Chapter 28: The Judges and the Strigoi Priests

Chapter 28: The Judges and the Strigoi Priests

Sure enough, boys who love to laugh always have good luck.

Allen wandered around aimlessly and actually found Bruce.

At this moment, Bruce was lying weakly beside a spring pool, his face haggard and worn, his spirit utterly drained.

"Bats, you have to pull yourself together."

Allen stepped forward to comfort him, "Come on, keep going. If you can't take a dump, at least try to fart."

Bruce slowly regained consciousness but was so weak that he couldn't even lift his eyelids. He struggled to say, "This place is dangerous. Leave now."

"You've been rewarding yourself quite a lot these past few days, haven't you? No wonder you look like this."

Allen gave him a disdainful look and warned, "Overindulgence leads to ashes and dust. Some things just can't be forced."

"..."

Bruce rolled his eyes upward, feeling so stifled he might as well just die.

"Rolling your eyes after just a few words? Bats, you've got quite the temper."

Bruce passed out on the spot—probably hoping for a more peaceful departure.

"Someone, call an ambulance! Batman has died of excessive indulgence!"

Allen glanced around, but no one responded. He then turned to look at the spring pool, stroking his chin.

"Looks like drinking Amber Gold couldn't stop the inevitable from happening."

The next second, Allen's face lit up with an excited grin.

"A female Bat's vengeful spirit… just imagining it is thrilling."

Boom!

At that moment, a tunneling armored vehicle burst through the wall.

Through the glass of the driver's seat, Allen saw Tim at the wheel, accompanied by Stephanie and Damian.

They had roughly located Bruce's position through a tracking device and brought the armored vehicle to break through obstacles.

Clearly, the Court of Owls' lair had signal-blocking equipment, making it quite a challenge to find this place.

"It's the boss and Allen!"

Opening the car door, Damian and Stephanie rushed forward to help Bruce up.

Once everyone was on board, Tim immediately activated the signal booster—after all, Dick and Jason were still missing.

The dashboard quickly displayed two moving red dots, and Tim drove toward them.

Within fifteen minutes, they found Dick and Jason wandering around like headless flies.

"Time to evacuate."

The tunneling armored vehicle smashed through walls and drilled through obstacles, completely ignoring conventional routes.

"Being a superhero must be ridiculously expensive."

Allen rolled down the window and said to the group, "I'll head off first. Don't wait for me at dinner."

In an instant, he vanished into thin air.

The five were focused on Bruce—Allen? They couldn't control him even if they wanted to.

---

Meanwhile, in a secret monitoring room within the Court of Owls' lair…

A group of judges, all wearing owl masks, watched the Bat-family escape safely on the surveillance feed.

Of course, they had no intention of stopping them—otherwise, if the Talon army were to strike, not a single one would have made it out alive.

"The first phase of the ritual is complete. We must report our progress to our great master."

Among those present was another group—more accurately, another species.

They were draped in black robes, their monstrous and terrifying faces faintly visible beneath the hoods—an amphibian-like humanoid race.

These were the intelligent beings that lived deep underground, devout followers of the Bat God, who called themselves the Strigoi Priests.

"Leave the next steps to us."

The First Judge nodded slightly.

The first phase was merely the beginning. They would now guide Bruce step by step toward the predetermined outcome.

They hadn't killed Bruce because he was the key to the Dark Multiverse's portal. If he died, all their efforts would be wasted, so they let the Bat-family take him away—this was all part of the plan.

"But an unexpected variable has appeared. Can you still control the situation?"

The Strigoi Priests were referring to Allen—an unforeseen factor.

With so many superheroes in the world, trying to execute their plan solely within Gotham City was a fool's dream. If Superman or Wonder Woman got involved, the outcome would be completely different.

That's why the higher-tier Court of Owls Council had been creating distractions elsewhere, deliberately stirring up chaos to keep other superheroes occupied.

The incident in Akania was their doing—just a ploy to lure the Justice League away and create an opportunity to manipulate Bruce into drinking the Amber Gold.

"You mean me?"

Unbeknownst to them, Allen was already standing inside the monitoring room.

Silence.

Can you not follow the script?

We villains are holding a secret meeting, building suspense, and setting up the plot. Why are you barging in?

The Court of Owls judges were dumbfounded.

The Strigoi Priests were equally speechless.

"Don't let him leave. Kill him immediately."

At the command, hundreds of Talon warriors surged forward.

If Allen escaped and leaked their secrets, all their plans would be for nothing.

"Blade Formation—Rise!"

In an instant, twelve sword shadows expanded in all directions.

The nearest Talon warriors had no time to dodge. They watched in horror as the sword shadows pierced through them—one moment they stood rigid, the next they collapsed into dismembered corpses.

"Time to go."

Seeing that there were still hundreds of Talons left, Allen decisively declared, "You guys don't fight fair, huh? Like ganging up on people? Fine, I'll call the Justice League and Avengers to deal with you."

With that, he vanished into thin air.

The Talon warriors immediately gathered around the judges and priests, guarding against a potential sneak attack.

The judges and priests, mere flesh and blood, had no real means of self-defense.

"…He didn't actually leave, did he?"

The judges remained on high alert.

Would this lunatic really fall into the traps they had set?

The answer, much like quantum mechanics, was an overlapping state of falling for it and not falling for it.

For the next two hours, they followed emergency protocols, retreating through hidden passages, salvaging whatever resources they could, and abandoning the lair entirely.

One does not challenge a madman's bottom line—because madmen have no bottom line.

Especially a madman who can turn invisible. Who knows? He might lurk in the shadows for a whole day, just to drop a firecracker into your toilet and scare the hell out of you.

In reality, Allen had already left long ago. By now, he was back at the Batcave, reunited with everyone.

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