As they got prepared for was Damian took some time to take a breath, standing by the edge of the camp, simply taking in the scenery.
"Horrible, right?" Rachel sighed behind him, Damian was not startled by her sudden appearance as he had already felt her approach. "Who would create such a wasteland?"
"I was thinking the opposite," Damian replied. "The way the light hit the sand making it reflect in a beautiful and passionate red, or how the debris gives out a certain dynamism and naturalness that you do not find in cities." He turned to look at the stunned Rachel. "There's always beauty to be found in even the scariest places, you just need to open yourself to look for it. My legacy was also supposed to be death and destruction, but I decided to do something about it. However, to move forward you need to embrace the past because no matter how horrifying it is, it's what made you who you are. From The Shadows was born a tight-knitted community, one that I swore to protect and guide to the light. What will you do with the legacy trigon will leave to you?"
Rachel could only gape at his poetic speech, having never seen things in that way before. "Have you ever considered doing art?" The words left her lips before she could stop them.
"No, why?" Damian asked, looking at her strangely.
"I just thought that if someone who had lived through such a shitty life like you, can still find beauty in such a desolated place like this... then I can't wait to see what comes out of a paintbrush from him," she answered honestly. "maybe once all of this is over you should put down the sword and pick up a brush."
"Perception is the paintbrush. The reality, the canvas. You are the artist." Damian quoted, with a smile, keeping to himself that Rachel was finally starting to talk as if they were gonna win. "Maybe I should," he said with a coy smile.
"It's time," Red Hood called out because that's who was standing behind them, not Jason.
As if a switch had been turned on, the smile vanished from Damian's lips and the one who was standing before them was the Demon Head, the new Oracle of Delphi: "Then let's get going. We've got a war to win."
"I can feel you daughter!" The booming voice of Trigon made them shiver, as the demon approached the camp. "You and your little friends can't hide from me. But let me make you an offer, if you stop running and join me, I'll make their deaths quick and painless."
"What a nice fella, that one," Harley drawled.
"Get into position, once he enters the camp he'll be incapable of using magic," Damian commanded, sending the group to scatter in teams of two: Ivy & Harley, Rachel & John, and Damian & Jason. As soon as Trigon stepped into the camp, Damian shouted: "Now!"
Ivy used her powers to summon plants and hold Trigon down, even without magic the demon was too strong and simply ripped the vines apart. However, it did give John enough time to place a powerful curse on him.
"Do you truly believe you humans can defeat me? Trigon?!" The demon barked a laugh. "I who is stronger than Darkseid?! Don't make me laugh!"
Rachel shivered in fear, but seeing the determination in her teammate's eyes gave her the comfort she needed. She took a step forward, out of her hiding spot, and faced her father. "We can! And we will defeat you! AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!"
This time, alongside Ivy's vines, Rachel's magic surrounded Trigon, holding him down. While John sent curse after curse towards Trigon, Damian stepped out and rushed towards the demon. Damian used the magic and vines around Trigon as a stepping stone to climb up, so he could finish this battle off with a quick decapitation. However, he was not fast enough. Trigon roared, breaking out and attacking everything and everyone surrounding him. His raw strength made the camp, and Rachel and John's runes along with it, collapse in ruins.
"You punny humans, so stubborn," Trigon laughed, magic cracking around him. "You will pay for it!"
Rachel who had collapsed on the ground, with her teammates around her, stood on shaky legs, glaring at her father with red eyes, just like his: "No! You will! AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!"
She received her father's magical attack with equal power, floating in the air with demonic eyes. "How?!" Trigon roared in shock. "You should not be this powerful!"
"Well this punny human knows a few tricks," John groaned, standing up with a victorious smile, as the rest stood around him glaring at the demon. "Leaching curse!"
"No!" Trigon growled, understanding that his power was being fed to his daughter.
"Fuck yeah!" Chorused Harley and Jason, as Ivy used her plants as a trampoline for Damian.
"Mammon's Sword..." Trigon murmured incredulously, as he watched Damian approach. "It does not have enough power to kill me on its own!"
"It won't kill you, it will devour you," Damian promised him, voice steady, as he jumped from plant to plant. "And it possesses the power of the Lazarus Demon in it and the blood and magic of your daughter. Your fate had been sealed"
Trigon could not accept it, he knew it was true. He had underestimated them, and now they had the advantage. But he will not go down without one last victory. Chanting a powerful curse, directed at his bloodline, he died. Damian took off his head with one clean sweep before he could finish the curse. However, while the chanting was not finalized, enough was said for the dark magic to take hold of Rachel. As Damian landed on the ground and was swept into Jason's arms in celebration, Rachel collapsed on the ground screaming and holding her head in pain.
"Rachel!" John exclaimed, trying to get close but being zapped away by her uncontrolled magic.
"Witch-girl!" Harley tried to get close and help her, but Rachel pushed her down, eyes shining red, and bit her on the neck.
"Harley!" Ivy screamed in rage, trying to use her powers to attack Rachel after she saw her friend go limp, but the vines were burned by Rachel's magic.
"What the fuck is going on?!" Jason cursed, eyes wide open as they watched Rachel jump on Ivy and bite her as she had done with Harley.
"Did Trigon's siphoned power corrupt her?" Damian inquired, stepping in front of Jason while raising his sword. Such a show of protective care warmed Jason's heart.
"It can't be," John protested, as he limped towards them. "I protected her towards such side-effects."
"Well, something went wrong as she has gone fucking bonkers!" Jason shouted at the warlock while pointing at the witch. "She is acting like a fucking vampire, feeding on them!"
"Crazy... feeding..." John mumbled, watching as Rachel stopped attacking, but stayed crouched on the ground, the red leaving her eyes. "The Madness Curse, of course!"
"The what curse now?!" Jason snapped.
"It is an old and powerful curse, in a nutshell, one cursed a bloodline so they would need madness to survive," John explained.
"So in other words, go insane or die?" Damian asked, looking at Rachel with guilt.
Someone else that got the brunt of my rushed decisions... maybe, I should put the sword down and guide my people from behind the scenes, Damian thought sadly, lowering his sword. It seems that whenever I step into the field things go wrong.
"Normally yes, but it takes a long time for the chant to be made. trigon should have not had the time to complete it," John deduced.
"What does an uncompleted curse of this type entail for Rachel?" Damian asked, hopeful for good news.
"It means that while she might need madness to survive, she can obtain it from outside sources," John replied.
"So, she is a vampire, but instead of blood, she consumes the madness of other people?" Jason asked incredulously, before laughing. "We should take her to Arkham, she would make a much better job aiding the patients there than any other doctor working in that goddamn awful place!"
"Wait, so you decided to buy Arkham because of a comment Jason said while in a battle high?" Stephanie asked in disbelief, while the rest of the family was looking at Jason and Damian in stunned silence.
"I did warn you guys that we've gone through some shitty and really crazy shit!" Jason barked a laugh, ignoring their disbelief expressions.
They've truly had some crazy adventures... but they wouldn't change it for anything in the world. After all, that's how they got their family.