The Gate of Heaven slowly drifted in the clouds.
It was becoming increasingly clear, as if it were about to plunge into the mortal realm the next moment. Viscous black mist seeped from the edges of the fouled door frame, and Superman could clearly see his younger son aggressively inhaling the black mist.
Then, as if nauseated, he spat it all out. As for Batman, he was driving his strangely shaped Batmobile, which resembled a vehicle with the wings of an angel, and was slamming into the gate.
He looked even crazier than Ian, who was trying to pry open the Gate of Heaven with his bare hands. Superman did not know how to react to this. His gaze shifted to the "stars" surrounding the Gate of Heaven.
In his eyes, the "stars" encircling the gate were also becoming clearer. Each one was a curled-up angel, their rotten wings wrapped around their bodies.
They were like horrifying cocoons. They were almost all suspended at the boundary between reality and Heaven, resembling stars infected by some unknown virus, flickering with a morbid light in the darkness.
"I suspect this is more than just a dirty disease."
Clark's brows furrowed, his eyes filled with unease and confusion.
The angels were weak, chaotic, and seemed to have let down all their defenses. He could even hear the angels' inner voices, which were full of pain and despair.
Superman dared not listen for too long. He feared being affected by such overwhelming emotions.
Just as Superman was still pondering how to deal with these fallen angels, a voice came from behind.
"Clark! What is wrong with your hearing?"
Wonder Woman's voice rang out. She walked over with the Lasso of Truth, the other end of the rope tied to seven or eight flailing criminals who were all chanting the bizarre hymn, "Praise the Emperor of All Laws."
These were criminals Wonder Woman had captured after arriving in Gotham.
They were truly far more malicious than the criminals in New York. While ordinary New York criminals only wanted to stockpile their neighbors' food, these Doomsday Revelers in Gotham were clearly more practical.
They wanted to stockpile their neighbors as food.
Absolutely shocking.
"Diana, you're here."
The Flash, Barry Allen, nodded in agreement nearby: "Right? I told you something was off about him, didn't I? Forget about science, at least stick to logic! How can an ear perform mind-reading?"
His tone was filled with the same kind of difficulty accepting the situation as Wonder Woman. It was not mainly because he felt his privacy had been violated, but because he felt this ability went beyond the scope of merely cheating.
Everyone understood that Kryptonians cheated. But cheating to the point of defying all logic was genuinely frustrating.
"Perhaps inner voices are also a type of sound?" Aquaman Arthur's voice suddenly appeared. Wonder Woman and the Flash immediately looked over. Aquaman Arthur had arrived in front of them, driving a water truck.
The water truck was completely full of water. It was clear that since being knocked out during his last outing, Aquaman Arthur had developed a certain fear of running out of firepower.
Of course, it was also possible he was afraid of being wounded and soaked in a fish tank again, so he had brought his own seawater tank, just in case someone put him in a fish tank and poured a lethal amount of salt into it.
"Inner voices are sound?"
This notion left both Wonder Woman and the Flash speechless.
Superman offered no explanation. His gaze pierced through the clouds, locking onto Batman's vehicle. He could hear Batman repeatedly slamming into the Gate of Heaven, yet he still could not figure out how Batman was able to approach it.
"How is Bruce doing that? Is it because I don't have the qualification to enter Heaven after death, but he does?" Clark's mutter was full of suspicion. He was clearly feeling less confident after his earlier situation of aimlessly flying around in the sky, unable to approach the Gate of Heaven or the angels.
Even flying into space, Clark could not get near that area. It was as if they existed in a layer of some boundary land, and when he flew into space, he still had to look down to see the gate and the angels.
"Are you kidding me? If you don't qualify for Heaven, who does?" The Flash had blind faith in Superman, and he firmly refuted Superman's low-voiced comment.
Wonder Woman also nodded in agreement.
"Superman thinking Batman could get into Heaven is the funniest joke of the year." Wonder Woman often had strong opinions about Batman, but her focus here was not colored by any personal feelings.
As a foreigner with a profound understanding of American history and culture, Wonder Woman was well aware that as long as the world was not in chaos, people would never see capitalists in Heaven. And Batman happened to be one of America's biggest capitalists.
"I think Bruce used some special means." The Flash, Barry Allen, was the most educated person present, and he offered the most practical guess.
Cyborg, flying in from a distance, had the same thought.
"Yes, that's exactly it." A silver light streaked across the sky, and Cyborg landed, carrying two foaming-at-the-mouth criminals. His mechanical arm unfolded, and he tossed the unconscious villains into the back of a police car parked on the side of the road.
"It's possible Batman captured the angels' special existence frequency and performed some kind of signal simulation, causing the Gate of Heaven to mistake his vehicle for an angel." Cyborg's eyes constantly scanned the sky, searching for useful data amid countless erroneous readings and information.
"That works too?"
Aquaman was dumbfounded.
"He is Batman, after all."
Cyborg gave a brief and concise reply.
It made sense.
Hearing this, Wonder Woman laughed and covered her forehead. "We have the miraculous Batman, the illogical Superman, and Superman's strange son."
"Are we guaranteed to win?"
Her tone carried a certain ineffable emotion. The Amazonian warrior could not help but look at her Lasso of Truth again, wondering if its so-called God-beating mode could work on angels.
"But they're angels…"
Aquaman chuckled a few times.
Information was scarce.
The Flash was in the same boat. None of the Justice League members knew the angels' fighting capacity.
Therefore, they felt completely uncertain.
"Can you help us with that signal simulation? I think it's best for us to stop this crisis outside of Earth." Clark was also full of apprehension regarding the angels.
However, he was the type who would always fight, regardless of whether he could win or not.
"My technology is from Apokolips, not Angelis. And I don't have a miraculous brain like Bruce." Cyborg shook his head, his voice tinged with helplessness.
"Actually, even with the technology I have, Bruce utilizes it better than I do, the original owner." His voice was a little wistful, carrying the frustration of a man who realizes his wife looks better in someone else's hands.
Upon hearing this, everyone showed the same wry smile that Ian could never learn.
A series of explosions rang out in the distance. A mushroom cloud rose above the oil tank farm at Gotham Harbor.
Jie jie jie jie jie~
Green fireworks, used by the book-loving criminals, bloomed in the thick smoke.
A few thugs with chalk-white makeup rode modified motorcycles onto the main street, their bellies adorned with twenty-four silicone fake six-packs, dragging large speakers and fluorescent banners with the Joker's insignia behind their bikes.
They were the Joker's followers.
"Is Bruce not going to manage his city?" Aquaman frowned. With a flick of his trident, a fire hydrant on the side of the road suddenly burst, the water column knocking the motorcycle gang head over heels.
He looked into the distance.
A familiar screech came from the direction of Arkham Asylum. Mentally ill patients were seizing the opportunity to break out. Poison Ivy's red hair flickered in and out between the buildings, and everywhere she passed, steel and concrete were ripped apart by wildly growing plants.
"Classic Gotham-style meltdown." Cyborg sighed. His shoulder cannons automatically aimed at a few figures celebrating wildly inside a bank vault, trying to burn real US dollars into the most spectacular bonfire.
The Flash turned into a red whirlwind, speeding through the streets.
Everywhere he went, the thugs' belts were tied into impossible knots. But it was far from enough—Blackgate Penitentiary escapees, Maroni family gunmen, and even the remnants of the Roman family were pouring out amid the chaos.
"Bruce wants to go to Heaven."
Superman hovered in Gotham's night sky, his red cape flapping loudly. His Super Hearing picked up the city's entire confusion: explosions, screams, maniacal laughter, and... a bizarre, almost religious collective chanting. That was the sound of demons lurking, attempting to use their followers to make a move during this chaos that was descending upon the mortal world.
Clark frowned, his gaze sweeping over the streets.
The Penguin stood on the roof of the Iceberg Lounge, directing his subordinates to fire fireworks into the sky. Each exploding firework spelled out the words, "Welcome Doomsday Apocalypse."
God only knew how quickly he was able to assemble this "collaborationist" fireworks display.
"It's too chaotic."
Superman knew that to defend externally, one must first stabilize internally. He had already calculated the angels' trajectory: this city would ultimately be the one to suffer, so he had to ensure no internal factors could interfere with the Justice League before that happened.
The next second, Superman vanished from the spot. His speed far surpassed the already-weakened Flash. The criminals did not even have time to see the blue blur before their hands and feet were bound tightly, and they were thrown into prisons like sandbags. Superman even had time to reinforce the prisons.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!—"
The criminals were brought to justice in a very short amount of time. Gotham's criminals experienced what Metropolis's criminals felt like.
"Superman, get out of Gotham! You're not welcome here! Have you even played the game! A level 100 is not allowed in the beginner village!" A gangster, tied up like a dumpling, struggled and roared.
"Exactly! Bring Batman here instead!" another criminal chimed in, his tone also full of dissatisfaction. "We only accept beatings from local Gotham superheroes!"
This, too, was a form of regional discrimination.
Superman: "…"
He took a deep breath, too lazy to explain. He simply grabbed the group and tossed them like bowling balls, accurately launching them through the door of Blackgate Penitentiary. The other superheroes were doing the same thing.
Cyborg Victor Stone utilized his technological capabilities to remotely control drones, blocking several main streets while simultaneously spraying the riot zones with powerful sleep-inducing powder.
"Oh, I dreamt of my mother, she ate my father with me." The riot lasted less than an hour, but in Gotham's history, it was destined to be recorded as a deeply symbolic event. This was mainly due to the unprecedented number of riots, but also the speed at which they were quelled.
Many criminals were unaccustomed to such intensity.
"I want Batman! I want Batman!"
"Bitch! You're going to rip my head off!"
"Flash, get out! Flash is too overpowered too!"
…
Perhaps until their twilight years, these criminals would not want to see any superhero other than Batman again. Of course, the superheroes were equally left with a deep impression of Gotham's criminals.
"Damn it! Now I understand why Batman is so cautious. These lunatics here don't just bite, they try to suck me off!" Aquaman patted his crotch, his expression one of lingering fear.
"…"
Wonder Woman looked at Aquaman's crotch, which had bite marks on it. She knew she should pretend not to notice. Seeing that the criminals in the city had been cleared out, Superman seemed to be busy with something else.
"What is he doing?"
Aquaman looked at Superman zooming by, "Whoosh whoosh whoosh~", a little bewildered.
"He is transferring all the residents of Gotham to other cities." Wonder Woman's dynamic vision was much better than Aquaman's, but she could only see Superman's blurry figure.
The Flash was moving with Superman. However, he ultimately did not have Superman's invincible stamina. After thousands of round trips, he was a little breathless, with sweat on his forehead.
"Can you stop overachieving so much? Does anyone remember I'm a dying man?" Although the Flash was complaining, he took a breath and continued working.
"Confirming again, Gotham's East District is clear…" The Flash's voice rang out in the Justice League communication channel, his red blur sweeping past the last few apartment buildings.
Even using a dump truck, his efficiency was still no match for Superman.
While the Flash was clearing one area, Superman had already cleared the residents from all other areas—moving the entire houses was certainly more efficient than using a dump truck.
"Yep, I've also moved all the residents from my end." Superman hovered over the city, his gaze sweeping over the empty streets, his X-ray vision penetrating into every subterranean area.
This was to ensure no citizen was left behind. Ian's warning message was simply too unsettling. To prevent Gotham residents from being contaminated by the angels' dirty disease, he had no choice but to take this drastic measure.
By moving the houses along with the residents, the government could also ease the disaster relief pressure. On his way back to Gotham, Superman had already seen many officials reacting immediately.
It must be said that America's efficiency was sometimes very fast. At least many banks, in cooperation with government officials, immediately launched "emergency relief" services for the public.
Even if they had no money for food after being transferred, the disaster victims could receive a disaster relief… loan of 950 US dollars. Superman could only refrain from commenting, he had no other options.
When the last batch of citizens was safely transferred, the empty city was terrifyingly silent, with only the low hum from the Gate of Heaven and the ominous ruins rendered by the chaotic sky.
"I hope everyone is prepared for the worst." Superman landed in front of his companions, his red cape billowing in the wind. "This will be a difficult fight. We need to settle our families beforehand."
Hearing this, everyone nodded.
Wonder Woman was wiping black viscous fluid off her Lasso of Truth.
"Where is your wife now? She's a restless reporter." She was clearly reminding Clark that simply placing Lois in a fallout shelter or a similar location might not be safe.
"Perhaps you can take Lois to Themyscira."
Wonder Woman felt her homeland should be a relatively safe place. Since its previous destruction, Themyscira was now hidden much deeper than before.
"I know. That's why I sent her to the safest place." Clark naturally understood Lois better than Wonder Woman, so he had taken extremely rigorous precautions.
"The safest place?"
Cyborg was puzzled.
"Is it deep underground?"
He made a guess.
"It's the North Pole."
Clark revealed the reason why he was not worried about his wife's reckless reporter instincts leading her to run around.
He turned his head and looked into the distance. Lois should be in the monitoring room of the Fortress of Solitude right now, flipping him off through the satellite feed.
"What about your two sons? I was just wondering if the Fortress of Solitude has any spare rooms." Aquaman shook his wet golden hair, also wanting to sneak his family into the safest place.
At this remark, not just him, but everyone noticed that Superman seemed to suddenly freeze.
Then, the man calmly turned to look in a different direction. His pupils reflected a scene that others could not see: a snapshot from the ruins of their new house.
The wind there carried the scent of scorched earth and burnt metal.
In the charred ruins, Jonathan and Jordan sat side-by-side on a thoroughly burned stone.
"Did Dad forget about us?" Jordan took a bite of his cold barbecue, looking up at the increasingly clear, foul giant gate in the sky.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Jonathan answered definitively, biting hard into a piece of meat. The two brothers were starving after a night of activity.
"He must be dealing with the anomaly in the sky. Mom's company said Dad picked her up. She probably just needed to get firsthand news material."
Jonathan offered a rational explanation. After all, it was normal for their mother to use this as an opportunity to gather news material. This was the advantage of being a reporter in a superhero family.
Jordan pouted, no longer refuting, and just stared blankly at the sky.
That gate. If it really was the Gate of Heaven, it currently looked more like a festering wound, with black viscous fluid seeping from the edges, and the surrounding clouds twisting into an unnatural vortex.
"God must have a really bad case of diarrhea."
Jordan offered his bizarre thought.
"That thing definitely isn't the real Heaven."
Jonathan, however, shook his head, his tone resolute.
"How do you know?" Jordan glanced at him.
"Because Heaven couldn't be this disgusting!" Jonathan pointed at the sky. "This is absolutely an alien conspiracy. They want to fake the fall of Heaven to shake our faith!"
That was a relatively rational conspiracy theory. At least it was more acceptable than the idea of God having diarrhea and clogging the toilet. However, Jordan scoffed at this and remained firm in his own opinion.
"You don't get it. Ian said God has Alzheimer's." Jordan was mainly still trusting the smartest person in the family, and he also remembered some conversations from when he and Ian fought over the remote control as kids.
Jonathan looked at his stubborn, faithless younger brother. He spoke earnestly, "You know, Alzheimer's is also something God invented."
"His Holiness is the Almighty Supreme. Even if this is truly the fall of Heaven, it must be because the angels committed some great sin, and that's why God is punishing them." Saying this, he put down his barbecue and solemnly pulled a wooden box from his arms. The box opened, and inside were neatly arranged statues of more than a dozen deities.
Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Buddha, Shiva… and even a ball of ramen.
{Oh, Almighty God, I beg you to protect this land and not let evil befall the innocent.}
{Merciful Shakyamuni Buddha, may compassion and wisdom illuminate all sentient beings, dispel suffering, and cease all fear.}
{Great Sun God Ra, please hear my prayer. May your light disperse this false shadow, and spare Earth from disaster.}
{Shiva, who eats two bowls of my curry every day, God of Destruction and Rebirth, please send down your power of purification, so that the things in the sky may not trespass upon the human realm.}
...
{No matter which deity you are, no matter which corner of the cosmos you come from—please listen to the plea of this mortal. If this is truly a sign of the apocalypse, please grant us the strength to face it.}
{If this is merely a trial, please grant us the wisdom to pass it.} The eldest brother's faith was truly as mixed as could be, but his sincerity was completely genuine.
He was not just praying for his family, but for everyone.
"Uh, that's useless." Jordan rolled his eyes and covered his ears: "Can you stop chanting? All these statues are cheap stuff you picked up at a flea market!"
He was a man of no faith who only believed in two people: his Father and Ian.
"Faith is priceless!"
Jonathan glared at Jordan and continued to clasp his hands devoutly. His prayer continued.
Jordan was too lazy to bother with his possessed older brother and turned to look at the street. It was chaotic outside. People were evacuating to fallout shelters with their families, car horns, wailing, and police sirens mixing together.
Against the flow of people, a blonde girl was particularly noticeable. She was carrying a streetlamp pole on her shoulder like a giant sword, marching brazenly down the middle of the road.
"Isn't that the girl who climbed out of Ian's room? I think she's Ian's little shadow, Madison." Jordan looked with surprise at Madison, who had run off to save her parents last night.
"She looks like she's looking for us?"
Jonathan opened one eye and glanced over. The older brother's judgment was not wrong. Madison, the little witch everyone would remember for a lifetime, was walking toward him and Jordan.
The girl had a lollipop in her mouth and was humming a song.
"Hi, Ian's big brother, Ian's second brother, Louiser." Madison's figure blocked the murky sunlight from the sky, her shadow falling perfectly over the two Kent brothers.
Her brain, which she only liked to use for memorizing movie lines, could never quite remember the names of the two brothers.
"Why do you have to put a prefix before my title?" The second brother, Jordan, widened his eyes, his gaze drawn to the streetlamp Madison was carrying.
The very top of the streetlamp was glowing, but there was no light bulb inside.
There was only a constantly blinking large eyeball.
"That's not important. What's important is that you don't stare at my staff. Ian gave me this staff. I pulled it straight out of his manor. You definitely don't know how useful it is."
Madison patted the lamp post proudly. The large eyeball at the top of the streetlamp cooperated by flashing twice, letting out a faint, crackling whisper.
"…"
"…"
Both Jordan and the praying Jonathan were speechless. Before Jordan could even ask where Ian got a manor, Madison suddenly pulled two wrinkled burlap sacks from the bottom of the streetlamp. The cloth was stained with suspicious dark red streaks and emitted a sulfurous smell.
It clearly had contained something quite bloody before.
"Uh, what are you going to do?"
Jordan cautiously shrank back.
Madison did not reply. Instead, she quickly, like lightning, bagged the praying Jonathan inside one of the burlap sacks. The wooden box containing all the statues was also packed in.
"Hey! Let me go!"
Jonathan thrashed wildly inside the sack.
"I haven't finished praying to the Flying Spaghetti Monster!"
He seemed more concerned that his prayer was interrupted than being bagged.
"No, you've become a villain, haven't you? Planning to kidnap us and blackmail Ian?" Jordan took a few more steps back. "I knew he shouldn't have flaunted his money outside!"
His tone was full of annoyance.
"What villain or not villain? Why do you think Ian gave me a staff?" Madison rolled a characteristic white eye at Jordan and skillfully tied the sack's opening tightly.
"His exact words were…"
Madison imitated Ian's serious and earnest tone.
"Please, pack up my two older brothers and take them to a safe enough place. I really don't want to come home and see a big brother who has grown three heads and six arms, or a second brother with a hundred and eighty ding-dongs."
While channeling her acting talent, vividly mimicking Ian's words, she rubbed a small tuft of fire from her fingertip and burned a ventilation hole into the burlap sack.
"I think the 'packing up' Ian mentioned wasn't supposed to be this kind of packing up." Jonathan's nose immediately pressed up against the hole, and he corrected her like a trapped hamster.
"I don't have money to buy you cardboard boxes. Do you know how expensive cardboard boxes are now? All the money I confiscated from a British guy was used by Ian to take a taxi."
Madison ignored him and turned toward Jordan. As she shook out the second sack, a shipping manifest fell out with the words "Hell Express, Mission Accomplished" written on it.
This sack truly was just randomly found in the corner of the manor, a secondary use item.
"Wait, what taxi? Don't come closer… We can talk." Jordan's scalp tingled, and he dared not use his heat vision. He vividly remembered her Super-AIDS Burst technique.
"He said he was going to solve the problem from the source, to find the origin of the angel contamination." Madison opened the second sack and aimed it at Jordan, who was standing not far away.
"What taxi… No taxi can drive to Heaven… He's practicing his ability to lie!" Jordan was speechless. He knew Ian much better than anyone else.
"Hmm?"
Madison tilted her head. She gave Jordan a look, signaling him to get into the sack himself. Jordan let out a dry laugh. Seeing Madison's dangerous gaze, he obediently lowered his head and crawled into the burlap sack.
Despite having Super Strength, Jordan's Super Brain still led him to make the correct choice.
"Did you eat your Super-Man eyes? I can clearly see a very Heaven-esque car in the sky besides Ian. If you can't see it, doesn't that mean Ian took a taxi?"
Madison scornfully tightened the knot on Jordan's sack.
"Open a hole for me to breathe!" Jordan shouted from inside.
Madison pretended not to hear, tied both sacks to the streetlamp, and then, humming her song, she carried the streetlamp and lightly walked away toward where she had settled her parents.
Even in the face of the apocalypse, the little punk girl still seemed to be in high spirits because she could become a big star. Her figure gradually shrank in Superman's super-vision, and when she finally disappeared around the street corner, Superman did not follow up.
"Clark? What are you looking at?"
"Yeah, he's been spacing out for a long time."
"He hasn't been mentally controlled again, has he? Please, no, my arm is still broken."
…
His teammates' shouts rang in his ears.
Clark slowly retracted his gaze.
"Nothing, Jonathan and Jordan are both fine now." He replied without batting an eye, even though no one had asked about Jonathan and Jordan.
He was truly a little guilty.
"They're not with Lois?" Cyborg's voice interjected. Data streamed across his mechanical eyes. He had clearly accessed Metropolis's surveillance footage.
"In any case, they are safe." Superman's tone was calm, and he quickly changed the subject. "We need to find one of Batman's hidden bases. There must be a contingency plan there for a Heaven Outbreak."
This suggestion immediately successfully diverted the Justice League members' attention.
"Bruce does like to keep contingencies." Wonder Woman nodded, asking a classic question. "The problem is, where exactly is his 'hidden base' concealed?"
The answer to this question was likely known to very few people in the world.
The group quickly sprang into action. They flew over Gotham's ruins, traversing the heavily pitted and flattened parts of the city that had no buildings left, searching for locations that might conceal Batman's secret facilities.
Cyborg used his high-tech scanning system to continuously analyze changes in the ground structure. Wonder Woman, meanwhile, used her magic to investigate several suspicious locations.
Aquaman plunged into the underground waterways to check for hidden passages.
However, including Superman Clark, they found several so-called "Batcaves," but every single one was just a small bunker or training facility. None of the truly important facilities were uncovered. The Batcaves that seemed to be in constant use did not even contain data about the Justice League members, let alone information about angels.
"That gate looks like it's about to fully squeeze into our world. We don't have much time. We can't keep wasting time here. Everyone knows how strong Bruce's methods for hiding things are."
"A secret base is a secret base precisely because Bruce can ensure we can't find it. Yes, if we could find it, Batman wouldn't use it as a hidden base."
Clark was also feeling somewhat exhausted. He looked up at the sky.
Batman's figure was now standing beside Ian. He was watching Ian, and Ian was trying to use the already wrecked, front-end-deformed Batmobile to smash open the Gate of Heaven.
"Then let's find a way to lure him down!"
Aquaman suddenly spoke, his voice tinged with urgency.
Everyone looked at him in unison.
"What do you mean?" The Flash frowned.
"I mean… use your heads." Aquaman hesitated for a moment but then voiced his idea. "We can use Damian to threaten him to come down."
The air instantly fell silent.
Superman stared at him for several moments, his eyes filled with a complex emotion that asked, "How could you say something like that?"
"Uh, I mean… fake a threat? Trick him into coming down?" Aquaman was a little awkward and began to explain in detail that his proposed action was not meant to be genuine criminal activity.
"Yes, tricking him works too. Trick him down. Don't look at me. I'm just saying we grab Damian and pretend…" He made a gesture of wringing Damian's neck.
Seeing this, Superman hissed and clamped his mouth shut. He did not want others to see his expression of agreement. The look on Superman's face—which had initially been "How could you say something like that?"—had morphed into "How could you say something that I should be saying?"
"You won't be able to lure him down."
The Flash suddenly spoke. He seemed to have realized something.
"Why?"
Wonder Woman turned to look at the Flash.
"Is Bruce trying to get in there ahead of time to nip the crisis in the bud?"
Superman thought of Bruce's accusations against him after the Kryptonian survivors invaded Earth. Perhaps Bruce truly did not want to see that kind of chaos affecting the public again.
However, even though the guess was rational, the Flash immediately shook his head.
"No, it's not that."
He looked up at the Gate of Heaven in the sky, his voice low. "Bruce isn't focused on what crisis is happening inside, but on who is experiencing the crisis that is happening inside."
The Speed Force glow flickered in the Flash's eyes. He had clearly seen the situation in the sky.
Everyone was stunned by this deep sentence.
Just as Wonder Woman frowned, confused and preparing to ask a question—suddenly, without any rising wind or clouds, she saw Superman vanish from beside her.
Superman shot up into the sky. He flew extremely fast and urgently.
A burst of unprecedented power erupted from his body. It was not the power granted by the sun but something deeper, more primal.
No one had anticipated this. Superman Clark Kent, without any warning, suddenly surged into the sky, his speed so great that even Wonder Woman could not track him.
She had not even had time to react before she saw Superman, for some unknown reason, had broken through the barrier he had previously been utterly unable to approach, and had directly reached the boundary layer in front of the Gate of Heaven.
That was the location of Batman and Ian.
"Thump thump thump~"
Dull thudding sounds echoed from the sky.
"Not… Clark is crazy too?" Wonder Woman gazed up at the sky, watching Superman start to smash the gate as well. She blinked, her expression one of utter shock.
Perhaps only the Amazonian warrior, who had both her parents alive, was still unable to make an accurate assessment.
Even Aquaman Arthur had figured it out. He was jumping around frantically, trying to leap into the sky, but marine mammals truly did not possess the ability to fly. He flapped helplessly on the ground like a beached fish.
Completely useless. Like a Mudkip.
"Ah ah ah ah!"
Finally, in desperation, Aquaman Arthur threw his golden trident straight at the sky. Under his power burst, the golden trident flew and flew and flew until it vanished somewhere unknown.
It was not an issue with his aim. It was because the trident passed right through the "illusory" gate and the people in front of it. It met no obstruction.
This clearly showed that even when Aquaman Arthur burst with power, he could not use the sheer force of Will.
"What's going on… have you been contaminated?"
Wonder Woman was on high alert, her finger resting on the Lasso of Truth, ready to deal with a potential threat at any moment. Beside her, Cyborg was also suspended in mid-air, looking up at the sky.
"Oh… no, this…" Although Cyborg felt he did not need to worry about his father, his scalp tingled when he realized why Superman and Batman were acting so crazily.
If the angels were defiled, what about the souls inside?
"Superman can't smash it open either!"
The Flash looked visibly anxious.
At this moment, the twisted rift had completely opened. It slowly and irreversibly began to descend.
"Thump thump thump~ Thump thump thump~"
The three figures in front of the gate were still trying to smash it open. Just as everyone was intently watching Superman's effort to push the gate open, the stars in the sky suddenly began to tremble violently.
The already morbidly flickering "stars" suddenly zoomed in, revealing their true forms: angels. Countless fragments of silver light rained down like a celestial deluge.
Thousands of angels, like silver leaves swept away by a storm. Their wings were scorched and broken, burning as they fell, their flames trailing long wakes, like a reverse meteor shower.
The fire was the self-disintegration of their divine nature upon contamination.
Some angels maintained a sacred posture, their arms crossed over their chests, their faces serene, as if still praying.
Others struggled wildly, their faces twisted and distorted, their eyes hollow and vacant. They were no longer the messengers of light, becoming part of the mortal realm amid unheard, incomprehensible wailing.
This was a degradation of their celestial rank.
Regardless, the holiness of all the angels was shed piece by piece during their fall. They plunged into the human world.
On the ground, the onlookers fell into a strange silence. No one screamed, no one ran. They simply gazed up, their pupils reflecting the sacred catastrophe. A child reached out and caught a falling feather. The moment it touched their skin, it turned into fragmented light points and vanished. At this moment, the church bell began to toll by itself, without anyone pulling the rope.
Each toll was more urgent than the last, like a sorrowful accompaniment for the falling angels.
On the ground, the superheroes and countless others witnessed the angels. However, this was not a miracle, nor was it necessarily a war or a disaster—it was the funeral of a faith.
Simultaneously with the angels' collective fall, the Gate of Heaven itself could finally no longer support itself. The Gate of Heaven tilted amid vibrations, and the entire massive gate began to fall wildly from the sky toward the ground.
"Dad! Come on! Think about our bond! Think about the braised Batman we'll have tonight!" Ian knew he could not push the door open, so he placed his hope on his real cornerstone. His Solar Eyes were already providing a power boost.
"??????"
Batman stared at Ian for a few moments. He ultimately did not speak.
"Open up!"
Superman roared, his arm muscles bulging. He was straining with his entire body, his knuckles even turning white. Finally, at this moment, he managed to forcefully create a gap between the doors.
"Hurry! Get in!"
Superman's eyes were bloodshot, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead. He was virtually at the brink of collapse. The next second, Batman decisively grabbed Ian by the collar and, without hesitation, shoved Ian into the newly opened gap!
The moment Ian disappeared behind the door, Superman, utterly exhausted, let go. The foul gate slammed shut again. The massive door, having lost its last shred of divine light, instantly plummeted, dragging Superman and Batman with it, crashing toward the earth like a meteor.
"No! Clark! Snap out of it! Snap out of it!" Batman could calculate many things, but he still could not evade the crisis brought about by this sudden, unexpected disaster.
He used every piece of equipment he had, but he still could not stop the descending gate.
The wind roared in his ears, and the air currents ripped at his body. The ground rapidly grew larger, as if the entire world was rushing toward him.
"Catch them!"
The Flash instantly accelerated, rushing down.
"I'll help!"
Wonder Woman flew up, ready to use the Lasso of Truth to slow their descent.
The superheroes got busy, and the angels also plunged into the earth. Their divine bodies, eroded by some black substance, crashed into the ground, kicking up countless broken stones and dust.
Unnameable black mist churned and spread.
In the buildings that had not been moved, the spire of the East District church was pierced by a fallen angel. The cross collapsed in the dust, and the contamination brought by the angels began to spread rapidly.
They were once the guardians of Heaven, their holy light illuminating all realms. Now, black substances poured out from within them, spreading like a living entity, like a mass of squirming shadow searching for something on the ground.
"No!"
Amenadiel crashed heavily into an alley in the East District. Half of his wing was intact and the other half contaminated. This gave him enough strength to lie on the ground, struggling to lift his hand to control the contamination that was spreading from his body.
The pollution that had invaded the deep layers of the physical world on the ground began to boil. Amenadiel was once one of the Archangels, but now he was scorched all over, his wings broken, with only a faint glimmer of light remaining in his eyes, fighting his last battle against some unnameable force with all his might.
However, as he panted, his consciousness blurry, his gaze drifted and he saw a figure slowly approach. The person wore a well-tailored suit, his tie meticulously knotted, a disquieting smile on his lips. His face was painted with pale greasepaint, and the corners of his eyes were accentuated with exaggerated red lipstick, like a lunatic who had escaped from a circus.
In this city that should have been completely empty, a person actually appeared.
"Good afternoon, Angel."
The man in the suit bowed solemnly. Before Amenadiel could react, the man pulled out a spiked club from behind his back and immediately clubbed Amenadiel unconscious.
Perhaps two strikes. Maybe thirty.
Amenadiel did not even have time to react before his vision suddenly went dark, and he passed out.
"Welcome to Gotham." The man in the suit put on his gloves, dragged Amenadiel's unmutated leg, and slowly walked toward a dark area.
Behind him, more angels were still falling. The final divine afterglow of the angels and the fire of their divinity being burned out intertwined, illuminating the entire mad city.
On the other side, the Justice League rescued the unconscious Superman and the gasping Batman.
"He's alive!" Barry knelt on the shallow beach, his fingers on Superman's neck. The Kryptonian's skin was frighteningly hot, and the edges of the "S" logo on his chest were scorched and curled, as if burned by some kind of power.
Cyborg landed next to them, his mechanical arm deploying a scanner.
"Life signs are stable, but there are unknown energy residues in his body." His electronic eyes flickered, his voice uncertain. "Looks like… radiation from Heaven?"
If it was truly radiation from Heaven, he felt Heaven might be far more terrifying than the center of a nuclear explosion.
"That was the light shining from Heaven burning his chest. Nothing major." Batman's figure emerged from the smoke. His cape had several large burn holes, and the left side of his cowl was completely shattered, exposing a bruised eye socket. He walked slowly, each step leaving a bloody footprint on the sand.
"It's a good thing the contamination from the Gate of Heaven didn't spread to you all."
Bruce's voice was terribly hoarse. He pointed to the Gate of Heaven, half-buried in the mud nearby.
The once glorious gate was now covered in black veins. The foul substances flowed across the surface but were strangely not spreading outwards, as if confined by some boundary.
Batman looked thoughtful about this.
The Flash suddenly looked up: "Wait, where's Ian? Did you really throw him into Heaven?"
"Yes, this was the most suitable solution I could think of." Batman nodded, the simple movement causing him to cough up a mouthful of blood. "Only he can withstand the light inside Heaven."
Hearing this, Wonder Woman was stunned.
"I won't even bring up whether or not he's a good-natured person. Just look at the demon head still attached to his butt. How can something like that be brought into Heaven with him?"
Wonder Woman was completely bewildered.
Batman did not answer this question. He pulled out the short knife from his arm gauntlet and walked toward the burning city. In the distance, the contaminated angels were stirring in the ruins, their wings matted together like oil-stained crow feathers.
"I bet Heaven probably doesn't have security checks. Maybe he can sneak in." Aquaman hoisted the unconscious Superman, spinning his summoned trident in his other hand.
Cyborg deployed his shoulder cannon, and Wonder Woman drew the Sword of Athena.
The team silently followed the staggering black figure. Behind them, inside the turbid gate, Ian, who had been thrown into Heaven, slowly opened his eyes.
"Chirp chirp chirp~"
This was the sound of birds singing on a branch.
When Ian opened his eyes, he had expected to see Hell. But what greeted him was a breeze carrying the fragrance of flowers. He lay on a patch of grass covered in small white flowers, and the sound of a babbling brook came from the distance. Sunlight streamed through the clouds, reflecting a seven-colored halo on the blades of grass. The scene was so beautiful that the demon head hanging on his butt looked completely out of place.
The bull-headed demon was playing dead.
Ian was astonished.
"This isn't right."
Ian sat up with a frown. He looked around and saw that the distant Holy City was wrapped in a layer of black, fungal-like substance. The viscous darkness constantly squirmed but was always unable to cross an invisible boundary, failing to contaminate this Eden.
Just then, he felt an unusual sensation in his pants pocket.
"Wait, has my shapeshifting pants been so thoroughly influenced by me that they automatically seek out valuable things now?"
Ian pulled out a pearl necklace. He was certain it was not his. The creamy white pearls shone softly in the sun, and one of them was faintly warm, drawing his gaze to the right.
Thirty steps away, an afternoon tea table was set beneath a giant tree covered in golden flowers. A woman in a long dress was pouring tea. Star-like fragments of light were woven into her hair. The man sitting across from her had his back to Ian, but the familiar brown leather jacket and gray hair made Ian recognize him.
"Oh, God, you pimp! You, you, you, you… my grandfather, whom I have never met! My God, what are you doing in this place!"
He cried out in shock, his voice like thunder.
The young man's face flushed redder than any curse word. Perhaps no one in this world had ever seen Ian so flustered and terrified.
***
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