Chapter 25

Clayface’s arm came down in a sweeping motion. It was slow, and heavily telegraphed, but even then, the power behind it and it’s wide range made it a threat. The ground shook as it hammered the ground where I had been standing seconds ago.

The jewel in my hand almost falling out of it, only for me to grip it harder. Clayface was…an interesting match up for me. I wasn’t sure whether or not it was a good one like with Plasmus, but it would be interesting to find out. But unfortunately, I was saddled with a pretty heavy set back in the form of a ruby.

“Need a hand?”

Kid Flash immediately popped up beside me, offering an arm to not only help me stand, but also take the jewel from my hands.

Alright, now this was a much better.

Clayface moved his body slowly. Revealing a strange looking metal harness that was just beneath the very surface of his body. His arms reformed into more flat looking things before bringing them down on top of me.

My hand flicked out to meet them, culminating in a loud shattering sound that shook the entire room. As his arms approached, I moved forward to the upper portions of his arms before reaching upwards and flicking out with my sweat. The moment his arms collided with my hands they instantly hardened and started to fall apart.

The rest of his arms fell off his body and smashed into the floor. Which caused the loud boom.

He groaned and thrashed around, before an arm snaked out of his midsection and headed towards me. I met it head on, grabbing it as it attempted to grab me. My sweat infecting it with highly concentrated chemicals.

Even as Clayface groaned at the attack, I knew it wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t able to get his whole body like this. Not with just my hands and sweat. He had too much surface area.

There was one more option remaining to me however.

Unexpectedly, Clayface started to charge forward, leaving me to dive out of the way. But even then, he didn’t stop or attempt to pivot towards my new location at all. Instead, he went straight to the remnants of his arms, and adsorbed them back into himself.

The strange metal harness that had become a bit more visible, was now cloaked once again.

“…The jewel…”

Clayface groaned before turning his eyes towards the other Titans, and especially Galatea, who now held said ruby.

I don’t remember Clayface ever being this stupid. In fact, I remember him being much harder to fight and a very powerful threat. I also don’t remember him having any sort of metal in his body. I wasn’t completely sure, but maybe the metal was somehow making him dumber. Or maybe controlling him in a way.

That or the magic man just used magic to control and dumb down Clayface. So, no matter what I planned to do next, I had to subdue Clayface entirely.

I had already decreased his total mass by a small bit. Pieces of him that he didn’t seem interested in reclaiming like his hands, which made me feel that they were tainted in such a way as to not be claimable.

Alright, I could use that.

Clayface in his entirety was large. Massive. Which means if I’m going to do any lasting damage, it has to be something big.

Which is why I pulled one of the seven balls at my waist. Giving it a test toss in my hand before aiming it at Clayface. Who seems to be ignoring me now for Galatea.

Like hell.

The ball went flying off my hand. I had been aiming for the back of its neck, only to hit it’s lower mass. The ball exploded, and its contents went flying every direction. And where it touched, it seemed to crystalize. An effect that was especially pronounced on Clayface’s body, causing him to grumble and even roar in protest as his movements were forced to stop.

A batarang collided into the crystals, causing an explosion that sent several pieces of clay and shards around. Giving me a much clearer look at the metal harness. Which had been damaged by the explosion of the batarang.

Suddenly a large portion of the remaining clay reformed at a speed that I hadn’t been expecting. Forming an amorphous blob that quickly seemed to…leave the room altogether.

Well. That was…easy?

I was taken by surprise as a demon with wings immediately swept down in front of me, likely to attack only to quickly eat tile due to a large surge of dark energy bashing it into the ground.

The demon didn’t seem willing to move again after that.

It seemed the other demons were just about as defeated. With the one with the spikes having apparently switched opponents and had decided to fight Galatea instead. Leading to the spike demon to…both curse her, and beg for its life.

An interesting dynamic.

The last remaining demon was wrapped in ropes, orange foam, and sported numerous amounts of burn marks. Likely from Starfire’s starbolts, I imagine.

“Alright, lets start heading back.”

Robin commented after a job well done. Showing everyone a good view of the jewel before it left his hands and flew to the entrance of the room. Where the guy who had been fighting Zatara had been. The guy who I assume to be Felix Faust.

He seemed…eastern. He wore long flowing purple robes with a similar hat that had matching purple cloth coming down off of it. He also had a fu manchu, which made it that much harder to take him seriously.

“You were fools to oppose my ascendancy. The Lunar Eclipse is nearly upon us, and with it, unimaginable power will flow through my veins. I will usher in a new e-“

“mih dnib!”

Zatanna spoke, leading all of us to immediately attack Faust. His eyes narrowed as ropes started to appear around his body, but with a wave of his hand, they were dismissed.

“Ah, so Zatara brought his brat along, did he?”

An ominous glowing sigil appeared in his hand as everyone rushed towards him. Galatea and Kid Flash got there first, only for Galatea to suddenly be bound by a strange looking cord and her mouth gagged by cloth. Forcing her to fall down.

As a matter of fact, Half of the Titans seemed to be under that effect. Starfire and Raven having fallen out of the air because of it, and Zatanna…wait…

Was it just the girls?

…I see Felix has his kinks. Ah hell, I think something was awakening in me too.

Kid Flash’s fist slammed into Felix’s face, causing him to step back as he was suddenly assaulted by Kid Flash using his speed to his advantage. Only for Felix to suck in a breath, and then breath out fire. Kid Flash watched with wide eyes as it approached before quickly attempting to speed away.

Unfortunately he didn’t get away completely unscathed, as his costume was a bit uh…charred.

“Hmm, yes…besides the obvious defiance, you would all make good concubines.”

…He was talking about just the girls, right? So why was he looking at me?

I started to get the feeling that I might need to get the fuck out of here as soon as possible. Robin and me gave a nod of understanding to each other before we both closed in on Felix. Matching each other’s speed as we got close, before throwing shit at him while pivoting our position.

He seemed to put up some sort of shield in that span of time in front of him. A blue glow coming off the palm of his hand as he pushed it outwards. The batarang and capsule hit against his shield, causing the batarang to explode and trigger the capsule. Which immediately started to grow due to the heat.

Quickly seeming to over take the shield before the wizard thrust outwards and pushed it away. Dismissing the shield so it would collapse harmlessly to the floor. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t have time to celebrate his small victory, as we both came up on him.

A blast of water came out of his hand towards me, drenching me a bit as well as giving off enough force to smash me into the wall. My arm being cut wide on one of the pedestals as I was flung by.

Thankfully Robin had more success than me, and immediately used expanding staff to take out the back of Felix’s knee, causing him to fall to the floor before bashing the side of head with the staff.

Only for it to seem to bend and warp around it.

Robin looked at it with a surprised look only to be immediately taken by surprise by a blast of electricity. Shocking him for a few seconds before his body convulsed and fell to the ground. Even still, he seemed to still have some fight in him.

Felix was about to capitalize on this, before realizing there was an extra shadow near him. 

He turned around quickly, but not quick enough to stop me. There was some sort of protection around his head, so it seemed his body was the better choice to attack.

Black Canary was a good teacher. She taught fundamentals. She taught how to take hits, and how to dish them out to the best of my capabilities. As well as how to not go too far.

But Black Canary didn’t teach me everything. Before her, I had a different teacher.

The streets of Gotham.

Felix’s mouth went agape as I kicked him in the nuts. Dropping everything in order to better come to terms with the pain he was currently feeling. He didn’t even have enough fight in him in that moment to attack me, only giving an almost betrayed expression as he continued to digest the fact that he had in fact been kicked in the balls.

And his day only got worse.

As Galatea burst free from her restraints and immediately slammed into Felix in the next second. Her fist becoming intimately familiar with organs as he was blasted back, and shattered the steps into the room. Kicking up a surprising amount of dust and rubble.

Jeez…she hadn’t pulled any punches there, huh?

And despite all of that, in the next few seconds, laughing was heard from inside the dust cloud.

“…You fools…the lunar eclipse is here. Kneel and beg before your new GOD!”

Galatea sucked in a breath before blowing outwards. BLowing away the dust and showcasing a Felix who had an almost crazed look as he lifted up the jewel to the sky. A triumphant smirk on his face.

…He held that pose for several more seconds until Galatea closed the distance in seconds. Floating in front of him with her arms crossed and an irritated look on her face.

“Are you done?”

He blinked in surprise before bringing the jewel back to his face.

“I-I don’t understand…I’m the champion. Why aren’t they choosing me? What…what did you due to the jewel!?”

He went from a softer and confused tone, to venomously accusing Galatea to her face. Pointing his finger inches away from her face, only to quickly realize that had been the wrong thing to do. As Galatea broke it like balsa wood.

“AHH-“

His scream was short lived as Galatea’s hand closed around his face before smashing him into the stairs. A glow appeared around his head, protecting him from the damage. Galatea frowned at this before picking his head back up, only to smash it again into the stairs. Once more the glow appeared and protected his head.

So she did it again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again-

Until finally it shattered. Galatea smiled as it dissipated while Felix whimpered. He shakily held out his arms in a sign of surrender.

“I…I give u-“

Galatea then picked him up by his robes, and threw him into the nearest wall. No wait, she threw him through the wall. Yeah, I don’t think he’s getting back up from that one. Not with all the bricks falling on top of him.

Galatea looked over at me, to which I held out a thumbs up.

“Good job.”

She smirked at that before flying over towards the other girls who were still trapped. Helping free them along with me. Kid Flash and Robin were all conscious, but weren’t nearly as uninjured as everyone else.

Well, I guess I can’t say I was uninjured, I still had a long cut on-

Huh. That’s weird. Maybe I had imagined it? My hand drifted over what I had thought had been an injured arm, only to see no signs of injury, or even a sign that it had been injured at all.

“What is going on here!?”

Everyone’s eyes looked towards the entrance of the room, only to see a rather peeved Zatara. He didn’t seem too angry, mostly confused.

That is, until he saw his daughter.

Then he got angry.