PFC Chapter 3824 The School Doctor's "Daily Life" (39)
Chapter 3824 The School Doctor's "Daily Life" (39)
Chapter 3824 The School Doctor's "Daily Life" (Thirty-Nine)
Batman's first reaction was that Night Owl had exploded again. However, his keen hearing and judgment told him that this explosion sounded different from Night Owl's.
Before he could react, a familiar figure was blasted away by the explosion, flying directly over the bridge. The main universe Batman turned around and saw that it was Night Owl.
He slowly turned his head again, and when he saw the figure standing up from the smoke and dust of the explosion in the square, exuding a chilling killing intent, he couldn't help but swallow.
Batman from Arkham was covered in blood and cuts from shrapnel from the explosion, but he stood up as if nothing had happened, clutching a glittering gem in his hand.
"My God!!!" Wanda was the first to notice the strange thing. She flew over and rushed to Batman Arkham, saying, "What happened? How did you get hurt?!"
While she was healing Batman in Arkham using the Crimson Power, the other professors gradually arrived. Meanwhile, Hippo Goddess, arriving from another direction, found Night Owl, who had been knocked unconscious again by the explosion.
“I don’t know what happened,” Arkham Batman said. “We had a little argument, we said a couple of words, and then he reached out his hand to me, but for some reason, he suddenly looked like he was in pain, and then there was an explosion…”
The professors exchanged glances, their expressions grave. They all knew about the explosion in the Enchanted Forest; although it was officially called a magical elemental disturbance within the forest, everyone knew it was the work of those Batmen.
At the time, Night Owl was the most seriously injured, and they thought he was the victim, but now it seems that's not the case—he was the one who caused the explosion.
Wang rushed off to find Strange. Strange, having heard there had been another bombing, this time near the castle, was completely disoriented. He summoned Mephisto and gave him a thorough dressing-down:
"I warned you, Mephisto! I allowed you to move freely within the castle grounds on the condition that you absolutely forbid harming the students! How dare you! How dare you!!!"
Seeing that Strange's eyes were starting to gleam with magic, Mephisto quickly shouted at the top of his lungs, "It wasn't me!!!"
"You still dare to argue?!"
"No! I did cause the explosion in the Magic Forest, but it was a plan I worked on with Schiller. Go ask him if you don't believe me!" Mephisto quickly explained. "I really didn't cause the explosion at the school. What good would it do me to blow up the school?!"
Seeing how certain he was, Strange began to waver. The main issue was that Mephisto genuinely had no motive—if he blew up the school, filming would be delayed, potentially affecting the release date, and how would he gain fans then?
Mephisto is now more eager than anyone to get the movies made, because his main roles are concentrated in the later installments. The faster the movies are made, the sooner he will become famous, so there's no reason for him to do something like delaying the filming schedule.
Mephisto was nearly driven mad with grievance: How could I, the mighty Lord of Hell, the wicked leader of all demons, be wronged by someone one day?!
Just as he was thinking this, there was another "boom." This time, the two of them couldn't care less about arguing anymore and quickly flew towards the direction from which the sound came—this time it was on the lawn, and Night Owl was lying there again.
Strange was about to fly over when he stopped. He looked around; the students watching all looked terrified. He spotted someone he knew in the crowd and pulled Gwen out of there.
"Gwen, did you see what just happened?"
Gwen nodded and said, "We were just walking along the edge of the lawn when we suddenly heard an explosion over there, and then we saw that person fly out."
Gwen pointed to the owl lying there. Mephisto quickly ran over to the owl and examined him—since he was now disguised as Schiller, no one suspected him—and shook his head at Strange.
Strange went over and used his magic to examine Night Owl's body, but found no signs of energy riots. However, the destruction of the surrounding environment was indeed caused by a magical disturbance.
As mentioned before, the castle was built using magical materials, so a physical explosion would be absolutely incapable of causing damage. Only a magical explosion could damage buildings within a magic school. So, if it wasn't Mephisto, how did this explosion occur?
Strange clearly still had some doubts about Mephisto. He said to Mephisto with a stern face, "Don't come over for a while. King, take this student to the meditation room."
Mephisto opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing. He walked to a place where the students couldn't see him and slowly disappeared—he had completely left the school and returned to his hellish dimension.
Night Owl was taken to the meditation room. The meditation room was a completely isolated room, essentially a small dark room. However, this was not a punishment for Night Owl; it was simply for safety reasons that he had to stay there temporarily.
The two explosions have caused widespread panic among some students at the school. A rumor has spread among the older students: some say that Night Owl violated the contract by making a mistake but was unable to control his power, which led to the magical outburst.
The school has a good academic atmosphere, and if this were just a baseless rumor, professors would definitely have spoken out to criticize those spreading it. This has happened several times before. But the professors' silence this time only makes the rumor seem more credible.
The professors knew the rumor was true. If the students couldn't see it, how could they not? Night Owl had clearly gained Mephisto's power.
However, back in Kamar-Taj, there were indeed some very talented students who made contact with Daedric Princes at a very young age, and even many archmages who became professors did so. Therefore, they couldn't very well rebuke Night Owl and could only pretend not to know.
Strange held another school-wide assembly, repeatedly emphasizing the dangers of contracts. This time, most people listened—after all, if the rumor was true, wasn't Night Owl's magic out of control because he made a contract with a demon god too early? Those illegal contracts were indeed dangerous; nobody wanted to become a walking time bomb. Most students became much more obedient.
This does not include Arkham Batman.
On the night of the explosion, he had a strange dream. In the dream, he saw lava, ashes, and souls struggling in hell.
He floated above the abyss, expressionless, observing everything. Compared to the figure on the distant throne, he seemed more like the master of this place.
"You were the one who did the bombing, weren't you?" Mephisto's voice rang in his ear. "You really hold a grudge."
“I never hold grudges,” Batman Arkham said, looking at him. “I usually settle scores on the spot.”
Mephisto was speechless. Arkham Batman's revenge was indeed swift—Night Owl had just blown them up once in the Enchanted Forest, and he retaliated by blowing up Night Owl twice, pinning a huge blame on both Night Owl and Mephisto behind him, resulting in Mephisto's expulsion, Night Owl being locked up in a dark room, and being used as a negative example.
In reality, being bombed or locked in a dark room wouldn't have been that fatal for Night Owl. The real issue was that he was used as a negative example—meaning that the Sorcerer Supreme, the Professor, and all his future students who would become Archmages would know him as a reckless and foolish man.
The mages of this universe do not discriminate against evil. To be precise, many of them have contracts with demons, whom the public perceives as evil. Some of the things they do don't seem so righteous either. There are quite a few villains among them.
But they discriminate against the foolish. Magic is a game for the intelligent. If you're not clever enough, you'll be easily fooled, which means you might one day be deceived by a demon and betray the interests of Earth. No mage would tolerate such a person.
This makes it impossible for Night Owl to receive any help from the Archmage in his subsequent studies. The students won't associate with him either. And, the Sorcerer Supreme will definitely consider him a useless ally and exclude him from the Human Alliance.
Mephisto wasn't much better off. The Sorcerer Supreme knew he probably wasn't behind it, but for a demon to be framed and framed, his banishment was deserved.
Mephisto wasn't about to swallow this insult, so he came to find Arkham Batman that very night. Even though his clone had left Earth and he couldn't do anything about it, he could still cause Arkham Batman some trouble in his dreams.
"You once felt incredibly guilty, a guilt that almost destroyed you. How is the person you felt guilty about?" Mephisto asked, looking at Batman Arkham.
“He’s fine,” Arkham Batman replied.
"Stop fooling yourself. You know the damage you've done to him can never be undone. Are you unaware of this because you're unwilling, or is it just an unconscious act?"
"This has nothing to do with you."
Mephisto laughed and said, “I cannot leave this universe, and I may never be able to reach him. So you don’t need to be so wary of me, and I can’t possibly use him to threaten you. And you can completely open your heart to me, this strange being from another world. I won’t betray your secrets.”
"A devil?" Arkham Batman said dismissively.
“Your talent is remarkable,” Mephisto said. “If we two make a pact, you certainly won’t be defeated so easily like that fool. Once you become my apostle, you will possess the most powerful force in the universe. You can even go back in time to reverse those tragedies, or erase his memories so he no longer hates you. What do you say?”
“I’m more concerned about how you ended up in my dream,” said Arkham Batman.
“It’s just a little trick,” Mephisto said, looking down at his fingers. “The magical defense network can indeed stop most forces, but Earth cannot exist without any energy exchange with the outside world. If it’s just a small force mixed in with other energies, the Sorcerer Supreme will turn a blind eye. Even if you complain, he will only tell you to strengthen your willpower and not be tempted by the devil.”
“I don’t need to improve my willpower,” Batman Arkham said. “I’ll tell you the answer—you’re in my dreams because I let you in on purpose. You have time to say all this because I’m trying to find the energy pathways that connect Hell dimension to Earth.”
Mephisto froze. He looked at Arkham Batman in disbelief and said, "You want to find the path to Hell Dimension? You don't actually want to come to Hell Dimension, do you?! Don't dream. Hell Dimension is my domain, and no one can enter unless I allow it. Besides, you're just an ordinary human without a contract; where would you get the power to travel between dimensions?!"
Suddenly, Mephisto heard a teeth-grinding sound, as if something was tearing space apart. He whirled around, and with a deafening boom, the dimensional space above him shattered. A spatial rift, roughly the size of the portal to the Haunted Ring, appeared above Mephisto's head.
A Batmobile, radiating magical light, burst out of the spatial rift and slammed straight into Mephisto's waist.
"boom!!"
"what!!!!"
The metal armor reflected the raging flames of hell, and the black cape fluttered amidst the ashes. Arkham Batman walked to the side of the knocked-over Mephisto and slowly knelt down:
"Now, who is the apostle?"
Some are still thinking about it, while others have already moved on.