Chương 188: We can only dream of peace
The culprit of my sudden resurrection was none other than Simon. It wasn't hard to guess, because Abby didn't have the right skills, even though she'd studied the dark arts under her uncle (now I could see why his name alone terrified the girl), and Bats was just a man who could only masterfully manage life energy and use his genius intellect. Although, if Gloomy Mouse were a little crazier, he might well try to revive one arrogant jerk with the help of the Lazarus Pit, the location of which he must have learned about while training as a ninja in Nanda Parbat*. After all, there is still Harley, who also knows about the mystical properties of the Pit, and also has access to the magical library, where there will probably find a couple of conditionally safe ways to resurrect people. However, if she knew I was really dead, she'd be more likely to follow through on her earlier threat and self-dump, given that there's almost a hundred percent chance she'll meet me at Delirum's house. Still, having a champion, even taking into account the relative omnipotence of the Eternals, is not an empty sound, for they are bound by the laws of the Universe almost more than ordinary gods, as I was able to see for myself during my short time with the youngest aspect. So, in order to avoid problems and liters of tears, only the four of us will know about what happened here. However, the reason was not only in the desire to protect the psyche of one cute blonde, but also in the fact of my successful return from the dead.
In fact, normal resurrection in the DC Universe is not such a common event, although in the comics almost every month another hero or villain comes back from the Gray Limits in good mind, sound memory and without external deformities. I've witnessed the resurrection of the Sun Boy myself, but you have to realize that Kryptonian biology is far removed from human biology, even if we do share some common ancestors. In addition, Clark himself, judging by the memories of the past world and fragments of phrases in this one, is not just some left-wing commoner, but almost a selection masterpiece of a couple of the best scientists of the planet, as hinted by the presence of an escape capsule "in which my father placed all the knowledge of Krypton". So he, one could say, did not die, but simply "fell asleep", because his soul was not even going to leave the mortal shell.
If we consider various witch doctors and cunning sorcerers-sorcerers, who are also characterized by increased vitality, then the point is that they purposefully try to become immortal and use not the most humane methods, violating the natural order of things, as well as the balance between Life and Death. Therefore, the output is more often a pale copy of such a clever person, whose shells have time to undergo serious degradation. Hence all these exorbitant ambitions, egocentrism and "magnificent" plans to conquer everything and everyone, which in ninety-nine percent of cases fail at the initial stage because of problems with logical thinking.
In my case, it was a true resurrection, because I had died recently, and Simon had voluntarily given up two of his souls at once! In fact, they should have been reborn a long time ago, but they were delayed by a dark ritual. It wasn't the chimera's fault, so the voluntary restoration of order helped her to summon me from the edge and put me into a healed body without any problems. And to be honest, I still can't believe it. We've only known each other for a few days, even though it feels like a month, but even so, it's still a small amount of time to sacrifice something so precious, because the number of souls is limited.
Hell, I should take a break from all this Saving the World stuff and increase my survivability immediately. Especially now I have even more options. There are protective tattoos that need to be energized, which means that it's enough to increase the reserve or carry more charged diamonds, and prana control, because thanks to it I stayed conscious long enough and even managed to cast not the easiest spell. I could try to make some kind of artifact that reacts to danger, like the one I'd given Gordon, though this particular one might work automatically because of the presence of magic weaves nearby, and John had shown me how dangerous that could be. And then there's metamorphism as an appetizer. I'm only superficially familiar with it, but my faithful companion has achieved quite good results in just a month and can explain the main points. Given the number of girls, it might even be preferable to any other school. Why? At the moment, on John's advice, I need to improve my control over magic, which is achieved by casting spells repeatedly. And I have plenty of spells myself, thanks to my excellent memory and one of the coolest magic libraries in the world, so I don't need to repeat the standard path of a wizard, memorizing the weaves for hours, but just need more practice, which the school of metamorphism will provide me with.
"By the way, Death asked me to tell you to take fewer risks, because she's tired of coming to false calls, - at the end of the fascinating story, I finally remembered about a small errand gothic beauty.
"Swampy, I recommend you take your breasts away from Joker's head, because he's starting to talk nonsense because of the lack of oxygen," snorted Gloomy Mouse.
"Oh, really? - The girl slightly lifted her voluminous balloons, which prevented me from admiring the ceiling.
"Leave it as it was," I made myself comfortable on her lap in the best anime tradition. - You're a hundred percent aware of the aspects, so you must realize that it could be true.
"Maybe, maybe not," the superhero said philosophically, and, having stopped glaring at my satisfied face, went to explore the room.
I would have preferred to lie on the lap of the green-skinned cutie who continued to generously share her energy, which made me want to literally cover myself with moss and bury a stone somewhere in the mountains of New Zealand, but I had to pay attention to the culprit of my resurrection. Somehow he was quiet, though at first he was quite actively participating in the story. I looked more closely at the guy, whose eye sockets began to emit a faint black mist. But though it looked a little creepy, I was more disturbed by the suspicious red tentacle sticking out from under his coat, stretching from Arcane's corpse. Now, don't tell me that Simon was the next incarnation of Black.
"I whispered quietly as I began to weave my shield and was surprised to find that my reserve had increased. I was surprised to find that my reserve had seriously increased, or that my control had jumped, making the familiar spell consume about twenty percent less mana. I love bonuses, but the way I get them doesn't suit me at all."
"Hr-r-r? - The chimera jerked its head toward me, as if in a daze, causing a noticeable crunch.
"Okay, let's not make a fuss, it's all good. The villain is dead, and the most stylish superhero is saved," I said soothingly, and began to carefully move into a better position. I was still lying on the cold floor, my head resting on the dryad's lap.
"He can't hear you," Bats said.
"Yeah I already guessed that... Abby? - I call out to the girl, realizing she's as tense as possible right now.
"The forest... It's hard to resist..." the dryad spoke through clenched teeth as she glared at her opponent with eyes covered in a light green haze.
"Ra! - Simon, having lost any hint of reason, suddenly broke into a magnificent leap, clearly intending to get to the Guardian of the Forest, but it ended with both my feet in his stomach, knocking all the air out of his lungs and forcing him to do a not so graceful somersault that ended right on the corpse of Black's past avatar.
"Ten points for artistry and range, but seven points for landing," I commented on the short flight.
Okay, we need to bring the guy to his senses right away. The same Arkane could think quite adequately, and make really complex plans worthy of the original Joker, so the magical chimera can do the same.
The new stage of the battle turned out to be more difficult than the previous one, and that was because no one was going to seriously harm Simon, even Abby, though she had changed into her combat form with a bunch of poisonous spikes and wood armor, somehow managed to contain the energy of nature, but our undead friend didn't even try to resist the rot, actively using his new powers and turning into a natural mountain of flesh with a dozen flexible tentacles. And it seemed that the arsenal of all sorts of nasty abilities of the guy was much wider than the last avatar, which almost all his life devoted to the study of Black. But there were some positive aspects to the situation: the chimera didn't use magic and behaved like a rabid animal, so most of the attention was focused on trying to deal with the Guardian of the Forest, while Bats and I only got hit if we tried to stop it.
"Goddamn it, Simon, finish it! - I couldn't stand it when another attempt to help Abby with the spear I'd fashioned out of the Tower's metal, following John's example, turned into a fan of bone spikes that covered a fairly large area. Fortunately, this time I didn't even think about disabling my tattoos, and even reinforced my Stone Skin, so the only projectile that hit me only wasted mana and slightly ruined my suit. If I hadn't jumped back, I would have had to take a long pause to replenish my reserve, which I wanted to avoid, not to leave the dryad alone with a dangerous opponent.
"Maybe you should stop risking your life," Bats said glumly, hiding behind one of the fallen columns.
The superhero was now concentrating on pumping the toxin into a large injector he'd borrowed from Arkane's lab, which was located just behind the battle-damaged throne in one of the technical rooms. Judging by the ritualistic drawings and equipment stolen from the local hospital, the bastard had been experimenting on clones of the girl there.
"Ha-ha-ha, you're one to talk. Or should I remind you of the recommendation of Death himself, who is sick of coming to false calls?
"I still think it was a near-death hallucination," the man replied, continuing to glare at my satisfied face.
"Don't worry, I've got this one all figured out. I'm not going to disable the defenses, so the spikes won't even scratch me," I said as I continued to speak, and I leaned out of my hiding place and slammed a few bursting bullets into the butcher's hill. The effect was less devastating than that of a hefty spear lavished with fortification charms, but even that action caused Simon to take his mind off his battle with the Guardian of the Forest for a moment and launch a small translucent bag filled with a dirty yellow liquid in my direction.
Oh, that's new.
I didn't want to take any risks, so I changed my position, and afterwards I watched with interest as the projectile burst on impact, and the substance that hit the column began to hiss and smoke, leaving jagged holes in the solid surface. So, it's clearly not worth getting under such a shower, even under maximum amplification, and in general, acid bags are better to shoot down in flight, because their speed leaves much to be desired.
The new stage of the battle had been going on for several minutes. The rest of the team was about to arrive, and with the death of the last avatar, all of Black's creatures should have died successfully, but Simon decided to pull another trick. The hill of flesh shook like a huge cherry jelly, and dozens of toothy jaws appeared on its surface. A moment of silence, followed by a terrifying howl that began to grow in volume.
"Gro-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!
I could see the sound wave naturally blowing away pieces of flesh and other small objects like Abby's plants, and the dryad herself was dragged along with it, shattering the wood armor as it went. All I could do was once again hide behind a wall and reinforce my tattoos as much as possible before a powerful sonic boom hit me.
Thanks to the measures taken, I managed to pass the test with flying colors, but the protective charms showed that they were not a panacea against some types of damage. At least, during the brief exposure I was hit with a hammer, and I couldn't hear, so I had to hurriedly disperse the imaginary core and channel life energy to my ears. Fortunately, the deafness was temporary, so I was soon able to leave my hiding place and look at the destruction going on around me. Even the metal floor was slightly damaged at the epicenter, but the great thing was that the chimera was also badly hurt, and instead of acting, it could only lazily move a couple of tentacles.
Eh, now was the perfect time to attack, but Abby was the first to get hit and now lies against the far wall, slowly recovering her body.
"Uhm," a mountain of garbage stirred nearby, and soon the owner of a stylish latex bat costume came into view.
"Bats, give me the toxin before Simon wakes up! - I realized quickly, and started moving toward my partner, because I was seriously worried that he might have been concussed by the sound wave.
The slightly staggering man instead of answering showed me an injector whose glass cylinder had successfully burst.
"Damn, we're missing our chance. What kind of stupid attack is this that hurts you more than your opponents? - I asked rhetorically, and started drawing an attack design on the nearest surface to try to scratch Simon out of his new shell. The fact that it was not the guy himself was clear thanks to the true vision, which helped to distinguish a human silhouette hidden inside the huge monster. And the flesh on the chimera was growing at the expense of the surrounding biological material, not appearing due to transformation, as it could be observed during the battle with Arcane or Faust.
"It wasn't an attack," the superhero retrieved several explosive-laden batarangs from somewhere under his cape.
"What?"
"It was more like a call," the last word was followed by an answering howl from somewhere outside, and the stomping of many paws, accompanied by growls and shrieks, came from the corridor adjacent to the hall. The dead creatures had come back to life to serve their new lord.
"Subordinatio metallum... - realizing that it was about to get hot, I interrupted the creation of the spear and started to erect barricades to block the corridor.
Time was rapidly slipping away like water through my fingers. It was clear that the collision was only seconds away, when my eyes noticed a bright green glow ahead, and then its owner, who was dragging with bulging eyes the energy platform on which the superheroes, who had previously stayed to entertain Faust, were standing.
"Get down! - Hal shouted exhaustedly as he approached, and only then did I notice Barry, who had sent his bag of mines into flight, and Constantine, around whose hands a rather large red pentagram was placed.
~Bang! ~
A powerful explosion thanks to magic turned into a huge fire drill that literally vaporized all the organics in the corridor.
- Why the hell did the dead come back to life? - The sorcerer questioned as soon as he was on his feet.
"This is Simon, Black's new avatar, and we need to get him out of this thing somehow," I jabbed my finger at the mountain of flesh, which by now had recovered enough to start showing signs of life again.
"No one has a giant scalpel in stock, by any chance? - Flash asked, smiling nervously.
As if answering the speedster's question, the air in front of us shook, and afterward I could see with surprise a familiar silhouette in a blue tight suit and red cape.
"I think a laser scalpel would work better here," Superman who came to the rescue gave everyone present a dazzling smile.
"It'll work. But if you get within ten... No, fifteen meters of Simon, you're going to see Doomsday's fate as a fairy tale," I said seriously, displaying an illusion of a green baseball bat made of kryptonite. God forbid this alternatively gifted one be influenced by the Rot. Superman shuddered and nodded slowly.
The threat was enough to keep Clark from even thinking about approaching Simon. All he did was filigree with the laser while the other superheroes held the actively resisting mountain of flesh in place. After carefully extracting him, the snarling guy was carefully wrapped in several layers of vines, surrounded by suppressive spells and a green energy cocoon created by the ring of Will, leaving only his head outside, and placed in front of me.
"Well, Mr. Mage, you're showing your art," John said sarcastically, because I'd told him I knew how to bring the chimera back to normal. - Hell, if you can actually subdue Black's avatar, I'll give you access to the library of the House of Mysteries.
"No one pulled your tongue," I replied with a satisfied smile.
~Slap~
The sound of a hard slap came as a complete surprise to the sorcerer, but what was even more unexpected was that Simon immediately quieted down, and then began to shake his head vigorously.
"Uh... What happened here? - innocently asked the Keeper of the Gate to the Underworld and the new chosen dead, who hopefully wouldn't start a new cycle.
* Alternative developments: https://youtu.be/SDea7laHD4E?si=gPnsg2bIuiCZ77xT
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