Amnesty

Zatanna wanted to go to the blacksmith and explain to him by means of good old-fashioned ultraviolence that it was not worth interfering in the affairs of ordinary mortals, even if they were hardened criminals, but the upcoming adventure was complicated by the presence of very strong subordinates of the Brother of the Night. It was not in vain that the enchantress first thought that Spectre, who was the Spirit of Vengeance in the rank of deity, was acting, because no matter how experienced the dark magician was, he had never seen such a diverse manifestation of powers before. Fortunately for the sorceress, the waiter had time to take a good look at the appearance of the attackers and the abilities they used, so there were no problems with identification.

There were only three of them, but each could make anyone in the newly formed League of Superheroes sweat.

The first and least dangerous is known in the otherworld as the Ghost of Romalti. One touch of the figure in the dark blue cloak, and the person would transform into the creature that the white mask covering the Ghost's face would portray. In addition to having an interesting artifact, he could also fly and become intangible, fully living up to his nickname, and was ten times stronger than even the most trained athlete.

The second most dangerous and the first most powerful was the so-called Ember. She was an unborn fire dragon who had been turned through dark rituals into an unnatural otherworldly creature that commanded fire at a masterful level. In the waiter's memories, she looked like a tall human woman with predatory facial features, addicted to steroids, and had a red skin tone like some kind of demon. She also resembled a demon, with curved, twisted horns on her head that almost mirrored the shape of her skull, partially covered by long scarlet hair, and elongated fangs.

The last member of the mystical trio looked like a small, white-haired, ten-year-old kid who went by the name Teddy. In a direct confrontation, except for the increased strength and ability to fly, he was almost nothing serious, but a small cardboard shoebox, which he constantly carries in his hands, can easily destroy a small town of a couple thousand inhabitants. There are thousands of insect-like demons trapped inside the unassuming object, and they'd be happy to rip their victim to shreds if they were given the order.

Colton sighed tiredly after each revelation, continuing to make notes in his notebook. Colton sighed tiredly after each revelation, continuing to make notes in a puffy notebook.

"Why did Brother Night decide to attack the gangsters in the first place? - he asked frustratedly, when the sorceress finally finished retelling other people's memories. In the meantime, the pair had returned to the central hall and could now see the corpses of those who had recently been human and the baffled policemen scurrying about.

"I can only speculate, but it seems he has decided to expand his criminal empire to the human world as well. The brutal assassination of key San Francisco figures, using magic, will clearly demonstrate to all interested parties the seriousness of his intentions."

"Hell, I thought only gangster men fought over spheres of influence."

"Otherworld and Earthworld share the same planet, and even large enclaves in the folds of space don't make much of a difference here."

"Eh, I see... And you wouldn't happen to be able to, I don't know, rewind time with your magic, would you?"

"I cannot bring the dead back to life, but I can add a bitter taste to the triumph of Brother Night. The murdered may have been criminals, but they were still born human," the girl's hair lifted slightly, as if electrified, and the atmosphere in the room subtly changed, making the forensic experts present feel uncomfortable. - IWONATSSOV HI YIKSEKECHEVOLECH KILBO! The world needs to behold the people, not the monsters killed tonight.

The space was enveloped in glowing sparks, which, when they hit the remains of the monsters, returned them to their former appearance.

"Oh..." The detective almost broke his pencil with excitement, but relaxed immediately, noticing that several assistants were holding cameras and obviously recording. His superiors would eat him to death if the forensic reports showed the usual dismemberment without a drop of mysticism.

"This is where my work is done."

"Wait, what about Brother Night? - Colton blurted out.

"He is not your concern. PAEL," and the silhouette of the powerful sorceress disappeared in a brief flash of light.

"I'm already beginning to hate the documents on this case..." the man said, holding his gaze on the empty place where the sorceress had stood a second ago. Then he turned his attention to the frozen subordinates. - Why are they frozen, have they never seen magic? Go back to work.

Knowing the approximate strength of her opponents, Zatanna returned to the mansion and sat meditating on the stone altar. It would take a lot of energy for her to perform effectively at a party. In addition, she didn't know where the witch doctor was, but given the location of the attack, his new home was clearly somewhere in the San Francisco area.

As the illusionist suspected, it was quite easy to find the villain's lair, because he really decided to cooperate more closely with the human world, having weakened the mansion's defenses, but hiding his own magic was a much more difficult task. It's one thing when a sorceress comes to visit, her mana is almost pouring out of her ears, clearly hinting that such amount of mystical energy is not her usual volume, and quite another when an ordinary-looking girl in a sexy costume comes to visit and puts everyone in a kneeling position with just a couple of phrases spoken in reverse order.

The preparation took several days, the sorceress didn't even have time to answer Jay's call or read the news to learn about the zombie virus epidemic, because all her attention was focused on creating a hiding complex, through which even the most sophisticated scanning charms wouldn't pass. In the end, it was only on the third day that the sorceress was completely satisfied with the result she had achieved, and she activated the teleportation complex without a moment's hesitation.

The powerful blow, reinforced by the Dragon Vein's energy, penetrated the magical shields over the inconspicuous mansion in the north of San Francisco like a red-hot needle through a piece of butter. The intelligent people present in the central hall didn't even have time to do anything before the figure of a sorceress appeared in the middle of the room in a blaze of blue flame.

"It's nice," the sorceress said, glancing around the room.

In a huge room with purple-red carpets on the walls, a small branch of Hell on Earth was set up. On a large stage, disgusting demons played, using magically altered living humans as musical instruments. One of the victims was strung on the strings of a harp that electrocuted her every time she touched the strings, another person's skin was used as the drum's percussion surface, and someone's nerves were used as the strings of a grand piano created from the mouth of a large monster living on the plains of the Hell Wastes. The screams and moans of the unfortunate unable to die created a terrible cacophony, delighting the dark mages and the many monsters present at the ghastly party, as if they had come from Wayne Barlow's paintings.

On the far wall, a plain-looking couch upholstered in red velvet stood on a dais, where Brother Night sat bored. The old necromancer was dressed in an elegant black suit and looked quite personable, but it was his face, frozen in a grimace, that spoiled everything. His corpse-colored skin was stretched to the max, revealing a ghastly smile with too many teeth, and his red demonic eyes seemed to look straight into his soul.

"You're not welcome here, witch! - Amber, who was standing next to her boss, threw herself at the illusionist, covering her hands in dense scarlet flames.

"KCLOB FO ECI," the blue lightning bolt traveled several meters across the space in a second, and the warlike woman was reduced to a bone-chilling statue. - Greetings, Brother Night, you should enroll your minions in a manners class," Zatanna said, smiling charmingly. - The reason for my visit, however, was not for free advice.

"I'm going to cut your tongue out, and we'll see how you mumble incantations and give unsolicited advice," came a furious voice from the bar against the wall, which was stacked with horrible cocktails that were clearly made with human ingredients.

"There's my old friend Nimue Ravensong. I thought your master had turned you into another of his toys after failing the last mission."

"Bitch!"

The furious woman, dressed only in a closed latex leotard and high stiletto boots, pulled a curved ritual knife from a sheath on her hip, deftly swung it over the bar and quickly shortened the distance with the calmly standing sorceress.

"I don't even have to use magic to defeat you, dearie," Zatanna said boredly, intercepting her opponent's arm and then kicking her supporting leg. Nimue lost her balance and lay on the floor with her face on the floor, and a kick to the head, spiced with sleep charms, sent her into a deep sleep.

"Ms. Zatanna, would you like to see what I'm hiding in the box? Hee-hee-hee-hee," a small boy dressed in short brown breeches and a blue collar shirt emerged from the crowd of monsters.

"All I needed was a big-aged pervert in a child's body... YDDET GNITATOR!

With a startled yelp, Teddy began to spin rapidly in place, causing his artifact to flap open and showering the surprised monsters with insects. The witch doctor's arthropod pets killed about a dozen demons before he overcame the spell and drove the insects back into the box.

"Your performance, as always, is beyond praise," the owner of the mansion sitting on the sofa clapped respectfully, ignoring the dead guests. - Grace, beauty, great presentation and artistry. Let me just ask, by what right are you invading my domain and causing all this chaos?

"You've gone to ordinary people who have no connection to the beyond. It's my duty to tell you that you shouldn't do that."

"Oh no, fair one, in case you didn't know, a green-haired gentleman with a smile almost as gorgeous as mine," Brother Night bared his teeth in a demonstration of his impressive grin, "has allowed all mankind to touch the most ancient magic. The balance of power has shifted, and the old arrangements are no longer valid.

"To begin with, "touching" and "finding" are completely different things. Only a thousand people on the entire globe could awaken magic in themselves. The rest of the people without external support and the help of millions of similarly suffering people will not even light a firefly, let alone something more serious. And you must also realize that there are those who honor not only the letter, but also the spirit of the treaty."

"Huh, for the last fifty years I've been in charge of the otherworld of San Francisco. Do you really think that some petty conventions and tricks can intimidate me into giving up the idea of ruling the mortal world as well? Ah, wasting your gift, playing to the crowd," he shook his head disappointedly. - You walk among these pathetic insects as if you were one of them. They admire your tricks without knowing the true wonders. And yet you've never missed a chance to restore the so-called Order. Now it's my turn to ask. Why? What do you need it for? - Without taking his eyes off his guest, the necromancer used telekinesis to pour strong cognac from the bottle next to him, and levitated one of the glasses to the enchantress.

"The world is a scary place. If I can show the friendly aspects of magic, everyone will benefit: both the otherworld and the human world," the girl replied, noticing in the reflection of the vessel a black silhouette with a white mask behind her. - ANNATAZ SECALPER YDDET!

The ghost of Romalti, whose mask this time represented a rat's face, raised his hand, but instead of the illusionist touched the surprised companion, who transformed into a huge rat and dropped the cardboard box from his hands out of surprise.

"Not again! - The grotesque monsters standing around and the dark mages invited to the party scurried about, fleeing from the hordes of deadly insects that had escaped.

"This is my last warning," said the powerful sorceress standing in the distance, sternly, amplifying her voice with magic to overpower the noise of the panicking crowd. - If you meddle too much in the affairs of the human world, I will find time in my busy schedule to finally put you to rest. I hope I made myself clear. Goodbye.

With a brief blue flash, the dark-haired beauty disappeared, leaving a suspiciously shimmering glass hanging in the air.

"Darkness, protect me! - Brother Night realized that this was not a good thing, and managed to cast one of the strongest protection spells in his arsenal.

~BAH~

A roaring wave of green flame, which had consumed the rest of the Dragon Vein's energy, literally incinerated the weak creatures and severely damaged the strong ones. The room itself was also damaged: somewhere the ceiling collapsed, killing some survivors, carpets and curtains were completely burned, the bar turned into splinters, and the musicians were left without their terrible instruments, but it was not bad, because instant death is much better than years of suffering. The only reminder of the former grandeur was the sofa that stood on the dais, which covered the shield of the mansion's owner.

"Amber burst out of the ice with a wild shriek and stared at the devastation with great amazement. - What happened here?

"Zatanna happened," Brother Night replied sullenly.

He hadn't expected that the sorceress would turn out to be so strong and with such an impressive arsenal of abilities. Still, they had not crossed paths before, and he wrote off the failures of his colleagues to the general carelessness and luck of the sorceress. But according to rumors, her father is much stronger than the girl, and he also prefers to maintain order in the world of mortals.

"I didn't want to use his help, but I guess I'll have to. It's a good thing I've made sure to find a place of confinement and a suitable victim beforehand, and the offering has suddenly appeared," the man thought as he looked at the smoked corpses of the monsters lying around.

"And you let her go?!"

The indignant exclamation of the assistant pulled the blacksmith out of his unhappy thoughts.

"Yes, I did."

"Damn, I hope you're not going to let something like this go unanswered."

"I'm not. Amber, do me a favor and pack as many corpses as you can into a space bag and get ready for a little trip to Africa with the rest of the crew. Tell Teddy to put a lock on his box, because his pets have killed more guests than Zatanna's magic," the necromancer jabbed his finger at the half-meter-long scolopendra that was creeping toward him and turned it to ashes, draining its life energy.

"What about you?"

"I've got to get ready, we're on in an hour."

Twenty-four hours later, the four were standing on top of an unremarkable sand dune in the southeast of the Sahara Desert. In this place, the dry air of the African continent somehow managed to burn the lungs of even creatures accustomed to high temperatures.

"What are we doing here? - An otherworldly voice came from a large cloaked silhouette hovering above the ground.

"An old acquaintance of mine. Now get out of my way."

He stretched out his hands palms up in front of him and sang a guttural song in a language as old as time itself. His subordinates stepped back slightly, feeling the sand beneath their feet stirring. With each passing moment, the golden grains of sand spread apart faster and faster, revealing a huge slab of stone hidden beneath. Its surface was covered with thousands of protective symbols, making even the most seasoned of creatures tense as each rune was filled with magic that had previously been hidden.

"Hmm... And where is that? - the man looked carefully at the uneven surface. - There must be a flaw, or I wouldn't have been able to find this place...

"Those symbols over there seem a little darker than the others."

"Well done, Teddy! - praised the assistant Night.

In the specified place, some of the symbols were indeed slightly different in color from the rest, as if something was absorbing magic from them, preventing the circulation of energy, and a careful eye could notice that even the stone surrounding the runes had darkened slightly, and its structure had become less monolithic.

The strike of the short ritual blade confirmed the blacksmith's hunches, as the blade easily entered full length, causing the surrounding runes to flicker dangerously.

"A few seconds of contact, but what an effect," the man muttered thoughtfully under his breath as he scrutinized the blade. The entire length of the blade was covered with slowly growing rusty spots, as if there were no reinforcing charms. - Amber, take a look.

"What didn't I see there, aggh..." the red-skinned girl who had approached the boss wheezed as the cursed curved blade suddenly slashed across her throat. Another thrust, and now her heart was chopped into two jagged pieces that quickly began to turn into black and scarlet slime.

Her strength left her body too quickly, causing her to collapse to her knees. Thick black blood mixed with mucus and pus flowed from the gruesome wounds, dripping onto the damaged symbols, around which gray writing began to swirl, further loosening the restraining seal.

Suddenly, a long, clawed black paw burst straight out of the stone slab and clawed at the dazed victim's head.

"What are you frozen? Quickly dump out the corpses, lest you become the lunch of my old acquaintance! - Brother Night shouted at the dumbfounded subordinates. Soon, a gaunt black homunculus whose body was covered with moving veins slowly crawled out through the hole and began to devour the former assistant.

The corpse-eating process lasted almost an hour, but ten minutes after the start of the gruesome meal, the actions of the captured creature made sense, so the necromancer did not hurry to flee, watching with interest as the muscles that had shrunk for half a century turned red and grew stronger. After some time, the creature finally broke away from the food and appeared before the audience in its new form. It was a two-meter tall slender man with short gray hair and a distinctly Caucasian appearance, but it was spoiled by a complete lack of skin and eerie eyes that were shrouded in darkness.

"Well, hello, Anton," the blacksmith said politely. - Or maybe now you should be addressed as the avatar of the Rot?