As Batman pondered these questions, he felt as though he'd been nailed to a cross. With each spike hammered into his body, the hypocrisy, selfishness, and greed of human nature seeped out along with his blood.
While traversing the East District, Batman felt as if he were on a pilgrimage, his negative emotions being eroded by the sand and wind, revealing more light from the cracks in his heart.
Continuing south from the Living Hell, Gotham Cathedral was nearly within reach. Batman paused in a nearby slum dwelling area. He remembered he'd been there before.
He followed the trail of his parents' murderer to an attic where he found an aged Louis, clutching an empty salt shaker, its contents long gone.
Batman ascended the building again, jumping from the roof to the attic balcony. Peering in through the window, he found it empty, save for a mess of odds and ends.
It didn't come as a surprise. Louis had been on the brink of collapse back then. He couldn't have survived three years in this place. After his death, it seemed no one had rented the space, and it had turned into a storeroom.
Noises drifted up from below: a drunkard seemed to have smashed a flowerpot and the homeowner was scolding him. From even further below, a child's shriek sounded, as if someone accused him of stealing.
Batman left the building and headed towards Gotham Cathedral along a small alley. But he ran into Constantine, someone he hadn't expected to see, on a nearby street.
Constantine seemed much more lucid today. He was bending over, looking for something while puffing on a cigar. Upon seeing Batman, he looked him up and down and said, "You're alright now? I was planning to visit you at the mansion, but your butler wouldn't let me in."
"What are you looking for?" Batman asked.
"I've just moved, but the truck driver who helped me was clumsy. He drove so roughly that I lost my Magic Array materials. I'm looking around…" Constantine roamed left and right, hands in his trench coat pockets, attentively searching the ground.
"Materials? What is that?" Batman asked again.
"Er... It's hard for me to explain. You're better off not knowing." Wanting to sidestep the topic, Constantine stamped his foot and then asked, "What are you doing here? You seem to have been injured before. Why don't you go to a hospital?"
Batman was silent for a moment, then turned to look at Constantine and asked, "Do you think I can save Gotham?"
Constantine paused, looked up at the sky, and then said, "I suppose so."
"I want to hear the truth." Batman was unusually concise and direct.
Constantine sighed, stepped forward, and put his arm around Batman's shoulders, saying, "Bruce, you don't have to put so much pressure on yourself. Really, this city doesn't need to be saved, and it can't be saved."
"Why?" Batman asked.
"Well... look, the people here aren't living that bad. You may not have seen enough. There are plenty of places worse off than here. In London, the slums might even be worse. Don't worry too much about it."
Batman turned to look at Constantine. He knew he wasn't telling the truth. Under Batman's piercing gaze, Constantine hesitated for a moment before he released his grip, rubbed his hands together, stomped his foot, and said:
"Alright, kid, you're always so sharp. If you must know, I can only say that you can't save this city. But it's not because you're not strong enough; it's due to some more mysterious reasons."
"I know you don't believe in fate, but fate does exist. Perhaps someone can decide the fate of this city, and if they don't like what they see here, they treat it as a garbage bin."
"Look, the world's so big. You don't have to turn the garbage bin into a house. Every house needs a garbage bin, doesn't it?"
Constantine spoke in a jumbled manner, peppering his speech with mystical jargon, but Batman understood him, "Gotham's transformation isn't solely due to human actions, is it?"
Sighing heavily, Constantine replied, "There's much I can't explain in detail, plenty of eyes on me. I'm sharing this with you because you're my friend. All I can tell you is Batman, stop wasting your efforts."
Batman moved away from Constantine. Constantine tried to follow, but could only watch as Batman's figure disappeared at the end of the alleyway.
The pace of Batman increased, as if he were chasing something. His steps became heavier but also more resolute.
The sound of his boots on the stairs echoed like thunder. Batman climbed the steps of Gotham Cathedral, entering the spacious chapel. Waiting for him under the statue of the saint wasn't the Father but Shiller.
Batman slowed his pace, walking slowly to face Shiller, unphased by the halo above Shiller's head. Shiller was flipping through the Bible on the podium, whispering prayers.
Then he asked, "Batman, have you made your choice?"
"I will save this place." Batman took a deep breath, "No matter the cost, no matter the sacrifices, no matter if people remember me or not. I don't care about any of it because, I am the night."
"Of course I will save this place. No matter who has arranged Gotham's predestined fate and my destiny, causing the same tragedy to replay time and again. I'll show them what I'm capable of, because, I am vengeance."
"I will eventually save this place. Using all the resources I can muster, my wisdom, and my talent, using everything I've learned from everyone, to win this war. I must win this war, because, I am Batman."
As his words fell, the moonlight that shone through the top of the cathedral, clothing the suffering Jesus, also fell upon him.
While Shiller whispered his prayers:
"Merciful Heavenly Father, I repent for my arrogance, for not listening to the gospel, for not witnessing your miracle in this world, for my disbelief and lack of reverence..."
"Now, you have chosen me, sent your beloved Saint Heir, to suffer in this world, to be nailed on the cross, his skin corroded, his face stripped, his blood drained, his soul departed..."
Batman bowed his head, because he saw, shining from the wounds on his body, a faint light.
Shiller's low prayer echoed within the cathedral. As his pace increased, that light grew brighter, until it formed rings of light that illuminated behind Batman, then retracted into his body.
"All those who believe in you on Earth, will follow you in Heaven. We have heard from the Lord, that when he died, he resurrected. All the suffering he bore was to atone for our sins."
"When he lost everything, we recognized him to be, the eternal Lord Jesus."
After the prayers ended, Shiller looked at Batman and smiled:
"From God to human, and from human back to God, Jesus is eternal."
Batman felt that he did not gain any new powers, but something was different. Lastly, he heard Shiller's low chant echoing in the cathedral, imbued with a murderous intent he'd never heard before:
"Come, Laughing Bat... May Jesus bless you. Amen."