The bright light faded away. The people in the church opened their eyes in a daze. Those few seconds seemed to span centuries. When they regained consciousness, something felt as if it had changed, yet also as if it hadn't. Most weren't sure.
Only Batman knew that their seemingly absurd plan had worked. A crack had opened in the chains of fate. Dick and Starfire successfully got married. It wasn't just the two of them who escaped the fate of repeating the same cycle. Everyone who witnessed the wedding, who witnessed God's blessing, had a chance to escape the tragic fate of superheroes.
From Batman's perspective, this couldn't really be called a plan. Initially, it was just a casual conversation with Shiller. Inevitably, Batman talked about the countless identical fates of Batmans. He then keenly noticed that Shiller had some understanding beyond the facts.
Then came Iron Man. As one of the smartest people from the adjacent Great World, Iron Man of the Old 616 Main Universe was not only intelligent but also had very rich experience, even richer than Primary Universe Batman's. The absurd and unreasonable events occurring in their world were more abundant, and he saw through them more clearly. Iron Man took the initiative to talk to Batman about this.
There was also Reed Richards. After interacting with Reed, Batman felt a bit puzzled. Mr. Fantastic wasn't the irresponsible and cold mad scientist that legends portrayed. Perhaps he was somewhat obsessed with science, occasionally showing a lack of empathy and a non-human feel. But overall, he was a fairly well-meaning person.
Batman conducted a detailed analysis of Reed Richards, but the behavioral analysis conclusions didn't quite align with some things Reed had done. Batman preferred to trust data analysis, so there must be hidden truths behind past events. Batman had to talk to Reed about this.
Another person who brought up the topic with Batman was Brainiac, which even surprised Batman a bit. Brainiac was always trying to do something in the Multiverse.
For electronic life, the existence of fate is even more elusive. No one doubts whether these lives, composed of programs and electronic components, can really comprehend fate. After all, those peculiar events, while happening strangely, weren't entirely impossible, and from a probabilistic point of view, there was no evidence.
Brainiac was interested in something else. Having first contacted the cosmos where Shiller resided, Brainiac had ample time to investigate past events in Gotham. He discovered that Shiller had many bizarre insights about his universe, which made him start to question Shiller's origins.
Brainiac believed in the possibility of higher dimensional beings, where, in a higher dimension, everyone could be edited, controlled by some supreme will over all universes, coinciding with Batman's deterministic view.
Of course, there were others, like Constantine and even Alexander Luther. They hadn't fully recognized the existence of fate, but they had their own interpretations of determinism, not merely denying the existence of destiny's arrangement as ordinary people imagined. To some extent, they sensed fate's trajectory, but being within it, they didn't know how to understand it.
These renowned intelligent figures from the universe had no good solutions for dealing with fate. When they sensed the trap of fate, they dared not to resist fiercely, fearing counterproductive outcomes.
During this process, they gradually realized Shiller might truly be exceptional. Fate's trap had no effect on him, and he didn't seem to experience those tragic fates.
This meant that the key to breaking the game lay with Shiller. They began discussing fate-related matters with Shiller's different personality traits, initially being quite cautious. When they discovered that Shiller was a complete black box and that talking to him wouldn't attract fate's attention, they grew bolder.
Together, they analyzed many times and finally concluded: The cosmos is divided into two sides, order and chaos, with fate being extreme order.
Fate wants everyone to move forward according to its arrangement, either trapping them in tragic destinies or staying stagnant. Anything outside fate's plan is not allowed to happen. Everything must follow certain laws, never allowing change. This is how order appears when taken to the extreme.
If one wants to suppress order, chaos must be introduced.
Everything Batman had done before was to prevent chaos from invading the World of Order. After all, chaos is a disaster for Order Creatures. If the cosmos reverted to the chaotic state of creation, no one would survive.
However, upon discovering fate's existence, Batman realized that both extreme order and chaos are undesirable. Extreme order means no possibilities left for the cosmos; everyone's development is boxed into a fixed framework, leaving endless repetition, like a rehearsed play staged repeatedly.
Only when a balance between order and chaos is achieved can the cosmos operate orderly, allowing people to live in a stable environment. Yet, the future lies in the unknown chaos, where people decide the direction independently, achieving an optimal state.
But how can Order Creatures utilize chaos?
At this time, Greed proposed an idea: To utilize chaos, the key isn't in doing something, but in not doing something.
The plans made by intelligent people tend to ensure every link is known. Timing, terrain, and human harmony must meet requirements. Any deviation in any part requires immediate correction to ensure the plan's success.
But in the face of destiny, this approach is not feasible. They not only can't ensure the known, but must create as many unknowns as possible. Thus, a very bold and absurd plan emerged in everyone's minds.
Using Shiller's principle to create a black box is not complicated, but that's not enough; they need more unknown elements, even the planner himself should be unknown.
Due to various considerations, the Prime Universe of the Marvel Universe was the first to take this step. Out of caution, the one most involved was Iron Man, who chose an almost tragic method to ensure he remained in an unknown state that destiny couldn't capture. Reed Richards and Doctor Strange, as his friends, also paid no small price.
Fortunately, the plan succeeded. The cosmos was rebooted, the Prime Universe was cut out, and everything here became freer. Although the world on this side also encounters the constraints of destiny, when rules conflict, there's a possibility of creating cracks.
However, unexpectedly to Batman, Shiller was playing such a big game. He wasn't satisfied with using simple rule conflicts to create tiny cracks and then pry them open bit by bit, but rather, he poked straight to God.
Batman had long discovered that the personality trait called Greed has an almost morbid pursuit of perfection. He believed that Greed might not even want to pry open the shackles of destiny; he just wanted to bring back Iron Man from the original Prime Universe.
Greed does not accept any sacrifices. No matter how reasonable, no matter how effective, none of it works for him. The process can be rugged, full of twists, even extremely tragic, but he must let everyone have a perfect ending. For this, he dares to calculate against anyone, including God.
Batman actually didn't know how Greed brought God here specifically, but he had some understanding of Cosmic Construction Science, so he could guess it should be stuck at a very important point, one that even Lucifer couldn't solve. He couldn't help but sweat for the cosmos, but then he thought about how in an entire cosmic cycle, God might only work two days, and instantly felt the after-sales service quality should be trustworthy.
The fog had not yet fully dissipated. Primary Universe Batman felt something and looked in a certain direction, where the fog had opened a path, seemingly inviting him over.
Primary Universe Batman walked in that direction and soon saw several people standing there. Greed and that strange Superman stood together, while Reed was supporting the pale-faced Iron Man.
"Welcome back," Primary Universe Batman said.
Unexpectedly, Iron Man shook his head: "Returning is not so easy. I've only temporarily regained my sanity."
Primary Universe Batman gazed at him, seeing nothing unusual, but he also knew that due to different observation methods, the Outer God would present different appearances. The Iron Man he saw now might not actually look like this.
Even if he couldn't guess, by looking at Little Superman's somewhat frightened expression beside him, he could tell that Iron Man's situation was not as good as it seemed. He was likely still deeply trapped amongst the Stars, unable to extricate himself.
"Now can you tell me how you did it?" Primary Universe Batman asked, "How exactly did you create an Outer God?"
"It's rather complicated to say," Greed sighed lightly, "Previously, during Black Death Emperor's invasion, Arrogant once tried a method to use the Gray Ring's power to modify reality, achieving the effect of influencing reality through 'words.' And this technique was particularly effective for the Cthulhu Mythos system."
"You mean, you created a new Outer God and turned it into reality?"
Greed nodded and said, "The reason I say the specific principle is complicated is because it utilized the power of the Collective Unconscious."
"Collective Unconscious? Is this a term from Psychology?"
"Yes," Greed affirmed, "but at the same time, it is a concrete force that exists within this cosmos, one of the seven forces of the universe."
"Seven forces of the universe?"
"Life Force, Divine Speed, Emotional Spectrum, Divine Power, Dimensions and Structure, Power of Faith, and Collective Unconscious."