Wrath did not possess Raven's ability to instantly traverse an entire dimension.
All he could do was beat his wings with all his strength, cursing the fact that his father hadn't given him a few extra pairs. His six eyes had never burned so brightly, carving faint crimson trails through the air. He extinguished the raging flames on his body, manipulating magic to erase light and shadow, allowing his form to gradually merge with the night.
His flight speed far exceeded the speed of sound—yet it was completely silent.
"As long as I break out of the atmosphere and touch the void..." Wrath had never been so desperate to leave a mortal realm. All he wanted now was to enter outer space and flee to anywhere at all.
"Trying to run?!"
When Joey saw the black-cloaked figure collapse and reveal a massive demon, he had assumed the fight was entering an even more dangerous second phase.
Despite his overwhelming rage, he had already prepared to force the enemy into an aerial battle. To his surprise, the demon chose to flee upward instead—perfectly aligning with Joey's intentions. Once the demon climbed high enough, Joey shot upward and grabbed one of its wings in midair.
"How do you fly faster than sound and still make no noise? No sonic boom at all?"
"Don't think I'm afraid of you, Kryptonian!" Wrath's heart ignited with a nameless fury. Since this Kryptonian refused to let him go, then he would make him pay.
Hellfire once again erupted across Wrath's body, racing along his wing and spreading rapidly toward the Kryptonian. From experience, he knew Kryptonians handled magic poorly.
"Try this, you Kryptonian bastard!"
The flames spread incredibly fast—fast enough that Joey could have let go and retreated. But he didn't dare take that risk.
The demon had already demonstrated flight stealth and agility completely disproportionate to its massive size. Joey's vision was far less effective against something magical like this. All he could do was endure the flames as they reached him.
"Aaaaaaah!!!"
That scream was Wrath's.
He had thought setting the Kryptonian ablaze would make him retreat. Instead, it only fueled the Kryptonian's rage. The half of his wing that was being held felt like it was about to tear apart.
Since his rebirth, Joey had rarely felt pain. This was the first time in a long while that he truly experienced the agony of being burned. It reminded him vividly of how he had died in his previous life—burned to death in a fire sparked by artillery shells. His fury surged even higher.
The hand gripping the demon's wing pulled it violently into his embrace, while his other arm locked tightly around the demon's neck.
"Are you serious, Kryptonian?" the demon struggled with everything he had, trying to break free, his mouth never stopping. "When I turned your parents to ashes, did your brain burn away with them? You're trying to strangle a demon that doesn't even need to breathe?"
In a sense, Wrath was a brilliant schemer. Even now, he was trying to further provoke Superman's anger so he could draw enough power to break free—or even escape. The stronger the rage, the stronger he became. Perhaps he could temporarily surpass Superman himself.
"Then what if I tear your head off?"
Joey no longer cared about the demon's taunts. There was no need to argue with the dead. The arm locked around the demon's neck tightened steadily, while the hand gripping the wing exerted a little more force—ripping away nearly half of the demon's body.
Lava-like blood splashed across Joey's side, soaking into the Kryptonian biofield and corroding most of his nylon T-shirt. He didn't care.
"I was planning to tear off your wings first. They turned out to be tougher than I expected. Once I rip open your chest and pull out your heart, I'll figure out exactly how to kill you."
"Wait—are you really Superman? This isn't like the things I've heard! You never kill!"
Wrath could no longer sustain his blazing flames. Fear once again overwhelmed rage. Like a fish dragged out of the ocean, he writhed helplessly in Joey's grasp. The Kryptonian's fury had indeed granted him greater strength and durability—but it was still nowhere near enough.
Instead, his enhanced physique only made his death slower and more painful.
Joey pulled his arms outward with both hands until he could clearly see the demon's internal structure.
"You... you can't kill me! I... I'm Trigon's most prized child! Kill me, and my father won't let— AAAAAAAH!!!"
Joey had no interest in wasting any more words. The fury in his eyes focused into a razor-thin line. Heat vision reduced both halves of Wrath's body to ash. Crimson blood rained down from the sky, and after its owner vanished, it ignited like white phosphorus, burning away completely before ever reaching the ground.
---
Raven broke free of her restraints and quietly waited for Superman to descend from the sky. The blood-soaked, bare-chested boy before her lacked the iconic suit and cape, but he was undeniably the Kryptonian of this Earth. Raven attempted to communicate.
"Superman? Clark Kent? Kal-El?"
"None of those. I'm Joel Joseph Kent." Joey realized something was wrong—something was missing. "Who are you, and what did you do to me? A minute ago, I was wondering whether I should kill you after asking my questions."
"I'm Raven. I didn't do anything to you. You killed Wrath—one of the Seven Deadly Sins. That may have completed a kind of ritual symbolism. The attribute of Wrath has been temporarily removed from you. But it's not permanent. It might last hours, or months."
Raven knew exactly what had happened. That was one of the reasons she dared to remain here and confront this Kryptonian. The other reason was a sense of responsibility brought on by this disaster.
Even though she now stood before someone capable of erasing a star system by himself, she had to explain everything clearly—the choice of Superman as a teleportation anchor, and the catastrophe that followed—in order to gain his support.
"This is my fault. Wrath followed me into this world while I was escaping. His flames erased everything at the arrival site. I won't evade responsibility for that..."
"I think I remember you." Joey dredged up a name from his memories. "Raven. Rachel Roth. Daughter of Trigon. Why didn't you use Batman as your anchor? He can protect you too."
For ordinary people, anger is an essential component of killing. Just like love and hormones are needed to sleep with someone, killing requires even more.
Love creates desire. Desire brings fear of loss. Fear breeds anger. Anger leads to hatred. Joey was missing part of that chain now.
A minute ago, he had wanted to slaughter everything. Now he felt like a high-speed train that had plunged into empty space. He hovered in the air, looking into Raven's eyes, filled only with sorrow.
"While I still don't want to kill you, you should leave. Go back the way you came."
"I can't just leave." Raven shook her head. "You don't understand how demons work. Demons like Wrath are almost impossible to truly kill. You only destroyed his physical form."
Raven could not walk away.
"He will eventually be reborn in this universe and try again to bring Trigon into it. I fear my father—but I have to stay here and stop him from conquering another reality."
"But when I tore Wrath in half, he was afraid too." Joey's mind was filling with terrifying ideas, yet he lacked the drive to act on them. "Are you afraid?"
"A demon's rebirth process is very complicated. If I had to compare it to something, it's a bit like Doctor Who."
Raven gestured, summoning her black cloak back onto her shoulders.
"The new Wrath will have the memories of the old one, but also an independent personality. He won't be the same being as before."
"You demons are a pain in the ass. How do I kill all of you?"
Raven's explanation left Joey deflated. If Wrath truly couldn't be killed, then where did that leave his revenge?
"I want to know that too."
Ever since Trigon completely destroyed Azarath—the sanctuary where she had grown up—Raven had been searching for an answer. The deeper she went, the more she realized how vast and immense the hell dimensions truly were.
In those chaotic dimensions, even Lucifer Morningstar couldn't do whatever he pleased—let alone a half-human, half-demon like herself.
"Then go think about it somewhere else."
Joey landed unsteadily on the ground and walked toward where his house had once stood. He bent down and touched the shattered earth beneath his feet. The entire farm had been erased by fire and the aftermath of battle, yet Joey still found the exact spot where he used to sleep—his room, where his bed had been. Not an inch off.
After brushing away some rubble and ash, Joey lay flat on his back on the ground.
The day had already been long enough.
"...Tomorrow, then."