(General P.O.V)

The chamber glowed ominously, with an almost skewed beauty to it. For instance, the ceiling was an image of outer space.

Stars gleamed in constellations that would boggle the mind of any Astronomer. That was because this view of the sky was from a different dimension.

"Azarath."

Jaznoz Valentine, Doctor Pyg reached out greedily towards the sky. His hand flashed with red tattoos that coated the whole arm in fire. He pulled back his hand with a wince. It wasn't time yet. He was still barred from making any contact with the dimensional barriers guarding Azarath. The flesh of his arm slouched off, leaving behind blackened bone attached to the elbow.

"This vessel is weak. But no matter, once the stars align then I can begin the ritual."

His deep voice rumbled, four glowing red eyes flashing. It was clear that this was not the real Jaznoz Valentine. His body had been taken over.

Jaznoz leaned back on a massive throne with green Lava pouring out of it.

The throne was strategically placed in an island floating on top of the green lava, inside a wide Crater.

The illusion of Azarath's night sky ended where the edges of the crater begun. Then the walls of the hole were covered by an array of sheared off pipes and the tunnels under Gotham. Lower than that and the remains of an ancient city under the surface level became evident.

Dark powers swirled in these depths. All concentrated at the pool in the center of the crater. Gotham seemed to harbor a dark secret. One that Trigon would exploit for his own ends. Here in the most accursed city in the world was where his ascension would happen.

He stood up as a magical formation flashed in the sky.

The points of the pentagram matched with the placement of ten stars. The glowing sphere went around the points connecting all the line segments.

"It is time. With the heroes fighting amongst themselves, they shall be too late to stop me."

He announced. Red eyes begun opening along the walls of the crater.

"Bring the sacrifices to me. Bring them all."

There was a multitude of screeching and as one, a large colony of enhanced Man Bats rose up, before plunging into the tunnels along the crater.

It hadn't been a total waste for Trigon to occupy this body. It was the only one available after his dear daughter had sacrificed her own body, to ensure Trigon got access to the Lazarus Pool under Gotham. He would have much preferred the Dark Knight. Alas, the detective had had a countermeasure to that.

But not all was lost.

Combining the real Jaznoz Valentine's Man Bat creations with Trigon's dark spirits had seen the birth of something new. Phantom Man Bats. They could navigate through the darkness or through shadows and they could breath dark flames. Sufficient for what he needed. Sacrifices to pierce the veil around this world and allow him to come through it.

Speaking of sacrifices, his daughter's had not been done willingly of course, but she would understand. It was her destiny. The remnants of her magic was what powered the dome around the ritual zone.

It unfortunately did not spare him her spirit haunting him.

"Where did you send them?! What are you planning!"

Raven looked bad. Her form was ghostly and the aura of power that usually prickled along her skin was silent.

She was inside a cage with dark flames running along the bars. The cage hang from glowing red chains connected to the wall of the crater, hovering above the pool of green liquid.

"The creatures are under my command to bring me sacrifices to overpower the barriers blocking me from entering this dimension." Trigon explained.

"You see daughter, by taking advantage of Azarath's unique stellar signature, I can stabilize the rift. Enough for my armies to join me in this glorious conquest."

"That's...an Azarath spell system. How did you..."

Raven asked in shock. Using the stars to stabilize magic spells was something that high priestess could do.

Jaznoz walked over to the cage.

"Tsk there is so much you don't know. So much they have hidden from you. I created Azarath."

"Lies!"

She yelled, glaring at him through the bars. She had to remember, this was what Trigon did. Corrupt and poison minds.

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"The Justice League will stop you. My friend will come for me."

Raven said confidently.

"Your friend? Ah you mean the boy."

He laughed.

"I am counting on it. Me vs the heroes of this world...we shall burn the planet to the ground. Only then can it be reborn into a perfect Utopia. My Utopia."

He turned away from Raven.

"Worry not Raven. Just sit tight and watch the show."

Jaznoz walked towards the Lazarus Pit. The shoe on his feet went up in flames as he walked above the boiling pool. A foreign language that made the shadows in the crater crawl along the walls, started coming out of his mouth.

Raven tried to concentrate. To call upon her power and break out but...she was useless without her soul self.

The cage she was in was suspended by red glowing chains strapped to the walls of the crater. The cage was lined with flashing symbols that cut her off from her soul self.

The explosion had carried two functions. The first was to unearth the Lazarus Pit, the second was to create a special dome around the area.

Raven knew this was her fault. The whole city...her empathy was the only ability she had access to in this ghostly form. And she could feel the pain and suffering coming from the city.

It was almost too much to bear.

She only hoped Davian, Artemis and the kids were okay.

(Elsewhere)

"Yeah, I got him." Green Lantern spoke into his earpiece before levelling an unimpressed look Shazam's way.

"Zatara says 'stop being reckless'."

Shazam wilted under the narrowed eyes. Yeah, maybe transforming back into a human boy while falling from the atmosphere wasn't such a good idea.

"Bats, please tell me Robin is wrong and that we don't have a kid in the League."

Green Lantern turned the stare towards the taciturn Dark Knight.

"What!? Pfft...you...are wrong. Why would a kid...be in the league, right?"

Shazam cut in, laughing while backing away slowly.

"Yeah. That was pretty convincing."

Robin responded to him sarcastically.

"No time."

Batman ground out as he shifted his weight to lean on the walls of the tunnel. Green Lantern narrowed his eyes at him. Of course Batman would keep a secret like that.

"Geez Bats, what happened to you?"

Shazam asked in concern, walking closer.

"Nerve Toxin."

Robin answered for him.

"Something tried to possess him after the explosion so he used the toxin to cause temporary paralysis to his body."

Boy Wonder explained.

Shazam latched on to one part of the statement.

"Wait. You saw it? The explosion."

He asked in surprise.

"I was having breakfast with my uncle when we saw the news. The whole city, gone up in a massive explosion. I came here immediately."

He further explained.

"Yeah. We were at ground zero." Robin answered giving a quick glance to his mentor.

"The only reason we survived was Green Lantern. He elected a massive shield around the squishier members of the League. Superman and the other heavy hitters tanked the explosion well enough though. Unfortunately, those red phantoms got to them before we could stop it."

At the last part Robin visibly shuddered. He could remember the four glowing eyes on the face of Aquaman as he jumped at them.

"So that's why Wonder Woman was acting weird! She attacked me out of nowhere when I got closer to the Dome."

Shazam said, putting two and two together.

"Yeah. They're really sensitive about the dome."

Green Lantern said, using his ring to scan the walls of the tunnel. He frowned as the tunnel shook slightly. What was causing it?

"Wait. They?"

Shazam asked.

Instead of answering him, Green Lantern knocked on the walls of the tunnel before turning to Batman.

"I can't say I'm a fan of hiding away like this, Bats. Something doesn't feel right."

"Its the right move." Batman answered, he could almost move his body again, he had trained himself to filter out any toxins from his bloodstream faster.

"We can't take on Captain Atom, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Aquaman and Superman all at once. Our best bet is to cause a distraction big enough for someone to enter that dome. Us."

He stood up to his full height with a grunt, turning to face the three of them but most specifically, Shazam.

"Hawk-man and Hawkwoman are dealing with Captain Atom, Black Canary is on Aquaman and Green Arrow has Superman. The Flash was supposed to help with civilian evacuation, but he hasn't checked in for a a while now. You will assist with evacuation. Be careful as you move the debris around. Robin will help you coordinate with the emergency services. Green Lantern and I will go on."

Batman laid out the plan while tensing his muscles.

Something was strange about this. Out of everyone inside the shield, the demon had tried to possess him and him alone. Coincidence?

"Well Zatara was on Wonder Woman watch but that didn't exactly go according to plan now did it? Besides wouldn't it have made more sense for the Magician to sneak into the dome with you and for me to distract the Amazonian princess?"

True.

But Bruce had already seen what had happened to the city. Zatara was needed on the outside incase they failed on the inside.

With Kent dead the number of mystical practitioners the League could call upon dwindled drastically. Plus if there was someone he could count on undoing the possession of their heaviest hitters it would be Zatara. Not to mention, Trigon would be expecting a mystical practitioner to be with them.

"Our priority is not saving the League, it's stopping Trigon from doing whatever he's doing."

Batman explained, taking a shaky step forward.

"Wait, are you..."

Robin tried to help him up but Batman shrugged of the hold.

"I'm fine. What have you found out?"

Robin's fingers practically blurred as he typed on his wrist computer.

"With Green Lantern's initial scan, I've mapped out a route that should take you through the dome without calling attention to yourselves."

A holographic projection showing the underground tunnel system appeared. There was a red line indicating a curving route through the underground system of tunnels.

"This route takes you to a closed off section. It was meant to undergo renovation by the city council to add an extension to the skating range by the Cathedral. That's how you go in. I estimate it will take you about an hour of walking fast to get there. In your condition, an hour and half."

"I will be fine."

Batman waved off his concerns. His hand had take time to heal but with Zatara's help, he didn't really need the sling anymore. He removed it as they all watched.

Green Lantern meanwhile was in deep thought.

The tunnel was part of a underground railway abandoned a decade prior after the Red Hood gang first begun terrorizing Gotham. They had planted bombs all over the tunnel system in a bid to sink Gotham but Batman had stopped them.

His scans showed that the reinforced beams could hold up immense weight that wouldn't budge except in the case of a massive earthquake. The trembling could be associated with the explosion that had occured. But...the tunnel shook once more.

Glowing red eyes appeared at the front of the dark tunnel and Green Lantern found out what was causing the trembling.

"Heads up!"

Green Lantern called out, creating a massive flame thrower.

"Man Bats?"

Robin asked.