"Blue, not red. Blue is worse."The woman stared at the azure planet, the shock in her eyes unable to fade.
Clearly, she was struggling to process the situation unfolding before her.
Hearing her speak, the members of the Illuminati quickly questioned her current state.
Mister Fantastic, dressed in the black-and-white Fantastic Four uniform, raised his hand, projecting the countdown to the collision.
"Seven hours and twenty minutes."
That was the time they had left.
"The blue band... the cartographer... recording the future..." the woman continued to speak.
Mister Fantastic responded, "It's alright. We still have time. Just explain what it means."
"No, there's no time left." As soon as she finished speaking, the members of the Illuminati saw mechanical armies descending from the sky.
It was their first time witnessing invaders appear during a universal collision.
They looked up at the scene above, somewhat stunned.
At that moment, Bruce arrived on the other side of the battlefield.
Having previously encountered these beings, Bruce was well aware of what they were up against.
Intense combat had already erupted in the distance.
A lone figure on top of a fortress was barely holding the line.
Clearly, the invading robotic forces were overwhelming in number.
He was reaching his limit.
The Illuminati, however, were still engaged in discussion, not particularly worried about the fortress.
They were more concerned about what made these enemies different.
Unlike the tense woman, the Illuminati still believed they had plenty of time.
"We still have plenty of time to decide on some terrible course of action. And of course, after that, we can spiral into hysterical despair and self-loathing."
Namor, standing nearby, seemed completely indifferent.
Just as the woman was about to turn and shout at them in anger, a voice cut through the moment.
"No, you don't have time."
Bruce appeared behind them.
"Who?"
Hearing the voice, the Illuminati immediately prepared for battle, turning to see Bruce standing behind them.
The woman who had been about to speak instead looked at the bat with a hint of surprise.
She could tell this Batman, like herself, came from another universe. But unlike her, his treatment here seemed far better—he hadn't been immediately restrained or controlled by these people.
"Those robots won't just wait for the universe to collide. They'll land on planets and wipe out all life on them."
Bruce explained what he knew to the Illuminati.
"And why should we believe you?" Namor, ever hot-tempered, pointed his trident at Bruce. After all, they already had the Black Swan explaining things to them—why trust this newcomer?
Meanwhile, Mister Fantastic and Stark were exchanging information privately.
They were analyzing this suddenly-appearing Bat.
"A normal person in a technologically advanced suit," was Mister Fantastic's assessment.
"He's also a hardcore comic book fan. The armor he's wearing clearly resembles something straight out of a Batman comic," Stark added, noticing more details. With his bold and eclectic interests, it wasn't surprising—he had dabbled in everything, including comics.
Beast turned to look at the Black Swan, silently asking if the stranger's words were true.
"He's right. If red represents order and the righteous judgment of the Great Tribunal, then blue represents corruption, chaos, and infection. The blue ones are the Cartographers. They don't follow rules when they invade."Black Swan studied Bruce, trying to figure out where he came from."Just like he said, they will indeed wipe out all life on the other planet."
"So I'm telling you—you're out of time. Either go up there now and destroy the planet, or sit back and wait for the Cartographers to slaughter your Earth."
"What about him?" Namor wasn't about to trust someone who had suddenly appeared behind them. Neither Stark's armor nor anyone else had detected this man. If he had meant to attack, perhaps none of the Illuminati would've survived.
"Buddy, you should understand why we're concerned."Stark raised his arm, revealing a small launcher."Don't worry, it's non-lethal. Just something to give you a good nap and—No way!!"
As he spoke, Stark suddenly launched a tranquilizer of sorts.
But instead of hitting its mark, the bat effortlessly dodged it.
Sure, the projectile wasn't the fastest—but still, no ordinary human should have been able to dodge it so cleanly.
Even though Bruce's suit clearly featured advanced tech, their scans hadn't detected any internal AI systems or computational support.
Which meant—he had dodged it purely with his own reflexes.
"Still think he's a normal person?" Stark turned to Mister Fantastic, asking the obvious.
To be fair, the earlier scans had shown that the bat was an ordinary human.
But now, faced with what just happened, Stark couldn't bring himself to believe that a regular person had evaded his surprise attack.
Namor, meanwhile, had already charged forward with his trident.
But before he could reach Bruce, the bat had already tossed out two smoke bombs.
Namor plunged into the smoke, but his trident hit only dirt—no sensation of striking a body.
Moments later, he burst through the cloud into the sky—still no sign of the intruder.
The smoke spread, and despite Stark activating his infrared sensors and Mister Fantastic using various other detection methods, none of them could locate the bat's figure.It was as if he had vanished completely with the smoke.
Doctor Strange waved both hands and cast a spell to dispel the lingering fog, but still, no trace could be found.
He wanted to continue using magic to trace the whereabouts of the bat, but was stopped by Mister Fantastic with a wave of his hand.
"He… he must be a ghost," Stark was at a loss for words. A guy who could appear and disappear so mysteriously and even evade all their detection methods didn't seem like a normal person at all.
Mister Fantastic stared at the dissipating smoke, clenched his teeth, and withdrew his attention from the bat. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the blue planet in the sky.
"If that guy still wants to talk to us, he'll show up again. But for now, the more important task is to deal with what's in the sky," Mister Fantastic said as he fixed his eyes on Black Swan. "Let's go."
The Illuminati, taking Black Swan with them, charged straight toward the blue planet above.
At that moment, Bruce was analyzing the metallic object they had used during their conversation.
"Antimatter bomb." When the results came out, even Bruce couldn't help but frown.
Bruce knew exactly what they intended to do with that device.
They wanted to use the antimatter bomb to destroy the Earth of another universe in exchange for the survival of their own.
The issue was that the Earth they encountered was already under the control of the Mapmakers. Life on that world had long vanished, so destroying it was of little consequence.
But it wouldn't always be a Mapmaker's world.
And there wouldn't always be someone to wipe out all life on those planets for them. Sooner or later, they would have to make a choice—life for life.
But could any life truly be deemed more valuable than another?
Bruce raised his head and looked at the blue planet in the sky, then turned and charged toward the Mapmakers' machines.
Above the castle, countless Mapmaker machines were locked in battle with Doctor Doom and his son.
Although the machines appeared endless, they still paled in comparison before Doctor Doom.
With a casual flick of his magic, Doom could destroy dozens, even hundreds, of machines at once.
But Doom and his son weren't the only ones in the castle—there were other guards as well. And it was at this moment that Bruce made his move.
"Father, something has broken in," even in the midst of battle, Doom's son noticed Bruce charging in.
"Deal with those fools who dared to mess with Doom first!" Doctor Doom glanced briefly at Bruce before refocusing entirely on the machines.
At the same time, he also noticed the blue planet in the sky. Though unsure of what was happening, his instincts told him this might be tied to the fate of the entire universe—and that the intruder might be connected to it all.
The Mapmakers were indeed formidable. Their armor provided outstanding defense, but even the best defenses had weaknesses—and Bruce was quick to exploit them.
Batarangs flew like they were free, each one charged with high-voltage electricity, instantly paralyzing any machine it struck.
Initially, the castle guards were on high alert toward Bruce's sudden appearance—some even raised their weapons—but when they saw him halting the advance of the machines, they held their fire.
They didn't know where this bat had come from, but at this moment, he could be seen as a temporary ally against the invading machines.
Each time Bruce brought down a machine, a guard would rush forward, place their gun against the machine's head, and pull the trigger.
Meanwhile, they did their best to deal with the rest.
But the machines seemed endless, descending from the sky in waves.
Some guards' guns had even run out of power, yet the machines kept coming.
Just when they thought all hope was lost, the blue planet in the sky suddenly exploded.
Bruce looked up at the dazzling golden light in the sky, the shockwave piercing through both universes' atmospheres.
But by the time it reached them, it was no longer a shockwave—just a gentle breeze. The remaining machines collapsed instantly, no longer functional.
Bruce knew that the Illuminati had activated the antimatter bomb.
He frowned.
Among the Illuminati, aside from Mister Fantastic and Stark—whom he had interacted with—he didn't know the others at all.
Which meant he had little understanding of the group. Moreover, this was an entirely new universe. What the Illuminati of this world were really like, Bruce had no way of knowing.
But the trident-wielding man from earlier made Bruce uneasy.
"Don't move." At that moment, the guards in the castle raised their guns and aimed at Bruce, who was standing amidst a pile of fallen machines.
Above the castle, Doctor Doom and his son had already seen the distant flash of light and knew exactly who had entered their domain.
Without saying a word, Doom descended to the castle grounds and stared at Bruce, who was now surrounded by guards.
"My intuition tells me you've had dealings with those people," Doctor Doom said calmly as he looked at the unflinching Bruce.
"They don't trust me."
The moment Bruce said that, Doom immediately reached out and grabbed his throat.
The power in Doom's grip made it very clear—if he wanted to, he could kill Bruce in an instant.
Not to mention his magical might, which could easily reduce Batman to ashes.
"Then why should I trust you?"
Doom's words were chilling. The light in his eyes was cold and cruel—as if he might kill Bruce the next second.
"Because you're like me,"
Bruce said, calmly meeting Doom's gaze.
Even though Doom's hand was gripping his throat, causing his voice to rasp, Bruce still managed to speak clearly.
Hearing that, the killing intent in Doom's eyes intensified.
Yet Bruce remained calm, holding his gaze.
"Yes… we are alike."
(End of Chapter)
Want to read the chapters in Advance? Join my Patreon
https://patreon.com/Glimmer09