The sun fell farther into the Pacific bay as the city of Jump tore itself asunder. Deep within the warrens of the maze-like warehouse district a conflagration of fire, shadow, and other more unusual elements stretched towards the purpling sky. A soft, sinuously twisting rotation began in the cloud cover, and a supernatural chill began to creep through the hearts and souls of the nearby police as they battled the animated dead. Those sensitive to such things realized that, as horrific as the day had been, evil had finally been roused to its fullest sapience and wrath. On the streets below, the final fate of the city (and perhaps far more) was to be decided by a clash of Titans.
Zarach jumped and flapped his wings for extra lift, largely avoiding the explosion that Robin had detonated at his feet. The blast caused him to tumble slightly through the air, leaving him vulnerable to the gorilla strength of Beast Boy as he dove, roaring, off of a building to bring him back to ground. A quick morph back into the lithe form of a weasel allowed him to nip away while Raven charged forward again with magic wreathing her form.
The battle continued in this fashion, Robin supporting with gadgets and trickery, Raven stepping forward as the main combatant, and Beast Boy corralling Zarach within a defined battlefield. Zarach fought with strength, guile, and ferocity, but was unable to gain the upper hand against the three teenaged heroes. Meanwhile, Raven watched the sky and worried.
Her plan wasn't working fast enough. By her estimation, she had about an hour to complete her oath. The alternative… didn't bear thinking about.
"Guys, we need to intensify this. Don't kill him, but make him think you're trying to." she sent telepathically.
"You've got it, Rae," Beast Boy responded. Robin nodded. Zarach's eyes narrowed, and he feinted towards Robin before throwing a fireball at Beast Boy.
The fireball moved with frightening speed, powering through the air and trailing plasma streamers in a corkscrew behind it. Both Raven and Robin cried out, but Raven was slow to react and Robin was wrong-footed from the successful feint. Zarach barked out a laugh as Beast Boy's form wavered, the fire splashing against him and rending a scream from the metamorph.
The scream turned to a screech of defiance as, against all logic, an emerald wall of scaled flesh filled the street. The massive creature crushed the cinder block construction of the nearest warehouses, rising onto its hind legs and stretching to the sky. Wings black as night pumped for balance, blowing the dust of the building's demolition into fitful dervishes and revealing a powerfully muscled tail to counterbalance the elongated neck and horned head.
The dragon that Beast Boy had become glared down into the street at Zarach. "My turn," he growled in a bass rumble as he opened his jaws and spat a blast of fire towards his target. Zarach, eyes wide, cursed and pulled a shield into existence to deflect the fireball. The battle rejoined in earnest.
Robin jumped forward, his sword leading the way. Striking faster than he had ever managed before, he slashed and stabbed at his enemy with icy precision. Zarach parried and riposted, a saber of orange energy springing into his hand. Robin scowled as he realized just how proficient the demon was at swordplay. They fenced in the streets, globs of molten metal dripping from Robin's weapon with each contact against the hell-fire blade as bits of the tempered birdarangs sizzled onto the asphalt battlefield. With a roar and a vicious swipe, Zarach bisected the Titan's weapon, sending a spattering of sparks and slag towards his foe's face.
Time slowed as Robin saw the danger approaching. Instinctively, with reflexes borne of countless years of relentless training, he swept his cape across his face, trusting the polymerized metal it was woven of to protect him.
He was almost fast enough.
The cape caught the brunt of it, but his mask caught the rest. With his vision blocked by his cape and the searing heat quickly decimating the relatively meager protection of his mask, Robin dropped into a deep crouch and trusted to his martial instincts as he spun about. One hand went to his face, and then two unbelievable events happened in quick succession.
As he completed his spin, the cape flared behind him. It revealed a now maskless Robin, one bloody and singed eye paired against another of gunmetal grey, both narrowed in razor-sharp fury as he extended a fist in a punch feet short of his target. With a sharp cry, Robin poured his soul into the attack and a pale-blue ball of coruscating energy bulleted across the intervening space and knocked Zarach from his feet.
The other Titans did not have time to marvel or worry about their leader, choosing instead to capitalize upon Zarach's prone form. Raven screeched to the shadows, scarlet eyes burning fiercely as the Kithados responded to their mistress' call and poured forth monstrosities. Beast Boy closed in, a rippling nightmare of teeth, tentacles, and claws that matched the horrors summoned by the Valyrie's righteous rage. Zarach found himself, for the first time in this protracted battle, truly on the defensive.
He defended himself with demonic ferocity, teeth and claws ripping against the closer enemies while he cloaked himself in hell-fire to gain space. Still the constructs crashed upon him, and he drew mana through his host body to power a brilliant shield of sickly greens and purples, tendrils stabbing forward and dispatching those attackers mindless or unwary enough to dodge.
Beast Boy was neither mindless nor unwary. His fluid form melted away from attacks and harried the flanks of Zarach's defenses, crab claws coupling with crocodilian jaws and spiked tentacles, shifting seamlessly to scorpion tails and saurian teeth, an endless parade of animals real, imagined, and occasionally both at once. Once in a while, he managed to slip an appendage through the openings in Zarach's shield and caused him to stumble, either from a bite, tail whip, or grasping tentacle.
Raven did not stand idle, and joined the ferocity. Structured spells flowed into spontaneous magical creations as she joined her minions in attempting to break the interloper's shield. She drifted over the fight as well, diving to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by her vantage.
The fabric of reality pulsed suddenly, and an invisible wave of force blasted outward from Zarach as he screamed defiance. The air split, starry voids that leaked the gibberings of madmen spontaneously opening and closing about the warring quartet. Above, the swirling cloud cover intensified its spiral to reveal a clearly defined eye within the storm, crackling with an eerie light that was almost (but not quite) a neon green.
Heedless, the battle continued.
Robin leaped forward, clearing an impossible thirty feet as he raised empty hands above his head. With a mighty kiyah, he materialized a glowing staff between his hands and scored a crushing blow against Zarach's panting form, neglecting to correct his aim as the demon juked slightly to take the strike against his shoulder rather than his head. Beast Boy slithered forward, body and head a twenty foot cobra with hood flared, the toothed tentacles of a squid protruding from where his arms shouldn't be as he grappled Zarach and spat venom into his eyes.
Raven tasted the magic in the air as reality began to break down around them. The wind whipped around them in cyclonic fury, smelling of wildflowers, honey, and death. Rubble from the surrounding area began to hobble away, squeaking like frightened rabbits as the setting sun began to rise back into the sky from the west. Stars pulsed through the greenish haze, planets swirling through a thousand revolutions in impossible clarity. Then, Raven sensed what she had been waiting for.
Both there and not there, between the veil that was being torn apart through the castings of an enraged Zarach, stood an elderly man in a rumpled, white linen suit.
"NOW ARFORM!" she shouted in her duo-tone, "NOW, FOR YOUR FATHER'S SAKE!"
And the world erupted, spilling forth the semi-mechanical forms of five dozen Arform, all connected by a tether of energy to the green madness above.
Everything stopped.
The air stilled abruptly, blowing debris caught suspended in the air to hang unaided. The clouds and planets ceased their mad gyrations, and Arform moved as one to snare Zarach in a net of energy. Shocked still, the males ceased their motion. Beast Boy reverted to his default form, Robin's manifested weapon winked out of existence, and Zarach struggled impotently against the full might of the Arform's net, unable to do more than shout silently and spit vile curses that went unheard in the dead air.
Raven stepped forward, her movements smooth and predatory, every inch the demon princess that she was no longer. She approached the man in the linen suit, still invisible to mortal senses, and prostrated herself before him. "Kneel," she sent gently to her teammates.
Bemused, they knelt.
The man revealed himself, suddenly appearing and giving the appearance that he had been there the entire time. The other two Titans jerked as if to stand, and Raven again sent, "Kneel," in an uncharacteristically gentle and pleading tone. They settled themselves, trusting their teammate, their sister.
The man moved forward, grace belying his apparent age. He had a gentle smile upon his face, offering warmth and the unconditional love that suffused his being. He laid a hand upon Raven's horned head and spoke softly. "My daughter."
Shaking slightly, and a bit unsure, she replied, "Father."
The rest of the world faded into insignificance as Raven communed with this Being.
"I am proud of you, Raven. You have done well."
"F-forgive me," Raven replied, tears springing to her eyes as she became overwhelmed with some unknown emotion.
"I do, and you are, my dear."
Raven hiccoughed as she struggled to express herself, words stumbling over each other in a paroxysm of explanation. She was suddenly incredibly self-conscious of her demonic form and her nudity, of her parentage and a thousand thousand sins throughout her short life. Barking forth a sobbing laugh, she uttered, "I don't even believe in You."
He grinned gently and knelt to embrace her. "Others with greater reason to believe have not, and I'll say to you what my Son said to a man some millennia ago. To paraphrase, 'Place your hands here and examine mine. Extend your arms to embrace me. Do not continue in your unbelief, but believe.'"
The burdens and fears of five hundred and more years crashed upon Raven at that moment, and she lunged forward to embrace her Father. She sobbed cleansing tears, apologizing and babbling incoherently in a manner that made perfect sense to Him. He shushed her, rocked her gently, and assured her of her goodness, His love for her, and His pride in her accomplishments. Eventually she calmed, and he continued.
"I had gifted you with an incredible task, with the full faith that you would acquit yourself as honourably as you have. You have done well," he continued softly, "and it is time for you to perform your station's duty, my Valkyrie."
Raven shuddered, remembering what it was that Valkyries did in mythology. "He's not dead," she protested. She pulled away from Him and pleaded, "Jon's been punished enough. He's a good man, and a faithful one. He's made mistakes, but if you could forgive me, you should forgive him."
"I do," He assured. "Zarach and Jon's souls are too intertwined to leave them as they are, and I cannot separate them without violating My covenant to never go against their free will. Jon cannot remain in this world, and while Jon yearns for freedom, Zarach wishes to remain. I will not, and cannot break this vow, or it makes free will meaningless." He pulled away from her slightly and made meaningful eye contact. "I cannot do anything," He repeated with slight and strange inflection.
A glimmer of hope broke forth in Raven's soul.
"I understand," she replied.
"Then go and perform your duty, Valkyrie."
Raven stood and walked over towards the raging, defiled form of her-
-(mate)
-friend. She stepped through the webs of energy, feeling a pleasant tickle that allowed her to pass through effortlessly. She stood face to face with Zarach, and suddenly her eyes flared a brilliant white. Sound returned to Zarach's throat, but he was struck dumb by what he saw in her eyes, something he thought he'd never see again.
The Light of Creation shone from her four eyes.
"Light-bringer," he gasped in fear and loathing.
"Zarach." She spoke softly, duo-toned voice both soothing and terrifying. "You have performed atrocities against my family, my intended, and my home. You have spread your hatred across the multi-verse, attempted to defile divine innocence, and have royally pissed me off."
"You can do NOTHING!" he screamed suddenly, spittle flying to speckle Raven's impassive face. "Jon's body is MINE, his soul is MINE, and HIS MIND IS BROKEN!"
"You forget yourself, Zarach," she replied calmly, "and you have no idea what I would or wouldn't do for those that I love."
Raven then stepped forward, kissed the surprised demon on the mouth and, with a sharp jerk of her head, ripped out his throat with her gently spiraling horns.