American comics: From Hogwarts to God on Earth

Chapter 497 Bane's Inner Demons - Batman

Chapter 497 Bane's Inner Demons - Batman

"Good boy, that's more like it!" Rune smiled and accepted Bain's thanks, and the scarecrow's memories were filtered out. At this moment, a giant wolf carrying a half-dead assassin came to his side.

Rune patted its head and then read the assassin's memories.

This time, he was reading the section about combat experience.

During his previous sparring session with Wonder Woman, Rune realized his weakness: his lack of combat experience prevented him from fully utilizing his powerful physique.

Although with magical assistance, few creatures can break through Rune's magic and fight him in melee, magic is not omnipotent. As far as he knows, there is a character called Anti-Mage in a certain game who is specifically designed to counter all kinds of mages.

Coincidentally, that game had two generations, and the first generation is now basically unplayable.

Therefore, Rune's future plans include making up for his lack of combat experience, and this goal is of high priority.

Soon, all the assassin's knowledge about combat was shattered into fragments, which Rune placed beside him.

Now, a ring has appeared on Rune's head that only he can see. This ring contains a large number of memory fragments, including Naboo's magic, Professor X's guide to using psychic abilities, and so on.

These are all areas of knowledge that await his mastery and study—a long and arduous journey indeed.

Rune sighed inwardly, but his hand didn't forget to take the Titan venom that Bain handed him. However, simply taking the venom wasn't enough, and the mage continued to reach out to Bain.

Bain narrowed his eyes; he understood what Rune meant. The burly man's eyes behind the mask began to dart around, revealing a cunning that was completely out of character for him.

He was wondering whether Rune simply wanted the formula or wanted to test his worth.

Considering the terrifying magic Rune had previously displayed, and the power with which he casually tossed a huge gold brick, Bain had reason to believe that even though he was now no more than three meters away from the mage, the probability of him subduing Rune before he could unleash his magic was practically zero.

There is no doubt that a direct confrontation is not worthwhile, but handing it over for free is not in one's best interest either.

So Bain began to carefully consider his words, "I can give you the formula, mage, but the production process of this venom is far more complex than a single formula can solve. It requires a large amount of experimental equipment and the cooperation of countless researchers."

"Without my full cooperation, I'm afraid this so-called formula won't allow you to successfully produce Titan Venom in a short period of time."

Rune didn't know if Bane was telling the truth, but he had a team of bug-level scientists behind him, including Tony Stark, Beast, Dr. Banner, and Mr. Fantastic. They were fully capable of reverse engineering the production process based on the formula and Venom itself, and perfecting the effects of Venom.

However, Rune was still willing to pay a price, especially since Bane was so sensible. "Tell me, what do you want? Power, money, or security? But don't even think about killing some superheroes for you, that's impossible."

Bane neither expected nor wanted Rune to kill Batman for him—Bane was his prey and his fear. He would never be able to sleep peacefully for the rest of his life if he could not defeat Batman with his own hands.

He once saw his future self during a coma. His future self told him that he would become a king and rule everything, but only if Bane could eliminate the only obstacle on his path to becoming king: fear.

So Bain used all available resources to train himself, teaching himself a wide range of knowledge including multiple languages, mathematics, chemistry, and strategy. In addition, he constantly underwent rigorous physical training to strengthen his physique.

He then defeated all his rivals in the prison and became the King of the Prison.

At this time, he unexpectedly heard about Batman, the "ruler" of Gotham, who both admired and feared Bane. He idolized Batman because the latter used fear to rule the most chaotic city in the United States.

But he was also afraid of Batman's will, because Bane knew he couldn't be like Batman, who could get up again and again after being knocked down and find a way to turn the tide.

Bane escaped from prison and tried to conquer fear, only to find that the embodiment of fear—Batman—was impossible to conquer. This frustration made him, like other villains in Gotham, obsessed with opposing Batman.

In other words, Batman has become Bane's inner demon.

A short while later, Harley and Poison Ivy returned carrying the Flash. Harley roughly threw the Flash to the ground, then put her arm around the hesitant-looking Red and brought her to Rune.

"Wait a minute—" Harley looked around, her brow furrowing. "Where are the other villains? They've all disappeared!"

The clown explained to Harley with a regretful expression that Rune had let the villains go, but the remaining Bane had to make a deal with Rune and couldn't fight, so—

Harley nodded in disappointment, her low spirits causing her twin ponytails to droop. She dragged herself over to Rune and listened quietly to the deal between the mage and Baine.

"I can prepare it for you, and even teach you the complete secrets of Titan Venom. But in return, I need to understand your power, if necessary—" Bane's eyes narrowed, "I want to learn it."

He didn't believe Batman could be defeated by his apprentice; otherwise, he would be very disappointed.

Bane will undoubtedly continue his entanglement with Batman in the future, and he is well aware of his weakness: injecting too much Titan Venom will diminish his sanity, but if he injects less or none at all, he will find it difficult to defeat Batman physically.

Therefore, Bane finally decided to seek help from some mysterious forces he had never encountered before.

Rune couldn't help but smile. Bain, who had learned magic? That was quite interesting. He sized up the terrifyingly muscular man, carefully considering his personality.

Baine possesses the extraordinary intelligence, absolute discipline, and powerful willpower required to learn magic, making this imposing man fully capable of becoming a powerful mage. However, his core personality clashes with the concept of magic in the DC universe.

Just as Rune was carefully considering the feasibility of Bain becoming a mage, the catwoman tugged at his collar.

"Do you still remember your promise?" Selena asked in a low voice. Rune nodded. Wasn't it just to ensure Batman's safety?

"Then why did you teach Bane magic?"

Selena glared at Rune with a hint of annoyance. As expected of Batman's lover, even her angry expression was quite beautiful, ignoring her age.

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