Peter arrived too late.
As soon as he crested a hill, he saw a figure floating in midair, large and burly with a resolute face, but his eyes betrayed a merciless cruelty.
Dressed in a red shirt with golden armor and a gray cape fluttering behind him, he wore a helm with massive silver horns, and at that moment, the light from his eyes burst forth.
Another figure, with flowing black hair and lips red as fire, had gemstones on her wrists emitting an intense glow, surrounded by a powerful aura of divine power.
The last clash between the two unleashed such strong divine power fluctuations that even Spider-Man had to briefly vanish into the mist to avoid being blown away.
When the dust settled, Spider-Man saw Ares' helmet had fallen to the ground, while Wonder Woman lay unconscious nearby.
Spider-Man inhaled sharply. Just as he was about to rush over to rescue her, he was grateful that he still retained his Spirit Vision after just emerging from the mist. He observed that although Diana's divine power seemed weakened, it had not begun to dissipate. Ares' blow hadn't penetrated her defenses; it seemed to have merely knocked her out.
Spider-Man breathed a sigh of relief. He had just learned from that warrior that in this cosmos, Batman and Diana were lovers. If Diana had died, Batman would have surely gone mad, and Spider-Man knew he could not stop a frenzied Batman.
As the saying goes, quicker than words can tell, Spider-Man had just shifted his gaze from Diana when he was dazzled by a luminous power spot. Squinting, he saw it was actually Ares' helm.
To be precise, it was the topmost metal part of the helmet that was emitting a strange light. It was not that bright, but the direction of the energy flow was chaotic and peculiar, yet it held a certain pattern, as if someone had deliberately created it.
Spider-Man was taking note of this pattern, planning to inquire about it to the Black Sun when his vision returned to normal, and then he saw a pair of hands picking up the helmet and placing it upon their own head.
By the time Spider-Man realized what was happening, it was too late; Batman had donned the helm.
With a swoosh, Spider-Man's figure vanished into the mist, reappearing behind Batman, but his reaching hand was immediately seized. As Batman turned around, Spider-Man could only see eyes brimming with a murderous intent.
An immense force burst forth from Batman, and Spider-Man faded into the mist once again. Several times he tried to emerge from the Fog Realm to stop Batman from pursuing Ares, but after all, Spider-Man was no magician. He had no good way to deal with such invisible and intangible energy attacks, and he couldn't even stand steady, let alone stop Batman, during the outbreak of divine power.
Thus, when the divine power surge ended, Spider-Man could only see Batman holding Ares' head and slowly approaching Wonder Woman.
Spider-Man could tell something was very off with Batman's expression. Normally, his face was solemn and serious, somewhat weary, but still shining with the light of wisdom in his eyes.
Now, the look on Batman's stiff face had turned rigid, his gaze numb and merciless. His hands were just bracing his helmet, not even glancing once at Wonder Woman lying on the ground.
Just at this moment, Wonder Woman awoke.
Not good, Spider Man thought, Wonder Woman was completely unguarded against the compromised Batman, and if he approached like this, it would surely result in a fatality.
Spider Man raised his hand, and the thick fog instantly spread out, enveloping Wonder Woman in an instant, turning everything she saw into a dense fog; in the blink of an eye, she had stepped into the Fog Realm.
Wonder Woman turned her head sharply and saw Spider Man standing in the mist. She furrowed her brows deeply and said, "Who are you? Where is this? What have you done with Batman?"
Good, no one in this cosmos had seen Spider Man before, Spider Man breathed a sigh of relief; it would have been quite troublesome if he had been recognized.
"Listen, lady, you just passed out and didn't see your final showdown with Ares, it must be Ares, I recognized the pattern on his armor, you and he tied, he knocked you out, and you knocked off his helmet."
"But your boyfriend, Batman, thinks you're dead, so to avenge you, he put on the helmet that Ares dropped, and that helmet clearly has issues."
"I know you are very concerned about his condition, and you want to persuade him to take off the helmet, but I must emphasize again that the helmet is definitely a bigger problem than you think. It appears that Batman is totally controlled by it, and if you go charging in now, he might kill you."
"Impossible," Wonder Woman said, gripping her weapon, her voice low and growling, "He won't hurt me. Let me out; I have to stop him!"
"Afraid it's not possible, take a good look," Spider Man waved his hand, and in the middle of the mist, a hole appeared showing Batman tightly gripping the helmet as he completed his transformation.
Divine Power burst forth once more, and along with it, a mysterious dark energy as well. Wonder Woman rushed forward, pressing her eyes to the screen, her eyes wide as she stared at Batman.
But after the light of Divine Power faded, the figure that rose from the light was no longer the silent and brooding Dark Knight, but a monster donning black iron armor with a helmet adorned with bat wings.
An insignia of Bat tag was imprinted on the chest of the black iron armor, but regrettably, it was already distorted. Above the white base color of the bat shape were two W's made up of lines, and the eyes peeking out from the hollows of the cheeks showed only cruelty and a murderous intent the same as Ares's.
"No… No!!!" Wonder Woman raised her voice, shouting, "Let me out, let me out! I can get him to take off that helmet; I can persuade him, I..."
"The problem is that the one controlling this body now is not Batman, but that helmet; you can't convince the helmet to take itself off," Spider Man remained calm, analyzing, "It's not that Batman has fallen, but his mind has been completely replaced. You can convince Batman, but you can't persuade the evil being that's taken his place."
Wonder Woman took a deep breath, turned to face Peter, and said, "Who are you, exactly, and why are you here?"
"Although I'd like to tell you I'm just here for the show, unfortunately, this universe is much worse than I imagined, and my current goal is to save it, starting with figuring out how to rescue Batman."
"He..."
Wonder Woman clenched her teeth, she desperately wanted to ask if there was any hope for Batman, but the answer in her own heart was more pessimistic than anyone else's.
"We prepared for two years," Wonder Woman said. "Because we knew better than anyone how powerful that helmet was. We thought this was the final battle, after which everything would end. This was the only thing that kept us going."
"I understand, overcoming all difficulties for one goal, but questioning the meaning of that goal over and over again on the way," Spider Man sighed. "I've been through it, so I can relate to you."
Wonder Woman seemed completely taken aback by Spider Man's words, she stood still and took a careful look at the young man. "You look like an ordinary person."
"I am an ordinary person, and the power I have now was given to me by someone else."
"Apostle?"
"Not entirely, because the thing on my head... let's just call it a 'god' for now, it's not an intelligent being, it seems like a natural law. You could think of me as an agent of nature."
Wonder Woman seemed a bit incredulous as she said, "Even natural will has its preferences. If born from plants it will protect plants, if from animals it will protect animals, it's inevitable."
"So what would the black sun protect?"
Wonder Woman fell silent.
"Alright, at least the Apollo I know is the most idle person on the whole of Mount Olympus," Wonder Woman shook her head. "Perhaps the sun just shines unconditionally on everything."
"First, tell me what all this is really about."
Wonder Woman knew that things had come to this point and she had nearly exhausted all her strength; she certainly couldn't stop Batman now. The only thing she could count on was the mysterious apostle before her.
"War, endless war..."
Again the same beginning, Spider Man thought, it seems war is indeed the main theme of this cosmos, and that's just terrible.
In the account given by Wonder Woman, Spider Man gained some understanding of this universe.
In short, no one remembered when the war had begun, but everything just happened. The human world was in a world war, the God Clan was in a holy war, and battles were being waged everywhere.
Batman and Wonder Woman fell in love, and when Diana inadvertently revealed to Batman that Ares was growing stronger, Batman began to suspect that all the wars breaking out in the world were related to the war god, because the gods of Mount Olympus always grew stronger due to the development of their representative rules and symbols.
Through Wonder Woman's extensive investigations, she confirmed that Ares was indeed behind the wars, and so Batman began to lead the forces of the Human World in resistance against the gods.
Putting aside the collision of armies for now, both Wonder Woman and Batman understood that if they didn't take care of Ares, everything would be in vain, because any war that took place would only make him stronger. The longer it dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for them.
Back then, they were both in a mindset of a decisive battle, thinking that winning the final battle would solve everything. So, they prepared for two full years and procured extremely powerful Divine Power for Diana, just so she could end Ares.
But unfortunately, the helmet Ares possessed was even more powerful; it could amplify Divine Power by a hundredfold. Thus, in this final battle, Wonder Woman still came up short, and after that came everything that Spider Man had witnessed.
Spider Man was focused on the helmet and asked, "What's the deal with that helmet? It's very... peculiar."
"What did you see?" Diana asked with some surprise. "Ordinary humans shouldn't be able to see through our Divine Power."
"I have a special kind of vision, but that's not the point. The point is that the helmet doesn't seem like something you guys made."
"That's impossible," Diana immediately denied and said, "it was crafted by Ares, who spent a long time on it, all just to fulfill his ambition of unifying the cosmos."
Spider Man still shook his head, and he began to use the density of the fog to form patterns. Then a bizarre and chaotic pattern that made one dizzy at a glance, yet clearly felt man-made, appeared before Diana.
"What is this?"
"The energy-flow pattern of the helmet's Amplifier. Have you seen any similar energy patterns on Mount Olympus?"
"I... I can't be sure, I'm not good at this," Diana hesitated and said, "I mostly fight on instinct, I'm not the theoretical type."
"But I have a brother, the Fire God of the Olympus Gods, I think we can ask him..."
"There's no need," Spider Man said. "I have a better subject to ask."