Meanwhile on The Other Side of the Desert
Wonder Woman moved like a storm.
Her lasso snapped outward, glowing gold as it wrapped around a towering demon mid-flight. With a sharp yank, she slammed it into the ground hard enough to crater the sand before bringing her blade down in one clean arc.
Black ichor sprayed.
Another demon lunged from her blind spot.
CLANG!
Her bracers met its claws in a burst of sparks. She pivoted, drove her knee into its torso, and hurled it into a cluster of incoming creatures.
"Cyborg!" she called.
A blue beam carved across the battlefield.
Cyborg hovered above the ground, his mechanical eye glowing as targeting systems locked onto dozens of signatures at once.
"On it."
His arm cannon split into multiple rotating barrels and unleashed a barrage of sonic pulses and plasma shots, shredding airborne demons before they could reach the ground.
But for every one that fell more emerged from the portal.
"Uh, yeah," he muttered. "They are not running out."
---
High above, Hawkman roared a battle cry.
His wings beat violently as he dove straight through a cluster of winged demons, mace spinning.
Each swing shattered bone and tore through flesh.
A larger demon grabbed his wing mid-fligh
He headbutted it hard,then drove his mace straight through its skull and kicked the corpse away.
"Keep pushing them back!" he shouted. "Don't let them advance toward the city!"
Martian Manhunter unleashed his heat vision, slicing apart demons. He had already grown a second pair of arms to combat those who got too close.
For a brief moment, the portal went silent as they destroyed the remaining demons.
Then it glowed brighter.
Thousands of demons came pouring out, some as big as double-storey buildings.
One of Nina's clones shouted, "With me!"
"Right!" the others nodded, flying into a square formation beside the portal as the demons came screeching toward them.
"Get some distance!" one of the clones shouted to the Justice League.
They extended their hands forward and shouted together,
"Particle Style: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!"
A white glowing cube formed between them and expanded. They pulled back with it, stretching it as it kept growing.
All demons that came into contact with it simply vanished without a sound.
It expanded into a 400 × 400 meter box of annihilation, even reaching the ground. They held it for a few seconds before allowing it to dissipate.
A huge square-shaped pit remained where it had touched the desert floor.
The clones panted, then began disappearing one by one as their chakra ran out.
Until only one was left.
She turned to Wonder Woman.
"This… is the best… we could do."
Then she vanished in a puff of smoke.
They were all tired. They had been fighting hordes of monstrosities that just kept emerging from the portal without end. If Nina hadn't sent her clones as support, the situation would already be dire.
And now that support was gone.
The portal still churned,more demons pouring out.
"Is there no end to this madness?" Wonder Woman muttered.
The demons screeched and charged toward them then suddenly paused as the sky lit up in a purple glow.
The air temperature rose slightly.
In the distance, they saw a massive purple dome rise into the sky before suddenly collapsing. The ground rumbled with the force of it.
Sand dunes were obliterated one by one by a sweeping shockwave racing toward them.
"Everyone take cover!" Cyborg shouted.
He created an energy barrier around himself. Martian Manhunter turned intangible. Wonder Woman raised her shield and braced herself. Hawkman shielded himself with his wings.
The shockwave finally arrived.
And swept away all the demons that had come out of the portal.
Even the Justice League members weren't spared. The shockwave slammed into them and pushed them back across the sand.
When it finally subsided the demons that had been swept away began regaining their footing.
Some clawed their way out from beneath the sand, emerging screeching and disoriented.
And still more poured out of the portal.
Cyborg groaned in annoyance as he unleashed a volley of missiles into the advancing horde.
"There really is no winning this without sealing Trigon back," he said. "What's taking them so long?"
Explosions tore through clusters of demons, scattering limbs and black ichor across the desert.
"I have faith in them," Wonder Woman replied firmly. "We just have to hold the line here."
Then she flew straight back into the fray.
Hawkman followed with a roar, wings beating hard as he crashed into the thick of the horde.
Martian Manhunter rose into the air once more, eyes glowing as psychic force rippled outward, slowing the next wave
Meanwhile in Hell
A purple portal opened in Hell.
Starfire, Thena, Beast Boy, Terra, Robin, Blue Beetle, and Raven stepped out.
Beast Boy spoke first.
"Guys… I don't feel so good."
"What's wrong?" Blue Beetle asked.
"Something's not right about my body. But don't worry about me," he said, forcing a grin.
"The crystal can only be touched by me. He may have escaped it… but he can't destroy it." Raven cut in.
"Let's move," Robin said.
They all nodded and began heading toward the shrine.
Thena lingered behind for a moment, marveling at the landscape.
"So this is what Hell looks like," she muttered.
Terra noticed she was falling behind. She frowned, stomped back toward her, and grabbed her hand.
"Woah, relax. I was coming," Thena said, pulling her hand free.
"Then keep up and stop getting distracted," Terra snapped.
"You got it," Thena replied, giving a thumbs up.
They walked for a while before reaching the edge of the shrine.A massive, jagged structure of black stone rising over a lava-filled chasm.
Suddenly, Raven gripped her head in pain.
Dragon-like creatures guarding the shrine descended from above, shrieking as they dove toward them.
Beast Boy collapsed, his body beginning to mutate violently.
"Garfield!" Starfire shouted and rushed to his side.
Thena pulled out a scroll, smeared her blood across it, and with a puff of smoke, a tanto and staff appeared.
She tossed the staff to Terra, who caught it and stood ready.
The creatures arrived.
Thena sliced one clean in half, used its falling body as a platform to leap, and cut another through the neck midair.
She landed on a third one's head and drove her blade into its skull.
Another screeched and lunged at her.
She flipped backward, slapped an explosive tag onto its face, then kicked it into a cluster of others.
The tag detonated in a loud explosion.
As she fell, she formed a shadow clone midair. It grabbed her legs, spun with her, and hurled her downward.
She landed beside Robin, who was fending off creatures rushing toward Raven.
Starfire soared above, firing rapid barrages of starbolts, shredding the creatures to pieces while Blue Beetle covered her flank with plasma blasts.
Terra stood over Beast Boy, now encased in rock armor, delivering bone-crushing punches that shattered skulls.
A larger dragon descended toward Thena and Robin.
Thena stabbed her blade into the ground and extended her hand,A Rasengan forming.
Before she could launch foward
A green werewolf slammed into the creature's face, forcing it backward.
The beast dug its claws into the dragon's skull and drove it into the bridge connected to the shrine, collapsing part of it.
Blue Beetle descended.
"Gar? Is that you?"
The werewolf grinned and gave him a thumbs up to confirm that it was intact beast Boy.
Seeing the bigger threat handled, Thena dispelled the Rasengan and ran through a set of hand seals.
She inhaled deeply.
"Fire Style: Burning Ash!"
She spewed massive clouds of ash into the air, blanketing the battlefield.
The remaining creatures rushed through it, screeching.
Thena clicked her teeth together.The ash igniting,It had been black powder.
A violent explosion tore through the sky.
Blood and body parts rained down.
The surviving creatures screeched and fled.
As they all regrouped.
"Good job, Thena," Starfire said warmly.
"Thanks?" Thena replied.
Blue Beetle landed beside them while Terra's rock armor crumbled away.
When suddenly,Black mist crept across the ground in front of them.
They tensed.
The mist coalesced into four familiar demonic figures.
Blue Beetle groaned. "It's the freakshow again."
The demons began fusing together, flesh twisting and merging into something grotesque.
"Go on, Raven," Starfire said firmly. "We will hold them off."
Raven nodded and flew toward the center of the shrine.
Behind her,the demons fully merged into a towering monstrosity with four head,Four tails.
And one massive,grotesque body.It threw its heads back and released a deafening roar.
End of Chapter.
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