Starting With Batman

A few minutes ago...

Charlie was overwhelmed with a mix of confusion and awe when he first laid eyes on the giant creature that emerged from the chaotic distortions in the sky. The creature was nothing short of a nightmare, a hulking behemoth with writhing tentacles and a grotesque, twisted form that seemed to defy the very laws of nature. It was as if a being from another dimension had been forcibly dragged into their reality, its mere presence warping the world around it.

Although the red exclamation mark on the map had alerted him to something significant, Charlie never anticipated that it would lead to such an earth-shattering revelation. This was beyond anything he had encountered before—an encounter so explosive that it felt like the very fabric of reality was on the verge of unraveling.

But the appearance of the masked man threw him even more off balance. The way the man manipulated space, bending it to his will as if it were nothing more than clay in his hands, was terrifying. Each wave of the masked man’s hand caused the world around him to ripple and shift, like a stone dropped into a still pond, sending shockwaves through the environment that distorted reality itself. Charlie couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread—taking this man down would be no simple task.

After weighing his options, Charlie decided to switch his character to Moon Knight. If he was going to help the madhouse team, he’d need the kind of power and resilience that only Moon Knight could provide. Worst-case scenario, he could always retreat and try again later. The cooldown time was a small price to pay for survival.

As he prepared to dive into the fray, searching for the perfect angle to enter the battlefield, Charlie’s thoughts were interrupted by an unexpected voice in his earphones. The voice was calm, almost philosophical, yet it carried a weight that made Charlie’s pulse quicken.

“People are always like this. They trust their own eyes, are easily fooled, and can be easily deceived.”

Startled, Charlie spun Moon Knight around, his heart pounding in his chest. There, standing behind him, was a figure that seemed almost out of place—a being with the head of a vulture. The creature’s appearance was skeletal, its long, sharp beak giving it a menacing look. The body, however, was humanoid, clad in a flowing gray-white robe. In one of its taloned hands, it held a halberd-like weapon, its sharp tip curving like a crescent moon.

This was Kongsu, the ancient Egyptian moon god who had granted Moon Knight his powers.

Charlie recognized him instantly, but that recognition only deepened his surprise. It wasn’t every day that you encountered the actual deity behind your character’s abilities in a game. Was this some kind of special bonus feature? A “buy one, get one free” deal where Moon Knight came packaged with Kongsu himself?

Everyone familiar with Moon Knight’s story knew the lore: Mark was a mercenary who had found himself at death’s door in an ancient Egyptian temple. There, he had met Kongsu, who had offered him a second chance at life—but at a price. Kongsu’s words had been clear: “Mark Spector, open your eyes. I am Kongsu. I see potential in you, and you are worthy to become my avatar, serving justice in the world. I cannot act on Earth alone, so together we must fight evil…”

Perhaps Mark had felt a surge of hope when he heard those words, thinking he was about to gain powers akin to an Ultraman-like hero. He eagerly accepted the offer, thinking he was stepping into a role of a lifetime. But instead of joining some benevolent cosmic force, Mark found himself shackled to a private entity with dubious motives, embarking on a grueling life of servitude under the whims of a god with a twisted sense of justice.

In both the comics and the MCU, Kongsu’s goal had always been clear: to destroy evil and protect those who traveled by night. But Kongsu was no saint. He was a manipulative entity, willing to do whatever it took to achieve his ends, even if it meant exploiting those who served him. Charlie couldn’t shake the feeling that this vulture-headed deity was up to something more than he let on, a puppet master who preferred to stay in the shadows.

“What’s the meaning of this?”

It was Moon Knight, now visible on Charlie’s screen, who voiced the question. The digital rendering of the character conveyed the tension that Charlie felt in his own chest.

“See with your heart, Mark Spector, not with your eyes,” Kongsu replied, his voice resonating with an ancient, almost otherworldly wisdom. He punctuated his words by striking his crescent-shaped wand against the ground, the impact creating a small shockwave. “These are mere illusions, nothing more than fancy tricks.”

“Can you help me or not?” Moon Knight’s voice was filled with determination, but there was an edge of frustration—he needed clarity in the face of such overwhelming odds.

Kongsu let out a disdainful snort, the sound echoing as if it came from the depths of a vast cavern. “I am the Moon God. Dispelling this inferior illusion is child’s play for me.”

With that, Kongsu raised his crescent-shaped wand high above his head. Transparent waves of energy radiated from the tip of the crescent, spreading out like ripples in a pond, but with a force that seemed to shake the very heavens. The energy shot into the sky, its brilliance piercing through the twisted, distorted reality that had engulfed the battlefield.

As the energy cascaded over the scene, the changes were immediate and profound. The split sky, once fragmented like a broken mirror, seamlessly knitted itself back together. The colossal tentacled creature, which had loomed like a nightmarish entity from another realm, simply vanished, as though it had never existed. The sunken buildings that had appeared ready to collapse snapped back into place, standing tall and intact as if nothing had ever happened. And the agents below, who had been locked in mortal combat with invisible foes, were suddenly revealed to be fighting shadows, swinging at the empty air or turning on each other in their confusion.

It had all been an illusion—a grand, elaborate trick designed to warp the perceptions of those trapped within it.

The lore surrounding these Egyptian gods, such as Kongsu, was complex and steeped in mystery. In the mortal world, they were akin to ghosts, intangible and unable to physically interact with anything or anyone. Their powers were vast, but they were also limited in direct influence, especially when it came to harming mortals. This restriction meant that Kongsu needed a proxy, someone like Moon Knight, to act on his behalf and carry out his will. Without Mark, Kongsu would be powerless, unable to enact his divine retribution or protect the travelers of the night.

But despite his manipulative nature, Kongsu had proven himself reliable in battle. When his goals aligned with Mark’s, the Moon God could be a formidable ally, and in moments like this, when the stakes were highest, Charlie found himself grateful for the deity’s intervention.

With Kongsu’s assistance, Charlie steered Moon Knight back into the fray, moving with renewed purpose. The illusion had been shattered, and now it was time to face the true threat head-on. As Moon Knight leaped into action, the world around him returned to its original state, the battlefield clear of the monstrous distractions that had plagued it moments before.

But even with the illusion dispelled, the masked man remained a formidable opponent. His ability wasn’t purely visual deception; it was something far more insidious—he had the power to create dreams and manipulate those trapped within them.

He had crafted a waking nightmare, pulling all those within range into a dreamscape where he reigned supreme. In this twisted realm, the lines between dream and reality blurred, making it nearly impossible for the dreamers to tell which was which. Everything within this dream world was under his control, and the dreamers were mere puppets, their senses manipulated at his whim.

However, it was still just a dream.

While the masked man couldn’t physically harm the dreamers with his creations, he could distort their perceptions, bending their reality to his will. What they saw, heard, and touched in the dream world was indistinguishable from reality, making them easy prey for his manipulations.

In this dream world, the masked man was supposed to be invincible. He could create any reality he desired, trapping his enemies in a web of illusions from which there seemed to be no escape.

But for Moon Knight, backed by Kongsu, the dream world held no power.

As soon as the illusions fell away, Moon Knight moved with deadly precision. In close combat, he was a force of nature, his every move calculated and devastating. The masked man, despite his best efforts, found himself on the receiving end of a relentless assault. Moon Knight’s fists connected with brutal efficiency, each blow landing with the force of a sledgehammer, driving the air from the masked man’s lungs and leaving his bones feeling like they had been shattered into pieces.

The masked man quickly realized that this wasn’t just any opponent. This was no mere special being, no infected individual with enhanced abilities. No matter how powerful the infection, it still left its host bound to the limitations of a mortal body. Even if they gained strange new powers, their physical strength couldn’t possibly reach the levels that Moon Knight was displaying.

No, this was something else entirely.

“Are you a ‘Phantom’?” the masked man asked, his voice low and filled with suspicion as he locked eyes with Moon Knight. There was a note of fear in his voice now, a crack in the facade of calm he had maintained.

But Moon Knight offered no answer. His silence was as menacing as any threat could have been. The next moment, a powerful kick from Moon Knight’s leg sent a shockwave through the masked man’s body, the impact so severe that he felt his spine shift, as if it had been knocked out of alignment by the sheer force.

The masked man’s mind raced, trying to make sense of what was happening. It was clear now that his opponent hadn’t fallen into the dream world he controlled. The space distortions, the rewritten realities within the dream—none of it seemed to affect Moon Knight. It was as if the knight could see right through the fabrications, cutting through the illusions to perceive the true reality beneath.

But the masked man wasn’t one to panic easily. Despite the agony coursing through his body, he forced himself to think clearly. He could feel no physical pain, and neither the displacement of his organs nor the dislocation of his bones hindered his thoughts.

So, the dream effects didn’t work on this guy? Fine. But the masked man knew his dream world didn’t need to directly affect his enemy to be effective.

With a single thought, the masked man shifted his focus to the agents scattered around the battlefield. Instantly, several of them turned their weapons on Moon Knight. The sound of gunfire erupted once more as muzzle flashes lit up the darkened scene, and a barrage of bullets tore through the air, heading straight for the white-clad figure.

The agents were still trapped in the dream world, their senses twisted and manipulated by the masked man’s influence. From their perspective, they were still engaged in a desperate fight against the infested and the giant creature that had appeared earlier.

But in reality, the agents had turned their weapons on Moon Knight, believing they were targeting the monstrous threats they had been fighting moments before.

From the agents’ perspective, the space around them had begun to warp again, like a mirror folding in on itself. The bullets they fired seemed to fall into cracks that connected different dimensions, only to emerge from those cracks in a different space, all aimed directly at Moon Knight.

But Moon Knight stood his ground, his white cloak billowing out like the wings of an avenging angel. The bullets, which should have torn through him, instead seemed to disappear into his cloak. It was as if the fabric absorbed the kinetic energy of the bullets, causing them to ripple across its surface like stones skipped across a pond.

Then, with a casual flick of his wrist, Moon Knight reversed the direction of the bullets. The dense rain of metal suddenly shifted course, sweeping back toward the masked man like a deadly tidal wave. Countless bullets tore through the air, each one homing in on the masked man with unerring accuracy. In an instant, they ripped through his body, and he crumpled to the ground, his form shredded by the relentless assault.

The scene from a third-person perspective was even more astonishing. The agents, still caught in the dream world, saw the masked man unleash his power, causing the bullets to shift towards Moon Knight. But when Moon Knight retaliated, the bullets changed direction again, this time tearing through the masked man as if enacting some grand cosmic retribution.

The agents, dazed and confused, began to question what they were witnessing. Had they somehow stumbled into a battle between gods? Was this even real?

What was happening here?

If you're enjoying the story, want to support my work even further, and want to get early access to chapters, please check out my Patron at Patreon.com/OneSword

Free Members can read up to 5 chapters in advance.
Posted up to 60+ Chapters

Thank you, and Sword out!