The Monarch of Plagues Querehsha drew a cloud of toxin from the massive roots, and the moment she did that it wasn't just poison anymore, the swirling green haze that had bled from the roots did not disperse, she absorbed it all obeyed her, drawn into her lungs in a slow, savoring inhale.
And her body changed, veins lit beneath her skin, glowing a sickly emerald that pulsed in time with her heartbeat. Her pupils thinned into slits, reptilian. When she smiled, it stretched too wide, revealing teeth that no longer fit a human mouth, and when her tongue flicked out long, thin, serpentine.
Raven hovered beside Kara, her cloak rippling as her magic instinctively flared in response, she glanced once, unimpressed, before muttering flatly, "She looks uglier now."
Querehsha's head tilted slightly, that monstrous smile never fading. "Oh, little witch… this is only the beginning."
Kara's eyes burned brighter, red bleeding into the edges of her vision as her fists clenched. "As if I'll let you get past us."
Kara then vanished, the air detonating behind her as she shot downward like a meteor, heat vision already tearing forward in a blazing beam aimed straight through Querehsha's skull, and something slammed into her from the side.
The impact was violent enough to shatter the street beneath them, Kara's body carving a trench through asphalt and concrete before she crashed into the ruins of a building. Dust and debris exploded outward as Rakan landed where she had been, lowering his leg slowly, the glow of kryptonite still seeping from his claws.
"How reckless," he muttered, rolling his shoulder as his wounds continued knitting together at an unnatural pace.
Raven's hand snapped forward. "Kara! Don't rush them blindly!"
Kara rose from the wreckage, shaking dust from her shoulders, her gaze locking onto Rakan with a cold look, "That bastard's getting stronger…"
But Raven wasn't looking at Rakan anymore.
Her eyes had widened slightly, violet light flickering within them as her senses stretched outward, sensing another presence, a strong magical one.
"…No," she whispered.
Her head turned, scanning the battlefield for something hidden around them.
"Magic," she said, "That isn't theirs… someone else is here."
The realization came a bit too late.
Something was targeting her, not in a way most could perceive, but Raven felt it, the shift in space, and then the attack hit.
It slammed into her side, a surge of foreign magic that broke through her guard and sent her spiraling across the sky before she barely managed to halt herself mid-air, boots skidding against nothing as she steadied.
Her eyes snapped toward the source.
A figure stood there now, as if he had always been present, as if reality had simply corrected itself to include him.
Yogumunt regarded them with disdain, his expression calm, almost bored, as residual magic curled around his fingers like smoke.
Kara's gaze sharpened immediately. "Another one…"
Rakan exhaled sharply through his nose, irritation flickering across his features as he glanced at Yogumunt. "What the hell are you doing here Yogumunt?!"
Yogumunt didn't even look at him at first. His attention remained on Kara and Raven, calculating, dissecting, as though they were nothing more than variables in an equation.
"Sillad suggested this," he said finally, "And I agreed. You two have taken far too long to accomplish something so simple."
His eyes shifted, finally landing on Rakan.
"We cannot afford incompetence, not now."
Rakan clicked his tongue, but didn't argue.
"Fine," he muttered. "Then stay out of my way."
Yogumunt smiled, though there was no warmth in it. "Hardly."
His hand lifted.
The spell formed instantly.
Kara didn't even see it coming, only felt it.
Pressure, from everywhere at once.
The ground beneath her surged upward in response to something unseen, and in the next instant, invisible forces grabbed her limbs, her torso, locking her in place. Her body strained, muscles tensing as she tried to break free, but nothing gave.
"What.." her voice cut off as she pushed harder, veins standing out along her arms. "What the hell is this?!"
Yogumunt didn't answer.
Rakan smiled and it was not a pleasant thing.
Raven's head snapped toward Kara immediately. "Careful he is going to attack!"
But it was too late.
Rakan didn't charge blindly this time. He stalked forward with terrifying speed, until suddenly he wasn't walking anymore, body cutting through the air like a blur with lethal intent, claws aimed directly for Kara's abdomen.
Kara's eyes flared red, and her heat vision erupted outward in a desperate counter, but he twisted past it.
"So close," he growled, already within striking distance.
The claws came down.
And Raven moved, she didn't think but she didn't hesitate either to take Kara's place, the claws pierced through her side instead.
The impact drove her to one knee instantly, blood spilling from her lips as the force of it tore through her defenses, her magic flaring violently in response even as she felt incredible pain.
"Raven!" Kara screamed.
Raven extended a hand and the spell binding Kara shattered.
Kara felt the bindings snap and in the same instant, she moved.
Her fist collided with Rakan's face with enough force to distort the air around it, sending him hurtling backward through layers of ruined buildings before he crashed into the distance with a thunderous impact.
Kara didn't chase him.
She dropped immediately to Raven's side, catching her before she could fall fully. "Raven! Why did you.."
Raven exhaled sharply, blood staining her lips, but her eyes were still clear, still focused. "Shut up.. I've… had worse," she managed, though her voice was tight. "Focus on the caster… he's the real problem."
Yogumunt lifted his hand again, expression unchanged, as if none of that had mattered.
"I'm honored you acknowledge that I'm the real threat here, but this ends now," he said calmly.
Magic gathered in his hands, denser than before.
And then,
A loud sound cut through the battlefield.
Yogumunt's head snapped back as something tore through it clean, brutal, a high-caliber round infused with mana that punched through his skull and exploded out the other side, taking a portion of his face with it.
For a single, suspended moment,
everything froze, even Rakan, still rising from the rubble in the distance, paused.
Even Querehsha's twisted smile faltered slightly.
Yogumunt's body remained standing… before the damage began to mend, flesh knitting back together with eerie smoothness, bone reforming, skin sealing as though time itself had reversed.
His now angry gaze shifted slowly.
Toward the origin of the shot.
Far across the battlefield, perched atop the shattered remains of a skyscraper, barely visible through the smoke and chaos,
a man lowered a rifle.
Jason Todd stood there, half-hidden, the faint glow of a modified mana scope fading as he exhaled through his helmet.
"Well," he muttered to himself, adjusting his grip, "that would've been too easy if they were not so... immortal?"
A faint, almost amused breath left him.
"…Guess I've got his attention now."
Back on the battlefield, Kara stared for half a second longer than she should have.
"…Is that, Jason?!"
Yogumunt didn't so much as glance at the damage to his face once it had finished knitting itself back together; his attention was now locked onto the distant man that just shot him.
There was a pause before he spoke, his voice filled with irritation.
"I'll be back," he said, turning slightly toward Rakan. "I have a pest to remove."
Rakan exhaled through his nose, "Do what you want," he muttered, wiping blood from his jaw with the back of his hand.
Yogumunt's form distorted and then he was gone.
Rakan clicked his tongue, glancing in the direction of the sniper's perch with a faint, humorless smile. "Must've really pissed him off… I almost feel sorry for him."
Kara didn't find any humor in it.
Her eyes snapped toward the skyline, jaw tightening. "No.. he'll kill him."
She moved immediately, body tensing as she prepared to fly towards him, and then a hand caught her wrist.
Raven.
"Wait."
Kara turned sharply, frustration flashing across her face. "Raven, we don't have time.."
"I'll go."
There was no hesitation in her voice.
Kara's expression faltered when she truly looked at her, at the blood staining her side, at the way her breathing wasn't quite steady, at the strain hidden beneath her composure.
"You're in no condition to.."
"I said I'll go." Raven's gaze softened just slightly, though her tone didn't. "He uses a very advanced form of magic," she continued. "Which makes him my problem, not yours."
For a second, Kara didn't respond.
Then Raven added, almost casually, "Besides… if you die here, I'll drag you out of hell myself, so I'm not really worried about you."
That earned a smile. "…You're insufferable," Kara muttered, but there was warmth in it.
Raven's lips twitched, then she was gone, her form dissolving into a ripple of dark energy that vanished into the air.
Kara exhaled once, steadying herself, and that was when Querehsha struck.
She didn't give Kara time to think, her transformed body cutting through the air with terrifying speed, claws laced with venom and her glowing veins pulsing as she lunged foward.
"Finally," Querehsha hissed, her voice layered and inhuman, "you're alone again little bitch!"
Kara twisted mid-air, barely avoiding the first strike as it carved through the space where her head had been. She didn't retreat.
Her fist slammed into Querehsha's face with a crack that echoed across the ruined city, sending the monarch hurtling backward through a row of shattered buildings before she could even react.
Kara followed.
She didn't give her time to recover.
She was on her in an instant, driving her deeper into the wreckage, fists landing one after another in a relentless barrage that shook the ground with every impact.
"Even if you can't die I'll keep you all bastards pinned here for as long as I can," Kara snapped, grabbing Querehsha by the throat and slamming her into the remains of a collapsed tower hard enough to crater the ground beneath them.
Querehsha's body bent unnaturally under the force, and then snapped back into place, her regeneration already working.
She laughed, even with half her face momentarily gone.
"Oh, I like you better like this!" she said.
/-\
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