Forging an alliance

Above the field outside Lynn's home, strange smoke began swirling together, looking like a tornado rising over burning wet grass.

This clearly wasn't any natural weather phenomenon.

A demon had arrived.

Its backward-curving goat hooves were covered in dry, blackened reddish-black hair. It was absurdly tall, towering two heads above Lynn even while hunched over, with wildly exaggerated proportions: short legs, but an enormous arm span.

And it had four arms.

"Wow..."

Lynn muttered under his breath like a country bumpkin seeing the world for the first time. "That's fucking ugly..."

Then he called out, "Hey! Big dumbass! Over here, here, here!"

An Iron Pineapple landed at the thing's feet. Amid the thunderous explosion, something seemed to flicker inside the cracks in the demon's hide. Then its huge hands swept through the air, dispersing the smoke.

Lynn's Iron Pineapple had only blasted half a horn off its head.

"Ah, ha... human... hahahahaha!"

Lynn reacted quickly too. He had already covered his ears as soon as the demon began speaking.

Clearly, the memory of getting screwed over last time still haunted him.

Lynn had originally assumed that anything bullets could kill would definitely stop breathing after taking an Iron Pineapple at close range.

But he had clearly forgotten one thing: the demons summoned by that cat, Schrodinger, seemed to be random.

"So that means I might've bitten off more than I can chew today."

Nothing for it. He would have to grit his teeth and fight.

Batman came to see Lynn just after nightfall.

Normally, Batman rarely went out on field assignments at this hour. Even if he appeared in public, he did so as Bruce Wayne.

Clearly, he was rather eager to see Lynn. It must have been something important.

But when he rode his motorcycle up to Lynn's place, the sight before him left Batman dazed, wondering whether he had come to the wrong address.

When he saw wisps of black smoke rising in the distance, Batman had made the perfectly "normal" and "reasonable" assumption that Lynn was cooking again. That was simply how things went with him. Even the most ordinary little things became outrageously bizarre in his hands.

But once he passed through the woods surrounding Lynn's home, he changed his mind.

Almost all the trees in the innermost ring had been knocked down. The Old Bat could tell that some tremendous force had smashed straight through them.

Many of the trees bore scorch marks. They were the source of the black smoke he had seen.

The field, once half snow and half dead grass, was unrecognizable. The snow had melted completely, and the grass had burned away. Craters of all sizes littered the ground, each containing a blackened stone.

Most importantly, there was Lynn's house.

"How... how is only half of it left?!"

Had aliens attacked?

Startled and baffled, Batman hurried toward the remaining half of Lynn's home. Just as he approached the entrance, he ran into Lynn coming out with a washbasin in his arms.

"Lynn, were you attacked? A meteor shower? Or...

What happened to your head?"

"Oh, it's fine, it's fine!"

Lynn casually emptied the basin into a crater, sending white steam hissing into the air.

Touching his bandaged face, with only his eyes and mouth exposed, Lynn said without a care, "I'm cosplaying one of those shadowy guys from Conan. The Bandage Monster, get it?

Come on, let's talk inside. Come in. It's not going to collapse..."

The moment he finished speaking, the lintel above the entrance fell down.

"See? Everything that was going to fall has already fallen. Nothing else will fall now, guaranteed. Come on in and talk. It's cold out here.

C'mon, get inside."

Batman looked up at the house's four battered walls, then down at the broken tiles on the ground. He opened his mouth but said nothing, silently following Lynn inside.

"Batman, save me!!"

The moment he entered, Batman heard a cry for help. Though he trusted Lynn, his hand still instinctively moved to his Utility Belt.

He tilted his head slightly and looked. The one calling for help was the black cat.

Lynn had rolled it up in a blanket and tied rope around the outside.

"Ignore the cat burrito. Let's talk business. Want some tea?"

"Huh? Oh, no thanks. Just water."

"Good, because I'm out of tea. Even if you wanted some, I don't have any."

Then Batman watched Lynn pick up his pot, go to the back door, scoop up a potful of snow, and bring it inside to heat.

"Not to lecture you, but your habits are really unhealthy. Water—you've got to drink it hot, understand?

Hang on. It'll be hot in a minute."

Batman hastily caught Lynn as he bent down to blow beneath the pot. He decided it would be better to finish talking before Lynn brought the water to a boil.

"Lynn, I think you know who I am, don't you?"

"Um... it really wasn't me trash-talking you online. My account got hacked."

"Lynn!"

Batman raised his voice a little.

Then he gripped his cowl with both hands and pulled it off.

Pop!

"Oh man, that sound effect is just... ahem! Wow! You're actually... that multimillionaire~!"

"Lynn. Please don't."

With the cowl off, he seemed much friendlier as Bruce Wayne. He smiled. "I'm a billionaire."

Lynn: ...

This round was a draw.

"Lynn, I believe your knowledge of me isn't simply a result of your intelligence, but...

Put the wood down and be serious.

Lynn, you seem to know a great many things. Am I right?"

Lynn lowered the piece of wood he had been holding high and shoved it beneath the pot.

"Yes."

"Then I have a question, and I hope you'll answer honestly."

"Ask."

"You're an immortal, aren't you?"

"I... huh? An immortal?"

Lynn hadn't expected Batman's thoughts to take that direction. He was tempted to nod and let Batman's assumption smooth things over. But perhaps he lacked confidence that he could keep deceiving someone so deeply suspicious, and he didn't want the guy to "silence" him once his story stopped holding together. After thinking it over, Lynn shook his head.

"No. I'm only twenty. Immortals do exist, but I'm not one."

"Then are you a time traveler?"

"Good grief, you've been reading too many comics. Those exist too, but I'm not one of them either."

"Then..."

"All right, stop asking. I'll just tell you."

Lynn sat up straight, his eyelids twitching slightly. "I'm a magician. A great prophet."

"A prophet?"

"Yes."

Batman apparently hadn't expected that answer. His brows drew together. "Can you prove it?"

Prove it? How was he supposed to prove that?

Ah! Got it!

"Hehehe... Bruce, your Wayne Family line isn't going to die out~"

"What?!"

Lynn and Bruce talked for a long time. It was their longest conversation since they had met, and also their deepest and most heartfelt.

Batman was clearly worried about the future, but his mental fortitude was terrifyingly strong. He actually managed to refrain from asking Lynn about what lay ahead. He didn't even ask another question about the Wayne bloodline, which Lynn had brought up to steer the conversation elsewhere.

It left Lynn so thrown off that he could barely gather his thoughts or find the words.

"...So you're saying our problems aren't here?"

"Of course."

Lynn dug the roasted sweet potatoes out from beneath the pot, then topped up Batman's cup with boiled water. He continued, "Our enemies lie in the past, in the future, in humanity, and in divinity. In kindness and in evil. Beneath the falling light, and amid sacrifice in the shadows. On the other side, and among us...

In short, brother, as long as we live, we keep fighting!"

"Will there come a day when you betray me? Lynn, I need a straight answer."

"Of course."

Lynn said casually, "If the day comes when you can be killed, should be killed, and deserve to be killed, I will."

"Excellent."

Batman, who had already put his cowl back on, said, "So will I."

"Pleasure doing business!"

"Likewise."

Batman solemnly extended his hand and looked at Lynn.

Grinning, Lynn pressed the sweet potato peel in his hand into Batman's palm, completing his handshake with the Old Bat.

"Still want some water? I'll pour you a little more..."

"No, I have things to do at home."

"Have some more water before you go."

"Alfred's getting out of school soon. I have to pick him up. See you!"

"Hey! Don't go! Hey—!"

Lynn set down the pot and shook his head. "I guess that means we've officially signed our pact of mutual offense and defense..."

Splash!

Lynn poured the water from the pot outside the door, then turned and went back inside.

My plea for votes failed. But I'll still post three chapters tomorrow.