Chapter 47: Furlough 7

In you I know we'll find!

The hero of our time!

An evil king has come to reign!

All that you know

You'll be leaving it behind

Look deep inside

Soon enough you'll find

The courage to win

Now you'd best be on your way

For you have a demon to slay!

********

Raven was still alive as Greed pulled her beating heart from her chest.

She felt no pain.

It seemed like she was disconnected from her body, and everything was swimming. Like everything was happening to someone else, she was just watching, helpless to move.

Probably in shock, she distantly realized.

She would die soon.

As she deserved.

"What now?" A voice from behind her asked.

"Father is on his way," Greed responded, still holding her beating heart. Blood flowed from the organ onto the ritual circle at their feet, oddly black and unending. "We have a few minutes max before he gets here. We must finish the ritual by then if we want to absorb his power."

"Do we still need Raven?" The voice asked. 

In her haze, Raven thought it sounded familiar. A rumbling tone that sparked annoyance in her delirious thoughts.

Couldn't she at least die in peace?

"Damnit, Jack! Get off your lazy ass," Lust cursed. "She's the portal. The key. She holds more of his power than any of us. We do this now! We must absorb him before the dragon gets here, or we're fucked."

"How do we do that?"

"You didn't read it?!" Wrath rumbled. Raven saw, more than felt, her crucifix shift as the giant took a massive step forward.

"Get back in place!" Greed ordered, now glowing with red power. The heart in his hand was beating faster and faster.

Wrath did as he was told, but not before glaring down at the man crumpled in the sand behind Raven.

"Just..." Lust said, visibly restraining himself from saying anything else. "Just focus on channelling magic to the heart. It connects to her and, through her, to him. When he arrives, pull all you can back. That will drain him to us."

"Isn't Tri-hard with a vengeance watching right now?"

What.

"Hah," Envy snorted, the expression looking out of place on Superman's face.

"I'm blocking him from looking through her eyes. Have been since we caught her," Gluttony responded. He was the only one not in the circle. "Don't want to ruin the surprise."

Both of them were glowing brighter and brighter. The entire circle was burning an eery red, as were four of its five male inhabitants. They were all positioned in a pentagram overlaid on the Mark of Skath carved into the beach. There were other magical markings, ones she didn't recognize, but Raven was too busy watching her still-beating heart be ripped from her chest to care too much.

The exception out of her brothers was the lanky figure with long black hair in ripped jeans and a leather jacket that lay sprawled in the sand behind her body.

He hadn't moved since Wrath had dropped him in place.

How... was she seeing this?

Her eyes were closed?

Weren't they?

There was still no pain.

Like she hadn't even been hurt.

Or had already been healed.

Raven felt the sensation of vertigo intensify as the red light grew brighter.

"What about the dragon? What's the plan for him?"

"We kill him," Wrath snarled. "Now shut up! Do your job!"

"But how? He's very big and strong. And have you seen his scales? They are very shiny."

"Even if he could fight father, which he probably can't," Greed said, not taking his eyes off the heart. The blood had turned into bloody red fire and dripped onto the sand. "He won't be able to stand up to all six of us with his power. With the book, if we can kill or subdue him, we can drain his power as well. We'll be unstoppable."

"That's it? That's all you got? The trick with the Titans was pretty well thought out, so I was hoping for more. To kill such a handsome, powerful, handsome, funny, handsome, dashing, and handsome dragon? What about the rest of the Family? Please tell me you have a good plan for them that isn't 'Sons of Trigon go bonk.'"

What.

"...what?" Greed asked, finally looking away from his prize to stare at his slothful brother.

Or where Sloth had been.

Mikael was still sprawled out on the ground, but that was the only point that remained the same between the truth and the illusion.

He was closer to Raven, for one. His back rested against the cross on which she was tied, and his shoulders leaned against her legs. Rather than wear torn jeans and a leather jacket, he was wearing shorts and a god-awful floral print shirt that burned Raven's eyes with its bright colours.

He looked like a beach bum in Hawaii rather than an ancient dragon lying in the center of a bloody ritual.

"All I'm saying," he said with a shrug and a smile. "Is that you had a good idea but poor execution. You are a few million years too young to be scheming against me, you young whipper snappers. Back in my day, when we tried to kill and absorb the powers of demons and dragons, we did it with skill. Finesse. And a massive sword. Unnecessarily large, really. Let me give you all a lesson. I call it Mikael's SSSSS class."

Wrath bellowed in rage, unable to handle the taunting and stomped forward to grab at the smirking man.

He made it one step.

Then he exploded in a shower of gore, magic, and pale moonlight. So close to the exploding mass of flesh, Mikael and Raven were covered in the gore. 

His floral print shirt somehow looked better this way.

"Huh? That's interesting," he murmured so low to himself as he looked down at his ruined clothes that Raven was sure she was the only one who heard him.

Then he shook his head slightly and refocused on the group around him.

"See," Mikael smirked, holding the massive greatsword made of moonlight in one hand, the other slung around Raven's shoulder casually. When had he stood up? "Kids these days. So impatient. Back to the lecture. In my opinion, SSSSS is how you can determine a victor of any fight. The least important is the first S. Strength. If you only have strength or power, you end up like poor Wrath. Chunky salsa."

Envy glared lasers at the man.

That wasn't an expression. 

The Son of Trigon literally fired a laser from Superman's eyes at Mikael's head.

Ba-bump.

Then his head exploded as a bluish-black magic missile impacted the back of his skull in a shower of blood, bone, and grey matter.

"You should have turned into the Flash," Mikael said casually. He had only moved slightly to get out of the heat vision. "Then it might have been a bit interesting. Laser eyes are easy to predict if I know where you are looking. That is another S, by the way. Speed. I would take greater speed over strength any day of the week."

In seconds, Raven had gone from being surrounded by six Sons of Trigon to only three.

Ba-bump.

Gluttony seemed frozen, paralyzed by the change in the situation.

Greed and Lust, to their credit, did not freeze. They made a judgment call.

Without Trigon's power, they couldn't beat the Elden Lord, so they needed to summon Trigon.

Quickly.

Thankfully, they had the perfect distraction.

"You want this," Greed smirked, holding the heart to the Elden Lord's eyes. It glowed black and red and pulsated with power. Greed seemed to squeeze every drop of magic he could into the heart, and its palpitations sped up.

Ba-bump.

Ba-bump.

Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump. 

Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bumpba-bumpba-bumpba-bumpbabumpbabumpbabumpbabump.

Faster and faster, the heartbeat pounded. The sound grew louder and louder. The sand on the beach started to hop and bounce from the vibration.

The light was so intense that Raven should have needed to shield her eyes.

She didn't.

Somehow, she could still see clearly, even with the harsh glare of the red light.

She saw Greed throw the heart over the ocean with a mighty toss.

"Fecth!" Greed orderd.

Mikael didn't move.

"The third S is the situation." He lectured. "This accounts for terrain and defences, as well as hostages and other points of victory. Leveraging your situation is critical to any successful conflict. A nice try, but you cannot understand my greed. That and your abilities don't work on me. You failed to account for your one true victory point in this situation."

Mikael lightly stomped on the sand.

The ground rumbled.

Lust died, impaled groin first on a massive pillar of stone that arose below him.

"If I were you, I would have paid more attention to the fact I have stayed by Raven's side, keeping her alive this entire time. If you all had come at me at once or managed to separate me from her, I would have had much greater trouble than I did. Now there are only two of you left."

"Argh!" Gluttony screamed, his rotund body lifted in the air by red and black briars of thorns formed from the blood of the citizens slain.

The Briars squeezed, drawing another scream of agony from the corpulent man.

From the thorns, a swarm of bloody flies erupted and turned upon the feast of flesh.

The blood flies devoured Gluttony.

Blood, fat, and viscera rained on the beach.

"My mistake," Mikael said with a shrug. "Only one left. Although now I am a bit bummed. I'm not going to be able to finish my lecture."

Greed turned toward the city and fled.

He made it five steps before a golden shockwave knocked him backwards.

He slid to a stop at Mikael's feet.

Raven could see the fear and rage in his eyes.

"The penultimate S is skill. The culmination of not only experience but also the talent and the control one has over their own abilities," Mikael droned with a smile, golden light starting to radiate from him. "With enough skill, one can overcome almost anything. And I have a lot of skills. It's great when I want to inflict some truly ironic deaths."

"You cannot stop him," Greed glared up at the man. "He will come, and he will kill you." 

The cambion tried to stand, but a foot on his chest kept him firmly pressed into the sand.

"Nah," Mikael waved off the words. "I'm sure he'll try. But better than him, have failed. Before I do something funny to you, I should thank you. I'm sure there are videos of what you all did at the mall. Plus, this little ritual site. I've been racking my brain for days on who I could kill that wouldn't ruin my reputation. It's been really hard to find the right target. Not killing things isn't really an option. I don't want to seem like one of those people who is all talk and no substance. That would just be embarrassing." 

Greed continued to struggle as the man rambled, but there was no escape. 

"So thank you for not only pissing me off but for mastering one of the most beloved Protectorate teams in the country. That's a Kill Order right there. I don't think anyone will want to mess with my Family now. I just wish you had made it more fun."

"You're a monster," Greed spat up at the abomination in the shape of a man. "Worse than any of us."

"Sure I am," Mikael's smile was gentle, almost pitying. "There are two differences, though. One, I am smart. Two, I am handsome. People are much more willing to work with a pretty monster."

Then he laid his hand on Greed's forehead.

The four-eyed man froze, face contorting in pain.

Crystal burst from below his skin, but not a drop of blood fell from the wound. Multiple blueish-green crystals grew from, through, in, and over the Son of Trigon until he was nothing more than a statue in the vague shape of a man.

It was over in an instant.

"Huh," Mikael grunted in amusement. "I didn't know those that absorbed too much sorcery were still considered living. Medea will be ecstatic for the opportunity to test the properties of living glintstone. Greed should be happy too. He's now the single most valuable crystal on the face of the planet."

Ba-bump!

Ba-bump!

Ba-bump!

BA-BUMP!

The heart, still beating as it floated above the ocean's waves, had grown loud enough for them to hear again. It was so bright now that its glow eclipsed the sun's light.

Mikael looked at it curiously but then ignored it to turn to face Raven.

She had been strapped to the cross this entire time, her chest still open from where her heart had been carved out. Blood had flown freely at first, but without a heart, it had stopped circulating.

"I have Freed your consciousness from the limits of your body for the moment," Mikael told her. "Do not panic. I must remain in contact with you at all times. I am keeping you alive. My wife will be able to heal this. You will be fine. If you need to talk, your magic should still work. Just spell out any words for me. I know this isn't pretty, but you must see what happens next."

BA-BUMP!

While that explained much, it did not make Raven feel that much better.

'What about my friends? Are they okay?'

The words formed themselves in the air before the man, made of dark light.

"They're fine," he said, untying her from the cross and throwing her limp form over a shoulder. Raven should have been insulted by how disrespectfully he treated her 'corpse,' but she honestly had bigger things to worry about. That, and she still felt nothing. "Glynda is with them. She would have messaged me if anything happened."

BA-BUMP!

'Did you know this would happen? About my brothers?'

"I knew something would happen," he admitted. "I told you as much yesterday. I did not know how it would go down or who would do it, though. And I definitely did not expect what happened to your friends, or I would have thought up a different plan. We came as soon as we could, which was pretty fast, all things considered."

BA-BUMP!

'Is that why you were so brutal?'

BA-BUMP!

"Guilty," the man smirked at the words, looking the furthest thing from guilty as possible. "I really don't like Masters. If it had been possible for your teammates to resist, I wouldn't be so mad." BA-BUMP! "But it wasn't. Your brothers weren't tempting them to fall into sin. They were outright controlling them. A big nono."

BA-BUMP!

'What now?'

"Now?" BA-BUMP! "We watch the fireworks."

BA-BUMP!

BA-

Silence.

For one frozen instant, it was like the world held its breath.

Then the heart exploded in the cataclysm of flames and shadow, a circle of fire forming atop the ocean's water.

"THE"

An arm, covered in red scales and ending in claws, burst from the flaming circle.

"EARTH"

A second arm tore free from the depths of flame. Both massive red arms pressed into the ocean bottom and pushed. Waves as tall as buildings rose and fell in the turbulent disturbance.

"IS"

An enormous head rose from the depths. Crowned by antlers and a long white mane of hair, his four red eyes glowed with firey power as he crowed his triumph.

Even with ocean water up to his shins, the Lord of Madness still towered over the city like a titan.

And he grew larger with every second.

"MINE!"

Trigon the Terrible was here.

It was the end of the world.

"Sasageyo! Sasageyo! Shinzou wo sasageyo!"

Which was why Raven could not stop herself from asking the question.

'Are you seriously singing right now?'

"I regret nothing! The moment was too perfect! I live as few men dare to dream!"

********

Laura was the first to be released from her mind control.

One moment she was lunging for Beast Boy's throat, easy to do since he was a brontosaurus, and the next, she froze mid-step.

Glynda let the crystal shield around the green hero's neck fade once she saw the mutant stop her lunge.

Fighting the Titans hadn't been hard, as skilled and powerful as they were.

Keeping them alive while they attacked her, each other, and any nearby civilians, while also repairing the damage to nearby structures, had been the real challenge.

Glynda could only do so because of her extensive training with Observation Haki, the unparalleled control of her semblance, and her long experience dealing with violent teenagers.

That, and Glynda Goodwitch was just that good.

Laura, frozen in the moment of her liberation, was an easy target for Mercury.

The liquid metal mutant poured over her friend, silvery material covering X-23's head as Mercury tried to drown her.

Glynda grimaced in concentration even as she used one of Winman's drones to block Starfire's bolts. The metal contraption melted into slag but did its job.

Liquids were always more challenging to manipulate than solids with her semblance.

The huntress allowed Beast Boy to whip the pair with his long tail, knowing it wouldn't cause any irreversible damage and focused on pulling the mercury from Laura's throat, forcing her will against Mercury's malleable form.

She also had to divide her attention on yanking Starfire's arm so the plasma she released hit another of Winman's guns rather than her.

On top of that, the teacher kept a part of her focus on the metal muzzle she had crafted around Beast Boy's jaws using the frame of a destroyed car.

Then the green hero turned into a fly, and Glynda had to catch the mass of metal before it hit anyone.

Thankfully, this was when Mercury stopped struggling.

The metal mutant fell from her friend's body into a silvery puddle on the floor, leaving Laura panting for breath.

Wolverine's daughter looked around frantically, eyes wide and dazed as she tried to take in her situation.

Then she lunged at Winman.

Glynda, noticing she had withdrawn her claws, didn't stop her.

Laura tackled her teammate, knocking him to the floor and easily overpowering him. She tore his gloves from his hands and the helmet from his head, then headbutted him for good measure, knocking him into a daze.

Beast Boy took this opportunity to turn from a fly into a blue whale above everyone's heads.

Glynda strained to keep the sheer bulk of the largest animal to ever live in the air. She couldn't just hold him up at one point, or his weight would tear him apart against the forces she pressed against him. Instead, she had to support every inch of the two-hundred-ton mammal.

This was complicated because Starfire, the only Titan to not attack the others and focus solely on her, flew under the green whale and carpet-bombed the area Glynda was standing in with green star fire.

Protecting herself with multiple destroyed cars for a moment, which quickly melted into slag under the force and heat, Glynda created a platform under her feet and rose into the air.

Flight was much more viable now that she only needed to focus on two enemies rather than five.

Glynda needn't have bothered.

Before Starfire could chase her teacher into the sky, the Tameranean froze in place like her teammates. 

For a few seconds, her face contorted in confusion, then realization, then disgust, and finally wide-eyed fear.

"Nightwing!" Starfire shouted, dashing off to look for her boyfriend from where she had left him lying in a burning building.

Glynda knew he was fine, having kept a portion of her attention on protecting the sleeping man throughout this whole incident.

Winman was still struggling in X-23's grip, and Beast Boy, transformed from a blue whale into a leopard, was lunging at the back of Glynda's head with his jaws wide open.

She caught him easily, now able to dedicate her full attention to him.

For a few seconds, the green hero struggled in her telekinetic grasp transforming from the jaguar into a rhino, then a triceratops, then a fly, then a whale again.

Glynda never let him go, adjusting her hold on him in an eyeblink every time he transformed.

Then he froze in place, eyes unclouding from the voracious hunger that consumed them, and Glynda let him fall gently to the ground.

"Blegh!"

Where he promptly began vomiting all over.

"Where is Si- Friend Raven?" Starfire asked urgently, flying back with Nightwing in a bridal carry in her arms.

The leader of the Titans had it the best and worst of the heroes. 

He had slept through the whole ordeal and had no injuries to speak of, but his physical changes were not reverting either. He still had a long scraggly beard and a large amount of fat, and he smelled terrible even from where Glynda was standing.

It would take him ages to get back into shape.

That, or they would let Amelia out of M/S confinement long enough to revert the changes.

"She is with my husband," Glynda answered calmly, waiving her hand and pulling Winman from Laura's grasp. He still struggled in her intangible hold but had even less success than Beast Boy. "He will take care of her."

"What happened?" Laura grunted, looking disturbed and guilty. "I was angry. So angry."

"You walked into a trap," Glynda said, voice softening and looking over the Titans with well-hidden concern. "Your actions were not your own. Do not blame yourselves. Mikael and Raven can explain everything when it is over."

"You know I didn't mean it, right?" Mercury asked frantically, reforming her body beside X-23 and looking at her friend in desperate fear. "I mean I'd never- I was just- and you were- I just... I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry," she apologized frantically.

Laura, eyes still staring into the distance vacantly, absently nodded her head.

"Oh god," Winman muttered, freed from his own control. Glynda set him down, and he collapsed to his knees, staring at his hands in horror. "Oh god. What have I done? I took- Oh god."

"You were controlled," Glynda repeated, more severely this time, and all eyes turned to her. "Mastered. Your free will was stripped from you, and someone else took your place. You had no way to stop it, and no one will blame you except yourself and fools."

"I guess we failed our midterms," Beast Boy joked, but his eyes were haunted, and his lips were still stained with bile. 

"I have not given them yet," Glynda denied. "Your exam is this: recover. Rest. Talk to friends and family. Ask for help. We shall reconvene tomorrow evening. Whatever you decide to do following this ordeal, you will only fail my 'midterm' if you try to bear this negativity alone. And always remember. As your teacher, I am always here to listen."

The Titans looked at each other and at her. They looked haunted, violated, guilty, and confused. For all their experience with heroism, for all their strength and skill, they were so very young to her eyes. Younger than most Beacon graduates.

Barely adults.

Young men and women who had chosen to take up the defence of the innocent and put their lives at stake for others.

Glynda had not become a teacher to raise heroes or huntsmen.

Glynda became a teacher to give people like them the skills they needed to come home. She accomplished this with a firm hand but guiding hand.

Sadly, most of her students only learned their lessons too late.

Glynda never stopped trying.

That is what it meant to be a teacher.

The moment of silence was interrupted when the monstrous voice roared its triumph over the city.

"THE EARTH IS MINE!"

The entire team tensed, assuming battle-ready stances as they looked around frantically for the source.

They could barely make out the top of the head of the red giant from their position.

"What the fuck was that?" Winman cursed, scrambling to re-don his helmet and gloves, which he used to control most of his devices.

"That," Glynda responded with a small smile. "Was the sound of a plan coming together. If nothing else, take solace in knowing my husband will have vengeance for you."

"The Elden Lord will fight that thing?" Mercury asked, eyes wide as she stared at the demon lord growing every second.

"Fight?" Glynda let the barest chuckle escape her before recomposing her expression. "There will be no fight. Make no mistake, Mikael is strong. Enormously so. But it has never been his power that made him dangerous. It is his mind."

"Right," Beast Boy let out a nervous chuckle before changing the subject. "Where is Shishou? Wasn't she here earlier?"

"I wouldn't worry about her either," Glynda actually allowed a grin to form as she nodded behind them. The pulsing red tear in the sky remained even after its summoners had died. Demons continued to rain down, but none left the park's confines.

Beast Boy looked to Glen Canyon Park, though it was still mostly hidden by the buildings Glynda had repaired. His eyes unfocused again for a moment, then he doubled over to regurgitate again.

"What the fuck is that?" The green hero asked in between heaves of nausea.

"Blood," X-23 answered, nose scrunched up in disgust. "A lot of blood."

"Knowing her, this is the most fun she has had in millennia," Glynda said fondly.

The Titans looked at her oddly as Beast Boy continued to vomit.

********

What makes someone a hero?

If someone asked Scathach, her answer would be simple.

Strength, skill, and courage.

Morality or destiny were irrelevant.

A hero is someone with power and the will to use it.

And Scathach was a hero.

Her spear tip tore through the throat of a demon. 

It fell from the sky in a rain of visceral meat and brackish blood.

It joined the dozens she had already slain, the blood seeping into the canyon ground from the bodies.

Three more flyers, each more grotesque than the other, descended on her as soon as they exited the pulsing hole in the walls of reality. 

The first went down with two spears in its eyes. 

The second fell when Scathach used the tip of a spear to carve a rune into its carapaced body faster than it could blink. A simple fire rune, with the skills of a master, boiled its flesh from its bones.

She ripped the wings from the third with her bare hands, riding its body to the ground and smiling the whole way.

Looking skyward, the celt took in the enemies that still covered the sky.

In the time it had taken her to kill two dozen, hundreds had exited the portal.

A few flew toward her, but most were making their way toward the city and its defenceless inhabitants. She noticed those who did get close to leaving the park fall and frowned at her Family's interference.

That would not do.

An idea came to her.

Scathach's smile stretched in almost childish glee.

If Setanta could face an army alone, in one-on-one combat, she would meet them all at once.

First, separate the wheat from the chafe.

"Gae Bolg Alternative!"

The sky was red.

Red from the tear in the dimensional walls, as it pulsed and glowed ominously.

Red from the countless demons. The abominations that blotted the blue sky beyond with their numbers.

Red from the barbed spears, hundreds of them flying skyward in a hunt for death.

Red from the blood that rained from the sky in a waterfall. A torrent of demonic ichor drowned the once-green park in a flood of red.

The innumerable carcasses fell to the ground in a grotesque hail of bodies, limbs, and roars of pain.

Then the sky was blue once more.

If anyone else had been in her position, they would have taken this brief intermission before more demons emerged to transform.

Standing atop a pile of bodies surrounded by knee-deep pools of red liquid, there was no better battlefield for a Blood Dragon. 

She could have used the power and size of her draconic body to block the portal of most of its escapees.

But Scathach was not anyone else.

She did not transform.

She was Scathach!

She did use her Element, but only as material for her spell.

The rivers of blood glowed as it flowed in complicated, archaic patterns that no one but her would understand.

When the next hoard of demons emerged from the portal, they no longer sought to enter the city to wreak havoc. 

They couldn't break the Geass.

These new arrivals, bigger, meaner, stronger, and more horrific than the first wave, could only invade by climbing over her dead body.

It would not do for the student to surpass the master just yet.

Facing down an endless army by herself, Scathach smile deepened.

"I am Scathach," she told the hoard, uncaring if they understood her. "Teacher of heroes. Queen of the Land of Shadows. I have felled demons, gods, even death itself."

The army charged at her. 

Fire and magic. 

Flesh and muscle. 

All bent to one purpose.

"Kill me if you can!"

She did not transform into a Blood Dragon when she charged.

Not when she slew the second wave of demons.

Not when the actual monsters, big enough to tower over skyscrapers and strong enough that the earth shook with their every movement, tore themselves from the portal.

Not when her Aura ran dry from her use.

Not when blows started to accumulate on her body, her Armament reducing the injuries to nothing but hitting nonetheless. 

Numbers and attrition doing what quality could.

All the skills in the world and Haki could not prevent injury against the army of thousands, made up of some of the greatest champions of Trigon's conquered dimensions.

Despite all that, the celt remained human.

Scathach never transformed as the piles of bodies became a hill, then a mountain, then two.

For she was Scathach!

With no unique heritage, prophecy to guide her life, and no world-renowned teacher to instruct her, Scathach had carved herself a place in the annals of human history through her efforts, strength, and skill alone.

She stood alone, a Warrior Queen against the greatest foes Trigon could throw at her from multiple hell dimensions.

Her bloody smile never left her lips.

She was Scathach, and turning into a dragon would just make her weaker.

*********

In my opinion, the key to a good plan can be divided into three parts.

Control what you can.

Know what you can't control.

Be prepared for when everything goes wrong.

Generally, you have almost complete control of yourself, decent control of allies and the situation, and limited control of your enemies.

You never have absolute control. 

Emotions, enemy action, or plain bad luck always mean that a situation will go tits-up when you don't want to.

Take this situation, for example.

I could exert pretty good control over my Family, at least to get them to go along with a plan. I had spent the last few days studying hard with Ranni and Medea on illusion magic to pull this plan off and get around my lack of defences against cameras. That was an easy part of the situation I could control, and it helped me form a half dozen contingency plans.

Raven, the younger one, would not follow my every order and would not trust me in the limited time I had. I had to be careful about how I dealt with her. By only talking to her on the evening of the last day, I limited the time she would have to go to second guess my plan. 

She was also at her most desperate. 

You are reading story Rapturous Rhapsody at novel35.com

There was no way a calm and rational Raven would allow her team to wander into a trap without telling them.

It also served the purpose of controlling my enemy.

I knew they were watching her somehow, thanks to my Raven, though I didn't know at the time it was through her own eyes. Through their observation, I could exert limited control over them.

There is an old trick used when dealing with dictators, world leaders, or terrible bosses.

Show them a problem, then give them three solutions to fix it. If two of them are terrible, they will go for the third without fail and think it was their idea the whole time.

Especially if they think they are the smartest one in the room.

And, like me, villains tended to be egomaniacs.

I gave whoever was watching her everything they wanted.

They'd be able to lure her out of the tower without incident. This would free me from the constant observation by Batman and others without arousing their suspicions.

They'd be able to deal with the Titans however they wanted. This would also separate her teammates from her, limiting the variables when Trigon showed up.

They'd be able to set up a stable ritual site along the ocean. I honestly didn't know what exactly they would need as that changed based on the media that started Trigon, but I gave it good odds it would be needlessly complex.

By talking to the young Raven, I maximized what I could control.

Then there were the things I could not control.

I had no idea how or where they would lure the Titans too. I had just heard of Diamond Heights today, so I had no clue they would attack it.

I also had no idea who 'they' were. 

Trigon would definitely have agents on this side, he'd be stupid not to, but I didn't know who they would be. Was it Deathstroke? Brother Blood? Cultists? Or even a host of demons? 

I simply had no idea who, how many, or how strong Trigon's agents were.

The Sons of Trigon had been a possibility I had considered, so they weren't too big of a surprise, but I still kept vigilant for anyone else.

I mitigated the things I couldn't control as best I could by following the Titans with Glynda and Scathach.

The pair's job wasn't just to keep the Titans alive and weed out all the hidden support the Trigon agents might have. It had worked with the demon gate, but Glynda's only foes had been the Titans themselves.

That had been one of two significant things to go wrong with the plan.

The Sons of Trigon were definitely powerful. They all had potent magical abilities, and Envy's ability to shapeshift and use the powers of figures of envy was incredibly useful. On top of that, their ability to manipulate Sins was especially dangerous to those without my Defences.

In a strait up fight between them and the Titans, I gave even odds on who would be the victor.

But that was in a straight-up fight.

What they had pulled was something I had never expected of them.

The Sons of Trigon were men drunk on their power in the comics.

Young. Dumb. Full of cum.

What they pulled in that mall had been one of the most subtle and impressive shows of subterfuge I had ever seen. I honestly think even the Justice League would have failed had they been the ones in the Titan's place.

In less than ten minutes, they had defeated some of the most promising young superheroes in the world and completely ruined their reputation.

PR damage control revealing that the Titans were mastered would help, of course, but images of Beast Boy chewing on a dead man's arm would haunt the shapeshifter for the rest of his life.

It was a masterstroke of manipulation that took advantage of heroic psychology.

And it pissed me off.

Because there was absolutely no way the six idiots who had explained their 'master plan' to become 'unstoppable' could have come up with it. 

If they were different from their comic counterparts, that was one thing. I had seen plenty of differences in this world from the various media I knew characters from.

But these numbskulls were fucking morons who taunted my wives and lorded their control of the Titans instead of capitalizing on it or trying to control Raven. They had summoned a demonic gate, possibly their trump card against the League and PRT, because they got mad.

They had openly stated their plan to drain my power despite having no goddamn clue how to go about it beyond 'let's gang up on him and go bonk!'

These guys were wastes of potential, and talking to them actively lowered my IQ.

And then there was the second thing that went FUBAR in this situation.

The ritual site itself.

Magic Talent was unbelievably useful when it came to learning. It didn't give me knowledge out of nowhere, but it allowed me to learn at an incredible rate and keep that knowledge memorized.

Naturally, as I knew Trigon would be summoned, I had brushed up on rituals regarding him.

The library's mansion had every book ever written in any of the original worlds of the ten women first summoned and mine.

Which included Raven's homeworld and the ritual used to summon Trigon there.

So I recognized the part of the ritual intended to summon Demon Daddy, even if it was slightly different due to changes in dimensional structure.

It was the other part, the adaptions that had been made to the ritual, that was the fucked up part.

I only recognized it because I had been curious about a couple of books mentioned in passing.

A portion of the ritual circle carved with blood into the sand was designed to remove the soul and the power it contained and implant it in another body.

It was only luck that I recognized it as coming from Pythagoras' Treaties on Animism.

That was one hell of a coincidence.

And I don't believe in coincidences.

Somebody I didn't know about was hidden in the shadows of this entire situation. 

Someone skilled enough with magic to alter a ritual, smart enough lay a cunning ambush for the Titans, and malicious enough to work with demons.

And they had access to Pythagoras' Treaties on Animism, whose only known copy was last seen in the hands of the Sorcerer Supreme.

I really needed to see Steven Strange when this was all over.

I absolutely hated risks like this, but it was both too late to give up and too early to sacrifice my plan to deal with Trigon over what might be my paranoia.

Even if I was playing into someone else's plans.

So as I flew over the ocean to face Trigon, Raven's body thrown over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes, I kept my gaze vigilant.

If I did have to fight Trigon, it would be the perfect opportunity for a third party.

My eyes flitted the ocean's water below me before leaving it instantly to not give the game away.

If I had to fight Trigon, my plan would have already failed.

********

"Correct me if I'm wrong," I said, poking Pride's cheeks playfully. She swatted my hand away with a glare. I poked again. She swatted again. My demon wife cannot be this cute. "But don't demon invasions end badly for everyone involved? Especially those who summon them. Especially, especially if they sacrifice a version of their younger selves to achieve it. Especially cubed, when we can stop it really, really easily."

"We will not be sacrificing my younger self," Raven replied, paying no attention to the escalating poking and dodging going on between me and her demon side. "I am doing this to help her. To give her something I always wanted but never achieved. A life free from his influence. I will need your help to help her survive the summoning."

"I don't really know what would be involved in whatever summons Trigon," I shrugged, and Pride stepped away at the opportunity, eyeing my hands warily. She was really tickling (ha) my sadistic tendencies. "So long as it isn't an instant death, I can keep her alive. But I still don't see why I can't just Free her from his influence. It would accomplish the same thing without the risk his summoning would bring. I really don't like this."

"Even if we Freed her now," Raven said with a shake of her head. "She would not believe it. She would still live in fear for the rest of her life. And she would be right to do so. Unless you maintain contact with something or someone, they can still be 'un-Freed.' And we will not be in this world forever. Trigon would find a way to influence her again."

I grimaced at the reminder.

My Elements gave me some handy abilities that exceeded the others'. It could be a power difference, the conjunction of two Elements, or more experience with them, but Tsunade and Diana could not do half the things I could. 

But there was a hard limit. 

I had to be touching the thing I wanted to influence. Whether it was my main body touching the ocean to make it 'trash free' or my avatar able to free Rhino, they both worked, but that was it.

If I wasn't touching someone or something, my abilities stopped working.

Something that did not limit the rest of the Family who had already gained their Element, though their abilities were not nearly as useful.

"I'm not sure how comfortable I am with taking on the closest equivalent to Satan this world has," I admitted. I wasn't being facetious, either. I had looked for people like Lucifer, The Endless, and other significant characters from Vertigo comics. Extensively. And found nothing. "Is this that important to you?"

"It is." Raven nodded, her placid look shifting to one of determination I rarely saw on her. "I would have given anything to be free of him. To live my life far from his shadow. If I can do the same for my younger self, I must try."

I idly messed with Pride's hair, much to her consternation. She glared at me, but I wasn't really paying attention.

This was a risk I didn't like.

Sure, I was Tier 10 and had unlimited power, but I was by no means the biggest fish in this ocean.

And Trigon was a Big Deal despite being thwarted by teenagers in various media.

You only became a multiversal-level conqueror in a comic book world with the power, intelligence, and cruelty to back that up.

I was going to talk with Artoria and Diana later about taking pointless risks, and doing something like this sounded too much like hypocrisy to me.

In the end, it came down to the simple question; would I support Raven, as I did the others?

"Heroes are really the worst," I sighed with a helpless smile.

And Raven was a hero.

She might not be a chivalrous one like Artoria or a classical one like Scathach. She certainly wasn't the prototypical example of a comic hero like Diana, but my demonic wife was just as much a hero at heart as all of them.

And I loved heroes.

Even if I'd never be one.

"If," I said, stressing the word. "If we are going to do this, we are going to need a plan. A good one. Right now, all I can think of is kidnapping your younger self on her birthday and summoning dear old dad to space where we are all lined up to blast him to smithereens."

"That would not work," Pride shook her head. "We have sensed his power on her. He is monitoring her. Either directly or through agents. If she disappears or he thinks this is a trap, he will take countermeasures. Trigon is not stupid. If he was, he would have invaded and lost already. His plans span centuries."

"Your not making me feel good about killing my Father-in-Law, dear." I snarked, falling back on my habit of humour and sarcasm when I was uncomfortable. "He is not someone I would want to face without my actual body. But if I did it anywhere on earth, even in the oceans, it would result in enormous collateral damage. I can be free from physical restriction, or I can hurt him. Not both."

"You won't need to fight him at all," Pride smirked.

"I have been trying to devise a plan for weeks," Raven admitted. "Ever since we landed, and I investigated my counterpart. I knew she would be a problem. If I didn't discover one by the 29th, I would have asked you to just Free her."

"But now," Pride's smile was positively malevolent. "After Doomsday, I had an idea, my Monster. I need to know if it is possible and if you could build a plan to make it happen."

The way the demonic persona said it, it was clear it was she and not the primary consciousness that had come up with the plan.

Joy.

"Tell me," Pride purred. "How much power can you give us with a Command Seal?"

My eyebrows rose.

Well, now.

There was an idea.

********

"ELDEN LORD," Trigon sneered as I approached.

Trigon's voice reverberated through my body, loud enough that glass shattered in the city and the water churned.

"Discount Satan," I greeted with a nod and a polite smile.

"I AM HERE," he replied in a condescending tone. Every moment he was growing larger. "WHERE ARE YOU? WHERE IS YOUR CONFIDENCE NOW, PUNY DRAGON?"

I had thought he would have done something grandiose upon his summoning.

Maybe try to destroy the city, freeze time, turn the oceans into lava, or destroy the planet. Most of my contingencies and all my wives were set up to minimize casualties as best they could.

If he had thrown his power around to create some dramatic battlefield, he would have been in for some very unpleasant surprises.

That's what happens when you give Medea, one of the greatest witches to ever live with a Territory Creation skill of A, time to set up in the Domain of a Goddess of Order.

Even ignoring the shadowy hand behind the curtain, I had backup plans for my backup plans.

Trigon, perhaps accidentally, sidestepped almost all of them.

"You know," I said casually. "I thought you'd be bigger. I mean, sure, you're taller than a few buildings, but you won't even get caught between my teeth. I'll give you a few minutes. It's only fair."

Trigon laughed.

'What are you doing!?' Raven asked, her magic spelling out the words in a tiny font right in front of my eye in the hope of going unnoticed. 'Why aren't you killing him?'

"It's pre-fight banter," I said in mock seriousness, making no effort to be quiet. "It is very important. How else are we supposed to see who has the bigger dick? I am winning, by the way."

'What happened to killing him before he could grow too strong? Move that lazy lizard ass and kill him before it's too late!'

"It's already too late," I shrugged, bouncing Raven's body as I did so.

'What?'

"LISTEN TO HIM. THE LAZY LIZARD KNOWS HE HAS LOST. HE LOST AS SOON AS I ARRIVED. I. AM. INVINCIBLE."

What Trigon had done had been brilliant in its simplicity.

He knew I was waiting for him on this end. He knew I was strong, and he'd be at his most vulnerable when he arrived. Unless he had a few days, he simply would not be able to match me while separated from the seat of his power.

So he made sure he had a few days.

All his power, all that had crossed from his dimension, was bent to one purpose.

Defence.

Right now, Trigon's body could be thrown into the sun, and he would not even get a little singed.

If I wanted to kill him, I would need to throw enough power around to destroy the solar system. That would obviously destroy the earth and everyone on it.

That, and I plain could not do it. Though I had infinite power, my output had always been a stopgap.

Tier 10 scaled infinitely upwards, and Trigon was just plain higher on the food chain than me. This was not Dragon Ball. I couldn't gain the power to destroy galaxies on a whim.

A big fish in an ocean full of sharks and leviathans. 

That's all I was.

At the same time, he had no power to spare for grand displays nor the ability to destroy me.

That is why he was fine talking things out right now. 

We were in a stalemate. 

One that benefited him more and more every second that passed.

He had outsmarted my outsmarting.

Turns out the devil isn't easy to kill.

Who knew?

"You remember that castle analogy I used? When you lowered the drawbridge and opened the gate, he came alone with no weapons, but he was in a mech suit without power. We can't hurt him, and he's charging up his beam canon."

'What?'

"HE MEANS I HAVE WON, DAUGHTER. ALL HIS PLANS HAVE FAILED. NOW, HE CAN ONLY FLEE."

"To go back to my lecture on the five S's of combat," I said, hovering in front of the red giant who looked at us in amusement, confident in his victory. "Even with all my strength, speed, or skill, Trigon has controlled the situation, so I have already lost if we were to fight."

'So that's it? You're giving up without even a fight? What happened to all that bravado? To going out with a bang?'

"Hey," I said defensively. "I told you, didn't I. Fighting to the death is for those who can't run away. And I am very good at running away."

"THEN FLEE, LITTLE LIZARD. LEAVE MY DAUGHTER AND FLEE LIKE THE FLEA YOU ARE. WE WILL FIND YOU. MY DAUGHTER WILL LEARN HER PLACE AS MY RIGHT HAND, AND THEN WE SHALL HUNT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY DOWN LIKE THE DOGS. IT SHALL BE FINE SPORT."

'I'll never join you!' Raven spelled in massive black letters across the afternoon sky.

I smiled.

It was good to see she had some spunk.

I hated damsels in distress.

"You know," I said with a laugh. "Your family is so dysfunctional you should have your own sit-coms. 'Devil's in the Details?' 'Meet the Trigons?' 'Full Hell?' We can workshop the name later. I have to ask. How do you feel about all your kids wanting to kill you and absorb your power?"

"PRIDE," Trigon said with a smirk, arms crossed and four eyes looking at me in amusement.

I must look like a bug to him.

I laughed.

"THEY WOULD HAVE FAILED, BUT MY BROOD SHOULD HAVE SUCH GRAND AMBITIONS. MY DAUGHTER WILL LEARN AS WELL."

'Never!'

"Pst," I mock whispered with a giggle. "I don't think she likes you very much."

"What is going on here?" A voice interrupted our little conversation.

All three of us turned to the new arrival.

Eidolon.

He was floating in the sky above us, obviously trying to understand the situation.

Usually, when you see someone like Trigon, you blast first and ask questions later, but I imagine me standing here talking to him threw him off.

You obviously don't want to start a fight that can destroy a nearby city without getting the details if you can help it.

"Nothing much," I said casually. More heroes were showing up now. Superman. Green Lantern. Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman. Artoria atop Dun Stalion. "Just the end of the world. Standard Tuesday."

"Sir Mikael?" Artoria asked, gripping Rhongomyniad tightly.

"Nothing to do, really," I mock sighed. "The winner is already decided. Have you guys been introduced? Everyone, this is Trigon the Terrible. Lord of Madness. The Ravager. Conqueror of multiple dimensions. Raven's dad. Swell guy, really. Trigon, this is a good portion of the League of Justice. Oh, look. More heroes."

Artoria and my Diana relaxed.

Everyone else tensed up.

"FLIES, THE LOT OF THEM." Trigon did not even look at them, staring all four eyes at Raven and me.

"What have you done?" Green Lantern hissed, ring glowing with power as he alternated a glare between the demon lord and me.

"Me?" I asked in my best innocent voice. They didn't look convinced. "Why is it that every time a multi-dimensional Demon Lord shows up, it is the dragon's fault? This is racial profiling, and I will not stand for it!"

"Why should we believe you?" Eidolon asked, starting to glow as well.

Supergirl. Myrddin. Martian Manhunter. Iron Man.

"Because I'm pretty?" I asked, running a hand through my hair and giving everyone a roguish smirk.

Again, they didn't seem impressed.

Weird.

'It is not his fault,' Raven wrote in massive letters in the sky. 'It's mine. He was just trying to help me. He's the only reason I'm still alive.'

"Raven?" Superman asked hesitantly, looking at the dark letters.

'Yes.'

Was that Aegis? It was hard to identify Worm characters on sight because they were from a book rather than a comic. A few more heroes appeared that I didn't recognize.

"She's in pretty rough shape," I nodded as I casually held up Raven's body for them to see.

"By the Gods!" Wonder Woman gasped, staring at the bloody gaping hole in the young woman's ribcage.

"'Tis but a flesh wound," I put Raven back on my shoulder. "She'll sleep it off. Now, I feel you all have been terribly rude to our guest." I turned back to Trigon, who had watched everything without batting an eye. He was taller than the Empire State Building by now. "Sorry about them. They really aren't good with visitors. You should have seen them when I first showed up."

"YOU AMUSE ME, ELDEN LORD," Trigon laughed. "YOU ARE STRONG. CUNNING. DO NOT WASTE YOURSELF UPON THIS MISERABLE PILE OF DIRT. JOIN ME. BECOME A GENERAL IN MY LEGION. AID ME IN MY CONQUEST. I SHALL SPARE YOUR LIFE AND THOSE OF YOUR FAMILY."

"What kind of dental are you offering?"

"Elden Lord!" Superman said sharply. Even the blue boy scout was fed up with my bullshit.

"Fine," I sighed with a pout. "Why is it that only the devil thinks I'm funny?"

"Because you should go to hell for your jokes?" Diana asked guilelessly. Unlike her counterpart, she was completely relaxed.

My wives, even those I argued with, knew me so well.

It almost made me feel bad for doing this to prove a point to them.

Lack of communication was a bitch, wasn't it?

"Before we get to the blasting and the killing," I said, looking around at the dozen heroes gathered. "I have three questions for all of you. I gave a lecture earlier on what I consider the five S's of combat. By evaluating them, you can determine the winner of any fight. I named four of them. Strength. Speed. Skill. Situation. What is the fifth S?"

There was a beat of silence as I got odd looks from the heroes and even Trigon. Many of them were already amped for a fight, but they were waiting for the signal from one of their leaders.

"Sarcasm?" Iron Man said sarcastically.

"No, but that does sound like something I'd say," I answered with a smile.

"Stealth?" Supergirl asked hesitantly.

"Good job," I said, conjuring the illusion of a golden star on her forehead. "The exact word I was thinking of was 'surprise,' but I'll accept it. Have a star." She beamed at me. "The next question is a riddle. Only one colour, but not one size. Stuck at the bottom, yet I easily fly. Present in sun, but not in rain. Doing no harm and feeling no pain. What am I?"

""Shadow.""

Multiple voices answered all at once.

"Perfect," I smiled, conjuring golden stars in front of everyone that had answered. Iron Man. Green Lanter. Myrrdin. Martian Manhunter. Superman. Diana. Wonder Woman. "Fun fact though, the riddle is slightly misleading. Only one hundred percent pure water does not cast a shadow. All impure water, such as the ocean below us, casts shadows."

I saw Artoria's and Diana's eyes widen in realization.

"Enough of this farce," Eidolon snorted, conjuring a plasma sword.

I tensed.

Trigon wasn't the only one that benefited from more time.

"Wait!" Superman called, holding out a hand to stop him. I saw him watching me, evaluating me.

Then he decided to trust me.

"One more question won't hurt," the Kryptonian said, looking at his fellow heroes. "The longer we delay, the more time for evacuation."

"ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD WILL NOT SAVE YOU FROM ME, FLIES."

"Then you have nothing to fear from one question," Wonder Woman asked, following her friend's lead and extending the hand of trust. She still looked ready for a fight, though.

"IT MATTERS NOT WHAT AMUSEMENT THE DEFEATED BRING. THE VICTOR HAS BEEN DECIDED." Trigon paraphrased my earlier words, unconcerned that he was surrounded by the world's greatest heroes. "I WANT TO SEE THIS 'SURPRISE.'"

"Great," I said with a smile and a clap of my hands. I could tell most of the heroes were put off by my chipper attitude. Too bad for them. So long as I was having fun, that is all that really mattered. "This last question is a simple but difficult one. What six words am I thinking of?"

"This is nonsense," Eidolon cursed but did not move.

"That was three words," I wagged my finger at the green hero. "Though I do agree that it fits the situation pretty well."

"That isn't fair," Supergirl said, pouting at me. "It could be anything."

"I got the idea from the Hobbit," I shrugged. "Blame Tolkien. I know I do. But fine, here's a hint. The first word is one of the seven deadly sins."

"Pride comes before the fall," Tony Stark said, his voice noticeably hopeful as one of the world's greatest minds put together the clues.

"You are so close, but that is only five words," I sighed. "Any other guesses?"

I felt a hand tap my shoulder as a few heroes threw out their guesses, each worse than the last.

"That's not it either," I sighed. "You guys are getting further from the answer."

"Just tell us and finish this farce," Eidolon snapped.

"Fiiiiiineeee," I pouted, turning to look at Trigon and shrugging my shoulders in a 'what can you do' sort of gesture. "Iron Man actually got the closest, one out of six, so you get a quarter of a star. The answer is this:"

My chest glowed red as I channelled six command seals.

It was hidden in the shadow of my shirt.

Nobody even noticed, too surprised by Raven's body dissolving into nothing.

"Pride!"

The first seal disappeared.

"Absorb!"

The second seal dissolved. Black spread across the ocean floor.

"Consume!"

The third seal vanished. A dark light shone from below Trigon's left breast.

"Supplant!"

Forth seal. Trigon staggered.

"Overthrow!"

The fifth vanished as the sunlight seemed to dim in the sky, though there was no cloud to block it.

"Usurp!"

Darkness overtook the earth as Shadow consumed the sea and sky.

A mad, throaty laugh resounded through the air as a Demon Lord fell to the coup.

The dark bubbled up from the ocean depths, almost tar-like, as it slowly, methodically climbed Trigon's legs.

The Demon Lord did not struggle against the Shadow in the water.

He was too busy clawing at his chest frantically, desperately, as he doubled over, roaring in pain.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" He roared, red flesh distending as part of his body collapsed. Pustules and boils formed and burst in explosions of puss and darkness. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, YOU PATHETIC LIZARD?"

"Me?" I asked innocently. One of Trigon's horns was sucked into his skull with a disgusting red 'splorch.' "I didn't do anything. Maybe it was something you ate. Heartburn is a real threat when you get your age."

His right arm fell into the Shadow as his shoulder dissolved in an explosion of darkness and blood.

The fallen arm was consumed by the tar in a moment.

"By the gods!" Wonder Woman gasped.

Trigon did not shrink. 

"ELDEN LORD!"

He sank.

"ELDEN LORD!"

Two red eyes, glaring hatred at me, exploded as shadowy tendrils erupted from Trigon's face.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Supergirl said, hand covering her mouth.

His red-scaled skin was filled with countless holes, and his white and red muscles were visibly absorbed by the shadows that intertwined throughout his body.

"ELDEN LORD!"

"Moshi, Moshi," I said, flying closer to the collapsing body of the Demon King. "Elden Lord's heart burgers. You kill 'em, we grill 'em. Any complaint with your order?"

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

"I told you," I sighed, disappointedly shaking my head. "This isn't me. This is all you. You really should be more careful of what you use to make your portal invade a new world. You never know where it's been."

"What is going on?" Eidolon asked.

I ignored him.

"I do appreciate a bit of irony, though," I continued. Part of any good showdown is the gloating. The rush of victory after a hard-fought battle. Even if this entire fight had been one of the minds rather than might. "When I said all your children wanted to absorb your power, I wasn't exaggerating. They all wanted to do it. It's almost impressive that they all came up with the same idea. But then you said you felt pride at the thought. Well, let me introduce you to Pride."

From the shadows escaping Trigon's eyes, a body formed beside me.

A taller, more mature Raven with four red eyes. 

Her cloak, rather than blue, was half covered in red. The colour spread with every second that passed, mirroring the parts of Trigon dissolving into shadow.

"Greetings, Father," Pride curtsied, her mouth curved in a malicious smirk. Her voice, layered and distorted, was still laughing in the air. "I see you have met My Monster."

Trigon stared, his two remaining eyes wide with surprise.

"To continue the introductions, have you met my wife?" I continued as my Raven formed from my shadow, her younger self held in a bridal carry in her arms and uninjured. Now that I was no longer in contact with the young woman, she was no longer Free from her body and was just unconscious. But she had seen what she needed to. Her father had lost. No one was invincible. "I think you are familiar with each other."

Like her demonic aspect, Raven's cloak slowly changed colour in a mirror of Trigon's consumption.

Instead of red or blue, Raven's cloak turned a pure, pristine, uncorrupted white.

She said nothing, watching this universe's version of the man who terrorized her every nightmare be absorbed by her Shadow.

"You know," Pride said, idly toying with her fingernails. She was also partaking in the time-honoured tradition of kicking people when they were down. I am so proud. (Ha) "It could have been over quickly. All you had to do was use your powers more. Focus less on defence and more on offence. You might have even noticed me in time if you did. Been able to run back. But you didn't. And so sure of your victory. Now, I get the pleasure of eating you slowly."

Trigon stared.

Then he laughed.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

I tensed, ready for the next layer of the fight.

This had never been a brawl about power but a contest in preparation and planning.

The winner was the one who could control the 'situation' and held the greatest 'surprise.'

By controlling the one aspect Trigon could never change, the need for Raven to be the portal, I had outsmarted his outsmarting my outsmarting.

I knew more than Trigon, so I had the upper hand, but there was one aspect I did not know about.

The hand behind the curtain still hadn't shown itself, and I had never truly dropped my guard.

But nothing happened.

Trigon continued to laugh as he dissolved.

He laughed as his knees collapsed in on themselves, forcing him to support himself in the black water with his one good arm.

He laughed as his chest exploded, a pulsating mass of shadows pumping within his breast.

He laughed until only half a face remained unconsumed by Shadow.

"THAT'S MY GIRL!"

And then Trigon the Terrible was no more.

"I am not yours anymore," Raven said plainly, face wholly blank and cloak entirely spotless.

Then, in a move I would not have expected in a million years, she shifted her younger self to one arm and wrapped the other around my waist.

"I am his."

I beamed.

"Ah," I said, wrapping my arm around her and nuzzling her cheek. Her cheeks pinked very slightly. "I love you too."

"Hey!" Pride shouted, her chest puffing forward with pride. God, was she cute. "I did all the work!"

"You're the same person," I rolled my eyes. "But, I will reward you too. Happy birthday, by the way. I hope you like my present. Only the best husbands can give their wives demon lords on a silver platter. Should I start calling you a Demon Queen now?"

"Yes!"

"No," Raven said plainly, ignoring her demonic aspect. "Let his conquests sort themselves out. I do not plan on ruling anything, so they are free to do as they wish. Trigon is dead, and I have most of his power. This is done."

"Ahem!" A polite cough from Superman interrupted my little triumph. Most of the heroes were flying around awkwardly, looking uncomfortable at our public display of affection. "Now that this situation is handled, can you explain what happened? Is Raven, that is, our Raven, all right? And what is with the gate to hell in the park? I feel that should be a concern."

"Nah," I waved him off with my free arm. "That's just Scathach having fun. Feel free to ignore it. Once she get's bored, I'll have Medea close it. Raven's fine, as are the rest of the Teen Titans. As for an explanation? It will be a while. Let's get something to eat. Who wants tacos? I've been craving them for days."

"I do," Artoria raised a hand eagerly.

"I could go for some fish tacos," Yoruichi said, startling all the heroes with her appearance.

What did they expect?

There was no way I would risk fighting a Demon Lord without my Family.

Yoruichi is just the one that decided to join us. The others were around here somewhere.

Just like they always would be.

********

Thus ends Furlough, part 2 of Volume 2. With this chapter, we cross the 300k word mark, and I only consider this the halfway point.

Jesus Christ.

Anyway. I know some people will be disappointed there wasn't a huge throwdown between Trigon and Mikael's real body, but it was never him that was the main reason behind this entire arc.

It was Raven.

I won't say much else, just a few words of thanks to QQ user Xagnam who made an AI rendition of Ranni's lines in the Epilogue of Volume 1. It's really cool to hear them in her voice, and it fits pretty well with Ranni's doll aesthetic, despite a few pacing issues. You can find it in the sound cloud by pasting this link and adding periods.

soundcloud period com / xagnam / ranni-the-witch-from-rapturous-rhapsody/s-Ir8RBnOVr7f?si=30cbe0c15f7c43d7ae1c6357f7b20ef4&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Also, in honour of Valentine's this month, the releases for the rest of the month will be more lemon content, with the occasional SS or omake thrown in. We'll get to part 3 in March.

I'll see you all next week.

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