Time Management Bureau office. Mobius was reviewing The Flash's file, shaking his head and sighing as he read.
"I wonder who's managing the timeline in that other world, but I bet they work overtime every day. If that guy were in our world, I'd be dead tired."
Shiller leaned against the wall with a cup of coffee, turning his head slightly to look at the hall outside the window and said, "We can't hold him for too long, Batman will find reinforcements soon. I advise you to release him then, don't get entangled with them for too long."
"Why?" Mobius turned his head to look at him with some confusion, "Although entering the Divine Speed is quite consuming for us, it's exactly because of that we should seize this opportunity. Since we've got him under control, shouldn't we maintain it for a while longer?"
"The reinforcements Batman brings won't be as easy to deal with," Shiller took a sip of coffee, shook his head, and said, "Anyway, I won't confront him directly. If you guys want to fight, I'm not stopping you."
Shiller finished speaking and left the office. Mobius looked at his back, shaking his head, feeling a bit puzzled. So far, the biggest opponent the Time Management Bureau has encountered was Helen, who bit them six hundred times in three seconds. Other than that, no one could engage with them on the timeline.
Mobius had just turned his attention back to the document when an alarm suddenly went off. All the employees of the Time Management Bureau looked toward the communicator.
"There's an intruder! There's an intruder! Repeating, someone has invaded the Time Management Bureau through the timeline!!!"
Mobius immediately rushed out of the office. He hadn't even had time to say a word before he saw a strong, gray figure in the lobby, casually tossing a Time Management Bureau employee with a weapon like throwing away trash.
He widened his eyes, and the other seemed to have sensed his gaze. When the figure turned around, Mobius saw a Superman emblem engraved on his chest.
"Is this some kind of Superman?" Mobius swallowed hard, "How did he even get here?!"
The gate opened, and more troops gathered towards the central strong figure. The figure didn't even move, and with a casual beam from his eyes, everyone was flung away.
One of the employees shot a time ray, but it didn't even leave a splash when it hit. This weapon, which could directly deconstruct time, had no effect on him. And with a casual wave of his arm, everyone, along with their weapons, was sent flying, crashing through several walls.
Mobius now understood why Shiller warned them not to engage him head-on.
"Wait!" Mobius shouted, "We can give you The Flash, just stop wrecking this place!"
The other looked over at him again, those eyes startlingly cold, fixating on people like a venomous snake. Mobius felt his legs go weak but still tried to straighten up and said, "The Time Management Bureau is responsible for maintaining the timeline's stability, we have our reasons for existing. If you destroy this place, the timeline's changes might affect the people in your universe too. Take The Flash and leave."
The other didn't say yes or no. Mobius walked over and opened the door to the prison for him. By the time he turned back, the figure had already disappeared. Soon, the alarm sounded again, alerting him that the prison area had been invaded, and it seemed The Flash had been taken away.
It wasn't until then that Shiller leisurely walked out of another office. He shook his head and said to Mobius, "I warned you, the reinforcements Batman finds are definitely no pushovers. There's a fight going on at the outpost."
"Who the heck is that guy?"
"Hal, a Super Kryptonian."
"Super Kryptonian? But aren't all Kryptonians essentially Superman?"
"Yes, Superman calls him Superman."
The location of the Time Management Bureau headquarters moves at a different time flow rate from the outside. Therefore, by the time Hal took The Flash and the others away from the Time Management Bureau, the battlefield at the outpost had not ended.
"You guys go back first," Hal said, folding his arms to The Flash squad, "Batman has something for you."
The Flash members all looked dejected, but the Prime Universe Flash still nodded and said, "Okay, we'll go back now. Be careful, Thor's bomb is really dangerous, don't let him succeed in detonating it."
Hal nodded and then teleported at top speed to the center of the outpost. Since he had always been in the timeline, no time had passed outside. The bomb in Thor's hand was still not detonated, and he had time to examine it carefully.
Hal circled Thor a few times, thoroughly inspecting the crack with his super vision and microscopic vision, and concluded: This wasn't a complete universe; although it was very close, even a 1% difference in universe creation meant a large gap. The essence of the universe, which carbon-based life could never understand or touch, was clearly absent in this crack.
However, Hal also acknowledged the Flash's statement: as a bomb, this thing is indeed powerful enough. If it successfully detonated, no one here would survive. Losing so many Wonder Women, Shazam, Martian Manhunters, and Green Lanterns here is a loss Batman cannot accept.
So how can we stop him? Hal touched his chin in thought, but he wasn't very good at thinking about such matters. Theories like cosmic construction science were far from him; he knew only one way to solve all problems – to punch it.
So he did just that. Hal took a deep breath, and directly through the barrier of the timeline, he sent a punch toward Thor. Enormous energy exploded in dazzling light on his fist, and at the moment it touched Thor's chest, it collided with the divine force protecting him, shattering both space and time.
The attack came too suddenly; Thor gasped, feeling a sharp pain from his chest. He quickly retracted his divine power, using all of it for defense, and had to put away the bomb in his hand, swinging the long spear to barely compel Hal to retreat.
Unexpectedly, this gray giant showed not the slightest intention to retreat, following one punch with another, charging at Thor again. Feeling the fierce wind from the fist and the undiminished force compared to the previous punch, Thor realized this guy was outrageously strong.
He had to raise his spear to meet the enemy. Thor took a deep breath, and as the divine light surged, he transformed into a god descended to the world, appearing dignified and powerful.
He first sent a thunderbolt toward Hal, but Hal's speed was swift, dodging it with a flicker and delivering another punch to Thor. Thor blocked with his spear but felt his arm go numb from the shock.
Thor intended to widen the distance, but he had no advantage in speed. Hal kept approaching, each punch landing heavily. This absolute strength even shook Thor's divine light, leaving circle after circle of deep ripples on his divine power shield.
Thor knew that even if he could defeat him, it would take some time. But the reverse encirclement plan needed to be swift and decisive, and Batman's other reinforcements were surely already on the way. So, in his mind, he called Loki's name.
Suddenly, in the center of the battlefield, one teleportation portal after another opened. Many Lokis of different styles stepped out of the portals, waved their magic wands, and began using magic to attack the Green Lanterns.
Many Lokis had long been in the Central Universe, though they only helped the Central Universe Loki with some clerical work, having little combat coordination and fighting separately.
However, they were still more effective than the mages. On the one hand, they had acquired a lot of energy from the Central Universe Loki, allowing them to fight freely; on the other hand, they may not have the physique of the Aesir, but they were undoubtedly much stronger than humans.
It's equivalent to saying that in the reverse encirclement plan, the inside cooperation originally should be done by the mages, but instead, it was done by Loki, still achieving good results.
Hal dodged a magic missile and just turned to support his teammates when he noticed his clothes accidentally scraped against an ice trap, suddenly freezing half of his body.
While he was using green lantern energy to thaw, a gravitational whirlpool tossed him onto the Main Universe Thor's face. The Main Universe Thor was unkind, striking with two punches.
Hal gritted his teeth and retaliated with a punch, but was caught by the Main Universe Thor, who threw him away. He then avoided the lasso of truth, pounced again, and grappled with the Main Universe Thor fiercely.
During the fight, Hal caught a glimpse of the battlefield situation from the corner of his eye, and his heart gradually sank.
Even if Thor did not detonate that big bomb, his previous divine power outburst had supplemented a lot of energy to the Asgardians. Though they had harvested energy from a recovery ship, it surely couldn't outlast Asgard.
But now, there was no way to escape, as the Asgardians in front kept pressing in, and the Lokis in the rear unleashed spells like there was no cost. Their formation was squeezed narrower and narrower until there was not even room to maneuver, significantly increasing the chance of injury. The opponent's reverse encirclement plan was showing initial success.
The first casualty appeared a dozen seconds later. Hal was grappling with Main Universe Thor when he turned his head and saw a Green Lantern captured by a gravitational whirlpool get an arrow through the heart by a Loki, turning into a beam of white light and returning to Battleworld.
Distracted, Hal was body-slammed by the Main Universe Thor, completely losing his balance. Fortunately, when the opponent raised the hammer, Hal reacted swiftly, teleporting away.
"First blood!" A light screen appeared in everyone's vision, pausing for about a second before disappearing, reminding everyone of the first battle casualty.
Hal cursed through gritted teeth, but still had to quickly go to support his teammates being overwhelmed by Loki's endless mischievous magic.
In hindsight, it might have been better not to rely on the mages. Those Doctor Stranges were tough to deal with, but in terms of the finesse and deceit in magic usage, they were far inferior to Loki. The Lokis sacrificed all moral boundaries for unspeakably disgusting tactics, leaving traps everywhere after just a few minutes.
Logically, setting traps in such a small area of chaotic battle should harm both friend and foe, often hitting allies. But somehow, those Thors seemed to have eyes in the back of their heads, always accurately discerning where Loki placed traps, and never stepping on any, all falling to enemies instead.
Moreover, they changed from their initial aggressive style to wily dodging and feigned incompetence, luring several Wonder Women and Green Lanterns into the traps.
So came the second combat casualty. A Wonder Woman unfortunately stepped on a trap and was then hammered to death by Thor. That Loki even reached out half his body from a teleportation portal to high-five with his brother, clearly indicating this wasn't their first time doing this.