Risk It All: Luck of the Devil (ch. 37) (Patreon)

"It's good to finally meet you all," an elderly man said as we entered the briefing room, and the first thing that I noticed was that he looked absolutely ancient. The man was clearly old -- with white hair and a face full of wrinkles, but he seemed ancient because of exhaustion seemingly tacking on an extra century to his appearance. His eyes betrayed his tiredness, holding a glassy quality to them that told me he was having trouble focusing on us as we filtered through the door. "My name is Kent Nelson, but you probably know me better as Dr. Fate."

I opened my mouth to respond, only for a coughing fit to rip through him. He sat heavily in a chair, a familiar golden helmet in his lap with a cane standing straight up. I took a step forward to help him, though not really sure how, but he just waved off me and Zatanna.

"And," he continued, letting out a final hacking cough, "as you can see, I am dying." He said the words with a sense of finality and acceptance. There was no doubt in his voice or lingering hope that whatever was killing him could be averted or undone.

Conner shifted next to me, "I'm sorry," he offered. His lips thinned and I heard a run down version of what he was hearing -- that cough was nasty. Even without buffing my Sense stat, it was like I could hear the fluid in his lungs sloshing with every small movement.

Kent Nelson just offered a kindly smile that would have been a charming smirk if it wasn't for how exhausted he seemed. "No need to be sorry, kid. Death is as much a part of life as living is. I've had a long life -- lived, laughed, loved, like those tacky decorations my wife used to collect. However," he cleared his throat as if to ward off another hacking cough. "My death comes at a rather inopportune time. The world still needs Dr. Fate. Perhaps now more than ever before."

I made the decision to take a seat at the table that was set up for the briefing. The others followed suit -- Zatanna sitting next to me, Conner on my other side, with Wally next to him. The other half of the team was resting. They needed it.

"How does that work, exactly? Aren't you Dr. Fate?" Wally questioned, his tone faintly suspicious, but Kent shook his head.

"Oh, no -- I'm just an old suit that Dr. Fate puts on," Kent answered, placing the golden featureless helmet on the table. "The real Dr. Fate is right here -- his name is Nabu, and he is a Lord of Order." That… gave me some questions, because it painted a pretty clear picture -- Kent Nelson was the host for Nabu. I didn't know too much about him, much to my shame. Before the disaster, history had been my worst subject and, well, I only knew the name Dr. Fate because he had been on the same team as Wonder Woman. I did a little more research to figure out who the golden helmet guy that helped Zatara was and learned a bit more about Dr. Fate.

He was a founding member of the Justice Society, which had been active during the second world war. That's when they were at their most active -- after the war ended, Wonder Woman went back home for the next eighty years, and the Justice Society disbanded for the most part. I read some theories that it had more to do with the start of the Cold War rather than any personal disagreements. But, a decade after the war, most members of the Justice Society seemed to go into a quiet retirement.

"That's what dad meant by finding Dr. Fate a new host?" Zatanna questioned, looking like she was about to tear up as she regarded Kent.

"Exactly so. Being Dr. Fate… I'm afraid, as much as I want to, I just can't do it anymore. The demands on the body are just too much for an old bag of wind like me-" he was interrupted by a cough that slowly ramped up until I could hear his bones rattling under the force of them. I hopped up and bought a glass of water from my market and gave it to him, earning a thankful look.

I think that's when it really sunk in. Kent Nelson had lived and fought during World War Two. Assuming that he had only been twenty when the war started, he had to be at least a hundred years old. And when the world needed him most, he stepped up to the plate to don the helmet of Fate, and it killed him. Maybe not instantly, but it killed him all the same.

"I could be Fate," Zatanna volunteered without a second thought.

To that, Kent smiled, "Not a chance, I'm afraid. Your father would never allow it. What's more," Kent continued right when Zatanna was about to dig her heels in, "Nabu has already chosen my successor." That, I noticed, sitting back down, Kent sounded a bit sad about. Though maybe sad wasn't the right word. Apprehensive?

"Who are they?" I questioned, making Kent look at me while Zatanna silently fumed. I was going to have to reassure her later that she would have made a fantastic Dr. Fate.

"That, we don't yet know, I'm afraid. The magical world of Earth has been in a long slumber, and this… disaster has woken up a number of old forces -- the Parliaments are among them. I wish it could have been-" he coughed for a long minute the drained the cup to its final drops, "- under… under better circumstances, but a number of people have experienced something of a magical awakening. My successor is one such individual. All we know is that they're powerful and well hidden."

Then Kent lightly tapped the golden helmet, "But, I think we've dallied long enough," he said, lifting the helmet with wrinkled hands, the faintest tremor in them as he made to put it on.

"Wait," I made him pause, "What is our mission exactly?" Are we helping him find the successor? Because I don't think this was the right team for that.

Kent smiled, a tired look in his eyes, "You're insurance. Just in case my old bones give out before the deal is sealed." He answered, and that made my heart clench but Kent fearlessly put on the helmet and there was a flash of golden light as his well tailored suit was replaced by a familiar uniform that belonged to Dr. Fate. The air they seemed to carry themselves with changed -- if I didn't already know that they were different people, then I would have been certain of it because when Dr. Fate stood, he looked down at us coldly.

"You…" Dr. Fate began as we all started to rise, his eyes narrowing a fraction as he regarded me. Then down to Gluttony, who was coiled around me. Could he see him? He'd be the first. "I see. You children are back up hosts in case Kent Nelson perishes during this mission. Should he die, you must put on the helmet and temporarily become Fate until my chosen successor has taken up the mantle. Is this understood?" He asked, and that was… weird.

I wasn't sure I liked how he looked at me.

"We understand," Zatanna quickly responded for the four of us. I jerked my head in a nod, not at all picking up the same vibes of a kindly old man that Kent had.

"Good," Dr. Fate uttered, his voice firm and cold before he held out a golden gloved hand before a ankh of glimmering gold appeared behind him and swept forward, engulfing all of us. I didn't really feel a sudden shift, but I would have fallen out of my chair if I had still been sitting. The briefing room was gone as we were teleported into what looked like a back alley in some city that would look right at home in Gotham, complete with overstuffed dumpsters, and used needles on the ground.

Yet the sight of it immediately put my guard all the way up. "We aren't the only ones looking for them, are we?" I ventured because there were no people in the alley. There was not a city left in the world that had an empty alley anymore. Being forced to stuff several times the population limit made sure of that, even with pocket dimensions getting added by the hour. If we were somewhere normal, then this alley would be filled to the absolute brim.

"We are not," Dr. Fate answered. "Do not venture far from me. You may not survive the experience," he informed, and my first thought was that Dr. Fate was kinda a dick. He held up his hand to the brick stone wall  on one side of the alleyway in front of us before I could say anything, and while the bricks seemed to fold intoeach other like paper, I glanced at Zatanna.

She didn't seem overly worried. But, I couldn't tell how much of that was because she was excited to work with Dr. Fate -- he was a mythical figure in the magic community according to her. And he had more than proved it when he saved the world by teleporting every human on the planet into a Haven. In any case, I had Gluttony spit out my sword. Just in case

"Right, magic is a thing. I guess," Wally muttered as we fell in step behind Dr. Fate's golden cloak. The brick gave way to some kind of tunnel, like we were walking through a sewer of some kind. Everything looked damp and the air had a wet feeling to it, but I noticed that the shadows seemed unnaturally deep. "So, can you make some… protective charms or something?" Wally questioned, looking to me.

"I dunno. Maybe?" I answered, looking at my Market because that was  something I never thought to look into.

"Protective charms?" Zatanna questioned, looking at Wally with a cocked eyebrow.

Wally shrugged unrepentantly, "Look, I didn't even believe in magic until Koi's family took over the world with kung fu magic pills and stuff," He said, giving me an apologetic look and earning an uncaring shrug in response. "I don't know what you can really do with it."

I winced on Wally's behalf because Zatanna narrowed her eyes, zeroing in on his slipup. "Wait, then what did you think I was doing? Or my dad? Or Kaldur?"

"Energy manipulation?" Wally tried, seemingly realizing he stepped on a landmine a second too late. "I just didn't think it was actual magic. I've changed my mind! And I'm a real believer now!" He tacked on, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender. Or to ward off Zatanna, who opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off from Dr. Fate.

"Enough blathering," he interjected, making Zatanna swallow her words. There was a sharp warning in his tone, making us all clam up and travel in silence. Worse, since Megan wasn't with us, we couldn't communicate telepathically. Unless…?

Before I could search my Market for a telepathy skill, I caught sight of a bright light at the end of the tunnel. It was blinding, completely obscuring the source of the light. Dr. Fate continued forward with no hesitation in his steps, and despite my growing apprehension, we followed behind him. Once we stepped into the light, it stopped being so blinding and revealed…

"What's going on?" Conner questioned, and I was glad because I didn't have to. I looked up at the bright blue sky without a cloud above, then behind us and I was only vaguely surprised when the tunnel we just walked through was nowhere to be seen. In its place was a demolished house -- I recognized the signs easily enough. Something inside the house grew too big to contain it and the house exploded outward. There was a trail of destruction in the lines of houses and the road we stood on.

We were in a shitty alley, walked through a tunnel, and now we were in a wrecked suburb?

"The sorcerer we seek is innately powerful, but unskilled. Their desire to hide obscures them, yet not enough to stop Dr. Fate," Dr. Fate replied. And I didn't really get what he meant by that. Not until I paid attention to the detail that I initially skipped over -- or, rather, the lack of detail. That's when it clicked.

We weren't outside the city. We were in some kind of illusionary world. Unlike before, it wasn't just in my head because Mind Defense would have protected me.

My grip tightened on my sword before Gluttony began to squirm around me. I looked down at him, his rather hideous face with too large eyes began to pinch in discomfort. Was Dr. Fate doing something? Did Order magic act like holy magic or something? I didn't know -- Gluttony was intangible and invisible, so I never really had to worry about him, but now we seemed to step on the realms of magic and I was less certain that he would just be fine.

Gluttony's discomfort was the only warning when the illusionary world began to crack. I thought it was Dr. Fate doing something, but that thought was quickly put to rest when the street not far from us began to rip away, revealing a set of stairs that looked and sounded like they led directly down to the depths of hell.

A masked figure walked up those polished red steps, the flickerings of flames casting long shadows in the tunnel he emerged from. The figure himself was unnaturally tall and lanky, almost as if someone had stretched a five foot man out until he was about eight feet tall. He wore a white hood that flowed into a long cloak that was tied off at his waist, like a tabard. It revealed how scrawny he was. His sleeves were a blood red and loose, his skin a washed out white  the same color as his cloak. Clutched in one hand was some kind of staff -- long and thin with multiple spokes at the top. It kinda looked like someone had stretched out a menorah and turned it into a weapon.

The moment my eyes landed on him, I felt my stomach clench and a chill race down my spine. I couldn't see much of his face, but everything about the guy was distinctly inhuman. Almost as if someone was mocking humans rather than his form being anything remotely natural.

"An agent of chaos," Dr. Fate uttered, his voice dripping with contempt.

"An agent of Blood," the… creature seemed to correct, the staircase that he emerged from closing behind him. It seemed to register us a moment later, tilting his head and revealing a bone mask that had four eyes and no nose that covered everything except his mouth that was just a touch too wide. "You shall suffer for your transgressions, whatever they might be. Confess them now and you shall be granted leniency." His voice sounded weird with a faint warble. Almost as if there were two voices speaking at once, but one of them was shouting from a great distance away.

Gluttony recoiled, shifting so I was between him and whatever the creature was in front of us.

Dr. Fate barely seemed to care as his gaze remained affixed to the house before him. The house was the only one that wasn't demolished. Actually, it seemed completely fine -- no sign of damage on the two story home, and even the front yard looked freshly cut. "It was not you that I spoke of, demon," Dr. Fate said. "Klarion the Witch Boy -- how long do you intend to hide yourself from me?"

Who?

"Boo!" I heard a new voice interject, sounding throughly displeased. My gaze darted to the source and saw a smaller, yet no less lanky, teenager step through the front door of the undamaged house. As in, the surface of the door rippled like water, revealing a pale skinned guy around my age with a suit on, while his hair was styled to look like horns. "I wasn't hiding! I was shadowing, you dumb helmet!" He protested hotly, thoroughly annoyed.

"I've been watching a lot of human TV and the bad guys always show up right when the goody two shoes losers get the McGuffin to save the day. Every time! So, I got to thinking and I realized that they just let the heroes do all the work so they can sweep in and steal it from them! I got inspired, isn't that right Teekl?" Klarion questioned, earning a meow from the orange and black cat that rubbed against his leg.

Right. I know I shouldn't ever underestimate anyone, but I had to admit, it was going to be a little difficult taking him seriously after hearing that. I focused on the lanky demon in front of us, thinking he was the bigger threat of the two. Gluttony seemed more scared of him than Klarion.

"Meaning you do not have him," Dr. Fate pointed out, making Klarion flinch as if he just realized that he made that admission. "Leave the Witch Boy to me, children. Should I fall, Zatanna has the capacity to continue the hunt."

That was the cue that we all had been waiting for. The air around Wally seemed to vibrate as he let out a breath, it coming out as steam while the crackling of electricity reached my ears. That was my warning before there was a clap of thunder when Wally took off at the proclaimed demon. In that same moment, I flash-stepped forward, instantly closing the distance between us as the demon began to react.

Wally was fast. He had always been faster than me, but even with a rudimentary use of Lightning Breathing, his speed seemed to improve by leaps and bounds. At this close range, my arrival was nearly instantaneous, but Wally still delivered a half dozen blows before I arrived. His fists crashed into the demon's stomach, and by the time I arrived, I saw that he looked like he was regretting that action because the demon looked like he had just tanked the hits. He seemed durable.

Lashing out with my blade, I brought it down between the spikes on his trident before jerking the blade to the side, forcing the demon to abandon the beginnings of a strike and opening him up to me driving a Focus Stomp onto his collarbone.

The moment my heel struck the demon, I realized the same thing Wally did -- the demon was… weird. I don't know how else to describe him. His body felt the impact of my Focus Stomp, but it only seemed localized to where I actually hit him. My foot sunk in down to my toes, meaning that I took out a few of his ribs as well, but there was nothing else -- no bending his knees as the force traveled through him, no bracing himself, or even a reaction to his shattered collarbone.

Weird proved to be an understatement because I felt a hand grip me by my foot, the grip burning my skin as if hot coals were being pressed against it through my shoes. Gritting my teeth, I used my flexibility to spin sharply, a move that should have dislocated my leg, but my tendons were inhumanly elastic, letting me drive my other foot into the demon's head. This time, his head collapsed, crushing his eyes and temple. But there was no reaction. The burning pain in my foot seemed to be spreading up my leg like a poison and, worse, I felt another hand grab my other foot, preventing me from withdrawing.

Wally wasn't giving up. In the brief exchange, he was pulling out all the stops -- attacking joints in the demon's legs, and going for nerves. I think he was too fast for the demon's body to react, but I wasn't. Touching the demon seemed like a bad idea.

With that thought in mind, I held out a hand towards the demon's chest. I had no clue if this would kill him or not. But it was a demon. I'm pretty sure this would be considered a good deed -- with that thought in mind, I used Cero for the first time.

Qi condensed into the palm of my hand, starting out as a flickering flame of bright red energy that was tinged with black, before it quickly swelled into a small ball about the size of a baseball. The demon was beginning to fall since Wally took out his knees, but he barely seemed to care. I met his gaze through the eye holes in his mask -- despite having four, with a set above where his eyes would normally be -- I saw that he only had one eye that I could see. And it was blood red.

The torrent of pure energy that erupted from my hand was beyond my expectations. I was thinking something like a modest energy blast, enough to do some damage and pack a punch, but instead what I unleashed was like a cannon going off. Ruby red energy erupted from my palm, punching through the demon's chest and then some. It cut him in half at the shoulders, and it was only then that I felt the grip on my heels let up, though the pain still lingered.

Wasting no time, I began a hasty retreat, ending the cero as it carved a large furrow in the asphalt behind the demon before demolishing a house.

"What was that?!" Wally questioned as I touched down back with the group. My gaze flickered down to my feet, the pain still radiating where that thing grabbed me, but I didn't see any evidence of it on my shoes. The pain was annoying and distracting, enough so that the adrenaline wasn't enough to let me ignore it.

"New technique," I answered and Wally rolled his eyes.

"Obviously! You can shoot laser beams now- oh, that's so gross," Wally started to gripe without any heat in his words, only to get sidetracked when the demon started to… I'd say heal itself, but I'm not really sure that was what was happening. The indentions I made in the top half of the demon were getting…poked at from the inside until the indentions were mostly smoothed out, yet still kinda lumpy, before something began to emerge from the injuries.

All the while, the legs from the bisected demon began to right themselves, the waist bubbling as needle-thin fingers began to stretch upward. They merged together when there were enough of them, becoming flesh and cloth. In a few seconds, two complete demons stood before us.

"Great, now they're two of them!" Wally complained before both demons began to stride forward, one with a weapon and the other without.

"Don't let them touch you even after you hit them. Those finger things hurt," I informed, leveling my sword at the one with the weapon. "Zatanna, you know anything about fighting demons?"

"I know how to perform an exorcism. We need to keep them in place for it," Zatanna spoke, her voice determined. There was anger in her voice as a hand drifted up to her necklace -- a small golden cross.

"Sindella Zatara," the demon spoke, his lips moving in unison. Zatanna went deathly still at the name. "Her sins are known to me. Guilty of the sin of Pride. Her arrogance knew no bounds -- to attempt to interfere with the plans of my Lord. It is my pleasure to inform you, her daughter, that she has since been humbled." There was a savage glee in the demon's words and Zatanna let out a strangled sound.

Her hands clenched into fists and something in Zatanna seemed to snap, "Eid!" She screamed, the magical command ripping from her throat.

The demon's seemed to flinch, but they pressed forward all the same. I didn't know exactly what was going on between them, but I could make a guess. Zatanna never talked about her mother. I thought she might have died or something, so I didn't want to bring it up. However, a demon knowing her name? I didn't like what that implied at all.

Regardless, it just meant we had another reason to send the demon back to the depths of hell.

Flash-stepping forward as Zatanna screamed for the demon to die, I breathed deeply as the night sky gathered around my blade. Slashing at the demon, the surge of spinning moons and twinkling stars was caught by his staff with a slash of his own. Blood erupted from the staff that splashed onto the ground, burning away at it like acid, while his staff thrust at me.

Making a split second decision, I decided to step forward, meeting his thrust with Tsubame Gaeshi -- it had been a while since I used the technique since Dad thought it was too dangerous to let my family know, but that ship had sailed. With my blade, I caught the thrust, stopping it cold, and in that same moment, my sword lashed out at his forearm, and his legs. Unlike with blunt force, cutting through the demon seemed easier. As his forearm, which clutched the staff fell to the ground, I aimed a thrust at the demon's throat.

It punched through it while Wally zipped around, taking the staff, while Gluttony, in his first attempt to fight I had ever seen, leapt from my back to descend on the fallen forearm while it twitched. The blood that flowed from it was bright red and moving, shaped like small hands that were reaching out to the rest of the body. Gluttony fell upon the firearm, and while his mouth had always been large, it was the first time I had ever heard him take a bite out of anything.

The arm began to scream with a high pitched shriek as Gluttony feasted upon it. The demon barely seemed to notice the sword in his throat as he took a step forward, opening his mouth and… I saw someone peeking out from within his mouth. It caught me so off guard I nearly tripped, "Ren Song," he spoke my name, making me tense. I had dealt with danger before. It wasn't nerves or anything like that.

However, the moment my name left his mouth, my body froze in a way like it hadn't since my first night out. When I got mugged by some idiot with a gun and it settled in his easily he could have killed me.

Something brushed against my mind. Unlike Megan, who knocked to make a connection, it felt like someone was trying to kick down the door to my brain. That, more than anything else, snapped me out of it. I flash-stepped away, my heart pounding in my chest as a primal sense of fear turned my blood to ice. The demon continued, unbothered by Gluttony devouring his arm, or Wally and Conner dealing with his other half. Retreating back to Zatanna, I picked up on the fear and rage in her posture.

"Greed is your sin," the demon uttered the words like a death sentence. "My lord knows of you. Drop to your knees and beg to be of service, and you may yet be spared the sufferings you so richly deserve."

I frowned underneath my mask, trying to focus. The demon wasn't strong. He was more hard to fight than actually being strong. But, right now, the biggest advantage he had was that he was fucking with us mentally. He was psyching me out. Me and Zatanna.

Taking a steadying breath, I narrowed my eyes, "Depends. Who's your master?" I questioned, mostly just trying to calm myself down and buying time to do it.

The creature seemed to sneer at my question, as if he knew exactly what I was doing. "Dishonesty masquerading as ignorance," he spat with more than a little heat. If I didn't know any better, I would say that I was pissing him off. Worse, I had absolutely no clue why he seemed so certain that I knew who his master was. Did he mean Gluttony? Because Gluttony looked like he would have pissed himself if he was capable of it the moment the demon showed up. "Your punishment shall be severe. I shall weave a robe for my lord out of your flesh. It may take thousands upon thousands of flayings, but it shall be done by my own hand."

Right.

"Zee, get ready to send what's left of this guy back to hell," I told her, earning a curt nod as she glared hatefully at the demon.

The arrival of an actual demon had psyched me out. It made me too cautious and uncertain. My time as a hero taught me to not go for the kill, but that's exactly what I needed to do now.

Planting my sword in the ground, I darted forward with a Flash Step. I arrived in a split second directly behind the demon, my hands clasped as I activated a new technique. This one was different from the others. This one was… "Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine," I intoned. I had to speak it out loud because it was me staking my claim over reality, in a way.

Upon the very air around us, my Domain Expansion was painted and it was a sight taken right out of the depths of hell. Demons and monsters were pointed upon the air, their claws poised to strike with fierce snarls upon their faces. My claim over reality was a small one, barely managing ten feet with me at the center, but it was enough to leave the demon surrounded. There was a brief moment of recognition on his face before the first slash was made, bisecting the demon's arm.

The attacks were relentless and coming from every angle. I completely underestimated how powerful it was. In a few tion of a second, what had to be a million blows were struck from every conceivable angle. Each one a manifestation of Cleave, which split flesh while Dismantle cut inorganic matter. The demon was obliterated in that fraction of a second, the pale flesh carved away until no trace of it remained.

Yet, what that did was reveal what had been within the demon itself. The creature that grabbed hold of me, that looked at me from within it -- it was a small thing with boiled red flesh and an untamed mop of white hair. Its four arms hugged its knees to its chest, revealing that its limbs were far too long.four sets of eyes looked upon me, natural ones unlike what the demon had worn. Cleave and Dismantle rained down upon it as the creature floated in the air.

It smiled at me, revealing a mouth full of needle teeth, making my stomach twist into knots…

Then, without any warning, the creature vanished out if sight like it had never been there at all.

Even with a brief use of the technique, exhaustion slammed into me like a truck, forcing me to take a knee as I let the Domain Expansion drop.  Zatanna sprinted over anyway, holding her hands out as she seemed to snarl, "Og ot lleh!" She commanded and if there was anything left of the demon, then it got a one way ticket back down with the one Wally and Conner fighting collapsing into a pile of ash.

I let out a breath of relief, only to choke on it when I heard a cat meowing.

Looking over, I met eyes with Klarion the Witch Boy, who gave me a wide smile as he spun the golden helmet of Dr. Fate on a finger.

"Well, aren't you interesting?"