Chapter 228: While Earth Burns
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The cracks along the Black Central Power Battery barrier spiderwebbed, each fissure bleeding oily shadows as Arthur pressed his assault. His massive constructs crushed it tighter, clawed fingers digging like siege engines into the barrier. The air rumbled with strain energy rippling outward in dark shadowy pulses.
And then the world went still.
The shadows thickened, pooling unnaturally around Black Hand’s broken body where he was pinned on a wall with the Prothium blade. His head lolled, eyes void of everything but that ever-present, maddened grin.
Nekron’s voice slithered once more, deeper now."Enough fumbling. Rise, my hand... and be my scythe."
Black flas coiled around Black Hand, devouring it whole. Bones cracked, muscles swelled, and the black ring on his finger pulsed with an obscene, pulsating light. His laugh turned to a guttural roar as his skull knitted back together. The sword impaling him quivered and then was sent flying as if expelled by force far more powerful.
Arthur didn’t turn to look. His focus remained locked on the trembling Battery, sweat slicking his face, the violet glow from his ring feeding the crushing constructs.
Behind him, Black Hand flexed his new, bulked fingers, dark ichor dripping between the joints. His voice was a rasping growl, layered with Nekron’s undertone.
"I feel... like I could unmake everything in my path. Every corpse, every city, every thing with ’life’.."
His fist clenched, power rippling down his arm. He lunged, the air distorting with the force of his strike aid squarely at Arthur’s unguarded back.
But before the blow could land, a shadow rose, in shadow lantern uniform, ring glowing bright as his palm caught the strike mid-swing with a sound like colliding tectonic plates. Black Hand’s eyes widened as his arm was stopped cold.
"What the..." Black hand muttered.
The shadow tightened its grip. A snap echoed across the place, bone and ligants torn in an instant. Black Hand shrieked, his newly empowered limb bending backward in a grotesque spiral.
The shadow of Power Ring’s violet eyes burned as he twisted the broken hand further, forcing the Black Lantern to his knees with the sheer weight of his presence. The shadow lood over him, silent, relentless, a reaper wrought from Arthur’s will.
Arthur’s lips curled into a faint smile, his back still turned. "I was planning on doing this myself but.." His voice was calm, almost conversational, even as the earth shuddered under the Battery’s shield. "Ring, you are the only lantern I have right now so make sure he is silent. Crush the small fries. I’ve got sothing far more important to crack open."
"Your command is my will my King." said Ring as he nodded. His head turned with that sa predatory tilt, fingers flexing as he hurled Black Hand sideways like broken masonry, the impact carving a trench into the rock.
Nekron’s voice reverberated again, darker, closer, as if his essence were bleeding through the Battery itself. "Your world will choke on my legion, Shadow Lantern. Even if you destroy this husk, Earth is already dood. Life is dying there, even with your puny resistance and I..."
Arthur’s head finally tilted slightly, and his voice cut through with annoyance. "Oh, just shut up.Give
a minute and this will be over."
The words weren’t shouted, they were dismissed, laced with contempt so sharp it silenced the air around Arthur itself. His ring flared brighter, constructs tightening with renewed fury, shadow talons groaning as they pulled harder on the Battery’s barrier.
Behind him, So black lanterns appeared but Ring pushed forward, carving through the corpses that tried to rise in Black Hand’s aid. Limbs were torn, bodies crushed, the battlefield swiftly turning into a graveyard of already-dead things.
And still, Arthur never turned. His whole being radiated focus and quiet nace, calm at the heart of a cataclysm. Yet his eyes narrowed, a faint hiss of breath leaving his lips as thoughts ford.
’What Nekron said just now... he is not bluffing. His Black Lanterns are swarming Earth.’
The violet glow in his gaze flared. ’I need to finish this and quickly.’
The thought was not born of fear, but urgency realizing the other end of the battlefield was already in chaos.
****
Earth –
The sky was choked with streaks of green and blue, a swirling storm of power rings as the Green Lantern Corps descended upon Earth with their Blue Lantern allies beside them. Beacons of will and hope fell like teors, scattering across continents. The world, bruised and bleeding from waves of undead assaults.
Hal Jordan and Razer hovered above the clouds, the wind rushing past his face. He watched the formations spread dozens, then hundreds. The comms buzzed with orders, coordinates, and the desperate cries of cities under siege.
Kilowog’s gruff voice growled through the channel, "This is it, Jordan. We either stomp these black freaks back to the hole they crawled out of, or we’re feeding the dirt. There’s no middle ground."
Hal exhaled sharply. "Yeah. I figured the Guardians wouldn’t send everyone unless this was their last card to play." His jaw clenched as he glanced down at the chaos brewing below fires across the Atlantic rim, cities darkened, seas littered with debris. "What surprises
is... they know exactly what they’re risking, and they still said do it. Do or die."
"They must think this is the only shot we’ve got," Kilowog replied, not sounding convinced himself. "Or maybe they’re just betting it all on your Earth’s... what’s his na again? The shadow guy we were ant to capture."
"Arthur," Hal muttered. His eyes hardened. "If he’s still standing out there, he’s probably buying us this ti right now. Or he is dealing with the head of all of this by himself."
The world below wasn’t uniform in its defense. So regions, bolstered by heroes and Arthur’s shadows, held strong streets and skies cleared, black rings crushed beneath waves of violet and shadow light. Elsewhere, silence reigned, the kind that follows slaughter. There were places that hadn’t been fortunate enough to withstand the assault of black lanterns; graveyards now fed the enemy.
Hal turned to Kilowog, voice low. "We split. No lone heroics. No solo runs. Pair every Green with a Blue, form wings, cover the continents. Never engage if they’ve got the numbers stacked. We’re here to contain and defeat them, not martyr ourselves."
Kilowog snorted, grimly amused. "That’s a first, Jordan, telling soone not to play the hero."
"This isn’t a ga," Hal shot back. "Not anymore."
A ripple of shadow cut through the sky behind them cold, Greed had passed through.
The shadow of Larfleeze hovered, wreathed in violet-black aura, his new form glinting with spectral hunger. His ring pulsed once, and from it erupted a swarm of constructs, twisted echoes of the long-dead Orange Lanterns, their hollow eyes glowing faintly, their forms restless as covered the whole sky.
Kilowog’s tusked mouth curled. "That’s... great. I know I’m not blind and that’s Larfleeze... so how.."
Hal didn’t flinch. "He’s one of Arthur’s now. Let him off the leash."
Greed’s head turned toward them, his voice a growl. "My king commands I clear your path. The black lanterns shall find no peace while I draw this shadowed breath."
The constructs fanned out like a plague of phantoms, descending on the infested districts. Each one struck with a hunger for destruction, tearing at the Black Lanterns’ ranks, ripping their rings from rotted fingers and dissolving them into nothingness.
Hal watched the tide shift marginally, not nearly enough and the knot in his stomach tightened. "It’s not going to be clean," he muttered to himself, lowering his head. "Too much death already... they’re feeding on it."
Kilowog cracked his knuckles, the green aura around his hands brightening. "Then we give ’em indigestion. Let’s move, Poozer."
Hal forced a thin smile and nodded, his ring flaring. "Right behind you."
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If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.
&
If you wish to read more or simply support
than check out my patreon at
"spatreon/FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want
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