American Comics: Godhood Unlocked, I Choose Sci-Magic Dual Cultivation — Chapter 32

"The next part may challenge everything you believe, but please don't do anything extreme, all right?"

Batman slowly nodded under his gaze.

Constantine stood beside the hospital bed and began chanting a spell in a language Batman had never heard before.

Suddenly, a golden ball of light appeared between Constantine's hands.

He sent it flying, and something like a passage formed across from them.

Batman narrowed his eyes and took a step back.

Dane had taught him some basic knowledge: when a mage opened a magical passage, whatever came through usually wasn't human.

Contrary to Batman's expectations, a tall, beautiful woman in a purple nurse's uniform stepped out of the passage.

She had medium-length hair and skin as pale as a corpse's, but her features were delicate and she was quite attractive.

She seemed very familiar with Constantine, calling his name the moment she arrived.

"You really have terrible timing, John."

"I was having a threesome with a Tree Demon and an Air Fairy. I have to say, both of them are better than you."

Constantine coughed, his eyes drifting awkwardly to the side.

The nurse quickly noticed Batman standing nearby.

"How interesting. You have friends like this?"

"Let's get back to business. I called you here because something important has happened."

He looked toward Tracy on the hospital bed. The nurse did the same, then rolled her eyes.

Though she looked thoroughly impatient, she still walked over.

"All right. I did swear to protect life and not do evil, blah blah blah."

Magic light lit up in her hand, which she directly pushed into Tracy's body.

Batman turned to Constantine, who explained:

"This woman is the Nightmare Nurse. Her true form is a demon."

"She currently shares a body with a human. Don't worry, she's one of us."

How the hell am I supposed to not worry?

"What do you think?" Constantine asked after watching her probe around for a while.

"I think you should shut up and let me work."

"She's possessed, right?"

That was Constantine's guess, but he wasn't entirely sure.

The Nightmare Nurse sounded irritated. "Do you not understand what 'shut up' means?"

After a long while, she withdrew her hand. Tracy's body was just as it had been, completely unharmed.

Batman relaxed somewhat, then heard the Nightmare Nurse say:

"She isn't possessed, because there's no physical body in there to possess."

Constantine had never expected that answer. "What?"

At that moment, Batman suddenly spoke. "There's no... soul inside her, right?"

The Nightmare Nurse looked at him in surprise. After confirming that he really was just an ordinary human, she could not help but sigh.

"John, you're not even as smart as a mortal."

Constantine's expression darkened slightly as he defended himself.

"But I clearly sensed something attached to her before."

The Nightmare Nurse replied bluntly, "Then let's see who it is..."

She grabbed at the air, and a short wand appeared in her palm.

With a wave, her magic became threads that burrowed into Tracy's body.

They pulled out a mass of bright red matter. It crawled along the Nightmare Nurse's magic and onto her body, as though completing some kind of possession ritual.

When the Nightmare Nurse opened her eyes again, her entire demeanor had changed.

"Help me!"

"Tracy?" Constantine was overjoyed and hurriedly asked, "Where are you right now?"

The Nightmare Nurse, possessed by Tracy, looked weak and frail. "In a... a cage. I can't see clearly. It's so cold here."

Constantine immediately asked, "Are you alone?"

Tracy answered, "Yes. Except when it comes."

As she spoke, the Nightmare Nurse wrapped her arms around herself, looking terrified.

"Who? What's its name?" Constantine realized that this thing was very likely the culprit.

Tracy seemed to feel pain. She cried out, and the Nightmare Nurse's expression changed again, turning evil.

"I have many names. Which one do you want to know?"

At this point, someone else had clearly possessed the Nightmare Nurse. No, not someone—a demon.

"Who are you?"

"John Constantine, if you want answers from a demon, you'll have to come in person. Hahaha."

"Then tell me where I can find you."

The demon suddenly left the Nightmare Nurse's body. Hellfire scorched a line of English words onto the hospital window:

"Los Angeles, 1247 Enstrom Street"

The Nightmare Nurse collapsed to the floor. After being possessed by that demon, she had no choice but to reveal her true demonic form.

It retained obvious feminine features, but compared with a human body, its demonic body was savage and terrifying—something ordinary people could not bear to look at.

Yet aside from the unbothered Constantine, even Batman showed no change in expression.

He even had the presence of mind to check on the demon.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I just need some time to recover."

As she spoke, the Nightmare Nurse shifted her form and returned to the appearance of a human nurse.

She took Batman's offered hand and stood up, looking at him with an unusual gleam in her eyes.

"You're different, handsome. What's your name?"

"Batman." He withdrew his arm after helping the Nightmare Nurse up.

"Batman. Hmm, a very special name, just like you..."

Constantine could not stand it anymore. "Okay, enough, Yasa. Do you have to flirt with a man you just met at a time like this?"

"Oh, please, John. I'm a demon." The Nightmare Nurse giggled.

"And I think you don't have time to linger here."

"I'm guessing we're going to Los Angeles next."

"Yeah, and we have to buy plane tickets again."

Constantine was broke, though he could always latch onto wealthy women.

But even someone as undiscriminating as him occasionally had times when he didn't feel like doing that.

"We're in a hurry, right?" Batman tapped his arm display a few times.

Suddenly, a powerful wind rose outside, making the curtains flap violently.

Constantine and the Nightmare Nurse looked over.

At some point, a black Batwing had appeared outside.

"You have a plane?"

"How else do you think I got here?"

It wasn't as though he could wear a Bat Suit on a commercial flight.

Batman opened the window, stepped onto the aircraft's wing, and climbed into the cockpit.

"Are you going to stand there and watch, or are you coming back with me?"

Coming to his senses, Constantine hurried over and boarded the aircraft as well.

The Nightmare Nurse had to stay behind to guard Tracy's body, so she did not board.

The Batwing took off, then flew away from London at supersonic speed.

Constantine's Past & Calling for Help

On the aircraft, Batman decided to use the opportunity to gather some information.

"I heard you spent some time in Ravenscar Psychiatric Hospital?"

"Are you serious? You're prying into my privacy at a time like this?"

Constantine looked displeased. This involved a past he did not want to mention.

"Why not?" Batman did not give up.

While investigating Constantine's past, he had also discovered that Constantine was connected to a tragedy from years ago—the Newcastle Incident.

Prompted by Batman, Constantine recalled that incident from back then, and his expression became somewhat despondent.

"I don't want to talk about that right now, Batman. Can you stop forcing me?"

Batman fell silent for a moment before continuing.

"Okay. I won't force you."

"But you need to understand that if you want the Justice League's help next, this is an issue you cannot avoid."

"The Justice League must ensure that its power is not used for evil."

Constantine's expression became a little unnatural, and he turned his head away.

"I never said I needed your help."

"Then why did you drag me into this?"

Batman was not fooled. If Constantine did not need the Justice League's help, he could have ditched Batman and handled things alone.

But he had not done that.

He had shown himself to Batman of his own initiative. That meant Constantine was not confident he could resolve this himself, which was why he wanted to borrow the Justice League's strength.

But as Batman had said, the Justice League was willing to help innocent people, provided it would not be used by evil people.

Batman had not known Constantine for long, so he could not determine whether the man was inherently good or evil.

But he had sensed that the Newcastle Incident must have involved him.

For all he knew, Constantine might have caused that incident himself.

Sometimes, a person's nature was not what mattered. What mattered was how they acted.

Constantine clearly had a talent for turning good things into bad ones.

Of course, Constantine could hear Batman's distrust in his tone. He was somewhat embarrassed, but he had indeed intended to drag the Justice League into this.

He had spoken with Batman once and knew about Shazam.

Shazam's deeds were famous throughout the magical world. Even a rogue mage like him had heard of The Wizard's reputation.

Before the Wizard Council had dwindled until only the old Wizard remained, it had ruled the magical world. The Wizard's fame had begun in that era.

He had been coveting Shazam's Rock of Eternity for a long time. It was a holy land of magic, with precious materials of immense value scattered everywhere...

To earn the Justice League's trust, Constantine had no choice but to tell them about what had happened back then.