Chapter 67: Are You Cold?

Elijah found a Superman.

Oddly enough, he had originally set out for the Kingdom of El to inquire about Ophelia's whereabouts. Furthermore, owing to the intelligence brought by the master of the manor (along with a Superman projection), he had practically resolved never to deal with any unfamiliar parallel universe Superman in this unknown world, lest he leave the Lord of Fate with the impression of a pervert who suffered from a severe Superman-collecting fetish.

However, his plan went bankrupt before he even reached the capital city of the Kingdom of El.

It all started like this: Initially, Simon the Line used magic to shoot down a reconnaissance drone sent by Omega. Although the drone itself posed little threat, to prevent being kept under surveillance wherever they went, Simon cast a sizable warding spell around Elijah. Once any ill-intentioned subject appeared, the air around them would vibrate under the magic's influence and emit a piercing alarm.

Then, just ten minutes after the magic was cast, the alarm went off.

At this moment, Elijah was walking through a desolate wilderness:

Although the medieval society where the Kingdom of El was located was entirely fictional, it maintained the characteristic of being sparsely populated, with human settlements scattered across tiny villages and towns. Between these constellations of towns and villages lay untamed nature, filled with unknown dangers that ordinary people would never set foot in. Its biosphere not only contained beasts and bandits, but rumor had it that in certain zones there even lived mysterious creatures such as dragons, vampires, werewolves, Poison Ivy... and the like.

This was all intelligence gathered recently by Omega, the ruler of Gotham. He had shared these trivial pieces of information with the Kryptonian Batman temporarily staying at Wayne Manor, who in turn had passed them on to Elijah.

When Elijah heard "Poison Ivy" at the time, he asked the master of the manor skeptically, "Did something weird sneak into that list just now?"

"To be honest with you, I asked Omega the exact same thing," the manor's master replied. "When I heard 'Poison Ivy,' I asked that ruler of Gotham, who never shows his true face, 'Did something weird sneak in?'"

"How did Omega respond?"

The manor's master cleared his throat, reached out to stick two pointy bat ears onto the upper edge of the rearview mirror, and then, using the mirror for reference, vividly imitated the other Batman. After all, he was a Batman himself, and this self-insertion looked utterly flawless.

He suddenly turned cold, speaking in an icy tone like so many Batman from ordinary universes: "(Omega's exact words) 'When my drone relayed the sayings of those ignorant townspeople to me, I asked them the very same thing—are you mentioning an extraordinary figure?'"

"..." Elijah watched his performance with a peculiar expression.

The manor's master wore a mocking smile: "(Omega's exact words) 'The townspeople replied with absolute certainty, yes, there is a Poison Ivy in the wilds. Beware of Poison Ivy, whose warnings are clearly written on local signposts.'"

"..."

At that moment, Elijah simultaneously envisioned a Batman with a Superman's face, a Superman with Batman's ears, and countless palm-sized Poison Ivies flying around in the wild, working as diligently as bees.

His understanding of universal infrastructure settings was somewhat scrambled.

The manor's master continued, "I asked Omega whether the Poison Ivy of the Kingdom of El might be an entire race. Omega told me I was out of my mind. He surmised that the superpower of Poison Ivy in a fantasy Middle-earth world had likely been enhanced, turning her into a being akin to a lord of nature. By the same token, we also learned that the rulers of the Kingdom of El are none other than Superman's biological parents, Jor-El and Lara-El. Extending this logic, there might be a great many figures within the Kingdom of El who share the names and similar appearances of those we know, yet possess entirely different identities, powers, and allegiances..."

"This is why Omega's exploration of the unknown realm has been relatively slow. The massive divergence in worldview has made him extremely vigilant, and to prevent being detected by Poison Ivy, he refuses to even let his drones touch a single plant."

In summary, the territory of the Kingdom of El was a place defying common sense, where even Omega trod on thin ice. Yet upon hearing the alarm, Elijah felt not a shred of panic—his current party brought together masters of magic, destiny, and time, making it top-tier in terms of magic, which was just right for a place defying common sense.

The next second, a whistle rang out from the jungle, and a youthful voice came from overhead: "Discovered! Frontal assault!"

Simon immediately prepared his defense, Bob the three-headed dog braced itself, and Elijah looked in surprise toward the direction of the voice. His gaze pierced through layers of intertwined branches and leaves to see the enemy leader crouched high above: a girl with black hair and dark eyes possessing Asian facial features. She wore a black cloak, and her clothing bore no obvious insignia, consisting mostly of black and gray athletic gear designed for ease of movement, making it utterly impossible for ordinary people to identify her faction by her attire.

Yet Elijah's intuition as the Lord of Fate kicked in once again—

This child served Batman.

Uh, wait, which Batman?

Before Elijah could sort out how many Batmen there were in this universe now, several well-trained assassins clad in tight bodysuits and holding daggers and short blades had already pounced upon them. The dense forest became a natural assassination ground, blade light flickering amidst mottled sunlight, shredded green leaves and dust flying in all directions, the light and shadow of spells echoing Bob's roars, and a flurry of hidden arrows sketching an inescapable net. Meanwhile, the Asian girl who served as the team leader silently charged toward Elijah.

She judged Elijah to be the highest-threat entity among the "demons" present. Although he had never made a move so far and showed no intention of doing so, in this perilous medieval era, the Robins under Batman's command had a wealth of experience fighting against alien species. The Asian girl—Cassandra Cain—relied on her innate combat talent to determine precisely where danger lurked.

Danger had to be nipped in the bud.

This was for the peace and continuation of the Kingdom of El, to keep the royal family possessing Kryptonian blood safe from the ravages of magic.

Without hesitation, Cassandra pulled out a dagger and leaped from the treetops, her entire body resembling a taut arrow leaving the bowstring. In her eyes, Elijah was undoubtedly a shadow that even sunlight could not pierce, concealing himself in a cloak of bizarre material (a raincoat provided courtesy of the manor's master), holding a cylindrical ammunition launcher (a flashlight) in his hand, wearing a dark band on his wrist (a smart watch lent to Elijah by the manor's master to display real-time coordinates), and commanding two indescribable linear creatures to defend himself seamlessly (that part was true, anyway).

However, for Cassandra, the good news was that the unfamiliar enemy possessed a human form. She could thus tentatively deduce that the enemy's weaknesses were also those of humans. Within a single second, she executed three highly efficient strikes targeting Elijah's temple, throat, and spine. Batman and his Robins never killed, so the first two blows were merely feints and probes, and only the third attack was a full-strength strike gathering the might of thunder.

At first glance, Elijah appeared to have reacted not at all.

He ignored the first two probing strikes, which were as gentle as a breeze yet harbored deadly intent, and only when Cassandra's dagger swept around to his back-diagonal did he casually raise a silver-white staff...

Wait, a staff?! Not a magic wand?!

Cassandra froze abruptly, too late to pull back her strike. The fragile metal collided violently with the unknown material composing the staff, and the former shattered into two pieces in the blink of an eye.

The black-haired Robin nearly plunged into Elijah's arms due to momentum, stumbling rather ungracefully for a couple of steps. Elijah reached out to steady her shoulders, then quickly withdrew his hand before Cassandra could react, casually remarking:

"Forgot to ask... Do you guys speak English? What crime have I committed?"

Cassandra had yet to recover her senses when one of her subordinates behind her shouted fiercely: "The mere existence of you demons is a crime!"

Elijah was somewhat astonished by this extreme rhetoric. Not yet certain whether the Batman faction of the Kingdom of El was righteous or villainous, he thought about it and decided that making a getaway was paramount. He took a deep breath and spoke simply in the language of the Book of Fate: "Stop—!"

The voice carried far into the distance, causing even the birds flying in the air, the beasts walking on the ground, and the plants swaying in the wind to instinctively pause for a moment.

The humans present froze stiff, cold sweat breaking out all over as they stared in terror at the outlaw before them. Yet Elijah did not seize the opportunity to harvest lives as the kingdom's soldiers had imagined; instead, he simply and peacefully called out to Simon and Bob, "Let's go."

As if nothing had happened at all.

The man, the dog, and the two linear entities followed along complacently, swaggering deep into the jungle and soon vanishing from sight. Nearly half an hour later, Cassandra and her subordinates finally recovered fully from their rigid, immobile state. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and one assassin stared bitterly in the direction where Elijah's back had disappeared, muttering, "Damn it, if Prince Karl hadn't gone missing..."

"Do not rely on the power of others," Cassandra interrupted her. "Besides, Prince Karl's weakness is magic, and it is precisely to prevent them from facing such enemies that we struggle and bleed here."

Her subordinate immediately replied with a solemn expression, "You are right. But since they've just walked away like this, what should we do next?"

"I will report to the Bat-Prince," Cassandra said. "You continue to track the movements of this band of demons."

Another person asked hesitatingly, "But isn't our mission to find the missing Prince Karl?"

Cassandra nodded: "Both missions will be carried out simultaneously, with the Prince's safety taking priority. I will return to the capital first and rendezvous with you at the border in two days."

Her subordinates immediately acknowledged the order, replying respectfully, "Yes! Officer!"

***

Elijah did not overhear this dialogue, which was rich in information.

On one hand, he wasn't an incurable control freak like Omega; on the other hand, it was because he might, perhaps, possibly have encountered His Royal Highness Prince Kal-El, who had been missing for a long time, causing nationwide anxiety and prompting the mobilization of countless human and material resources in a desperate search. In any case, the sudden appearance of Kal-El absorbed his entire attention, leaving him no energy to care about other events occurring far away.

It is particularly worth emphasizing that this young Prince of El was bound to a thick stone pillar in an unknown dungeon, with the upper half of his body shirtless.

Elijah was dumbfounded.

All the shock he might ever feel in his lifetime had probably been exhausted on the Supermen of different universes, but even with Red Son and the master of the manor as pearls ahead, Prince Kal-El definitely claimed a place in Elijah's heart by virtue of his bizarre entrance.