Bruce flew through the air in his Anti-Superman Armor.
He was level with the van carrying Clayface and Black Mask.
He grabbed the underside of the van with one hand, then planted both feet heavily on the concrete road.
Rumble!!
His powerful thighs, encased in armor, plunged into the concrete like pillars.
Once he felt his feet firmly planted, Batman Bruce Wayne suddenly raised his arm.
The armor behind his right elbow quickly assembled into two three-centimeter thrusters, which blasted out roaring flames.
At the same time, the power armor started up, amplifying the strength of his arm.
Screeeee—
Amid the roar of steel straining, he lifted the five-ton van with one hand.
When the drivers on the road saw Batman lift a van with one hand, most of them stared in horror, terrified by his tremendous strength.
Only a few reporters who didn't care about their lives hurried to pull out their cameras and capture the scene.
This was huge news—the best possible view of Batman battling criminals. It was sure to be worth a lot of money!!
Black Mask and Clayface were sitting inside the van. Their expressions abruptly changed, but they quickly recovered.
Back on Arkham Island, Batman had already demonstrated terrifying strength beyond that of an ordinary person.
"Black Mask, Clayface, it's time for you to return to Arkham Asylum..."
Batman Bruce Wayne looked at the men preparing to jump out of the van and spoke in a low voice.
But Black Mask had already disappeared from inside the van.
Seeing that Black Mask had jumped out, Clayface transformed his right hand into a gigantic meteor hammer.
"Batman! You son of a bitch! If you want a fight, then bring it!"
Clayface's expression was vicious as power surged through his entire body.
"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"
He swung his arm. The immense force tore through the air, and the meteor hammer slammed toward Batman Bruce Wayne.
He put every ounce of his strength into that blow—several tons of force!
It was a terrifying attack, stronger than any he'd unleashed before!
Boom!!
The deafening crash echoed for hundreds of meters as the wind whipped around them.
Batman Bruce Wayne didn't move. Clayface's stone meteor hammer was right in front of him.
Crack! Crack!
Clayface's expression suddenly changed.
A small crack had appeared in the middle of the stone meteor hammer formed from his hand.
Then the crack spread like a virus across the entire hammer, until it was covered in fissures.
Boom!!
Without changing expression, Batman Bruce Wayne crushed the shattered stone meteor hammer in his hand.
Clayface reacted swiftly, forming another stone meteor hammer in just three seconds.
But a massive shadow came hurtling toward him.
It was the van that Batman Bruce Wayne held aloft in his other hand!
Clayface had no time to dodge. He transformed his entire body into extremely hard granite to withstand the blow.
But the Anti-Superman Armor worn by Batman Bruce Wayne gave him strength beyond all reason.
With more than thirty tons of force, he swung the van, violently compressing the air.
The van, carried by that tremendous force, slammed hard into Clayface.
Countless fragments of stone exploded, shooting in every direction.
The fire hydrants along the road, the glass windows of the shops, and the stray dogs lying in the alleys—
Without exception, they were all struck by the terrifying spray of stone.
Water sprayed, glass shattered, cats and dogs were killed.
Stone fragments flew everywhere.
Batman Bruce Wayne froze. He saw a little girl of about six standing by the roadside.
The girl was staring blankly at his fight with Clayface, completely unaware of the stone fragments flying toward her.
The fragments were propelled by tremendous force. If they hit her, she wouldn't survive.
His expression stiffened. Gritting his teeth, he kicked Clayface, then used the momentum and the armor's propulsion to charge toward the girl.
Bam!!
The stones struck his Anti-Superman Armor, while the little girl was unharmed in his arms.
"Don't be afraid!" Bruce stroked the hair of the child, who was too frightened to speak.
"You're all right!"
Behind him, Clayface was still charging.
Seeing Batman Bruce holding a little girl, Clayface roared furiously.
"Fight... fight... fight... you traitor!!"
"Traitor, my ass!!"
Protecting the girl in his arms, Batman Bruce Wayne swore—a rare thing for him.
He extended his right hand. A net made of the same material as his armor shot from his palm and wrapped tightly around Clayface.
Clayface exerted all his strength to break free, but still couldn't tear the net apart.
He was completely trapped.
"Clayface, you idiot. Stay right there!"
With that, Batman Bruce handed the little girl to the police who had just arrived.
Then he turned his gaze toward Black Mask Roman Sionis, who was fleeing desperately in the distance.
Feeling Batman's stare on his back, Black Mask's heart lurched.
"H-how could this happen?"
He looked over his shoulder at the trapped Clayface and Batman Bruce Wayne, his face going stiff.
"R-right... I'm fucking scared of you too!"
Then he turned and hurried toward the Chinese restaurant he'd marked out earlier.
As soon as he entered, he activated his ability.
Black Mask had a degree of mental control that allowed him to control people with weak minds.
Beck, standing behind the cash register; Molly, the little girl clearing tables; and Gardner, who was in the middle of a conversation—
Their eyes immediately lost focus. They seemed dazed, as though something had taken control of them.
The only thing that puzzled Black Mask was that an old man sitting by the wall seemed unaffected by his ability.
When Batman Bruce Wayne arrived at Farmer's Chinese Restaurant, he saw a group of people charging wildly toward him.
"Mike Benjamin, I'm here on behalf of your father."
The fake Batman, Bai Lang, hurried out of the abandoned, unfinished building No. 3 with Mike Benjamin.
"Your father, John, is dying. He hopes he can see you one last time."
At those words, Mike, who had been struggling to resist, froze.
"My father? Batman, what did you do to him?!"
Memories came flooding back of the stern, unsmiling man.
In Mike's memories, his father had always been serious.
But when he heard from Batman that his father was dying, his weak, pale arms seemed to regain their strength.
He desperately pushed against Bai Lang's chest, trying to jump down.
But Bai Lang was far too strong for an addict like him to push away.
Carrying Mike, he used his incredible Magnetic Field Power to fetch a suit from a shopping mall.
He had Mike put on the reasonably well-fitting suit.
"John's dying. You don't want him to leave this world with regrets, do you?"
Mike gritted his teeth, glanced at the Batman in front of him, then turned around and began changing.
His current clothes really weren't fit to be seen. They were tattered, covered in grime, and filthy.
His thoughts returned to when he'd first arrived in Gotham.
He had no education, no skills, nothing at all—just the drive of a young man.
Then he joined Falcone's gang.
At first, he really did make a lot of money and sleep with a lot of women. Amid all the indulgence, he'd even thought about bringing his father to live with him.
But after Batman appeared, Falcone's gang suffered setback after setback. In the end, even the Falcone family left Gotham.
He had nowhere to go. Penguin's Gang wouldn't take him, and the death rate in Joker's Gang was too high.
The bosses of the other major gangs killed their men at the drop of a hat.
To stay alive, he'd taken on plenty of dirty, backbreaking work.
Mike hadn't never considered going home. But what he feared more was the disapproving look and scolding he'd get from his father.
It was only when Batman told him his father was dying that he realized seven years had already passed.
In those seven years, the man who had once seemed to hold up the sky was nearing his end.
"Why are you doing this?" Mike asked.
"I did it because I wanted to. It's none of your business!!" Bai Lang replied coldly.
Mike froze.
Before he could react, Bai Lang picked him up again.
Then he stomped down hard, smashing the ground and leaving a pit five centimeters in diameter.
In an instant, the two shot straight toward the Upper City.
With his mind intensely focused, Bai Lang could sense everything happening within a radius of three kilometers.
Just moments ago, he'd heard passersby talking about a battle between Batman and supervillains in the Upper City.
One of the two supervillains was Clayface, and the other was Black Mask Roman Sionis.
The moment he heard the news, he pushed his speed to the limit.
Bai Lang's brow furrowed tightly.
Black Mask was a dyed-in-the-wool murderer.
He'd killed his own parents, and even killed his subordinates from time to time.
If their fight had spread to the arcade and the Chinese restaurant... if everyone there was dead...
No... no!
For the first time, Bai Lang felt fear. He was afraid of seeing those bodies, afraid that all his good intentions would crumble.
Fuck, this can't happen! I don't want to see this kind of thing, damn it!!
"Batman, if you want to catch me, you'll have to get past these people first!"
Black Mask laughed wildly as he controlled Molly, Mick, and several others, sending them charging toward Batman Bruce Wayne with weapons in hand.
Meanwhile, he seemed to have found something and sat down in front of the old man who hadn't been affected.
His hands felt around the chair he was sitting on, and his face lit up with delight.
This is the spot. Once the explosion goes off, I'll be able to get away quickly...
Facing several ordinary people under mind control, Batman Bruce Wayne carefully held back his strength and switched off the power armor.
In just a few moves, he easily knocked them all unconscious.
"Black Mask!" he said in a low voice, suppressing his anger.
The figure clad in black armor walked toward Black Mask, who was seated at the table.
"You've already caused a lot of damage today..."
Black Mask turned to look at him, a mysterious, unsettling smile on his face.
"Shh... listen closely."
At the sight of him, Batman Bruce Wayne suddenly felt a terrible sense of foreboding.
Click!
The faint ticking stopped.
The fake Batman, Bai Lang, charged toward the Chinese restaurant with Mike, shattering the glass door with the force of the wind. Shards swept in every direction.
Boom!!
Almost at the same time, flames engulfed the entire Chinese restaurant. The terrifying blast reduced it to ruins.
Stones flew everywhere, and waves of heat surged through the air!
Mike instinctively raised both arms in front of him. The raging wind slapped his face.
Just as he thought he was dead, he saw a dark figure, like a demon, slowly emerge from the flames.
At that moment, a low voice filled with fury rang out beside him.
"Gah!!"
"Batman, I'm going to kill that Second Generation Joker, no matter what."
"Even if you try to stop me, I'll still blast him into a pulp, damn it!!"
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