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SM/DC Chapter 124 : Ritual of Ruin
🕑 Added 2025-05-21 21:48:58 +0000 UTCCENTRAL CITY -
Arthur emerged from the ground like smoke given form, his boots touching down with a soft crunch of broken gravel. The wind blew faintly then a sonic boom cut through the sky. A streak of black crashed down beside him, stopping just before touching down.
Galatea.
Her landing shook the pavement slightly, but her expression was calm and focused. Her hair fluttered in the breeze, glowing faintly with residual energy.
“My King,” she said, her voice precise. “This is Central City. That bothersome speedster… he’s here. I've already seen the trail he left.”
Arthur's blue eyes scanned the skyline. “Very well,” Arthur said, voice low with resolve. “We’ll engage him together. But first…”
“Come forth.”
A pool of shadow at his feet rippled then burst upward with a crack of static and darkness. From within, a figure rose, sleek and dangerous clad in black with crimson lightning crawling across his form like veins of wrath.
Quick emerged.
He stepped out of the shadows his burning eyes flicking upward toward Arthur. Despite the speed in his soul, he bowed his head with reverence.
“What’s your command, my King?”
Arthur didn’t hesitate.
“Go and engage with the Flash.”
“Test him. Push him. I want to see the full reach of his powers currently against a fellow speedster.”
Quick’s mouth curled into a wicked grin. Without another word, he clenched his fists, and the lightning around him surged into a violent crescendo of red and black.
“It shall be done.”
In an instant, he vanished.
A sonic boom cracked the air behind him as a jagged trail of black-red lightning scorched across the street already darting across Central City, hunting his prey.
Arthur’s coat billowed as the wind swirled in the wake of the shadow sprinter. He exhaled calmly.
Galatea stood beside him, her eyes watching the lightning trail fade in the distance.
“Shall I go as well,” she said softly.
Arthur’s gaze never left the horizon.
“Not yet.”
Then he stepped forward.
“But we need to be quick with this.”
****
Raven emerged from a swirling portal of dark violet energy, her boots landing on a scorched earth. The portal snapped shut behind her with a whisper, leaving only silence and the oppressive weight of the air.
She stood before an altar as old as sin itself.
The stone structure jutted from the ground like a wound torn into the world. Blackened, jagged, humming with a sickly red glow that pulsed like a heartbeat. Ancient symbols, worn by time and wrath, spiraled along its sides, one that promises power and ruin. The very earth beneath it seemed to breathe.
Raven’s breath hitched.
They were here.
Figures stood silently around the altar, arranged in a perfect circle, like statues carved from dread. They knelt not in reverence, but in submission. Possessed. Still. Watching.
Superman stood at the center, his head bowed. His cape fluttered in the wind like a torn banner. Four glowing red eyes stared at the ground beneath him two too many, like something wearing a man’s skin. The symbol on his chest was cracked and burned, the colors dulled by darkness. But he was not alone.
Others knelt nearby.
Raven’s fingers curled into fists. Her heart thundered in her chest.
'I’ll save you,’ she whispered. 'I swear… I’ll save you all.'
Then came the voice.
Not in the air but in her mind. A deep, booming growl that coiled through her soul like fire through dry wood.
“Now, child…”
It was him.
“Break the seal of Azarath. Let me through. Let me be whole again.”
Her jaw clenched.
‘You promised,’ she replied silently. ‘You swore no harm would come to them.’
“And yet here they are..mine. Yours still live because I allow it. Do not test my patience.”
The others didn’t move. Their presence alone was suffocating, like the weight of death staring her down. But she kept walking.
The altar pulsed brighter as she neared. Symbols reawakened under her presence, lighting up with recognition. Her blood. Her birthright.
“Break the seal,” Trigon ordered, voice louder now, filled with hunger. “Let me rise here on Earth.”
‘I’ll do it,’ she thought, swallowing hard. ‘I’ll break the seal… then I’ll trap you. Forever Father..’
‘If I’m wrong and if this fails…’
She looked at Superman again. At the others.
‘Then I’ll have doomed the world.’
Raven stepped forward. The possessed League parted without a sound, clearing the path as if compelled by some divine order. Their heads lifted slightly, glowing red eyes following her every step.
She climbed the altar steps, wind howling around her, cloak flaring like wings.
Her eyes began to glow first violet, then red. Then both.
Four eyes now blazed on her face, a mirror of the ones that stared from the kneeling titans.
Her hands rose, glowing with arcane power, ancient words forming on her tongue.
The ground shook. The altar split slightly, a crack forming down the middle like a wound ready to bleed. Lightning tore through the sky above, not natural but demonic. Infernal.
She began to chant.
Low at first whispers that made the shadows curl and recoil.
Then louder.
The words echoed in the language of the lost Azarath’s sacred tongue, twisted by rage and betrayal.
The altar answered her. The sky screamed.
Behind her, the possessed stood tall.
Waiting.
Trigon’s laughter echoed in her skull, booming like war drums.
“Yes… YES! Break the seal, Raven..”
But Raven didn’t flinch. Her voice never wavered.
Her magic surged like a storm in her veins, violet and red twisting together around her like a cyclone of raw power. The symbols on the altar flared blindingly bright.
Then… she stopped chanting.
Her breath slowed.
Her lips curved into a whisper too low for any other to hear.
‘You’re not the only one with a plan laced in betrayal, father.’
And with one final word
The altar cracked wide open.
A pillar of fire and shadow shot into the sky, a scream of pure agony and triumph shaking the very bones of the world.
And Trigon… was coming.
****
The air snapped with electricity.
Red and black streaks cut across Central City’s shattered skyline as two blurs collided again and again one wild, untamed, the other measured, loyal. But it was clear who held dominance.
Quick, Arthur’s shadow general was struggling.
The possessed Flash was a blur of fury and precision, his body wreathed in crimson lightning twisted with demonic corruption. His eyes burned bright yellow, lips curled in a grin that didn’t feel human anymore.
CRACK!
Quick was launched into a concrete pillar, shattering it on impact. He recovered instantly, dashing forward again with twin shadow strikes, but the Flash vanished reappearing behind him with a lightning-boosted elbow that sent Quick skipping across the pavement like a stone across a lake.
Arthur stood at a distance atop a tower, his cloak fluttering in the wind. The battle unfolded beneath him like a brutal dance.
His eyes narrowed as he watched Quick being knocked aside once more, the speedster cackling like a madman.
“…I figured as much..”
His voice was calm but laced with edge.
Quick might have been fast faster than most but Barry Allen wasn’t “most.” Even corrupted, even lost, this was what it meant to challenge the fastest man alive.
Arthur’s eyes began to glow a cold, dangerous blue power humming beneath his skin. A faint grin pulled at the corner of his lips as his boots lifted from the ledge, shadows spiraling around his limbs like smoke.
“Time for me to join him.”
With a single pulse of power, he launched himself into the air.
The wind howled as he soared, cloak billowing behind him like a storm-born banner. At his side, the Promethium sword shimmered into existence black-edged, glowing faintly under the light.
Arthur muttered under his breath, eyes locked onto the streak of red chaos tearing through the streets below.
“I’ll have to ‘hurt’ this one in order to save him.”
His voice was steel cold, but amused.
Then he smiled, the wind rushing past his face as the descent began.
“He can heal, after all.”
The street shattered under the weight of Arthur's landing, a shockwave rippling out in a burst of raw force. Cracks spiderwebbed through the pavement as debris lifted from the sheer pressure.
The Flash, one hand wrapped tight around Quick’s neck, red lightning flickering violently across his corrupted frame. But the impact threw him off balancehis grip loosened just long enough for Quick to slip free in a blur.
Arthur rose slowly, cloak settling behind him. His glowing blue eyes locked onto the speedster as dust spiraled around them. The blade of his Promethium sword scraped the ground once before lifting.
The Flash stumbled slightly, then stood tall his body twitching, as if fighting itself. But his face was wrong. A crooked grin sat beneath four glowing red eyes filled not with wit or humanity, but madness and darkeness.
He tilted his head at Arthur, voice warping like a chorus of whispers beneath a scream.
“You all… will die, Shadow King.”
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
“He is coming to burn you all…”
