."
This part seemed too difficult for Hal to understand, and they all frowned, but it was not the case for Chen Tao.
Möbius's voice was still ringing out, hoarse and low, like the sound of a piece of iron scraping against a metal pipe.
He could tell that Batman understood what he was saying. The other man seemed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the world beyond the single universe.
Möbius didn't know how the other person's understanding of the world could compare to his own, who had inherited the memories of the mortal Möbius, but he didn't have time to delve into that now, okay?
"I am a person without a past."
He said:
"I am not the same as you. I don't have a real origin story. I just appeared out of nowhere, and I thought I had been forgotten by everyone."
"I inherited many memories, from the Watchers and from the mortal Möbius, but no amount of memories can change one thing:
My past is just a blank.
"I am well aware that I am essentially a non-existent person, someone erased by the universe. Even my fears, loves, and hates are merely the result of the universe's reboot, so they have no meaning for me."
"For example, I loathe the anti-life equation; it only brings me pain. But I know this loathing stems from the 'anti-monitor Möbius,' who once existed but has been erased, and I am merely a tiny, insignificant projection of his degraded history."
He slowly said, "I have no love or hate of my own, no goals worth pursuing. Everything that ordinary people pursue is meaningless to me. But for me, there is still one thing that is important:
"Live. Become stronger."
This sounded rather somber, and the Justice League members fell silent.
Möbius thought silently. There were some things he didn't say aloud.
if you can……
I am also an anti-surveillance agent; I am also a part of him. Why can't my will engulf the real one?
In conclusion, he summarized it this way, and then continued:
"I roam the Dark Multiverse, increasing my power by consuming it."
"I've gathered a lot of intelligence. I've discovered Barbatos, and I've discovered that the World Forger is dead..."
"Good riddance."
He expressed his opinion concisely and clearly.
"Otherwise, I wouldn't have had the chance to wander around for so long."
"The energy contained in these dark multiverses should have been destroyed by Barbatos and returned to the World Forge to be reshaped into new worlds."
"But now I've absorbed all that energy into my body, and I feel like I've become much stronger. This continued for a while, but I soon realized that everything I was doing was competing with Barbatos for food."
The Anti-Monitor carefully observed Batman's expression, wanting to see what he would do after learning of Barbatos's existence. However, to his disappointment, Batman seemed to know about Barbatos's existence as well.
How did Batman obtain this information?
He thought about it silently in his heart, but didn't show it.
"I was discovered by that Dark Multiverse Dragon, but he was busy devouring the corpses of World Forgers, which was the most important thing to him, so he didn't have a chance to deal with me."
"However, this does not mean that he is powerless to do anything about me now."
"He created a destiny specifically for me, one that he manipulates. I will be killed by a Batman from a dark multiverse, and his power will be absorbed by him. That Batman will become the Barbatos Dragon."
"I received this prophecy and also learned how Barbatos planned to deal with me."
"So I decided to strike first."
When the anti-monitor uttered those words, everyone present looked rather grim. However, Möbius didn't seem to care and continued:
"I plan to kill the Batman who was supposed to kill me in Barbatos's script, shatter the destiny he prepared for me, and thus break free from his shackles completely."
Mobius said, "I originally thought this was the best solution I could do. As long as I killed that Batman, it would be difficult for Barbatos to weave a new destiny to deal with me. This would buy me a lot of time, so that I would have room to maneuver, whether it was to escape the Dark Multiverse or to make other plans."
"But I soon realized I was wrong, because even if I killed Batman, I would still die."
"What do you mean?"
He heard Batman ask.
"There's a second force operating within me, something I should have realized long ago. I am part of the Anti-Monitor, even though I always refer to myself as remnant, but remnant doesn't change the fact that I am a part of it."
He paused, then said, "And even the worst remnants, if that anti-monitor wants to project them downwards..."
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly raised his fist without warning and swung it at Hal the Green Lantern.
Caught off guard, Hal was sent flying like a cannonball as soon as he erected his protective shield. In the blink of an eye, he flew back with a grim expression: "What do you want to do? You..."
Chen Tao stopped him: "Don't make a move. His sudden attack on you just now was clearly because he was being controlled, not because he did it on his own initiative."
Then he turned to look at the other person.
"Your problem seems a bit big."
"I'm afraid so."
"That's what the counter-surveillance advocate replied."
He gripped his restless right hand with his other hand.
"There won't be a next time," he said, then continued, "I've been trying my best to control my strength, otherwise that punch would have been a sneak attack, and your teammates wouldn't have survived an attack of that intensity. I think that proves my sincerity."
"I once thought my birth was an accident, but just now I suddenly felt that this body was no longer completely under my control as before, and then I realized..."
"I am just a gift."
"Tell me more about it."
"Barbatos resides downstream in the hypertime stream, entrenched in reality. Even the Anti-Monitor cannot shake the foundations of the entire multiverse from the very first crisis."
(Note: The first crisis he refers to here is the Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985, the period when the Anti-Monitor earned the title of "Great Demon King of Counter-Espionage.")
"If he does that, it will shake the very nature of the multiverse, like someone trying to dismantle the foundation of a huge building."
"It's not that you can't use a demolition machine, but when you use one, many people living on the foundation will try to stop it."
"Nevertheless, the anti-surveillance activists are still trying to reverse their failed attempt."
"Therefore, if he wants to exert influence on the present from upstream, he can't bypass Barbatos, so do you understand?"
As he spoke, Möbius began to grit his teeth.
"If I kill you, the Anti-Monitor's power will completely turn me into his puppet."
Although he had already decided to throw me, this piece of trash, to Barbatos so he could make what he wanted, if that thrown-out thing came back on its own and became useful, then the Anti-Monitor wouldn't be so lenient.
"And if you kill me, Barbatos' power will completely flow into your body and control you. This was Barbatos' plan all along."
After saying so much, Möbius finally paused, then tried to organize his thoughts, making sure his voice didn't sound too harsh or clenched:
"From the moment I sensed the true Anti-Monitor, I understood. Whether the Anti-Monitor wins or Barbatos wins, I will die. There is absolutely no way out. And in this situation..."
"That's why I'm so quick to form an alliance with you."
Möbius said:
"I need your help to fight against the demon king who is trying to remotely control me from the upper reaches of time."
Chen Tao interrupted Green Lantern's question, which he was about to ask, and said, "Okay."
He agreed readily, and under these circumstances, there was no need to refuse.
Just kidding, any hesitation of even a second would be disrespectful to one's own life. He just wanted to save his world, and in the process, he suddenly became teammates with the Anti-Monitor. Could there be anything more advantageous than that?
"Then how can I help you fight against the true anti-monitor from the upper reaches of time?" he asked. "How did he gain control of you? Even across countless parallel universes and multiverses, how could he seize control of your body?"
"This isn't control. I was originally one of him. I just... I just... couldn't win against him in the fight for my body."
The anti-monitor warned, "I may soon be completely devoured by that person. As I said these words, I could already feel the inner force controlling me breaking free from its cocoon within my body. He has heard our conversation and realized that I have discovered everything, so he is no longer pretending and is desperately trying to seize control of my body."
I...I'll be launching another attack on you very soon. I...
I will try my best to control my consciousness and preserve my personality, but my body will still be controlled by him.
He said, "I will help you as much as I can. Our goal now is that neither of us should die, and then we can part ways peacefully. That's the way to break their control."
"So, this deal."
Is the deal done?
He asked.
He could barely hear the answer. He felt himself trembling. He was both shocked and angry. A suffocating fear and rage kept pounding into his heart.
In such circumstances, he even suddenly felt a sense of despair.
At the same time, in the short time he was speaking, that terrifying sense of control swept over his entire body once again, making his situation even worse.
"make a deal."
He heard Batman say, "We're teammates now."
He turned to his teammates and said, "Everyone, get ready. The Justice League and the Nite Owl Universe are merging."
……
……
……
"I did it."
Flames flickered in the owl's eyes.
At this moment, he was holding a tiny mini starfish, which he had put in a can, and it was making dissatisfied gurgling noises:
"Waaaaah..."
"I really did it."
A wide grin spread across Night Owl's face as he ignored the little starfish's cries. He almost burst into laughter, but then realized that such laughter was too much like Joker Man, so he abruptly stopped himself. However, this action provoked an even fiercer backlash from the Joker Man virus within him.
"Baby..." He bit his lower lip hard, until it bled, trying not to laugh. He examined the starfish in his hand closely.
"With your help, I will be able to use the energy of the Heart of the Planet to build a shielding network between the two universes."
"Batman thinks he can use this transformation to transfer all the danger to my universe, but he's sorely mistaken."
"My universe will not merge with Batman's universe."
"I'm the one who survived!"
(End of this chapter)