Rakan didn't die cleanly.
Even with his skull crushed into the shattered pavement, even with his body broken beneath that single, effortless step, he still moved.
Slowly. The remains of his head twitched, then pulsed, flesh knitting itself together in layers as bone reformed beneath it. His jaw snapped back into place with a wet crack, his teeth regrowing in jagged rows as his breathing returned in ragged bursts.
He dragged himself forward.
Crawling, and Arthur let him crawl, it was far more humiliating that way.
By the time his eyes reformed, they no longer held that feral arrogance. They flickered, unfocused for a moment, before locking onto the man standing just ahead.
Arthur Blackwynd was simply watching
Rakan swallowed, forcing his broken body to respond as he raised both hands slowly, carefully, like a cornered beast that knew exactly what stood before it.
"Wait.." his voice came out hoarse, uneven."Shadow Monarch… we don't have to do this!"
Arthur said nothing and Rakan pushed on, words spilling out faster now.
"If we work together, if we combine our forces then we can wipe them out. All of them. Even the Dragon Monarch, he will tre..."
He never finished.
There was no wind-up and no warning.
One moment he stood still, the next, he was in front of him.
The spear manifested, already in his hand, already driving forward with a speed that cracked the air apart as it struck, it pierced Rakan clean through the chest.
Through his heart, the impact pinned him to the ground, the force behind it sending cracks spidering outward across the ruined street.
Rakan's body jolted violently, his mouth opening as a choked sound escaped him.
Arthur leaned slightly forward, his grip tightening on the weapon as his violet eyes burned with colder.
"I know what you did... You tried to kill my woman," he said quietly.
There was no anger in his voice.
"And my child."
The shadows around him deepened.
"Nothing you say will keep you alive."
Rakan's body began to break apart, erased piece by piece.
His hands twitched weakly against the ground, his voice barely forming as the darkness consumed him.
"…Curse… you…"
And then, he was gone.
Not even ash remained.
Arthur straightened slowly, pulling the spear free as it dissolved back into shadow, his gaze already shifting away like the matter had never been worth more than a second of his attention.
.
.
.
Elsewhere, Yogumunt stood frozen for a second, his senses flaring violently as something, or rather someone with an overwhelming presence entered the field.
His head snapped in that direction.
And for the first time since his arrival,
His composure cracked.
"…He's here?" he muttered, disbelief all over his voice as his eyes widened.
'That wasn't how this was supposed to go.'
'Sillad is supposed to be watching him!'
'Monitoring him and waiting for the right moment... and that he would warn us in case the shadow monarch leaves the dimensional crack so we can be ready to ambush him!'
This, This wasn't it.
"This is wrong…" Yogumunt whispered, his mind racing. "We were supposed to bring him out together.. corner him and control the battlefield however we desired.."
His thoughts cut off.
Because the realization hit him all at once.
They had lost control.
And in front of him, Raven stood still, her cloak settling around her as the tension in the air shifted.
She felt it too and unlike Yogumunt,
She smiled, her eyes glowed faintly as she tilted her head, watching the monarch with amusement.
"You guys are so fucked now," she said, her voice calm.
Yogumunt's jaw tightened.
"Tch."
He didn't argue, didn't even threaten her.
Because for all his arrogance, he wasn't stupid.
His form twisted sharply, then he vanished without another word.
Raven watched the space he had occupied for a moment longer, her expression unreadable, before the faint glow in her eyes faded.
Then she exhaled.
"…Finally," she muttered under her breath.
The spell she had layered on someone next to her there dissolved like mist, revealing what it had been hiding.
Red Hood.
He was leaning against the broken remains of a wall, one hand pressed to his side where blood had soaked through his armor, his breathing heavier than he'd like to admit.
"…Yeah," he said, wincing slightly as he straightened. "About that."
He glanced toward where Yogumunt had been, then back at Raven.
"Sorry," he added, almost sheepishly. "Kinda got in your way there, I didn't realize these things were immortal."
Raven stepped closer, her expression softening just a fraction as she extended a hand toward him.
"Don't be, "
He hesitated for half a second before taking it, letting her pull him upright.
"In a way," she continued, a faint smile forming now, "you just helped us more than you think."
Jason huffed out a quiet breath, rolling his shoulder as he steadied himself. "Yeah?"
His gaze shifted toward the distant battlefield,
"I'm guessing that means he's here."
Raven followed his gaze.
And this time,
Her smile didn't fade.
"Yes," she said simply. "He is, and they are about to discover that they are not so immortal."
.
.
.
One moment Kara lay there, her strength fading, kryptonite gas burning through her lungs and weakening every cell in her body, the next, he was there.
Right beside her. Arthur Blackwynd stood in the middle of the toxic haze as if it didn't exist, the poison was nothing to him, his violet eyes scanning everything in an instant.
Not far from them, Querehsha was no longer moving freely.
She was suspended, locked in place within a cage of violent, crackling lightning, bands of energy wrapping around her body, tightening every time she struggled. The current coursed through her relentlessly, silencing her, suppressing her, turning even her regeneration into a sluggish, failing process.
Arthur didn't even look at her.
His attention was entirely on Kara.
He stepped forward through the gas, "Kryptonite…" he murmured to himself, "Alongside other harmful substances mixed into it."
His gaze flickered briefly toward Querehsha, cold and unimpressed. "Lethal. Not just to Kara… but to everyone on this planet as well, she was planning to spread this globally."
The shadows at his feet shifted.
Then rose a massive shadow dragon, Kamish emerged behind him, Arthur didn't turn.
"Burn it," he said simply. "All of it."
Kamish didn't waste time. Flames erupted, a sea of draconic fire swept outward, consuming the monstrous roots and vines that had spread across the battlefield. They writhed, shrieking as they burned, their toxic output cut off almost instantly as the source was reduced to ash.
The air began to clear.
Arthur knelt carefully like the destruction around him didn't matter, like none of it existed. His hand slid beneath Kara's head, lifting it slightly from the cracked ground.
Her eyes fluttered focused, and the moment they found him;
She smiled.
"Arthur..." she whispered, voice weak but it was warm. "I…"
He smiled back, softer than anything else he had shown since arriving.
"Hey." he said calmly, "I saw everything," he continued, brushing a strand of her hair back gently. "Every second of how you fought, and I believed in you."
His hand moved, resting lightly against her abdomen.
"And how you prioritized protecting this… even when it cost you."
Her breath caught slightly, her strength returning just enough for her to meet his gaze fully now that the gas was dissipating under Kamish's flames.
"The fact that two Monarchs couldn't bring you down," he added, a faint note of pride in his voice, "even with every cheap trick they had… that's impressive."
Her lips parted, ready to respond but he leaned in first.
The kiss wasn't rushed, Kara's hand rose almost instinctively, fingers brushing his cheek before sliding to the back of his neck, pulling him closer as she kissed him back with everything she had left.
For a moment, The war didn't exist around them.
When they pulled apart, her smile lingered, softer now.
"I missed you," she said quietly.
Arthur exhaled faintly, his forehead resting briefly against hers.
"It's been longer for me," he admitted.
Her eyes flicked up, noticing it now, the length of his hair, the subtle changes in him.
"…I can tell," she murmured. "That you've been through a lot."
Her fingers brushed through his hair lightly.
"I like it this way."
A flicker of amusment passed through his eyes.
Then suddenly,
Yogumunt appeared beside them, his magic unraveling the lightning prison around Querehsha in an instant.
She dropped, catching herself as her body rapidly restored, her gaze snapping toward Arthur with a venomous intensity.
Yogumunt stepped forward slightly, his voice carrying that same arrogance.
"Shadow Monarch," he said, as if nothing had gone wrong. "We can still end this the right way."
His gaze swept over the battlefield briefly, then returned.
"We can wipe out humanity right now," he continued. "Or you can finally make the correct decision."
A mocking smile touched his lips.
"You care about this world. About these people. That much is obvious."
His eyes narrowed.
"You may have killed Rakan… but that changes nothing, there are still three of us and while we waste time speaking here, our armies are slaughtering your humans."
His tone hardened.
"And you are alone."
Kara's grip tightened slightly around Arthur's hand.
"Arthur, they're.."
He silenced her with a single finger pressed gently to her lips.
He didn't even look at Yogumunt right away.
Instead, he smiled at Kara.
And then,
He laughed. "Three against one…?" he repeated, almost like he was tasting the words.
Then his gaze lifted, violet eyes locking onto Yogumunt.
"Did you really just say that?"
/-\
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