At the deepest part of Batman's consciousness space, the battle was still ongoing. The dark tide summoned by the Fear Joker became his own stumbling block, because aquatic birds could attack the monster's legs from beneath the sea surface.
The Penguin formed by Cobblepot possessed abilities beyond merely attacking with its beak. When it flapped its wings, it could stir up the water, creating whirlpools that approached the Fear Joker. Each time hit by these whirlpools, the Fear Joker's legs, which supported his body, would get pulled in one direction, causing him to lose balance.
Whenever he stumbled, Alberto, flying mid-air, would fold his wings, dive down, and then crash fiercely into one side of his body. Even if he didn't fall over, this would cause the large monster to sway for quite a while.
The blizzard in the field and the firepower pressure from Gordon caused the most significant damage to the monster. Bullets and bullet-like ice cones hit the monster relentlessly, causing it to be injured all over. The healing alone exhausted a lot of its energy.
Green Lantern Hal mainly played a field control role. It was only during his attempt to attack this monster with green lantern energy that he realized he was powerless against the lower half of the monster, the Parallax part. Parallax seemed to possess a special defensive layer that withstood the power of green lantern energy. Regardless of how Hal attacked, it remained unshaken.
Although this monster looked hideous, it was undeniable that its structure was highly advantageous when facing a siege. The lower half of the monster had a multi-legged structure like a centipede, as well as a long tail, which made it relatively stable. Even if one of its legs was injured, it wouldn't easily fall over.
The upper half was humanoid, with two overly muscular arms. Each swing required the aerial units to dodge. Otherwise, getting hit would cause great discomfort.
"The head, his weak point is the head." Cobblepot's voice echoed ear to ear. Victor's voice soon followed, "In this dream, we don't need to speak closely, we can communicate through thoughts, just as I am doing."
"I also believe his weak point is the head. Every time we try to get close, he protects that area with his arms."
"I've been aiming for a headshot!" Gordon, crouching on the rooftop of a building, said, "But his protection on the head is too strict, I can't find an opportunity!"
"I'll make a diversion to attract its attention, you all look for an opportunity to attack its head!" Alberto's voice came from mid-air. After speaking, the sound of the wind rose as he circled rapidly around the monster, causing the Fear Joker to keep turning his head, looking for his figure.
Cobblepot also kept attacking the monster's lower half, making it impossible for it to turn around in time to combat and leaving it to hurriedly defend itself. Victor seized the opportunity to form a huge ice crystal in mid-air and launched it toward the monster's head.
The ice crystal appeared from behind the Fear Joker, forcing it to rotate its upper body to protect the back of its head with its arm.
But at that moment, Gordon, located in front, was also ready. A giant missile launched out of the launch pad, almost instantaneously arriving in front of the Fear Joker and then hitting its tiny head.
With a "boom," the monster let out a fierce scream, and its body started to tremble non-stop. Clearly, this attack had worked.
Besides, it was not just a superficial impact; one could say, this attack helped a great deal because there was another war happening within the monster.
Just as Shearer anticipated, Parallax, Laughing Egg and Batman could never coexist in peace. The Laughing Egg, the original inhabitant of this consciousness space, primarily contended with Batman. He invited Parallax as part of his plan to deal with Batman and then escape smoothly.
However, Parallax was a very chaotic creature. It was hard to reason with him. In the past, he was the only inhabitant within the consciousness space of the hosts he parasitized. He was unwilling to share territories with others. Even if the Laughing Egg led him in, he immediately turned back and bit the guide party, intending to devour the Laughing Egg and monopolize Batman's consciousness space.
But Batman could not allow two creatures to wreak havoc inside his consciousness space. Neither the Laughing Egg nor Parallax was trustworthy. Batman had no intention of collaborating with either of them. Thus, they both were his enemies.
The Laughing Egg wanted to escape, Parallax wanted to monopolize Batman, and Batman sought to eliminate both of them. This caused the three factions to fight each other within the Fear Joker.
Initially, the Laughing Egg held the upper hand. Although this aberrant and strange embryo was still unhatched, its strength was terrifyingly potent. Parallax and Batman could barely hold off its attack.
But the external assault still had a chance to help them turn the tide. A heavy blow landed on the Fear Joker's head, which was controlled by the Laughing Egg, seriously injuring it.
That was part of Batman's plan. He knew that once this monster was born, neither Clown nor Professor Shearer would ignore it; they would certainly plan to attack it.
This monster consisted of three parts: the head controlled by the Laughing Egg, the upper body controlled by Batman, and the lower body controlled by Parallax.
Every time the attack approached the head, Batman would control the monster's arms to block the attack; not to protect the Laughing Egg, but to convey a signal to the outside world - the head is the monster's weak point.
Batman believed that the people outside must understand his hint. As expected, they organized a beautiful round of diversion and cover, causing the Laughing Egg to suffer heavily.
The head controlled the monster's coordinated movements, and an injury to the head weakened the monster's control over its own will. Batman took the opportunity to break free. After the monster screamed, yellow scales spread to the upper body, and the black bat pattern gradually faded away.
Soon, the Fear Joker turned into a Parallax with the head of Laughing Egg. The Batman element entirely disappeared from this monster, and Batman appeared in the sky above Gotham.
He glanced around his surroundings. Other than the person who looked like a green light in a traffic light, whom he had never seen before, he quickly guessed who the peculiar figures around him were.
Batman didn't rush to attack. Instead, he went to Gordon and asked, "Have you seen the two Jokers?"
"Jokers? What Jokers?"
"Who brought you here?"
"Oh, it was Shiller, what about it?"
"Where did he go?"
"He said he had something to do."
Batman narrowed his eyes, guessing that Shiller was planning something big, but he had no idea what method Shiller would use to reverse the current situation.
As he pondered this, he suddenly heard a distinct 'click' resonating in his consciousness space.
A sound somewhat similar to a door lock opening, or a cargo truck's carriage being attached, but following this sound, Batman looked towards the horizon where a sea of clouds was roiling in as fog.
The grey mist quickly attacked. In an instant, it engulfed the entire city. Batman recognized it: it was the ability Shiller had used when they battled in Living Hell.
But this mist did not cause any destruction to anything on the field. Like a natural fog, it came silently and departed silently.
The grey mist rolled and rose among the city, just as if the city had suddenly floated up into a cloud sea in the high sky. The Fear Joker, who had lost Batman, paid no attention to these harmless mists.
But soon, the fog began to intensify and rise even higher, submerging even the highest buildings in the city.
The Fear Joker sensed something was wrong, and after a sprint, it coiled around Wayne Building in the consciousness space like a centipede, then squatted on the roof.
The grey mist beneath it surged up like an affliction clinging to bones, changing from a light grey to a deep grey color, leaving the lowest layer in total darkness.
No one knew where this fog came from, but they all felt a mysterious and dangerous sensation from it.
The fog filled the entire consciousness space and occupied all regions, including the sky. Among the sky, a shadow similar to a mirage appeared faintly.
Batman looked up and saw what appeared to be a giant tower. He studied the towering structure from top to bottom and found it to be at least three hundred stories high.
As the fog thickened, the tower's form solidified until it became fully material. A towering Tower of Babel landed in the center of Gotham.
Everyone's attention was drawn to this enormous tower. Under their stares, the top of the tower began to continue to pile up. Bricks were assembled, beams and pillars were erected upward, and in a brief instant, dozens of additional floors were added.
Seeing the tower, the Fear Joker, with his keen intuition granted by the Parallax, felt a great danger. He flew rapidly towards the tower, and Batman's voice echoed in everyone's ears: "Stop him."
Suddenly, predatory birds screeched, snowstorms roared, and machine guns fired, but none compared to a dark figure.
Batman's black cloak fluttered in the grey mist. Without using any tools, he was able to fly at an unbelievable speed, even faster than the Green Lantern.
He rushed to the Fear Joker, then swung a punch. An invisible force directly slapped the massive creature to the ground, showing that no one could match Batman in terms of willpower.
The remaining people followed up, began to strike the creature, pushing it away from the tower. As the fight intensified, the Tower of Heaven grew higher and higher, reaching the barrier between deep and superficial consciousness.
Despite the resistance of the barrier, the tower continued to grow, breaking through layer after layer of dreamscapes from deep consciousness to superficial consciousness, then bursting out of the soul from the body, much like the terrifying black tide, transcending the sky, atmosphere, and barriers of ordinary cosmos, extending into the endless mysterious cosmos.
At this point, Shiller's voice resounded through the consciousness space, saying, "Everyone, get ready..."