"What's wrong with you all?" Strange couldn't help but ask. He wanted to lend a hand, but watched helplessly as Eternity seemed to use the last bit of strength to crawl inside the God's Temple, shouting while crawling, "I'm not dead yet, don't rush to collect the corpse!"
Strange was immediately displeased. He landed on the ground of the Temple of Eternity, crossed his arms, and said, "Do you see me as someone who takes advantage of others?"
"Then tell me, why are others in danger?"
"That's none of your business." Strange looked around again and then said, "What are you guys doing? A beach sunbath?"
"How dare you ask?! Look at this crappy plan you made! Do you know how many days we've worked overtime?!" Infinity yelled at Strange, "We've been testing non-stop for a year to adjust the cosmos for compatibility mode!"
"Come on, it's not that exaggerated. It's been less than a month, hasn't it?"
"You forgot one thing." Eternity said in a ghostly tone, "We can travel through time and reboot the cosmos?"
Strange paused, looked at him, and said, "So you rebooted the cosmos? What about compensation?"
"Compensation my foot!" Eternity yelled at him again, "We worked overtime for free, and you want us to compensate you?! It's good enough we're not asking you to pay us a salary!"
"I'm not your boss." Strange rolled his eyes and said, "What's the deal with Apocalypse Star? How did Batman bring it here? Are you sure this thing won't crash the program?"
Mentioning this, Eternity was evidently a tearful sorrow: "You said it was Batman; do you think anyone can argue with him? Lucifer worked overtime until he was losing hair! This year, it wasn't just us pausing time to fix the program; both sides were fixing together! It's just that you, as creatures within the cosmos, can't feel anything."
Strange suddenly realized. Although it felt like only a few days had passed for them, these administrators were able to pause the program operation and manually adjust parameters. And during the pause, those within the program couldn't feel a thing. As long as both sides paused together, the timeline would still match up.
It's like two people playing a fighting game and pressing pause at the same time; as long as they resume at the same time, the characters in the game won't notice. Once it restarts, they fight as usual. Strange and Batman are like game characters, unaware of the external operations by these universe administrators.
"Wait a minute," Strange suddenly realized the issue and said, "You paused not just our individual universe, right? Otherwise, people from other individual universes should have felt something."
"Of course not. Two Great Worlds engaging in a war isn't that simple. The whole Great World underwent a code adjustment, fixing all the program bugs that emerged since the start of Battleworld, and conducted integration and optimization for possible future interactions, making OAA nearly exhausted."
"That's not so exaggerated," Strange completely ignorant of this, shook his head and said, "Isn't he just directing you guys to work? How can he be exhausted?"
"That's what you don't get. Some permissions are only his, so he has to manually adjust them. With great power comes great responsibility." Eternity seemed a bit schadenfreude.
"It's still not that ridiculous. Beings like you should have multiple threads, not interfering with each other. Running them shouldn't reach the point of overheating."
"Looks like you really don't understand," Eternity slumped in the corner with some disdain, "Fixing program errors and such are small issues. Even creating new fusion parameters isn't hard. But as the saying goes: coding is a temporary thrill, optimization is the crematorium. Achieving smooth operation is the hardest. If it weren't for our skills, you'd be stumbling as you walk now."
"So what exactly is with Apocalypse Star?" Strange continued to ask.
"It's just that," Eternity said, "Batman, we don't know if he's gone crazy or what, during the second round of optimization, ending testing, and advancing time, suddenly decided to collaborate with Darkseid, using his Apocalypse Star as a frontline base for the offense. You have no idea how desperate we were when we heard this! It's like you've optimized all the processes of brewing and selling in a tavern, and the player walks in to order a fried rice."
Strange finally began to understand a bit. He said, "So you previously focused on optimizing the superheroes."
"Of course, it also involved some super villains, but not many. At the time, we thought Batman wouldn't introduce so many unstable factors to the battlefield. But then he brought in a large one. The screams in the office could be heard from world to world next door."
Thinking of that scene, Strange couldn't help but chuckle.
About three days before the war began, the final combat meeting was held in the Prime Universe of DC. Everyone present thought that most matters were ready, and this was just a mobilization meeting.
Unexpectedly, at the start of the meeting, Primary Universe Batman told everyone present, "I know you think we are fully prepared, but I must tell you, this is far from enough."
Other Batmen frowned slightly, as they had already conducted detailed analyses. Hundreds of plans for various situations were at least prepared, with scenarios numbering in the thousands, and even Batman's brain capacity was nearing its limit, which showed how well-prepared they were. Now, Primary Universe Batman was saying it wasn't enough. It was unclear whether his brain limit was too high or whether he was overly paranoid.
Then came words from the Primary Universe Batman that stunned them. He said, "I've discovered that the light that took the late-night snack that day came from Doctor Manhattan. I've sent information about this person in the group."
The Batmen all looked down to check, and the moment they saw it, they froze. Primary Universe Batman continued, "I don't need to explain what this means. Whether we win or lose this war, we must give it our all to test our limits. Otherwise, in facing such a being, we may not even get a chance to strike."
The Batmen collectively fell silent. The Supermen beside them looked at them with some concern, but Batman said nothing, seemingly choosing to remain silent.
"Next, I want to introduce a new ally to everyone, and I hope some of you present won't panic. Since he can be here, I can vouch for your safety with my personality."
The Batmen had a bad feeling, and as they looked up, they saw an especially tall and strong silhouette walk into the meeting room. Many of them felt suffocated the moment they laid eyes on him.
"Darkseid?!!!" the Batmen all stood up. Even Superman's eyes began to glow red, and Wonder Woman gripped her lasso, igniting the atmosphere in the hall immediately.
"Don't be nervous; this time I'm here as a helper." Darkseid was quite stable emotionally. He raised an eyebrow and said, "I know many of you have a psychological shadow concerning me, but I also hope you can calm down and think. In the hands of someone like Doctor Manhattan, what's the difference between us?"
The Batmen's courage was the first to wane. They knew very well that Doctor Manhattan was described with just a few words on paper, but the abilities that could be summarized in a few words would be far more complex in reality—they could do many more things than described.
Moreover, this was only what they were aware of. How many Doctor Manhattans were there in corners unknown to them? In the eyes of these beings, aren't they just like tiny ants?
Even though Darkseid is stronger, in the face of entities that can directly alter cosmic rules, he's just a stronger ant. No matter how many times stronger he gets, without administrator privileges, he's just a lifeform that can be destroyed at any time.
Batman rarely complains, but at this moment, he couldn't help but resent God's injustice. The Human race is like duckweed on the surface of a deep pool—unsupported, fragile, and small, easily disfigured by any gust of wind. And this is just on normal days—who knows what monsters might suddenly rush up from the bottomless depths and devour everyone in one bite?
Primary Universe Batman watched their changing expressions and sighed softly in his heart. He recalled a conversation he'd had with Strange long ago when he thought Strange was too extreme.
But now he suddenly understood that weak creatures must demonstrate enough ferocity to carve out a chance in the brutal nature. If they don't even have the strength to brandish claws and fangs, anyone dares to come and bite a piece off. No one can demand someone with zero margin for error to have a merciful heart, because one wrong step could lead to falling into an endless Abyss.
"I invited His Majesty Darkseid so he could help us gain an advantage in the upcoming war."
"But you said we should test our limits in this battle, so the more difficult it is, the better. Why would you still seek assistance?" Batwoman asked.
"Though adversity can temper us better, if we are easily crushed, it wouldn't achieve the effect of drilling," Primary Universe Batman explained, "I am more familiar with the Central Universe than you are, and I can only tell you this: with our current preparations, it's very likely we'll be swiftly defeated."
"Why?" asked other Batmen.
"It's not because of Iron Demon God, nor because of Shiller, but because of their overall level," Primary Universe Batman said, "Global Superhero and Mutant unity, global ordinary people's unity, fleets, Outposts, allies with shared interests, almost limitless Energy, and ample war preparations meant to deal with their side of the Multiverse crisis. If all used against us, we can hardly resist."
Some Supermen wanted to ask Primary Universe Batman why he hadn't mentioned this before, but seeing the Batmen remain silent, they also held their tongues. Actually, most Batmen knew why.
Previously, their mindset was that they could revive—if they couldn't win, then so be it, they would fight to whatever extent possible. Although it seemed like they were seeking justice, they knew in their hearts, they wouldn't actually achieve anything significant—certainly not killing the culprits. At most, they'd force the dissolution of the Prime Universe Avengers or ask for some compensation, but those gains wouldn't be enough for Batman to reveal his trump card.
But things are different now. Primary Universe Batman is ready to show his true mettle and fight to the end. The Batmen only heard him say, "Going over to fight with us this time are not only Darkseid but also Apocalypse Star and the Demon-like Army he controls."