Reborn as the Clown Prince

I stood on top of the Rukh bird wall, watching an army of magical creatures marching into the city. I stood on top of the Rukh bird wall, watching as an army of magical creatures moved into the city. When we were defending ourselves from the creatures of Black, it wasn't so noticeable, because it doesn't take much brains to guard your assigned area or to run around the neighborhood with bows, shooting off flying enemies, and the support of superheroes, shutting up the most problematic areas, made their contribution. But now it was clear that the magical creatures lacked discipline and good commanders.

One of the manticores shoved a Tunchi, a jungle spirit, whose brethren I had at first mistaken for goblins because of their short stature, shriveled face and dark green skin, and growled threateningly, evidently displeased at having to put up with the green runts beside her. The other Tunchi, of course, did not like this attitude, and immediately weaved a large spiky shield of thick vines in front of them, which could cause trouble even for an adult troll. It was for this reason that the jungle spirits were ahead of the others. Not only was the vegetation shield strong enough to be scaled up to a wide range of elements, but it was also unaffected by Black, unlike the manticores, which were supposed to sit in cover and fire spikes at the enemy. Fortunately, the sphinx flew up and quickly settled the emerging conflict by giving the main instigator a life-giving smack, and then flew to the next disputants, who didn't seem to fully realize that now they would have to distract the attention of thousands of infected creatures for at least twenty minutes, all without the support of a semi-intelligent wall, while the brave superheroes would attack Arkane right in his lair.

All in all, not an army, but a nightmare. Though it would be strange if we were accompanied not by a "militia" gathered from the nearest enclaves and Dr. Fate's acquaintances, but by a real army. Who would he be at war with? Humanity? That's not even funny. Most people are quite vulnerable to magic, and you have to somehow find an enclave of magical creatures hidden in a spatial fold or in a neighboring dimension. The creatures themselves to attack humans? And why should they, if large places of power have belonged to them since time immemorial, and they are not particularly interested in ordinary resources. Only other magical creatures remain, but there are not so many of them on Earth, and one should not write off personal power. A powerful mage, elemental, god or Totem like Shepard can cause a lot of trouble even for numerous opponents, and if he also possesses a kind of necromancy or blood magic, like the legendary Dracula, there is no telling who will be the winner and whether the victory will not be Pyrrhic.

Eh, though we could use someone like the Amazons right now. The girls can fight in squads and discipline is not an empty sound for them, but under the dome portals don't work, not to mention that Femiskira is also surrounded by spatial distortions due to divine magic, and Zee's father, indulging his paranoia, decided to strengthen the barrier as much as possible and forbade even ordinary people to leave it, in case Arkane had figured out how to hide the symptoms of infection with Black. Much to Bats's displeasure, his adopted son fell into this category, and he was even glad of this outcome, for while we were busy saving the world, he would become one of the Wall's defenders in case some evil creature tried to attack the survivors rescued from the city.

I would like to say that in our squad, compared to the main army, everything was great, but only a blind man would not notice the murderous glances of Eagle, which she occasionally threw at my beautiful companion. When did the girls have time to scuffle? Harley was busy creating the toxin, and Orlitsa hadn't been here long enough to have a proper conversation.

"Sun, can you tell me why Orlitsa is trying in vain to baste Superman and burn a hole in you with lasers from her eyes? - I whispered quietly.

"Whoa?" The blonde glanced at the winged beauty, and a sly expression appeared on her face. "I asked if she was a livebearer or an egg-layer," she said in a loud whisper, so a couple of interested glances from fellow superheroes were focused on the couple, and the person in question had a funny fluffing of feathers that, given the unusual shape of her helmet, made her look more like an owl than an eagle.

"Hm... - I activate my true gaze, - With a very high probability of a live birth... Although its energy is noticeably different from human... - I answered in the same whisper, which obviously did not help, but only attracted even more attention.

"No one will mind if I kill these idiots? - Eagle asked, as if she wasn't addressing anyone.

"But it's really interesting..." Flash started to say, but quickly shut up when the winged beauty began to cast thoughtful glances at her mace and at the head of the talkative speedster.

"If Cyborg were here, he'd help you, but in general, just ignore them," advised Green Lantern, who doesn't benefit from this approach at all.

"Oh, right, join our superhero squad! - Harley suddenly perked up and handed the heroine an inexplicable business card decorated with pink sequins and purple hearts.

"Sunshine, isn't that a little harsh? We don't know her at all, do we? What if she's a sadist or a criminal? The League's credibility could be damaged," I said quietly, trying to ignore the coughing superheroes.

"But as a League doctor, I can do a medical examination and find out exactly how the Eagle breeds," the blonde answered me quietly. "I have a doctor's degree, after all."

"Psychiatrist."

"Well, it's pretty much the same thing. The rest of us don't have one anyway."

I would like to say that the naive whispering, surprisingly, did not help us at all again, because the winged beauty angrily snorted and crumpled the presented business card, obviously intending after that to go to hand-to-hand.

"Joker, Harley, stop pissing off everyone around you," Bats said sternly, giving everyone present an aura of pathos. Even Shepard, who looked at the latex-clad hero with great interest, was taken aback.

"Huh, you have no power here."

"Hmm, indeed... the Justice League was created as a union of equal superheroes," said Gloomy Mouse thoughtfully. "Maybe I should delete your saves of the Strongman from my Batcomputer?

"Hey, that's not fair, what a dirty blackmail!" We were simultaneously indignant with my beloved. The second time to reach the mutant centipede is not enough patience, and it's not particularly interesting, because the first levels are quite boring, and the training so in general is a half-hour interactive, where the game kindly shows what button to press, as if it was designed for mentally disabled individuals.

"Really?" The man raised one eyebrow, clearly having peeked at the gesture from Alfred.

"Damn, honey, he did us though..."

I had to admit my total defeat and apologize sincerely to Eagle, who clearly enjoyed it. Sadist with wings... Although we still overdid it a bit with the jokes, even if it helped to cope with the stress of the battle. Vaughn, even Barry stopped double-checking his Velcro mine pouch ten times.

In the meantime, the first clashes began in the city, which our allies survived without casualties, but the closer they got to Arkane's lair, the stronger the enemy resistance became. After about five minutes, the thin stream of skinless mutated creatures turned into a river. Even though it was difficult, but still managed to contain it. But it should not be forgotten that in addition to the huge number of standard Black creatures, the enemy also had elite fighters who could even single-handedly change the outcome of the battle.

The wall of one of the houses shattered as it was rammed by a huge mutant that looked like a very strange rhinoceros. Only its body was twice as large, covered with strong chitinous plates, had two extra paws that added fifty points to its speed and the same amount to its stability, as well as a long tail with a spiky ball at the end. In an instant, the monster had gained speed and easily rammed through a shield of sturdy vines, killing a dozen of its kin and five of the confused Tunxi.

The manticore's poisoned spikes rained down on the enemy, but not a single projectile could penetrate the chitinous armor. Though a few spikes embedded in the flesh would hardly have brought down such a large monster, because even on ordinary enemies the neurotoxin was very reluctant to work because of their distorted nature, and there the density of fire together with the inflicted injuries was more decisive. Actually, the rhinoceros had two pairs of eyes that looked like a good target for attack, especially near them was the brain, which was one of the energy centers, but he thoughtfully lowered his head down, covering the visual organs with a strongly protruding brow.

With a flick of his tail, several more magical creatures flew aside as broken puppets. The Black Spawn, in the best Zerg tradition, rush into the gap, trying to get to the magical creatures to tear them apart or at least bite them, because the infected would surely be able to replenish the army of Rot. However, the same Tunxi are not so terrible bites, because their bodies are closer to plants, which can not be said about manticores, centaurs and griffins. So it was the jungle spirits with a belligerent squeak selflessly rushed to push the broken enemies and patch the passage, and some of them decided to attack the main monster, because even if the defense can be restored, it's all useless as long as the enemy has a live tank. The monster understood this and took sadistic pleasure in watching the small creatures trying in vain to delay their own demise.

Thanks to the coordinated actions of the defenders, both front paws find themselves in a tight grip of several vines, and then one of the manticores decides to approach to deprive the enemy of sight with its flexible tail with a spike at the end. It seemed like a good idea at first glance, but Arkane's elite fighter made an unexpected leap forward, causing the plants to burst and the scorpion-lion hybrid to be strung on a long horn.

"Ra-a-a-a-ah!" one of the green runts, who had come to the rescue, lunged in desperation, holding an ordinary pointy stick. The monster even slowed down slightly at the surreal sight, but after a brief assessment, it swished its tail and spun around, expecting to turn the approaching creature into another broken puppet.

But the short man jumped up at the last moment, cleverly avoiding the deadly attack. In a moment, he was close to his invulnerable opponent. It seemed useless, and his actions had only bought him a few extra seconds before his death, when suddenly blue runes flashed around the stick, turning it into a long, one-handed sword, and an illusion fell from the tunic, revealing that Frankie had been hiding underneath it all along, with a stylish magical prosthetic leg created by Dr. Fate.

The blow was perfect. With a single stroke of his blade, the reanimated dead man practically severed the large head from the body. Knowing full well the vile nature of the Hounds of Rot, he did not stop there and began to hack away at the beast, destroying its armor and allowing the manticores to fire their spikes more effectively.

Similar scenes unfolded almost all along the front line, only instead of Frankie, it was the intervention of my acquaintances that brought victory. Somewhere Simon would cast a volta with a dozen tentacles from another dimension, and somewhere Tony would organize an encounter with his maw. Gaius mostly demonstrated something from the field of wrestling, and sometimes ripped off monsters' heads with his bare hands, which looked incredibly brutal. A pair of sphinxes also distinguished themselves by sending incredibly sharp air blades into the enemies with the help of their wings. Still, they are considered one of the strongest creatures of Egyptian mythology for a reason.

What we didn't take into account was the fact that Arkane would have quite a few Rotten Hounds up his sleeve, and if the usual masses were easily distracted by our allies, simply due to the fact that most of the Black Spawn lack a full-fledged mind, the strong fighters posed a serious problem and also tried to quickly deal with our elite.

 - We need to help Susie on the right flank," Bats said dryly, monitoring the situation with the small projection John had created.

"I'll go, because it's incredibly boring to sit around and wait for Arcane to lay out all the trumps," my favorite stepped forward. - Mr. J, may I? - She looked at me with a pleading look that was impossible to resist.

"Be careful, love," I gave her a tender kiss, and then, to everyone's amazement, the Swampmaiden standing next to me leaned over and kissed Harley, too. The blonde's hair fluffed up from the amount of natural mana transferred in such a peculiar way.

"Heh, now I'll definitely tear everyone up," the blonde cutie said with a satisfied smile, licking her lips erotically.

"Yeah, but you can forget about the disguise now," Konstantin grumbled grudgingly, who had already begun to prepare the cloaking charms. - But you can try this one.

As if by magic, a small round translucent vessel with a cross on top appeared in the sorcerer's hand. Inside the "holy grenade" there was a suspicious bright scarlet liquid, which smelled strongly of incomprehensible energy with a clear spatial coloring.

"Made it against normal critters, should be harmless to all others. The area of effect is about a hundred meters, so I recommend throwing it somewhere in the center of the crowd."

"Oki, we'll try it out now," the blonde said, and galloped off to help the tentacle meatball.

I was only a little worried about my assistant. She was strong enough to handle most of the local enemies, and the new defense spell and Abby's mana would keep her from doing any serious damage. Besides, I really didn't want to take the girl to fight Anton. I had at least a couple of tricks up my sleeve to avoid the bastard's attention, and I wasn't going to actively participate, because the upcoming fight was clearly not my level... Says the one who went to Steppenwolf first, and then to Darkseid himself...

While I was thinking, my faithful companion reached the destination and immediately threw Constantine's gift outside the defenses, so that the area of impact covered the skinless creatures climbing into the gap.

The fragile projectile hit one of the monsters in the head and shattered into splinters. The surrounding space was immediately flooded with a bright flash, blinding all nearby enemies for a few moments and leaving behind golden sparks hanging in the air. But the explosion didn't do any noticeable damage. It was not a success, but a slight disorientation.

"What was that thing supposed to do? - I asked, watching as the monsters moved again.

"Well, I didn't guarantee that the spell would work... Oh, it worked! - The mage suddenly cheered as several of the monsters fell to the ground and began to convulse.

After a few more seconds, almost all of the creatures were on the ground, and their flesh began to tear and bubble.

"What was that? - I voiced the question hanging in the air, while watching Harley push a couple of ordinary grenades right into the mouth of another gorilla-like creature, while Susie held his limbs with noticeably thinned tentacles. Still, my favorite is really very agile and smart, thanks to which she can effectively use her abilities to deal with most of the local opponents.

"Oh, this, my former apprentice, is a demonstration that borrowed powers rarely lead to anything good. All the enchantments had to do was block the connection to the Black Dimension, and the monsters became what they really were: walking pieces of rotting flesh."

"Said the one who sold his ass to the three Demon Lords."

"I will! We had a mutually beneficial deal! And I only sold my ass to L.A. once, and that was a long time ago and it wasn't true."

"Huh... You sold your ass to an entire city?"

There seemed to be a flicker somewhere that John plays for "both teams", but that's clearly over the top.

"To the embodiment of the city," said the wizard, his face contorted into a lecherous smile. - A metaphysical entity that has no physical embodiment, but can inhabit some of the inhabitants.

"So, you can discuss your sexual preferences after you win," intervened Gloomy Mouse. - Can you create more of these artifacts?

"I can do a couple, but don't count on more than that. It's a very complex and demanding energy balance," he said, catching me with that last phrase.

"Then get to it," the superhero nodded importantly. - They can save a lot of defenders in case of another breakthrough.