Snap.
The lights in the restaurant went out without warning, plunging the guests into sudden darkness. However, this state didn't last long because, in the next moment, the wall near the corridor exploded with a resounding boom.
Guests gasped, elegant ladies screamed. A bat-shaped silhouette emerged from the smoke, its presence casting an ominous judgment over everyone in the room.
"Ladies and gentlemen."
A deep, modulated voice echoed.
"You are feasting on Gotham's wealth, the spirit of this city. But this banquet is about to come to an end. From this moment on."
He approached slowly, a giant bat's shadow cast upon the carpet, reflected in the fearful eyes of every elite present, instilling fear deep into the hearts of Gotham's upper class.
"None of you are safe."
A grand entrance, perfect in its oppression. Despite being a newcomer, Batman maximized the theatrical effect, embedding fear into the depths of these Gotham elites' souls.
Or so it should have been.
But a sinister chuckle echoed behind him.
"Oh really, I doubt that."
Batman turned alertly, only to find a twisted shadow looming in the darkness behind him. Something dark and menacing materialized suddenly. He barely had time to raise his arm in defense.
The next moment, a tremendous impact almost dislocated his arm. His entire body flew under the monstrous force, crashing out into the corridor outside the restaurant.
Exaggerated strength, even with the cushioning of his bat suit, proved barely enough. Batman half-crouched as he got up, only to see another bat-like silhouette in the darkness.
In the dim light, a pale grey fur covered its sturdy skin, with a sharp mouth bearing sharp, curved teeth, wingspan over two meters, a grotesque and twisted form.
Even the guests couldn't help but gasp in shock, except Maroni, who laughed like a maniac.
"Ha, when I heard there was a lunatic dressed as a bat opposing us, I thought, seriously? A guy in a costume calling himself 'Batman'?
Clearly, you haven't seen a real demon. My new ally, a fiend from hell!"
The bat-like fiend emitted a piercing scream, causing every glass in the building to resonate.
Clearly a novice on the road, Batman slightly exceeded expectations. But he immediately reacted, throwing two bat-shaped batarangs.
Custom-made by Batman, these batarangs were crafted from a new alloy developed within WayneTech, capable of cutting through iron like mud and piercing even steel plates.
But they couldn't leave a scratch on this twisted monster.
The Bat Fiend growled lowly and pounced forward. Batman rolled on the spot to evade, but its claw struck the wall behind him with force, piercing through.
He spun around, a swift kick with maximum force, a basic martial arts technique known for its explosive power. With Batman's masterful combat skills and peak human physical abilities, executing a move like this, akin to chopping down a towering ancient tree, was effortless.
Yet the creature stood unmoved, not even a moment of hesitation. It grabbed his throat and pinned Batman against the wall, cracking the wall behind him.
At this stage, Batman's equipment, even the gadgets in his utility belt, were designed only for combating street criminals, basic weapons. Forget about the later high-tech gadgets used in battles among gods, not even explosive batarangs were available.
His armor couldn't resist such monstrous strength, and he knew in a second his neck would be crushed by the creature's grip.
Before that, he threw a smoke bomb at its face.
Of course, it couldn't harm such a creature, but the exploding smoke successfully choked it. The Bat Fiend coughed involuntarily, loosening its grip. Batman broke free and swiftly disappeared into the smoke.
Roaring in anger, the Bat Fiend swiped its claws, tearing through the smoke angrily and chasing into the kitchen behind the restaurant. The chefs had already fled, making way for the two big shots to battle.
The Bat Fiend looked around and quickly found Batman huddled in a corner of the kitchen. The latter raised another batarang, aiming and throwing it with a swooshing sound.
However, perhaps due to panic, he missed.
The Fiend grinned, its ugly face showing a mocking expression, as if ridiculing the man dressed as a bat for being so pathetic that he couldn't hit even when standing still.
But when Batman threw another batarang, the Fiend immediately realized something was wrong.
Then turned his head and saw the kitchen beside the overloaded microwave oven, full of tableware.
The batarang hadn't missed. It stuck in the wall, piercing the natural gas pipeline buried behind the wall.
Boom!
The fire spread instantly, filling the kitchen with flames, like an army rushing through the confined space. The intense heatwave swept everything in the room, and the entire kitchen collapsed, engulfing everything including the Bat Fiend in flames.
Batman was also blown away by the shockwave, flying out from the crumbling wall, crashing out of the building and plummeting towards the street below.
Fortunately, his invulnerable battle suit protected him from major injuries, and he managed to open a black parachute in time for landing. After the wind resistance slowed him down, he barely landed on the roof of a car parked below, denting the roof with a loud crash and shattering the car windows.
His landing equipment was still limited to a parachute; he didn't yet have the later high-tech cape glider.
Pedestrians screamed, passersby scattered, looking at this bat-like creature that suddenly fell from the sky in shock.
Batman took two seconds to regain his balance, rolled off the dented car roof onto the ground covered with debris, catching his breath heavily.
It was then that he realized something was wrong as he heard screams from the surrounding pedestrians.
Sure enough, when he looked up, the Bat Fiend had flown out of the explosion's inferno, landing in front of him. It seemed that neither the explosive impact nor the fire had caused any harm to its indestructible black body.
"You're a bit different. A human warrior, huh?" The Fiend sneered, approaching. "You have skills, ideas, but you're just a weak human after all.
And I serve the master of the demons! I won't be defeated by an ant like you."
Just as it taunted, it suddenly sensed a danger, an instinctual chill down its spine.
Turning its head, it instantly spotted a figure standing out in the fleeing crowd, dressed entirely in black like an assassin.
The person's right arm was equipped with a peculiar mechanical device, calmly raising its arm, the black-hole-like barrel aimed straight at the Fiend.
The Fiend immediately judged that this was a weapon called a "gun," created by modern humans.
It had seen humans use similar weapons before, but they were laughably weak in front of beings like the Fiend, not even a scratch could be considered.
So the Fiend was amused.
Who did this little human think they could scare?
Tiny human, how laughable.
As it thought about twisting the human's arm off to watch him scream in fear, it heard a voice from behind.
"Spectrum energy charge complete." The energy cannon gave a prompt.
Shen You pulled the trigger.
The next moment, the Fiend saw a dazzling light as if something he could only dream of in his dreams.
A deep blue light, like an endless river pouring down, the explosive thrust pushed Shen You's entire body back half a step.
The Fiend's eyes widened. In that moment of light, a thought flashed through its dazed mind.
Have humans become this terrifying after being offline for so long?
I'm just a tiny demon, with so much hatred and resentment, you're this far?
The brilliant blue light swept across, like crushing the Fiend into crumbs, even Gotham's eternal night seemed briefly illuminated.
Like sunshine breaking through the night.