32 Sacrifce

"DON'T GET IN MY WAY!!"

"Guh!" Raven struggled to keep Ethan contained as he started to break free from her hold, however, she wasn't going to let him up.

"Azarath.Metrion Zinthos..." She said again, strengthening her hold on him. Raven knew they weren't going to make it out in time and so she created a barrier around them with her other hand just moments before things turned dire.

*BOOOOM!* An explosion unlike anything seen before rocked the entire city with tremendous force as the entire building is engulfed by fire and a strange globe of charged energy that destroyed the entire building.

People had to shield their eyes because of the brightness, but luckily, no one was nearby...

At least, that is what they hoped.

However, they quickly had another problem on their hands as the fire surrounding the building only got worse and if it isn't stopped then there was no telling how much damage it could to the surrounding buildings. But not only that the charged energy globe was increasing in mass which was a strange phenomenon, but they could only assume the worse.

"Everyone evacuate now! Get the hell out of here!!" A police captain shouted as everyone started to scatter like their heads were cut off, followed by screaming and mass panic.

Where was Superman they thought?

Wasn't he their protector?

>>>>Several Minutes Earlier<<<<

"Don't you think I know that!" Pamela shouted at Harley with tears in her eyes. "But we can't just-Myra!? STOP!"

The dragon guard did not hear a thing the villainess said, and the only thing going through her mind was her master that was in terrible agony. Myra did not hesitate at all to take off running towards the burning building, pushing through the crowd with her above-average strength.

"Hey! Wait! You can't do that!" A policeman tried to stop her, but Myra simply backhanded the man and continued her run towards the building. A few others tried to stop her, but they were no match for her as they couldn't even keep up with her speed.

'I'm coming master!" Her blue eyes flashed with a brilliant light as her body started to unravel into vines that moved through the air even faster than her running speed which happened to be fast enough to pick up a bit of wind. Myra's body traveled through the air, dodging the fire and falling debris as she locked on the location of her master.

There was a sense of relief when she spotted him being held by Raven, but then a barrier surrounded them, leaving her unable to reach him.

*BOOOM!*

>>>>Present<<<<

After the explosion hit, Raven couldn't help but feel strained as she kept the barrier up while simultaneously keeping Ethan under wraps. 'Why am I going this far for him?...' She thought whilst gritting her teeth while sweat dripped down her brow from overexerting herself.

"I strongly dislike you," Raven muttered under her breath as she kept the barrier up.

Unfortunately for the half-demon, she was going to have another problem really soon.

"RAAAAH!!" Rampage who was growing in strength was becoming larger by the minute under the force of the explosion. Her body was absorbing the radiation at an alarming rate to the point her veins started to pop out from her muscles. Her eyes have long since lost any type of intelligence, and the only she could see was red as fury took over every bit of her actions.

The monster known as Karen started to slam her fists on top of Raven's barrier putting even more pressure on the half-demon. Raven felt as if she was being crushed by something several times her own weight, but still, she kept the barrier up even when it started to crack.

"Ugh! Ethan snap out of it!" Raven painfully groaned. "Don't let the other you take over! It may feel right and it may even feel like you're just becoming the real you! But it's not! You have to fight it!"

During the entire time, Raven was keeping him close, Ethan continued to use his strength to break through her magic. But something else was happening inside of him when that explosion started as he felt something breaking within him.

'Why am I doing this to myself?... Am I really that weak to give in to my instincts? But why is she stopping me? I...' Ethan's eyes flashed while looking at the corner of his eye, and he spotted a strange cluster of vines that was bursting into flames. Normally something such as that would be incinerated and turned to ash in a matter of seconds, but somehow it was resisting the fire as if it was denying to let the flames take it.

'What's this familiarity...wait Myra?!' He screamed in his mind as he watched the cluster of vines wrap around Rampage's neck, squeezing it as it slowly morphed back into Myra choke holding the monster's neck, robbing them of oxygen.

Rampage immediately stopped their attack on Raven's barrier to remove the tightening grip on her neck, but even with Myra's body being set ablaze she did not let go.

Witnessing this, Ethan slowly regains his senses and started to panic a bit. "MYRA WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! YOU CAN'T BE IN HERE! YOU'RE A PLANT!" He screamed.

"I've come to help you master!" Myra answered as her arms sprouted into vines increasing her hold on Rampage's neck. Rampage didn't take this lying down and started to brutally rip the vines while slamming Myra into anything solid enough to cause damage.

"ARE YOU STUPID?! LISTEN TO ME! GET OUT OF HERE!!"

"NO! I WILL NOT!" Myra shouted back as her blue eyes lit up as her entire body was enveloped by an aura that was a mix between gold and green.

Ethan was shocked, It was the first time Myra had ever shouted as she has always been soft-spoken, but even worse she denied his order?

Wasn't she supposed to listen to him unconditionally?

("Finally you regain your senses boy.") Tydris said in his mind

'Why isn't Myra listening to me?!'

("My guess it because her creation was nothing but an accident. A mix between two powers. It would seem she would have been rebellious further down the line but giving her a name seemed to quicken the process. Dragon guards naturally have the same elemental affinity as their creator, but it's been divided by half with her current body. Eventually...she'll die if she doesn't leave.") The dragon explained.

"GRRAAAAH!!!" Ethan roars to the air, circulating his dragonic essence like crazy to break out of Raven's hold. The woman thought that he was going to jump out to fight that monstrous lady again, but he does something completely out the ordinary.

*BAM! BAM!* He started hitting himself in the face!

The punches weren't weak either as each time they connected to his face there was a small shockwave. Ethan punched himself so much that he started bleeding from his mouth, but even then he wouldn't stop.

"W-what are you doing!?" Raven shouted, but her attention quickly went back to the barrier that started to crack as the half-demon was too weak to teleport them all away

'Focus! Focus! Focus! Focus! Focus! Focus!!! Remember Rampage only stopped because Superman absorbed her energy. I'll have to do the same thing and more! You can't be swept away by your instincts!!!' Ethan thought whilst gritted his teeth.

"Raven let me out," Ethan muttered before wiping the blood away from his mouth.

Raven was about to voice her disagreement but then she was glared at by Ethan.

No longer was there a face of insanity or excitement, but one of determination.

Seeing Ethan glare at her like that in her current state nearly made her lose control of her other side, but she quickly reigned it under control as she lets out a long sigh.

"Azarath...Metrion Zinthos!" She whispered as a smaller barrier covered herself alone while the other started to fade away. 'Idiot...' She thought, but it wasn't aimed at Ethan, but at herself, as she let herself get in this position.

As soon as the larger barrier faded away, Ethan was hit with the force of the surrounding energy, and immediately he felt his mind trying to waiver. 'Damn...this burns...and I was ignoring this earlier?...' He thought as every inch of his body felt like it was burning which shouldn't have been a problem since he was a dragon, but unlike fire that just burns, it felt like chemical acid that burns on a different completely level.

("The surrounding energy is probably chaotic and could be the reason you were easily swayed by your instincts. Stay strong...if you can absorb this energy fully I know you'll have another breakthrough.) Tydris said.

'I'm not doing this for a breakthrough.' Ethan replied as he walked over to Rampage who was still struggling against Myra who has long burst into flames that covered every inch of her body. Each step Ethan took towards the two it felt like he had a massive boulder strapped to his back, forcing him down as he drew closer with his hand stretched towards Rampage.

It was quite amazing for the lady to continue fighting with their airflow being cut off, but each minute that went by her body increased in size, forcing Myra to tighten her hold.

'I'm doing this to save...' Ethan said before he lets out another roar that shook the ground, people thought they were experiencing an earthquake.

>>>><<<<

"Screw you! Get out of my way!" Harley screamed, dodging out from underneath Pamela's arm as she dashes towards the globe of energy with a crazed expression. 'I won't lose him this way! I won't!'

"Harley!!" Pamela chased after the blondie to stop her, but at her rate, she'd never catch up to the villainess.

Harley wasn't thinking of anything except helping her lover, and nothing was going to stop her from doing so while she still drew breath. 'Why am I so weak?... I was weak when my parents abused me...I was weak to Joker's lies...and now I'm too weak to do anything in this situation? No...NO!!'

"HELL NO!!" The villainess shouted and all of sudden her pet hyenas who were laying down in the RV dashed out, quickly bypassing Pamela to join up with Harley. Soon, Harley's vision started to turn red just as she felt a strange power course through her body. The power was vigorous and bestial in nature that it started to have effects on Harley's appearance.

However, she snapped herself out of it before anything major happened as the globe of energy suddenly disappeared in front of her eyes.

It disappeared as if it didn't exist in the first place, and what was left in its place was rubble scattered around. For a moment, Harley thought Ethan was dead because she couldn't feel his connection through her brand, but then she heard groaning not too far away.

Bud and Lou stuck close to her as she climbed over the rubble and found Raven first who was now sitting down on the ground. The half-demon didn't look too well, but for the most part, she was still conscious.

"Where's Ethan?!" Harley asked and she would simply point just north of her, guiding the villainess's eyes to an unknown unconscious woman with ripped clothing and a half-naked blonde-haired man holding what looked to be a pile of ash.

"Honeybun!!" Harley shrieked, dashing over to his side to embrace him and wallow in his familiar warmth.

"STOP!"

Her steps were halted hearing his voice, she didn't understand why would he keep her away from him?

Doesn't he know how worried she was for him?

"I'm trying to focus right now..." Ethan said focusing his attention on the pile of ash in his arms. However if one looked closer they could see the outline of a woman.

"Are...you ok master?" a voice asked. One had to strain their hearing just to hear it as the owner of the voice sounded as if a single puff of air would end their life.

"I'm in a lot of pain right now...but probably not as much as you." He chuckled as he started to tear up a bit while he gently lowered the woman to the ground before kneeling beside her.

"I don't feel pain...what's it like?..."

"Oh, it's terrible...there's a lot of different kinds of pain...but I think the pain of losing something is worse...so you gotta work with me here." Ethan nearly choked while he was speaking as tears streamed down his face. The massive amounts of energy were rampaging throughout his body while his heart worked in overdrive to turn into dragonic essence.

However, instead of fulling absorbing it, he started to transfer it over the woman in the form of golden light.

("What are you doing?! You need that energy to make a breakthrough! You were so close to the 3rd stage!")

'SHUTUP! I told you! I wasn't doing this for a breakthrough!! Shit!! I'm so stupid!' Ethan replied, continuing to transfer the essence over as the golden light covered the woman's entire body, forming a light cocoon.

"The pain of losing someone...? I lost the bracelet you gave me...I don't feel it anymore...is that similar?" The woman wondered as

"I'll just buy you a new one...it's ok, Myra," Ethan said through gritted teeth. The entire process was quite painful and at times he thought he was going to pass out, but still, he continued to transfer the essence.

"I do feel warm now...it's really nice...hey master?..."

"Yeah...?"

"What's a kiss...feel like?" Myra asked. The dragon guard felt her consciousness slipping away and so she at least wanted to know about it as it was the most interesting thing she saw while watching those films.

"It's...it depends on who you kiss." He answered

"Oh...? Does it feel nice like your head patting?"

"I-I'm not sure..."

Pamela would finally arrive on the scene at this time and thought it strange for everyone to be silent when the threat of destruction was gone. "What's going on? Is everything alright? Harley? Ethan?"

"I'm not sure, he told me not to get close...I think he's holding someone?"

"Where is My-" Pamela immediately found her answer as she heard her talking with Ethan. 'Why does she sound so weak?... What's going on Ethan?' She asked him mentally.

'I'm trying to keep Myra from disappearing, but nothing is working! I'm trying to compensate her loss of essence with my own, but it's not doing anything! It's like I'm feeding it into a void that refuses to be filled!' Ethan replied back with a groan. The longer he did this the more pain he experienced, but he couldn't stop, not when someone's life was hanging in the balance.

'She's dying?! Is there anything we can do?' Pamela ran over to his side and bent down on her knees beside him.

"We?... Wait! Pamela put your hands on mine for a moment!" Ethan quickly shouted.

Pamela didn't know what he was trying to do, but she did as she was told and placed her hands on top of his. The villainess would immediately feel a pulling sensation as a green light formed around her hand.

Soon after the ground underneath them started to rumble as vines poke through the ground and started to wrap around the light cocoon forming another layer around Myra.

"Hah...good..." Ethan muttered as his eyes rolled into his head before passing out on the ground. Whatever happened gave him a sense of relief and once that happened, his body couldn't take it anymore.

("I can't believe this...all that energy wasted...he could have just summoned another one.")

>>>><<<<

It's been several hours since that incident in Metropolis, and the appropriate teams were working to clean up the mess. People wondered what happened to the people that saved them, but when the firefighters and police decided to check the damage they would only see a giant shadow raven that disappeared into the sky.

The heroes that had saved them were on the road, moving towards Washinton D.C which was nearly a week away by a vehicle. Pamela for once was driving the RV, and Raven looked over the giant cocoon that was in the middle of the lounge area while Harley watched over the unconscious Ethan in the master bedroom.

Another hour would pass, and Ethan would stir from his slumber whilst feeling quite good despite feeling pain here and there.

"You're awake!" The villainess cheered as she gently wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him as if he was the most fragile of things.

"Yeah...."

"Are you feeling ok....?" Harley sincerely asked as she caressed his cheek.

"I think so..." Ethan answered with a sigh while rubbing his head.

"Good..." Harley smiled almost maliciously as she looked him straight in the eyes.

*Pow!*