"It must have been because of the rushed timing; he didn't absorb all of those demons' powers. It wasn't like this when he got stronger before..." Diana's voice quickly followed behind Robert. After she left with Robert earlier, Robert had quietly returned, but Diana had not.
Because Diana, despite being able to suppress her physical strength and hide her demigod identity to appear like a normal person, could not make herself completely undetectable like a stone.
Thus, after a brief communication, Diana watched from a distance. Only when Robert began to make his move did Diana appear to back him up.
Normally, a demon would not warrant such caution from Robert and Diana. But this demon had previously demonstrated exceptional abilities, making it difficult for Robert and Diana to track it. Naturally, they opted to be more cautious...
"Indeed, his aura is very chaotic..." Robert nodded in agreement to Diana's comment. He had just responded to Diana when he saw the patchwork creature disappear from its original spot, showing no intention of charging toward him.
With a "bang!", the next moment, the patchwork creature hit a psychic barrier not far in front of Diana. It turned out it had heard the conversation between Robert and Diana, who had suddenly appeared, and subconsciously thought the psychic barrier had disappeared.
Perhaps in the eyes of the patchwork creature, Robert, who could unleash such a terrifying demonic curse, was even more horrifying than Diana. Otherwise, there was no reason for it to head toward Diana.
With a "zizz!", as it collided with the psychic barrier, the patchwork creature released various strange powers, which Robert faintly recognized as coming from the demons he had just killed.
If the patchwork creature could have absorbed all of these demons' powers and enhanced its own strength, it might have been able to break through the psychic barrier. But the patchwork creature had not achieved this. What made it think it could break through Robert's psychic barrier with the powers of demons that Robert had easily defeated?
With a "pfft!", the next moment, one of Robert's energy swords pierced through the body of the patchwork creature. Robert waited for the demonic curse to emerge, but whether the patchwork creature was too afraid to die or its powers were too fragmented to use the demonic curse, Robert only saw it struggle without any sign of the curse.
With a "hiss!", the next moment, Robert's energy sword turned into a flame, engulfing the patchwork creature on the spot. No wonder Diana had mentioned that there was a peculiar demon, not a powerful one. This demon with special abilities could indeed only be considered peculiar.
However, Robert's trip was not in vain. At least he learned why so many demons had come to Earth. He also wanted to see how big the gap was between himself and Diana at full strength, and whether he could force Diana to use her divine power and artifacts at the same time.
With a "hum!", feeling Robert's intense gaze and fighting spirit, Diana also immediately surged with a strong fighting spirit. Due to the emergence of demons, Diana had also made several moves. But like Robert, she hadn't encountered any formidable opponents worthy of a fight.
Therefore, when her gaze met Robert's, the warlike blood within Diana began to surge wildly...
However, just as Robert and Diana's fighting spirit intertwined, ready for a major battle, a jarring ringtone broke the night's silence.
Robert: ???
Diana: ???
Both Robert and Diana's momentum paused, then Diana's gaze turned to Robert, who scratched his head and took out his phone.
"Hello? Robert?" After Robert answered the call, a deep voice reached his ears. Robert remembered this voice, especially since he hadn't figured out this person's superpower yet.
"Batman?"
"It's me. A large number of demons have appeared in Gotham, along with a guy wielding dark powers. Are you interested?" Batman's voice remained low and raspy, based on his brief interaction and profile of Robert's personality traits.
"A large number of demons? A guy with dark powers?" Robert's eyes slightly brightened, asking expectantly, "Is he powerful?"
"There's someone here who can control something like shadow ninjas, and he's even tamed a demon that has devoured a large number of Gotham's demons. What do you think of such strength?" Batman shared some intelligence from his side, curious about Robert's assessment of the Joker's strength.
"Control shadow ninjas? Someone from the same force as that old lady last time?" Robert thought of Mrs. Gao, who controlled the shadow blades, flashing a thought.
Initially, Robert thought that after killing Mrs. Gao, other members of the shadow troop would seek him out, but he had never encountered anyone from the shadow troop. Especially after the death of the Holy Master, the shadow troop seemed to have vanished.
In fact, Robert didn't know that the shadow troop hadn't disappeared; their actions were merely overshadowed by more significant demonic activities. Tara, who possessed Mrs. Gao, was gathering her subordinates, preparing to take advantage of the rift in Earth's dimension to let the dark dimension also partake in Earth's dimension.
"The shadow troop can also control demons? Having devoured a large number of demons, he must be quite strong. It might be worth checking out..." After thinking it over, Robert was about to reply to Batman but noticed Diana's slightly resentful gaze.
"Is it urgent in Gotham?" Robert felt a chill for some reason and hesitated to ask Batman.
"..." Batman was silent for a moment, "Somewhat urgent."
"Hmm, can you hold out for two days?" After glancing at Diana, Robert tentatively asked.
"…Yes." This was the first time Batman was asking for external help, which made him somewhat uncomfortable. However, this was not Batman's main concern; he was more worried that the profile on Robert might have been wrong!
According to the profile, Robert should have rushed to Gotham upon hearing about demons and strong opponents, but now there was a problem, forcing Batman to reconsider his profiling.
Fortunately, Robert's trip to Gotham was another opportunity for Batman to observe him.
"Alright, I'll come to Gotham in two days and contact you when I arrive?" Robert smiled at Diana and asked Batman on the phone.
"No need. I'll know when you arrive." Batman said flatly and hung up the phone.
"Alfred, bring out Robert's files again..." After hanging up, Batman looked at his butler Alfred and said, "And, how is Superman doing?"
"Reports of Superman's sightings are coming from all over the world. I sometimes wonder if he can teleport, but it seems he's just incredibly fast and can't be in two places at once..." Alfred joked.
"So, he's probably just a powerful metahuman, not a real deity. Although in many people's eyes, he's already a deity!"
"You haven't seen a deity. How do you know what a deity can or can't do?" Batman shook his head, whispering, "After all, we've never seen a real deity. Who can guarantee he's not one of them?"
"What if he really is a deity?" Alfred paused and asked Batman softly.
"Then we'll see what kind of deity he is. If he has ambitions to rule the world and wants everyone to worship him, I'll find his weakness and slay a god!" Batman said with determination.
Studying demons wasn't just something organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Eye Society were doing. The emergence of new demons brought a new crisis to Gotham but also allowed Batman to encounter new powers, expanding his arsenal.
"It looks like we need to hurry!" On the other side, Diana looked at Robert, who had put away his phone, and said with a smile, "Don't worry, I'll be careful not to attack your legs..."
"Alright, we do need to hurry. But let's not fight until we're completely exhausted like last time. After all, I have things to do tomorrow and demons to deal with!" Robert's fighting spirit surged again as he spoke seriously to Diana.
"So, are you asking me to go easy on you?" Diana teased Robert with a half-smile.
"That's absolutely unnecessary!" Robert's figure instantly disappeared from the spot, activating the power of the Giant Ape in a fury state. After a brief collision in mid-air with Diana, the two headed toward the wilderness outskirts.
At this point, Robert was still a bit behind the fighting power of a Super Saiyan, but after several major battles, he had raised his base combat power to the level he had when fighting the Martian Manhunter with the boost from the Giant Ape's fury.
Robert felt that if he had activated the Giant Ape's fury from the start against the Martian Manhunter, he could have made the Martian Manhunter take him seriously from the beginning and see if the Martian Manhunter's combat power could match that of a higher form of Frieza.
In Robert's case, the Giant Ape's fury state had effectively replaced the position of the Kaioken, even proving to be more powerful.
Because if Robert fully mastered the Giant Ape's fury, it could be added on top of his base combat power and then further amplified by transforming into a Super Saiyan. In contrast, the Kaioken forcibly increased combat power through high strain. One was about development, and the other about extraction, leading to naturally different outcomes.
During this battle, Robert went all out from the start, displaying all his combat power at this stage.
Diana's divine power surged, and she only kept the Protective Silver Bracelets among her artifacts. Even so, Robert felt that his battle with Diana wasn't much different from last time...
Because Robert found that as the battle progressed, not only was his combat power increasing, but the divine power within Diana was also surging wildly. As Diana's fighting spirit rose, her combat power also continued to climb! With more and more divine power being activated from the Protective Silver Bracelets, Robert still couldn't gain the upper hand. After turning the surrounding land into a mess once again, Robert finally fell to the ground, exhausted.
However, compared to their last battle, although Robert still didn't gain the upper hand, he managed to force Diana to seriously use an artifact. Robert also discovered that Diana's divine power could elevate her combat power! This meant that if Robert wanted to truly defeat Diana, he either needed to increase faster than Diana's divine power or improve his base combat power...
Of course, Robert thought that if he transformed into a Giant Ape directly, he might be able to suppress Diana without using other artifacts, provided Diana's divine power didn't suddenly climb to a new height...
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