20demayo Chapter 697 The Black Death, holding a teleprompter, is using the skull.
Chapter 697 The Black Death, holding a teleprompter, is using the skull.
Chapter 697 The Black Death, holding a teleprompter, is thinking using a skull.
The land of death.
This is the dimension where the Black Emperor's true form resides. The Black Emperor's true form cannot enter the multiverse, which is why he has to find an avatar in the material universe to descend upon, such as William Hand, or Hal from the main universe who once piloted the Black Emperor and killed the first Genie with a single blow.
This is where all beings connected to the emotional spectrum go after death. These souls fall into a tranquil slumber in the realm of the Black Death Emperor until one day they are resurrected and leave this place, like the dead resurrected by the White Lamp in "Darkest Night".
Or perhaps, a complete and utter return to the ultimate death of all things, to the embrace of the second sister of the endless family of death.
Amidst the endless graves of the land of the dead, the Black Death, wielding a scythe, raised his eyes. He had just been using the skull to think, recalling the deal he had made with his new favorite, William Hand, from the Dark Multiverse.
William Hand persuaded him to volunteer for a plan he proposed. If the plan succeeded, the Black Death Emperor might be able to directly possess Parallax Morhal's body and then try to drag him to his death.
In addition, he can also exert a portion of the death effect on Barbatos, infecting his life with his own power.
The Black Death Emperor's ultimate goal was to drag Barbatos into death, but even though he didn't immediately turn him into a dead state, his attempt to influence him was not entirely unsuccessful.
If William Hand's plan hadn't failed, he could at least have left a semi-permanent mark on Barbatos this time, just as the Black Death Emperor could more easily try to drag him back to death after Parallax Morhal had died and been resurrected.
The combination of these two factors is why the Black Death Emperor was willing to be driven by William.
The Black Death Emperor can now not only obtain the promised death from the Anti-Monitor Dragon, but also find another way to devour even more.
So he said to the anti-monitor dragon, "I have a plan!"
"What plan?"
Now the opportunity that William had once told him about was right in front of him.
Black Death casually plucked a section from the nearby tombstone and then looked through the teleprompter that William Hand had written on the tombstone beforehand.
William wrote a detailed script for the Black Death Emperor, and the Black Death Emperor only needed to read it aloud.
The Black Death Emperor, controlling his avatar in the material universe, whispered to the Anti-Monitor Dragon:
"You can't control Hal anymore. You've failed. How are you going to fulfill your promise of death to me?"
He read it aloud with as much intonation as possible, and then his lifeless, skeletal eyes saw that after the word "fulfill" at the end of the sentence he finished reading, there was a note written by William Hand predicting what the anti-monitor dragon might say.
Black Death Emperor calmly held the "Worry-Free Manual," waited for the other party's reaction, and then read it aloud.
As the dragon, who was still struggling with Barbatos, was downstream from the timeline and heard the Black Death Emperor's accusations, the Anti-Monitor Dragon felt a chill in its heart and a strange feeling.
The Black Death Emperor's speech sounded somewhat incoherent, and the transitions were rather abrupt.
He started by saying, "I have a plan," but suddenly he jumped to questioning whether he could receive the promised benefits.
But this is a tricky question.
In order to fully confront Barbatos, he has already enlisted the help of the Time Trapped, Brainiac, and the Black Death to share the burden. He is only barely maintaining a state of suppression over Barbatos. If any of these three allies were to abandon their posts, the situation would begin to collapse.
With Parallax Morhal as Barbatos's dragon, Barbatos is even more powerful in the current timeline, making his return seem even more distant.
So he said, "I have one last method."
The Anti-Monitor Dragon wasn't lying. Just like when he was on Earth-15, his final solution was to become Barbatos's dragon. The Anti-Monitor always has a plan that comes at a price.
But if he had no other choice, he would not want to use this method—the price he paid for becoming Barbatos's dragon before had only just been paid off, and he had finally regained his freedom. If he played this game again, he didn't know when he would be free to act again.
After the Anti-Monitor Dragon spoke, the Black Death Emperor began frantically flipping through the teleprompter.
After a short list of possible replies, the Black Death Emperor finally found a pre-set line that was similar to the Anti-Monitor Dragon's actual response:
"When the target claims they have one last trump card to use in a counterattack—"
Following the direction of this pre-set dialogue, the Black Death Emperor picked up another tombstone he had just used and then thrown on the ground, and found the reply he wanted by simply using the initials on it:
"I have a plan."
Oh.
The Black Death Emperor looked at the word and suddenly realized that it was the very first sentence he had said to the Anti-Monitor Dragon.
He accidentally picked up the wrong teleprompter; the second sentence he said, which was meant to be an accusation, was actually the first sentence he should have said.
The anti-surveillance agent heard the Black Death Emperor's words.
???
If you have a plan, just say so. Going around in circles like this is just plain stupid, isn't it?
He suppressed his anger and then asked, "What plan?"
The Black Death Emperor was slightly stuck here. He sensed that the Anti-Monitor would be angry, but he didn't know whether he should read the line "Tell me the plan" or the line "Pacify the Anti-Monitor Dragon".
So he chose to read the comforting line first. William had even written this line in the tone often used by the Black Emperor, instead of starting with something like "Don't be angry":
"Death will come eventually, and I can accept it..."
"Enough! Tell me your plan now!" The Anti-Monitor Dragon could no longer hold back.
The Black Death Emperor hurriedly flipped through the teleprompter.
"Simply put, we are now completely at a stalemate."
The Black Death Emperor glanced at the teleprompter and then added some descriptions that fit the current situation:
"We have no way to control Hal, but neither does Barbatos."
"The Black Death Emperor said."
"Now that you two are stuck here, you can pretend to tell Barbatos that we share Hal's power."
"I took half of my power, and Barbatos took half of his, which means that both of our powers were increased. So, rounding up, it means that my power was not increased."
"The anti-surveillance advocate said."
The relationship between strength and weakness is relative. If they both become stronger at the same time, before they became stronger, he couldn't fight against Barbatos. After they became stronger, isn't it still the same?
He still couldn't pull his original body into the current timeline.
That's a bad idea.
"besides."
The Black Death Emperor said:
"You can induce Barbatos and the others to demand that Hal be sent back to his original location in the Hypertime Stream—that's easy. Both Barbatos and Batman Dragon have a natural instinct to maintain the balance of the Hypertime Stream, and that instinct can be used."
The Black Death Emperor blinked his skeletal eyes. He too had instincts; the search for more death was his instinct.
That's why he found William's plan so irresistible, wasn't it?
He continued to blink his skull-shaped eyes and read aloud with great emotion the inscription William had written for his tombstone, occasionally adding his own original descriptions that fit the current situation.
"You could easily pretend to agree to lower their guard, then take advantage of their moment to kill Hal."
"They won't be fooled so easily," said the Anti-Monitor Dragon. "Parallax Demon Hal still possesses a portion of the power that his will governs. They've long known that attacking the central nervous system can extract more power from Parallax Demon Hal's control. Once I make my move, they'll assume I'm trying to steal other power from Hal to strengthen myself. Then the agreement we made will immediately crumble."
"I can help you," the Black Death Emperor said. "All you need to do is transfer a portion of my dead Black Lantern energy, wrapped in your antimatter universe energy, to Hal, and you'll be halfway there."
The Black Death Emperor said, "I know that Parallax Demon Hal can repair any fatal damage he suffers through the energy within his body, but Hal has died before, so you only need to control a portion of the antimatter cosmic energy you enter into his body to damage a part of his body, and I will be able to drag Hal to his death immediately."
"At that time, your control over Hal and my control over Hal will be 2:1. We are bound to win and will definitely be able to wrest control of Hal from Batman and Barbatos."
The anti-monitor dragon pondered silently in his mind, and then he realized that the Black Death Emperor was right.
A strange feeling stirred within him: How had the Black Death Emperor suddenly become so clever? This plan seemed perfectly complete; one should never underestimate anyone. But there was one flaw in this plan…
The Black Death Emperor flipped to the prompt on the teleprompter that said "pause for a moment," giving the other party time to think. He then continued scrolling down and relentlessly read aloud:
"Of course, I'll be frank: if you do this, I'll also gain some control over Parallax Morhal, but it's better than the current stalemate. We're allies who have already negotiated a deal, and we at least have a basic level of trust."
He said, "Your ultimate goal is nothing more than to descend into the downstream of the hypertime stream, and the day your plan succeeds, Parallax Morhal's life will belong to me. Do you agree to this deal?"
The anti-monitor dragon fell silent.
The Black Death Emperor had planned the distribution of benefits in advance, devising a comprehensive strategy that combined elimination and attack. The Anti-Monitor Dragon couldn't even imagine why it could refuse.
He felt a deep sense of dread towards the Black Death Emperor, and even the two seemingly nonsensical sentences the Black Death Emperor uttered earlier took on a strange meaning in the eyes of the Anti-Monitor Dragon:
Was he using that plan to manipulate my emotions?
Wait, now is not the time to think about these things, but about the plan itself. Does he agree?
Seeing that the anti-monitor dragon remained silent, the Black Death Emperor was somewhat confused, having no idea what the other party intended to do.
So the Black Death Emperor went to find the teleprompter William had written about "what to do when the other party is silent," but just as he was intently looking through a pile of tombstones, the Black Death Emperor suddenly sensed that someone had appeared in this deathly place under his control.
How could that be?
In principle, only creatures that are completely dead can enter this place. For example, in the "Rage of the First Genie" incident, HAL from the main universe came here by committing suicide before he could pilot the Black Death Emperor Gundam.
In the realm of the Black Death Emperor, there is only death, not the concept of a part dying. But today, there seems to be an exception.
"you……"
An immense, boundless energy erupted from the dimension of the Black Death Emperor, sending countless tombstones flying like bullets into the dark sky. The Black Death Emperor hovered in the air and saw a blue-skinned, hooded figure emerge from behind the shattered space.
"Black Death Emperor." He heard the other person's voice.
When the World Forger pulled down his hood, the Lord of the Land of Death, the giant skeleton, saw that half of the other's face was filled with the deathly aura of black lights.
The other party is half alive and half dead. Why would a sixth-dimensional deity who is not completely dead visit the dimension of the Black Death Emperor?
"I'm here to discuss a deal," the World Forger said. "I have a plan."
The Black Death Emperor's skull tilted.
Do you have a plan too?
He slightly raised his chin, indicating that he was all ears.
But deep down, the Black Death Emperor had no intention of cooperating with them. Both the Anti-Monitor Dragon and William Hand had already offered him very generous terms, and the Black Death Emperor did not believe that the World Forgers could offer anything more.
During his time with William, his skull has become increasingly useful. Even though William's tombstone doesn't mention the current situation, the Black Death Emperor can still devise solutions using his skull.
Although the World Forger didn't say anything, he could already guess what the other party wanted to do. Wasn't it to make him stop joining forces with William, or even to stab him in the back?
The Black Death Emperor raised his hand behind his back, intending to send the other person away when he was halfway through his speech.
But the Black Death Emperor's actions soon came to an automatic halt, because he heard the World Forger say something that made it difficult for him to act.
"Don't you... want to drag Barbatos to his death completely?"
Instinct can be used, but the Black Death Emperor's instinct... is to seek more death.
……
……
……
In truth, Barbatos knew everything.
He knew that Batman still had a superhero mindset, but he still chose to make the Batman Who Laughs obey Batman Dragon's orders.
He knew this wasn't the time for the two of them to fight amongst themselves; there had to be a hierarchy.
But then he heard Batman say, "Wait, Batman Who Laughs, who do you think you can team up with? Brainiac?"
(End of this chapter)