Pa! Pa! Pa!
Suddenly, from more than ten meters away, the sound of steady clapping came. Shiva put away the trace of tiredness and slackness on his face and turned his face toward the source of the voice. In his line of sight, out walked a man with a large and muscular build. He was in military gear. He wore a long-sleeved T-shirt and a dark jacket on top.
“Seven Kills.” Shiva called out the man’s name directly. Obviously, the two had also crossed blades before.
Seven Kills stopped clapping.
“The battle was incredibly enjoyable to watch, but I personally dislike the flaunting and colorful skills,” he said with a smile. “Men should always decide a fight with their fists.”
“You are one strange man,” Shiva said. “Since you have been watching for so long… why didn’t you try to ambush us when I was fighting Understanding Death? If you did that, perhaps you would have killed both of us on the spot and claimed the victory.”
“Haha…” Seven Kills laughed and said, “Because I am of the philosophy that battle should always be done one on one.”
He worked his neck and cracked his fingers. He looked like he was about to get into the ring.
“I have not heard of a philosophy like that before.” When Shiva was conversing with the man, he silently used a Life Point Recovery Potion and recovered his Life Points back to maximum.
“It is very simple. Be it observing or participating in it, I hope that the fighting will be one on one,” Seven Kills explained. “This is more like a sport… Two experts at the top of their field try their best to fight until the last moment, and there will only be one victor.”
He clenched his fists. “In that case… the winner will be the stronger person. There is no argument.”
“Humph… a battle will always have arguments to it. In fact, I have the perfect excuse right at this moment,” Shiva said half-jokingly. “For example… I just finished the fight with Understanding Death, and I am too weak to take on someone else.”
“Hahaha…” Seven Kills guffawed at the top of his lungs. “You are not going to slide by me that easily. I can see that you still have plenty of Stamina Points left, and with regards to Life Points, you recovered them back to maximum several seconds ago.”
He was a straightforward speaker; he would speak what was on his mind.
“Furthermore, I am in no better situation that you. I ran into the little girl called Not a Scaredy Cat earlier. I initially thought that a female player like her should be easy to kill, but who would have thought the girls these days are more vicious than us dudes? Even I almost got killed due to a small mistake.”
“That is where Thriller Paradise is at its most exciting,” Shiva replied. “You should have noticed this already. King of Shadows has been defeated.”
He paused before adding with a dark tone, “And he was not killed by you, me, or Understanding Death.”
“Yes, that is indeed out of my expectations. I once lost to him during a battle. That dude’s Blood Golem is not easy to deal with.” Seven Kills then added by way of explanation, “But… I do not think he died at the hands of Not a Scaredy Cat. The girl has not reached that level of power.”
“So… you mean to say that… this is the work of a player who is just at level twenty-eight… the guy called Feng Bujue?” Shiva tried to draw out the information from Seven Kills.
“Speaking of which, I think I have heard of that name somewhere before…” Seven Kills scratched his head. “But I cannot remember where and when it is now. Who cares? We cannot just simply come to the conclusion that King of Shadows was killed by another player, right? There are many more powerful characters in this city.”
“Of course, you may be right,” Shiva answered after being silent for two seconds. “His Blood Golem is too eye-catching. Perhaps he attracted the attention of the police or the superheroes and was killed by one of the characters in the scenario.”
“That is about enough. Analysis is something that is quite pointless. Isn’t that what you told Understanding Death just moments ago?” Seven Kills said. “There is only one surefire way to win this game, and that is kill all the other players other than yourself.”
“Fine, one on one philosophy, is it? I am glad to accept your challenge,” Shiva replied. That was where the conversation ended. The next second, the two got ready in their battle stance, and the fight was about to start at any moment.
After that brief conversation, Shiva and Seven Kills had come to a consensus that this battle would most likely decide the victor of this Killing Game. From their perspective, the other two players could not be counted as a threat. Just as the two were about to get into the fight, another change suddenly occurred.
A figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stood right in the middle of the two. He used a hoarse tone to ask, “You two are the so-called ’supervillains from another dimension’, aren’t you?”
Both Shiva and Seven Kills had no idea who this new person was, but they both retreated instantly from him and pulled a distance about more than ten meters away from him. This was the natural reaction of two powerful fighters who were in a fighting state. This uninvited guest who joined the fight wore dark-gray tights and had one a black cape over his head. He had a white cotton shirt covering his body, and there was a blood red cross in the middle of his shirt. He held two blades, one in each hand, and wore a belt around his waist. He wore long boots and looked like a Justiciar from the middle ages.
“Who are you?” Shiva asked.
The man turned his face toward Shiva and showed the mask underneath the black cape. The mask was white in color, and the lower half was open and had the symbol of red wings that were extended. The mask did not show the mouth or nose.
“That is the question that I have been intending to ask you.” A hoarse reply came from underneath the mask
…
Several hundred years ago, the Order of St. Dumas joined the Knights Templars. A group of selected knights were chosen to form the Crusaders, but they later broke off from the Templars. They created their own secret faction and based themselves in Sweden, creating an Angel of Vengeance to protect the words of god.
This guardian was known as Azrael, the angel of Death. With the changing of time, the image and the candidate for the Angel of Death continued to change.
That man who appeared before Shiva and Seven Kills then was known as Michael Washington Lane. He was a linebacker when he was in college, and then he later joined the marines. After he left the service, he joined the Gotham Police and worked as a patrolman. Without getting into the death of his whole family and the strangeness behind those deaths… Lane eventually joined a secret project that was a joint mission between the military and the Gotham Police.
The content of the mission was… to select and train a bunch of people who could replace Batman when the superhero was injured, and Lane was one of the three last candidates who remained. However, as the other two candidates had gone insane, the project had drawn to a close. Still, that was not where Lane’s story ended.
Now, he donned the Suit of Sorrow and held the Sword of Sin, wreathed in red flames, in his right hand and the Sword of Salvation, wreathed in blue flames, in his left hand. He became the latest Angel of Death and worked in Gotham City with the rest of the superheroes.
…
“Hearing what you said, you sound like one of the vigilantes. Our fight here does not appear to be any of your business, buddy,” Seven Kills said. As someone who preferred to have one-on-one fights, having the fight stopped moments before it was about to start naturally annoyed him to no end.
Hearing that, the Angel of Death turned his gaze once more to Seven Kills. At that moment, a suffocating vengeance and pressure came from underneath the white mask. Just this invisible presence alone went to show how powerful the superheroes in this scenario were.
“You were one of the two who caused the fight at Western Streets earlier, weren’t you?” the Angel of Death interrogated. “Due to your so-called ’fight’, an innocent taxi driver and a married couple died on the spot, and many people were injured by the traffic accident.”
When Shiva heard this, he was overjoyed. Looking at the situation, he could borrow the NPC’s power to remove Seven Kills, and that would be a riskless move for him. Therefore, he shouted at Seven Kills, “Looks like he’s here for you. I am going to make myself scarce for you to deal with this.”
Then he prepared to leave.
“I don’t think so.” Another voice rang out. Shiva whipped his head around, and only then did he realize that there were two people standing behind him. Even though Shiva was not that big of a comic fan, he was able to recognize these two. The long-haired handsome man in the blue black tights was Nightwing, and the beauty in the purple corset showing off her voluptuous legs was the Huntress. The one who had spoken was Nightwing, Dick Grayson.
“I do not remember doing anything to harm the people of Gotham.” Shiva reacted very quickly. “There is no reason for us to be enemies.”
“Perhaps,” Nightwing replied. “But several hours ago, a traveler from another dimension who called himself John Doe came to a bank and killed three bank robbers and three police officers. He also released several thousand dollars onto the street.
“Before he escaped, he purposely notified the police that there were six supervillains from another dimension like him, and they were prepared to turn Gotham City on its head.
“So, buddy, I would like to hear your opinion on that.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Shiva answered. “What that other traveler did has nothing to do with me at all.”
When he heard the description, the truth of the situation slowly came to him, and he thought internally, This has to be a trap set up by that fella Feng Bujue to harm us…
“Is that so? Then, do you mind explaining to me what the stone plates floating behind you are?” The Huntress obviously did not believe hm.
Before Shiva could answer, Nightwing added, “Sir, based on how I see it, your power is very dangerous to you and other people. So, if you really do not mean any malice, I suggest you put away your weapon and explain this situation to us as clearly as you can.”
“Why are you wasting time with them, Shiva? How about this? We will deal with the three of them now, and then we can go elsewhere to continue our duel,” Seven Kill suggested. Even though he said that, facing the absolute threat from the Angel of Death, he did not dare do anything. He needed to confirm Shiva’s attitude first.
You b*stard… If you want to die, then you can go and die on your own. Don’t drag me down with you… Shiva knew this was not a good thing. The words that Seven Kills said in a tone filled with annoyance would definitely arouse the hostility from the NPCs.
As he expected, hearing that, both Nightwing and Huntress went into a defensive stance, and their hands both went to their weapons.
“I surrender,” Shiva said as he slowly raised his hands. He even put the Sorcery weapon away, and the stone plates disappeared. “I was fighting out of self-defense. I cannot help it if the other five are all madmen and murderers.”
As he said that, he glanced at Seven Kills.
Seeing that, Seven Kills knew that he had been betrayed. He was one without much tact, and ’acting’ was his downfall. Faking a surrender to the NPCs was impossible for him. For him, the surrender had to be real, or he would continue to resist until the end.
“Tsk… you don’t dare to go against them, and you wish to use their power to remove other threats…” Seven Kills growled angrily. “Shame on you!”
As he finished what he had to say, he kicked under his feet to raise a wall of dust. Borrowing this force, he bounded out from another direction.
“Want to run?” The coarse voice rang out again. The Angel of Death had been keeping his eyes on Seven Kills and had predicted that he would attempt to escape. At that moment, he moved much faster to block the path before Seven Kills.
“That was quick…”
At that moment, Seven Kills was shocked. He had thought his physical ability in-game was already far beyond that of a normal person, and the skill that he had would place himself on the same level as other people with superpowers. Therefore, he had never once treated these superheroes in the Batman story seriously.
He never did expect that… these superheroes would have such ridiculous power.
Actually, Seven Kills had committed a conceptual mistake. This was the DC universe and not the real world. There, even superheroes without superpowers could not be treated as a normal person. After all, they were characters with plot armor given by the author of the comic. Batman, for example, often jumped down from buildings that were three to four stories tall and escaped unscathed. The only explanation that was given was that his cape had the ability to soften the fall.
Haha…
Similarly, Damian, the fifth-generation Robin, managed to survive even though he was shot in the chest. Several hours later, he was as good as new, running up and down the city. Alfred’s calm explanation regarding this situation was, “Your Kevlar suit has saved your life, but you still have lost a copious amount of blood, and your lungs are severely injured. Thankfully, I have good sewing skills, and it is not the first time I’ve had to deal with blood capillaries that have been severed by bullets.”
Therefore, for superheroes in this universe, a Kevlar suit was as good as anti-bullet armor. After receiving a lethal damage, they could get up and continue the fight half an hour after the surgery. In fact, their power might have increased.
Unfortunately, the extras and normal citizens were not given this kind of treatment. They were the actual ’normal people’ in this universe. If the players treated the superheroes and supervillains as normal people who only put on a disguise, they would be sorely mistaken.
“God is the fairest of vindicator, and he dispenses his anger on the criminals day after day.” The Angel of Death started to ramble about the divine. If he was not fighting, one might think that he was trying to convert his opponent. “If they do not turn back, his knife will be sharpened, and the arrow will be nocked on the bow, waiting for the moment…”
The blades that were covered in blue and red flames spread out from the Angel of Death. His close-quarter combat was flawless and had no weakness. Even when the assassins from the League of Shadows once ambushed him at the same time, they failed to get a leg up on him.
Seven Kills had not fought the man head on before, and just this one skill was enough to make his whole body soak in cold sweat. He had spent a lot of energy to raise his fighting mastery to level B. Combining the various active skills and passive skills from the fighting school, whenever he engaged in close range combat, even when he was facing a player like Shiva who was ranked second on the combat stat ranking, he believed that he had a fifty percent chance of winning. But to his dismay… facing the threat from this Angel of Death, he did not even stand a chance.
For an expert like Seven Kills, before he made his move, there would a prediction in his mind of what would happen next. And when he was facing the Angel of Death, all the predictions that appeared in Seven Kills’ mind was that his body would be cut into pieces by the two blades that were covered in fire.
“Wait a minute…” Seeing that the opponent was about to make his move, Seven Kills quickly shouted for him to stop. He raised both of his hands. “I also surrender… You wouldn’t kill someone who’s surrendered, right, heroes?”
…
Night had fallen on Gotham City. This night was bound to be not quiet. From the tower above the Gotham City Police Station, the glass of the bat signal was shattered, and the bat symbol that was shown in the sky had the three letters RID on it like it was announcing something to the city. Captain Gordon had the same appearance every time, and this time, it was no exception. He was wearing a brown trench coat, a buttoned down shirt, and a tie. He stood in the wind, but it did nothing to ruin his hairstyle. Behind the glasses, a pair of sharp eyes glowed.
A young man in a red suit, a black cape, and a mask walked to his side.
“The good news is… Nightwing’s group has found and apprehended two of them. They are being led to the station now. The bad news is… there are four of them who have not been found, but I believe the Network will find them soon.”
“For me, there is no difference between good or bad for such news anymore,” Gordon said. “Three families of police officers lost their father, husband, and son today. The sudden appearance of these new supervillains at this sensitive timing, who knows what will happen next?”
“No matter what happens, we will be able to handle it,” Tim Drake, the third Robin, replied.
“Kid, it is good that you have confidence.” Gordon sighed. “It is undeniable that the Network has stopped Gotham from collapsing, but the current Gotham City is like a dam with many holes. Once we fill up one of the holes, three new ones will appear. Breaking the dam is only a matter of time…
“Nightwing knows about this, and we know about this. Even the supervillains hiding in the dark know about this. They are prepared to destroy this city that is currently as weak as papier-mâché.”
“We will not allow that to happen,” Tim said with some degree of urgency. “Batman… will return.”
He knew that, internally, in the end, it would be himself or Dick who would take on the cape.
“By the way, kid, about the few travelers from the other dimension, I might have a possible lead with me.” Gordon changed the subject. “This afternoon, the police got a tip that someone has provided us with the hiding spot for Professor Victor Fries.”
“Mr. Freeze?” Tim’s expression shifted slightly. “Where is he?”
“He is in a factory known as Northern Sanctuary, but that is no longer important,” Gordon said. “About half an hour ago, the place was leveled by a huge explosion. The actual cause of the explosion is still under investigation, but my instinct tells me this has a direct connection with the few travelers from another dimension. Perhaps you can go and try your luck there…”
When Gordon said that, he was about to turn his head to Tim, but he only saw air, so he did not finish his sentence.
In the wind, the captain lit himself a cigarette and chuckled sadly. He could not help but be reminded of another man who would suddenly disappear before he could reach the end of his sentence. But alas, that old friend was already dead…