"You mean The Ancient One?" Arkham Batman furrowed his brows and said, "The Supreme Magician shouldn't be that kind of person, right?"
"It's not necessarily a deliberate move," Shiller shook his head and said, "He might have just foreseen it and didn't do anything to stop it. Do you believe in fate?"
"When I learned that in the Multiverse, only one pair of Mr. and Mrs. Wayne survived, I believed in it for a moment," Arkham Batman answered very directly.
"The fact is that in the Marvel Mage's perspective, fate is real and unavoidable. Who will become the Supreme Magician is destined, and when the Supreme Magician will die is also destined. On the line of fate, there are many knots that can only be untied by specific people, and no one can interfere."
"I get it, what you're saying is that we can't possibly save Doctor Strange from the car accident because the accident itself is part of fate's plan for him to meet his teacher and become the successor of the Supreme Magician."
Shiller nodded and said, "And even in the Dreamworld, once he becomes the Supreme Magician, he'll understand what we're doing. In that case, he will voluntarily leave with his team, and we are doomed to lose."
"Isn't that cheating?" Constantine said, "What if he secretly left himself some memories and disguised it all as fate's design? How do we uncover that?"
"The fact is, we can't uncover it because the logic holds. Even if you leave and ask other mages, they'll give you the same answer," Shiller shook his head and said, "As long as there's a logical explanation, whether or not they actually cheated, we just have to accept it. After all, this is their territory."
"No, I can confirm he didn't keep any memories," Jack suddenly spoke up, "The rules of the two worlds have somewhat merged, and I can also control part of the Dream Dimension, otherwise, I wouldn't have agreed to the competition. He indeed didn't keep any memories, but things might indeed develop the way you said. It can only be said that the matter of fate is not really a secret that we overlooked, and we lost out in that."
Arkham Batman also nodded. Actually, before the competition started, he had thought about what each person's nightmare might be. Others might change, but two people remain constant: one is Batman losing his parents that night, and the other is Doctor Strange's hand injury day. These two are just too easy to guess.
Since that's the case, not recalling anything about the mage's fate was indeed his oversight, and it couldn't be said that they were cheating.
Things indeed unfolded as they had imagined. The nightmare's development was no different from the real world. The hospital healed Doctor Strange's hands, but he could no longer perform surgeries, so he traveled the world seeking medical help, and eventually encountered The Ancient One. After becoming the Supreme Magician, he ended the dream and determined Charles' side as the winner. Now the score was back to 2:2.
With darkness reappearing, this time the situation became a bit eerie. Although there were whispers, the surroundings did not light up.
It wasn't until Shiller saw a glimmer of fire in the distance that he realized they had entered the dream, but it was so dark that it felt indistinguishable from loading time.
Shiller took out a flashlight, shone it around, and then promptly switched it off. Because appearing in the flashlight's beam were rows upon rows of tombstones.
By the looks of the Xavier family's influence, if someone in their family died, they wouldn't be buried in such a cemetery, so most likely, this was Constantine's dream.
As to why it wasn't Shiller's own, if he had bodies to deal with, he usually buried them behind the church. This kind of mass grave that looks like a good place to bury bodies is actually very dangerous due to the lack of human activity, various beasts frequent the place often. Whether it's raccoons, wolves, packs of wild dogs, or flocks of birds, they can easily dig up the earth. If by chance someone passing by saw it, it could cause unnecessary trouble.
Confirming that this was a mass grave, Shiller instead breathed a sigh of relief. Experienced serial killers all have their own burial sites and wouldn't bury people here, so those who deal with bodies here are probably just small-time thugs, nothing to be afraid of.
Until he saw the figure crouching behind a tombstone, gnawing on a corpse.
Shiller momentarily stopped in his tracks, not out of fear, but because this guy was muttering as he ate, and the whispers from earlier were coming from him.
Shiller turned the flashlight back on, shining a light on the other person's face, and then saw a face that was definitely not human.
This guy's face was very flat, without a nose, eye sockets were two wrinkled pits, and the lips were very human-like but exceptionally large, with uneven teeth, some of them protruding out of the mouth.
The other was startled by the light, dragging the corpse away quickly. Shiller walked over to where he had been eating and found that the body he had been dragging wasn't Constantine, which made him feel a sense of relief.
Generally speaking, the protagonist of a nightmare wouldn't refresh in a distant location, so Constantine should be nearby. Whether it's the adult or the young version, why come to the mass grave?
Shiller walked while examining the graveyard environment and sighed, it's not easy for there to still be such mass graves in Constantine's era. In Europe and America, cemeteries are usually well-maintained, many are in parks, or at worst, specially allocated land with maybe a small church next to it.
Speaking of which, not long after walking, he spotted a forest and a structure resembling a church ahead. Judging by the style, it should be an English Catholic church.
Shiller didn't hesitate and continued towards it, having noticed earlier that in this dream, everyone seemed to be separated, he had walked through the mass grave for a long time without seeing Batman or the others.
Reaching the front of the small church, he found that the old wooden door was shut. He tugged at the lock forcefully, but nothing happened.
Just as Shiller was about to look for a back door, the door suddenly opened. An old Father, who appeared quite kind, poked his head out: "What's the matter? Child, you..."
Shiller didn't waste any words with him, searching his coat pocket, he pulled out a badge: "Military Intelligence Section 6 Agent Rodriguez. Move aside."
The other party seemed completely unprepared for the turn of events. His face fell instantly, looking not only unkind but also extremely grim and terrifying. Just as he was about to say something, a gun was already pointed at his forehead.
"You are blaspheming God!"
"God got off easy."
Shiller didn't bother with any nonsense. He gave him a hard shove, pushing open the door as well, and walked straight in. He surveyed the place and found that although the church was small and shabby, it had all the necessary elements. There was a podium, seating, carpet, candles, and of course, Jesus nailed on the cross.
Shiller sat down directly in the first row, intending to wait for his teammates here. This small church was probably the only building within a ten-mile radius, so his teammates would definitely head here.
Seeing Shiller just sit down like this, the old Father was a bit bewildered. He walked back and was just about to speak when the door was knocked again.
"Is anyone there? Is anyone there?!"
Shiller recognized it as Jack's voice.
The old Father walked over and opened the door a crack. Jack's sinister voice came through, "I drove here to deliver some goods, you know. This damn weather has got me a bit wet, and I need to come in and dry my clothes. Can you let me in?"
Through that crack in the door, Shiller could see the shadow of Jack, still wearing his trucker's uniform, seemingly holding an axe. Whatever was staining his clothes was any dark color but did not look like water. Besides, it wasn't raining outside. The sky was clear with a bright moon and few stars, so where was this damn weather coming from?
Perhaps because of that axe in his hand, the old Father trembled as he opened the door. Shiller walked over, saw Shiller, but didn't acknowledge him either, and sat down in another row.
The old Father, looking at one living person on each side, didn't know what to say. Just as he decided to speak, the door was knocked again.
It was apparent from his hesitant steps, but he had no choice but to walk over. This time he had learned his lesson and didn't just open a crack. Instead, he asked through the door, "Who are you?"
"Exorcist," came a deep voice from outside, "I hear things have been uneasy here recently, so I've come to check the situation."
This time, the old Father opened the door willingly and even showed enthusiasm, but upon turning back to see Jack and Shiller, he was speechless again, opting to silently invite Arkham Batman to a seat.
Just as he was about to say something to Arkham Batman, with a "bang," the door was kicked open. Two figures appeared outside the doorway. As the candle flame flickered, the instant the Father saw Charles's face, something flashed briefly over his head and disappeared.
Shiller sneered and turned his head away.
Erik and Charles sat in the second row.
Judging that it was about time, Shiller first turned his head toward Jack and asked, "What's that in your hand?"
"What's it got to do with you?"
Shiller glanced at his watch and said, "Recently, a vicious killer has escaped into the nearby forest. According to witnesses, he's carrying a long axe and chops anyone he meets. The victims are often hacked into pieces and hung on trees to be pecked at by birds."
"He's been affected by the Devils," Arkham Batman spoke up, "That's precisely why I'm here, Officer."
"Devils? What devils can make people wield axes and hack others? I think it's just local police inefficiency. This case is already on the nobles' radar, and even the Royal Family has heard of it. Forget about these ghostly devils, we need to catch the murderer swiftly."
"So, you think I'm the killer devil?" Jack sneered, "You can't tell I'm an outsider; I'm not local; the only local here is..."
He looked at the old Father. The others also turned their gaze towards the Father. The Father replied coldly, "Enough, don't taint God's ears with such sins!"
"You are the one tainting God," Jack turned, axe in hand, his face appearing terrifying under the candlelight. Blood dripped down the axe and disappeared into the dark red flooring. He slowly moved toward the Father.
"What are you going to do?! You..."
Jack's presence was extremely intimidating. He was the only one defying the Batman-Joker rule because the Batman in his universe had recovered, but he hadn't. The Joker virus showed no signs of disappearing, making him the only Joker in the Multiverse who could still be lively without a Batman. His might was conceivable.
He moved slowly, but the pressure was immense, even causing Charles and Erik sitting nearby to shift away, and Arkham Batman subconsciously reached for his dart at his waist.
At this moment, the door was knocked again. A youthful voice came through: "Excuse me... excuse me, is anyone there? I... I got lost with Dad coming to watch a game... There are strange people in the graveyard. Can anyone let me in?"