Shadow Monarch in DC

The Gate finally opened, the fractured surface peeled back in layers of warped light and for a brief second nothing happaned.

Then the first beast stepped through, and the illusion of control shattered completely.

They came in a flood that defied reason, pouring out of the Gate in numbers so vast that the mind struggled to keep up. Massive wolves the size of armored trucks slammed into the streets, their bodies plated in jagged bone and their glowing eyes scanning for prey with frightening intelligence. Sleeker shapes followed them, jackals with elongated limbs and split jaws, their movements too fast, too fluid, racing across vertical surfaces and collapsing distances in blurs of motion before tearing into anything that moved. War-cats leapt down from above, their metallic hides glowing with mana as they crashed directly into hunter formations, scattering them.

And still they came.

Towering humanoid beasts dropped in groups, their forms wrapped in fur and bone plating, wielding crude weapons. A creature resembling a bear, if one ignored the glowing runes shifting across its body and the unnatural density of its mass, hit the ground hard enough to send a shockwave through the surrounding streets, then rose and swept an entire squad of hunters aside in a single, brutal attack.

A wall of wolves slammed into a different line of A-ranks and S-rank hunters, screams rose instantly. A man who had laughed about "easy paydays" moments earlier was lifted ten feet in the air by a warcat’s jaws, armor crumpling like foil. Another A-rank hunter, watched his friend dissolve into red mist as a jackal’s venom hit him square in the chest. Eyes that had burned with courage widened in animal terror. Mana rifles clattered to the dirt. Men and women hunters who had faced monsters and demons alike inside dungeons turned and ran, boots pounding, voices cracking into sobs.

"Fall back! FALL BACK!"

"It’s too many of them, Jesus!, there’s no end to this!"

And then something larger forced its way through the Gate, its presence alone enough to draw the eyes of everyone, even those in battle.

Three heads. One massive body. Each maw lined with teeth that burned faintly with heat as it exhaled. The Cerberus landed already attacking, its combined roar shaking the air as it tore into the nearest hunters, scattering who had only moments before been boasting into cameras about glory and recognition.

That confidence died quickly.

One hunter charged forward with a shout, blade blazing with mana, only to be intercepted mid-step by a wolf that closed the distance faster than thought and tore through him in a spray of blood that painted the street. Another raised a shield, a Tank screaming for others to regroup, but the jackals hit him all at once, their bodies slamming into the shield until it fractured and collapsed, leaving him exposed for less than a second before they dragged him down.

The lines of hunters broke almost immediately, into pure chaos.

Commands turned into shouting. Shouting turned into panic, and some tried to rally, forcing themselves to stand their ground despite the overwhelming tide, but many simply froze as the scale of the army before them finally sank in. Others turned and ran, abandoning formation entirely as instinct overrode pride.

High above, Superman didn’t allow himself even a fraction of that hesitation. The moment the first wave made contact, he was already moving, his descent cutting through the air breaking the sound barrier before he struck the ground with enough force to send a shockwave rippling outward. Several beasts were thrown clear from the impact, their bodies slamming into nearby structures as he surged forward, fist already streaking through the advancing mass.

"Kara!" he called, already shifting his stance as more beasts closed in.

"I see it!" she answered, her voice sharp with focus as she veered toward the largest threat on the field.

The Cerberus turned toward them, all three heads snapping in unison before splitting apart, each one tracking a different target. Kara met it head-on, colliding with one of its heads and driving her fist into its jaw with a crack that echoed across the battlefield. The impact twisted its neck violently, but the creature barely seemed to register the damage before the second head lashed out toward her.

Superman intercepted it, his hands clamping down on its jaws and forcing them apart with visible strain as heat vision erupted from his eyes, carving across its massive body. The beast roared, all three heads joining in a sound that reverberated through the city, but Kara was already moving again, twisting through the air and slamming both feet into the third head, driving it into the ground hard enough to crater the street beneath it.

"Bastard can take hits!" she snapped, pulling back just as the creature surged again.

"I will not pull my punches then, leave it to me and help the others." Superman replied.

Across the battlefield, the rest of the Justice League had engaged with equal intensity. Martian Manhunter, phasing through incoming attacks before reforming behind his targets, his telepathic power slamming into clusters of beasts and disrupting them long enough for him to dismantle them with powerful strikes. Overhead, green light cut through the sky as Hal Jordan and John Stewart coordinated without needing to speak much, constructs forming and reforming in rapid succession, massive barriers locking down advancing waves while concentrated blasts of energy tore through anything that broke formation.

"Too many damn angles!" Hal called out, his construct shifting under the pressure of repeated impacts.

"I know!" John replied, his own constructs boxing in a group of war-cats before compressing inward with crushing force.

On the ground, Wonder Woman advanced, her blade flashing with lethal grace as she cut through anything that stood in her path, her presence alone holding back a portion of the tide that would have otherwise overwhelmed the hunters entirely. Not far from her, lightning struck in repeated bursts as Shazam moved through the battlefield with raw, explosive power, each impact scattering enemies and buying precious seconds for those still trying to regroup.

Then the shadows descended.

Their impact was immediate. The Shadow Lanterns moved as one, their forms cutting through the battlefield with unnatural coordination, weapons of pure darkness carving into beasts that moments before had seemed unstoppable. Where they advanced, the tide slowed, in a way that gave the defenders room to breathe.

At their forefront, the Shadow Marshal Zeus, dominated the battlefield.

Violet lightning tore from the sky in blinding arcs, each strike annihilating entire groups of beasts in an instant. The air itself seemed to fracture under the force of it, the ground splitting and burning where the lightning made contact.

High above it all, the Batwing cut through the smoke-filled sky now, its systems processing more data than most would have thought possible in such a short time. Batman watched the battlefield through layers of analysis, his gaze moving constantly as he tracked numbers, patterns, emergence rates, and threat levels.

There were too many variables. Too many unknowns.

But one thing was already clear.

"Overwhelming numbers," he said, his voice with a tension he rarely allowed to surface. "Far exceeding initial projections.."

Another wave poured from the Gate even as he spoke, the flow of beasts showing no sign of slowing. His eyes narrowed slightly as he scanned for anomalies, for anything that stood apart from the rest.

Anything that seems like the leader.

But there was nothing, only the army.

"No central figure," he murmured, more to himself than anyone else, his focus sharpening. "No dominant presence among them, except for those S-Rank beasts... but they can’t be the Monarch."

His grip tightened slightly against the controls as the realization settled in fully.

"The Monarch isn’t among them."

****

From their position, a partially collapsed high-rise several blocks away from the main impact zone, the Titans had a clear, elevated view of the battlefield, and somehow that made it worse. Distance turned the entire war into something visible all at once, something impossible to ignore or rationalize.

The Gate still open, still bleeding monsters into the world.

Even from here, the scale of it was overwhelming.

Cyborg stood one arm transformed, cannon glowing as it discharged shot after shot into the advancing swarm in the distance. Each blast cut through the air with mechanical sound before detonating against the beasts, knocking some back, tearing through others, but for every one that fell, more took its place.

He adjusted his aim slightly, targeting a beast pushing too close to a defensive line of hunters, and fired again.

"Damn," he muttered under his breath, "We planned for numbers... we knew it’d be bad..."

Another shot. Another explosion.

His jaw tightened.

"But this.." he continued, his voice lowering as he watched yet another wave pour from the Gate like it had no end. "This is seriously bad."

Behind him, the others were watching too.

Raven stood slightly apart from the group, her hood casting a shadow over her face as her gaze remained fixed on the chaos. The Gate pressed against her senses in a way the others couldn’t fully understand.

Her hands tightened slightly at her sides.

"I’m not staying here," she said quietly, though there was nothing uncertain in her tone.

Robin turned immediately at that, already stepping toward her. "Raven wait!"

He reached out, not grabbing her, but close enough to stop her.

"The plan," he said, "We hold position. We will move when we’re needed, not when we feel like it."

Raven didn’t even look at him.

Her eyes were still on the battlefield.

On the hunters breaking, on the creatures tearing through lines that were supposed to hold.

On the League already engaged, already stretched.

Then she exhaled slowly, and for a moment it almost looked like she might listen.

Almost.

"Sorry." she said.

And then the shadows around her shifted.

Robin’s hand moved instinctively, but he was already too late.

Raven dissolved into a dark blur, her form collapsing into shadow before vanishing completely from the rooftop.

Blue Beetle blinked, looking from where she had been to Robin, then back again. "...Annnd she’s gone."

Beast Boy, who had been crouched near the edge but very deliberately not too close, let out a slow breath. "Yeah... okay... I’m gonna be honest," he said, raising his hands slightly like he was making a personal declaration. "I’m actually feeling really good about staying right here."

He glanced at the battlefield, where a massive wolf tore through a group of hunters before being intercepted by a blast of green light.

"Like... super good," he added quickly. "Plan sounds great. Love the plan. Big fan of the plan."

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