The battlefield lay in ruin—scorched turf, pillars of smoke, air thick with static and blood. Raven's hollow clapping had faded into silence, but the weight of Asmodeus's control still pressed on every Titan like a noose.
Robin's fists clenched at his sides. Every strike, every maneuver they'd tried, had failed. Direct combat was useless—Raven wasn't the enemy. She was the hostage. The real battle was buried inside her mind.
Just like Trigon, Robin realized grimly. He's exploiting her emotions. If we can reach her, there's still a way.
He lifted his voice, sharp and commanding through the chaos.
"Titans—listen to me! We don't break Asmodeus by brute force. We reach Raven! Create the opening—no matter what it costs!"
The team responded.
Starfire surged forward, emerald eyes blazing with tears and fury.
"Raven! Hear me! You are not alone—you are my sister, my family! Please, fight this darkness!"
Her plea rippled, but Raven's lips curled—not with restraint, but cruel amusement.
"Sister? Family? Empty words," her voice layered with demonic undertones. "Watch how easily they burn."
With a flick of her hand, hellfire erupted, roaring straight toward Miss Martian. Megan froze, terror locking her limbs as the flames carved toward her.
But before they struck—
"Suiton… Black Twin Sharks Slash!"
Water howled into form, two monstrous blades spiraling from Wildcard's arms. They tore through the fire in a hissing storm of steam, devouring the flames and scattering embers across the ruined stadium.
Wildcard stepped into the mist, Sharingan burning like crimson lanterns. Water coiled around his arms like predators hungry for the kill.
"You'll have to try harder than that," he snarled, gaze fixed on Raven's corrupted form.
Robin's eyes widened.
"He countered it…! Titans—remember, it's not Raven! It's Asmodeus, pulling her strings!"
Beast Boy shifted, body twisting into a monstrous panther hybrid, claws gleaming. His growl rumbled like thunder.
"Then let's rip those strings right out of his slimy hands!"
Cyborg staggered upright, sparks flickering off his armor. His systems buzzed with phantom pain from the psychic overload, but his voice carried raw conviction.
"She's in there—I know it. We just gotta give her the chance to fight back!"
Wildcard's grin widened, cold and sharp. His voice cut like steel.
"Then I'll carve the path. You hold him off—or none of you walk out alive."
Water sharks ripped shadows apart, one slicing fiercely, the other shielding M'gann. Explosions of steam and darkness clashed wildly.
Raven stood at the heart of it all—eyes glowing crimson, a twisted smile erupting with cruel delight.With every attack, every word, Asmodeus dragged her further from herself.
But the cracks were forming.
Raven's aura trembled, her willpower straining against Asmodeus' tightening hold. The faint shimmer of resistance pulsed—her friends, her tether—but it was fraying.
Her aura flickered, the faint pulse of Raven's true will barely clinging.
Hope flickered fiercely in Beast Boy's eyes as he shifted suddenly, charging forward in a raging rhino form. Dust and debris exploded beneath his charge.
But Asmodeus met him with disdain and deadly precision. Shadows absorbed the impact; a blade of hellfire erupted.
Then Beast Boy roared.
He surged forward, body swelling and twisting until the hulking form of a rhinoceros thundered across the broken stadium floor. Dust exploded beneath his charge, and for a heartbeat, hope flickered in the Titans' eyes.
Asmodeus didn't move. His lips curled in disdain.
When Beast Boy slammed into Raven, expecting to knock her free, the collision was met with a sickening crack. Shadows whipped around her, absorbing the impact, and Asmodeus guided her hand with cruel precision. A blade of condensed hellfire erupted point-blank into Beast Boy's side.
The rhinoceros shape collapsed with a scream. Green flesh tore back into human form as Garfield hit the ground, writhing, clutching his charred ribs. The smell of burning flesh filled the air.
"Gar!" Cyborg's voice broke, panic flashing in his cybernetic eye.
That was the turning point.
Asmodeus' chuckle rolled across the stadium like thunder. "Enough pretense."
His mortal vessel faltered, distance straining him. But the game was over. He poured raw essence into Raven—just a sliver, enough to twist her soul tighter around his claws. Her body jerked as the power hit, dark aura exploding outward in a violent pulse.
Raven screamed—but it wasn't her voice. It was layered, distorted, a chorus of shadow and malice.
The shadows writhed, her cloak snapping like torn banners in a storm. Her eyes burned crimson. A joyless smile tugged at her lips.
Cyborg froze. "...Rae?"
"No." Asmodeus' voice came through her, resonant and cruel. "This shell is mine."
Hellfire licked across the stadium, shadows crawling up the cracked walls. The very air warped, oppressive and thick.
Cyborg staggered as Raven raised a hand toward him, her aura wrapping around his systems like serpents. Then came the psychic flood—images ripped from his past: the roar of the stadium when he was a star, the blinding white of the accident, the twisted wreck of his body, his father's hollow stare as he signed the operation papers.
Cyborg screamed, clutching his head as sparks burst from his implants. His knees buckled.
"Pathetic," Raven-Asmodeus sneered. "Half a man. Half a machine. Entirely nothing."
Starfire tried to intervene, blazing forward, but the shadow-wave hurled her back. As she struggled, Raven's laughter cut like glass—mocking, gleeful, cruel. The Titans had seen Raven angry, desperate, even broken. But never this.
Her powers lashed wildly—telekinetic blasts, shadow tendrils, psychic knives. Each attack dripped with malice, crafted not just to hurt, but to unravel.
Cyborg staggered again, smoke rising from his joints. Starfire's light dimmed as visions of Tamaran burning flashed before her eyes. Beast Boy whimpered on the ground, trembling and bleeding, as phantom growls of monstrous predators echoed in his ears.
And at the center stood Raven, the puppet of a demon, her power unleashed without restraint—both a weapon and a warning.
The Titans were no longer fighting their friend.
They were fighting Asmodeus.
Wildcard rushed forward, lightning Overdrive Jutsu igniting every nerve and muscle. His movements became a blur, flashes of electricity cracking through the air, scorching the ground where he stepped.
Starfire darted after him, a trail of blazing emerald fire in her wake."I've got your back—let's finish this!"
"Wildcard! Don't do anything reckless!" Robin's voice cut through the chaos, but it was already too late—recklessness was Wildcard's nature.
The first clash came like thunder. Wildcard's twin blades, charged with crackling energy, met Raven's hellfire-forged shadow spikes.
Sparks and embers showered the battlefield. Starfire followed through, hurling a flurry of starbolts that detonated like emerald grenades, forcing Raven back for the first time.
Asmodeus spoke through her lips, his tone mocking:
"Two gnats clawing at a god. Do you think your sparks and toys matter to me?"
Wildcard's grin only widened. "Let's find out."
He darted left, blades weaving a storm of steel and lightning, while Starfire came from above, fists ignited with raw solar energy. Together they struck—a flurry of lightning-fast sword strikes and burning meteor punches. Raven countered with a barrier of black flame, but cracks spiderwebbed across it under their combined assault.
For a fleeting moment, Wildcard's Sharingan flared, piercing deeper than Asmodeus expected. He caught a glimpse—a rhythm in the way Raven's body twitched under Asmodeus' command, a delay, the briefest fracture in the perfect control. His lips curled into a savage grin. Found you.
Seizing the moment, Wildcard spun inside Raven's guard and clamped his hand around her neck. His grip tightened, lightning sparking from his fingers.
But Raven roared, unleashing a sudden burst of wind and force that sent him skidding back across the cracked arena floor.
"Starfire!" Wildcard barked
Starfire responded with emerald fire, hurling starbolts. But Raven vanished—teleporting with cruel grace—and unleashed a dark energy blast that slammed Starfire down.
Pain carved across Starfire's face. She gasped, stunned.
Raven raised her hands, preparing the killing strike
Before Raven could finish her with a killing blow, an unseen telekinetic grip seized her. Raven's body jerked violently, slammed down with a thunderous crack. M'gann's presence pulsed in Raven's mind, forcing her body to the ground.
Wildcard slammed his hands into the earth.
"Red Serpent's Bind!"
The ground split, and crimson serpent-like vines erupted upward, coiling around Raven's limbs, torso, and wings of shadow. The living bonds constricted with bone-crushing force, pinning her in place.
"Now!" Wildcard barked.
Seizing the chance, Jinx hurled a spiraling hex bolt, Starfire launched another volley of blazing starfire, and Robin's birdarangs whistled through the air.
But Raven only smirked—her body melted into shadows. She reappeared behind Robin in an instant. With a wave of her hand, telekinesis wrapped him in an iron grip.
Robin's body froze, every muscle locked, helpless. Raven's soul-self manifested, a looming shadow raven that dove into him, assaulting his mind.
His body convulsed, shadow tendrils freezing every muscle.
Her shadow-self invaded his mind—a suffocating flood of darkness designed to overwhelm.
"Skills won't save you," her layered, demon-tinged voice hissed. "You fight shadows now."
Raw destructive power surged inside Robin's mind, scattering thoughts like leaves in a storm. His grasp on reality faltered
Robin's body convulsed. Against Raven's overwhelming power, his human skill was meaningless.
Asmodeus' laughter spilled from her lips. "One by one, you'll fall. None of you matter."
The remaining Titans staggered, fear flickering across their faces. But then—a voice ripped through the air.
"HEY, DEMON!"
Asmodeus turned Raven's head upward just in time to see Wildcard plummeting from the sky, blades glowing with lightning.
"DIE SCREAMING!"
A spike of dark magic, hellfire coursing through it, shot upward. It pierced straight through Wildcard's stomach. The air froze as gasps erupted around the arena. Blood dripped from his lips, his body trembling on the dark spike.
Asmodeus pulled him closer, inspecting him like a disappointed hunter with broken prey. "I thought you would be entertaining. But you're just another wild dog, nothing more."
Wildcard's twin swords slipped from his hands, clattering against the ground.
The Titans' eyes widened. Starfire screamed his name.
But then—despite the spike through his stomach—Wildcard's face twisted into a grin. His eyes blazed with manic joy, a madman's delight in the heat of battle. Slowly, with a bloodied hand, he raised two fingers, shaped it into a mock gun, and aimed it at Asmodeus' head.
"Bang."
And in an instant, his body puffed into smoke.
A clone.
Asmodeus' eyes widened. Pain shot through him as glowing, lava-like markings spread across Raven's body, searing into his own essence. His limbs stiffened, his control slipping. Movement became difficult, his once-absolute dominion faltering.
The fallen swords on the ground rattled—then flew into the air, stabbing deep into his back. The demon roared in fury and pain.
Dark energy exploded outward. Glyphs burst, hex traps shattered, shadows lashed in every direction. Jinx strained, hands shaking, pouring every ounce of power into restraining the chaos. Pink webs of hex energy clung to the shadows before burning away.
M'gann pushed harder, locking Raven into a mental duel, psychic anchors clashing against demonic fire. Raven's body twisted, shifting—demonic wings, shadow form, uncontrolled surges of raw emotion. Each form carried a different assault, unpredictable and devastating.
Starfire launched upward, intercepting aerial blasts. Emerald starbolts clashed with dark beams in midair, explosions rattling the skies.
Jinx, pale and bloodied, teeth clenched in defiance, screamed as she released her ultimate spell. A Focused Hex Pulse spiraled outward, a pink cyclone of chaotic magic that slammed into Raven.
Under the combined pressure of Starfire, M'gann, and Jinx, Raven faltered.
Asmodeus tried to flee, to teleport away. But the glowing lava-marks seared through his body, paralyzing him, choking his mana. The swords in his back throbbed with Wildcard's chakra, spreading agony through him.
In desperation, he raised a dome of dark magic, shielding himself from their assault. The Titans' attacks battered against it, shaking its surface, but inside Asmodeus gasped for breath.
Then the ground trembled.
His eyes darted downward—too late.
The earth split apart beneath him, light flooding upward. From the depths, Wildcard erupted, his body glowing with raw, radiant power.
"PURIFYING LIGHT BURST!"
A blinding orb of pure white light detonated in his hand, consuming the dome, dispelling the shadows, sending Asmodeus' influence screaming into the void. The force hurled Raven backward, purged the demonic energy, and bathed the battlefield in cleansing brilliance.
The black storm writhed, splitting under the blinding surge of Raven's Purifying Burst. Cracks of light split through the demon's colossal form, his shadows peeling away like burning flesh.
But Asmodeus did not scream. He laughed.
A low, guttural rumble that shook the Tower's walls even as his body disintegrated. His eyes—twin furnaces of violet flame—locked on Raven, then slid deliberately to Wildcard.
Asmodeus: "Do you fools truly believe light banishes the abyss? Hah… this is but a shadow of me. A finger dipped in your fragile world. You have not won—you've only drawn my gaze."
His crumbling hand reached toward them, claws dissolving into smoke, yet still impossibly vast, stretching further than the eye could follow. The room bent, reality itself warping around his unraveling frame.
Asmodeus: "Your defiance is… exquisite. I will savor it. I will savor you. Each nightmare you fear, each weakness you bury—I will carve them into you until you beg me to end it."
The last fragments of his form exploded in a violent shudder of black fire and laughter, cut short by the radiant burst. The sound didn't end—it echoed, like it had rooted itself inside their minds.
When the light faded, silence followed.
Where the dome once stood, Wildcard remained standing, battered, bleeding, but unbowed. Raven lay unconscious on the ground, her body free of corruption.
M'gann rushed to her side, linking with Wildcard, stabilizing Raven's mind and sealing away the last traces of Asmodeus.
The demonic presence that had gripped the arena vanished—leaving silence and ragged breaths in its wake.
For the first time, the Titans could breathe again.
End of chapter.
Author's note: I have recently got a job. So, the updates will be slower don't worry i an not dropping the story.
Please try to understand 🥺