About three minutes ago, Primary Universe Batman found Darkseid. He said, "I heard that you can resurrect beings killed by Omega Beams?"
"...Where did you hear that from?"
"From the intelligence gathered in the Multiverse."
Darkseid paused briefly, then said, "That's true, indeed."
"Where will the resurrection take place?"
"What?"
"Where will the person killed by Omega Beams be resurrected?"
"Of course, in the Apocalypse Domain. Why?"
"I need you to use Omega Beams to kill someone now, and then resurrect him in the Apocalypse Domain."
"Who?"
"Thanos."
Darkseid narrowed his eyes slightly, while Primary Universe Batman focused on his expression. Seeing his demeanor, Batman knew that Darkseid didn't think much of Thanos.
It seems that without the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos is no match for Darkseid at all. Even outside the Apocalypse Domain, their strengths are not on the same level. If Thanos is brought into the Apocalypse Domain, he shouldn't be able to stir up much trouble.
Primary Universe Batman quietly noted this piece of intelligence, then said, "I believe you're also very interested in intelligence about the Central Universe. If you bring Thanos over, we can share the intelligence we get from him."
Darkseid hesitated a bit. Of course, he wanted the intelligence, especially that about the superheroes of the Great World here. But this meant he might reveal more of his own intelligence to Batman.
However, even if he didn't reveal it, Batman could gather intelligence among the Multiverse; the behavior of his counterparts wouldn't escape Batman's scrutiny. Since the intelligence would leak sooner or later, it's better to take this opportunity to make a deal with Batman.
"No problem. Tell me where he is."
Of course, there were Main Universe Flash watchers over there in the Dark Quadrant. Primary Universe Batman provided Darkseid with the intelligence and specific location.
Darkseid's eyes flashed with light, and the Omega Beam crossed space, directly hitting Erik and Thanos, who were in confrontation in the Dark Quadrant, wiping out both of them.
Afterward, Darkseid activated the revival program, and two figures appeared within the Apocalypse Domain.
Darkseid was stunned: "Why are there two?"
When he used Omega Beams on the target, he clearly felt two individuals. But he knew how the Battleworld's revival mechanism worked. If Erik had been killed by him, he should have transformed into a ray of white light and returned to Battleworld, making it impossible to be resurrected alongside Thanos.
Thanos could revive here because he never went to Battleworld and didn't participate in the military exercises, so his death and revival should naturally follow the Omega rules.
But how did Erik also come here???
Darkseid didn't have time to consider deeply; he quickly moved to suppress Erik. The landing Erik was momentarily confused, thinking he was teleported elsewhere by the opponent, secretly cursing Thanos for being cunning. As he turned around, he saw Batman.
The two locked eyes, both shocked.
Erik instinctively wanted to strike, but another giant nearby reached out and pressed him to the ground.
"Uh..."
Apocalypse Star is Darkseid's Divine Country, and a God is invincible within their own Divine Country, controlling everything here, including magnetic forces and fields. Essentially, it's like how a God can control everything in the Real Universe, but Darkseid is the God of the Apocalypse Domain.
Magneto, in the Apocalypse Domain, could never surpass Darkseid in controlling magnetic forces and fields. To be precise, Darkseid could make it so that the basic forces of the cosmos don't exist in the Apocalypse Domain; naturally, Magneto couldn't be his match.
Seeing Erik subdued, Primary Universe Batman breathed a sigh of relief. He had been truly startled just now, but anyone would be shocked facing Magneto appearing abruptly beside them; it's indeed terrifying.
Then he immediately looked at Darkseid, with suspicion and accusation clearly in his gaze. He even wondered if Darkseid intended to use Magneto to assassinate him, under the guise of an Omega Beam experiment accident.
Darkseid was equally puzzled: Isn't Battleworld supposed to have the highest priority? This guy was killed by the Omega Beam, why didn't he resurrect in Battleworld, but in the Omega Beam?
Could Batman and Thanos have teamed up to trap him?
However, there was no conspiracy involved; it was simply a pure bug. Issues like authority priorities and program ownership are prone to errors in execution.
OAA paused the entire cosmos when Darkseid activated the revival system, repairing it for seven whole days before barely resolving the issue. But fixing the erroneous programs required rollback, which led to more errors afterward, then it was simply abandoned.
After all, it wasn't his problem alone. The program for the Omega Beam was written by the God of the adjacent world, but they had major lay-offs, and God left without returning; Lucifer and his successors had decent skills but didn't understand much of the source code, and God didn't write comments, making modification of this primordial power clueless, forcing OAA to make rough changes here. It frustrated him immensely, eventually he opted out of the task entirely.
So it happened: Erik, who was supposed to be resurrected in the Battleworld, was resurrected along with Thanos by an Omega Ray directly into the Apocalypse Domain and was immediately captured by Darkseid.
Darkseid enclosed Erik in a bubble. Erik tried to struggle, but in the Apocalypse Domain, he couldn't possibly defeat Darkseid, so he could only coldly stare at the two people in front of him.
"Take off his helmet," said the Primary Universe Batman. Their immediate priority was to confirm which Magneto this was.
In just a few seconds, Primary Universe Batman had already figured it out: although capturing a Magneto was unexpected, it was fortunate for them, as he was a significant prisoner of war, much more valuable than the likes of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Losing a Guardians of the Galaxy wouldn't affect the enemy's battle readiness and might even improve it; but losing a Magneto would be a big trouble. Not to mention individual strength, the Mutant Brotherhood would never allow their leader to be captured, and they would certainly demand a rescue.
However, the X-Men might not agree, because it's simply not the time to launch a strong attack on Apocalypse Star; even if the mutants agreed, the command center wouldn't allow it. At that time, if the mutants acted on their own, their relationship with The Avengers might become very tense, and internal conflicts would greatly drain their energy.
If they don't rescue him, they could use him later for a prisoner exchange. The mutants, hoping to swap Magneto out, might change their tactics from killing to capturing enemies alive and might even demand The Avengers to do the same. A moment's hesitation on the battlefield can be fatal.
Especially since Primary Universe Batman had heard of the entangled grievances between Professor X and Magneto, the Professor X from the same universe as this Magneto would certainly find a way to save him. And Professor X's forte is his psychic ability; even without using coercive mind control, he is a very persuasive talker; persuasion of just a few people could be enough to interfere with the enemy's combat plans.
Primary Universe Batman's plan seemed solid, but in the instant the helmet was removed, he was stunned, because this Magneto appeared very young. A sense of foreboding gradually rose in his mind.
In the Multiverse, there are young Magnetos, but a young Erik Lehnsherr is still different from a rejuvenated Magneto. As Batman, he could easily distinguish who was truly young and who was an old person masquerading as young, and the Magneto in front of him was clearly the latter.
This unique demeanor was rare; to be accurate, there was only one like this in the entire Multiverse, which was the Magneto from the Central Universe.
Alarm bells were ringing loudly in Primary Universe Batman's mind because the maniacs of the Central Universe behave unpredictably. Why capture anyone, and specifically grab the Magneto from the Central Universe?!
Just as he thought about this, suddenly a golden light flashed, and Barry appeared behind Primary Universe Batman, speaking in a somewhat trembling voice: "The Flash..."
"What?"
"The Flash is dead."
Primary Universe Batman hurriedly opened the personnel statistics page and was frozen on the spot—not the Main Universe Flash, but almost all Flashes deployed outside had died, all at the same time.
"Professor X," Barry said, panting slightly, "Professor X says if you don't let him go, he will scramble everyone's brains."
Primary Universe Batman clenched his hand suddenly, rushing out of the hall. Barry quickly grabbed him, saying, "Don't go out, he's gone mad! As long as the brainwaves are exposed to the universe, you'll be brain-dead instantly!"
"How many Flashes came back? Where are they now?"
Barry's face was very pale, shaking his head toward Primary Universe Batman. But Primary Universe Batman still headed toward the hospital at the base. At this moment, the wards were packed with people.
About five or six Flashes lay in the hospital beds, with their other bodily data being normal, just their brainwaves were so weak they were nearly disappearing, and could be declared brain-dead.
There were also a few Supermen lying there, their brainwave activity was indeed active but a bit overly so, clearly fighting against something in the Psychic_Battlefield, unresponsive to calls from the outside.
Primary Universe Batman saw the figure of the Main Universe Superman among them.
He steadied himself against the doorframe and walked in; as he approached the Main Universe Superman, he suddenly opened those blue eyes and looked toward him, but Primary Universe Batman realized it wasn't Superman. He heard him speak in an unprecedentedly icy tone:
"Batman, you will pay for this!"
"Batman! Batman!" a Green Lantern hero rushed in hurriedly, "The Green Lantern base outside has been attacked, three Green Lanterns were killed instantly, and the rest are holding out with green lantern energy. What on earth is happening?!"
Primary Universe Batman of course remembered, previously Hal and his group couldn't get in, so they set up camp on a planet near Apocalypse Star, now probably also attacked by this universe's Professor X.
Since Professor X's attack was soundless, no one had any precautions, no matter how strong the willpower was, if caught off guard by such a person, it is really hard to escape, and immediately three Green Lanterns died.
The rest were probably heavily injured, otherwise, they wouldn't easily send someone back for reinforcements. Primary Universe Batman immediately turned and said, "Move the giant Lantern Furnace directly to your base, tell Hal, don't skimp on energy. Quickly!"
Then, he checked the personnel statistics again, finding that in such a short round of offense, they had lost 80% of the Flashes, five Supermen, and three Green Lanterns, and were continuing to suffer losses.
Primary Universe Batman looked at the cold eyes of Main Universe Superman that he had never seen before, pursing his lips tightly, with his fingertips clutching the communicator turning white.
But at this time, Superman on another bed also opened his eyes, then a second, a third; then the Flashes on the beds against the wall all sat up, staring at Batman with cold and hollow eyes, continuously repeating in the same tone:
"Batman, you will pay for this."
"Batman, it's all your fault."
"Batman, you killed them."
"Batman, it's all you..."
"Batman..."