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

Chapter 539 Barbatos's Plot, William Hand Cannot Die

Chapter 539 Barbatos's Conspiracy: William Hand Cannot Die?! (5000-word long chapter)

"Superman is finished."

Within the crucible of the world, Barbatos was silently contemplating. He exhaled a wisp of breath crackling with purple lightning, propped himself up, and intently wove the destiny of the dark multiverse.

The entire Dark Multiverse is Barbatos's domain, and in such a place, no one can escape his shadow.

breathe……

His voice, panting, played a melody, with a highly rhythmic tempo:

Breathe.

You see, fate is an intricate web; by manipulating it at crucial moments, history can be steered in the direction Barbatos desired.

So easy.

……

……

……

breathe……

William Hand sat in his seat on the spaceship, and understandably nervous as the matter drew to a close.

He began to breathe heavily, at the same frequency as Barbatos.

Bain sat quietly in his seat, extending one finger and gently tapping his knee.

At this moment, they were placed inside Brainiac's skull ship, while not far away, Night Owl's Earth was protected in a bottle, emitting a soft blue light that complemented the surrounding cities captured by Brainiac.

Most of the creatures in those cities had been spoiled by Brainiac to the point that they would die if they left his spaceship. Therefore, since obtaining the spaceship, apart from some creatures that were still capable of settling in other star systems and were entrusted to the Yellow-Green Lantern Legion by Chen Tao, Chen Tao had been keeping the other creatures in captivity on it.

After Brainiac's crushing defeat at the hands of Batman, the spaceship became Chen Tao's spoils of war. However, because it was synchronized with Brainiac, many of the spaceship's functions were too redundant for Chen Tao, so it hadn't been of much use until now.

While Night Owl was out in the universe using the Orange Lantern Ring to control the four main propulsion towers (Chapter 531), Chen Tao had also authorized Bane to use Brainiac's Skull ship to do what Luthor hated most about his Earth—even though he wouldn't say a word even if he were here right now.

The spaceship was completely silent. Brainiac's spaceship was very well soundproofed, and they were in the main cabin without the slightest buzzing noise.

The screen in front of them was showing Batman confronting the Anti-Monitor. Until the very last moment, Batman did not agree to William Hand's plan to commit suicide in exchange for the arrival of the Death King, but he still arranged for them to stay here—out of respect for their resolve.

Bain was so engrossed in watching the screen that he didn't notice William's condition.

"Hey, Professor Bane," he heard William Hand say. "I've been thinking... Lucius and Batman tried to make me a Green Lantern in some experiment, but I couldn't get the Green Lantern ring's approval."

He muttered to himself, "Does this mean I lack the will to become a hero?"

Bain replied, "If you're hoping I'll comfort you, you're sorely mistaken, William. Your awareness has absolutely nothing to do with the Green Lantern Ring. It's just a weapon, nothing more, not a measure of willpower or courage."

On the screen, Superman the Youngster did not return as usual.

Bane's heart sank further and further. After seeing that Batman and the Justice League had fought the Anti-Monitor and Ten Seconds Superman had not yet returned, he suddenly stood up.

"William, Superman is finished."

Bain said to William.

He turned to William Hand: "I'm afraid it's time, we have to..."

Then his movements froze.

He saw William Hand turn his head...

That originally delicate face was now half covered with a large number of insect-like limbs and rotting flesh.

That was a key characteristic of the body being possessed by the Black Corruption, and the only and most powerful controller of the current Black Corruption, besides Bane and the Queen of Death, Abigal Arkansas, was the current master of the Black Corruption…

"Anton Akane...it's you!" Bain took two steps back. "A powerful clone, when did you infiltrate this ship? And how could you...?"

"Oh, of course. Nobody has ever cared about me."

"William Hand" spoke, but Bain knew that, in fact, it was only Akane, who was possessing him, who was speaking.

"A gear that no one ever paid attention to, a brilliantly crafted trap."

Kane scoffed, "Now that I've already taken the stage, what makes you think I'd just sit quietly in Batman's universe doing nothing?"

"Why, A.K.? This will do you no good," Bane warned. "Batman already has enough plans to delay the Anti-Monitor, but if you interfere, the Justice League and Batman will quickly collapse, and the Anti-Monitor might very well catch up with our escaped universe. If that leads to the Anti-Monitor devouring the universe, do you think you can escape unscathed..."

Before he could finish speaking, a giant green vine whip made of the green of all things lashed out at Akainu from behind, but it was controlled by Akainu. William Hand's distorted half of his body grabbed the giant vine whip with one hand.

"A brand new world, isn't it? The universe of Night Owl, where the natural forces are far less hierarchical than those in our world. The Green of All Things in this world is an unattended, uncontrolled consciousness. There is no Tree Council, no Queen May (Note: The Tree Council is the consciousness of trees, Queen May represents vines, and Poison Ivy is its spokesperson). Therefore, in this universe, you can invoke more of the Green of All Things' power without any scruples."

Akane said, "But unfortunately... there is no Corruption Council in the Corruption Darkness of this universe, so... you see, the increase is proportional."

As William Hand's still-normal half of his face revealed a heart-wrenching scream, his deformed half of body sprouted numerous insect-like arthropods covered in putrid slime.

Before the enormous green vines could sprout more branches to bind William, the segmented limbs struck first, plunging into the vines and then corroding the vibrant green into a foul-smelling ash.

The vine fell from the spaceship wall, sprouting numerous rotting limbs that instantly transformed into a putrid centipede-like creature with hundreds of pairs of legs, encircling the already corroded William.

"Who gave you the orders...who is helping you do all this?" Bain's mind worked quickly. He was exceptionally intelligent, and if he hadn't always neglected his research, he might have become a scientist like Luther.

Arkan's unusual behavior and the ease with which he hacked into the spaceship made him think of many things, but it was clear that Arkan wouldn't help him find the answers.

"It's all fate's arrangement. The inescapable fate of the Dark Multiverse, isn't it?" he said.

A bead of sweat trickled down Bain's face beneath the hood.

He still has the ability to fight Arkansas, but such a fight is meaningless.

Batman and the Justice League simply do not have the ability to confront the Anti-Monitor head-on. Even though Batman is possessed by three Lamp Beasts, and can still exert parallel universe Batman power beyond his original synchronous limit even without the power of all humans on Earth, two of them are forcibly attached to him by him using methods, and he cannot exert his full power.

He left A.K. and Blood Bull in his own universe, not bringing them with him this time. Batman said he had to plan for the future, and Blood Bull and Atositas, who could control the Lamp Beast, had to become Luthor's trump cards. But Bane knew very well that Batman, like himself, realized that in this situation, even binding Blood Bull like forcibly binding Parallax and Ion Shark wouldn't be very effective.

Batman's plan is to use Superman Supreme to distract the Anti-Monitor. If Superman Supreme fails, Batman will pull out the Black Lantern Ring and transform himself into the vessel of the Death King. The rest of the plan is to fight to the death.

But Bane and William had already decided that Batman couldn't become the vessel for the Black Death. One reason was that he couldn't unleash his full power, and another reason was...

"Batman is more important than any of us."

Bain said, "William, you need to wake up, William."

"Damn it, open your eyes! I taught you all that, I taught you how to fight that control. That deep-seated, ghostly fear, I want you to overcome it!"

He dodged the attack launched against him by William, controlled by Akainu. Fortunately, they were in the main cabin of the Brainiac Skull ship, not the collection room. Otherwise, if the Brainiac collection city were destroyed by the aftershocks of the attack, all the creatures in it would have perished.

Releasing the shrunken cities from the bottles follows specific procedures; simply smashing them would only lead to death. Bane immediately closed the exhibition hall and activated protective protocols to ensure the Earth's safety.

He will then trap Akane here and kill him.

Beast-like hairs sprouted from his body, and his hands transformed into claws that rapidly expanded. The enormous claws pinned the giant vine-turned-corpse centipede to the ground, causing a massive amount of plants to grow wildly and burrow into the centipede's body.

"William! Wake up!"

His shouts were deafening, like Alfred's dying cry to his Bruce in the universe of The Batman Who Laughs.

No, Bruce, don't let that thing control you... I know you can...

Then he saw that his little Bruce seemed to have broken free from the Joker virus's control, and he thought...

The Bat Who Laughs used this to defeat him.

"William, I need your help!"

The voice sounded like the Flash, Barry Allen, shouting at Batman from within the Red Death universe.

Bruce, let me help you. You're controlled by that kind of thinking. Changing the past will only bring disaster...

"Wake up! Wake up! Batman needs your help, the world needs your help!"

It's useless.

That's the kind of fate Barbatos weaves. He always manages to create a slippery slope at crucial moments.

The giant, multi-legged centipede broke free from Bane's grasp, snapping one green vine after another, and then embraced Bane from behind.

Hundreds upon hundreds of hands and feet, some human arms, some insect limbs, and some dead beast limbs, clung to Bane's body. The centipede opened its ferocious mouthparts, and Bane had to grow deformed metal arms from his back to defend himself.

He also possesses Batman's metallic spirit within him.

Anton Akai originally intended to personally take action and completely crush the disadvantaged Bain, but then he felt the eyelids of the half of William's body twitch, so he had to put Bain down.

"Right, William? You're actually afraid of death too."

On William Hand's half of his face, the half completely controlled by Anton A. Kane, a soft whisper murmured:

"You have no intention of sacrificing yourself, right? Batman has already prepared a Black Lantern ring, what's there for you to sacrifice? Aren't you just courting death?"

"But this person in front of you," he pointed at Bain, "brainwashes you with honor, morally blackmails you, and leads you into this dead end."

Think about it from the bottom of your heart, William. Was your decision to come into this world truly what you wanted, or was it the result of your dearest teacher, Mr. Bain's, guidance?

"You're no different from those brainwashed German youths during World War II," A.K. said. "They thought they went to war for glory, only to find that their sacrifices were meaningless."

"Bane, Batman, they're all nice to you, but it's all just a ploy to trick you into dying."

"But I'm different. I can introduce you to a great place, William. You'll no longer have to worry about the shadow of the Black Death Emperor, nor be forced into becoming disposable material that can die at any moment. An excellent collaborator can even..."

"You are manipulating me with your words."

When that voice rang out, Bane, who was still fighting the centipede, smiled slightly beneath his mask: "Good lad."

Akane tried to grab William's other half of his face with the hand of the half of his body that he controlled, but it was immediately grabbed by William's intact hand:

"Professor Bain taught me about fear, how to manipulate other people's fear. Although Professor Bain claimed he wasn't a master at playing with fear, he still helped me gain some understanding of fear."

He said, "You're trying to convince me...you're trying to deceive me. And those who have the upper hand never need to deceive."

He said, "And that means you are the real weaker party in this battle."

Arkan remained silent for a long while. He dropped his feigned, manipulative tone and slowly began to speak: "You are already dead, at least partially dead, William. A person cannot die twice. You have lost the ability to summon the Black Death Emperor."

He said, "That's fate, so what's the point of struggling?"

"Batman... once guided my training," William said slowly. "Although during those decades or even centuries of training, I eventually lost consciousness, you know what? That knowledge was still completely etched into my brain and body."

He opened his hands, and one by one, green chains extended from his wrists—a technique belonging to Carona. This was followed by multicolored, vein-like lines of light that solidified into physical threads—the abilities of the first Lantern Knight.

William Hand raised his intact arm. Then he swung the green chains and beams of light violently at himself.

vomit!

He opened his mouth and suddenly spat out a mouthful of black water. The pure black water poured onto the half of the body that Anton Akain controlled, causing the other party to scream.

"You dare..." Akainu attempted to create giant insect limbs to stop it, but the next moment, Bane pounced on him and snapped the limbs off with his bare hands using his beastly claws: "Do you think I don't exist?"

"Yes, you did put me in a state of being half-dead. You managed to wrest control of my body from the Black Death Emperor through some means or with the help of someone else."

William Hand said, "But remember this."

Akain heard William Hand's voice explode in his ears like thunder:

"Someone as worthless as you dares to compete with the Black Death Emperor for my body?!"

"What do you want to do? What are you capable of doing?"

Akainu suddenly conjured a giant, rotting maw, briefly forcing Bane back. He then tried to seize William's body, only to see the latter abruptly slip the Black Lantern Ring, which Akainu had just spat out, onto his own hand.

A tremendous sense of dread washed over Akane like lightning: "You...you actually used chains to forcibly remove the Black Death Emperor from..."

“Yes,” William Hand said. “The technology of Carona and the first Lantern was specifically designed for capturing Lantern Beasts, and the Black Death Emperor… is itself a Black Lantern Beast.”

He slightly raised his head, and half of his once healthy face gradually became as thin as a skeleton, with only his eyes faintly flashing green, corresponding to the swollen face with lividity that was controlled by Akain.

He raised the hand that wore the black light ring, and then endless black light emanated from it:

"Batman once told me..."

"The world will only become a better place if you force it."

Then he spoke: "The darkest night...blinding the sun."

"No, no, damn it!"

Anton A. Kane planned to escape, intending to withdraw his power from William's body, but for some reason, no matter how hard he tried, he could not escape the cage that William had created with his body.

"As one side grows, the other falls... The darkness devours the light!"

"Damn it! Damn it! Aaaaaaaah!"

"Your heart will be ripped out and your soul seized... You will die!!!"

"No, no! Let me go, I'll never do it again, he'll devour my body..."

An endless black light emanated from William Hand's raised fist, and the entire universe resounded with a deafening roar.

The Black Death Emperor's giant hand tore through space, traversing countless mountains and rivers, and grasped his chosen people in the palm of his hand.

Amidst Anton Akain's screams, William Hand recited the final words of the Blacklight Oath:

"The undead have returned... Black Hand role!!!!"

A dark light filled his eyes.

(End of this chapter)