Janet leapt off his leg and stuck to the ceiling like a spider, merging into the darkness the fireplace couldn't illuminate.
Her limbs twisted unnaturally, hissing and sucking sounds emanating from her mouth, and she disappeared with a thud.
Bruce stood up cautiously, grabbing the fire poker as a weapon and searching the room. He was indeed old, but still capable of fighting.
"Come out! Barbatos! Face me!"
The fireplace suddenly extinguished, and the cold voice sounded again.
"After all this, what have you seen?"
"I haven't seen anything!"
Bruce turned around on the spot, vigilant of every corner, hiding in the darkness, which was his most adept tactic.
"Hehe, I know what you've seen. In the darkness, bats and birds unite, shaping you into what you are now. You've seen the failures of yourself in other worlds, witnessed your own helplessness, and the hollow truth..."
Bruce pinpointed the source of the voice, slowly approaching the study's window, where there was a reflection of none other than himself.
Only now his body was aged and frail, yet the reflection was in his prime, with a sinister gaze, wrapped in black, mysterious energy.
The reflection stared at him and flashed a sly smile, "I am right here."
"You! Barbatos, you're trying to twist my story!"
Bruce tightened his grip on the fire poker, straightening up to face him.
"No, I shaped you. I've seen you in the torrent of time." Barbatos spread his hands and tilted his head as he replied, "I've always been lurking in the darkness."
Before Bruce could respond, he rambled on about his plan.
"I saw you dress like me, turning me into a symbol of hope."
"You are a perfect channel, so I created the Bat Tribe followed by the Owl, my Dark Bird Race. They constructed you, your family, your history, your story, your city."
Bruce leaned closer to the window, "No! You madman!"
Barbatos laughed, his grin containing a peculiar emotion, elusive whether it was disdain for Batman or the joy of a plot fulfilled.
"No! I am the bat!"
Barbatos' phantom instantly transformed into a bat, flying swiftly and colliding with the glass, leaving only a small stain of red blood.
Bruce raised his fists, pounding the glass tirelessly until his hands bled, yet the window remained steadfast while Barbatos appeared again outside the dark window, watching Bruce's struggles with interest.
"You're nothing. I will get out," Bruce frantically hammered the glass.
"When you used the bat as your emblem, we became inseparable. You can't escape. We've shared decades in your nightmares, you have no hope."
Darkness and fear are the bat's strength, and he is the Dark God, the Bat God.
Barbatos reached out and touched the glass, calmly telling him, "I merely showed you a few worlds, and in the darkness, there are countless stories. Those in the Dark Knight Order are truly you, stronger and closer to the door."
"No..." Bruce shook his head, unwilling to accept this reality.
"Why not?" Barbatos unfurled his cloak, projecting scenes of Nightmare Batmen slaughtering within their own universes, each possessing powers strong enough to destroy worlds: "Without my help, you will ultimately be worthless."
"No!"
"Look at me! Look at them!"
"No!"
"Cackling..."
The window was insurmountably sturdy, he couldn't escape regardless, he found an exit, but lacked the strength.
He took a few steps back, unwilling to see any longer, while Batmen granted power in other worlds lived, those who rejected Barbatos perished.
He couldn't distinguish truth from falsehood.
Numerous worlds perished, countless people died; he knew that was once his in the Infinite Universe, he felt that was the truth.
Those universes were destroyed, melted away.
He didn't want to look anymore.
Yet just when Bruce was about to despair, the reflection shattered. A thin, black glowing Giant Sword stabbed directly into the reflection's head, the glass before him vanished in smoke.
Outside the window was wind, rain, lightning, and in the distance, endless darkness, no road nor familiar Gotham, only the garden in front of Wayne Manor below.
"Demacia!"
A peculiar battle cry came from afar, he couldn't comprehend the meaning of the word, but sensed it was an opportunity.
Yes, the window was open, he had important tasks to do, a running start, and the aged figure leaped from the window, unfurling the cloak that suddenly appeared behind him, flying into the distance.
.....................
"Are you sure you didn't save the wrong person?"
Diana, wearing a transparent oxygen mask, questioned Su Ming beside her. They were now floating in an empty cosmic gap, where there were also numerous Dark Towers, taller and larger than those in the Main World, countless heroes from different worlds bound atop.
This was the anchor point located within the Dark Faraway Universe. Barbatos used it and the Gotham anchor point in the Main World to draw the universes closer.
"That's right, my sword and armor are vibrating, it's the resonance between 'metals'. He is Bruce from our world, only he has an excess of heavy metals in his body."
Su Ming answered Diana, while cracking a cold joke, continuing to use the Great Sword to sever other chains on the tower, completely freeing Bruce.
"But he..." Barry tilted his head, searching for the right words: "Looks much older."
"Yes, he's spent decades in nightmares, and under the influence of Dark Power, his body has aged accordingly, it's just a small issue."
Barry showed a dubious expression, this close to dying of old age, yet it's a small issue?
Su Ming then used the Great Sword to free another person next to him, this equally aged entity was Superman deceived from the Main World.
Clearly Batman left a coded warning for the Justice League, yet the rest lacked the intelligence to decipher it, allowing Barbatos an opening, Superman walked right into the trap, captured and hung on the tower.
"Alright, let's get them on the plane, let's hurry and evacuate, countless villains from various worlds patrol here, all have sided with Barbatos."
Su Ming casually stuffed a Bat Oxygen Tank into Bruce's mouth, signaling Barry to act quickly.
Their operation on Black Hawk Island was less than smooth, but sometimes when reasoning fails, fists suffice, Diana and Su Ming's collaboration plus Barry's Divine Speed equated to half a Justice League, the Blackhawk Squadron was entirely knocked out and captured.
Su Ming found the Qiongji, where Detective Gorilla and Raven, having fled from Forgotten Tavern, studied the ship, seeking the truth. With their help, utilizing the battleship's cognitive computer to calculate the occurrence points of gravitational waves in the Dark Universe, Su Ming and his team obtained the anchor point coordinates within the Dark Multiverse.
Subsequently, they modified a small Blackhawk Squadron transport, mounting a Cosmic Treadmill, letting Barry bring them there.
Now with the rescue achieved, it's time to escape. Far in the cosmic expanse, he already saw several points of light approaching, they certainly weren't allies.