Volume 8: The Fourth Impact Chapter 33 If there is something that can influence the outcome of a fight, then it must be firmly held in the hands of one’s own people!
The first time Mason entered the Lord's World, he triggered the "Black Lantern Global Defense System", and that experience is still fresh in Mason's memory.
Especially when the Red Queen came to disrupt the situation, she was noticed by the Black Lantern Corps and accidentally assisted, which indirectly created an opportunity for the captain-general who was at a disadvantage at the time to defeat the enemy.
It was a very exciting experience, and it also gave Mason an intuitive understanding of the power of the Black Lantern Ring when fully released.
Although the Black Lantern Ring in this world is controlled and suppressed by John Stewart, the former Green Lantern, and is not as powerful as the legendary "Black Lantern Night", but in terms of destructive power and energy level, this thing is undoubtedly above the root power of Black of Decay.
If you think about it, you can understand that no matter how powerful the Black of Decay is, it can only work on Earth, while the Black Lantern Ring can cover the entire galaxy and even the universe after being fully released.
The two are not on the same level.
This is also the reason why Mason did not rush to explore the secret of the black lantern immediately after the war in the Lord's World ended. He felt that these forces tending to be dark would always come up with strange rules. It would undoubtedly take a lot of time to find the source, and what they needed most now was time.
However, now that the Lord's World has essentially joined the Resistance Alliance, the forces they have placed here to protect the world can also be used by Mason.
Although it was Uncle Tun's tough demands that disrupted Mason's plans, he could also take the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity about the Black Lantern Corps.
Is this situation called killing two birds with one stone? Or is it killing two birds with one stone?
"It's called a base, but it's actually the ruins of Seaside City."
In the landing futuristic technology bat fighter, Damian pointed to the dark and cold city ruins below and explained to Mason:
"I have read the records of the war by the Lords of Justice in the Batcave. This city was one of the first places destroyed when the Conquerors invaded. The entire city was flattened by Vulcan the God of Fire and Storm.
Countless people were killed or injured inside, even the world's greatest Green Lantern Hal Jordan died here.
It is said that before his death, that guy transformed himself into the Lord of Fear, Parallax Demon, through a series of operations and defeated the invasion. He sacrificed himself finally flew to the sun.
It is hard to say whether John Stewart was "inspired" by his predecessors to summon the Dark Lantern Ring when the battle situation was critical, but there is no doubt that the Lanterns in this world are real tough guys!
Every time I read those stories I am in awe of their choices.
But I can't go down with you. This city has been completely covered by the power of the Black Lantern Ring. The heroes and clones who died in years of war have become guards of the Black Lantern Lord. Any life that enters without permission will trigger their counterattack.
Even the Lords of Justice won’t come here unless they have nothing to do.”
"I didn't expect to take a little burden like you down with me."
Mason held the purple-glowing fish tank in one hand, flicked his fingers and pulled out the pendant made of the Time Stone and put it in his hand. He jumped down from the open hatch and said to Damian through the team communication:
"Just wait here. This situation is obviously not the time for you to get involved. Ms. Janet will come over with a portable quantum tunnel device in a while. Help her set up the device here."
"Are you so sure that you can convince the Black Lantern Master to give up his power?"
Damian countered:
"I'm not just any villain. I can't even be called a villain. Even after embracing quiet death, I'm still protecting this world.
Such a strong will certainly cannot be persuaded by just a few words."
"I have my own way."
Mason did not explain. After landing, he walked into the ruined city in front of him, which was shrouded in darkness even darker than the night itself. The ground here was stained with "black", just like the "black mud" spread all over the world, which was the embodiment of the death power of the Black Lantern Ring.
The captain carefully avoided these dangerous areas so as not to disturb the dead.
Through his keen Isu senses of energy, he locked onto the source of all the scattered power in the city, which must be where the Black Death Emperor was.
Speaking of the Black Death Emperor...
This guy is supposed to be the embodiment of the power of death in the universe. Unlike the Black of Decay, it has its own will and is determined to destroy all life in the universe so that the noisy stars can return to the "beautiful" era of silence.
This kind of guy who has his own goals and power is often the most difficult to deal with.
Mason couldn't guess how Stuart, the Green Lantern in this world, managed to get the Dark Lord to obey his duty of protection, but he could imagine that it was definitely not a pleasant process.
"Something has awakened!"
This thought came to Mason's mind, and a flash of image appeared in front of his eyes as he saw himself being pulled into the exploding death mud. He immediately stopped and activated the Time Gem in his hand.
Almost at the same time when the green fluorescence wrapped around his left arm, the quiet black area around him suddenly shook.
The rolling death mud howled and transformed into dead heroes that surrounded Mason. The mud filled with the power of death erupted into a fountain, wanting to devour this living person who had entered the kingdom of death.
But the next moment, the green light on Mason's arm exploded, locking the flow of time nearby. The erupting death mud and the hideous dead that rushed out were all frozen in the power of the Time Stone. The captain pulled out his pistol and aimed at the nearest Hawkwoman and fired a shot. The bullet accurately shattered the latter's eye.
But no blood spurted out of the wounds. The black death mud repaired the injuries, but these resurrected dead could not break through the control of the Time Stone on their own.
But Mason couldn't move forward either.
Because of his attack, the entire dead and silent ruined city "came alive".
Pale white lights lit up everywhere in the city, and shadowy black shadows emerged from everywhere. The army of the dead that was under the control of the black lantern ring felt offended.
Due to death's instinctive hatred for life, they want to completely tear apart anyone who trespasses into the land of death .
The power that the time gem in Mason's hand can generate in this alien world is quite limited, mainly because he has not systematically learned how to control the flow of time. If he only relies on this thing, he will probably die soon.
So when surrounded by thousands of dead bodies, the captain decisively took out his ultimate weapon.
"Snap"
The trigger of the Disposable Ultimate Eraser was pulled, and purple flames rose in the darkness, thrown forward by Mason like an activated grenade.
He just squatted there, holding his head in his hands and doing a cowardly move.
"boom"
The dazzling purple light beam illuminated the night again, and the destructive cosmic power enveloped the entire ruined city in an instant. The energy collision caused the earth to shatter, and the weird howling was like hell coming.
The noise startled Damian who was waiting outside, and also made Ms. Janet, who had just been sent by the Speedster, almost throw away the portable quantum tunnel .
"What on earth is he doing?"
Ms. Janet exclaimed:
"Didn't you say that Mason went to negotiate terms? This movement sounds like he was negotiating terms? Is this the beginning of the offensive after the negotiations broke down? Or is he planning to demolish this land of death to force the Black Lantern Ring to obey?"
"Well, maybe this is also an option?"
Damian pursed his lips, sighing in his heart that Mason's "explosive" attribute could finally no longer be hidden.
However, the captain did not expect to defeat the Black Lantern Corps with a single explosion of cosmic power. Although the energy explosion just now did destroy the death entity created by the Black Lantern Ring and interfered with the operation of power here, for the dead, this pure destruction could not prevent them from reappearing in death again.
"It's time to start an exciting shrimp catching."
Mason looked at the shattered land that had been cleared in front of him. He threw out a set of speed force armor and put it on. In the surrounding death mud surging like a tide, he quickly crossed the shattered ground and rushed to the place where the Black Death Emperor was. From the sky, he could see a faint blue light turning and advancing in the ruins with residual dangerous energy.
It's like walking through a maze.
In order to protect himself, Stewart set up a rather complicated route in the ruins. He himself lived in the center of this dark maze. However, for the speedster, no matter how complicated the maze was, he would only need a few more attempts.
"Shua"
The captain's figure appeared in the center of the maze, and it took three seconds, so fast that the black lantern ring didn't even have time to smooth out the energy aftermath in the city and wake up more dead people.
Mason popped out of the Speed Force armor and looked at the strange black skull seat in front of him.
A guy in a tattered black robe and holding a black sickle was sitting on it.
The black skull mask covered his face, making it impossible to see his features, but as his robe swayed, one could see dried flesh and a skin-and-bone body.
Mason understood at that moment.
This guy is not hiding in this ruins to be mysterious, he really can't move! It's like a unique seal that uses his body and existence to suppress some restless power.
"John Stewart?"
Mason asked:
"Can you still hear me?"
"Yes...I'm not deaf."
A weak voice sounded from under the skull mask, with a sense of helplessness and annoyance, he said:
"Are you Mason Cooper? I've met you before, and I was impressed when Gray Bat asked me to use the power of the Black Lantern Ring to help you fight the Red Queen.
But why did you come here?"
"I want to talk to you about something."
Mason put the cosmic power fish tank aside and was about to say something when he was interrupted by the weak Stuart, who said:
"Do me a favor first."
"Well, you say, as long as I can do it."
Mason nodded.
I thought to myself that this was indeed the process, just like accepting and completing a quest. If you want to get something, you have to serve the noble NPC first.
"Come forward."
Stuart said in a low and hoarse voice:
"This matter is very simple for you, but it is also very personal. I hope you won't talk about it everywhere."
"You're not going to trick me into coming over here and then let the Black Death Emperor, who you've suppressed, swallow me whole, are you?"
Mason asked suspiciously, causing the Black Lantern Master to sigh and say:
“It’s not suppressed by me, Mason.
My ability to harness the power of the black light comes at a price. You can tell from my current state, between life and death, that I have become a part of it, the embodiment of the concept of death in the material world.
The Green Lantern Corps did their best to partially destroy the concept of the Dark Lord, which allowed me to take advantage of the opportunity.
You don’t have to worry about it getting out of control, at least not in this world.”
The captain approached John Stewart, his left hand on the pistol at his waist, determined to counterattack if the opponent made the slightest movement.
But this did not happen. When he walked up to Stuart, he heard him say in an awkward and weak tone:
"Scratch my back..."
"ha?"
Mason's eyes widened, wondering if he had heard it wrongly. Is this some damn new joke of the younger generation?
"I have been sitting here in this position for almost three years."
Stewart explained:
“I am actually dead, only the power of the Black Lantern Ring is keeping me alive, but I cannot move around easily in order to project the part of the Black Lantern power that I can control to the whole world and keep them active.
The skull seat you see is actually a 'controller'.
Anyway, I couldn't do these simple things on my own, and my back was itching like hell.
I'm going crazy from the torture.
Maybe I should be thankful that I won't have to worry about excretion after I die, otherwise just thinking about that scene would make me want to commit suicide out of shame... Yes, right there, ah, a little lower, scratch it hard!
Oh, shit!
It’s so cool.”
The Lord of Death let out a strange and comfortable groan as he felt Mason use his dwarf saber to pop out a tickler-like device and move it behind his back.
"Can't you just find a dead person to do this for you?"
Mason maintained a weird expression and complained:
"I just saw Hawkgirl and Vixen, with whom you have been maintaining an illicit relationship for a long time. Wouldn't it be more convenient for them to help you?"
“They can’t get close to me.”
Stuart sighed and said:
“This maze that binds me was not created by me, but by them. They are bound by the Black Lantern Ring to cursed lives after death. Being close to the power of the Black Death Emperor will make them lose their sanity.
They don't want to do it, and I don't want to force it.
Anyway, my relationship with them is very complicated. It's not the absolute control between superiors and subordinates that you imagine. Okay, I feel much better. Now tell me, what do you want me to do for you?"
"Well, that's a long story."
Mason stood beside Stuart, looking at the Skull Seat Power Controller under his butt, feeling that this thing was similar to the legendary "Ice Throne". He then told Stuart about the events in the 2149 universe and the current situation.
He thought it would be difficult to convince the Black Lantern to give up his powers, but he didn't expect that John Stewart made the decision less than a minute after he finished speaking.
"Open that quantum tunnel now!"
The Lord of Death said to Mason, who was still tickling him, in a firm tone:
“I will lead this army of the dead into the plane of death. If possible, I hope your companions there will help me bring in the death power left by the Black Death Emperor in this universe.
Now that the threat of the conquerors has been eliminated, the existence of us dead has become a destabilizing factor in this world.
The Black Death Emperor is a self-aware force. One day in the future it will definitely repay us tenfold or a hundredfold for what we have done to it. By then, this troubled world will inevitably be flooded with blood.
Yet I swore upon becoming the Lord of Justice to prevent such danger.
Now it is time for me to fulfill my vow.”
"No, you don't understand me."
Mason was deeply moved when he heard Stuart's determination, and thought that these righteous lords were really too qualified in terms of dedication and sacrifice.
But he emphasized:
"I didn't send you there to make you obey our 'companion', Stuart. The death in that dimension is reshaping the rules of death. The power of the Black Death Emperor is weaker than her, but it is not impossible to resist.
Galactus and Death obviously already know the significance of their existence to us rebels, so they have the cards in their hands to negotiate with us.
However, the fact that the 2149th plane can lead to the World Gate itself is very important to our cause and we cannot give it up.
So, what I mean is…”
"You want me to go in there and use the power of the Black Death Emperor to participate in the restart of the Death Plane, so as to ensure that the secret tactics of the Resistance Alliance will not be interfered with."
John Stewart said clearly:
"You are right! That road can directly determine the fate of the rebels. It cannot fall into the hands of another group of people with ulterior motives, even if they are cosmic gods.
The leadership of this project must be in our hands, and I am honored to be able to take on such an important mission after my death.
Leave it to me, Mason Cooper.
I will do my best to fulfill this important responsibility, swearing in the name of the Lord of Justice!"
