American comics: From Hogwarts to God on Earth

On a rainy night, the world seemed shrouded in a deep curtain. Raindrops fell densely, like fine needles, piercing the silence of the night. In this endless darkness, a figure stood silently. He stood at the street corner, tall and slender, as if he had grown out of the darkness itself. Rainwater slid down his silhouette, but could not wash away the suffocating oppressive aura emanating from him. His face was hidden beneath a hood, only three pairs of eyes visible—eyes so deep they seemed capable of devouring souls, flashing a cold red light, revealing boundless madness.

His robes fluttered slightly in the rain, as if becoming part of the night. Eerie crimson patterns peeked through the black fabric. Rainwater soaked his hem, then dried instantly. He tilted his head back, taking a deep breath, as if greedily inhaling something. Suddenly, he seemed to find his target, grinning to reveal a dense array of teeth.

"Zatanna, I've found you... Hmm, and dessert too?"

His mouth stretched to his ears, revealing an inhuman smile.

Meanwhile, Rune wasn't idle either. He began to examine himself and quickly discovered the reason for his cruelty—magic. The magic in Gotham City was problematic; it seemed to originate from the deepest darkness.

Do not!

Rune realized something. In a sense, Gotham itself was born from darkness. It was under the watchful eye of Barbatos, the personification of destruction and darkness, the epitome of despair, and his servants, the Court of Owls, propelled the establishment of Gotham. It was also Barbatos's will that led to the birth of Batman. Bruce Wayne's fear wasn't of the bat itself, but of something deeper, more terrifying, and darker lurking behind it.

After considering all this, Rune quickly listed the Guardian Charm as the most important spell to learn.

Having his own room made it much easier for Rune to practice Transfiguration and spells. He began to constantly review the magic he had learned. The objects in the room also began to undergo strange changes—they came to life. A teacup turned into a squirrel, then was eaten by a chair that had transformed into a hunting dog; a sofa that had become a tiger lay at Rune's feet, vigilantly observing its surroundings; and a table transformed into a horse, lowering its head to nibble on grass that had somehow sprouted…

"Zatanna..."

Heavy footsteps came from outside the door, and a two-tone call came through the rain.

boom!

A claw covered in blood-red scales pierced through the door. Rune took two steps back, and the door turned into an iron block, locking the claw tightly and allowing Rune to see its appearance.

"I'm not Zatanna, get out of here!" Rune said angrily, while simultaneously casting a protective armor on himself.

"A wizard?" the demon chuckled softly. "Delicious... wizards are delicious!"

Flames erupted, and the iron block instantly turned red-hot, dripping down as a liquid-like substance. Rune roared, "Ablution: Your weapon!"

The six-eyed demon's arms involuntarily bent backward, the powerful force causing him to howl involuntarily: "It hurts...you...wizard...damn it..."

As Rune remained in a stalemate, he pondered how the descendants of the Three Palace Demons had become involved with Zatanna. The next moment, the demon shuddered, and Rune felt as if he had been punched hard in the head. He involuntarily took a few steps back, felt a burning sensation in his nose, wiped it, and discovered that he was bleeding from his nose.

Damn it...

"Fuchsia!"

The demon opened his mouth, flames flickering in his throat, but before he could exhale the flames, he felt a sharp tug on his hind leg, and then he collapsed to the ground with a thud. The carpet transformed into a blade, slashing him hard across the back of the head.

"Eyes, fly here!" Rune shouted.

The demon screamed, and its six eyes flew straight into Rune's hand. Then the evil creature stood up, clutching its eye sockets and howling in agony. The screams were so piercing that Rune even began to question whether he should spare its life. But Rune quickly dismissed his inexplicable pity. The horse that had been there charged directly at the demon, knocking it to the ground and sending it flying. In mid-air, the horse turned into sawdust, but the sawdust suddenly stopped flying and transformed into tiny, sharp needles, which flew back towards the demon and pierced its body.

Then, the tiger, along with the wolves that had just transformed from the other seats, charged and began tearing at the demon until it stopped struggling. Only then did Rune approach. However, he had underestimated the demon. Just as Rune bent down to extract the magical material within the demon's body, the demon spat out a large mouthful of flame, burning off a portion of Rune's hair. The Iron Armor Spell was like paper, having almost no effect. But this was the demon's limit. The next second, the tiger tore off the demon's head.

Rune looked around. The other guests all had their doors tightly shut, clearly quite experienced with this scene, which saved Rune the trouble of casting the "Forget All" spell on each of them individually.

Looking at the mess before him, Rune couldn't help but sigh.

It seems I should learn the Fiendfire spell. I'm still quite lacking in offensive spells, or perhaps it's just that this demon's magic resistance is too high; ordinary offensive spells are hard to break through its defenses.

"Restored to its original condition!"

The spell encountered unprecedented resistance, but fortunately, most of the furniture was eventually repaired. The demon's corpse was placed on the table.

Rune picked up the knife, enhanced its sharpness with Transfiguration, and began dissecting the demon. He hadn't learned anything about demons at Hogwarts and didn't know which parts were useful, so he could only extract the parts containing a large amount of magic.

The demon's bones, heart, eyes, scales, and tongue all contained immense magical power. Especially when its heart was removed, the outer muscles rapidly turned to ash, leaving behind a translucent stone that shimmered with a red light. Inside, flames seemed to flicker constantly, making it look beautiful. But Rune didn't even dare touch it, instead using magic to place it in a wooden box.

Rune had long ago discerned the demon's origins from its six eyes. It was a descendant of the Triple Demon. This terrifying demon often projects a portion of its power onto "destined ones" in other multiverses, causing them to kill each other. These "children" also absorb each other's power and grow stronger until they become sacrifices capable of summoning its true form.

The demon's tongue also bears a simple sketch of a six-eyed, two-horned demon, with the eyes being the most distinctive feature of the Three Palaces Demon. These two should not be touched for now.

All that remained were scales and bones. This demon had no horns, clearly not a core member. The scales, containing a significant amount of magic, were few and far between, while the bones were unusually tough, as if they had been steeped in magic for a long time…

Rune suddenly understood why the other party wanted to find Zatanna.

Zatanna's father is gone, her mother faked her death, and she has little protection. Yet, she possesses a distinguished lineage, powerful magical talent, and her irony magic is closest to the essence of magic in the Dark Multiverse, inverting one's very being. If such a witch were to consume her, even without absorbing the power of her other "brothers and sisters," she would be close enough to summon the Trigon.

This guy must have known about magic before he became a demon.

Rune stroked the crystalline white bones beneath his hand, his desire for power growing ever stronger. If he could not obtain great power, he would suffer the same fate as this demon, having his tendons and bones ripped out.