A side-note everyone, this chapter was quite big so I did not have enough time to proof-read it. Also I have updated some info on the first chapter to maintain the consistency.

Disclaimer: I do not own DC, or any other characters from other franchise.

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Chapter 2

A New Symbol

Somewhere in Gotham

The night in Gotham city was unnaturally quiet. And it was not just today. If this was any other time, Batman would be more vigilant but he knew the reason for it… reasons to be exact.

The first reason was the death of Joker. It happened a week ago, but to him, it felt like the event transpired just moments ago.

It was one of those very few moments where he truly felt powerless. He stood there, unable to take any actions, and just watched everything unfolding in front of him. The execution was swift, it was brutal, and he knew from experience, it was done in such a way to send a message.

What was the message? He did not know… not yet.

Batman, of course, swept the city for the next few days, leaving no stones unturned. But even with the help of Barbara, Tim and Dick, they could not find anything. It was as if that being appeared just to kill Joker. And then left for good, after the deed was done.

Of course, multiple issues arose because of Joker's death. The first was to detain Harley Quinn. The moment she heard the news, even though she was in Arkham asylum, she became uncontrollably violent. She almost caused prison break, multiple times within just twenty-four hours. They had to relocate her to a more secured facility. And Batman had to oversee the relocation, just in case, she did not cause any prison break.

And then, another unpredictable event occurred. Joker's body, which was kept in Gotham General hospital for autopsy, was burnt to ashes. At first, he thought it was done by that creature. But after some investigation, he found out it was carried out by the combined efforts of many gangs in Gotham. Turned out, they wanted to make sure that Joker would not be coming back. Further investigation also showed that the cops guarding the morgue purposefully created an opening for the gangs to exploit.

So that was why the gangs were keeping a low profile for now. He would not be surprised if he found them celebrating.

Batman looked away from the streets and toward the sky, specifically at the two figures flying toward him.

This was the second reason for the criminals to keep their heads down. Quite a few members of the Justice League were here.

"Anything."

Superman landed in front of him and shook his head. Green Lantern landed a second later, "There is no signs of any alien technology, let alone any alien life-forms."

Batman faced Green Lantern, "Did the Green Lantern Corps find any matches?"

Green Lantern shook his head, "None. They have gone through their database multiple times, but no matches."

"Maybe…" Superman was interrupted as their communicator came to life.

"Everyone, I have found something."

No more words were needed as Batman, Superman and Green Lantern rushed to J'onn's location. It took them few minutes to reach where Martian Manhunter was. It was an abandoned subway.

"What did you find J'onn?" Batman asked even before Green Lantern dropped him on the ground.

J'onn glanced at him and then at the wall in front of him, he pointed at the faded symbols, "This is a Psychic ward."

"What is a psychic ward?" Superman asked as he came close as well.

Batman examined the faded symbols. His Batcomputer, connected via the scanner on his mask, already started analyzing the symbols.

"The symbols here are from Runic Language, used in the ancient times to boost an individual's magic or strength." J'onn answered, "And in this case, these symbols were being used as a psychic ward. It is somewhat like a transmitter, used for boosting the power and or increasing the range of someone's psychic abilities."

Batman narrowed his eyes as he faced J'onn, "This is not the only ward out there."

It was not a question or a random guess, it was a statement.

"I am sure we will find a lot of these wards all over Gotham, I can help find and neutralize them," J'onn paused for a moment, "Not that it would matter."

"Why?" Green Lantern asked as he stopped inspecting the symbols.

"Because these are not active anymore." It was Batman who answered.

"Correct," J'onn nodded, "The person responsible knew what he or she was doing. If I were to guess, there was a kill-switch which he or she activated to destroy every trace."

"The symbols are still here, is there no way to use them in any way?" Superman asked.

J'onn shook his head, "There is nothing left for me to trace or work with."

For a moment, none of them spoke. It was Green Lantern who broke the silence, "So, any theories on the new guy?"

Batman knew Green Lantern was asking him, "A human psychic who was testing his powers for quite some time and under the radar. He wanted to make a memorable entrance to our world, and he did so. Whoever he is, he is very smart and he does not stay here."

"That is one hell of a theory." Superman smiled at him.

"Well, then any idea how to capture him… or her?" Green Lantern asked.

Batman looked back at the symbol, "When we find him or her, I suggest we do not use any force. We should use persuasion at first or at least try to find the motives."

Superman gave him a questioning look. He was not the only one.

Batman finally sighed, "The reason we cannot outright use any force is because according to the laws, he is innocent," He ignored their surprised look and continued on, "Joker, according to the official report, had been killed by a supernatural being with supernatural powers."

"So, even if we do find him or her, we do not have any evidence linked to the crime," Superman sighed, "But still, whoever the person is, he or she has entered the world through murder."

Batman faced Superman, "It was more like an assassination," Again they were surprised, and again he pressed on, "Another theory is that our target is a metahuman who was hurt in some ways by Joker. Regardless, there is no denying that our target is new to the world but extremely powerful and is quite smart. Other than that, we know nothing yet."

"Hence we should tread carefully," J'onn added.

Batman looked back at the symbol, "There is another possibility." He paused for a moment, since to him, this was the worst out of all of them.

"That, the person in question is an apprentice of someone… someone cold and ruthless who is forcing his apprentice to go through all sorts of hellish trials."

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Outskirts of Metropolis

"Yes ma, I am eating properly, three times a day. And no, the food is not finished. You had cooked enough to last a zombie apocalypse."

"James Bryan!"

I winced at my mom's no-nonsense tone. Yeah, I screwed up there, "Sorry mom, my bad, I was being stupid."

It had been almost two years since our family had that accident. The accident where my mom and dad would not have survived if it was not for Mewtwo. They did not know that, neither did the doctors. Mewtwo altered everyone's memory to make sure that there were no traces of him left.

On paper, our family suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries.

Still, even now, my mom is quite sensitive about that. It was to the point she would actually get stressed out if we even joked about any topics related to death or destruction. Again, I could not blame her. Even if my mom and dad recovered completely, the trauma was still there.

The loud ring-like sound from the clock was a life-saver, "I am sorry mom, got to go. I will call you later at night. Love you, bye~"

I said everything in one breath, but did not hang up. I heard my mom let out a large sigh, "Love you too, son. Take care."

Smiling, pretty sure like an idiot, I closed the call.

I was an orphan in my last life, never got adopted. I was not cute or handsome or had any redeeming quality. I did not blame anyone, it was just the reality. I accepted that. But now, being the only child of a loving family, getting my parents' unconditional love and care… this feeling, I would never be able to describe with words.

That was why, even though I was spiritually thirty years old, I did not mind acting like a teenager.

Picking up the cup of hot coffee, I went toward the balcony. It was a morning routine, to get some fresh air, to enjoy the sceneries around our place. I did not buy the luxurious penthouse on the outskirts of Metropolis to be used as the Batcave. To be honest, I would not mind a base like Batcave, but I needed my sunlight and fresh air. Not pointing any fingers, but I was no vampire.

Now, how did I get so much money to buy such an expensive place reserved only for those in the high-societies? Yes, well, first I would like to apologize to 'Kōhei Horikoshi', for stealing his idea. I mean I needed money, and I needed it fast. The easiest way was to be a thief or a vigilant or a mercenary for hire. To be fair, I did not have much problem with that angle. I mean I could always choose the bad guys as the target. But, money or resources earned that way were hard to use because of all the traces.

So, I used my knowledge from my previous world. The comics, the manga, the movies, the games… many sections of the entertainment world here which, surprisingly, were not as developed as I thought. Again, I had a resource I could exploit to earn money, and I went for it.

I created 'My Hero Academia' based on the original, but with some tweaks and twists. First of all, this version was meant for the US audiences, in a world where heroes and villains existed. So I had to westernize the series, I apologize for that Horikoshi but my hands were tied. Also, I focused more on the normal lives of the heroes and the villains, what they would go through behind their masks.

I was actually surprised by the result. People ate the story up. I created and released the series last year, and it was already going to be adopted into a series of movies, starting from next year. Well, to be fair, a large contribution actually came from Bruce Wayne. He made some passing positive remarks on the series, and let's just say the sales skyrocketed in the next hour.

I knew Batman was a genius, but damn! He did not say those positive comments just for show. Even though it was very small, Justice League was receiving supports from the 'My Hero Academia' audiences. These audiences, consisting of mostly teenagers or young adults, would show their supports for Justice League through various social platforms. And Batman struck when the iron was hot. I mean the more the series would get recognition, the more passive supports Justice league would receive.

The alarm on my phone woke me up from my reminiscing.

It was time.

I went back in, closed the balcony door. I went to the kitchen to put the coffee cup on the sink and then went to my room. I closed the door of my room, and then clapped… three times, paused for two seconds, and then two more times.

I felt the psychic wards created by Mewtwo getting activated. These wards were awesome, I had to give that. These wards would not activate to the fullest extent, not unless there was an emergency. First, these wards would scan the area. If there were no metahumans or alien lifeforms around, they would fully activate. And if there were any metahumans or alien lifeforms around, they would activate slowly and subtly, to make sure no one would notice the change.

Feeling our house being locked and secured, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I felt the pull, it was not uncomfortable anymore. And then suddenly I felt as if everything came to a stop. I opened my eyes and saw myself floating. My body was transparent, it would take a few more seconds for me to fully enter this world.

I looked below and saw the familiar castle, surrounded by meadow on one side and forest on the other. I could see the starting lines of the ocean at the far edges.

This was Terra, a pocket dimension created using 'Annihilation Maker'. A world where all my summons lived. This was not available at the very beginning. The option was there, yes, to create a place for my special summons. But again, like all my other summons, only the power was provided by the Longinus. The size, the shape, the environments, all the itsy bitsy details were left to my imagination. Mewtwo, as usual, was a godsend. He helped me lay out the foundation, creating the securities, elements, and basically in everything.

The castle was actually my mind palace. Yes, I know, the mind palace ought to be inside my mind, not on a pocket dimension created by a divine artifact. This was, again, one of Mewtwo's ideas. It was so that he could see the memories of my past life and learn from there. Not the personal ones, mind you, but the ones of me watching and reading different stories.

At first, I did not know how it would help me, but then he showed me the result. In the beginning, when I created him, his rank was 'S (low)'. He was already super strong, there was no questioning it. He could use many attacks, psychics and other types, native to the Pokémon world. But just within six months, his rank changed from 'S (low)' to S '(Medium)', and within eighteen months, he was able to reach 'S (High)'.

So, how did he get so strong so fast? Just by watching anime and movies. No jokes.

Mewtwo pointed out that, in this world, he had no restriction. He was not limited to psychic type Pokémon attacks. He could use his psychic powers any way he wanted. He learned how to use telepathic abilities, subtly and passively, from Xavier and Jean from 'X-Men'; learned how to use mind powers, raw and destructive, from Shigeo from 'Mob Psycho 100' and Tatsumaki from 'One Punch Man'; learned how to properly utilize teleportation and illusion abilities by watching 'Naruto'.

When I saw, just a glance, at what Mewtwo could do now, sorry to say this, but I lost my shit. The only reason Mewtwo was still stuck in 'S' rank, I believe, was that he lacked energy. He could pull off mind-blowing stunts, but he lacked the energy to do it worldwide scale.

Knowing him, I was sure that Mewtwo was looking for ways to overcome this obstacle.

And seeing how he actually grew stronger by watching my memories, I started working more on my mind palace. At first, it looked like my old apartment. But now, I am proud to say that my mind palace looked like Hogwarts castle. Yes, of course, there were still many places left that needed to be improved or required touch-ups. But, still, this was a big achievement for me. After all, I did this all by myself without taking help of any sort from Mewtwo.

Suddenly I felt the pull again.

And now, instead of floating in the sky, I was inside the castle, in the empty dining hall. And, I was not transparent anymore.

"Give me few more minutes."

I smiled, "Alright, just let me know when you are done."

I looked front, at the large out-of-place stone tablet. Another routine for me, to always look at it whenever I would come here.

The large tablet was the rank list Mewtwo and I created. It served as a reminder that I was in the DC universe, a world where you could never reach the very top. Not without the plot armor.

Taking a deep breath, I looked at the contents written on the stone tablet.

Rank List

XXX

?

EX (Star-buster)

Superman (Medium), Wonder Woman (Low)

SS (Planet-buster)

Flash (Medium)

S (City-buster)

Mewtwo (High)

A (Super-human)

Batman (High), Batgirl (Low), Robin (Low)

B (Elite-human)

James (Low)

C (Normal-human)

Average healthy humans

It was sad to see my own position. Also, the rank levels, defined by the Gamer's system, were a bit lacking for my taste. Okay, I would have to be honest here, it was lacking quite a lot. Yes, I know that I wanted something light and simple. But I did not believe that the system would simplify everything. At this point, it felt like the system was just being lazy.

I mean the system did not define what it meant by 'Super-human', or how powerful the 'Star-buster' could be. Heck, for the strongest rank, it just put 'XXX'. It was as if the system was telling me that fighting beings of this level meant I am fucked. It would be nothing short of a porn clip.

I sighed again. Watching this always agitated me, but again, I needed remind to myself that I was, at the moment, at the bottom of the barrel.

Also, we found out that the ranking was a bit unreliable. For example, the rank of Bruce Wayne was 'B (High)', but when he was in batsuit the rank jumped to 'A (High)', meaning that he got that huge rank-boost just wearing a costume. Yes, he had his utility belt and many fancy gadgets, but this was ridiculous. Even Barbara was the same case. This meant that during a fight there was a chance that my opponent could get a rank up through equipment or any other external boosts.

This was so not fair.

As for how I was able to learn their ranks, even though I did not set foot anywhere near them, it was, once again, thanks to Mewtwo. Another messed up thing about my Gamer's system was that there was no party feature. But that did not stop Mewtwo. He learned a way for us to have a shared vision. And the cool thing about this was that when we would share our visions, both of us could see the 'Status' of our target. Of course, we could not use it for a prolonged time. Not because it was strenuous for Mewtwo, but it was because I would get motion sickness.

Yes, it was lame. But Mewtwo could move and think really fast, too fast for my brain to comprehend. Still, even if the shared vision was something we could for a short duration, it was enough to get the job done.

I hummed. There were still a few more Justice League members left, members whose ranked we had not learned yet.

Releasing an audible breath, I turned around. It seemed that Mewtwo would need more than just a few minutes. And I know exactly how to pass the time.

I closed my eyes and thought of myself outside of the castle. I felt the familiar pull there. When I felt myself stabilizing, I opened my eyes. And… I was outside.

The reason I would close my eyes during teleportation because seeing the surroundings getting distorted so severely was quite nauseating. Again, it was not as severe as before, but still, I liked to keep my eyes closed, less headache in that way.

And then I felt them coming.

"Ahh~ My babies…. OOF!"

I need to start lifting heavier weights. The first one to reach me was the almost 800 kilos black dragon. If I was not prepared I would have flown backward by his tackle.

"Toothless," Gasp, "You useless reptile," Gasp, "Let me breathe!"

Of course, he moved only after covering me with his saliva. This shit was nasty. I shuddered as I willed the saliva to disappear. I gave him a look and he just returned it with his puppy eye one. I sighed, he was smart, I would have to give him that, "Alright, come here, give me a hug," I immediately raised my hands, "A gentle hug,"

He made his unique happy noises and tackled me again, lightly this time. With a chuckle, I started rubbing his head.

Name – Toothless

Race – Dragon

Rank – A (Medium)

Powers – Pyrokinesis (Expert), Stealth (Advanced), Flight-Speed (Advanced)

From what I had figured out so far, there were three types of creatures I could summon.

First was the usual, the normal types. These summoned creatures did not have any emotions. They felt almost like robots, devoid of any sort of characteristics. Yes, they would follow my commands without questions. Yes, some of them could be comparatively powerful. But they were incapable of doing anything on their own. And the worst part was that when dismissed or when they would be out of energy, they would cease to exist.

Next would be the special types. These were the ones that had unique personalities… the ones filled with traits and emotions of their own. And fortunately, when dismissed, they would return here at Terra instead of disappearing for good. Another thing I had noticed that power-wise, there was not much difference between normal and special types. I mean I could create a normal type emotionless 'Night Fury' which would be slightly weaker than his special counterpart. There was another theory that Mewtwo and I came up with was that the special types were capable of growth. We did not find anything concrete yet but it sounded feasible.

And, last but not least, the summons of 'Balance Breaker'. Beings, Mewtwo did not like the term creature, with so many potentials.

It had been almost two years, but I still hadn't figured out everything regarding my Longinus.

Yes, I knew how to create a normal type of summons and a special type of summons. For the special type, one, I needed genuine emotion. I could not use fake emotions. I learned it after many trials and errors. And two, while it was not mandatory, an object that was somewhat related to the summoned creature would be nice. For example, to create Toothless as a special summon, after many failed attempts, I used the bones of a magical drake that Mewtwo bought from the black market.

This was again another theory of ours that, although imagination was the core driving force to create the summons, it was not the only requirement.

I closed my eyes and recalled the words, words that I read thousands of times by now.

'The Annihilation Maker grants the user the ability to create any creatures based on his imagination, emotions, and efforts. The more powerful these resources are, the more powerful the creature is upon its creation.'

I stopped my musings when I felt the weight on my shoulder, and heard the musical trill. I opened my eyes and cranked my neck to see the newcomer, "Fawkes, how are doing big guy?"

Name – Fawkes

Race – Phoenix

Rank – A (low)

Powers – Pyrokinesis (Advanced), Recovery power (Expert), Immortality (Expert)

Another musical trill and I felt his happiness and joy. Then the low grumble made me look forward. The majestic giant lion was lazily walking toward me, looking very bored.

"Nemu."

Name – Nemu

Race – Nemean Lion

Rank – A (low)

Powers – Invulnerability (Expert), Strength (Expert), Speed (Advanced)

I had been with this lazy cat long enough to see the subtle signs… signs that told me he was happy to see me. What a tsundere!

"Oh~ Did you miss me boy~" I closed the gap between us and started to scratch his jaw.

"Honk~"

I blinked my eyes and looked to the side, "Princess!"

Name – Princess

Race – Goose

Rank – Unranked

Powers – Laying Golden Eggs (?)

I stopped scratching Nemu and rushed toward her. The low growl told me that he was not happy about it, not at all. Then again, he was grumpy all the time, so it was all good.

I picked up Princess and cradled her. This was not a goose, this was the goose. She was from 'The Goose that laid the golden eggs'. And yes, just like that fabled story, Princess would lay golden eggs. And a single of those golden eggs would easily sell for a hefty price.

Even though I could only sell the golden eggs in the black market, and even though I could not use the money I received from the black market, to be bluntly honest, it was the second most useful ability from my summons. The first was, of course, the psychic abilities of Mewtwo.

And, after Mewtwo, she was the second hardest one to create; until now of course.

Feeling the prickling gazes on my back, I turned around to see Toothless and Nemu standing side by side, and Fawkes was on top of Nemu's head. And all of them were giving me a flat look.

"Come on now, don't give me that look. I care for all of you."

Somehow it seemed as if their looks became… flatter, if it was possible.

"Barbeque tonight."

And just like that, their eyes started sparkling. I chuckled at the swift changes in their expressions. I was no animal-whisperer but I knew how to keep my babies happy. Speaking of which, I closed my eyes and tried to feel others. It seemed the rest of them were sleeping.

Lazy bunch…

"I am done."

I blinked and then looked toward my mind castle, "I will be there in a second." I put down Princess and looked at the rest, "Alright you all, I got to go now," Seeing their reluctance, I quickly added, "Don't worry, I will be back for tonight's barbeque."

Waving at them, I closed my eyes and thought of my next destination.

I felt the familiar feeling of the pull. And when I felt myself stabilized, I opened my eyes.

I was inside one of the famous Hogwarts rooms, the office of the great Albus Dumbledore. Well, to be fair, even though the structure was somewhat similar, there were too just many differences which made it look like a different place altogether. It would not come as a surprise since Mewtwo used this room as his base.

Instead of books on the large wall-shelves, I had DVD boxes. There were thousands of them, all neatly organized. And there was a large flat-screen TV, sixty inches, right behind the headmaster's table. I honestly did not remember what was there originally, in the Harry Potter series, so I had to improvise.

Also, instead of the magical portraits, I had animated posters of all the series that I loved.

It was over here that Mewtwo and I would work together for me to remember all the details of all the series I had watched in my previous life. And when I would get a clear and focused memory, Mewtwo would duplicate the memory, stuff it in a DVD, and then put it on the shelf for safekeeping.

"I figured it out."

Hearing Mewtwo's voice, I went toward him. He was hunched down and focusing on the notes on top of the headmaster's table… well, that was the only table we had here.

"I need a bit more context here, Mewtwo."

Mewtwo looked up and blinked. He looked quite adorable at that moment. But his cute expression was gone as soon as it came and was replaced with a serious one, "Which timeline we are in, or more specifically," He then pointed at the many DVDs in front of him, "Which version of DC world we are in."

I blinked in surprise, "I thought we came to the conclusion that the DC world we are in is not following any source that I know of."

Mewtwo shook his head, and then picked up a single DVD, "Our world is actually a variation of this series."

I leaned forward and looked at the DVD, 'Justice League animated series'.

"I thought this was not the right one because there were so many differences. The major being the Justice League members and their numbers did not add up," I wanted to add more but seeing the amused look on Mewtwo I shut up. The bastard definitely knew something, "Okay, spill, what did I miss?"

"This is not 'Justice League animated series', this is known as 'Justice League Unlimited'."

Okay, now I was confused.

Mewtwo put the DVD down and picked up some papers, "Your memories from your past life, most of the time, are not clear. And the younger memories you try to recollect, the blurrier they get. And this was one of those series that you watched when you were really young."

I crossed my arms over my chest, "I also watched the Pokémon movies when I was young."

"Yes, but you did not watch them only once. Some of those movies, you had watched it more than ten times," As usual, he had a comeback.

"Alright, fine, so which world we are in?"

"Justice League the animated series."

I blinked and then looked down at that particular DVD.

"This one," Mewtwo tapped the DVD I was looking at, "Is the sequel of that series known as Justice League Unlimited. That was why there were so many differences that we thought it was not the world."

"So, wait, I mistook the original one with the sequel one."

Mewtwo just gave me an amused smile as a reply.

"Fuck!"

Mewtwo chuckled as his gaze landed on all the notes on the table, "Still, two of our theories still stand. First, this world is not following one single series linearly. There are hints that events of multiple series also happening at the same time. I would not be surprised if, sometimes in the future, we see a complete merge between different versions of the Justice League."

"That is good to know I guess?"

"Not necessarily," Mewtwo sighed, "Because, that means, it is hard to predict the exact time and the version of certain events."

"Ah, okay," I winced, "That is bad."

I knew what he was talking about… worldwide invasions.

Within the last two and a half years, two worldwide invasions had happened. The first invaders, according to the rumors, were from Mars. This event also led the Justice League to be formed. Unfortunately, the internet in this era was not as advanced as my past life. And the only proper source of information was the black market. So, I was not sure about the authenticity of this information.

No, the invasions happened, I was not denying it. I just did not know who was the invaders. The government really knew how to cover things up when it mattered.

The second one was by the man himself, Darkseid. And since the invasion started right in the middle of Washington DC, everyone and their grandma knew about it.

Two invasions within two and a half years.

I conjured a chair and flopped down on it.

It had been two years since I reincarnated. I was not sure if reincarnation would be the current term for my situation, but for now, I would go with it. It also had been two years since I created Mewtwo. Again, I could never explain it in words how lucky I was to have Mewtwo.

For the first six months, after my reincarnation, Mewtwo and I tried to figure out the state of the world… which heroes had emerged, which villains were active, what were the events that already had transpired, and so on. It was also during this time that I awakened my psychic powers. It was not because I had them in the first place, but because Mewtwo's psychic abilities kind of affected me. It became clear when Mewtwo started helping me out on understanding the power and utilities of my Longinus.

That was something we focused on the next six months, learning what my Longinus was capable of through many trials and errors. During this time, I also started working on my mind castle as well as improving my… our family's financial status. Let's be real here, we all needed money. And especially in the DC universe where it was not uncommon for your car to be used as a swinging bat by a hero or a villain.

I ought to buy some shares of some of the top investment companies, when I could.

As for the second year, the earlier part of it at least, I focused more on utilizing the sudden fame I received as the author of 'My Hero Academia'. I earned enough money and got enough connection to get the hell out of Gotham. I know I should have focused more on improving my powers but I was worried about my parents.

There were still traumatized by the accident, even though they tried to hide it. To be honest, so was I, not of what happened over here but of how I died in my past life. I would still freeze up if I hear the sounds of gunshots. It was not as bad as before. And from what Mewtwo told me a few more months and I would completely recover.

Speaking of Mewtwo, he was not sitting around while I was, according to him, doing mundane tasks. He would teleport to Gotham every day and used the city as a training ground to improve his psychic abilities.

"Yes, the situation is bad, and the execution of Joker did not help us either."

Hearing that, I frowned, "I know, but I am not sorry for that. That fucker had to go."

One of my must-to-do lists was to kill Joker, period. Many of the messed-up variations of the DC universe were created by this clown. 'The Killing Joke', 'Injustice Gods Among Us', 'The Batman who Laughs'.

"I understand where you are coming from, but what I don't understand is why you wanted him to be executed in front of the Bat-family no less."

I let out an audible breath, "You know why."

"To see how the Bat-family would react," Now it was Mewtwo who sighed, "And like I said, I cannot understand the logic behind it."

It was, actually, something personal.

When we were young, we would always cheer and root for the heroes… The heroes who, to us, would look larger than life. And then we started growing up, and we started to see how brutal and dark their world truly was. And we finally started to see, in many cases, how incompetent our heroes were. Frankly speaking, I could not blame these heroes. After all, they were created and written by humans, who were flawed and had limitations just like everyone else.

And this was what I wanted to see, what I wanted to confirm. How would the heroes react? What actions would they take? These would be major factors that would determine whether I would be joining the Justice League in the future, or would I have to be the lone wolf, following my own path and principles.

"For better or worse, you will see the result in the future, Mewtwo."

"If you say so," Mewtwo just let out another sigh, "Then let us get back onto the topic at hand," He pointed at the particular DVD, "If I am not wrong, we have another invasion coming."

I blinked… few times.

"The Thanagarians invasion."

It just made me more confused. If I was not mistaken, Hawkgirl, a member of the Justice League, was a Thanagarian. Why would they…

My eyes widened and my jaw hung open as I recalled, bits and pieces, of myself watching certain episodes.

"Fuck!" I stood up and started pacing, "Fuck!"

"I believe you remembered."

I looked at Mewtwo, "Bits and pieces of it, but you are right. Shit is going to hit the fan, real hard."

"Is it that bad?"

Suddenly something hit me, "How did you figure out that Thanagarians were going to invade if I did not have any memories of it? Heck, how did you even figure out that I messed up the series?"

Again, Mewtwo pointed at the table, "There were clues, here and there, when I watched the series. There were just as many gaps in the story as well. Also, some of the episodes made no sense, it was as if they were a continuation of another story. So, I took a step back and started to create many scenarios to fill in the gaps. Much information I received from the black market actually helped as well. After some time, I noticed that some of the memories became clearer, a very few of them even changed from what it was before."

That caught me off-guard, "Really, I did not feel any changes though."

"It is a subconscious thing, I believe," Mewtwo answered, "See it from this perspective, your memories were, let's say, broken. I provided the necessary details to those memories and they automatically repaired themselves. The only reason I noticed because I was constantly monitoring these particular memories."

My shoulders sagged as I looked at all the DVDs… stored memories around us, "Does it mean many of them have changed as well?"

"The possibility is there, yes. But for now, let's focus on the impending invasion, shall we?"

I released a long-suffering breath through my mouth, "Do you have any idea when it will happen?"

Mewtwo looked a bit hesitant, but answered nonetheless, "Within next two months."

I looked at him and blinked… once, twice.

"Two months?!"

"It is a possibility," Mewtwo looked uncertain, a very rare expression to see on his face, "But the clues are, unfortunately, heavily pointing toward it."

I flopped onto the floor, did not even have the mental energy to conjure a chair.

"It is very sudden, I know, but we still have enough time to prepare."

I gave him a flat look, "Let's view the memory of the Thanagarian invasion, shall we? And then you can tell me if we have enough time to prepare."

Mewtwo winced at my tone.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I looked up,

"Two months…"

.

X

.

Two weeks later

"Two months my ass!"

The Thanagarian invasion had already begun.

In the series, the Thanagarians came to the planet and helped the Justice League to stop a Gordanian battleship. I couldn't recall exactly what went between the Thanagarians and the Justice League, the memories about it were still vague, but the Justice League started to help Thanagarians to build a space-bridge-thingy; yes, not quite good with the sci-fi stuff. Something would happen that would show the true color of the Thanagarians and a battle would occur, where the Justice League would lose; and so would the earth's army.

After that, the Thanagarians would occupy the earth spouting nonsense while building the space-bridge-thingy which, turned out, would destroy our planet if activated. The rest part of this event was as usual, The Justice League escaped, had a rematch and defeated the Thanagarians.

But the reality was quite different.

Yes, the Thanagarians came the same way… helping the Justice League to stop the Gordanian battleship. But the space-bridge-thingy, they already brought something half-made. The Justice League just needed to help set it up. Of course, the next part of the event happened the same way, somehow Thanagarians were found out, battled the Justice League and won; and later defeated the earth's army.

From the moment the Thanagarians came to the earth till their forceful occupation of our planet, it took one week… one fucking week. One of my plans was to anonymously inform the Justice League. I did not even have the time to plan it out properly. It happened that fast.

And once again I was reminded that I was in the real world, not in a fictional series with sunshine and rainbows. From what I had heard, according to the black market channels, there were many casualties when our army clashed with the Thanagarians. Most, if not all the losses were from our side. And after the Thanagarians announced to the world that they were occupying our planet, fucking egoistic bastards, there were, of course, riots that happened throughout the USA and many other countries. And they were brutally put down.

Total casualties, as of now, were in thousands.

That was why the moment they announced that the Justice League escaped, I started working on my plan B. Well, there was another incentive behind this.

I looked ahead, and the words became visible again.

World Quest: Stop the Thanagarian Invasion

The Thanagarians had invaded your planet, earth. They had defeated the Justice League and the best of your planet's armies. Their illegal and forceful occupation of your planet is causing high casualties. If they reach their target, your planet will be destroyed in the process.

Stop them any way you see fit.

Reward: You will receive rewards based on the actions you have taken

Failure: The cost of failure will depend on the actions you have taken or not taken

Of course, the first-ever quest I had received was to stop a fucking invasion where the Justice League had failed. True, that there was a high chance that the Justice League would take care of it without me doing anything. But the 'Failure' part of the quest was very worrying. It clearly stated that there would be a cost if I do not take action.

So, I was not willing to test my luck, especially not in the DC universe. With a sign, I looked down, "I really hope this works out."

"This should," Hearing Mewtwo, I looked at him, who gave me a reassuring nod, "We have taken more than enough necessary steps to ensure the success of this 'Balance Breaker'. Have more faith in yourself."

I gave him a wry smile. The reason I was so skeptical about achieving my next 'Balance Breaker' was because of all the failures until now. I mean it had been two years and I still could not unlock, or create would be the right term here, my next 'Balance Breaker'. Mewtwo theorized that my emotions, when I created him, were so strong that they covered up all the things that I lacked.

There were times I thought my emotions, along with my imagination, were strong enough to create a new 'Balance Breaker' type creature. And I was proven wrong, again and again.

So, this time I am going all out.

"Alright, time to start," Wit that I looked at the box in front of me, and pointed at it with my right hand. Then I closed my eyes and pictured the Pokémon I wanted to create. And when I opened my eyes… it was a success.

An Alakazam, and there were one hundred of them.

I staggered and was about to fall but Mewtwo caught me, physically.

"Are you okay?"

I leaned onto Mewtwo as he helped me to sit down, "I feel so… dizzy… and weak… and sore…"

Mewtwo chuckled, "I get it, you don't feel so good."

"Yes," I gave him a weak smile, "Let's go with that."

This took out a lot from me than I imagined, even with all the preparation. I drank some medicine to boost my energy, they tasted bad… like really bad. I even wore few enchanted rings to get more boosts and used small magical crystals as ingredients to lessen my burden. But it seemed they were barely enough.

I looked at Mewtwo to see his concerned gaze. With a grunt, I made shooing motion with my hand. He had a lot to do.

Mewtwo signed and then looked at all the Alakazam. He made that glowing-eye thing, and a second later looked back at me, "I made the connection. I will go and place them now."

With that, he along with the ten Alakazam was gone.

When they left, I repeated the words in my head, "The Annihilation Maker grants the user the ability to create any creatures based on his imagination, emotions, and efforts."

The idea here was to use all the Alakazam as the 'living' psychic wards. They would help Mewtwo to reach out to as many individuals' minds as he could. After that, he would then link their minds to mine. Of course, he would monitor every step to make sure my mind would not get overloaded. My task then would be to invoke certain emotions in them and then later use their united and common emotions as one of the resources needed to create the 'Balance Breaker'.

Well, that covered the 'Emotion' part.

Next was the 'Effort', which let's be honest, was quite vague. I didn't know what the Longinus meant by effort, but for now, Mewtwo and I were going with 'The efforts needed to acquire powerful artifacts, which could be used as a strong component in the creation's process'. In a way, we were thinking of efforts as a physical resource. Most of the time this worked. And until we would find a more accurate theory, we were sticking with this for now.

So, what did I get for my next 'Balance Breaker'? The original tablets which contained the 'Epic of Gilgamesh'. In the DC world, the universe was limitless. So it was very hard to find something that can be considered as an ancient artifact, at least something that I could get my hands on.

But in my previous world, 'Epic of Gilgamesh' was considered as one of the most ancient pieces of literature, one of the oldest man-made artifacts. These tablets contained a story about an ancient civilization, about an old pantheon, about the first God-King. In the DC universe, the value of these tablets might not be much, but to me, these were priceless.

I truly, from the bottom of my heart, believed so. And I hope when I used them later, the Longinus would value them as such.

Last was the imagination.

"Still feeling dizzy?"

"Fuck!" If I had the energy, I would have jumped behind the couch. I couldn't, so for now, I just glared at Mewtwo.

"I apologize but you were zoning out."

I sighed, "I was. And no… sored, yes. But I think the dizziness is gone. By the way, were they enough?"

Mewtwo nodded, "Fifty from yesterday, and hundred from today… yes, they were enough to cover all of our target areas.

"Good, good, now the last part." With that, I picked up a small box from the table.

Mewtwo frowned, "Is there no other way?"

"Hey, it is not bad or harmful, you know that."

"No, it is not harmful. But it is a stupid idea."

I chuckled. My next step was to work on the 'Imagination' part. And the way I was going to handle that was to smoke a joint, get high, and watch a particular movie to freshen up my memory on the creature I planned to create as my next 'Balance Breaker'.

I know. It sounded stupid. But it was one of those 'Stupid to the point that it became a brilliant idea'.

"Now, now. We went over it many times. This is the best solution so far," I took out the joint and lit it up, "Now, start the movie."

.

X

.

A few hours later

I was not exactly sure where we were. In the series, from what it looked like, the Thanagarians created their space-bridge-thingy, you know what, I would just call it bridge from now on. So, they created their bridge somewhere in a desert in the series. But over here, they had it on an island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, close to the USA. It was one of those private islands owned by the country.

This made things easier, to be honest.

When teleported to our destination, close enough to see the bridge but far enough not to be caught in their radar… I hope.

"Is everything ready?" I turned to Mewtwo who just nodded his head in reply.

I glanced at my getup. It was one of those special-made suits you could buy from the black market. Even though it was known as special-made, there was nothing special about it. It was a cheap knockoff of Deathstroke's suit. Then again, this was urgent. I did not have time to be picky.

I put all the tablets of 'Epic of Gilgamesh' in front of me, and took few steps back, "Alright Mewtwo, time to start."

Mewtwo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, his pupils were missing. He raised his arms to the side and gave a silent command.

It was then I felt it… countless minds of children. Yes, our targets were the children of North America and South America. Of course, even with all the help, Mewtwo could not connect with all of them. But still, this was… a lot. Fortunately, Mewtwo was telepathically helping with the load.

"Hear me…"

For a brief moment, I was surprised at my own voice. Mewtwo changed my vocal cord so now it had that soothing and echoing touch to it.

I felt their confusion and fear. I immediately went on with the narrative.

"See me…"

I could see the illusion of a mystical egg trying to hatch, courtesy of Mewtwo. And through my vision, I could sense the children seeing it too.

"Help me…"

The egg slowly started to grow, and at the same time, it radiated multiple bright colors, so that it did not look menacing.

"Our heroes… they have fallen…"

Flashes of The Justice League fighting and losing. Yes, since we did not have the original contents, we improvised. We created the images based on my memories. We also tried to keep the violence to a minimum.

"Our world… she had been taken…"

Images of the Thanagarians flying over the sky with their battleship. Fortunately, we had plenty of sources for this.

"Help me… to take it back…."

The egg started to glow and was making a soft humming sound. Again, everything was an illusion. But it was strong enough to even make me feel as if it was real.

"Help me… to save everyone…"

Images of many people crying, and many who were hurt. Again, we picked the mildest ones.

"Help me… O' heroes of the future…"

This was the best part. And I hoped it worked because I wasn't seeing it. Every child ought to see their reflection now. Their reflection surrounded by a white aura, and the connection between their aura with the egg. I hope the visualization was enough to make them understand what was going on, that they had the power to affect the egg.

I was sure I started to smile a lunatic when I felt their determination, sensed their understanding.

Alright, last push…

"Believe… in yourself…"

I paused to have a dramatic effect.

"Believe… in the miracle…"

I knew the words were cringe as hell, but this was the best I could come up with in the short amount of time I had. I really really hope this was enough. If by chance…

I gasped as I went down on my knees. The emotions… the amount, the intensity… it was fucking unbearable. It hurt, every fucking part of my body. I opened my mouth to breathe and instead of air, white glowing smoke was coming out from my mouth. I could feel Mewtwo's touch, I could sense his fear. I could even feel the blood coming out of my nose.

I wanted it to stop.

"The Balance Breaker."

Something or someone spoke. The voice was gentle, and it helped me to focus. I raised my arms, it felt like I was lifting hundreds of kilos, and barely aimed at the tablets. I tried, my best, to recall a certain memory, of a certain movie.

"Balance…" Gasp, "Breaker…"

And then I blacked out.

.

X

.

Mewtwo's perspective

Mewtwo knew what his father was thinking even without looking at his mind. Yes, the words, the lines he had come up were not sophisticated but they ought to be more than enough for the children. Also, the tone and soothing background sound ought to be enough to persuade some of the children.

And then it came.

He wasn't prepared for it. It was as if a floodgate had been opened. The number of emotions and the intensity behind them… it was as if all the children they reached out had responded… with extreme passion. The protective mind layers that he had created on his father's mind, they were not enough.

He felt his heart stopping when he saw his father dropping down on his knees. His whole body started to glow. He immediately tried to dive deeper into his mind to block the emotions, but he could not. For some reason, he was not able to affect his father's mind. He was still connected to his father's mind but only as a spectator. It was as if something was blocking him from taking action.

It scared him.

And the worst part, the Thanagarians noticed their presence and was approaching them. He started to shout at his father through their mind-link, to let go of the emotions, to drop the connection, to respond to him. His father had lost his consciousness with his eyes open. And then all of a sudden, his father raised his arms and opened his mouth. No words came out, but Mewtwo saw it.

Thousands of white shades of children started to come out from his father's body and headed toward the tablets. The tablets absorbed the shades and then shattered. And from the pieces of the shattered tablet, a shape was formed. And since his mind was still connected with his father's, he was able to see it…

Balance Breaker: The Symbol of Miracle

Omnimon

Omnimon is a creature from the Digimon universe. One of the 'Royal Knights' who was created in the current universe by the powerful wills of countless children who wished for a miracle.

Status

Name – Omnimon

Race – Digimon

Rank – SS (High)

Powers – Invulnerability (Advance), Attack Power (Ultimate)

Mewtwo had seen him many times in his father's memories. Still, seeing him in front of him, it was quite a different experience. He immediately noticed some of the glaring differences between the Omnimon in front of him and the one from the original source.

In the original source, his body and legs were quite thin, to Mewtwo they even looked frail. And with his large arms, the overall proportion of his body looking quite off. But the one in front of him had a buffed body, matching the size of his arms. Speaking of arms, although the shapes of them were the same, the colors were not. Instead of orange color for his left and blue for his right, both of his arms were now gold and silver in color.

Mewtwo narrowed his eyes when he noticed the incoming attacks from the Thanagarians. He was about to put up a shield for all of them, a task quite daunting for him now since he had spent a lot of his energy on creating the connection, a voice stopped him.

"Just for our father."

Blinking rapidly, Mewtwo looked at Omnimon, who already had his sword out, his back still facing the enemy. With a nod, Mewtwo created a shield covering just him and their father.

Omnimon nodded back, and then he turned around to face the enemies, swinging his sword.

All the attacks that were coming toward them, no matter the angle or size, were now going back at the Thanagarians. And just like that, in one single swing, Omnimon decimated their enemy's advancing forces.

With a large clicking sound, the cannon came out from Omnimon's right hand. He shot once at the approaching battleship, and then without waiting from the result, he turned around and shot at another battleship.

The battleships immediately put up barriers, but it was all for naught. The battleships and all the smaller airships around them went down. With that, Omnimon took out the whole vanguard in less than thirty seconds.

Mewtwo then sensed their mothership approaching them. It seemed his brother, Omnimon, also sensed it. His brother turned the cannon at the tower but instead of shooting at it, he waited, as if he was analyzing something. Then he retracted the cannon and rushed toward the tower. The moment he was close to it, Mewtwo also saw it, the shield surrounding the tower. It was very powerful.

And then the sky lit up. The number of attack beams released by the Thanagarians mothership was countless. It seemed they trusted the tower's barrier enough not to worry about it being damaged.

What Omnimon did next, it was something Mewtwo knew he would remember for a long time.

His brother did not move, not until the beams were just mere meters away from him. And when he moved, it was as if he was performing a dance, swift and graceful.

Omnimon tilted his body to the left, and then made a 180-degree rotation, with his sword out. But instead of deflecting the attacks like before, his sword absorbed them. When he made his full turn, absorbing all the attacks, he pushed his left shoulder back with his now glowing sword aiming straight. And then he struck.

The barrier shattered like cheap glass.

He paused just for a second. And then flew back, his cannon coming out again. He fired at the tower while he was still flying back. When he stopped, the tower had already fallen.

Mewtwo didn't need his psychic powers to tell that the Thanagarians were livid. And just as he suspected, instead of turning tail, they still started to approach Omnimon.

His brother folded his right arm in a way that the head of the cannon was aiming at the sky. Then the cannon rotated few times, releasing a series of clicking sounds, all the while moving and dodging the incoming attacks.

All of a sudden, he stopped and aimed the cannon at the approaching mothership. When he fired his cannon, unlike the previous times, the blasts were smaller. But he continuously fired.

It was then Mewtwo noticed it. Omnimon was testing his power. His brother was not even going all out.

Finally, the Thanagarians started to retreat. It seemed they finally understood that they were powerless in front of his brother. The only thing they would achieve by continuing the fight would be the body count… their body count.

As the Thanagarians were retreating, Mewtwo realized something. Omnimon had taken out the full Thanagarians army all by himself. No, it was better to say that he had crushed them, within less than nine minutes.

Both he and Omnimon did not move from their spot. They remained vigilant until the mothership was completely out of sight. Only then, Omnimon came back.

He came in front of their father and kneeled down, his weapons were withdrawn. The action surprised Mewtwo but he did not say anything. Omnimon then looked at their father, his tone soft and warm, "Thank you for lending me your powers. You helped me to save our planet."

Mewtwo's eyes widened in shock. The children were still connected it seemed. And Omnimon was speaking to them.

"This is not the end, my friends. I promise you this, for as long as I am able, I will protect our planet with all my might. So… rest now."

Mewtwo blinked rapidly. He finally was able to fully link with his father's mind. He immediately dived in and started healing him. The damage was not as extensive as he feared, his father was just mentally exhausted.

"Thank you," Mewtwo said without looking at Omnimon.

"We are a family, are we not?"

The statement made him smile. He understood the underlying message. No gratitude was needed because they were a family.

"Let's go back home."

Although he could not see Omnimon's expression, he could sense his joy and happiness.

But before he could pick up his father, a message appeared in front of him.

World Quest: Stop the Thanagarian Invasion

Status: Completed

You had completely defeated the Thanagarian army all on your own, with zero casualties from your planet's side during the confrontation.

Reward: The unique ability 'Mana Crafting (Basic)'

'Mana Crafting (Basic)'

This ability allows you to craft weapons, armors, and artifacts using the mana of your created creature.

Something told Mewtwo that his father would be dancing nonstop for the next few days.

.

.

.

Done

It was quite a long chapter. I will try to write the chapters of this fic in this way, one long chapter to tell the full story. No major cliff-hangers.

Also one more thing to point out, just in case, there will be times when our MC will think certain creatures are stronger than others even if it is not the case. Because in reality, it is not which creature is strong but which creature he thinks is strong that will matter.

And for power-levels, I am trying to keep it a bit abstract on purpose. In DC it is very hard to measure powers because so many variations exist. I will try to keep the powers consistent but do let me know if I make any glaring mistakes.

Let me know what you guys think. Till next time…