Batman's POV
"The trail ends here," Zatara said to the small squad we'd assembled for the rescue operation. Only Captain Atom, Zatara, and I approached openly; the Flash and Martian Manhunter maintained stealth.
Every advantage counted.
It had taken Zatara hours to comb through Constantine's study and several more to assemble a spell capable of accurately tracking a Jujutsu Sorcerer's soul. He's said something about their structure that left a lasting imprint on the world.
So it came as quite a surprise when he couldn't find Julius's soul anywhere on the planet. Captain Atom was ready to call off the search when I pushed Zatara to shift his target to another sorcerer—Shelim.
The plan had been to capture and interrogate him to uncover the truth about Julius, but we hesitated when we discovered that he flickered in and out of reality just like Julius had, often unpredictably.
Eventually, we settled for his second-in-command, who was thankfully far more consistent. He had a chip on his shoulder and frequented a call girl's place every Tuesday night. We grabbed him on his walk back and returned him to his apartment after questioning.
He refused to answer any of our questions, but his silence was enough for the Martian Manhunter. Jonn'z erased his memory of the entire episode.
They were holding Julius in an abandoned church somewhere in Europe and planned to study and dissect him to create more sorcerers with his potential to wield multiple innate techniques.
The specific location remained a mystery for weeks. Flash found it just as I narrowed down the coordinates—a gothic church that had been torn down and secretly relocated to an abandoned village in Russia.
We almost postponed the attack when we learned of the Injustice League's plans, but the presence of rampaging Blockbuster-Venom thralls forced our hand. It was clear Artisan was involved, and we had to put a stop to her plans before they succeeded.
"Are you ready?" I asked the old magician, who wore a rare look in his eyes—rage.
I felt it too. So much of it that it nearly choked me.
News had arrived that Candice Spencer and Sasha Williams had been found dead in their Australian homes, tortured.
My heart ached for Julius. I knew the pain of losing a parent and recognized how it had twisted me. I feared what it might have done to him if the torture hadn't blackened his heart thoroughly.
The barrier Zatara would have to break was complicated—a masterful layering of Jujutsu Sorcery and traditional spellcraft. He'd spent the last two days brushing up on artillery magic in Fate's Tower and had borrowed several of Constantine's more offensive grimoires in preparation.
"I am," Zatara answered with a nod, his voice steady, his eyes cold.
He rose into the air, chanting a long, intricate spell. He switched languages four times before finishing with a flourish of his cane.
The air screamed as energy exploded out of him and crashed into a shimmering bubble ahead of us. Twelve additional spell circles materialized around the dome, showering it with a torrent of magical energy.
The shield shrieked, growing denser—then thinner. The cycle repeated several times until the startled faces of several men became visible beyond the barrier, standing before a Gothic church surrounded by solar panels, water reservoirs, and other essential infrastructure.
Dozens of other men filtered out of the door of the church—some already transformed. Five Sorcerers followed, but two stood out: a bald African man holding a machete, and the white-haired boy with the eyepatch we'd fought before.
I had contingencies prepared just for him.
I growled, hefting my rifle and chambering a round. Hell broke loose when the shield came down.
Julius's POV
"If only Ade could see his students now…"
"No!" Misha screamed, pouring a quarter of her Cursed Energy into her Technique. I flung a knife at her immediately, but the Ice spread so fast that it missed her by inches. Its trajectory had been warped after punching through two glaciers.
The temperature drop hit me as I was launched into the air by a burst of glacial growth that now covered the entire chamber. All around, equipment groaned, shattered, and dimmed under the assault of frost.
Judging from the frost coating the ceiling, the upper floors would fare no better. The aggressive cold snapped at my extremities, bleeding heat from my body despite my considerable vitality.
I channeled RCT to counter the effect while funneling nearly half my positive energy into Inverse: Expanse. I flicked my finger, and the air screeched. The glacial spires shattered, clearing my view of my attacker as I dropped back to the floor.
Misha had transformed—sprouting a tail and scales in patches across her body. Her irises had narrowed into slits, glowing deep blue, and she'd grown nearly two inches taller, her musculature denser but still deceptively compact.
Her clothes were shredded, her knee had fully healed, and Adrian stood in front of her, Red Flowing Scales surging through his body.
"Never again!" she screamed. "I refuse to let you take another sorcerer!"
She clapped her hands together, shaving another sliver of Cursed Energy off her total. The Ice chunks around me vibrated and exploded—but I was already gone. I switched RCT for Domain Amplification, protecting me from the assault and braving the intense cold of her maximum technique.
I slashed, fully aware my blade wouldn't survive the impact. The strike took both of Adrian's crossed arms, shattering midway through the second, but the sorcerer powered through the pain, kicking out. I saw it coming with Seventh Sense and twisted aside, brushing my hand across his chest.
I dropped Domain Amplification for an instant and released Inverse: Expanse at 40% output.
Adrian's body exploded—reinforced bone, muscle, and blood splattering across the chamber and throwing Misha off her feet.
I froze for a moment, drenched in his blood, unsettled by his fragility. I didn't know why I'd expected more.
Experience flooded in, fueling several level-ups and confirming his death. I reactivated Domain Amplification before the cold could consume me.
Misha let out a scream that made my stomach twist.
She crawled backward, her expression shifting from grief to fury. Her fingers crossed into a complicated pattern I'd never seen before, and I got an eerie sense of déjà vu. She was going for it.
Domain Expans—
She never finished. My hand shot forward, cloaked in Cursed Energy. I triggered Overdrive just as I summoned a katana. The blade pierced her eye before she could complete the technique, and her energy vanished instantly.
Her body reverted as my blade remained lodged in her. Bone snapped, her irises returned to normal, and the tail retracted into her body.
I sent her body into my inventory, leaving the bloodied weapon behind, and let out a shuddering breath.
That hadn't been easy. I wiped off the blood with a towel and produced a set of sweatpants. It was horrendously undersized, but free enough to fight in. I made it up the stairwell.
I was halfway up the second floor when a slash came for my neck. I ducked beneath it smoothly, my eyes locking onto my attacker—Damien. He stood with a squad of guards behind him, more joining by the second.
"Don't just stand there and stare. Ge—"
I was among them in a flash of Cursed Energy. My reinforced blade carved a brutal arc. Six guards dropped. A wave of acid slammed into me, projected by the seventh.
My first instinct was to store it, but I realized it would have filled my inventory too quickly. The acid ate through my sweatpants in seconds and scalded my skin. Irritated, I activated my favorite technique—Inverse: Expanse.
Metal screamed. Men did too. The two surviving guards were eviscerated by the shockwave. Only Damien stood, the glow of Domain Amplification rapidly fading around him.
I didn't know he could do that.
He charged, slashing while side-stepping. I parried his attack with my blade, which exploded into shards from the feedback.
Metal pelted me, but left no marks, and the remainder of his technique sheared through the stone corridors of the stairwell.
I kicked faster than Damien could blink, sending him flying back into a railing. Bone cracked, steel bent, but he rebounded with a nervous, excited gleam in his discolored eyes.
He'd taken some of the acid damage and couldn't heal, but he was determined. My estimation of him rose slightly.
Above me, I heard the rapid patter of approaching feet—two massive pools of Cursed Energy. Gina and Priya. I needed to finish Damien before they arrived.
He slashed upward, and I leaned aside and closed in. I took his head off with the flat of my arm, ratio running through it. The wound looked like somebody had taken a blade to it.
I was sending his body into my inventory when Gina and Priya appeared.
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