It was a brain wave containing information, but it was very chaotic. Batman deciphered from it the message the brain wave was trying to convey, which roughly was: "I am Parallax, I want to cooperate with you…"
Batman quickly reasoned out what was happening. Clearly, Parallax had never intended to cooperate with the Laughing Egg.
Although Time Difference Monster is a chaotic creature, its thinking is completely different from that of humans, but due to its inability to act independently, it has spent a lot of time with humanoid intelligent beings and their cooperation is quite tacit.
Parallax can be seen as a symbiont in another sense. If it lacks a host, it cannot stay in the real world for a long time. It must reside in the Yellow Lantern host, and the Yellow Lantern host must have independent wisdom and consciousness to move freely. Thus, Parallax is well adapted to cohabiting in the consciousness of a host and interacting with its spirit.
But when there is a third consciousness in the host's mind, the Time Difference Monster certainly feels uncomfortable. It's like a pet dog can share a house with its owner, but can't accept the neighbor's dog living there as well.
Not to mention this neighbor's dog who has suppressed its consciousness, seized control of its body, and has given it an ugly head.
This ancient creature representing fear became surprisingly angry. Regardless of how it would get along with the host in the future, now it just wanted to kill the monster that took its territory, together with the consciousness of the host.
Batman and Parallax kept communicating through the grey mist, but human orderly thinking and chaotic creature thinking were not on the same line. They communicated for a long time but only reached a preliminary intention to cooperate. As for how to do it, they were still clueless.
At this moment, the voice of Shiller sounded in Batman's ear:
"Regarding the use of the Grey Lantern ring, it is not just about drawing the energy in it, but more importantly, it is about utilising the power of dream rules."
"The power of dream rules?"
"Yes, the so-called power of belief."
"I know that in dreams, anything you think can come true. But you and the Laughing Egg are both masters of this dream. You, the two faces of one entity, want to wish for each other's death through the power of belief. At this point, the two of you can only compete in willpower."
"But the same saying applies, he was carved out of your body, you are him, he is you. So theoretically speaking, the willpower you have, he also has. If this stalemate continues, neither of you can completely erase the other's existence."
"So then?"
"I have connected my dream with your dream, and utilizing the energy of my Thought Palace and other Lantern Rings, I have created the Grey Lamp Ring. This ring represents my consciousness space."
"In other words, when you use this Grey Lantern ring, it's as if my will and your will are superimposed on each other. This way, you have enough status to erase the existence of this embryonic being…"
Batman's eyes narrowed. He understood Shiller's words.
Originally, his fight with the Laughing Egg was like a person arm wrestling with their left and right hand. As they are the same person, their strength and willpower wouldn't differ much.
The Laughing Egg can mobilize Batman's dark side, much like he is the dominant hand, slightly stronger in muscle strength than Batman, but also not too much stronger. Therefore, when Batman used the energy from the Grey Lantern ring to resist the dark tide, they ended up in a deadlock.
At this moment, if Batman and Shiller's wills are superimposed, it would be like the left hand holding the right, and a knife appearing out of thin air to chop off the right hand, providing the crucial factor to determine the battle's outcome.
The spectators suddenly saw the spindle-shaped tornado getting larger, and the dark tide and grey mist getting thinner, allowing them to see the situation within more clearly.
They saw the cracks on the embryo atop the head of the monster confronting Batman growing bigger and bigger. A pale hand was gingerly stretching out. It quickly extended the front half, followed by the elbow and upper arm.
"What's going on? Is it hatching? Has Batman been disadvantaged?"
Shiller shook his head and said, "Batman is letting it hatch. It's the only option he has because the shell of that egg not only limits the monster but also acts as its protector. If it only extends a hand, Batman's attacks are unlikely to inflict fatal damage. He must wait for the cracks in the shell to enlarge."
While speaking, the arm of the monster was completely stretchered out, followed by its head. Batman saw a pale skull, with spikes on one eye, a broad grin on its face. At this moment, it was rubbing its head against the sticky membranous film inside the embryo, about to entirely come out.
At this moment, the consciousness space began to shake. Like tangible gray fog condensed from the top of the embryo, touching the hatching monster for a moment, the monster's form began to vanish out of thin air.
It was as if the monster was immobilized as a drawing on a piece of paper, then starting from the head, it was getting erased bit by bit.
But the monster instantly realized what Batman was up to, it started to resist vigorously, the erasure slowed, meanwhile, it kept struggling to break out of its shell, the hand that was protruding out started to tear at the film atop its head.
However, at this moment, giving the monster a backstab, the Parallax struggled for control from within. The Laughing Egg's motion paused momentarily due to its interference, and in that moment, most of its arm and half of its head were completely wiped out.
Everything happened silently, yet everyone could feel the intensity of the battle. Hal held his breath, fearing his slightest movement could affect the fight.
The gray fog atop the monster's head became thicker, Batman closed his eyes, concentrating his willpower to its maximum, the gray fog flowed along the cracks of the monster's broken shell, starting to erase its body from within.
The Parallax kept interfering with the monster, causing it to halt its movements from time to time. Soon, the arm outside its shell, and the majority of its body within, were completely erased.
At that moment, realizing its hopeless situation, the monster put out something like a roaring laugh, followed by the dream space starting to collapse.
"It has run out of tricks, seems like it wants to bring everyone down with it," Shiller spoke calmly, showing no urgency in face of the impending crisis. He turned to the others and said, "Follow me into my Thought Palace, if this place collapses, I'll send you all out."
After their figures vanished, only Batman and the monster remained in the dream space.
In the end, Batman and Parallax launched a joint fierce attack, and after the monster's remaining half head completely disappeared, the dream began to fully collapse.
Batman, who had exhausted all his mental and willpower, failed to see the Fear Joker's yellow body, aside from the head, began to shrink, then entirely crawled back into the eggshell left by the Laughing Egg, still undestroyed.
Batman's grey ring voluntarily flew off his finger, heading for the tower in Central Gotham.
At the same time, an egg emitting yellow light, carried by the chaotic currents of the dream, floated towards the tower's entrance.
Professor Shiller put on the grey ring, feeling the chaotic consciousness emanating from the egg. He paused for a moment before letting the egg enter the high tower.
Then Shiller raised his arm, and the gray fog grew stronger.
Just as the dream completely collapsed, Shiller's voice came, "Return to reality."
The high tower, along with the gray fog filling the sky, entirely dissipated amidst the tumultuous collapsing fragments.