Slade's blade found an opening, scored a deep cut across Hikaru's shoulder. Hikaru ignored the pain, spun inside Slade's guard, and drove his fist into the mercenary's ribs hard enough to crack something. They separated, both breathing heavily.
"You won't kill me," Slade said. His voice carried certainty despite the blood seeping through his armor. "That's your weakness."
Hikaru steadied his grip on the sword. His father's weapon felt heavier now, soaked with violence. "Maybe." The admission tasted bitter. "But I will if I have to."
Golden-red flames flickered along the blade's edge—not consuming, but waiting. Hikaru felt the fire respond to his conviction, ready to judge, ready to burn.
Behind Slade, Terra stirred. Hikaru forced himself not to look, not to give away her recovery. She pushed rubble aside slowly, her eyes locked on the mercenary's back.
"You trained her to be a weapon," Hikaru continued, buying time. "But she's more than that now. More than you could ever understand."
"Sentiment." Slade's tone dripped with contempt. "The delusion that caring makes you strong." He raised his sword. "Let me show you the flaw in that logic."
He moved to strike—
—and the ground erupted beneath him.
Terra stood fifty feet away, both hands raised, face twisted with concentration. Stone spikes burst upward where Slade had been standing. The mercenary barely dodged, landing in a crouch as more earth rose to assault him from all sides.
"No more," Terra said. Her voice shook but her hands didn't. "No more manipulation. No more control. No more hurting my friends!"
Hikaru felt his second wind arrive with her words. He and Terra exchanged a glance—no words needed, just understanding born from weeks of training together.
They attacked as one.
Hikaru came from the left, blade singing through the air with divine fire trailing in its wake. Terra pulled earth from the right, creating walls that forced Slade toward Hikaru's strike. When the mercenary dodged, he stepped directly into Terra's trap—stone hands erupting from the ground to grab his ankles.
Slade cut himself free but lost precious seconds. Hikaru's blade caught him across the back, tearing through armor. The flames seared the wound, preventing his healing factor from closing it immediately. Terra followed with a boulder that Slade had to deflect, leaving him open for Hikaru's next attack.
They flowed together, each movement complementing the other. When Hikaru needed space, Terra created barriers. When Terra overextended, Hikaru covered her with walls of golden fire that passed harmlessly over her skin but forced Slade to retreat. They'd sparred enough to know each other's rhythms, to anticipate the next move before it happened.
Slade's armor began to smoke where the flames had touched it. The mercenary adapted quickly, avoiding the fire's reach, but it cost him options. Every dodge narrowed his tactical choices.
"Now!" Hikaru called.
Terra was already moving, her powers reaching deep into the earth below. The ground trembled as she pulled stone from deposits twenty feet down, compressing it into a massive spike that erupted directly beneath Slade's feet.
The mercenary leaped backward—directly into Hikaru's light-speed charge.
The impact drove them both into a shipping container. Metal buckled. Hikaru pinned Slade against the wall, blade pressed against the mercenary's throat. Divine fire spread from the point of contact, burning through the armor plating without touching the metal beneath—seeking only the sinner.
"It's over," Hikaru said.
Slade's eye met his, calculating even now. His hand moved toward a concealed weapon—
Terra screamed.
Hikaru saw it in his peripheral vision: Slade's other hand emerging with a knife, angling for Hikaru's ribs in a strike that would kill even with his healing factor.
Time seemed to slow.
The blade descended—
Hikaru's free hand erupted with golden-red flames, catching Slade's wrist. The fire burned through the mercenary's glove, searing flesh. Slade grunted but didn't stop, pushing through the pain with inhuman will.
—and an earth wall erupted between them, slamming Slade against the container with enough force to dent metal. Hikaru stumbled backward, watching Terra advance with power radiating from every gesture.
"No." Her voice came out low and furious. "Not him. Not anyone. Never again."
The ground beneath Slade cracked. His visible eye widened—not with fear, but recognition. He knew this power, had trained Terra to control it. Now she wielded it like a weapon aimed directly at him.
"Terra—" Slade started.
The earth opened like a mouth.
Hikaru felt the ground shift beneath his feet, staggered sideways as fissures spread in a web pattern with Deathstroke at its center. He raised his hands, and divine fire poured into the cracks Terra created, sealing Slade's escape routes with walls of flame. The mercenary couldn't cross them without burning, couldn't heal fast enough to push through.
Terra's hands moved in precise gestures, her control absolute despite the massive power flowing through her.
Slade tried to run. Stone hands grabbed his ankles, his wrists, pulling him down into the growing chasm. He broke through them but more replaced each severed limb, an endless tide of earth responding to Terra's will. Each time he severed a restraint, Hikaru's flames would cauterize the stone, making the next grip stronger.
"You made me a weapon," Terra said. Her eyes blazed with golden light, power bleeding from her in visible waves. "Let me show you what I learned."
The ground collapsed.
Slade fell into the pit, and Terra brought the earth down on top of him. Tons of concrete, rebar, stone—everything within a hundred-foot radius sliding into the chasm like water down a drain. The nearby building groaned, its foundation compromised, and began to topple inward.
Hikaru grabbed Terra around the waist and transformed into light, carrying them both skyward as the structure collapsed. Debris crashed where they'd stood seconds before, raising a massive cloud of dust that swallowed the battlefield.
They landed on a container fifty yards away, safe from the destruction. Terra's legs gave out immediately, and Hikaru lowered her gently to the metal surface. She stared at the settling rubble with an expression caught between horror and satisfaction.
"Did I..." Her voice cracked. "Is he...?"
Hikaru looked toward the collapse zone. Nothing moved beneath the debris. The divine flames had faded, their purpose served. If Slade had survived, he was buried under enough rubble to keep him down for hours at least.
"I don't know," Hikaru admitted. His ribs screamed as he sat beside her, wings folding against his back. The fire had taken more out of him than he'd expected—channeling divine judgment wasn't something he could do casually. "But we won. We survived."
Terra started shaking. Hikaru put an arm around her shoulders, and she turned her face into his chest, not quite crying but close. The adrenaline was fading now, leaving only exhaustion and the weight of what they'd done.
In the distance, sirens wailed. Hikaru's communicator crackled to life—Robin's voice confirming the others were alive, asking for status. But for this moment, Hikaru and Terra just sat together in the ruins, as the dust continued to settle around them, coating everything in gray.