Shadow Monarch in DC

Chapter 510: Dragon’s Dungeon

One moment Arthur and Raven stood in the fading light of the Greek sunset, the Aegean Sea glittering behind them. The next, they were inside the dungeon.The heat hit first, it was oppressive and suffocating, the ground beneath their feet was black,smooth and glassy and cracked in patterns that glowed with faint orange light. Fissures in the earth bled rivers of molten rock, their glow casting long, dancing shadows across the landscape.

And in the distance, dominating everything, a volcano rose.

It was massive, smoke billowed from its crater, staining the sky a perpetual twilight, red lightning crackled through the clouds, illuminating the landscape in flashes of blood-colored light.

Arthur stopped walking and his eyes swept across the landscape, the obsidian plains, the rivers of lava, the volcano. "This is interesting," he said. "No wonder Bruce said this Gate was dangerous."

Raven stood beside him, her hand raised, her eyes closed. Her brow furrowed. "The magic I’m sensing is..."

"Pretty strong, huh?"

Raven opened her eyes. "Pretty strong is an understatement, whatever lurks here is not some random monster, this is clearly stronger than the Giant gate we dealt with."

Arthur nodded slowly. "This looks like a Red Gate, no matter how you look at it." He paused. "But it’s not, a Red Gate traps Hunters inside until they clear it. This?" He gestured at the landscape around them. "This is deliberate, someone created this recently."

"Who?"

Arthur was silent for a moment. "I have my suspicions, hopefully it is the Rulers and not who I think it is."

They walked across the obsidian plain, their footsteps echoing, the heat pressed against them, but neither showed any discomfort. Arthur’s shadow armor had materialized around him.

"You think the raid team is okay?" Raven asked.

Arthur’s eyes scanned the distance. "They are alive." His gaze sharpened. "I can sense the kid as well, Bruce’s new Robin."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "New Robin?"

Arthur’s lips twitched. "I’m just calling him that, because he’s taking care of him, Ethan is also an orphan, a strong Hunter, one of the vessels of the Rulers. He’s part of Bruce’s guild, and Bruce is... strictly monitoring him."

Raven considered this. "I see now. Yeah, everything checks out." She smiled. "He is a Robin."

Arthur’s smile widened. "Exactly."

H’El materialized before them.

The shadow of the perfect Kryptonian clone stood tall, his eyes burning with the same fire as his master’s. He knelt before Arthur, his voice a low rumble.

"My King."

Arthur’s eyes were on the volcano. "I need you to scout ahead, fly around the area, I’m sensing dragons in this place."

H’El’s head rose. "Dragons, my King?"

"Yes. Apparently, the Rulers did manage to capture some, if this place is their creation." Arthur’s expression darkened. "The dragons here are not in a good mood, they are angry and they are not friendly."

H’El’s eyes gleamed. "My King, am I allowed to attack them?"

Arthur considered this for a moment. Then he nodded.

"Yeah."

H’El rose and launched himself into the sky, his form disappearing into the smoke and ash, his presence a faint whisper in the back of Arthur’s mind.

Raven watched him go. "He seems so eager to fight."

"He’s always eager, actually all of my Marshals are, you see I don’t have Grand Marshal so they all try to impress me." Arthur began walking again, toward the volcano. "He doesn’t get to stretch his legs much, being a shadow Marshal is mostly administrative work, believe it or not."

Raven fell into step beside him. "Administrative work?"

"Organizing the soldiers." Arthur’s voice was dry. "So much of it, you have no idea how much work is involved in running an interdimensional immortal army, you should take a look at them in my world of eternal slumber."

Raven laughed warmly and surprised.

Arthur pointed toward the volcano’s base. "They passed through here."

Raven followed his gaze. A massive entrance gaped at the base of the mountain a cave mouth carved its edges smooth and worn. Tracks led inside, the marks of dozens of boots.

"Of course," Raven said. "And let me guess... there is a giant dragon inside."

Arthur’s eyes glowed violet. "From what I’m sensing alone, this might be one of Antares’s lieutenants that they captured." His voice was flat, "An ancient dragon, on the level of my Marshals."

Raven stopped walking.

"That strong?!"

Arthur turned to look at her. "Do you really think his soldiers are weaker than mine?" His voice was calm, patient. "If that were the case, there wouldn’t be any sort of competition between us. My advantage is that my soldiers are immortal, while his are not. But he can easily erase my Marshals from existence."

Raven’s eyes widened.

"Now do you understand why only I can confront him?" Arthur continued. "Sending my soldiers against the Dragon Monarch is a death sentence for them. He would destroy them, erase them. Permanently."

Raven was quiet for a moment.

"I see," she finally said. "He really is something."

"Yes, he is." Arthur’s voice hardened. "And now since we just learned that he has obtained the concept of Destruction, he is even more troublesome."

They entered the cave, the passage was long, winding, descending deeper and deeper into the heart of the volcano. The walls glowed with heat, the air was filled with the scent of sulfur.

Raven’s hand found Arthur’s, he squeezed it gently.

They walked in silence, and what lay ahead opened before them.

It was massive, like a cathedral of fire and stone, its ceiling lost in smoke and shadow. Rivers of lava cascaded down the walls, feeding a lake of molten rock at the center of the room. The heat was overwhelming, and at the center of it all, a battle raged.

The raid team was spread across the chamber, their formations tight, their movements coordinated. They were all S-Ranks, the best of the best, Hunters who had faced monsters that would have broken lesser beings. They fought with discipline, with courage, with the desperate efficiency of those who knew that one mistake meant death in a place like this.

At the center of the assault, a figure stood out.

Ethan Jones moved like a force of nature.

His gravity powers warped the air around him, pinning the dragon with invisible chains. The beast was massive, ancient, its scales the color of cooling magma, struggled against the weight pressing down on it. Its roar shook the chamber, sending tremors through the stone.

"STRIKE!" someone shouted the raid leader, a grizzled S-Rank from Bruce’s Wayne guild. "COVER YOURSELF! CAREFUL OF HIS TAIL! THE DAMN THING IS JUST AS DANGEROUS AS HIS DRAGONFIRE!"

The Hunters scattered, diving behind outcroppings of rock as the dragon’s tail swept across the chamber, carving furrows in the stone. A Hunter who had been too slow was thrown across the room, his armor dented, his breath driven from his lungs.

Ethan’s hands were raised, his face set in concentration. Gravity distortions rippled around him, holding the dragon in place, giving the others time to regroup.

"We need to hit it harder!" Ethan shouted. "Its armor is too thick, but I think I can try to..."

"WE KNOW!" the raid leader shouted back. "WE’RE TRYING..."

Raven stood at the edge of the chamber, her eyes wide.

"This is intense," she breathed.

Arthur was gone.

He had been standing beside her a moment ago, his hand in hers. Now there was nothing but empty space where he had been.

Her eyes shot to the dragon.

Arthur appeared above its head, his form materializing from a crack of displaced air. His shadow armor blazed with violet light. His eyes burned with the same fire, his spear, Thanatos Bronte, Death Thunder, crackled with energy that made the very air around him tremble.

The dragon’s eyes widened.

"Shadow Monarch ?!"

Arthur swung.

The spear descended in a single, terrible arc a stroke of lightning given form, a blade of pure violet energy that cut through the dragon’s neck like paper. The beast’s roar turned into a gurgle, then silence. Its head separated from its body, tumbling through the air, hitting the ground with a sound like a mountain falling.

Its body followed, the chamber shook and the Hunters scattered, diving for cover as the massive corpse crashed to the ground. Lava splashed and stone cracked. The heat from the dragon’s dying breath washed over them like a wave.

And Arthur landed on the ground, his spear dissipating into motes of violet light, his expression calm.

"Hi," he said.

The chamber was silent.

The Hunters stared at him at the man who had appeared from nowhere, who had killed a dragon with a single blow, who stood in the center of their battlefield as if he had just arrived for a casual meeting.

Ethan’s jaw dropped.

"Mister Arthur!"

Arthur turned to him, a small smile on his face.

"Ethan." He looked at the dragon’s corpse, then back at the young Hunter. "Good work pinning it, your gravity manipulation has improved, this was no easy foe."

Ethan blinked. "I... thank you?"

The raid leader stepped forward, his face pale. "Who..who are you? How did you.."

Arthur raised a hand.

"Arthur Blackwynd," he said simply. "I’m here to help."

The name rippled through the Hunters like a shockwave. Whispers spread across the chamber... "The Arthur Blackwydn?!," "The strongest Hunter they call him," "The one who killed the Monarchs in Gotham.." They looked at him with a mixture of awe and fear, as if they had just realized that the man standing before them was not merely powerful, but something far beyond their understanding.

Raven appeared beside Arthur, her expression amused.

"Nice entrance," she said.

Arthur’s smile widened. "I try."

Ethan stepped forward, his voice eager. "Mister Arthur, we didn’t expect you to come here... If we knew, we would have waited for you..."

"I know." Arthur’s voice was gentle. "But this Gate is more dangerous than anyone realized, so Bruce wanted me to come and help." He looked at the dragon’s corpse. "And it’s a good thing I did, because this isn’t even the boss."

He gestured at the chamber, at the passage that led deeper into the volcano.

"The boss," Arthur said, "is still ahead, the thing that created this place." He looked at the Hunters, at their exhausted faces, at their weapons and armor, at the bruises and cuts they had already sustained.

"You all should rest," Arthur said. "Heal and recover, I’ll handle what’s ahead."

The raid leader opened his mouth to protest.

"That’s not.."

"I know." Arthur’s voice was calm, but final. "But this is beyond your pay grade, trust me."

Ethan stepped forward. "I can help, I’m strong enough."

"I know you are." Arthur’s smile was kind. "Even though you’ve already done enough... fine you can come."

Ethan nodded excitedly with a massive smile on his face.

/-\

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