I, Funny Bat

"Who are you?"

The man onstage drew a pistol and demanded an answer.

He was one of the Court of Owls' higher-ups. He knew perfectly well that the person before him was not The Joker, the one they worshiped and believed in.

The people below were merely outer members. They knew very little of the truth, so they had mistaken him for the real thing.

"Hehehe..."

Allen spread his arms wide, holding up his black cape as he loudly declared, "I am Funny Bat."

Who!?

Who was Funny Bat?

For a moment, the wealthy guests fell silent. So all that excitement had been for jack shit.

"Where's the applause? Where are the flowers?"

Allen paid no attention to the fierce glares directed at him.

Boom!

Boom!

Suddenly, two explosions rang out from outside the hotel.

At the same time, the clock struck exactly nine minutes past nine.

Looking out the window, they saw flames rising from the ninety-ninth floors of Gotham City's landmark twin towers.

No one present found it strange, as though they had known in advance.

"The ritual has begun. The gears of fate will now be controlled by us."

The gunman wore a satisfied smile, as if everything were proceeding exactly as planned.

"Quit pretending."

Allen said disdainfully, "You're just tricking Batman into drinking five special metals, then summoning that cute white-stockinged drunk boy, Barbatos."

Cute white-stockinged drunk boy?

Don't drag that nonsense in here, asshole. We're summoning Barbatos, The God of Bats.

"Who exactly are you? How do you know Barbatos's name?"

The man's eyes darkened. Only the Court of Owls' upper ranks and their hidden allies knew about summoning Barbatos.

"Because I play Genshin Impact."

"..."

Bang!

Seeing that the other man was spouting complete nonsense, he fired without hesitation.

Allen clenched one hand and said confidently, "In all martial arts, speed is unbeatable. Believe it or not, I've already caught the bullet."

The man was so embarrassed that three black lines nearly appeared across his forehead.

The bullet had clearly hit Allen in the shoulder. It just had not penetrated and bounced off, with sparks flashing for an instant. Everyone had seen it, so stop trying to act tough.

"Looks like I couldn't fool you."

Allen turned serious. "I was once Bat-Man, and I was once Whip Woman Hero. Now I am Funny Bat. You will tremble and piss yourselves beneath the shadow of comedy."

Suddenly, a streak of white light shot toward him like a fleeting steed.

Allen nimbly stepped back, and a dart embedded itself in the floor before him.

He looked toward the source of the attack and saw a man wrapped in a black combat suit, his cowl shaped like an owl.

The attacker was a Talon warrior.

"May I ask which hero you are?"

Clearly, the Talon warrior had no interest in talking to Allen. He darted forward and dove in for an attack.

Bang!

Allen raised a leg and kicked him flying.

The Talon warrior rolled several times across the ground and did not move again.

At once, the guests fled in panic.

They were pampered rich people. The sight of a fight filled them with instinctive terror.

Amid the chaos, one Talon warrior after another appeared.

How could the Court of Owls hold a gathering without arranging for its elite forces to protect its members?

Allen raised both hands and said softly, "Little Left, Little Right, we're fighting side by side again. Aren't you excited?"

At that moment, the Talon warriors rushed in to surround him.

The physical abilities granted by Allen's max-level thief class were enough for him to face multiple enemies alone.

In the blink of an eye, several shallow tears appeared on his Bat-suit.

Allen forced back his enemies, then rapidly retreated to open the distance. Heartbroken, he said, "My comedy suit! I can feel my comedy points plummeting."

As he spoke, he pulled a flexible sword from his tactical belt.

A suit capable of blocking bullets could not withstand the Talon warriors' weapons. Naturally, Allen was not about to continue fighting them hand-to-hand.

Meanwhile, the gunman watched from the side and said, "The Talons possess immortal bodies, and their weapons are made of promethium metal. Nothing in this world can withstand them."

With a clang.

Their weapons collided.

The flexible sword in Allen's hand snapped. Even with the Shadow Blade skill applied, it still could not contend with the Talon warriors' weapons.

"Shit!"

After tossing out that remark, Allen vanished into stealth.

The Talons had been injected with Serpent's Blood and Amber Gold immortality serum, and they carried promethium equipment. Allen had no choice but to avoid their edge.

You could call Allen crazy, but you could never call him stupid.

"Looks like he ran away."

The gunman smiled faintly, thinking Allen had overestimated himself by challenging the Court of Owls.

"Who said I left?"

Allen silently appeared behind him, grabbed him by the neck, and said smugly, "They're immortal, but you aren't."

The man's face instantly filled with terror as he suddenly remembered that he was only an ordinary person.

Pow! Pow!

Allen punched him twice, smashing both fists into his eye sockets and instantly giving him panda eyes. Then he left behind one sentence and leapt out the window.

"Don't act tough the next time you see me."

The man clutched his eyes with both hands and lay on the floor, screaming in pain, "Capture him alive! I'll torture him to death myself!"

The next moment, the Talon warriors chased after him.

After the twin towers exploded, fire trucks quickly rushed to the scene.

At the same time, The Five Robins, who had been investigating without any leads, temporarily set aside their work and headed to the site.

Fortunately, the twin towers had placed great importance on fire safety when they were built. Teams of firefighters carried water hoses, and after more than an hour of effort, they successfully extinguished the blaze.

At that moment, on the rooftop of the other building, Dick received internal police communications through a miniature radio.

"Nine charred corpses were found on the ninety-ninth floor of each building. There were no signs of struggle. It is obvious they were burned alive while unconscious."

"Then it appears to have been premeditated. The same ninety-ninth floors, the same number of victims. It cannot possibly be a simple coincidence."

"But who would be bored enough to stage a meaningless murder?"

The Five Robins were completely baffled.

When they normally hunted criminals, the criminals at least had motives.

What benefit could this explosion bring?

Murder for the sake of murder was simply incomprehensible.

"What if it wasn't done by criminals, but by cultists?" Damian spoke up.

The other four looked toward Damian at the same time, hoping he knew more.

"I saw information about evil rituals in my father's collection of books. The ninety-ninth floor and nine people make three nines. Turn them upside down, and they become three sixes, symbolizing the mark of darkness."

Damian thought for a moment before adding, "The location is the twin towers. From a distance, don't they look like a gate?"

"So the cultists may be trying to open a gateway to another world through a ritual, or perhaps establish contact with something."

Hearing Damian's explanation, they fell silent for a while.

When facing criminals, even ones with special abilities, they could still find weaknesses and defeat them.

But against people messing around with superstition, they were truly at a loss.

Bruce had begun studying mysticism because of what he experienced in Silent Hill.

Originally a materialist, after witnessing the Child of the Demon and the ghost Sadako, he had no choice but to believe. He collected many books on mysticism for study, lest he run into such enemies and be left completely clueless.

He had also consulted Scarecrow about many questions concerning mysticism.

Unfortunately, Bruce could not learn magic. He was purely a physical fighter.