Hugo Strange, the Gargoyle, is a psychologist at Arkham Asylum.

Ironically, Harley Quinn—formerly Dr. Harleen Quinzel—was also once a psychologist at Arkham. For people like them, madness is like a buried poison within their minds. They don’t realize they need to heal themselves before trying to heal others.

When Batman first appeared, Hugo believed that Batman possessed superior genes, and he desired to make Batman his experiment. However, he was repeatedly defeated by the Dark Knight. Despite escaping several times, Hugo never gave up his obsession with Batman. He had likely become infatuated with the power Batman represented, perhaps even wanting to become Batman himself.

Later, Hugo discovered Batman’s true identity—Bruce Wayne. He believed that others had also uncovered this secret, but Gotham’s criminals were only interested in defeating Batman, not the man who lived in the light, Bruce Wayne.

This time, Hugo convinced Scarecrow to support him by offering the revelation of Batman’s identity as a reward. As for Two-Face, he flipped a coin and decided to join in on the citywide chaos.

Hugo was descending.

Ahead of him, Dean Quincy Sharp walked alongside two Blackgate prison guards. After releasing the lunatics and using a serum to control them, Hugo’s plan was to first take over Blackgate, kill the guards, and then release the fear gas across Gotham. His final move? Unmask Bruce Wayne in front of the cameras for all to see.

Unfortunately, Red Hood had declined to join his plan, meaning he’d have to be eliminated as well.

Hugo didn’t care about the city or its people. Gotham wouldn’t change, because… his other partners, the Court of Owls, would ensure that the city remained “stable” and “normal.” They would provide him with the support he needed for his experiments. It was all the mayor’s fault for repeatedly vetoing his proposal for an “Arkham City.” If not for her, Hugo wouldn’t have needed such drastic measures.

However, Scarecrow had no idea about the Court of Owls. Harvey Dent was just a madman with half his face burned, and Quincy Sharp was an idiot. Hugo sneered at them inwardly as the elevator came to a stop.

Following Sharp out of the elevator, he overheard one of the guards muttering, “Feeling a little sleepy…”

Hugo froze. He whipped his head around: in an instant, the two guards, the patrol officers, and several of the psychiatric inmates had vanished.

Only Quincy Sharp remained, grinning at him with that foolish expression.

Hugo pulled out his communicator, but there was no response. He rushed into the corridor, ignoring the taunting Joker and Killer Croc in the cells. He tried to use the landline to call for help, but the phone was dead.

It was night. He opened a window to look outside—

No light. The thick, black night was like a living entity, consuming everything. No moon, no stars—just nothing.

Elsewhere, a guard who Hugo assumed had disappeared yawned and turned around. “Dean Sharp… huh? Dean Sharp?”

Sharp and his entourage were nowhere to be found. But the guard was too sleepy to care; the elevator doors opened, and he slumped to the ground, resting his chin on his hand as he began to snore.

He didn’t notice that his partner had also fallen asleep next to him, drooling on his leg.

—Night had fallen.

The oppressive blackness crept over the city, inch by inch, covering every corner. From high above, Gotham seemed to have been “switched off,” engulfed by some massive force. The dense darkness consumed the city, like a beast from the abyss, dragging everyone into a deep, drowsy slumber.

This was anything but normal. From the neighboring cities, it looked as if Gotham had been physically erased from the map. If you looked toward Gotham, all you could see was darkness.

Superman, aboard the train, decided to take a nap. He figured he’d wake up when the train reached its destination. Barbara stared at her monitor and suddenly thought the control panel would make a nice pillow. Dick slumped against the Batmobile, and Tim, gripping a streetlight, slowly slid down, resting his head against the pole and drifting into a peaceful, sweet sleep.

Those at home crawled back into bed for a good night’s rest, and drivers pulled over, unable to fight the overwhelming fatigue. Trains slowed to a stop. Along with the “bad kids” vanishing into the night, so too disappeared the weapons they intended to use to destroy the city.

Vivi opened the rose and found Batman with his fists raised, as if ready to punch someone, but his body had fallen into an uncontrollable sleep. Next to him, Scarecrow’s form had become translucent, like he was made of inky black liquid, glancing around in terror, clearly unable to see Vivi.

Around them, Two-Face’s henchmen, the underground tanks, and Scarecrow’s discarded devices had all turned into a similarly inky state. Vivi stepped on the fear gas device, causing the inky bubble to burst and dissolve into the air.

[Silent Long Night (One-time use)]

[The good children will have sweet dreams, while the bad children will enter a terrifying nightmare. No one will be harmed, no one will die, but when the dream ends, they will return to reality with their fear intact.]

[Countdown: 3:58:55]

This meant that the figures who had turned into “ink” could fight each other in another dimension, but they wouldn’t truly die—they would only experience the process of death and be consumed by fear.

Everyone else had fallen asleep. The only one who existed in both overlapping dimensions was Vivi herself, which allowed her to influence the other dimension, like when she stomped on the “ink.” But according to the system, no matter what, the “bad kids” wouldn’t die.

The powerful item had already started its countdown—set for a minimum duration of four hours—but that wasn’t enough.

Gotham was a modern metropolis, and four hours simply wouldn’t cut it. In the banquet hall, everyone was slumped in sleep, except for Vivi and her alt character, Anna Alek.

Vivi moved quickly, pushing open a wardrobe door and teleporting to her manor, stopping beneath the statue that was supposed to bring good luck—

Time to draw some cards.

She had 320 diamonds in her account. Sometimes you had to take risks, and now was one of those times. Even a single pull could change everything.

[You spent 100 diamonds to draw a card—]

[You received: Silver·Item: Gargoyle]

[Description: You can awaken the sculptures in the city that embody humanity’s fear. However, fear is like electricity—once depleted, the sculptures will no longer function and will return to their original positions.]

[You didn’t think there would be no price, did you?]

[You spent 100 diamonds to draw a card—]

[You received: Gold·Item: Converter]

[Description: Exchange is one of the fundamental principles of magic. Usually, complex spells are required to exchange one thing for another. But with the Converter, as long as the items are of equal value, you can transform them freely.]

[Don’t make the poor Converter consume living beings. It doesn’t deal with resurrection services. Humans always think they can trade anything! Humans are fools!]

[You spent 100 diamonds to draw a card—]

[You received: Bronze·Item (One-time use): Shrink for 3 Seconds]

[Description: Temporarily shrink something—whether tangible or intangible—for 3 seconds. It might seem useless, but the item has a very high priority. You could even shrink a god for 3 seconds.]

[What can you do in 3 seconds?]

[Diamond balance: 20]

[Unable to draw any more cards.]

A single pull got me a gold card!

Vivi stood in her manor, the world outside as dark as ever. She pulled out the Converter—a golden scale, plain and unassuming.

As she stared at it, Vivi realized how to use it.

She grabbed a card from the void, placing the Bronze·Item (One-time use): Shrink for 3 Seconds on the left side of the scale, and the Silver·Item: Silent Long Night (In Use) on the right side.

The scale began to tilt back and forth. Vivi whispered, “Exchange the fear created by the long night to extend the duration of the item.”

[Trade successful]

The dull, bronze-colored card began to glow, almost turning silver, while the Silent Long Night card dimmed considerably.

Vivi then used the Shrink for 3 Seconds card on the “nightmare” surrounding the city. Though intangible, the item took effect—

She watched as [Silent Long Night] split into two cards.

[Silent Long Night (Good Kids)]: Good children will enjoy peaceful sleep for 3 hours, 55 minutes, and 42 seconds.

[Silent Long Night (Bad Kids)]: Bad children will be trapped in a nightmare of fear. The dream has shrunk, and the remaining duration is unknown. Time will only resume flowing when the dream returns to its normal size.

[The fear generated by the dream is fueling its shrinkage.]

Vivi looked up and saw that the darkness that had once covered the entire city had dissipated, with stars now appearing in the sky. However, the dream was still sweeping across, dragging the transformed “bad kids” into it. A miniature version of Gotham appeared on the ground before her, like a black, shrunken city. She could see planes hovering above Blackgate Prison and chaos erupting in the East End. Compared to the city, Vivi was a giant, and all the people within it were like ants—too small to even make out their faces.

Vivi let out a cold laugh, dragging the [Silent Long Night (Bad Kids)] card to the left side of the scale, and the Silver·Item: Gargoyle card to the right.

The scale began to sway again, and Vivi recited, “Exchange the fear created by the long night to extend the duration of the item.”

[Trade successful]

[The player used fear to extend the duration of “Shrink for 3 Seconds.” The player used fear to fuel the activity of the “Gargoyles.” Fear is being rapidly consumed, and once depleted, the effects of both cards will cease.]

How could fear ever run out?

Vivi, now wearing her boots, took a large step toward the miniature city on the floor. Then, she raised her foot—

She stomped on the city.

She began pacing angrily through the ink-like version of Gotham, stomping and kicking as she went.

Chaos erupted beneath her feet in an instant!

No wonder people said if you’re really mad, you should go break something and let off steam. Vivi could feel her frustration venting with every step. She just wondered what the people in the city were thinking.

—They wouldn’t truly die. They’d resurrect over and over, unable to see what Vivi was doing. All they would feel was the destruction of their city, knowing they couldn’t escape.

—They would never know that it was the very fear they generated amidst the disaster that had transformed into the power imprisoning them, preventing their escape.

The scales tipped slightly, and across the real Gotham, the eyes of gargoyle statues began to glow with a menacing red light as their wings unfurled.

The night was still young.