Chapter 65

Mumbo dodged a birdarang thrown at him and chuckled. "You'll have to do better than that, Boy Wonder."

Raven sighed at the man's words. Robin hated being called that and yet, refused to change to something else, despite nearing twenty years. You'd think someone who kept insisting that he wanted independence from his mentor would at least change his identity.

Mumbo caught her staring and grinned at her. "Not going to help your friends, Raven? Or has the magician run out of tricks?"

Her irritation caused a light to blow up near Cinderblock's head, surprising the concrete monster enough for Starfire to temporarily blind it with a barrage of starbolts and Robin to force its legs together with a pair of specially prepared bolas. The beast roared as it began to tip over.

Mumbo sent a transmogrification spell at the Boy Wonder, forcing him to dodge and create an opening for the magician to close in and kick him in the side with surprising strength, sending him flying back a few meters. Before he could gloat, Mumbo was forced to move as starbolts were sent his way by the angry Tamaranean.

The man chuckled as he tossed his hat at Starfire, causing the alien to dodge instinctively only to surprise her by appearing out of the hat and stunning her with a lightning spell. The man twisted mid air, dodging a black raven that flew past him, mouth wide open and pointed his hat opening at the pale teenager, surprising her again as a jet of scalding hot water rushed towards her.

Raven jumped to the side, avoiding the attack and sent a paralysis spell towards the man. The spell fluttered out of existence as it came in contact with a ward the man created with a hand gesture. Okay, this was far too strange. Chantless spells, his hat had access to more places than his own realm, dodging starbolts and a spell in mid air. Something was up.

"Where's your wand?" Raven asked. Mumbo shrugged dismissively and jumped out of the way of a tail smash before casting a spell on Beastboy, turning him into a chicken.

"You're not the only ones who improve in the face of adversity, Raven. You can say I simply grew past the need for one." He responded. "Now if you'll excuse me, Hocus Pocus!"

Raven and the rest of the titans watched as the binds on Cinderblock's legs disappeared and the monster got on its feet, as fresh as it had been before the fight started before it roared and charged at Robin.

"There's no growing past the need for your source of power, Mumbo. That wand is who you are. Without it, you're nothing." Raven shot back harshly. Mumbo scowled at her, kicking away the frantic chicken pecking at his boot.

"Perhaps a greater demonstration is in order," He muttered. Sighting the same group of civilians who'd refused to leave even after their brush with death, he grinned. "And I just happened to find my lucky volunteers."

Raven quickly formed a black barrier around them, just in time to block whatever spell Mumbo had been planning to cast. The man's grin remained, confusing her. Much to her surprise, the civilians, suddenly blank eyed, started to walk through the barrier.

Mumbo laughed. "My, I do love it when people volunteer for a performance. If only everyone was so willing.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Raven chanted, encasing the civilians once again in her magic and teleporting them to a safe distance. She didn't need to see them to know they'd been freed from whatever spell Mumbo had cast on them.

The man frowned at her. "You'll pay for that, Raven." Dodging a tail swipe from a now restored Beastboy, he tossed his hat at the teenager and the boy let out a panicked scream as he felt himself get pulled into the realm within.

"A little help here, Star!" Beastboy called out to his teammate. He'd been taken for a ride in the hat world and he had no intention of enduring that place again. "I can't stop this thing."

Looking to buy time, he transformed into the largest animal he could think of and a few buildings were destroyed as a brachiosaurus appeared. Raven heard Robin's anguished scream at the sight and held back a smirk. He'd be forced to call his mentor to pay for repairs after this was done.

"Starfire, go help Beastboy," Robin ordered his teammate, dodging a stray swing from Cinderblock. "There's no telling when we'll be able to get him out if he gets pulled in completely."

Starfire nodded and left him alone to face Cinderblock. Robin turned to Raven. "Raven, deal with Mumbo quickly and come help me take out Cinderblock."

Raven deadpanned. "If you haven't noticed Robin, Mumbo's been doing more than party tricks." Pausing to deflect a spell from the laughing magician who danced out of the way of her attacks, she turned back to Robin.