The atmosphere in the room instantly plummeted to freezing point, as if everyone simultaneously thought of something terrifying. Shiller, however, seemed oblivious and continued speaking.
"For some reason, one Joker is not enough. There must be three Jokers, each with different origins, abilities, and personalities. They should have been rivals, yet they all share a deep bond with Batman."
"Jack and I, alongside another Joker from a different universe, form a trio of Jokers. The next step is to introduce the test subject into the game."
"Don't tell me the test subject you chose is …"
"Darkseid."
At the same time, a confrontation that most people didn't expect was happening in the Prime Universe.
Darkseid's massive army and countless members of the Ring Corps were engaged in a vast standoff in the cosmos.
Here's what happened: After a few people entered the dreams, Harley Quinn, who received the Joker's message, persuaded Gotham's villains to come to the Apocalypse Star.
By this time, most of the Apocalypse Star's critical forces were either dead or injured. Those who weren't had been drawn into the dreams and had virtually no resistance. Along with the villains came Robin, who was in Sky Fortress. This crew had a blast on Apocalypse Star.
The Robins' scientific acumen wasn't all that great, but just having the guidance of Earth's scientists from other universes helped them discern what's important. At this point, the high-tech planet's wealth was unattended. Why wouldn't they ensure to protect it, right?
They just had to move everything.
Filling a whole city with an entire planet's wealth was implausible, but most of what they took were data and documents, with very few large pieces of equipment, so everything just barely fit.
The one controlling the flow of time in the Dreamworld was one of their comrades. As such, the time in the Dreamworld didn't exaggerate the flow of time in reality. The heist group had ample time to visit the entire Apocalypse Star's primary research facilities—making their loot quite bountiful.
When everyone awoke, Batman swiftly withdrew from the scene with his fan club and the whole of Gotham. Darkseid, who had also just awakened, did not have time to chase them and could only silently behold the chaos they had left behind.
But this was not the most important reason for his subsequent decision to mobilize all his troops to launch a massive attack on Earth.
Looking back at their experiences in the Dreamworld, while Batman was saving Gotham and Bruce was leading the Mexican revolution, what was Darkseid doing?
He was playing games with three Jokers.
At this point, Shiller, Jack, and the Prime Universe's Joker had all come into the Dreamworld. It was evidently no coincidence. Like the three Batmen, their arrival was part of someone's plan, and their target was none other than Darkseid.
After adapting to a human body, Darkseid managed to survive quite well. He had no clue about human decency and stealing, a primal and instinctive act etched into the genes of every intelligent species. Darkseid's origin story started with him stealing the power of ancient gods. After an initial period of adjustment, he barely avoided starvation.
Just when he was starting to feel proud of reversing his fate despite such a difficult start, reality dealt him another devastating blow.
If the children were as if they had been thrown into a Sunset Giant Shrimp Breeding Pool, then Darkseid was more like being air-dropped into a meeting of the Sunset Overlord Shrimp, where he inadvertently killed their president.
The three Jokers then came after Darkseid.
Playing games with the Joker in Gotham, let alone three full-fledged Jokers who also cooperated and helped each other, was such an extraordinary occasion that even Barbados would have remarked "What a great fortune."
Darkseid was formidable. Among the DC villains, he was known for his cunning. But the Jokers wouldn't fight fair. They had homefield advantage and were extra stronger. It was a bit overwhelming even for someone like Darkseid who was a Universal Overlord.
The best way to defeat the Joker was to ignore everything he said and just land a punch. Unfortunately, no one could outfight anyone else in this world. The three Jokers would not play fair and fight one on one. How could Darkseid, who was on par with anyone else in terms of physical fitness, escape a three-on-one situation?
At this point, Darkseid was supposed to use his super intelligence to turn his enemies into friends. Unfortunately, these three Jokers were specifically there to give him a hard time. How could one make friends with three super jesters? The only way was to become the joke himself.
While other participants were busy with their own things, Darkseid became the biggest joke in Gotham. Every choice presented to him was a trap set by the Joker, and according to 'Joker's Law,' there is never a right answer in the Joker's choices. Every path was a path to death.
Can you imagine? Every decision made was a trap carefully set by others, and if you didn't make a decision, you'd starve. You couldn't run, and you couldn't win a fight. Even if you died, they'd still come after you quickly.
Any countermeasures were immediately seen through and totally ineffective. If there had to be a title for Darkseid's life over these few months (which felt longer than decades), it would probably be "Bullied by Gotham."
But even the best plans have flaws, or so thought Darkseid. After enduring what felt like months but was, in reality, a torment longer than several decades, Darkseid finally caught a break in one of the Joker's defenses and extracted the truth about this world from him.
Of course, this was also part of the plan. Shiller, using the Necronomicon, saw the situation on Apocalypse Star. Naturally, he was also able to incorporate the memories of the beings on Apocalypse Star to create a new Dreamworld map.
The three Jokers teamed up to put on a play, giving Darkseid an opening and at the same time letting him know that the Apocalypse Star still existed in the Dreamworld. Through many fortunate coincidences, Darkseid finally returned to his homeland.
The three Jokers did not follow, and Darkseid knew this planet very well, so in no time he got hold of a spaceship. Although not the most advanced, it was still not something that humans could handle with their current technological level. He flew back to Earth, full of vigor and eager for revenge.
His moment of revenge was interrupted when he woke up just as he was about to fire.
Imagine this scenario: you encounter a very difficult dungeon in a game, where the NPCs are not only incredibly strong and gang up on you, but they also have foul mouths. You were trapped there, being tormented by them for several months, almost driving you insane.
By a stroke of luck, you finally get the chance to leave this dreadfully difficult dungeon to upgrade in an easier one. After assembling an overpowering set of gear, you charge back into the dungeon for revenge.
Just a second away from unleashing your powerful weapon to wipe out these detestable creatures, the game server goes down.
You stare at the screen displaying "PERMANENTLY OFFLINE"... then look at the mess you've made of your life. How would you feel?
Of course, in a society governed by laws, the most players do is curse the game's developers. But who is Darkseid? The number one tyrant in the universe, can he simply swallow this?
If Darkseid managed to fire his mighty weapon in his dream, completely reducing Earth to ashes and letting out all his rage, that would have been fine. However, just as he was about to unleash his ultimate skill, he was stopped, and all his rage receded back inside him. Even Darkseid himself almost suffered internal injuries out of such suffocation.
More importantly, during the months of torment at the hands of the three Jokers, Darkseid became acutely aware that the human race was nothing but cosmic vermin, completely chaotic, mad and evil. The mere fact of sharing the same universe with them was disgusting.
Darkseid felt it was his duty to rid the cosmos of these pests and that he had to do it immediately and completely - every second these humans existed, the universe was further tainted.
So without a moment's hesitation, he assembled an army, prepared his weapons, and all boiling with rage, set his path towards Earth.
The problem, though, was his reason for this mobilisation.
The Green Lantern Corps, under the leadership of the Little Blue People, chatted with Darkseid a few times. This was all just routine - they had never really interfered before despite Darkseid's many invasions, showing that their claim of maintaining universal peace was nothing but a farce. They simply just didn't want to provoke Darkseid.
Typically, they would ask for the reason behind the military action. Darkseid had always ignored the Green Lantern Corps' communication channels in the past. This time, however, he ranted about the chaos, madness, and evil of humans for three and a half hours on the public channel and stated that he had to exterminate these universal vermin right away.
The Green Lantern Corps transmitted the information back as usual. They didn't see anything wrong with Darkseid's statement, but the Little Blue People panicked the moment they heard it.
If you say humans are evil and that you want to wage war against them, doesn't that make you the embodiment of justice? If you're the spokesperson for justice, then what are we?
If you said you invaded other planets for personal gain, that would be fine, but if you claimed it's for justice, then who decided what's just?
Although the Green Lantern Corps is known as the galaxy's police, maintaining universal peace, the Little Blue People created them mostly to protect their own interests. Otherwise, they wouldn't have allowed the Ring Corps to cause so much havoc.
It's always about whose side you're on. From time immemorial, that's always been the most important question. We've sat in the seat of cosmic justice for so many years. We decide who's just and who's evil. Now, you jump up and say some civilization is evil, and you're just. If the universe listens to you, are you going to sit in our seat?
This was what the Little Blue People couldn't accept most.
Without any hesitation, the Green Lantern Corps set out in full force. To quickly solve the problem and hold their ground, other major corps began to swiftly gather their forces for the frontline.
The greatest fighting power of the Green Lantern Corps does not lie in their system or strategies, but in their nearly endless source of soldiers.
It can be said that the fighting power of the Green Lantern Corps depends completely on how seriously the Little Blue People take the battle. Once they attach great importance to a battle, they distribute rings like they're free. The Emotional Spectrum is a naturally existing energy in the cosmos, and the Little Blue People don't mind using it. If they don't use it to defend their seats now, then when will they?
The Little Blue People, sensing a huge crisis, gathered their forces crazily. They threw everything they had at Darkseid's army.
In the comic, Darkseid clearly beat the Green Lantern Corps. But the problem now was that Darkseid wasn't in his complete form. Due to a lack of awe, a drop in reason, the loss of his subordinates, and rushed assembly, his power was substantially weakened.
The Little Blue People placed great importance on this battle and sent out their troops regardless of cost. Before long, the two armies were deadlocked on the front lines.
Batman, in the Prime Universe, was watching this scene through a monitor, and Shiller, who was watching Darkseid's actions through the Necronomicon, flashed a smile.
Jack lifted his cup towards him, revealing a sinister smile that hadn't surfaced for quite a long time.
"We've done it."