A short fight

A folding knife stabbed next to Harley.

"What? This stuff looks like a tumor that's come back to life," I said in response to a puzzled look.

"Oh," a charming, sinister smile played on her lips, "then we should play doctor for a while. Wait, how do I know what to cut out? - thoughtfully clarified the beauty, having already managed to cut the sweater and bare the belly of the unconscious patient. - Or could I just saw off the head, like Kirk?

"Let's not go to extremes yet... Oh, shut up! - I fired my harpoon at the flaming creature and activated the shocker, causing it to howl even louder and then stop. But it didn't last long, because the aura of the reanimated dead didn't even think of fading. Despite the napalm and unconsciousness, his body was gradually growing in size, reminiscent of the recent demonic transformation.

Damn, why has the level of my enemies increased so dramatically? A month ago I was beating the faces of simple bandits, yes freaks with a leaky roof (do not remember now about the fake Doomsday), and since the new year I have to deal almost every day with multiverse evil, then with Archidemon and his cult, then with some incomprehensible mutant half-zombie.

Prana is infused into the nodes of the light spell, stabilizing its structure and preventing it from dissolving into space, and then I began weaving a standard illusion to show Harley the infected area.

"It's lodged right here," I said as a light outline appeared over Simon's body, outlining a small area near the solar plexus. - Just don't forget that it's alive and clearly aggressive.

"Got it," the blonde nodded concentratedly and looked carefully at her left hand, which after a couple of moments was wrapped in another modification of the spiky mitten-like act.

I should prepare a couple of such templates, because it's silly to put a simple shield of compressed air in the way of the enemy, when you can add the effect of slowing, repulsion or even give the surface the appearance of a large spear, on which the enemy will wrap his guts. That's not a bad idea after all! Magic can defy some physical laws if you put more energy into it, so the tip of a spear or the edge of a disk can be made a couple of molecules thicker to enhance its cutting properties.

"R-r-r-r-r..." a low growl sounded from the direction of the monster left behind.

"I haven't forgotten about you, don't worry," I start shifting sideways to get the monster away from the field operating room. - Uncle Joker will put you to rest. It's become a fashion to run away from the Eternal.

I'd almost finished the spell by now, and now I had to make sure it didn't hurt Simon. He'd be unhappy enough when he woke up to find that Harley had cut open his stomach and had already taken out part of his lung.

"You're dead in agony."

His clothes were finally burned away, revealing a monster that belonged in the Kunstkammer. If at the beginning of the fight Simon's brother had looked like an ordinary living dead man, and then like a fucking kronneberg because of the growing flesh and severe bone deformation, then after the napalm bath his body, though still gag-inducing, was taking itself seriously at the same time.

The skeleton had changed and now resembled some unnatural mixture of a tiger and a gorilla... And the weight of this miracle was half a ton, if not more. Rotten stumps of teeth were replaced by sharp fangs of various caliber, and instead of skin there was some barely visible translucent film, allowing to see how the muscle bundles were rolling over.

The strange creature stared at me with yellow eyes and grinned viciously with a row of sharp teeth.

"Yeah... You're fucking creepy."

"It's a blessing," a bifurcated tongue flickered in the horrible mouth. - The Lord's whisper awakened me and gave me the strength to take revenge.

"Uh-huh, okay. Who's the master, can you tell me?

If there's an opportunity to stall for time, I should take it. I'll get some mana and use my favorite illusions at the same time. Although I'd rather use them right now.

The monster grinned.

"You're about to meet him in person!"

It was an unstoppable lunge toward me. He tore down the shield without even noticing, but he didn't get to me, because he flew through the illusion and smashed into the remains of the stone wall, making a big hole in it.

Another grenade is sent in its wake, but this time the bastard didn't roll around on the ground, but instead lunged at me again with a furious roar of pain.

~Bah-bah~

My hand jerked pleasantly with the recoil of the revolver, damaging the monster's hind leg and forcing the burning carcass to adjust its route slightly. The stench of smoked, rotting flesh hit me, making me want to gag, but that was no reason to be distracted, especially since memories of the Netherworld helped keep me positive.

A few more bullets rip off pieces of the clawed paw covering his head. Damn, one of them was sanctified, but the effect was only slightly stronger than the expansive one. And the napalm was extinguished too quickly, hinting that the enemy still had some surprises in store.

"Weapons against me are useless! You're only prolonging your miserable agony! - The hissing voice sent shivers down my spine.

"Huh, what do you say to that then? Flamma sancta," a yellow sorcerer's circle with writing threads and a triangle inside flashes in front of his left hand, "hunc mundum mali tolle*."

As the last syllable sounded, it was as if the sun had risen over the battlefield for a moment. A stream of buzzing yellow flame erupted from the circle and hurled the hideous creature at the edge of the ruins, vaporizing its flesh. The perennial giant couldn't take the abuse and tilted, only to collapse a moment later with a deafening crack, turning the remains of the magical mutant into a pancake.

"That was freakin' awesome, Mr. J! - The silence was broken by the cheerful voice of the assistant.

"To be honest, I didn't expect such an effect myself."

I'd poured in a lot of mana, as well as prana, to enhance the effect a bit, but it was only half the reserve. I'd created something similar in Pinkerton's mansion, and I'd used a lot of diamonds. Hmm, I think I managed to add some ba-hion along with the prana... Right, minus fifty units and no pain. It must have really accumulated a lot of prana in the reserve.

"How's Simon? - I asked, reloading my revolver. The monster was quiet, but it wasn't a good idea to go up to him and poke him with a stick.

"Unconscious. The blonde showed a transparent balloon with a vicious lump of red flesh raging inside."

"It looks disgusting."

"Yeah, it looks like cancer cells that have come back to life, and rotten ones at that," she tapped the wall of the magically created vessel with her fingernail, making the trapped creature even angrier.

I, on the other hand, had an interesting thought rolling around in my head.

Cancer cells... Rotten... The flesh of the bastard who attacked us also reeked of rot... The lord's whisper...

"Rotten," the word rang out in the deafening silence.

~Skrak~

Suddenly the trunk of a collapsed tree was thrown aside, and then the creature itself appeared. The holy fire had done it no good: its entire right side was badly burned and had lost a third of its muscles, exposing large gray bones, but Simon's brother was regenerating right before his eyes, gradually regaining his former grotesque appearance.

"Mr. J, do you remember what you can rest an avatar of the Elemental Realm with?"

"They are believed to be immortal."

"Oh, that sucks," the pretty girl remarked, retrieving the Glock.

"You're gonna die," the blacksmith's creation said, staring at me with angry yellow eyes. - It doesn't matter how many times I die, I'll keep coming back until I get to you and eat you... Huh?

The monster's surprise was understandable, as a large root burst out of the ground and pierced through his head.

A beautiful dryad appeared from the forest, her green hair dancing to the beat of invisible music. Her green hair danced to the beat of invisible music, her eyes glowed with a mysterious lettuce light, and her hands controlled the wooden spike that, following the will of her enchantress, kept sprouting inside the bastard who had attacked us.

Abby, who came to the rescue, was absolutely ruthless to her opponent, clearly demonstrating how dangerous the treatment according to Dr. Popov's method could be. The root that pierced its head was branching out, tearing the flesh and causing the undead creature terrible pain, and at the same time, a stream of bright green energy was coming from the focused dryad, which literally burned out the black aura, not allowing Simon's brother to offer even minimal resistance.

Not even a minute later, the immortal monster was left with only rotten scraps dangling from its flexible roots. And this time they didn't even think of regenerating.

So let's just say that it's possible to destroy a rot carrier by seriously damaging its receptacle and buffing it with the antagonist's energy flow. Although I suspect that fire can also help with this problem, but you need a stronger flame, and also knock out the opponent beforehand, so that he can't fight back.

The green-skinned girl, convinced of the monster's death, turned a very eloquent glance at Harley, who continued to hold the lump of living flesh in the barrier. Considering that the eyes of the guardian of the Forest were still covered with a lettuce haze, my favorite did not hesitate and promptly got rid of the interesting specimen of magical fauna to watch the growth of another bush. I even felt a little sorry for the revived tumor, but only a complete idiot would argue with Green's avatar when she was using her patron's powers.

The most curious thing was that this time it was enough to seriously damage the flesh of the strange creature, after which its aura began to degrade on its own, until it completely dissolved into space. Eh, another reason to think about replenishing the arsenal with some killer toys with maximum damage over the area.

"Phew... That was dangerous... Where did you find that thing? - Abby said tiredly, returning her eyes to their usual red color. - I thought there were no more creatures like that around Gotham.

"It's our friend's brother. They were obviously bred using the same methodology, but one of them seems to have gotten mixed up with a bad company and turned into this..." I squint at a couple of blood-red bushes. - Oh, before I forget, how do you feel about demonic energy with the color of death?

"Is it like those armored flying bug monsters from another dimension?"

"I pointed to the altar, and prepared to drag Abby away by force if I had to. He's over there, by the way," I pointed toward the altar, preparing to drag Abby away by force if necessary.

It might seem silly, but even when attacking a magical mutant afflicted with rot emanations, the dryad was still in control, unlike when we'd visited Steppenwolf, so my venture had a decent chance of success. Besides, I had an idea how to brighten up the guy's awakening after the sudden cavity surgery, which had been performed with an ordinary knife and a magical barrier-glove.

"Mm-hmm," she took a few steps toward the altar and wrinkled her nose as if she smelled a foul odor. - I don't like his energy, but I can control myself.

"Great, then I'm going to need a little help from you and an explanation of what the hell was that?"

"I'll try to explain, but before we get started, I'm sorry about the car. I did a little damage to the door when I was getting out of the cabin."

"Whatever, Superman is bringing a ton of diamonds tomorrow anyway, so I was planning to do a little transport upgrade anyway. You wouldn't mind sharing your energy, would you?"

"If you're willing to share yours," Abby smiled sweetly, pulling me close. The faithful companion standing next to me didn't miss the chance to join the hugging session, which made the dryad swim. It wasn't surprising, the temperature outside was sub-zero, and there were two very warm bodies at my side.

I had to use all my willpower to stop squeezing the avatar's lower hemispheres and get down to business. I had to use all my willpower to stop tugging at the avatar's lower hemispheres and get down to business.

So, to summarize our conversation, we have a rather curious situation. The Rotten One herself is not an absolute evil in the flesh, which is a bit at odds with Zee's words. But it's forgivable for the sorceress, because she judged Black by what her last avatar did, and there was not much good there, considering that they almost killed him all over the world, and then sealed him up in the middle of nowhere, because they couldn't finish him off.

So, along with Forest and Crimson, associated with flora and fauna, Rot is also an embodiment of the Element and helps to ensure the cycle of life and death in the universe. And, besides these three, there are several other less influential natural forces, which most mages have not even heard of, for they very rarely interfere in earthly life, but simply do their work. White, which is responsible for the air, Blue or Purity, which is associated with water, Gray, which sounds strange, but it is responsible for the kingdom of fungi, the unnamed kingdom of fire, which hardly requires additional explanations, Melt, whose area of interest includes earth and stones, Metal, associated with metal and technology, and completes the short list of Divided, responsible for bacteria and other microscopic life forms.

All these natural forces are in a very peculiar balance, providing a favorable environment for life and development on Earth, but there is one huge "But". These forces do not have a full-fledged mind, so some clever avatars with a very great desire can begin to act independently and, for example, decide to completely subjugate the world to their will, displacing the other Elements, by destroying their parliaments. That is, in fact, depriving the natural forces of the reasonable component, along with the most suitable conductors of the will.

Black's current avatar is Anton Arcane. He was a moral freak when he was still alive, and he didn't get the title of the strongest witch doctor for the pretty eyes, so it's not strange that after becoming an avatar, he decided to destroy other Parliaments and rule the planet single-handedly. And he would have succeeded, if it hadn't been for Holland. At the cost of his existence, he managed to deprive Arkane of most of his powers, which allowed the spellcasters to activate the sealing spell. Unfortunately, they had to stop at this option, because the true avatar of the Elemental can only be destroyed by another avatar or someone of comparable power, and the only closest candidate heroically kicked himself. However, judging by the records found in the library of the Shadow Peak, the wizards had tried very hard to make sure that Anton's eyes would never see white light.

And now, it would seem, the enemy of all life is rotting in an impregnable prison, but there is a small problem. Rot is one of the Elements. It can't just be taken out of the cycle of life and death. Creatures that have received its blessing have appeared and continue to appear on earth in places where death and decay are concentrated. They have never been a model of virtue before, jealously defending their possessions, and then the latest order from their superiors presses on their brains, forcing them to show atypical activity associated with the capture of new territories. Naturally, such creatures possess only a fraction of the powers of a true avatar, but the stronger the resurrected one's affinity with Death and Decay, the more powers he can use. It was for this reason that Abby was wary of touching Grandi, as the revenant might not be able to kill her permanently, but it might be able to harm the Heart of the Forest. Luckily, for another Black Spawn to be born, a whole bunch of parameters had to coincide, which was incredibly rare and, according to the only expert, unlikely to happen in the next year.

* Holy flame, deliver this world from evil.