69novels Chapter 240 The Little Blue Man and the Darkest Night
Chapter 240 The Little Blue Man and the Darkest Night
Chapter 240 The Little Blue Man and the Darkest Night
Chen Tao stood in front of Atocitas, but did not make a move immediately.
From the moment he spoke until now, one question had been lingering in his mind:
Where did William Hand go?
"The darkest night eclipses the sun, its light waning and waxing, devouring darkness; it rips out your heart and steals your soul, killing you; the spirits of the dead rise again to serve the dark hand!"
Upon hearing the name William Hand, Chen Tao immediately realized who he was:
He is the future leader of the Black Lantern Legion, the first Black Lantern Corpse in the universe, the incarnation of the Black Death Emperor before his resurrection, and a key figure who triggered the major event "The Darkest Night"!
Long ago, the guardians of the universe who created the Green Lantern Corps, also known as the "Little Blues," received a prophecy called "The Darkest Night" in the Book of Oa on the planet Oa:
The different colored lights are derived from the power of emotions: green light represents Will, yellow light represents Fear, purple light represents Love, red light represents Rage, cyan light represents Compassion, orange light represents Avarice, and blue light represents Hope. One day, these seven lights will each form their own teams and a "War of Light" will take place.
Then the "Darkest Night" will descend, the black lights representing death, which will devour all life and plunge the universe into deathly silence.
In short, the story is that the little blue guys were drinking and singing when suddenly the Book of Oa told them: Hey, you guys have to send it! Please, please look at the script! After the "War of Colors and Lights" comes the "Darkest Night," which is a huge crisis!
The normal reaction to such a prophecy would be: Wow! The darkest night is terrifying! Only the seven lights working together can defeat the black light! Wow, let's befriend the other colored light legions and save the world together!
But the little blue men clearly didn't think that way. Their thought process was quite bizarre: What? The darkest night only happens when other colored light clusters are born? Then if I just nip all the other light clusters in the bud, the darkest night probably won't come, right?
The logic is that the prophecy states: once all teammates are gathered, a crisis will occur, and then a team battle can begin.
The little blue man said: "Then if I kill everyone who could become my teammate, the crisis probably won't happen."
What an incredibly brain-dead idea!
The problem is that the guardians of the universe, the little blue men, are emotionless beings who abandoned their feelings long ago. That's what they thought, and that's what they did.
They not only concealed the existence of the prophecy of the Darkest Night, but also suppressed any other legions that might appear.
For the little blue man, when a problem arises, burying the bomb and covering it up, and if that fails, sending everyone to their deaths, is already routine.
The massacre in Sector 666 that caused the death of the entire Atositas sector was a case in point, as was the first Lantern Knight, Lafriz of the Orange Lantern Legion, and the same is true for the Darkest Night.
However, these are other hidden dangers caused by the little blue people. The key issue is the Darkest Night—the little blue people are not the only ones who know about the prophecy of the Darkest Night.
A user of blood magic, a survivor of the 666 Sector Massacre, and the future leader of the Red Lantern Legion, Atositas is one of them. His understanding of prophecy is even clearer than that of the Little Blues.
While other groups of Lights were either seeking revenge against the Green Lanterns, idling online, or staying home, Athocitas was perhaps the only one actively trying to save himself:
Originally, after being defeated and imprisoned by the Green Lantern Corps for avenging the massacre of Sector 666, he still went to great lengths to trick Green Lantern Abin Sue into bringing him to Earth against the rules. After escaping and killing Abin Sue, the future Red Lantern leader, Athocitas, attempted to find the source of the darkest night directly:
The future leader of the Black Lantern Corps, "Black Hand" William Hand, then used his staff, the "Cosmic Wand," to cast a blood spell, erasing all the darkness from his heart—
We can't kill him. Killing William Hand would only hasten his demise.
So what are the little blue guys doing at this time?
The little blue guardians of the universe say: ?
Aba aba aba aba aba aba...
They are a group of emotionless creatures who don't care about these things at all. They believe that they have suppressed and eliminated all other lights, and that the darkest night will never come.
But there is one rather special individual among the little blue guys: [Ganser].
He is the only little blue man with emotions, and therefore, unlike his fellow blue men, he is still worried about the Darkest Night, which is why he sent Sinestro to Earth to try to find out what Athocitas is doing and, incidentally, to bring the fugitive back to Earth.
Chen Tao shook his head inwardly.
However, fate always seems to be playing tricks on everyone:
Athositas intended to strike first and eliminate the source of the Dark Night, but instead caused the death of Green Lantern Abin Sue, allowing Hal Jordan to obtain the ring and become the Green Lantern.
His act of killing Abin Sue led the little blue man Ganther to send Sinestro to investigate him in violation of the territory's rules, which resulted in Sinestro meeting Hal Jordan ahead of time.
Once they meet, Sinestro invites Hal Jordan to his homeworld, Koruga. Once Jordan arrives, he discovers that Sinestro is a tyrannical dictator, leading to a falling out between the two friends and causing a major riot on Koruga. This riot results in the death of Sinestro's wife, directly causing Sinestro to defect from the Green Lantern Corps and establish the Yellow Lantern Corps, ultimately triggering the major event known as the "Sinestro Corps War"...
This chain reaction, in fact, greatly accelerated the arrival of the darkest night!
Of course, it can also be explained this way: Atocitas's arrival directly led to Hal Jordan becoming the Green Lantern and Sinestro becoming the Yellow Lantern. These two were the key factors in successfully ending the darkest night...
Isn't this also an arrangement of fate?
Never before have the past and future converged so closely at this moment. This is the time when all hidden dangers are sown, the beginning that no one has noticed, the source of all wars, and the anchor point of all victories. The epic saga of the Seven Lamps Legion begins to be written on this day!
So... does anyone still remember William Hand, who caused the darkest night?
"Did you capture William Hand, Atocitas?"
Chen Tao dodged the energy beam unleashed by the opponent's cosmic wand and loudly inquired:
"Did you use the magic wand to erase the darkness within him?"
In the original timeline, Athositas was caught red-handed by Green Lantern Hal and Sinestro just as he was about to succeed, and was arrested and taken away from Earth, allowing William Hand to escape unharmed.
But he has no intention of letting this future leader of the Black Lantern Legion escape unscathed.
You mentally ill patient, hurry up and let Dr. Atositas treat you!
But it was clear that Atocitas was not going to answer Chen Tao's question properly.
He breathed heavily, wielding his cosmic wand and unleashing an energy wave directly at Chen Tao: "Don't expect anything from me, you lackey of the Cosmic Guardians!"
Chen Tao sighed.
His gaze lingered on Sinestro and Hal, who were heartbroken at losing their green lamps: "Don't you have any spare green lamps?"
He noticed Dr. Sivana, who had just smashed the lamps in their hands, and this coordinated action meant that Athositas had found a new ally.
The situation is becoming increasingly complicated.
boom!
"Without the green light ring, what skills do you have left?"
The flowing green, mixed with traces of crimson, was an energy wave emitted by Athositas after absorbing the energy from Sinestro and the two's Green Lantern Rings with his Cosmic Wand and then mixing it with his own blood magic.
But this also means that the green light energy previously absorbed into the Cosmic Wand is about to be exhausted due to its unrestrained abuse.
"I know you Green Lanterns all too well. Without the Green Lantern ring, you're nothing but a bunch of cowards!"
Chen Tao searched diligently for any trace of Dr. Sivana, but to no avail.
The opponent had just coordinated perfectly with Atositas, unexpectedly destroying Hal and Senesto's furnaces, and then disappeared again to hide.
How did Dr. Sivana end up here? And he seems to have completely mastered magic. Isn't he the villain from Shazam? How did he get involved with Atositas?
After releasing Black Adam, who did he encounter?
An answer emerged in Chen Tao's mind.
Is it the Meditation Mite? That magical worm from Venus, the Wizarding Council—the same group of wizards who granted Shazam and Billy Batson their divine powers thousands of years ago?
In the comics, Dr. Sivana often serves as the insect's mount.
"Hal, our comrades are in danger," Sinestro said.
He grabbed the other man's shoulder urgently: "You have to summon the lamp you've hidden in the wardrobe to power the three of us."
Before Hal could say anything, he hurriedly interrupted him: "You must do it. Imagine the existence of that lamp in your mind and use your willpower to drive it. If you can do it, we are all counting on you."
The veteran Lanternman did not lose his fighting spirit despite the destruction of the Lantern Furnace. Even though he had lost the Green Lantern Ring, he still stood in front of Chen Tao.
"Step back, rookie. This is a battle of veterans," Senesto warned. "How do you think you can deal with Atositas? He doesn't have any yellow flaws; your little tricks will be useless against him."
He looked Chen Tao up and down, his face completely covered by a navy blue mask: "No matter what uniform you change into, it won't make a difference."
“Ah, Senesto,” said Athositas, “I have witnessed the fate of Abin Sue. I foresaw that he would be betrayed by his own ring at the crucial moment, and it has indeed come to pass. That is why I was able to kill him.”
"But now, I can see another one."
"Your lies won't scare me." Sinestro's expression didn't change at all. He raised his fist, ready for battle. Despite losing the ring, Sinestro showed no fear in the face of a behemoth like Athocitas. In terms of courage, he truly reigned supreme in the Green Lantern Corps.
"Yours..." Athocitas was about to continue when he heard Batman, who was standing behind them, speak up:
"Your homeworld will soon be plunged into internal turmoil, violent riots, and a bloody coup. As you try to save a world that is not your own, your people will go mad, and the chaos will spiral out of your control."
Senesto turned his head sharply, but Athocitas was even more surprised than him.
The other party perfectly predicted what he was about to foresee!
"Looks like I'll have to capture you alive and interrogate you to find out how you knew all this." Athositas's face darkened, and his cosmic wand pointed at Chen Tao again.
"Atositas, we need to talk." Chen Tao, having dodged Sinestro's attack, said sincerely, "I have proven my prophetic abilities to you. We need to talk about that dark night."
"After we capture you, we'll have plenty of time." However, this prophetic ability did not stop Athositas; instead, it fueled his desire to attack.
"None of the Green Lanterns are good guys."
"Calm down, Athositas." Chen Tao first restored the Broken Bat to its original state and tried to use the nanobots to remotely communicate with Athositas in secret, avoiding the possible presence of the Meditation Mites, but the other party completely ignored the nanobots' explanations in his ear.
Hal was still trying to summon the furnace, making everything Chen Tao and Sinestro did seem like they were just stalling for time.
Chen Tao understood perfectly. The massacre of his hometown made it instinctively impossible for him to trust any force under the command of the Cosmic Guardians.
Chen Tao finally realized that Atocitas was currently uncommunicative.
"What a hassle."
Athositras heard him say that.
Then, the next second, while still waving his cosmic wand, Athositas suddenly felt a pain in his chest. His eyes widened, and he vomited up a mouthful of acidic fluid after being hit in the abdomen by a fist that had suddenly appeared there.
Along with the fist, some nanobots used for communication and sound transmission were also injected into the body.
But Atocitas doesn't have time to focus on that right now.
"How could this be...?"
He tried to retaliate with his magic wand, but was instantly grabbed by the neck and slammed to the ground by his opponent, who was much shorter than him. Then he felt the other person ride on his back.
Since reasoning won't work, let's settle things with fists first.
Sinestro was awkwardly thrown aside, watching numbly as Batman, who had completely let down his guard, repeatedly pounded on the back of Athocitas's head like a drum.
As a mage, being careless when facing a Kryptonian and being allowed to get close is the consequence.
boom!
"I told you to speak properly!"
boom!
"So what if you can make predictions?"
boom!
"Me too!"
boom!
As Chen Tao continued fighting, he also placed nanobots into Atositas's body—he dared not place too many at once, fearing that the Shivana and Meditation Mites, who might be hiding nearby, would notice something amiss.
He kept a close eye on his surroundings, and then, just a second before Atocitas was about to lose consciousness, he finally saw ripples appear in the air not far away.
Chen Tao's lips slowly began to curl upwards.
Bingo! I've found you...
(End of this chapter)