The Return of the Wolfking. Batman finally understands what it means to be a Werwolf.... and the End of the World... starts (Point of View from Dracula)

"YOU'RE HERO IS NOTHING MORE THAN A BEAST! AND I HAVE PUT HIM DOWN! YOUR FATE IS NOW IN MY HANDS! Dracula pulled Bruce to him and then whispered in his ear. "You have fought long and hard warrior, but your duty is now ended, I shall cleanse this city of your blight, and all you will be remembered as is an orphan boy who dressed as a bat to scare the night away."

It was time to pay one last respects to Bruce. A warrior's death. He grabbed his skull and was about to squeeze it when he stopped. The humans and werewolves had started screaming Batman's name and cheering him on like their hero. Even now, when they saw him before them so destroyed, their faith in their Dark Knight was not broken. It was almost as if they hoped they could transfer their power to him, so he could continue to fight for the city. Still Dracula held the head of Bruce in his right hand and only had to squeeze to end this fight. Not even a werewolf could heal a crushed skull. But this boundless trust in their savior astonished him boundlessly. It even made him angry. Don't these stupid mortals realize that he was here to save them all?

But this distraction was enough for his enemies. Mercilessly they took advantage of this moment of confusion and attacked him. He could still hear a strange noise that could be heard behind him when he was already pierced by vine. It was less the pain than the confusion that made him cry out. The tendril was almost as wide as his arm and had cut his spine cleanly. This attack caused him to let go of Bruce who fell helplessly to the ground. Before he could do anything, more tendrils shot out of the ground and pierced his body. The speed and force of the tendrils was impressive and almost comparable to the force of a ballista. But all this had only been a distraction. The white she-wolf landed directly in front of him and lifted the slowly bleeding Batman. As soon as she had him safely in her arms, Dracula could see her hind legs tense up and the two of them disappeared in a tremendous jump. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the red-haired wolf whirling her hands around in the air as if she were an orchestra leader. With every swing of her arms a new tendril shot through his body and tore another piece of his body to shreds.

He could see the white she-wolf bending over Bruce's lifeless body and shouting something in his direction. But he was not interested in the words. Every damn werewolf came between him and Batman. ...gnashing their teeth and claws in the air. Even the redheaded wolf gathered around him and they were probably desperately trying to save their Alpha's life.

"THE AUDACITY!" shouted Dracula furiously and was getting really fed up with this fight. Their Alpha was defeated. The fight was over. They should have helped him when he could still fight, but now that they had all seen their leader lose, their help was in vain. If not, even Batman could defeat him, what were they trying to do against him? A single thought was enough to conjure up the dark arts and demonstrate how little Zatanna had learned. The vines and plants around him withered so quickly that they were torn to shreds. Everything within a few meters was instantly wiped out and his wounds healed so fast that you could hardly see them.

He accelerated and stormed directly towards the walls of claws and mouths and nothing and no one would be able to stop him. The first wolf that came too close even tried to attack him. Dracula ignored the approaching claw completely and struck with his left hand. It was a backhand stroke that was even done uncleanly. Dracula did not consider these lowly packs as worthy opponents and did not bother to devote himself to them longer than necessary. But even this unclean attack was enough to throw the wolf dozens of meters away. With shattered bones the wolf smashed through several trees and everything in his way. Another wolf tried to get in his way and then bite him.

Dracula jumped forward and rammed both hands into his chest until he had pierced his ribs. A simple jerk of the arms was enough to tear the bones, muscles and flesh. The other wolves watched in panic as one of the largest werewolves in their pack was simply torn into two pieces. Through a bath of blood Dracula walked without even slowing down, just through the 2 halves he carelessly dropped. This attack was carried out so fast that you could still see the jaws of the werewolf trying to snap shut.

Dracula growled angrily as a new monstrosity built itself up in front of him. An enormous snake woman who possessed the abdomen of a snake and the upper body of a young woman. The snake woman hissed angrily at him and her eyes pierced his. He raised one eyebrow when he could see the reptilian eyes turn into two spirals and he could feel this monster trying to enter his mind. Amused by this ridiculous attempt, Dracula opened his mind and let her see all the thousands of years of his life. He showed her everything he had ever seen and everything he had ever done. He felt her spirit trying like crazy to free itself. With all her strength she tried to withdraw from his mind, but Dracula would not let her.

"Little snake woman. You will stay here until you have seen all the things I will show you!" Dracula growled in his mind and tortured her soul for hundreds of years. However, this attack had lasted only a second. The snake woman cried out in panic and horror before she retreated from him as if hit by a blow. She cleared a path through the werewolves without taking them into consideration.

Suddenly Dracula felt something wrapped around his legs. Looking down at him, he could see thick, sticky shreds of spider silk. With every second, his body became more and more covered with this extremely hard and resistant mass. He could see three spider monsters circling him with lightning-fast leaps. They hurled webs at his body in the hope of stopping or at least slowing down the enemy to give their Alpha time. Dracula was finally completely woven into the web and unable to move. Amazingly, the substance itself resisted his power, stretching to a certain point only to become harder than steel.

"That won't save him," he growled angrily and bit his lips until blood flowed. That one drop of blood was quite enough. The blood flowed thickly over his skin before turning into black flames. Within seconds, this fire had captured the spider silk and burned its way inexorably through the tough mass. When he could see again, he clenched his fist and let the fire spread to the three spider women. They rolled over the ground to extinguish the flames that had engulfed their entire bodies.

After this threat was removed, he continued to walk towards Batman until he felt a stabbing pain in his side. Whatever those miserable worms had picked up this time... it almost hurt! He looked at the blade that was stuck in his side up to the hilt and followed the hand that held it. Princess Diana stood beside him, holding the holy Aegis protectively before her. Even though this blade had apparently been altered in some way and was much more painful than a normal blade, it was not enough to stop him. He could see in Diana's eyes that it was clear to her. She knew very well that she had now chosen a side that might lead to her downfall. However, she had a close connection to the being that Batman had once been. Even though she was now his enemy, he would not kill her. She would be the only one who could report on that day. He gritted his teeth and leapt forward. The holy blade cut cleanly and sharply through his torso and split into almost two parts. However, Diana had not expected such a reaction and was caught on the wrong foot. Dracula knew about the special powers of this Amazon and so he struck with a precisely dosed amount of force. His first blow was aimed directly at her shield arm and hit the Aegis with full force. Even the Amazon princess was unable to hold the shield against a blow from such an unfavorable angle in this situation. When she was deprived of her protection his hand rushed forward and grabbed her neck tightly. A quick jerk catapulted her far into the horizon. He was sure that she would survive a fall from such a height. But he hoped she would not return until he had finished this fight.

"I have humoured your existence LONG enough!"

Even the most fearless werewolves had realized that they could do nothing against this enemy and yet some of them ran straight to their death. Nothing could stop him. Finally, he stood in front of Batman, the white-haired and the red-haired wolf that bravely stood in his way. The white wolf rushed forward to strike with her baseball bat only to be grabbed by the neck and rammed into the ground. Dracula could hear the bones breaking in her face and she stopped moving. Then he grabbed the redheaded wolf and closed her throat while he growled at her.

"YOU Especially!" he hissed and clenched his left fist. Unable to evade his grip or summon her strength, he could see her pupils dilate in fear. She realized that her life would end here. Dracula almost felt pity for the creature. He would not let her suffer. He would strike with all his might and just rip her head to pieces. But then his fist was braked. It was as if he had struck an indestructible, immovable mass that didn't give an inch. In disbelief he stared at the black claw that had slowed down his punch.

"This... is not possible!" it shot through his head as he watched Batman regenerate. Regeneration being the wrong word. His bones, his muscles and his skin were restored at an incredible rate. His eyes glowed yellow as he took a deep breath and then opened his mouth. Dracula's ears boomed and rang violently as he had to hear that scream. He could literally feel the sound waves in his face. With a quick jerk, Batman grabbed hold and his giant claw closed around his hand. He was simply thrown into the air as Batman threw him over his shoulder. Furiously, Dracula clenched his fists in the air and stopped his flight in midair. He looked angrily at the Wolf King and sank to the ground again.

Dracula looked irritated at Batman and there was something different about him than just now. He seemed much more aggressive and fiercer. Almost like his first fight against him. More animal. Then Batman faded into a shadow. Dracula tried to take a closer look at him as he felt his arm ripped from his body. Bruce struck again like lightning and Dracula could feel Bruce moving at an uncanny speed and lightning-fast strokes that had a tremendous power. Before he knew it, his arms and legs were torn off and he fell to the ground. Dracula looked angry and a little surprised at Batman who still had his arms in his claws. The two other wolves rushed to him and talked to him before they kissed each other deeply.

Dracula concentrated on his healing and noticed that it was harder for him than at the beginning of the fight. He was astonished that he had used up so much power that he felt weakness even in this state. He looked at Batman who was surrounded by his 2 women. He moved his shoulders and tensed and relaxed his hands. Then he wiped the dust off his shoulder and grinned at Batman.

"So... My OLD nemesis has finally awoken." Dracula hissed in a belligerent manner. "This change nothing, I have defeated you before and shall again!" He clenched his fists, and, in each hand, a blue flame of dark magic appeared.

"You wont harm this city ever again." Growled the Wolf King, glaring back at him.

"And what makes you think THIS century will be different?" growled Dracula and let more magic slip into his hand.

Stunned, Dracula stared at Batman as he first bit one, then the other woman. They were as surprised by this attack as he was and for a short moment Dracula thought that finally the animal in him had come out. However, the two women began to grow shortly afterwards. Their bodies mutated far beyond their wolf body until they were mountains like the Wolf King himself.

“In the past you killed a Wolf King, now you face a Wolf King PACK!” Darting in three different directions, the vampire count found himself overwhelmed with a barrage of strikes that swiped past him. Throwing attacks and necrotic flames only to see it all miss their mark. A white furred claw swiped past his face, taking it clean off his skull before he healed it all back, only to see the red furred jaws of a wolfs claim his arm from the elbow. Picking at him piece by bloody piece, Dracula healed as quickly as he was damaged, but it was already taking its toll on him. His wounds were taking longer to heal, his strength slowly leaving him, even as he engulphed the battlefield in blue cold flames. Then just as quickly, Dracula found himself pulled apart and quartered, and a briar thorn vine shot out from the earth and pierced through his chest, hoisting his torso off the ground.

Dracula just couldn't believe it. What just happened here was impossible. How could those wretched wolves have possessed him? He sensed that the claws of Batman were particularly painful. Something about these attacks was unusual, but he was far from defeated. He would never lose here.

The Wolf King and his two Queens stood before the broken Vampire Count, their attacks ended as they looked down at the man. “This is over, you will never return to Gotham ever again.” Declared Bruce, looking down at the Vampire coughing up blood and struggling to regrow his missing limbs.

“I cannot be defeated, I am as certain as death itself, I have travelled and sailed an ocean of time, you cannot defeat me…” said Dracula in a calm and objective voice. He had realized that he had taken the matter too personally. He had taken too much interest in this Batman, admired him for his willpower and steadfastness. He was the first since the beginning of time who had managed to become a true Wolf King. He closed his eyes to soothe his troubled soul when Batman stepped before him.

Raising his claw up, Bruce made to rip Dracula’s heart out, when an explosion rocked the battlefield and sent the four reeling, tumbling to the ground as they looked up to a crater, and a massive claw pull out of the Earth. Getting up to their feet, the lycanthropes looked on to see a new player enter the battle. Hulking in size, he dwarfed even the Wolf King and his Queens by at least 2 feet, a sheen of black fur covering his entire body, save for a chrome coloured device at his neck with a clear tube linking it to the back of his ursine skull.

Dracula opened his eyes in astonishment, feeling the interruption, and looked at this strange new being. The werewolves seemed as confused as he was, and Dracula used the time to gather his strength.

“GOTHAM! YOUR CHAMPIONS ARE WEAKENED, I AM THE NEW RULER OF THE NIGHT, I AM THE MIGHTY, I AM THE INVINCIBLE! I AM BANE!!!”

“Is that… a were bear?!” asked Harley out loud, looking at the massive bear glaring back at them.

Dracula raised his brow and slowly straightened up again. This short pause had not restored all his power but enough for the fight.

Raising a massive clawed finger at the Wolf King, the creature smirked. “YOU CLAIM TO BE THE HERO OF THIS CITY, YET YOU HAVE ABANDONED THE MAD, THE DESPERATE AND THE DISPOSSESSED, BANE HAS EMBRACED THEM, AND THEY HAVE A WORD TO SAY OF YOUR RULE!”

At that a horde of feral werewolves poured out of the crater, spilling out and heading towards the crowds in a daze of bloodlust, their blank eyes already telling them they had become lost and mindless.

“What new devilry is this? One of yours?” To the vampire’s surprise, Bruce helped him to his feet, his claws up and ready to fight but not against him.

“He calls himself Bane, he’s one of the worst in this city… And I propose a truce!”