"The question is, who does she want to bring him to?"
Silence fell inside the room. Apparently, no one had an answer, the clues were not sufficient and no one was confident to deduce the truth.
"So, can you help us find him?" Constantine turned to Boston again, asking.
"I'll do my best, but I must remind you, if they have gone so far as to dare to draw blood from a grand mage ruthlessly, it signifies they are no longer afraid of waging war with the magic realm."
"Well then, another bloodline war it is." Master of the Dark Night, Jim, coldly huffed: "It was the same last time, we sent them packing back to where they came from. This time will be no different."
Boston nodded and stood up, seemingly wanting to go get his spellcasting tools, but Constantine stopped him at this point. He looked at Red Robin, and said: "There's another thing I need your help with, Boston. My apprentice Tim will be making his first demon contract. I already have a good candidate in mind, but I want you to guard the magic array."
Boston sternly furrowed his brows, he looked back at Constantine and said: "Weren't you firmly against taking on apprentices? Why the sudden change?"
"You've always been hiding here, so you weren't aware of the biggest news in the magic world recently. Constantine has retired completely, one of his mysterious friends even cleared all his debts."
Boston looked towards Constantine with changed eyes. He took a step back, seemingly wanting to distance himself a bit more from Constantine. Constantine let out a long sigh and said: "This time I didn't trick him, I don't possess such great talent, and he's still alive, he just doesn't want to show his face."
Boston, frowning, wrestled with his thoughts on the spot for a moment. In the end, he had to admit that Constantine, a trickster acknowledged by Heaven, Hell, and the Human World, never spoke falsely.
"Fine then, consider yourself lucky. But why are you dragging this innocent young man into this?"
"It's his own choice." Constantine walked over to Boston's side and said, "Don't tell me you didn't notice, his wild ambitions for power are leading him down this path. Guided by us, he should at least avoid making too much of a mess."
Boston turned his head to look at Red Robin's face. After a long while, he nodded his head and said, "You are always good at persuading everyone, John. Come with me, I have all the materials in my basement."
"I'll wait for you here." Jim glanced over at them, while Bennett said, "Same here."
Thus, Boston, Constantine, and Red Robin came to the basement of Boston's hideout.
The dim basement only had a small flickering light bulb. The chilly ground harboured residual complex array traces, and the peculiar smell from the vials and pots on the surrounding tables was not unpleasant, but somewhat dizzying.
Red Robin was surprised to find no trace of fear in himself, even though in the upcoming minutes he might have to come face-to-face with a darker side of the world he had never before encountered. He could only find excitement in the depths of his heart.
Inside the office at Arkham Asylum, when Bruce hugged him, he seemed to release a heavy burden. To everyone including Batman, he was grateful to Batman for showing a miracle, only he himself knew that it wasn't the case.
He was joyous because another universe's Batman had actually embarked on the path of a shepherd, proving that they were really alike, the most similar point being, they could never be anyone's lamb.
Red Robin was led by Constantine into the centre of the array, Constantine walked to his front and talked to him: "The contractee I selected for you is the ancestor of the black demons in hell, also known as the grandmother of Jeru you saw in Arkham Asylum, known as the 'Tainted Litsa', a black goat demon."
"She is an extremely ancient demon, her history can be traced back to Satan's fall, some say, she was originally a lamb in Eden, and fell into hell as a result of being corroded by Dark Power during Lucifer's rebellion."
"Regardless, she's older and wiser than most demons in Hell, and more stable. I haven't heard of her torturing her followers, but she also doesn't have direct agents. However, I think you could persuade her."
Red Robin took a deep breath and nodded. Constantine and Boston prepared the Magic Array under his feet. Just as they were about to activate the array, Red Robin suddenly put out a hand to stop them.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"Don't worry." At this point, Boston also planned to reassure Red Robin and said, "John and I will ensure your safety, even if the negotiation with the demon fails, it won't harm you."
"Don't worry, Tim. Demons treat mage apprentices very well, many even have a way with kids. It's a basic skill to entice you to sign contracts. Even if negotiations fail, they don't resort to violence. Once a reputation for violence is established, no apprentice would seek them out."
"No, that's not what I mean. Your magic array is drawn incorrectly," Red Robin said confidently.
Both Constantine and Boston were taken aback, but by this time, Red Robin had already stepped out of the array, pointing at the complex pattern on the ground.
"Look at this rune, this rune should mean 'female', but its scope overlaps with the following rune representing 'mother of certain someone'. We should completely remove the former rune, replacing it with a type-emphasizing rune... Also here, why are there so many redundancies? There's no need for them, remove them all and replace with reinforcement..."
Constantine and Boston exchanged glances, watching as Red Robin picked up materials and began to revise the magic array. Boston swallowed and asked, "Is he really your apprentice?"
"He is now, but you wouldn't want to know who his former master was."
Before Boston could ask any further, Red Robin clapped his hands and stood back in the center of the revised magic array, looking at them both and saying, "Okay, let's start."
Boston hesitated before stepping forward to inspect the array that had been modified beyond his understanding. "I need to remind you, kid, although you may have an extraordinary talent in magic arrays, the array to communicate with a certain demon is fixed, much like a phone number. If you modify the array in this way, I cannot guarantee whether the 'call' can still get through."
"Nah, let's just give it a try. If it doesn't work, we can always modify it back," Constantine joined in.
Subsequently, Boston knelt on the ground, placed his hand on the activation rune of the array. Accompanied by the rich Power of Death spreading out, the Magic Array gradually lit up.
Red Robin felt the scenes in front of him replaced by a misty darkness and blood-red. In a trance, he heard a woman's voice humming in his ears, filled with infinite Temptation.
So, following Constantine's instruction, he started to recite the honorific and pray.
"The great mother of the Black Demon, the sinful black goat of Hell, your true name resonates in my mind. I pray for your arrival - Ritasha Tas..."
The tempting whisper in his ear was growing stronger, but Red Robin not only felt no fear, he listened carefully. Then, in that murkiness of low whisper, he detected a hint of confusion.
"Who is Ritasha?" a somewhat hoarse female voice came.
Red Robin was taken aback, but instinctively asked, "Aren't you 'Tainted Ritasha'? Then who are you?"
"I am Lilith."