AN* well sorry it took so long, but this is where we begin to venture into new stories. I have had a hard time setting this up and getting prepared for these upcoming battles. So as usual i own nothing except the OC's and please Read and Review.
Stirrings of the Darkness
It was a few days after they had left and the seven of them had returned to the tower to see Kid Flash and Jinx were waiting for them. Once they parked Robin walked over to get the report of what had happened.
"So anything interesting occur?"
"Just a few odd robberies." Kid Flash replied.
"What was stolen?" Shinku asked.
"Some ancient artifacts. Dating back to way ancient times." Jinx replied handing over the police reports. Shinku then walked next to Robin and started looking over the reports, and stopped in shock at the photos of the items stolen.
"How old did they say these were?" he asked worried.
"Around a couple billion years, they say that it was proof of an advanced civilization before the dinosaurs. Why?" Jinx asked.
"Because all of these were used in an ancient ritual long ago, meant to seal away three of the strongest demoness's that the universe has ever had the misfortune to exist. It took thirteen powerful wizards together just to seal them away. All of the artifacts were kept here."
"Why?" Cyborg asked.
"Because if they were taken off world they had a risk of the magic weakening and making escape a possibility for them. So they were scattered about the planet, and the only remaining items of the three were their weapons, which only one is known of to this day." Shinku explained.
"Which one?" Raven asked.
"The Magus Sword. The Bone Scythe and the Blood Trident are still in the hiding places, at least to my knowledge." He replied "I'll start investigating this. It could be nothing, or it could be something very bad." Shinku replied as he headed into the elevator and went to the terminal in the living room. Once there he started examining the whereabouts of each artifact needed for the ceremony, even the ones that weren't in this country. He soon found that all of them had been stolen, but since they were all worth so little in appraisal they were not searched for long.
"Damn." He muttered as he finished the search.
"What's wrong?" Robin asked as he entered the room.
"Every single artifact has been stolen. There is only one left that hasn't been found yet, just because the sight is inaccessible without magic."
"Where?"
"A pyramid in Cairo. It's been sealed up tight since the time of the pharaohs. One of the mages sealed up the tomb so only one with the right type of magic could get in. It was a very clever way of stopping grave robbers."
"And if that's gone?"
"Then we have a grade S catastrophe on our hands. Those demoness's were so strong that the gods were almost involved. They were so bad that all those thirteen powerful wizards, not just powerful the greatest wizards of their age, could do was seal them, not stop, Seal!" Shinku ranted.
"I get it. It's bad."
"Very. But there is one last countermeasure in place. In order for the ritual to work it needs for the three weapons of the demoness's to be there. That's why the Magus Sword has been kept in the hands of the wheel all this time, just in case things ever got bad here on earth and the seal was in danger of being released, it could be kept there for safe keeping until the problem went away."
"So where are the other two weapons?" Raven asked as the other Titans walked in.
"One is kept in Greece, in the temple of Hades. The other is in the Sun tomb in China. Both are well hidden and well guarded." Shinku answered as he showed each area.
"We should go make sure that they are there, or take them for ourselves, and put them with the wheel." Cyborg suggested.
"I suppose." Shinku muttered.
"Alright. Shinku, you lead one team to Egypt to make sure that last piece for the ritual is still there. I'll lead another to China, and Terra you lead a third to Greece. Take those with you that will serve the best uses." Robin ordered.
"Alright. Cyborg would be a good use for translation." Terra noted.
"Raven would be useful with her magic." Shinku replied.
"Starfire to light up the tomb." Robin replied.
"Which means that Beast Boy will come with us." Shinku said while the other two looked at him "I'm expected to go into an ancient pyramid with only myself and my partner without anyone to help us navigate through the traps?"
"I guess it makes sense." Terra grumbled.
"All right. Each of you is on your own for transportation." Robin replied as they went down to the T-Ship.
"My team will warp there through the dark dimension. So that leaves the extra compartment for Terra." Shinku replied as he drew the Magus Sword and opened the portal. Once opened he walked in with Beast Boy and Raven following him quickly. Once inside the dark dimension he opened another path that put them right outside a pyramid in the middle of the desert.
"Wow. This was quick." Beast Boy whistled.
"I normally don't use that because its a drain on my magic but since we are facing a soon to be crisis I figured we shouldn't dilly dally." Shinku replied as they walked up to the door of the pyramid.
"So how do we open the doors?" Raven asked.
"We pump magic into it. See if either you or me can open this damn door." Shinku replied. Raven then stepped forward and tried to use her magic on the bronze pad that was on the door but nothing happened.
"Let me try." Shinku replied as he walked over and placed his hand on the plate. As soon as he did the door swung open and the three walked inside. As they walked Shinku had his eyes open searching for any traps or nasty surprises. Eventually they arrived at the first trap that Beast Boy almost triggered.
"STOP!" Shinku shouted as Beast Boy almost triggered a trap.
"What?" he asked worried.
"Don't move. There are hundreds of razor sharp wires all ahead of you. If you move one of them then we will be dead." Shinku explained.
"What do we do?" Raven asked.
"Alright Beast Boy. Turn into a fly and get to the other side. Once you reach the hallway I am going to cast a spell that switch places with us, and then you just do it again." Shinku explained as the green changeling nodded as he transformed and began moving. Once he was there Shinku grabbed Raven's hand and switched places with the green one, who then repeated the process. With that they made their way through the tomb and soon were passing traps that were either simple or very complex. The worst was the last one which was a narrow path over a pit with arrows firing randomly at set intersections, giant swinging axes, flames shooting out of the ground and ceiling and to make matters worse the key to the next room was in the middle of the path.
"Well this is going to be difficult." Shinku muttered as he began calculating.
"Got any ideas?" Raven asked.
"Not really. Those arrows are made to pierce magic shields so you creating a barrier around us won't help. The timing on all of these things is erratic, and we can't go around and underneath the pit without getting the key first which I would bet my sword is surrounded by a barrier that would stop us from going underneath." Shinku sighed.
"So we are screwed?" Beast Boy asked.
"Not yet." Raven muttered.
"I do have one idea, but it is rather risky if things go wrong." Shinku said.
"What?" Beast Boy asked.
"I could draw on the wheels powers and see what is to come, find out what will come out when and make my way across." Shinku explained.
"Why is it risky?" Raven asked worried.
"Because there is an eclipse coming soon, and that marks a time when the wheel is at its weakest. If I draw on too much power I could cause the wheel to stop functioning and bring about an age of darkness. If I draw on too little, then I might not see all that is coming at me and get myself killed." Shinku explained.
"Do we have any other options?" Raven asked.
"No. It's either this or we assume that no one has gotten inside." Shinku explained.
"Then I guess we have no choice." Beast Boy nodded as he motioned for Raven and himself to get to the other side and out of Shinku's way. Once they had left Shinku began drawing on the wheels power and was soon walking across, timing his steps so that he avoided every trap. Once in the center he grabbed the key and began to run as the walls and ceiling began to lower and try to kill him. Using the Dragons Flight he just barely made it across and rolled right into the door, panting with exhaustion.
"You ok?" Beast Boy asked.
"Just fine." he grunted as he put the key into the lock and opened the door. Stepping inside they saw the sarcophagus of the pharaoh and all of the treasures in the room.
"Wow." Beast Boy muttered.
"Don't get greedy. We are here on business." Shinku reminded him as he walked to the far back of the room and pushed a wall back to reveal a secret room. Stepping inside Shinku saw the empty pedestal and cursed.
"Dammit. They have all of the pieces." he growled.
"But how?" Raven asked.
"We'll find out. The magic in the tomb stops people from warping inside not out. So lets warp out and then go to the nearest village. That will tell us what has happened." he sighed as he opened a path. Once outside they traveled to the nearest town and found that the people there seemed nervous.
"Sir warrior." the elder said with a small bow "I am sorry that we have failed in our duty to protect the piece to the ritual."
"What happened?"
"Three strangers arrived, each of them terrifying. They demanded to know where the tomb was and all of the information that our ancestors left us on it."
"And you resisted, to little avail." Raven summarized.
"Yes. They started torturing our children and we were forced to tell them what they wanted to know."
"What did they look like?" Shinku asked. Without a word he handed them three sketches of the perpetrators. Two were men and one was a woman, the woman had angry features, while one of the men looked bored and not interested, however it was the last one that held Shinku's attention.
"This man." he said showing the elder the drawing "Did he have a burn on his right arm, with the mark of a dragon on the palm?"
"Yes..." he trailed off.
"And he gave off a faint aura of blood lust, even though you could tell he was suppressing it?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Damn." Shinku muttered.
"And one last thing. The other two carried strange weapons. The woman had a trident of sorts, with blood red blades that looked like coagulated blood. The man had a small hand scythe that looked like it had been made from some ancient bird."
"You have got to be kidding me." Shinku muttered as he opened his communicator "Calling Robin, and Terra."
"Yes?" Terra asked almost immediately.
"What is it Shinku?" Robin asked.
"Don't bother going to the locations. The weapons have been taken, along with the final piece for the ritual." Shinku said "However we have sketches of the perpetrators, so return to the tower."
"Understood." Robin nodded.
"Got it." Terra replied. Shinku then opened a path through the dark dimension and they stood in the tower while Shinku seemed lost in thought and on edge. It was late that night when the other returned and Shinku had them sit down while he brought up the sketches.
"We were lucky that they stopped in the town to gather information on the pyramid." Shinku said "These two are unknown, even by the wheel so I couldn't find much on them except names."
"Who are they?" Robin asked.
"First the lady. Her name is Izabella Tuniroc. She is a descendant of Tio, the Mana Demoness. The man is Richard Relodre, a descendant of Cecila, the Beast Demoness."
"Any info on those two demoness's?" Cyborg asked.
"Demons are classified in categories by their affinity for certain things and then by their strength with that affinity. For example Trigon is a War Demon, and a low S class." Raven explained.
"Mana demons are more skilled in the art of magic and can be very dangerous with the right tomes. Beast Demons tend to be instinctual beings that have little to know brain power, however the higher the class the smarter they are, and the more lethal that they become." Shinku explained.
"And what do we know about those two?" Terra asked.
"Nothing. Izabella and Richard have no record and no warrants for their arrest, the only reason I found them was because they haven't changed that much since they left home and were a part of a research trip with their college to Egypt." Shinku sighed "We know nothing about how strong they are or what they can do."
"And the last?" Robin asked confused.
"He was the easiest and at the same time the most troublesome." Shinku sighed "His name is Shalim, and he is my older brother." This got gasps out of all the Titans as Shinku waited for them to calm down.
"What are you talking about?" Beast Boy finally managed to get out.
"I suppose now would be the best time to give you my family history. I am a descendant of Zea, the Divine Demoness, and the strongest of the three. I am technically only one fourth human and three fourths demon. My mother was a half demon, and my father a full. While my mother was descended from Zea, my father was a War demon, but only an A class. My brother was born two years before me, and I never really knew him that well, but Kopeki would often let me visit for a few days, so that my family would know that I was still alive. It was during one of these visits that I learned of my family heritage and that Shalim intended to free our ancestor so that she could rule the world like she might have. I told Kopeki about this and he tried to convince Shalim to abandon this mad quest but he would have none of it and tried to silence him. Kopeki then used the flames of Kage To Hi Ryu to brand him with the mark that would prevent Shalim from trying this mad venture as long as Kopeki drew breath. Unfortunately Kopeki died a short time later, and Shalim had gone missing, after killing our parents in a battle. Shalim now intends to complete the ritual." Shinku explained. The Titans sat in silence trying to digest this information.
"So what kind of demon would he be?" Raven asked.
"He showed signs of being a War demon, but there is a possibility that he isn't. But it is very unlikely."
"What do we do?" Robin asked.
"Unfortunately I used too much power today, so I can't open a portal to the wheel until the eclipse has passed. Which gives us a week to keep the Magus Sword safe, otherwise things are going to deteriorate."
"How long would the ritual take to set up?" Robin asked.
"About five hours, to get ready. Then another hour to go through the spells, and then the sacrifice." Shinku said.
"So now that we know about it we can stop it as long as the Magus Sword is away from them." Robin nodded.
"That's the gist of it. However they could try without the sword, but they run the risk of damaging the seal and locking them away for eternity." Shinku explained "Even if it is in the same room they have better odds of succeeding. Basically the closer the sword is to the ritual the better the odds of them succeeding."
"So we just have to play keep away until the week is over." Cyborg shrugged as he motioned for Robin to carry the sleeping Starfire to her room.
"Alright. We will start making plans on what to do about this." Robin nodded. With nods the Titans all headed off to their rooms to try and rest.
Shinku awoke the next morning with Raven right next to him, his smile relaxing him from the previous nights stress. Moving carefully he moved out of bed and got ready for his day, deciding to go take a drive through town on his motorcycle. Heading for the garage he mounted his bike and took off into town where he soon was swerving through the empty streets until he noticed two objects coming up behind him at a fast speed. With a grunt he started to speed up, but the objects did as well, revealing themselves to be motorcycles as well, but it was the riders that had him worried. To his left was Izabella, her trident out, and his right had Richard with the scythe out and ready.
"Hand over the Magus Sword and we will be on our way." Izabella shouted.
"Over my dead body!" Shinku retorted as he activated the nitrous and took off at an insane speed, leaving the two behind him, who were now using magic based attacks to try and take him down. Shinku started swerving down the road seeing a parked blue beetle a short distance away. With a grin he opened the Magus Swords compartment and used the sheathe and used it to flip the bug into the two demon weapon users.
"Blue Punch Buggy! No Punch Backs!" Shinku shouted as the blue beetle ran into the duo chasing him. Making a sharp turn he saw that Richard had launched some kind of an energy attack that destroyed the blue beetle.
"These two don't give up." Shinku grumbled as he sped up but could still see them chasing after him. Swerving down side streets and weaving past traffic he could see that they were preparing to attack. Shinku activated his weapons systems and they started firing towards the two who started dodging and firing long distance energy attacks at Shinku. Swerving to dodge an attack he unknowingly ran onto a ledge that propelled him into the air, and towards the roof of the mall. With a grunt he had the weapons fire and destroy the class ceiling over a part of the mall, creating an opening for him. Landing inside he hit the brakes and turned so that he would be able to see if Izabella and Richard were following him. Once he had stopped he turned to see that the two had indeed followed him into the mall, with everyone inside watching the spectacle.
"You ran out of room to run." Izabella sneered.
"Who says I am running?" Shinku asked as he drew the Magus Sword "Let's see if you can keep up with me." Grinning he charged at them, the Magus Sword drawn. The two charged at him, Izabella trying to stab him while Richard was swinging the scythe at him in sweeping arcs. Shinku was in peak form, using his sword to block the stabs at him while dodging the slashes. Soon he started fighting back, blocking a thrust he used the standstill to jump and spin, kicking Richard in the face while he dodged a second attack from Izabella. With quick slashes he pushed the two back, while using martial arts to get into their blind spots, sending them flying so that it was mostly a one on one fight, with the opponent switching out every couple of seconds. Soon the two were panting from the effort and Shinku was getting bored, and could hear his demon laughing inside of his mind.
'Those two are weak! To think that they could even be descendants of Tio and Cecila is just sad.' he laughed as Shinku blocked a slashed at his ribs and decided to show those two exactly how powerful he was.
"First strike: Crescent Arc." he grunted as he swung the sword, sending Richard flying as Izabella was charging at him to try and stab him.
"Second Strike: Demon Joust." Shinku sighed as he launched the compressed air into her sending her flying as well.
"What the hell." Izabella grumbled as she stood up shakily.
"He far surpasses us." Richard noted.
"But why, we are S class demons!" Izabella shouted.
"Like hell you are." Shinku laughed "At best you two are mid A rank, if you decided to go feral, though at the moment, I would peg you to be B class demons."
"You lie!" Izabella screamed as she charged at him, but a sudden pressure filled the area, stopping them all from moving.
"That is enough." a voice said from the second level. Looking up Shinku saw a man, close to his own height, with long lavender hair, piercing red eyes, smug features and was emanating blood lust. He wore black pants and a sleeveless black shirt, similar to Shinku, except laying horizontal along his waist was a kodachi that was well used.
"Shalim." Shinku muttered.
"But..." Izabella began.
"You are not near his level. Even if both of you unleashed your true forms you would not last long against him." he replied as he leapt down in between them "Me however, I am more then enough to handle you, Altair."
"That's what you think." a voice sounded from above where the Titans stood.
"About time." Shinku grinned.
"Sorry, we had to follow that trail of destruction that you left." Robin sighed.
"Don't blame me. Blame those two for attacking me." Shinku grinned as Izabella looked at the Titans with disdain, and Richard looked at them with mild concern.
"Titans GO!" Robin shouted as the six titans leapt down and started to attack Izabella and Richard while Shinku fought Shalim, who had drawn his blade and was facing him. With a few short slashes he found that his brother was dodging everything, without actually having to use his blade to stop his strikes.
"What's wrong Altair. You seem to have gotten weaker." Shalim grinned as he kicked Shinku in the ribs. Shinku grunted and did a sweeping kick to try and knock him down, but he seemed able to dodge the attack, and the follow up, even before Shinku gave signs of doing it.
'It's as if he can read my mind. Well lets see is that is true.' he thought, thinking that he would roundhouse punch him in the face and then flip kick him. Moving forward he tried the roundhouse punch but instead of the kick, he brought his left knee up, to try and ram him in the face. However as soon as the punch missed he blocked the knee and elbowed Shinku in the sternum, sending him back a few feet.
"Not good enough Altair." Shalim laughed.
"The name is Shinku." he growled, now knowing that he wasn't reading his mind.
"Taking the name of one of the wheels toys. You are truly pitiful, always claiming to have great power, and yet never doing anything with it." Shalim grinned.
"You want great power, you've got it." Shinku growled as he used Dragons Flight to charge at him, but Shalim was still able to block all of the strikes that were coming at him.
'Odd, I know I am moving too fast for any mortal to comprehend, even for most released demons, so why is he able to...' Shinkus thought trailed off as the answer occurred to him. Leaping back he looked at his brother and called upon another ancient technique of the grand master, Dragon Eye. With his vision taking a distorted view he saw the truth behind the tactics of his brother.
"I see. You are spreading out your demonic aura, so that you can feel when something is inside of it, and know exactly how to block or dodge it." Shinku grinned.
"Very good. But knowing what I am doing and stopping it are two very different things." Shalim replied as he charged forward to attack. Shinku was now deep in thought, trying to find away to stop this perfect defense and soon had a plan. Leaping onto the second level he saw that the Titans had captured the other two and were looking at him.
"I could use a hand here." Shinku said as he leapt down, unleashing a spinning kick that forced Shamil to roll away while the other Titans, except Beast Boy who was guarding the two that they had captured surrounded Shalim.
"Don't go easy on him." Shinku warned as he had his sword ready. With a nod they all got into position, with Robin at Shalims back, Shinku facing him, Cyborg to the left, Raven to the right, Starfire above and Terra transformed to earth below. With another nod they all attacked, Shinku unleashing a Crescent Arc, Robin throwing two bomb discs, Cyborg unleashing twin sonic cannons, Raven a powerful magical blast, Starfire a massive starbolt, and Terra unleashed a massive pillar of earth that would ram him into Starfires attack and back down to the ground for the rest of them. As soon as the attacks hit with a thundering boom, and massive cloud of smoke Shinku waited to see what his brother would do. Suddenly laughter was heard behind him and he saw that his brother was standing there, a little charred and bloody but still able to fight.
"A clever plan. But it was not nearly enough." Shalim grinned as he kicked the Magus Sword out of his hand.
"BLAZE!" Shinku roared as the flames appeared, and he tried to destroy his brother, but his defense was very too good. Soon he was tired and getting angry when he felt Raven grab his shoulder.
"Shinku, calm down." she said.
"I know." he sighed.
"Then lets do this together." she grinned as they looked at Shamil who was still smiling.
"Getting your girlfriend to fight me for you? Now that is just sad." he laughed as Shinku charged forward, and actually connected a powerful blow to his brothers chin, sending him into the air. Raven then flew above him and smashed him back down towards Shinku who had the attack ready.
"BURN AND DEVOUR! INFERNO BLACK DRAGON!" Shinku roared as the dragon shot off and smashed into him, sending him flying.
"What happened?" Shalim gasped as he regained his balance.
"I'm disrupting you demonic energies." Raven replied "So Shinku, how should we end this, because I can't keep this up much longer."
"Then lets try that out." Shinku nodded looking at her.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. If we want to end this we need to end it now."
"Alright. BLAZE!" Raven shouted as the black flames of Kage To Hi Ryu appeared on her, surprising the Titans.
"Ready?" Shinku asked
"Ready." Raven grinned as the two rushed forward. Charging right for Shalim, Shinku set his hands in position for Dragons Fist, while Raven did the same, except hers was sideways instead of the usual vertical, leaving a small gap in between the two that started to turn into a black vortex.
"TWIN DRAGON FIST!" they shouted as the attack smashed into Shalim, sending him flying at the massive energy burst forth. Once the smoke cleared Ravens flames disappeared as she leaned on Shinku, barely standing.
"You did good." Shinku grinned.
"Thanks." she whispered. The smoke began to drift away, revealing Izabella and Richard standing next to Shalim.
"Sire!" they shouted.
"I am fine. They just caught me off guard." Shalim grimaced as he stood up.
"Why?" Shinku asked "Why are you trying to do this?"
"Because it is my destiny, to release our ancestor." Shalim replied.
"You intend to..." Shinku trailed off.
"Yes. I will do whatever it takes to bring about the glorious age that our ancestor was denied." Shalim grinned.
"Then you realize that I only have to wait for six days, and then it's game over for your plans." Shinku grinned.
"No. I could do the ritual whenever, I would prefer to do it with the Magus Sword, however if I cannot claim it before the deadline then I will work without it." Shalim grinned "However, neither of us are in any condition to continue this battle. So until next time, little brother." With that Shalim muttered a few words and created a flash of light that hid their escape.
"He got away." Robin growled.
"But he will be back, and next time he won't underestimate our abilities." Shinku replied as he carried Raven bridal style "How did you all get here?"
"Cyborg and Terra in the T-Car, Robin on his motorcycle, while Starfire, Raven, and I flew." Beast Boy said.
"Alright. Cyborg, drive Raven back, and once you get there put her in her bed. She will be good for nothing more then sleep today." Shinku ordered as Cyborg grabbed Raven and headed for the T-Car with Terra while Starfire and B.B. headed for the tower, leaving Robin and Shinku standing in the damaged mall.
"Care to explain how Raven did that?" Robin sighed.
"I've been teaching her. I intended for her to learn it to battle Trigon, but it took too long for her to master her powers, not until after we dealt with the Brotherhood of Evil. Since then I have been teaching her, she is at an average level, but has yet to purify more then twenty percent of her magic." Shinku explained.
"And you didn't tell us?" Robin began
"Because there was no need to. I told Raven to not use it unless I instructed otherwise, just because she isn't used to the stress that it can cause, and how much energy it takes to use it. It saps your stamina as well as your magic, making it very hard for people to master." Shinku explained.
"And what do we do now? They will be coming after the Magus Sword now more then ever." Robin pointed out.
"Yeah, they are desperate. I think we are missing a piece to the puzzle." Shinku nodded.
"Your bike in good enough condition to drive back?" Robin asked looking at the scraped up bike.
"It should be. I'll be back at the tower soon." Shinku nodded as he walked his bike towards one of the exits.
"Alright. Once we get back to the tower we will try to make a plan for stopping them." Robin nodded as he headed out of the mall. With a shrug Shinku mounted his bike and went deep into thought as he tried to figure out exactly what his brother and his allies were going to.