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(Davian's P.O.V)
"Who are you?"
I questioned with a glare, making her flinch a little.
"You're scaring the kid. Stop that."
Chase admonished.
I rolled my eyes internally, outwardly the serious look on my face served to make her squirm.
"Once again, I am sorry for spooking you."
She said in a panic.
"You didn't..." I begun as Chase started laughing.
"Just go on."
I told her lowering the sword.
Dawnstar regained a bit of her composure.
"My name is Dawnstar and I am from the future."
She stopped to gauge my reaction.
"And?"
I raised an eyebrow. Time travelling was par the course here. I had known that sooner or later I would come across it.
Dawnstar frowned.
"Normally someone would assume I was lying. You barely reacted at all."
I shrugged, turning back to leave. Every second I wasted here was a second I would be too late to fix this.
"Hey wait."
Dawnstar flapped her wings, flying after me.
"So why are you here? Did Luthor accidentally unleash a calamity on the world?"
I joked but a second later looked back at Dawnstar who had stopped in her tracks.
The look on her face was one of shock.
"Oh come on, I was only joking! Don't tell me that's what actually happened?!"
I threw my hands up in exasperation. This world would be the death of me.
"Sorry. It's just that you are awfully close to the mark. It wasn't Luthor. I should start from the beginning, that way you'll understand."
She replied, catching up to me.
"Nope." I flash stepped to the foot of the hill we were standing on.
"That was rude."
Chase observed.
"It was." I didn't bother denying it.
"But we already have too much on our plate. This has taken longer than it was supposed to. Every single time I think we've handled something, we get swept up into something else."
I stopped as something occured to me.
"Hey Chase, what if I tried to use Fullbring to...I don't know pull on the soul of Space or something? Maybe I can create a doorway."
The Zanpakuto spirit hummed.
"I wouldn't recommend it. The kind of spirit energy needed for that kind of feat with your terrible control would be reserves from an Advance Captain. You will be a husk, drained off all it's energy if you attempt something like that."
I looked at the red sky.
"That's annoying. Fine, let's keep on moving. Eventually we'll find a way out of here and get Raven."
"Hey! That was rude!"
Dawnstar entered my range, before descending to a space above me, hovering around like a vulture waiting for something to die.
"She's persistent."
Chase said as I sighed in frustration.
"I'll just ignore her and hope she goes away."
She didn't.
It was when I had cleared 5 miles from the crater with the strange creatures that I saw something on the horizon. It was no longer so uniform. The red stars dimmed as a large form rose up from the ground in a familiar shape.
"Oh my stars!" Dawnstar cussed in surprise, flying down and landing next to me.
"What is that?"
At the same time, Chase spoke up.
"I just figured out where we are."
And a second before that, I had an answer too.
"Let me guess, we're in Raven's mind right?"
"Huh? Raven? Who are you talking to?"
Dawnstar looked at me weirdly.
"How did you figure it out?"
Chase asked.
I unsheathed my sword.
"The same way you did. The giant dark Raven made of shadows that is flying towards us."
The Raven cried out in a sharp screech that sounded uncomfortable to my ears. It glared at us and descended, flaring out it's wings to shoot numerous sharp feathers towards the ground.
Dawnstar jumped, strafing to the right through the air and escaping the barrage. A bubble shield appeared around me, blocking all the attacks.
"How was Raven able to pull us into her mind with our real bodies?"
I asked Chase, widened the shield to block the claws on the feet of the Raven. There was a sharp sound created from the contact, sparks jumped but the shield held.
"Your little friend has always been powerful. Even before, her potential was only held back by the fear of losing control of her powers. She would make a great ally otherwise."
Chase statement made me wonder how we were going to get her back.
And the Raven, was it a natural response to our presence? Like a security feature? But why would that be? She had pulled us in right?
"Fuck! Shit! Dammit!"
I cursed, jumping away from my position as the ground under me shot up in black spikes.
"Don't curse! It's deplorable."
Dawnstar told me from the side of the Reiryoku platform I was standing on. One thing I could say about this whole thing was that it helped me grow. I figured out how to compact the reishi in the air to step on it.
"I just figured out something. Raven didn't bring us here. I did! The Konso worked but instead of Cleansing her soul, it instead provided me access to her fractured mind through her essence."
I yelled inwardly.
"That is indeed plausible. Which would explain why the Raven is intent on attacking you. You are intruders."
He replied.
"I'm more worried about something else, if Dawnstar here, then it means she must have been close to us to get pulled in with too, which also means..."
I trailed off.
"Constantine and the rest might also be in here. You don't want that guy snooping around her mind space."
"I have to find them."
I said to myself. And if Constantine tries something else that puts Raven in danger...fuck him being useful, I'm killing him.
"We'll need to work together to beat this thing."
I informed Dawnstar as the Raven flew in for another attack.
"Okay. What do you need me to do?"
She asked, determination in her tone.
"I need you to distract it."
I answered, thinking back to the crater and what she had done.
She flew forward, in a collision course with the Raven. Then her body burst out with an aura of intense white light. Like a mini sun in the sky. The Raven screeched in pain, backing away. As a construct made of shadows and darkness, bright light was a major weakness.
Was that her power? Some sort of solar flare?
Next up it was my turn. The distance between the Raven and I shrunk as I stepped onto it's back, placing my sheath on it's shadow feathery back. This was just an idea. The sheath was not just something to heal the body.
Despite whatever my Fullbring had taken form as, it was incredibly useful atleast.
I seemed to be able to cleanse something. Whether it was exhaustion or a headache, holding the sheath was like a balm. So what if I tried to use it on the Raven? I don't know what I was going for. Maybe I wanted Raven to sense it was my energy. To sense it was me. And it worked.
There was a burst of green light and the Raven noticeably calmed down.
"I can't believe that worked."
(Elsewhere)
"And where did you come from shorty?"
Harley asked, pointing her bat at Karate Kid.
The latter sputtered.
"Sh...shorty?! I'm taller than you!"
"If you two are down arguing, you might want to turn you attention to our front."
The magician told them as he slapped his hands onto the ground.
Red Raven shook her head, while getting to her feet. She snarled at them, eyes lighting up.
"I will kill you Constantine! For what you did!"
She lunged, only for the distance between them to increase exponentially.
"What was that? Teleportation?"
Karate Kid asked, looking around them.
"No, I just increased the distance between us and her by over 1000 meters. However..."
Constantine trailed off.
"She can fly."
Harley said in a deadpan. A loud furious scream sounded out as Red Raven wound through the air, rushing towards them with large and sharp clawed hands coming out from underneath of her cloak.
"I'll handle this." Karate Kid said.
"Trust me. I know every single martial arts in the known galaxy."
He let out a yell, placing his right leg before him while his arms settled in a basic martial arts defense style.
Red Raven lashed out with a hand. The whole area seemed to undulate with dark energy as the arm construct sped towards them. Constantine and Harley jumped away just as the construct managed to land on Karate Kid's position.
There was a dull thunk. All the force contained in the magical hand seemed to vanish. Bled out upon Karate Kid's block.
"You will have to try better than that!"
The best martial artist in the world snickered, flexing his arm. veins wildly appeared under the sleeves of his arm and then a lightning fast punch was thrown by him towards Raven.
There was a thrum of power as a small concentrated shockwave smacked onto Raven's chest, breaking her focus and causing the dark constructs she had created to dissipate in the air. Her body was also thrown back.
"What. Was. That?"
Harley questioned while staring at the groove caused by the pressure blast from the punch.
"That is known as the one instant punch. You strike hard and strike fast."
Karate Kid explained, still in a martial arts pose.
Then his body relaxed, Red Raven had seemingly disappeared after that attack. Harley turned to Constantine with big dour eyes.
"Can we keep him? please?"
She asked in a sweet tone.
"Good grief." Constantine replied, turning around to walk away. Why not the cat lady? Or the plant lady? Why was he stuck with Harley?
"I'll take that as a yes!"
Harley called out after him.
The exorcist ignored her for something else. He walked up and stood below the massive statue of Raven. In between the shins was a gateway hidden by an illusion. The air was somewhat distorted but would also take a keen eye to catch the distortion.
Maybe this was the way out. Then again, when was Constantine that Lucky?