Bruce's eyebrows twitched slightly in surprise, until his gaze quickly raked over Deathstroke, before he said, "How much was whoever sent you after this being paid? I'll double it."
"I don't take back orders." Deathstroke's hand gripped the hilt of the sword on his back. Bruce went on, "Did they tell you that you're up against a magician?"
"Of course, he paid accordingly."
Deathstroke began to stride quickly towards the two of them, Bruce gave Zatanna a glance, Zatanna's speed of reaction compared to her long-term strategizing was at two opposite extremes, without even moving a finger, she spoke directly at Deathstroke, "'Rina is stopping'!"
Deathstroke stopped right there, Bruce spread his hands as if he had let his guard down, saying, "I bet they didn't tell you, the magician you're up against is this kind..."
Zatanna exhaled a sigh of relief, but she suddenly saw Bruce swing his right hand twice, this was their prearranged sign for retreating.
Without thinking, she instantly opened a portal, taking Bruce with her, disappearing into the Forgotten Bar, and in the second they disappeared, two bright sword lights slashed through the bar counter.
Zatanna took Bruce to her home, a second before disappearing, she saw Deathstroke charging at them wielding his weapon, she clutched her chest in disbelief, saying, "How is this possible?! How could he possibly not be bound by my antilanguage magic?!"
"Deathstroke is the strongest mercenary in the world, with a success rate of one hundred percent. Many people think his impressive martial abilities and subtle control over various weapons are his secret to success, but I know that's not the key."
"I used to wonder how he managed it, so I started a series of investigations, and later I realized that his strength lies in intelligence. As long as the target has existed in this world, he will learn everything about them and will never go into a fight unprepared."
"I dare say, once he took this job and learned of the existence of a mage, he would have gathered all the information about all the mages he could possibly encounter and made corresponding measures. Who in this world can counter your antilanguage magic?"
Zatanna frowned and said, "Actually a lot, but mostly in ambush situations. Although antilanguage magic is easy to use, I don't have prophetic abilities, so it's easy to be ambushed or step into a trap."
"But if I am in good shape, almost no mage could defeat me in head-on combat. If I had to mention one, it would be Constantine, his fighting style is too unpredictable, I never know if he is genuinely hit or just pretending."
"As for the rest..." Zatana was about to say "there are none," when a name popped into her mind. She pondered and said, "Perhaps, Witch Circe could."
Bruce was reminded of some magical records he had seen. Circe was a notorious wicked witch in ancient times, who massacred kingdoms, arbitrarily turned people into animals, and erected high walls between men and women.
"A witch isn't the type to engage mercenaries. Perhaps Deathstroke came to know through some means about Circe's ability to resist antilanguage magic and sought her collaboration. Or he simply encountered her and robbed her. Either way, because your magic didn't work on us, Deathstroke is likely to continue trying."
"His approach suggests he values you more between the two of us and views your antilanguage magic as the greater threat. So he is very likely to seek Circe or other mages again. Once he mentions the piece we have, Circe and any other surviving magicians will realize that our fragment is different from everybody else's."
Zatanna immediately tensed up, she glanced down at the black prismatic object, glowing faintly in her hand, while Bruce continued his speculation.
"Sky Corrosion is self-aware. If anyone gets in touch with it, it will definitely inform them that a core fragment of the Dark Heart that seals the Spirit of Wrath has fallen into the outside world. They must obtain this fragment to gain the full Dark Heart."
"Even without Deathstroke taking this information out, the escaped Gabriel will definitely release the news, thus attracting everyone looking for the fragments to attack us... Let's go, back to Gotham."
Zatanna was till following Bruce's train of thought, as she opened the portal and asked, "Why go back to Gotham?"
"Where else in this world besides Gotham can withstand a magic war of this magnitude? I've helped Gotham a lot, it's time for it to help me."
With that, he led Zatanna into the portal, appeared on the roof of the Wayne building and walked straight into the building through the rooftop entrance, took the elevator to Thomas's office.
Thomas's face tensed immediately at the sight of Bruce. He didn't bother to mince words, "I got the core fragment of the Dark Heart that seals the Spirit of Wrath. The entire magical world is probably after me now. I need your help. We have to hold the core fragment and retrieve the remaining fragments from the attackers."
Thomas's face became immediately serious, looking at Bruce who had turned away, he couldn't help but feel a little smug. Any father would be moved when his son came to him first when in trouble.
Thomas immediately stood up and walked towards the door, saying without looking back, "Come with me, we need to remodel the Batcave."
"There's no time." Bruce spoke in a somber tone, "The news will be spread in three days and they will arrive here within a week at most. Staying in the not fully remodeled Batcave would be sitting ducks."
"Where are you planning to hold then?"
"New Arkham Mental Hospital."
Bruce's next stop was Gotham University. First, he went to meet Lex Luthor. After explaining the situation and his intentions, he placed the first obtained black diamond on the table. Lex rubbed his chin and said, "If as you say, those who get a hold of this black diamond will hear a voice in their heads and gain the powers gifted to them by this voice, then it's likely two systems at work."
"The black diamond broadcasts a signal to the human brain and extracts feedback from the brain waves for communication, that's the first system. After obtaining the communication results, it triggers some mechanism within the black diamond to release a portion of power, which is channeled into the human body. That's the second system."
"Instead of expending energy to understand how they communicate with the human brain, or trying to stop the exchange after the power is received, it's better to directly block the black diamond's communication signal and the frequency at which it transmits power."
"But the time is too short." Lex shook his head and said, "Give me two weeks, and I'll make it so that the black diamond can no longer affect any human. But within a week, I can only create a disturbance, not totally cut it off."
"Alright then. New Arkham Mental Hospital has the most advanced equipment I can currently produce. I'll get some help to move the equipment used for weather controller and Ark reactor research over there for you. You can conduct your research there."
Lex nodded and said, "No problem, see you at New Arkham Mental Hospital."
Then Bruce went to find Victor and his wife Nora. Victor was teaching Nora to use guns and the freeze weapons he invented. Hearing Bruce's intentions, Victor frowned, but still said, "I can help you, but as you mentioned, some mages might have already obtained the power of the Spirit of Wrath. I'm not sure my freeze weapons can still freeze these people."
"We plan to defend from Villain Island, so it's not about trapping, but blocking."
Hearing Bruce's words, Victor frowned. With a strange look, he said to Bruce, "If you hadn't been away from Gotham recently, I'd have thought you were spying on me."
Victor walked over to the lab table, rummaged through the cabinets below and said, "Previously, I focused on miniaturization and super-sizing. The representative works of my freeze weapons are the freeze gun and the blizzard generator which can freeze the whole Gotham."
"But Nora disagrees with this research route. She believes that medium-sized freeze weapons are the most suitable for Gotham's alley warfare. So with our joint research efforts, we came up with this."
Victor held a rectangular box the size of a brick and introduced it to Bruce, "This is the Ice Wall Generator, inspired by Shiller. He said it was an idea conjured by some of his friends after they saw my research results."
"The usage is very simple. Just place this thing on the ground. Once exploded, it instantly forms a dense ice wall. Theoretically speaking, the overall strength of dense ice is very high, no less than any metal. As long as there's energy left before it runs out, the ice wall will self-repair, and due to the special molecular structure of dense ice, the repair speed is very fast."
"Additionally, there are many devices that are not fully completed, such as auto ice cone turrets, protective ice layer shields, ice fog slow-motion force fields, etc. If you weren't in such a hurry, there are over a dozen medium-sized weapons on the way."
"Very good," Bruce quickly responded, "I believe New Arkham Mental Hospital's cryogenic lab can fully meet your research needs. You and your wife can continue perfecting these weapons there in peace for the next few days."
"Of course, the hardware there is world-leading. If you don't mind, I can invite a few of my old friends to help, which will make things more efficient. They've been green with envy over my recent academic achievements, and those unique advanced devices will be enough to lure them."
"Then let's meet at New Arkham Mental Hospital."
"Goodbye."
Afterward, Bruce successfully found Pamela in the cafeteria. Having wiped her mouth with a napkin, Pamela looked at him and said, "You've only just graduated and already you've attracted a big group of mages. Mr. Wayne, do you have a grudge against a peaceful life?"
Then she sighed and said, "You've come at a good time. I was just worried that no one would appreciate my recent academic achievements."
"Academic achievements? Did you create seeds that can grow in Gotham?"
"On the contrary, I've created everything but the seeds that can grow in Gotham."
Ten minutes later, in her botany lab, Pamela pointed at flower pots filling the table, floor, and even the walls, and said,
"Let me introduce you. This one is the offensive cabbage, this one is the offensive mustard plant, this one is the offensive lettuce, this one is the offensive lettuce head, this one is the offensive sesame plant, this one is the offensive artichoke…"
Then she walked to the storage room door, opened it, and pointed inside, saying,
"These ones are even more heavyweight. This one is the explosive wheat, this is the high-pressure rice, this is the landmine sweet potato, this is the drowned ghost creator seaweed …"
Bruce was gobsmacked.