It had been a while since there was any sign of the secondary character, Cain.But now, in a third-person perspective, we are taken to his location. The scene before us is horrifying:
Cain, bound hand and foot, is chained tightly to the ground—like a dangerous serial killer that must be sealed away forever. The place? The Batcave.
And standing before him is Batman. His face grim, his eyes filled with angry sorrow—as if he's ready to kill someone.
His fists are tightly clenched, and his heavy gaze shifts between Cain and the golden chalice spinning in place.
This chalice, ten hours ago, caused the death of every superpowered being.
Even Superman—the god on Earth—was no exception. From the Justice League, only Batman remained.
Now, Earth was in its most dangerous state ever. The supervillains were dead, and so were the superheroes. The blue planet was now like an unguarded garden, exposed to alien civilizations and other dimensions.
No wonder Batman looked so grief-stricken.
He wasn't a soulless monster. Although always paranoid, having documented the weaknesses of every Justice League member, and even doubting his best friends—
He had prepared thousands of contingency plans for the day they might fall under enemy control or succumb to darkness.
But that was normal. He was Batman.
If he weren't paranoid, he wouldn't be Batman at all. He wasn't just some perverted man in a bat suit beating up gangsters at night.
It was his character that made him Batman—not the gadgets or the wealth. He even doubted his own mind.
Still, he valued his relationships. The Justice League were his comrades.
And now, their killer was kneeling right in front of him. If not for his no-kill rule, if not for the fear of falling into darkness, he would've snapped Cain's neck right then and there. For Batman, it would have been easy.
But he didn't do it.
Because if he did, he wouldn't be himself anymore. Imagine if that limitation didn't exist... how terrifying an unrestrained Batman would be?
"So your first wish... was to become the richest man in the world?"
Batman's voice echoed cold and heavy through the cave.
Cain, his face full of fear, coughed and stared at the Dark Knight. For an ordinary human like him, Batman's presence was terrifying.
Batman couldn't hide his astonishment. The chalice was far too dangerous. Reality-warping power at this level—capable of rewriting history—was terrifying.
And no one had even noticed the anomaly. Everyone had accepted the new reality as if nothing had ever changed. As if they had been manipulated by the power of the chalice without ever realizing it.
A miracle machine that could grant any wish.
For humanity, it wasn't a blessing—it was a curse. Because human desire is endless. Greed is both the driver of progress and the cause of ruin. This chalice would drag humanity into an even deeper abyss.
No one could resist it—not even Batman.
The death of his parents was his greatest emotional wound. But it hadn't turned him into a numb, unfeeling being.
Humans were made of flesh and blood—not logic machines. Even their creator didn't fully understand them.
After resolving the disaster and bringing all the dead back to life, Batman launched the chalice into the sun with a space shuttle.
Neither the ocean nor the underground was safe—only the sun could destroy it forever.
He even erased his own memory of the chalice. Because he feared one day a mad thought might cross his mind.
His research on the chalice revealed it had infinite energy.
Even without its omnipotent-like abilities, it could power dozens of civilizations. The energy it emitted was clean and pure—tens of times better than any other natural source.
Batman suspected this energy came from higher dimensions—perhaps the fourth dimension or even another universe. But the more he understood, the more afraid he became.
The materials that made up the chalice were unnatural. Though it appeared golden, it wasn't made of gold. It was crafted from an unknown alloy, harder than any known substance. According to Batman's calculations, current human civilization couldn't even scratch it.
At least a thousand years of technological advancement would be needed to reach the level required to destroy the chalice.
That thought shook Batman to his core. Humanity might be in an age of technological explosion, but they were still millennia away from that level.
On the chalice, there was an inscription in Hebrew: "The Oak King." It seemed to be the name of the chalice's creator. But Batman had no other information.
What was the purpose of creating such a thing? Why had it been sent to this world?
Cain, as he thought about his miserable state, knew everything had started from one mistake.
After his first wish was granted—to become the richest man in the world—Cain turned into a pleasure-seeking glutton. Every desire he had, he fulfilled—sex with models and celebrities, wild and unrestrained parties, limitless power.
That corrupt life lasted six months—until a minor villain attacked him and almost killed him.
Filled with hatred and rage, Cain made his second wish: "All beings with superpowers must die."
And the wish was granted.
But this time, something went wrong. The energy consumed was abnormally high. Smart individuals like Lex Luthor and Batman quickly found him.
Now, the richest man in the world was imprisoned in the Batcave like a defeated dog.
But what Cain didn't know was that this wish... wasn't truly his own.
Someone was pulling the strings behind the scenes—Samael. He had manipulated Cain.
And the second wish had been fulfilled under Samael's will...