Chapter 73: The Soul Marble of a Dragon God.
(I could not find anything on Dr. Gotham so I took some liberties. Also, besides Raven, I think I can AU Black Fire and Starfire before the whole 6 years of rape and torture. Also, Grail, Darkseids daughter is a total hottie. DC is a treasure trove of food and women. Now, how to seduce Wonder Woman?)
A Warlock was a Magic User who borrowed power from a powerful being through a pact. Maulketh was not sure what the Warlock was borrowing power from, but whatever it was, was pure evil. It had a firm hold over all of Gotham, Batman and the Joker seemed to have its hold the most.
Deep underground Gotham, far deeper than the Batcave or its branching network, a blaze of dark purple draconian flames sprang to life as Maulketh walked out of them. He took a sniff of the air, which was full to the brim with the aura of curses.
The curse was so concentrated here that it was visible to the naked eye. In this hidden chamber, a massive 20-meter-tall door stood in front of him. A carving of a towering bat-like figure with raised arms was etched into the stone.
All over the Cave, large bats with glowing red eyes hung from the ceiling. Even statues of what looked like a distorted version of Batman stood guard.
[Now this is creepy. That Evil God is bat-themed or something.]
"Tell me about it. This Bat God is stronger than me that is for sure. For now though."
{Are you going to call it quits?}
Maulketh scoffed.
"Hell no. Besides, this Warlock is borrowing power. How much he can draw is totally dependent on him."
He walked forward until he stood at the base of the large stone door. He reached out and tried to touch the door only to be stopped by the barrier of golden runes. To break it he just had to put some force as his entire body was made from his Concept.
When the seal shattered the curse got even deeper and the bats began to fly all around like possessed creatures. The carving of the figure of the door suddenly seemed far more life-like.
Its hooded figure seemed to stare directly at Maulketh, but he stared back. His Divine Domain radiated off his body causing the Bats who were flying around to fall limp to the ground with their necks broken.
All of their souls which were thoughtfully taken over by the Bat God floated around him like small fireflies. He gathered them all and forced them all to fuse into a larger soul. He infused the soul with his Divine Energy along with his Concept.
He carefully manipulated the taint inside of the Bat God, to fuse it with his Divine Energy into the soul. This only took him a few instants before he had a powerful bat soul infused with Divine Energy and curse energy.
All of the bodies of the bats burned began to be absorbed by the soul like it was trying to feed itself. He watched with curiosity as the soul formed a large egg around it. Maulketh walked over and picked up the egg and held it in his right hand.
It was the size of a basketball and radiated a dark aura. he looked at the figure of the Bat God with a smirk before flipping it off. Then his Domain completely destroyed the carved door and the statues.
When he did that a tidal wave of dark energy emerged from the sealed chamber. He was going to put the egg in his spatial ring, but the egg began to draw in the energy like a black hole. He raised the egg high and watched as the aura was drawn into his new egg.
As his egg fed, he looked where it was coming from. Out from the seal walked an elderly-looking man dressed in noble attire. He walked with a fancy cane, but from him radiated an aura that actually began to push against Maulketh's Divine Domain.
The old man looked at Maulketh, the egg in his hand and in the air seemingly seeing the Domain.
"Curious? So you are the one his lordship told me about."
Maulketh nodded as he walked forward.
"You mean the weird Bat God thing?"
The Warlock chuckled.
"His name is Barbatos, not Bat God, but funny. Who are you if you would do me the pleasure?"
"Of course. My name is Maulketh Imperator Tempus, Dragon God of Tyranny. The pleasure is all yours."
"And I go by DR. Gotham, my name is not for the likes of you to hear."
"Hey, I was gracious enough to let you hear mine before I killed you.:
The Warlock closed his eyes as the dark aura that radiated from him increased several times over. But Maulketh did not defend and just held out his egg which drew it all in becoming darker and stronger as it fed.
Dr. Gotham squinted his eyes at the dark egg that Maulketh was holding.
"What is that abomination?"
Maulketh frowned as he felt the soul of this egg which was already connected to him complaint to him. It was like a child was telling his father he was being bullied.
"Hey, he does not like you calling him that?"
Dr. Gotham did not seem amused.
"I will just destroy that thing and you in one go."
He raised his cane with his left hand and swung the cane at Maulketh causing a massive dark slash of Dark Energy to come flying toward Maulketh. This would have been enough to kill a normal being, but Maulketh once again held his egg out.
The attack paused as it neared the egg before being totally devoured.
"IMPOSSIBLE!"
Maulketh smirked as he felt the creature stop feeding. It was full now and wanted to sleep.
"Take all the time little buddy."
Maulketh put the egg inside his spatial ring before turning back to the Warlock. In a flash of flames, Leavetine emerged next to him. The massive black sword crackled with fire and lightning.
"DEATH TO THE OLD MAN! I WANT HIS BLOOD OVER MY BLADE!"
Maulketh chuckled when Leavetine spoke.
"Your wish is granted."
Maulketh's Domain expanded to its full power which enveloped the entire Earth for a moment before expanding even further past the Solar System. With a thought, his Soul Marble expanded out enveloping them.
It was the upgraded version of a Bounded Field using his own Dragon God Soul and Concept as a base. When the Warlock was dragged into the Soul Marble, everything instantly crashed into him. Here, Maulketh's Concept was at its strongest. He grinned as he could see the Warlock shocked.
"Welcome to my Soul Marble."
Everything was at an extreme as it was raining, but it was not water. It was a mix of mana, divine energy, poison, acid, and gasses in a liquid state. The ground they stood on was not soil, but the same as the rain, just solid.
Even worse were the creatures that lived here. The same creatures that Maulketh fought in his dreams submitted to him in this marble. All of them were kneeling glaring at the intruder just waiting for the order of their god.
As for the Warlock, he held back a scream as just breathing was impossible here. The very air attacked him, but the rain that was falling on him was actually melting his flesh. The skin on his face began to slide off in an agonizing way as everything in this world was made to dominate.
It was the beings who lived here who had to surpass the challenges to be allowed the right to live. Natural Selection here was on the extreme, so the beings who lived here were the strongest.
"CEASE THIS!"
The Warlock yelled in agony as he forced himself to regenerate and heal his injuries. But the more he healed them the more he was hurt. He created a barrier of shadows, but the rain was melting holes through it.
"Playtime is over."
Instantly the Warlock's presence changed as he began to draw power from Barbatos. The Warlock's skin took a rocky look as a pair of bat wings emerged from his back. A wave of darkness that began to fight against his Soul Marble radiated emerged.
Light purple lighting crackled in his hands as he stared at Maulketh. He tapped his cane on the ground causing a storm of lightning to blast in all directions. It was an attack strong enough to destroy planets, but here, it was nothing.
The clouds in the sky began to crackle as the lightning from the warlock was drawn into them like lightning rods. It became silent for a moment before the clouds returned his attack along with more.
The Warlock screamed as his entire being was encased in dark Tyrranical Lightning. This Lightning was created through Divinity. The Warlock was borrowing power from a god, Maulketh was a god. And a Dragon God at that, so while he could not defeat Barbatos at all, a mere Warlock would be nothing.
When the storm was over, his body was reduced to a skull. The skull seemed to frown as flesh and bone began to regrow around the skull. In moments he was fully healed, but he was forced to fall to his knee.
Maulketh's Divine Energy was not letting him recover like normal. He even felt his connection to Barbatos affected slightly for a moment. He was about to yell in rage, but the ground under him rumbled. Spikes impaled his entire body holding him still.
The ground split open and from deep underground a tidal wave of magma bubbled out encasing the Warlock. The Tyrannical liquid liquefied his flesh and it even began to eat away at his skeleton.
If that had been it he could have dealt with it, but things lived in the lava. Giant 100-meter-long lava snakes swam around him. The largest one was 400 meters long and covered in dragon-like scales. They surged toward him before one grabbed him in its jaws. It dragged him deep below ground along with its brethren.
The Warlock yelled as he stabbed the snake with his cane in the head. The head of the snake exploded with a wave of darkness. Just as Dr. Gotham became free the head of the snake began to reform.
But the rest of the snakes became far more angry. They opened their jaws wide as they attacked him with dragon-like breath attacks. Each one burned his flesh away and even his bones.
He held his cane high as he slammed it down. Instantly the snakes were torn apart and this time they did not reform. He tried to teleport out of this Soul Marble, but here Maulketh was the King. What willed became reality here and he willed for this Warlock to lose the ability to teleport. The longer he stayed in the magma, the more he felt his energy drained.
'Lord Barbatos, aid me I implore you.'
More power flowed into him causing him to look even less human. As a Warlock, he had a limit on what he could hold, but how high that limit depended on many things. With his wings, he began to fly out of the lava which kept melting his flesh.
When he flew out of the lava he saw that Maulketh had yet to move. The lava slipped off him, but with it carried his flesh. He did not notice, but his flesh that fell to the ground was absorbed and devoured.
Maulketh was eating him slowly, but he trying to get the Warlock to keep drawing more energy from Barbatos. The more power he had when he killed him, the more he would be able to feed on.
"I WILL KILL YOU!"
The Warlock flew toward him with an ocean of darkness radiating from him. Lightning sparked through his veins. Maulketh grabbed Leavetine's handle and with a calm swing, sliced down.
Dr. Gotham flew past him, but Maulketh calmly turned around. The Warlock was about to turn around, but he fell into two slices that stayed standing. Maulketh smirked.
"Stop holding back on me, use your full power. Or, what you can draw on I should say."
As the two halves began to rejoin, the Warlock knew Maulketh was right. He was being toyed with. He closed his eyes.
'Lord Barbatos, I call on your aid once more. I offer half of my soul in exchange.'
Losing even Half his soul was dangerous, but he could recover from that in time. He would have to sleep for a long time, but it was better than dead. Dr. Gotham instantly became leagues stronger as half his soul was ripped away.
The power of Barbatos began to push hard against Maulketh's Soul Marble, but it still held strong. The Warlock became larger, nearly 15 feet. He looked like a humanoid bat-like creature.
The Warlock grinned showing the mouth of sharp teeth.
"Now you die."
Instead of speaking, an eruption of Divine Energy emerged from Maulketh. In an instant, he was no longer a human as he had returned to his titanic Dragon Form. 700 meters long and overflowing in Divinity.
Instantly the Soul Marble became even stronger as Maulketh glared at Dr. Gotham.
"Now, you die."
Leavetine shot toward him and fused with him. This time without Ddraig and Albion. Maulketh burst toward the Warlock no longer needing to be slow. The energy of Barbatos was at it's strongest, enough to feast on at least.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone