radicalducati Chapter 17: Sanity Level Drops Like Crazy
Chapter 17: Sanity Level Drops Like Crazy
The moment he stared at the [Wizard] card, that inexplicable sense of crisis surged into Jaeger's heart once again.
However, without using the [Wizard], the [Door] which has no active attack ability, the [Messenger] which can only be used for support by utilizing the fog field, and the last active skill card which has absolutely nothing to do with combat, are all clearly unable to break the current situation.
Time was running out for him. Once the police, drawn by the commotion caused by the counterfeit, arrived, they wouldn't refrain from interfering with the battle out of respect for the so-called "rules of the magical world," like Batman would—and Jaeger's card-folding mission would be ruined.
Besides, if it's truly dangerous... shouldn't the [Danger Perception] system give no warning?
With this in mind, Jaeger took a deep breath and finally chose to use the [Wizard].
The choice has been made, and the active skill card representing the [Wizard] immediately lights up, its deep, pale blue light flickering and undulating like vines wrapped around the card.
At the same time, Jaeger's eyes widened... He could sense that something was beginning to change.
The moment the [Wizard] was activated.
It was as if his senses had been suddenly heightened several degrees, to the point that Jaeger began to notice things he had never noticed before.
Those things exist in the air, around him, in places that people can clearly see but never notice...
They were sticky, eerie, and heavy, pressing down on Jaeger like solid objects, making it almost impossible for him to breathe. He struggled to keep his eyes half-open, his vision blurred, and a pale blue light, identical to the light on the [Wizard] card, was illuminating every part of his field of vision, surging out like waves.
The next second, Jaeger's vision suddenly cleared again, but his pupils involuntarily dilated at the sight before him—
Because in that instant, he saw the real...Gotham.
Above, the dark red sky seemed almost within reach, scattered with the perpetually dark clouds that blanketed Gotham.
Standing nearby are the old Gothic buildings of the old town. On those buildings, every dark window is constantly dripping a shocking amount of blood.
Beyond a bridge lies the distant city. On the exteriors of those towers that should symbolize modern civilization, every "GG" sign and every neon light flashes nervously and wildly, like countless eyes opening and closing in a frenzy.
Rotting flesh and blood wove together the streets that wind through these buildings; the gargoyle stone beasts crouching on the rooftops spread their marble wings and emitted mournful cries; the towering clock towers rang their bells madly, the continuous tolling deafening—
All of these elements, in a strange sense of harmony, together form an indescribable picture of hell.
But amidst this hellish scene, Jaeger, whose head was throbbing with excruciating pain and who was unable to escape the hallucination, saw something different.
Compared to the red and black Gotham, stained with blood and sin, that thing was bright.
It is neither dimmed nor distorted by its surroundings.
It hung high in the sky above Gotham, between the clouds, looking down on this city that was rotten to the core, both in the real world and in the mystical world, like a silent declaration of war.
—It is a bat symbol projected onto the sky by a projector.
The moment he saw that sign, all illusions shattered like a broken mirror. As his consciousness returned to reality, Jaeger's knees buckled, and he fell forward uncontrollably, barely managing to support himself by kneeling on one knee.
His back was already soaked with cold sweat, and he began to breathe rapidly without realizing it.
"Winchester?"
On the other end of the communicator, Batman keenly sensed something was wrong with Jaeger: "Has something happened?"
No, I'm fine.
Jaeger took a deep breath and replied to Batman via communicator.
What I just saw... is this the consequence of the "enhanced inspiration" mentioned by the [Wizard] card?
No wonder my intuition always told me that using this card wouldn't bring good things.
Fortunately, although the scene seemed to last a long time in my mind, it actually only lasted for a few seconds in reality and didn't cause too much trouble.
Furthermore, immediately after emerging from that state, Jaeger felt his brain being infused with a great deal of knowledge that appeared out of thin air—things that had appeared in his memory just seconds before, yet felt so natural and fitting, as if they were things that were meant to be in his mind all along.
It feels a bit like seeing the periodic table again years after graduating high school, with elements like hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, and neon. It's like a dead memory is being revived in my brain...
Before he could even finish a self-deprecating remark, Jaeger had already stood up again. Aside from a slight dizziness, he was practically the same as before using the [Wizard] card—
Well, when I didn't say it.
Jaeger saw his reflection in the puddle at his feet. The person in the reflection looked perfectly normal, but his right eye was strangely flashing with an eerie pale blue light.
It's a bit like the light that appeared in his field of vision before he saw that bizarre version of Gotham City... Now forced to wear heterochromia, Jaeger analyzed it and decided that since it didn't affect his normal vision, he would put the problem aside for the time being.
After all, he has other things to do now.
"messenger."
Jaeger looked at the mist ahead, coughed lightly, and then spoke, knowing that the fake and the messenger could hear him.
"—Please clear the fog, thank you."