As Batman prepared to head to the lowest level, a voice called out to him.
"Are you Batman?"
It was a guard, looking at the Dark Knight with a bewildered expression.
"How did you recognize me?"
Batman looked at him, puzzled. His current appearance was completely different from usual.
"I didn't think it was you at first, but when I saw that big bat, I figured it had to be. Batman really does keep bats."
The guard looked at Batman with a shocked expression.
"Uh-huh."
Batman shook his head helplessly and walked away. It seemed Gotham would have another urban legend about him.
Entering the mirror world, Batman directly smashed through the building floors, heading to the next level, saving time.
"Such a powerful attack should have significant recoil, but I don't feel it at all. What is this armor made of? I'll have to find a way to study it later and see if it can be mass-produced."
Batman, being a professor with degrees in several scientific fields, couldn't help but get excited at the scholarly potential of this mysterious armor.
Upon reaching the lowest level of Arkham Asylum, he immediately observed the real world through a mirror.
He saw a very gruesome scene.
The hall was filled with corpses—guards and criminals alike.
Some of the criminal corpses were familiar faces to Batman.
Mad Hatter, Ventriloquist, Dr. Hugo Strange, and so on. As for Joker, Two-Face, and Riddler, they were nowhere to be seen yet.
Among the pile of bodies, several mimic beasts were walking around.
Strangely, they weren't eating the corpses.
Instead, they were dragging them to another area.
There, a few heavily pregnant mimic beasts lay, continuously eating the corpses brought to them.
"What's going on?"
Batman found this scene bizarre and watched more closely.
"Uuuuh!!"
A mimic beast let out a painful cry, its body arching backward.
"Could it be!"
Batman immediately realized what was happening.
The mimic beast's rear end spewed out several small red creatures.
These creatures landed, screaming loudly.
Upon closer inspection, they were miniature mimic beasts!
The pregnant mimic beasts were giving birth!
"Damn it! I can't let them continue breeding!"
Fortunately, Batman had discovered this in time. Even if he killed all the mimic beasts, the young ones could grow up later, causing more trouble.
Batman took out a card, already knowing how to deal with the situation.
He moved to a mirror that gave him a vantage point of the female mimic beasts and jumped out!
His appearance was so sudden that none of the mimic beasts noticed.
As soon as he landed, he swung his sword, decapitating a female mimic beast.
Before the others could react, he turned and pierced another's throat.
In a flash, he killed two mimic beasts.
"Roar!!"
The other mimic beasts finally reacted, attacking Batman.
"Confusion Vent."
Batman moved faster, reading the card.
The dark bat quickly flew out of the mirror world, emitting a deafening noise.
The sound was so unbearable that all the mimic beasts cowered, covering their ears to block the sonic waves.
Batman seized this opportunity, running towards the remaining female mimic beasts, swinging his sword repeatedly.
He decapitated each one!
With the female mimic beasts dead, they couldn't reproduce anymore!
"Roar!!"
As the dark bat's sonic interference ended, the male mimic beasts saw the females had been killed and roared in rage.
They charged at Batman.
But Batman was prepared. Holding a shattered mirror in his left hand, he placed it on the ground and jumped in.
His large frame passed through the mirror fragments into the mirror world.
Dodging the mimic beasts' attacks, he watched them collide.
Batman stood before a glass panel, observing the pile of mimic beasts in the real world.
"Good, stay together like that."
Batman pulled out a gold bat-emblazoned card and inserted it into the reader on his sword.
"Final Vent!"
In the next moment, the Dark Knight's specialized weapon, the Wing Lancer, appeared in his hand.
Simultaneously, the dark bat flew in from behind.
"Haah!"
Batman leaped with all his might.
The dark bat transformed into a black cloak on Batman's back, expanding and spinning in a spiral.
This was the Dark Knight's ultimate move—Flying Slash!
In the spinning cloak, Batman flew out of the mirror world, directly hitting the clustered mimic beasts.
The terrifying power shredded them into pieces with no resistance!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
It wasn't over yet. Batman couldn't control this move, continuing forward, breaking through walls until he almost hit a support pillar.
Finally, he stopped, landing somewhat clumsily as the cloak returned to the dark bat.
"Screech!"
The dark bat, excited by the carnage, began feasting.
"Hey, don't eat the human corpses!"
Batman, feeling uncomfortable, reminded the bat.
The dark bat glared at Batman, then turned to eat only the mimic beast corpses.
"Seems it's not fully under my control."
Batman grew wary.
"Alfred, what's the situation now?"
"Sir, all the monsters in the asylum have been eliminated, but some people have escaped."
Hearing Alfred's report, Batman felt both relieved and concerned.
Tonight couldn't end like this.
"Congratulations, Bruce Wayne, for eliminating the invading mimic beasts. Now issuing rewards: three Survival Cards."
The electronic voice announced.
Three cards appeared in Batman's hand.
One depicted a golden bird, and the other two had wing symbols with wind and fire backgrounds.
"Survival Cards are exclusive to mirror world Kamen Riders. Using one transforms you into survival form, greatly enhancing your combat power. The strength increase limit is determined by the will to survive."
(End of Chapter)