"Batman... you're crazy..."
Mount Olympus, beneath the throne of the God of War. Ares, whose chest had been blasted with a big hole, leaned weakly against the armrest of the throne. His bloodshot eyes stared at Arkham Batman and said, "You damned madman... you will pay for your brutality!"
Arkham Batman played with a colorful gemstone in his hand, calmly looking at the person in front of him. Ares slowly extended his hand and removed his own helmet. Arkham Batman paused for a moment, then also reached up to remove his mask.
"Diana will not forgive you." Ares said, "Even when you carried out all these terrible acts of destruction, she was still worried about your safety... you completely let her down!"
"I don't need anyone's forgiveness, don't need anyone's concern, and I don't care whom I let down." Arkham Batman said, "The greatest gratitude and respect I can offer her is to have confined her before I entered Mount Olympus."
"Why are you doing this, exactly?! You... cough cough... cough cough cough..." Ares was already extremely weak and powerless. All his divine power had been drained into the gemstone by Arkham Batman using a strange machine. Other gods on Mount Olympus were not spared — the stronger ones became weak like him, while the weaker ones could only face death.
"I am running out of time." Arkham Batman said, "I have ruled the Federation, fully controlled the Justice League, and have reliable allies beyond the cosmos. This means that anyone who dares to take action against me believes they have more to rely on than I do. If that's true, they will definitely target Wonder Woman and Superman."
"Then you definitely shouldn't have acted against the gods! We will protect Diana!"
"You won't." Arkham Batman said, "You will only hold her back, distracting her when she fights for Earth."
"So, to control her, you destroyed her home?!"
"Mount Olympus is not her home, Paradise Island is." Arkham Batman said coldly, "It is precisely to protect her home that I have to take action against you."
Before this, Ares didn't know what was happening on Earth, so Arkham Batman's words were inexplicable to him. But Shiller was perceptive and had deduced a few things —
Arkham Batman was racing against someone.
Though Arkham Batman was considered one of the more aggressive Batmans, he was still Batman. Generally speaking, he wouldn't portray himself as a tyrant blinded by power. Even if he were truly like that, he would cover it up as much as possible, not like this — first confine the Justice League, then rush into Paradise Island, and finally storm Mount Olympus.
If he had enough time, he would take more moderate approaches. For instance, he would try to persuade Wonder Woman as much as possible, and even if he couldn't convince her, at least he would have tried, rather than directly confining her without explanation as he did now. Even the Justice Lord might not act so rashly.
The downside of such actions was obvious: Wonder Woman would definitely have objections, and Paradise Island would see him as a mortal enemy. If Mount Olympus were completely destroyed, it might be different, but if a few survived, they would continue to trouble him later on. Batman couldn't be unaware of these, yet he still did it, proving that he had no other choice.
Arkham Batman's urgency, aside from wanting to gain magical power, must mean that he sensed something. He felt that someone was secretly stirring trouble, and from minor details, he deduced that this behind-the-scenes manipulator was difficult to deal with.
Then, remembering the conflict between Arkham Batman and Wonder Woman — the diplomatic incident between America and the Amazons — it was not hard to see that the escalation of their conflict wasn't what Batman wanted.
Perhaps someone was exacerbating the diplomatic relationship between the two nations from behind the scenes, aiming to divide Batman and Wonder Woman.
Shiller thought of the first event that led to the deterioration of diplomatic relations between the two countries: that was when Arkham Batman, due to visiting other countries, missed a regular visit to the Amazons.
It must be said that such a diplomatic protest method is somewhat low-grade, resembling something a real estate developer might concoct, not aligning with Arkham Batman's typical level of political struggle.
Of course, the subsequent high-level diplomatic incidents might be because Arkham Batman realized he was being set up, so he used the scheme to express deliberate dissatisfaction at the Amazons' strong reaction. Then, seizing the opportunity in the name of control, he protected Wonder Woman and other Justice League members, and quickly forced his way into Paradise Island and stormed Mount Olympus.
Though it seems a bit absurd, this move is actually fighting fire with fire. The behind-the-scenes manipulator wanted Arkham Batman to confront the Amazons, thinking it would alienate Wonder Woman from Arkham Batman, but Arkham Batman directly stormed Mount Olympus. In contrast, the Amazons, simply neglected diplomatically, appeared much more fortunate.
In fact, this was the best way. Because Wonder Woman Diana didn't like Mount Olympus at all. In this universe, he was not a mortal enemy with Ares, or rather, they didn't get along initially, but later had a decent relationship. He only had this sentiment towards Mount Olympus as long as Arkham Batman didn't kill Ares, even if he stormed Mount Olympus, Wonder Woman wouldn't become a mortal enemy with him.
On the contrary, directly wiping out the Greek gods can perfectly showcase Arkham Batman's strength. Then, turning to see the unharmed Amazon and Paradise Island, Wonder Woman would surely think, "It's so great that you're this powerful and still love peace."
In essence, if Arkham Batman seems to be going all-out against Paradise Island, Wonder Woman will definitely be displeased. So as long as Wonder Woman understands that if Arkham Batman were truly going all-out, he could bring about Ragnarök, it would prove he's actually been merciful to the Amazons and Paradise Island, and Wonder Woman would not be so dissatisfied.
Indeed, that's the truth. Arkham Batman didn't even lay a hand on any Amazon residents; even when it came to stealing the keys, he achieved his goal using Schiller's power in a non-violent, clever manner. Compared to the fate of the gods on Mount Olympus, Schiller might even think Diana was his true love.
The moment Arkham Batman ascended Mount Olympus, he crashed his broken car into Zeus's palace, sending Zeus flying dozens of meters along with his lightning. By the time Zeus realized what had happened, Arkham Batman had already activated the power absorption device, draining more than half of his divine power, pouring it into a gemstone, and then using this gemstone to blow Zeus half to death, pinning him to his throne with his own lightning spear.
After taking all of Zeus's divine power and vitality, Arkham Batman killed his way through. Goddesses like Hera and Artemis couldn't withstand the gemstone explosion, losing their ability to act after just one blast, making it easy to finish them off afterward.
Even the relatively strong War God and the late-arriving Underworld God couldn't match the Arkham Batman who had absorbed so much divine power. Even if he didn't use this divine power on himself, the Batmobile that could topple even Mephisto and Zeus, along with the continuous explosions, were enough to give them a hard time.
These two gods didn't die, though. The Underworld God, after having nearly all his divine power absorbed, fled back to the Underworld; the War God didn't flee, but Arkham Batman didn't intend to kill him either, merely absorbing all his divine power and most of his vitality before letting him go.
Because Arkham Batman arrived so suddenly, the gods on Mount Olympus were completely unprepared, and Schiller, being an expert at blocking paths, meant no one escaped except the Underworld God. Mount Olympus could already be declared as fallen.
Watching one divine island after another fall, Schiller felt nothing. The Greek gods really weren't doing anything right; if they had acted like Asgard, genuinely assuming the responsibility of the Lord of the Nine Major Kingdoms, protecting the living beings within their territory, Batman would surely have given them the respect they deserved.
But in truth, Mount Olympus did absolutely nothing, and not only that, but they also brought much chaos to humanity since Ancient Times. Yet paradoxically, they didn't regard humans highly, with their divine realm's protection almost non-existent, as if they never considered what to do if someone barged in and killed them.
Without the pressure of a Ragnarök prediction hanging over them, they had no regard for their own safety and lacked their own army and star ships like Asgard. Basically, they're not good at anything, living is just wasting entropy.
Needing energy, Arkham Batman choosing to first target them is perfectly normal.
After dealing with Mount Olympus, Arkham Batman did not immediately leave. He picked up the axe he had taken from the War God and handed it to Schiller, then said, "Take this and give me a strike."
Schiller gave him a questioning look with his eyes. Arkham Batman, however, didn't want to say more, only taking a few steps back to give Schiller space to act.
Schiller hesitated slightly. He grasped the axe and said, "This isn't some trap you've prepared as an excuse to dodge payment, is it?"
"I assure you it isn't. I'm the one asking you to do this," Arkham Batman said. "If you're truly not reassured, we can sign a contract promising not to hold you accountable for this attack."
Schiller roughly understood what he wanted, so he sighed, withdrew the Power of Moonlight, and instead used the divine power of Ares that tainted the axe itself, striking towards Batman.
The Gotham night was heavy and oppressive.
Wonder Woman looked at Schiller and Natasha standing before her and said, "So, you expect me to believe that all of this might have some behind-the-scenes manipulator, and is not entirely Batman's fault? Is this your new tactic to persuade me not to act rashly?"
"I am merely stating a fact to you, Madam," Schiller replied calmly. "The only reason I'm telling you this here is that I think, even in this situation, you have the rational ability to discern truth. Do you?"
Wonder Woman silently stared at Schiller who was speaking, maintaining eye contact for several seconds before finally looking away, then nodded slowly and said, "I have doubted... because it didn't seem like Batman, it didn't seem like President Wayne, it wasn't like the great politician who could turn a federal system into a monarchy within a year of being elected."
"Very good," Schiller nodded slightly, "I now have only one question—what kind of person can make Batman mix up the time for a routine visit?"
"I'm sorry, but I really don't know," Wonder Woman said.
"Boss!! Boss!!!" a deafening shout came from outside the door, followed by chaotic heavy footsteps. A group of agents burst through the door, shouting at Natasha, "The president has been assassinated! He's in the medical center now! The President wants to see you!! Quickly!!!"