A/N: The following chapter contains complex and detailed action. Take your time in understanding it, or just skip it.

Chapter 18

New York City almost looked like the Grand Canyon.

The original Teen Titans stood off to the side, watching and wondering how Constantine would handle such a situation. The city was completely ruined. No buildings were left standing. The region was utterly flat, with occasional heaps of rock and rubble. The sun was high in the air, not ready to set for a few hours. However, the sky had been darkened before, when Constantine was powering up. But now that Constantine no longer needed to release the darkness inside of him, the sun was shining again.

Trigon had now shrunken himself down to five feet. He stood hunched over, with his arms dangling. He started chuckling like a mischievous child. That tiny chuckle turned into a loud cackle. Constantine was getting annoyed.

"Forget this," he muttered, "I've had enough."

Constantine launched himself into the air above Trigon. The monster was still laughing to himself. In one swift motion, Constantine drew his sword, twisted around, and brought it down hard. Trigon's laughter ceased. Constantine felt his weapon suddenly halt.

He looked and saw that Trigon had caught the sword between his fingers. Constantine grunted with surprise as he tried to pull it away, but the sword wouldn't budge. While Trigon's body remained motionless, Constantine's was shaking as he kept trying to get his sword back. Trigon bellowed, and Constantine could tell that his intelligence was dropping into savagery.

"Little boy shouldn't play with knife."

Constantine's eyes flared, and he pulled back with all his strength. The blade shattered, and tiny splinters of metal tinkled on the ground like drops of rain. Constantine looked at the broken sword. Trigon tossed the little piece of metal away, and began chuckling again.

Constantine gritted his teeth. This monster just destroyed his weapon of choice. No one made a fool of him. Constantine clenched his fists, then looked at them.

"Well, there's always the direct approach."

He jolted forward at the chuckling beast, stopped right before he reached Trigon's face, then made a sharp kick across the head, the inside of his foot hitting behind Trigon's left ear. Those four eyes shot wide open as he flew sideways over the ground.

He crashed through a pile of rubble and skidded slowly across the earth. Trigon flipped himself back onto his feet, resuming his hunched-over position. Constantine charged at him. Trigon lazily lifted one arm.

In the center of his palm appeared a tennis-ball shaped orb of red energy. He blinked once and fired it at the rapidly approaching Constantine. The energy blast soared through the air at Constantine, who used his arm to sideswipe it away, thus continuing his dash at Trigon.

The five foot tall beast made a sound in astonishment and confusion as he watched Constantine come ever so close. The boy thrust his knee into Trigon's gut, making the demon jolt his head forward, spitting out a single cough. Constantine's momentum still propelled him forward, despite where his knee had gone.

Constantine used that momentum to jerk his elbow backwards, slamming his opponent in the back of the head. Trigon's eyes looked as if they were going to come out of their sockets.

Constantine used that elbow as a center of gravity, pivoting his body around Trigon's head. Constantine's legs now came around Trigon's body to the other side. When Constantine released his elbow, he was free to drive the top of his right foot into Trigon's right cheek.

Constantine then pushed himself off Trigon's face and into the air, leaving Trigon staggering and in a daze. As Constantine spun and twirled in midair, he tried to keep his head facing his opponent. When he regained his balance, Constantine – with an expression that of grim determination – flew forward at the wobbling monster, and thrust his left foot hard at Trigon's chin. This pushed him back a couple feet. He stood off balance, having a look of stupor on his face.

Constantine landed right in front of Trigon, smirking under his mask. Trigon growled at Constantine, looking at him in frustration. Then Trigon heard a sound, looked down at Constantine's stomach, and became even more frustrated.

Constantine's hands had the palms facing each other, with the wrists bent and the fingers slightly curled. Between the two palms appeared a ball of white energy, about the size of a golf ball. It soon expanded to the size of a basketball, and Trigon uttered a roar of agitation.

Constantine shoved the ball of white energy into Trigon's stomach. It flashed into a brilliant bright light that blinded all in a two mile radius, then exploded. Trigon howled as he was thrown back in the midst of the smoke.

The smoke began to clear, Cyborg saw Constantine with his arms extended to full capacity.

"Aw yeah baby!" Cyborg cheered, "He did it! Monster Trigon is History!"

Starfire turned to Raven with concern, "Is Trigon really gone for good?"

"I'm afraid not," Raven said grimly, "Trigon isn't one to be defeated by that level of attack."

Constantine's eyes didn't scan the area like they would normally. He simply retracted his arms to his sides, almost mechanically. Then Trigon appeared out of the cloud of smoke, laughing hysterically.

Constantine smirked, "Presto."

The boy jumped into the air, soaring straight up. Trigon giggled as he sped toward Constantine. He interrupted Constantine's ascent by landing a hard punch to Constantine's face. Constantine's flight changed as he was now going horizontal rather than vertical.

Trigon caught up with Constantine. And as he flew with his stomach to the ground, Constantine flew with his back to the ground. Trigon raised his hands above his head, then brought them back down to his front. His hands formed a red ball of energy.

Constantine brought up his hands, linked the wrists, outstretching the fingers as far as they would go, and generated a white ball of energy to counter. Both opponents fired them at exactly the same time, causing each to collide with the other's. Flames spread all over the place. Constantine and Trigon were sent sprawling to the floor.

"Do you think Constantine will beat him?" asked Beast Boy.

"I'm… I'm not sure," Raven stuttered, "I think Constantine could have definitely taken Trigon if he was in his giant state. But in this small, childlike state, Trigon's power keeps increasing with every passing second. If Constantine lets up, it'll be all over."

Trigon scrambled to his feet, chuckling frantically. Constantine slowly got up, and when he looked up, Trigon was already flying toward him again. Raven's father tackled Raven's son, then began to carry him in midair.

The pair flew higher and higher, though still within sight of those on the sidelines. Then Trigon flipped around, still holding Constantine, and made a very fast descent back to the ground.

The two made a hard crash into the earth. The impact created a crater at least fifty feet deep. The force of it also pushed up large bits of earth, making small 'mountains'. These mountains ranged from twenty feet to seventy feet tall. The Teen Titans' area was also pushed up, and they shook as their ground was now a large foothill.

Trigon arose out of the crater. Dust and dirt were in the air. He began pounding his chest and shouting loudly. Raven was worried. Did Trigon win?

Constantine hovered slowly out of the crater, brushing himself off. He looked at Trigon, who was laughing hysterically, pointing at the ground. Obviously, the impact had not finished.

Raven watched as the earth below them split, shook fiercely, and created more mountains. Even the few feet below Constantine rose high in the air. Constantine looked at the laughing Trigon with resolve and confidence.

Cyborg remembered the time with Mad Mod, when the checkerboard ground rose to different heights. This reminded him of that. An astronaut from the moon relayed a message to his base, asking if there had always been a noticeable depression in the Earth.

Trigon laughed and laughed at what he had done, like a child amused by his own mischief.

Constantine frowned, "Darn. You. Where's your weakpoint? You're twice as strong as you were before. Your speed, your power."

"AHAHAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHAHA!"

Constantine's eyes narrowed from the frustration. Lightning flashed in midday as Constantine's power rose. Trigon rolled all four eyes at Constantine's vain attempt to bolster more strength. The tower of rock that Constantine stood on shattered from the negative energy that pushed around the area. Constantine arms rose, gushing out raw energy more rapidly this time. He drew his legs and arms closer in to his being. Then he extended them, shooting out white energy.

In one hard push, Constantine launched himself through the air at Trigon, who grinned with amusement. Constantine thrust his knee forward, making a hard blow across Trigon's face. Trigon's whole body seemed to be pushed in that direction, and he stood off balance. Constantine touched the ground for a brief moment, and pushed himself off again and back at Trigon. His opponent responded quicker this time, shooting his arms upwards and making fire belch from the ground at his feet. The flames spread over much of the ground.

The founding members of the Teen Titans watched in marvel as Constantine appeared out of the flames, waving his arms in such a manner as to reposition himself from defense mode back into attack mode. This movement is described as Constantine's right hand was near his left hip, then he brought it over his head, back down to above his right hip, formed a fist with the back of the hand facing downwards. Of course, when his feet landed, they were shoulder width apart and firmly planted.

Trigon too flew out of the flame. He soared fast at Constantine, ramming his head hard, making contact with Constantine's forehead. Constantine grunted as he held his footing. Constantine brought up his right fist, Trigon thrust forth his left. Constantine's went deep into Trigon's gut, and Trigon's pressed hard and sharp into Constantine's jaw. Trigon retched, Constantine grunted – still maintaining his eyes toward Trigon.

The force from both attack pushed them a few feet away from each other. But, Constantine bounced himself back, making a sharp sideways kick with his right leg from right to left. Trigon ducked his head, so the attack missed by an inch. Still in the slow spinning motion from that same kick, Constantine instead brought up his left leg to try again. This time it hit Trigon, but in the stomach. Trigon made an "aah" sound like a split second choke.

Trigon flew backwards, his rear leading the way. He thrust out his hands and legs to stop himself in an instant. Then, he and Constantine both descended those couple feet to the ground, and began the fight again.

Trigon jumped slightly and swung his right leg at Constantine, who blocked by bringing his left wrist close to his face. Trigon kicked again and again, alternating from left to right. Every one was blocked by Constantine. Trigon tried to surprise him by making a forward kick, but was stopped when the boy crossed his arms in front of his chest.

When Constantine was able to predict where the next leg would swing, he leaned back so that it would miss. Then he flipped so that he stood on his right hand, much to the surprise of Trigon, who couldn't believe that he missed. Constantine leaned his whole body toward Trigon, and thrust the top of his foot into the demon's chin.

Trigon was pushed back a couple paces, and Constantine returned to standing on his feet. Trigon regained focus and moved his hand forward, generating and firing a blast of red energy. Constantine knocked it away with the outside of his left forearm, and forcefully thrust his right open hand, releasing a ball of black energy. Trigon leaned and jumped sideways to avoid that blast, and he created another one of his own. He did this by outstretching his arms and then clapping his wrists together, which produced the spark and the blast of red energy – all in a single second.

Constantine jumped pushed the basketball-size energy under his legs, then flipped his hands so that they were inverted, pointing outward. A blast of black energy was fired from there too. Trigon punched the blast so that it went back at Constantine, who punted it away.

Constantine flew towards Trigon, who held a ball of red energy in his hand. Trigon didn't shoot it. His four eyes narrowed, his mouth frowned, and he dissolved the ball in his palm – he was letting Constantine attack. Constantine flew faster, and struck Trigon in the chin with his knee. Constantine almost continued to move forward, but Trigon snatched his ankle and pulled him to the ground. Trigon let go and generated that ball again.

He chortled as he looked at it for a split second, pulled it back past his body, strongly thrust his hand forward, and let it fly at Constantine, who was scrambling to get up. Constantine made a brief "aah!" as a quickly crossed his arms, trying to block the huge blast of energy that was going to reduce him to ashes. His feet were firmly planted, and he struggled to not let up. But he was too late, the blast exploded. Raven heard Constantine's cries of pain as Trigon smirked with triumph.

After two seconds, the smoke cleared and Constantine stood, defiant to the end. He was dazed, his arms were bleeding, and his clothes were pretty much incinerated. His pants were now torn trousers, and his trench coat was now a cape that hung on his neck and went down to the bottom of his spine. His mask was cracked.

Trigon didn't wait for Constantine to defend himself, the monster took action. Still exhausted, Constantine did manage to duck from the flying punch of his attacker. However, when he looked up, he saw Trigon's yellow light whip lash out in front of him, despite the fact that Trigon was now behind him. Constantine's eyes widened as the whip wrapped around his neck, it seemed to have a mind of its own.

Constantine gagged with what little breath he had left, as Trigon spun him madly in a large circle above his head. Constantine was at least fifteen feet away, being pulled around by Trigon's whip, revolving around the demon.

Raven gasped and caged her mouth with her hand. The whip was choking Constantine, and he tried to release himself before he ran out of oxygen. It didn't matter, Trigon had had his fun. He stopped spinning the whip and jolted it forward, releasing Constantine, but whipping him through the air. Constantine flew and hit a rock as big as a house.

Trigon started pounding his chest again, cackling like a sick, demented child. Constantine pulled himself out of the rubble he created, and staggered to his feet.

"Ow."

Constantine rubbed his neck slightly, but dare not look at the rest of his body. It was covered in blood. Only the skin under his eyes was skill gray like Raven's, and that was only because of the mask.

Trigon noticed his opponent still standing, and thus ceased pounding his chest. He grinned and snickered at the sight of Constantine, who was practically as red as he was now. Trigon's laughter became louder and boisterous, like he had a new idea in his sick mind. He formed his hands like they were claws, and put them an inch apart. He raised them over his head, though his eyes still watched Constantine. Between his claws formed a tiny speck of red energy. It expanded, pushing the hands farther and farther apart, until it was the size of a bus.

Trigon held the gigantic sphere over his head, and for a split second his eyes looked at Raven. He then threw it at Constantine with a yell and all of his strength. The Teen Titans watched in horror as the orb of evil moved closer and closer to Constantine. The Son of Raven crouched down, bending his bloody legs. In the next instant, he launched himself seventy feet into the air, completely dodging Trigon's approaching energy blast.

Trigon grinned from ear to ear. He took hold of his whip, and threw it at Constantine. Constantine watched with confusion as the whip wrapped around his body from shoulder to ankle, like a snake. It then snapped into place, and Constantine couldn't move.

He began to fall through the sky at a very rapid rate, and finally hit the ground with a thud. Trigon hopped with glee, then flew fifty feet above Constantine. Like a missile, Trigon spiked himself back to Earth, making fast his descent. Trigon grinned with malice as he approached his defenseless opponent. He landed feet first on Constantine, who opened his mouth as far as it would go and screamed in pain.

Trigon stepped off of Constantine, and instead stood over him. Trigon punched Constantine several times in the face, then suddenly stopped… like he realized something. Trigon reached down and took off Constantine's mask. He looked into the horrified eyes of his daughter's son, whispering something that everyone could hear…

"Thank you."

He tossed the mask away and began pounding the life out of Constantine's face. With each blow, Constantine's face was thrust to one side, then back again from the next blow. It was like Trigon was trying to force the blood and teeth out of the boy's mouth.

Raven clenched her fists tightly, wanting desperately to do something. There was her son, helpless, being smacked around brutally by her father. Raven's whole body shook, her face was hot with anger. She gritted her teeth.

Beast Boy noticed this and commanded, "Stay where you are, Raven! We don't want to lose you too! There's nothing you can do now!"

The hits upon Constantine became faster and harder, his cheeks began to swell up.

Raven didn't listen. She blasted-off and propelled herself through the air toward her son.

Tears streamed from her eyes.

It was happening all over again… just like with Jeff…