Chapter 162: Darkseid Wins.
(General P.O.V)
Darkseid stood triumphant amidst the smoldering ruins of Oa, the once-mighty Guardians of the Universe and the Green Lantern Corps reduced to mere ashes.
His eyes, burning with a light similar to the fires of Apokolips, surveyed the devastation around him.
Broken constructs and fallen Lanterns littered the battlefield, a testament to his overwhelming power.
A slow chuckle rumbled out of the giant god as he levitated forward with purpose.
Below him, the lifeless body of Ganthet lay in his path, a jagged chunk of metal piercing through his chest.
Ganthet, despite his grievous injuries, summoned the last of his strength and reached out, fingers trembling, trying to grasp Darkseid's boot.
The Evil God couldn't be allowed to get to the Central Power Battery.
If he did then all hope would forever be lost, not even the other Lantern Corps banding together could stand up to him.
Ganthet's eyes, filled with determination, met the cold, unfeeling gaze of the godlike tyrant.
Before the Guardians outstretched fingers could touch Darkseid's boot, a searing blast of Omega beams shot forth from the New God's eyes, disintegrating Ganthet in an instant.
"How unsatisfying."
Darkseid's voice rumbled like thunder as he mused,
"I told them not to die too quickly. Unfortunately, they did."
He then turned his eyes to the prize, the source of the Green Lanterns' abilities, and continued his relentless approach.
Above him lanterns fell under droves of Para-demons. Darkseid's armies plunging out of Apokaliptian ships and glowing golden portals hanging in the air. It was a slaughter.
Uninterrupted in his advance, Darkseid soon arrived before the Central Power Battery—the heart of the Green Lantern Corps.
None of the opposition got to him. The Para-demons made sure of that.
With a cruel grin, he plunged his massive hand through the lantern-like structure surrounding it. Shredding and tearing exotic metal apart with his fingers until they finally closed around the pulsating core.
Darkseid had a plan, a sinister purpose that had driven him to this moment of triumph.
A prophecy that had haunted him for eons. One passed onto him by his coward of a father.
And the signs that the Prophecy was close to being fulfilled had already started appearing. The major one being the revelation that he had a daughter.
A mission to retrieve her from Earth had been quickly handed over to his most competent general and his son.
Maybe the girl would be softened by living among inferior beings. Maybe Kalibak could use that familial angle to wrap that business up quickly.
Failure to that, the Para-demons with them would be more than enough to deal with the Heroes as Desaad and Kalibak extracted his daughter.
As for him, preparations had to be made. After searching for many many years across many many worlds, the Anti-life equation had still remained elusive.
His biggest failure.
His final reward.
Yet he was yet to obtain it. And now he couldn't wait any longer. Drastic measures had to be taken.
With the prophecy looming over the New God, Darkseid explored other options in the path of total dominion.
With his generals help and the unwilling sacrifice of millions Apokaliptian slaves to Desaad's experiments, Darkseid finally stumbled on another option.
Anything to increase his current scary power.
A decision that saw the summary devastation of the Green Lantern Corp.
Not because they had been a thorn on his side but because they possessed something he wanted.
And no one denies Darkseid.
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By harnessing the immense power of the Central Power Battery, a source of boundless willpower, he could create 'an' Anti-Life Equation.
An imperfect version of course, seeing as you couldn't create something like that. A concept rooted in existence from the dawn of the first being.
This Knockoff Anti-life equation would be more like a sentient virus that could spread across the universe and bring all beings under his control.
With a few restrictions that he was planning on ignoring.
The prophecy foretold his death at the hands of a mighty being.
What would happen then, if this so called 'mighty' being were to fall under the effects of Darkseid's Anti-life equation?
Total domination of the self.
Such an outcome would not only disrupt the prophecy rendering it void, but it would also allow the New God to gain a new powerful General as well as further his plans to achieve the real Anti-life Equation.
The God of Evil said nothing as he used his omega effect, pulling in the Central Power Battery's energy.
The emerald light flowed through him, mingling with his own dark scarlet Omega power.
He closed his eyes and concentrated, drawing upon the purest of will contained within this emerald light.
A grid appeared in his mind, one that glowed with individual lights pulsing across the universe. One that showed potential for drive. The fire that was lit up by hope.
(Will) in its most basic form.
'How... underwhelming,' he thought.
Will was essentially another string of equations to decipher for a being that hailed from the 4th dimension.
Darkseid's mind raced as he calculated the complex equation, connecting with the collective will of the Universe and then spreading out his omega effect across it.
With one move, he literally infected a small part of the emotional spectrum.
The God of Evil had full control of the emotion: Will.
*********
Close by, in the debris of the Guardians' home, a wounded Green Lantern coughed, pushing off a chunk of rock with a pincers construct.
He stumbled forward with a groan, falling to his knees while looking up and gasping in shock.
His colleagues, his students, his friends, they were being torn apart.
Kilowog made to rise up, only to find that he was missing a leg and an arm. The bleeding wound dripped copious amounts of blood onto the ground, dying it purple.
With that sight a dizzy spell hit him. He wanted to fight but he couldn't fight. He was dying.
He would bleed out way before he jumped back into the battle.
The Bolovoxian grit his teeth, the three fingers of his available hand biting into the dust on the ground in frustration.
"Who's the Poozer now?"
He said to himself with a sigh.
If he couldn't fight then he could at least inform the others that Darkseid was coming.
It wouldn't stop with the fall of the Green Lanterns corp and the Guardians of the Universe. Pockets of criminal organizations all across the universe would cease the opportunity to take over the territory protected by the defunct corps.
The Reach would be stirred up and begin their expansionist and conquest ways.
Chaos would reign across the universe.
Kilowog couldn't let that happen to a Universe he was about to leave behind unprotected.
Hal was still out there, no doubt facing Darkseid's other forces.
Kilowog made a fist, he had to open a channel to him and any other surviving members of the Green Lantern Corps scattered throughout the cosmos.
Before he could utter a word of caution, his ring unexpectedly grew dim.
The fighting stopped. The Para-demons stopped attacking the Lanterns. And the Lanterns did not try to fight back. Their attention seemed to have been stolen by something.
Kilowog's eyes, all their eyes infact, were pulled to an emerald sun with a core of red, floating above the debris of the Green Lantern Corp headquarters.
Darkseid, having absorbed the power of the Central Power Battery had forged a connection with the Green Lantern Corps.
And now he was hovering in the air clad by a swirling storm of will energies.
His dark scarlet aura coated by the emerald, radiated a menacing presence that resonated throughout not just the planet but the universe itself.
Anyone connected to the emotional spectrum across the cosmos felt this ominous corruption of will, their rings and emotion channeling artefacts, pulsing with an eerie light.
Darkseid's voice, like thunder claps in the space above OA, echoed through the minds of every being present.
"Willpower," he began, his words dripping with malevolence,
"I've looked into, and it's secrets lay bare. It is not the most potent force in this universe, but it's an unyielding determination that defies even the gravest of threats."
The emerald light around him shone even more as he continued,
"But know this, Lanterns, willpower can be twisted, controlled, and harnessed for one's own desires."
Suddenly the shine of the emerald light waned, the glow paled, the green color withered as the Omega effect and Will energy combined to form a terrifying energy.
A group of Para-demons flew in carrying a captured Lantern, called by their Masters will.
For Darkseid Is.
Darkseid reached out with a hand, tapping the Lantern on his forehead.
The ring on the Lantern's left claw begun to flash in a sick murky color. Then it spread out across the Lantern's battered body.
The Lantern's red Skin turned a pale gray, their flesh shriveled up and their forms bent.
The now transformed Lantern looked up with glowing red eyes.
A growl escaped it's mouth.
Red beams swallowed him whole, disintegrating him on the spot.
Darkseid continued after the terrifying scene.
"Willpower is not merely a virtue; it is a weapon, a force to be reckoned with. A force I intend to use."
Kilowog clenched his ring tightly, his resolve unshaken.
"I will never let you corrupt our will. The green light lives on forever!"
The Lantern said with a glare.
Darkseid's laughter echoed through the silent battlefield,
"You misunderstand, Lantern. I don't seek to corrupt your will. I seek to control it, to reshape it in my image. The power of will is a tool, and I shall forge it into a weapon like no other."
With that ominous declaration, Darkseid's connection with the Green Lantern Corps grew stronger.
Kilowog looked around and saw the rings of his surviving compatriots get corrupted and in turn transform them into Thralls.
"No!"
The Lantern exclaimed, turning his eyes at the one responsible.
"Darkseeeeeiiiddd! I will kill you!"
Kilowog's ring flashed as he shot off towards the sky.
Behind Darkseid, a sickly green palm manifested. The construct slammed into Kilowog, throwing him back onto the ground.
"Rejoice, Kilowog," Darkseid sneered, his foot pressing down on the battered Lantern. Kilowog, defiant to the end, spat at the God of Evil.
Darkseid looked at his boot and smiled nastily,
"You will soon clean that up yourself."
Kilowog's eyes went wide when his ring started flashing a sick green light. Beefore he could do anything, the light consumed him, turning him into a Thrall.