48: Let Them Go.

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Chapter 48 Let Them Go.

(Davian's P.O.V)

The city was burning, the flames casting an eerie orange glow against the dawning morning. Smoke filled the air, making it difficult to breathe, and the sound of sirens and screams echoed in the distance.

I floated down towards the ruins of the bridge. A few Shrouds broke off from the white blobs floating above the water. Those were the souls of the dead. We had caused this. My hand on the handle of Chesha Neko tightened.

I had dropped out of Shikai because the form was energy intensive and also using both the sheath for defence and my Shikai for offense was too much for my body to handle. The sheath was the only reason I escaped that blast.

I thought I'd been teleported but the reality was that my shield had been blown away for tens of miles by the shockwaves. I didn't harbor any hope that the others, barring the durable members of the League, had escaped the blast.

Artemis. And the kids. I closed my eyes, a lump of bitterness appearing in my throat. The explosion...seemed to have come out of Raven as well. Maybe she was ripped apart, maybe she was alive. Right there and then, the weight of failure was almost too much to bear. This was my reality now. I hadn't realized things could get this intense.

Trigon had been too powerful. And the city was destroyed. Atleast half the population was dead. If not, then they were going to. Fuck! Why did I allow Batman to antagonize her like that?! I should have...

"It wasn't your fault."

Chesha Neko spoke into my mind but I shook my head. It felt like it.

I closed my eyes, even this far I can still hear the echoes of screams and cries from victims.

Maybe I can help save those alive? The water under the bridge was icy cold with sheets of ice floating about on the surface. I wouldn't be enough but...

"Chase, you have an idea how I can locate those still alive and extract them with my strings?"

I asked my Zanpakuto while looking at the dark waters.

"I suppose you can use the spirits of death hovering about. Just follow one. Can you handle it?"

Chase asked at the end.

I grit my teeth looking at my Zanpakuto. I hadn't completed the training to completely master the Shikai. Too long in the form and I would feel a strain.

"I don't have a choice. Let's help who we can. When the authorities get here, we'll leave it to them and make it back to the Cathedral. We're going to crash straight through that thing."

I said out loud, staring at the black dome over the Gotham horizon.

It seemed to suck in the light from the sun. 'I'll save you Raven. And if I can't, I'll make sure to kill him for you.'

I held Chesha Neko before me in one hand. The metal on the longsword reflected my disheveled form. I had dark circles under my eyes. An effect of not getting enough rest due to training so hard. Am not even sure it was worth it, 'that' particular skill was still incomplete.

I shook my head. Can't get lost in thought. Luckily only a few seconds were lost. But those were precious too.

"Shikai!"

There was a flash of purple inside the green sphere.

I ducked under the bridge. A portion of the left side was hanging precariously. I used my strings to reinforce the metal and straighten it up enough that people could get out of their cars and help those injured.

Luckily there wasn't a lot of traffic yet. I could hear people taking pictures while I flew down nearer the water, going anywhere the Shrouds were gathered. I sent strings inside the water, creating a web that crawled through the metal panels and plates of sinking vehicles, grabbing anyone alive and sending them to the people on the intact part of the bridge.

This was the first time I had ever stretched myself out like this. At one time I saw a blur of red cut through the air from the east. A news chopper arrived along with a contingent of emergency services vehicles soon after. This coincided with my strings saving 56 people and recovering the bodies of 23.

By the end, my strings looked like a purple wire mesh built along the length of the bridge. They glowed in the morning rays of the sun. I left immediately.

Then I begun sweeping across the city, headed towards the Cathedral. I dove down after any Shroud, checking for any people trapped or hurt. My strings helped me pull away the chunks of debris and if I wove them into fans, I could blow out the fires still burning.

More often than not, I found hurt people on the street, cradling injuries or the bodies of dead relatives. Most would look up and stretch out their hands towards me. I kept my face impassive as I flew deeper in, only helping those who absolutely needed it.

I passed over a residential stretch of buildings. There was a school bus parked on the roadside and people were already setting up an emergency zone to help those injured.

I increased my speed, diving down. I forgot that there were still people here who could help others. I landed on the ground, spooking the crowd. I stalked over at an old man walking towards me.

"Please leave, we do not want any trouble."

He said, holding a shot gun.

Immediately, most of the men manning the perimeter produced guns, pointing them at me.

I raised my hands, noticing the gang colors.

"Sorry. I don't mean any harm to your community. I was just wondering if I could direct those hurt here. The bridge is destroyed so it might take time before help arrives from the outside. The whole city was destroyed."

The worst part was that this was the outskirts of the explosions and there were buildings that were caved in. I had also found more bodies than I did people alive.

The old man looked behind him at the rest. A silent communication seemed to pas between him and an older woman in a wheelchair.

"Aight. Ma says yes."

I saw his eyes flash behind me and a brief surge of irritation coursed through me. He couldn't see it but he could probably feel it. The gloomy aura of death that hang around me.

A literal cloud of Shrouds followed after me from the bridge. They were yet to say anything and it was pissing me off.

I could sense them through my Reikaku. They were like tiny pinpricks of light. He handed over a walkie talkie.

"Just in case you need to coordinate with a few of our guys. The radio can also tap into the GCPD channel. Might help you figure out where you're needed."

"Alright."

I nodded at the man.

"Thanks."

From there, I ascended once more, locked inside my shield bubble.

"Hey Chase, I wonder, can I use the Shikai to stop bleeding or heal injuries?"

It was something I had been curious about.

"You would have better luck simply using the sheath for such a thing."

I stopped in place at his answer.

"Fuck, I feel like slapping myself for not seeing such an obvious thing."

Before I could do anything else, the Shrouds became restless accompanying the sounds of battle.

(General P.O.V) (a few minutes before)

A teleportation circle flashed on a smoldering park. The nearby trees were reduced to burning cinders and the pond to the far right was almost dried up.

"We're too late."

John Constantine said, covering his mouth with a white handkerchief. From within the circle another figure flew out. Deadman's eyes widened upon the destruction.

"Oh my god...it's all destroyed..."

The ghost hero said.

Constantine spat on the ground, staring up at the sky.

"Bloody Shrouds are everywhere."

He commented seeing the grim reapers on the sky.

One dove down towards a retail store and Deadman begun hurrying after it.

"Come on, we might save some before they die."

Constantine didn't move.

"We can't. You know we need to stop 'him'. And the only way we can do that is by calling in the big guns, we can't get through that shield without some help."

Over the burning buildings, news choppers flew above a huge black dome, covering an area of about a few hundred miles out of the 302 square miles that was Gotham City.

Constantine surveyed the park. He'd chosen this as the target of his teleportation because of the size of the land.

"This park will do. We just need to call him. Maybe he can rewind time or kick Trigon's ass or point us in the right direction. I need you to lend..."

Constantine stopped.

Deadman was never this quiet.

"Brand?"

Constantine asked, looking back. He sighed, Deadman was gone.

"That heroic idiot!"

Constantine shook his head.

The exorcist pulled out two white gloves with occult symbols from within his trench coat pockets.

He wore them before clapping his hands together, a magic seal appeared above the symbols on the gloves.

"Ok, here we go. This spell will leave me weakened for a few minutes but as long as I can get him here then..."

A rumble, as something crashed down next to him, disrupted the spell. The ground broke apart and Constantine struggled to keep his balance. The magical energy he was holding on to, went out of control, causing a powerful discharge that pushed Constantine away, sending him straight through the remains of a tree trunk.

Constantine groaned in pain. His palms were covered in burns and his chest was exposed, lacerations and soot from burnt clothes on the skin. The gloves were destroyed.

"Bloody hell. I feel like I just went 20 rounds with Etrigan."

He said, dragged himself up, leaning on the frame of a bench while patting his chest pockets.

"Bullocks...that was my last pack."

He mourned the loss of his cigarettes, sitting on the bench while breathing heavily.

Magic backlash wasn't something you could just shake off. The pain went deep into his soul. He decided to take a breather but something grabbed his attention.

Before him, inside a crater, 2 pairs of red glowing eyes appeared. The dust settled revealing Superman. He had the fingers of his right hand wrapped around Green Arrow's neck.

The Archer was struggling to get away but couldn't budge, sweat matted his forehead and his costume was frayed and burnt.

He grabbed an arrow from his quiver, twirling it in his palm before trying to plunge it through Superman's side.

A streak of red lightning passed through the park and The Flash, Jay Garrick appeared, holding up the arrow. He too had 2 pairs of red glowing eyes. He sneered, looking at the arrow in his hands.

"Kryptonite."

Superman's frown increased as he turned his attention to the Archer.

"Typical, you and Bruce are the same."

His red eyes begun to glow.

"Hey big guy!"

Constantine called out, leaning on the bench.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size? I think you might find Solomon Grundy's lumbering form in the swamps."

Constantine would be the first to tell you he was a reckless individual. There was a reason he didn't have friends. Most of them died along the way. At times like these even he cursed his own reckless. Provoking a possessed Superman was a bad idea.

The two possessed heroes turned to stare at him.

"You..."

The Flash growled out.

"Lovely morning. John Constantine, notorious conman, grifter and exorcist, at your service. But for you, the last part is what you should be worried of."

Superman narrowed his eyes.

"Your reputation precedes you."

The demon inside said.

"We know who you are. Hellblazer, The Laughing Magician. Lord Trigon would be happy to meet and torture the man who outsmarts and rebukes gods."

The Demon inside the Flash said.

Constantine frowned.

"If you really knew me...you would have already killed m..."

Time slowed down as the Flash slipped into his superspeed, headed towards Constantine with his vibrating hand pulled back in a Killing blow. Keeping Constantine alive for long was a bad idea.

He got within distance in the space between heartbeats.

Then a blast of light exploded outwards as the Flash slammed into a shield. His body bounced off, the cloak of lightning around him clashing with the spiritual energy along the shield.

Lightning sparked out, washing through the ground and creating another crater at the epicenter.

The dust died out as Superman let go of Green Arrow to face the new threat. Constantine's eyes widened as a crowd of Shrouds floated around a figure.

Purple light glowed and with a sudden flash of light, strings covered Green Arrow and pulled him through the ground, pulling him away from Superman.

"Show yourself coward!"

Superman announced, floating to the sky as his four red eyes glowed with power. The dust settled, revealing a young man, white hair waving around in the air.

He was crouched inside a green shield, a sheath on the chest of Green Arrow, healing him. Davian stood up to his full height, just a little over 6'1.

He twirled the sword in his hands, a blast of Reiryoku rippling out in a pressure wave. The shrouds seemed to hover around the raised sword. Then he brought it down, pointing it at Superman.

"Let them go, Demon. I'll only say it once."