Lithiel screamed as the Vigilant came at her.
She twisted aside at the last possible moment, feeling the machine's black-edged construct pass close enough to scrape against the shield surrounding her body. Before it could correct its course, the weapon Lithiel had created behind it fired. A concentrated emerald blast struck the Vigilant directly through the back, punched out through its chest, and shattered the machine into burning fragments that scattered across the void of space.
Lithiel remained where she was for several seconds, breathing hard. Her hands were trembling, and it took an effort to unclench the fingers of her ring hand as she looked around at what remained of her fellow sector Lanterns.
They were dead.
One floated several hundred metres away with a hole through his chest, his ring already separating from his hand to begin its return to Oa. Another had been struck hard enough that almost nothing recognizable remained inside the fading green shield surrounding her body.
Why?
That single question filled her mind.
They had been travelling to Oa together. The emergency recall had reached every active Lantern capable of answering, warning them that the Oan system itself was under attack, and Lithiel had responded without hesitation. Oa was more than Corps headquarters to her. It was home. She was an Oan who had been born and raised on the sacred planet itself.
The Vigilants had answered the recall beside them, just as they had answered thousands of emergencies before.
Then, as they travelled, Lithiel had seen their eyes turn black.
She had known those machines for nearly a century. They had fought beside her, rescued civilians beside her, and spent years patrolling the same systems.
None of that had mattered when they attacked. There had been no warning, no hesitation, and no trace of recognition.
Lithiel had survived by seconds. If she had not moved when her partner warned her, the blade would have impaled her. His warning had saved her life, only for him to die moments later.
A new transmission came from her ring.
Jade's voice replaced that of the usual AI.
"Priority warning to all Green Lanterns. Vigilant units have been compromised. Repeat, all Vigilant units are considered hostile. Destroy on contact. All Lanterns travelling toward Oa are advised to separate immediately from Vigilant units."
The message repeated.
Lithiel closed her eyes for a moment and forced herself to breathe.
Then she resumed her course.
Emerald light gathered around her, and the stars stretched once more as she accelerated toward the Oan system.
She began calling other Lanterns from neighbouring sectors while she travelled.
The first did not answer.
Neither did the second.
Of the twenty Lanterns she attempted to contact, only three responded. Each transmission was broken by interference, but their stories were almost identical. The first had survived because her partner noticed the change in their Vigilants and pushed her out of the way before being killed himself. The second group had managed to destroy both of their Vigilants, and all three Lanterns had survived. The third sounded as shaken as Lithiel felt and admitted that she had escaped only because one of the machines had assumed its first strike had killed her.
Lithiel ended the channel and stared into hyperspace.
"Ring."
"Awaiting command."
"Contact Jade. Request current confirmed Lantern casualties."
"Request transmitted."
No answer came immediately.
Lithiel continued flying while the silence stretched on.
Finally, the ring spoke.
"Updated casualty report received. Seven thousand four hundred and thirty-five Green Lanterns are confirmed deceased or presumed deceased as a direct result of Vigilant attacks. Additional casualties remain unverified."
Lithiel gasped.
The Green Lantern Corps had survived wars and cosmic disasters across its three-hundred-million-year history, but it had never suffered losses like this. The single greatest loss of Lantern life before today had been during the invasion of Shuma-Gorath's sons, when nine hundred and eighty-seven Lanterns had been killed and that had been ninety million years ago.
Seven thousand four hundred and thirty-five.
Lithiel felt something cold settle in her stomach.
"Status of the system."
"The system remains an active Category Ten battlefield. Highest concentrations of hostile activity are currently recorded around Oa and Haven. Chronicle, Bastion, Academy, and the Citadel have sustained major attacks. Sanctuary remains protected."
Lithiel swallowed.
"Confirmed civilian casualties?"
There was another short delay.
"Current system-wide estimate: 2.18 billion confirmed dead. Actual losses are expected to be higher due to incomplete reporting from Haven, the Citadel, and several damaged population centres."
Lithiel almost lost her flight path.
More than 2 billion.
She forced herself to stabilize.
There would be time to grieve later.
If there was a later.
The ring continued before she could ask another question.
"Approximately four thousand verified surviving Green Lanterns are expected to enter the Oan system within the same arrival window as you. Command has divided incoming forces according to planetary threat levels. You are assigned to the Oa reinforcement group alongside approximately two thousand Lanterns."
Lithiel clenched her fist.
"Understood."
Hyperspace collapsed around her.
The Oan system appeared.
Lithiel had seen it thousands of times.
She had never seen it like this.
The space between the planets was filled with debris, broken ships, damaged orbital stations, emergency transports, and flashes of green and black energy. Vessels that had once moved through orderly traffic corridors now fled in every direction while Lanterns raced between worlds.
Vault I was visibly damaged. Entire outer sections of the prison complex had been torn open, and Lithiel's ring immediately identified dozens of escaped prisoners moving away from the structure while Lanterns attempted to contain them. Some of the names appearing across her vision belonged to criminals whose files were used at the Academy to teach recruits why certain beings could never be confined in ordinary prisons.
Bastion was engaged in a massive battle of its own. Oan defence fleets exchanged fire with black constructs while Lanterns moved among the ships, destroying symbiote-infested vessels before they could reach the planet. Chronicle burned in several places, and Academy had sustained attacks around its orbital training stations, though its surface appeared to have suffered less damage than the other populated worlds.
Sanctuary remained intact.
Then Lithiel saw Haven.
Her breath caught.
The planet was almost completely surrounded by fighting. Hundreds of black shapes descended toward the city-world while Lanterns formed enormous shields over its most populated regions. Fires could be seen from orbit. Entire city levels had gone dark, and emergency transports poured from the atmosphere under constant escort.
Nearly eight hundred incoming Lanterns broke away from the larger reinforcement wave and plunged toward the planet.
Lithiel wanted to follow them.
But her orders were clear.
She looked away and accelerated toward Oa with the two thousand Lanterns assigned there.
The Celestial Veridion towered above the moon.
Lithiel had seen him before, though never at full size or this close. Every Oan knew the ancient stories of Veridion standing beside Ion during the creation of their world, and generations had regarded the Celestial as one of the oldest friends their people possessed.
Now black tendrils crawled across his enormous emerald and golden body as he struck down upon the Citadel, shaking the moon beneath him.
Lithiel's ring issued an immediate warning.
"Celestial Veridion designated hostile. Confirmed corrupted by Knull. Do not approach without Alpha Lantern command."
Lithiel could barely process the words before another transmission reached the arriving force.
The voice of the first Alpha Lantern spread through every ring at once.
"All Lanterns entering the Oan combat zone, listen carefully. The Guardian is down."
Lithiel felt her heart seize.
Around her, hundreds of Lanterns faltered in formation, some visibly turning toward one another as if they had misheard the transmission.
Ion was down.
Their creator, the being Oans had grown up believing could stand against almost anything in existence, had actually been defeated.
Durin continued before the shock could turn into panic.
"Do not break formation. The hostile entity identified as Knull is the primary target. Veridion is under enemy control and must be treated as a Category Ten threat. Alpha Lanterns will engage Knull directly. All other Lanterns are to support containment, evacuation, and suppression of hostile forces unless specifically assigned otherwise. Do not engage either target alone."
Lithiel stared toward the battlefield ahead, but the situation changed again before they could even reach Oa.
Black shapes began appearing among the debris surrounding the planet, at first so numerous that Lithiel assumed they were another wave of symbiotes.
Then her ring began identifying them.
Vigilants.
Thousands of them.
Their once-emerald bodies now burned with Black Light as they flew around Oa, their eyes dark and their armour covered in crawling veins of shadow.
Others flew beside them, and Lithiel's stomach turned when she understood what she was looking at.
Green Lanterns.
Dead Green Lanterns.
Those murdered during the betrayal had been raised again.
The returning Corps nearly flew straight into them.
"Hostiles ahead!" someone shouted.
Black beams tore through the first rank of incoming Lanterns while corrupted Vigilants slammed directly into them. The Green Lanterns answered immediately, but the sheer number of enemies nearly overwhelmed the front line within the first few seconds. The dead Lanterns fought with all the experience they had possessed in life, using familiar tactics against people who recognized them.
Lithiel raised a shield as a black construct blade struck from above. She caught it, pushed upward, and fired through the attacking corpse before realizing who it was.
Her breath caught.
"Seran?"
The dead Lantern turned toward her.
Lithiel knew that face.
Seran had been one of her closest friends during Academy. They had trained together, eaten together, and spent years competing over who could maintain the most constructs at once. After graduation, they had been assigned to different sectors, but they still spoke whenever they could.
Now half his face was gone.
Black energy burned through the wound.
"Seran…"
He attacked.
Lithiel barely raised her shield in time. His black hammer smashed into it hard enough to send her spinning backward.
He formed a spear and drove it toward her chest.
Lithiel twisted aside and fired.
Green light tore through him.
Seran's body broke apart, but the Black Light attempted to pull the pieces back together until another Lantern joined Lithiel and vaporized what remained.
She stared at the empty space where her friend had been.
There was no time to grieve.
More were coming.
Across the battlefield, the returning Corpsmen were nearly swallowed beneath black constructs. Corrupted Vigilants attacked from every direction while resurrected Lanterns used familiar weapons against their former comrades. For several moments, the entire reinforcement wave bent backward toward Haven as if the dead might actually drive them from the system.
Then the Alpha Lanterns counterattacked.
Emerald light erupted through the centre of the formation as Durin and the others struck the corrupted Vigilants with enough force to break open a path. Thousands of living Lanterns rallied around them, rebuilding shattered shields and combining their constructs into enormous weapons that tore through the Black Light ranks. Green slowly began pushing black backward.
The Corps held.
Barely.
Lithiel's ring chimed through the chaos.
"Priority assignment received."
"Locate Ion and transport him to the Central Power Battery."
Lithiel's eyes widened. "Me?"
"Confirmed."
There was no time to question why.
Ahead, several Alpha Lanterns converged upon Knull while thousands of Lanterns created covering fire. Knull answered by filling the space around him with Black Light constructs, enormous blades, skeletal beasts, and dragons crawling with symbiotes.
Then Veridion moved.
His chest ignited.
"Scatter!"
Celestial energy erupted across the battlefield as Lanterns scattered to escape the beam. Several unfortunate Lanterns disappeared completely the instant the attack touched them.
Lithiel saw the opening.
Below Veridion, near the broken surface of the Citadel, something glowed faintly green.
Ion.
Lithiel accelerated.
Black constructs swept toward her from the side, but other Lanterns intercepted them before they could close. An Alpha Lantern struck Knull hard enough to drive him through the shattered surface of the Citadel, drawing his attention away for a precious few seconds.
Lithiel descended through the debris.
She found Ion lying among shattered stone.
For a moment, she barely recognized him. Much of his armour had been destroyed, leaving burned and torn sections hanging from his body. Blood covered his chest and face, while several wounds glowed faintly with green-white energy. His breathing was shallow, and one of his arms lay at an angle that made Lithiel look away almost immediately.
Lithiel had seen statues of him since childhood. She had watched recordings of him standing before the Corps and remembered seeing him once in person during her induction ceremony.
Now he looked mortal.
Lithiel landed beside him and carefully lifted him into her arms.
Ion's eyes opened slightly.
"Ion, I have you."
His lips moved.
Lithiel lowered her head closer.
"Battery."
"What?"
"Take me... to the Battery."
His voice was barely more than a whisper.
Lithiel tightened her grip.
"Yes, Ion."
She launched herself from the Citadel.
A Black Light construct reached toward them, but three Lanterns intercepted it and shattered the claw before it could close. Lithiel did not slow. She flew through Oa's atmosphere as quickly as she could, heading directly toward the Battery.
The Central Power Battery dominated the landscape ahead.
Its emerald light had never looked more beautiful.
Lithiel entered through the opening in the roof and descended deep into the structure until the battle became little more than distant vibrations running through the walls.
She landed gently and lowered Ion onto the platform.
"Lady Jade?"
The AI's voice answered throughout the chamber.
"I am here."
Lithiel looked down at Max.
"What do we do? He needs a medic. How do we help him? How do we even help someone like Ion?"
"Ion will survive."
The certainty in Jade's voice steadied her slightly.
"You are sure?"
"Yes. His injuries are severe, but they are recoverable. The Battery will assist his regeneration."
Another distant impact shook the chamber.
Lithiel looked upward instinctively.
The battle continued somewhere far above them.
"What about the system? We need him."
Jade was quiet for only a moment.
"The battle will end soon."
Lithiel frowned.
"How? That monster is too powerful."
"I have called for reinforcements."
Lithiel looked back at her creator as emerald light began gathering around his broken body.
She had no idea what kind of reinforcements Jade believed could change a battle that had already brought down Ion himself.
For now, she could only hope they arrived quickly.
.
.
.
Max opened his eyes and found himself inside the Source.
The pain of his physical body was gone here, or at least distant enough that it no longer overwhelmed every thought. Endless currents of emerald energy moved around him like rivers without beginning or end, and Adara stood before him with her wings partly unfolded, blue light washing softly across the green.
Max looked down at himself, then back at her. "I may have underestimated my opponent a little."
Adara did not smile. "A little?"
He could still feel what was happening outside. Knull remained in the system, Veridion's corpse was still under his control, and thousands of Lanterns were fighting simply to keep Oa and Haven from falling. Worse were the absences, the places where rings had gone silent after their bearers were murdered by the Vigilants Max had distrusted from the beginning.
There was no room left for restraint.
"I need to do it," Max said. "I need to stop holding back."
Adara's expression immediately changed. "Max, your physical body has already sustained catastrophic damage. Even now, it is recovering only because of the Battery. Can it withstand that much power?"
"It doesn't matter."
"It does if the power destroys you before you can use it against the enemy."
"If I don't do this, the price is going to be much higher." Max looked into the green infinity surrounding them. "I've spent billions of years preparing for this, haven't I? Learning how to use my true form at full strength, strengthening my body, understanding what I actually am. If there was ever a time to find out whether all of that worked, I'd say Knull murdering thousands of my Lanterns and millions of my people qualifies."
Adara studied him for several moments before asking, "Why did you come to me?"
"Because I need your help."
"Max…"
"Please."
Max stepped closer. "I found you a temporary host. Someone capable of surviving the connection long enough for what we need to do. You and I together can end Knull permanently."
Adara's wings shifted behind her.
"He has the Black Light," Max continued. "You know what that means. That abomination should never have escaped Anti-Life. Whatever Knull has become, whatever is using him or empowering him, we cannot allow that force to remain loose in the universe."
"I understand the danger."
"Then help me."
Adara looked toward the distant regions of the Source, where the prisons containing Butcher and Parallax existed.
"If I do this, the breach you created through the Battery will widen. You are already forcing far more energy through it than you intended when it was made."
"The containment surrounding Butcher and Parallax depends partly upon the stability of this region. If the tear expands, their prisons may weaken enough for them to escape."
"I'll deal with them afterward."
"Max."
"I mean it."
"And if the opening destabilizes further than that? If the Source begins bleeding uncontrollably through the Battery?"
Max was silent for a moment.
"That too."
Adara stared at him.
Max gave her a tired smile. "We can't allow him to return. He has to die here permanently."
Adara took a moment, then nodded.
Max closed his eyes.
He stopped limiting himself.
For billions of years, he had learned to exist as Max while carrying something infinitely greater inside him. He had treated Ion as power to be called upon, controlled, compressed, and filtered through a body that still thought of itself as human, even after everything that body had become.
Now he opened the door completely.
===========
Lithiel stepped backward when the Guardian's body suddenly rose from the platform.
Emerald light erupted through the central chamber of the Battery. Every conduit surrounding them brightened at once, and the vast machinery buried throughout Oa groaned beneath the sudden increase in power.
Max's wounds began closing.
Then his shape changed.
Lithiel stared, unable to look away from the holy transformation unfolding before her.
Stars appeared beneath his skin, scattered across an emerald void that no longer resembled ordinary flesh. Galaxies turned slowly across his arms and chest, spirals of distant light moving beneath a body that had become a window into something impossibly vast.
A cape formed behind him.
Emerald space flowed from his shoulders, filled with stars, nebulae, and glowing clouds that shifted whenever he moved. The Lantern symbol upon his chest burned brighter than anything else within the chamber, while his eyes became two pools of concentrated green light.
This was her creator's true form.
Lithiel fell to her knees in awe.
Max looked at her.
When he spoke, his voice was the same, but something vast moved beneath it, as though another presence repeated every word from somewhere far beyond the physical universe.
"Lithiel."
She instinctively straightened.
"Stay here. You are going to be needed in the Battery."
Lithiel could only nod. "Yes, Great Ion."
Max looked upward.
"Jade. Are they…"
"Yes."
"When it's done, you'll need to…"
"I know what to do, Max."
Max smiled faintly and turned toward the opening above the chamber, only to stop when another presence appeared near the edge of the platform.
Death stood there waiting for him.
Lithiel immediately felt something change in the room. She did not understand who the pale woman was, but every instinct told her that this was not someone she should interrupt.
"I need your help," Max said.
Death's expression tightened. "I know what you want."
"Then you know why I'm asking."
"What you intend would be difficult even for me. There are boundaries I am not supposed to cross simply because you ask."
Max stepped closer. "Knull has the Black Light. You and I both know we can't allow it to remain loose in the multiverse."
He held her gaze.
"Help me make sure he stays dead."
Death was silent.
Max's voice hardened.
"If the fucking Tribunal comes after you for interfering, then I'll take your place."
Lithiel's eyes widened, though Death merely stared at him.
Max did not move.
Finally, Death gave a reluctant nod.
"Very well."
Some of the tension left Max's face.
"Thank you."
He turned away from her and rose from the platform.
The roof of the chamber opened above him.
Max accelerated through the Central Power Battery, emerald light flooding the structure in his wake. He shot through the opening and emerged above Oa before continuing upward, racing toward the atmosphere and the battle waiting beyond it.
That was when the rings began returning.
Thousands of them.
More than eleven thousand Green Lantern rings descended toward Oa from every direction, each one returning after the death of the person who had worn it. They crossed the atmosphere as streaks of emerald light before converging upon the Central Power Battery below.
Max flew directly through the emerald rain of rings.
His glowing eyes remained fixed upon the battlefield above.
Upon Knull.
.
.
.
Knull drove the Necrosword through another Alpha Lantern.
The blade entered beneath the Lantern's ribs and tore upward through his chest before Knull ripped it free, splitting the Oan nearly in half. The Alpha ring abandoned its dead bearer and streaked back toward Oa, joining the growing river of emerald lights returning to the Central Power Battery.
Around them, the Green Lantern Corps fought desperately. Thousands of Lanterns battled Knull's draconic constructs, symbiotes, corrupted Vigilants, and resurrected dead while Durin led the remaining Alpha Lanterns directly against the King in Black himself.
They attacked Knull from every direction.
One Alpha Lantern formed emerald spears designed to close around him from twelve different angles while another created gravitational constructs that tried to lock him in place. Durin struck from above with a massive hammer construct as three others combined their rings into a single concentrated beam aimed directly at Knull's chest.
Knull answered with Black Light.
A violent pulse exploded outward from him and shattered the first wave of constructs before throwing the Alpha Lanterns across the battlefield. Several were driven through the remains of Oan defence stations, while another crashed into the Citadel hard enough to disappear beneath the moon's ruined surface.
Durin remained.
Knull looked toward him and smiled.
"You are impressive."
Durin raised his hand and created another series of constructs, hundreds of emerald blades forming behind him before launching together. Knull moved the Necrosword in a wide arc and released a crescent of darkness that destroyed most of them, but Durin had expected that. The surviving blades changed direction, striking from behind while a second construct formed beneath Knull and attempted to close around his legs.
Knull tore through it.
Durin attacked again before he could recover, closing the distance and driving an emerald spear toward his throat.
Knull caught it.
He yanked.
Durin was pulled toward him faster than he could dissolve the construct.
The Necrosword flashed as pain erupted through Durin's body. He screamed as his right leg separated above the knee. Durin immediately tried to retreat, but Knull seized him by the throat and drove him down into the ground.
Durin attempted to raise another shield.
Knull stamped one foot onto his chest and pinned him against the broken ground.
"You are the strongest of them," the King in Black said. "The only one here whose power interested me at all, other than Ion himself."
Durin's glowing eyes remained fixed upon him.
Knull leaned closer.
"I came here for revenge. That was all I wanted at first. I wanted Ion to suffer for what he did to me, for ruining the void I called home."
His gaze drifted toward Oa.
Then Knull smiled.
"But now I understand what he has given me."
Durin followed his gaze and immediately understood.
"The Battery, as you call it."
Black Light moved along the Necrosword.
"Ion built the instrument I need to end the Age of Light."
Durin struggled beneath his foot.
"When the light finally dies, everything will return to what existed before."
His smile widened.
Durin managed to laugh through the pain.
"Ion will stop you."
Knull looked down at him.
Then the Necrosword moved.
The blade entered Durin's shoulder and pinned him to the moon.
Durin screamed.
"And where is Ion?"
Knull twisted the blade.
"Where is your Guardian now? He ran away after I broke him."
Durin's teeth clenched together.
Knull leaned closer.
"I think I will leave him alive."
Durin glared at him.
"I will kill every Lantern. Every Oan. Every creature living beneath his protection. Then I will use his own creation to extinguish everything else. Creation itself."
The smile vanished.
"And Ion will watch. He will be the last to die."
Durin began laughing.
It was weak at first.
Then louder.
Knull frowned.
"What is so funny, dog?"
Durin turned his head toward Oa.
Knull followed his gaze.
Something was rising from the planet.
At first, it looked like another Lantern.
Then the light intensified.
Max emerged from Oa's atmosphere like an emerald star.
He was brighter than anything else on the battlefield.
All of Knull's constructs were destroyed as Max drew near them. Undead Lanterns reached for him and disintegrated. Blackened Vigilants flew into his path, only for the energy sustaining them to collapse as Max passed.
Knull slowly pulled the Necrosword from Durin's shoulder.
Max's eyes were fixed upon Knull.
"TO ME, MY LANTERNS."
The sound echoed through the entire battlefield.
The Memorial Moon began to glow.
Emerald light spread from the ancient fields where the names of fallen Lanterns had been preserved for hundreds of millions of years. One monument ignited, then another, until enormous sections of the moon burned green.
Then the souls of Oan Green Lanterns emerged from the Far Shores.
Hundreds of thousands of them.
They answered Ion's call.
The spectral Corps poured onto the battlefield like a tide of green, crashing into Knull's army of undead, symbiotes, and Black Light-corrupted beings. Hundreds combined their constructs to tear apart draconic monsters while others surrounded corrupted Vigilants and annihilated them beneath concentrated volleys.
The living Corps saw what was happening and rallied.
Knull turned sharply toward Veridion.
"Kill them all!"
The undead Celestial obeyed.
Veridion's massive body turned toward Max as cosmic energy gathered in his remaining hand.
Behind him, space bent and reformed.
A circular distortion appeared.
The distortion widened into a portal.
Something enormous emerged.
A purple-armoured fist struck Veridion across the face.
The impact sent the Celestial spinning away.
Galactus stepped through the portal.
Power Cosmic burned around his immense body while his eyes settled upon Veridion with cold contempt.
The undead Celestial recovered and swung.
Galactus caught the blow before punching Veridion again.
Their battle carried them away from Oa as the two giants collided.
Knull stared after them as more ships appeared.
The Elders of the Universe had arrived.
The Astronomer stood aboard one vessel, surrounded by instruments tracking the movement of Knull's forces. The Caregiver emerged with protective fields that immediately extended toward damaged evacuation ships. Challenger flew from another vessel eager for battle, while Champion simply leapt into space with a delighted roar.
Collector brought enough weapons to qualify as an invasion by himself.
Contemplator watched from within a sphere of cosmic energy before beginning to manipulate the forces surrounding several Black Light constructs. Explorer, Gardener, Grandmaster, Judicator, Possessor, Profiteer, Promoter, Runner, Trader, and Voyager spread across the battlefield in their own ways, each Elder bringing powers and devices accumulated across billions of years.
Grandmaster raised both hands.
His voice projected across the combat zone.
"One point for each construct destroyed! Five for an undead Lantern! Twenty points to anyone who manages to inconvenience Knull!"
Champion laughed loudly.
"You always know how to improve a battle, brother!"
He descended directly into a group of black dragons and punched through the first creature's skull before grabbing another by the tail and throwing it through three more.
Collector sighed.
"Barbarian."
He raised an enormous weapon and fired.
A beam crossed thousands of miles of space and erased an entire formation of symbiote constructs.
Knull's forces began disappearing under attacks from every direction.
Durin laughed again.
Knull looked down at him.
"You should look behind you."
Knull turned.
Max was descending.
Slowly.
He floated down toward Knull with his cape billowing behind him, its emerald cosmos shifting with every movement. His eyes remained fixed upon the King in Black while the battle raged around them.
Far beyond them, Galactus caught Veridion by the wrist, twisted, and tore one of the Celestial's arms from his body.
Knull growled.
Then he turned back toward Max as the Entity of Will landed several dozen metres away.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then Knull screamed and launched himself forward.
The Necrosword came down with enough power to cut through the entire moon.
Max raised one hand.
One finger met the blade.
The Necrosword stopped.
Knull's eyes widened.
He pushed harder.
Nothing happened.
Max had not moved.
The blade rested against his index finger as though Knull were pressing it against an immovable wall.
"This is not possible."
Max looked at him.
"I made you a promise."
Knull tried to pull the blade away.
Max's fingers closed around it.
"I told you I would tear you apart atom by atom."
The Necrosword began cracking beneath his grip as Max ripped the weapon from Knull's hands and threw it aside.
Then Max struck him in the stomach.
The impact folded Knull around his fist and sent a shockwave across the surface of the moon. For an instant, Knull's eyes lost focus as the force of the blow nearly knocked him unconscious.
Knull jumped away from Max and hurled a massive fist construct at him.
Max moved his head slightly.
The fist missed.
Knull created a blade from Black Light and attacked again. Max stepped around it.
A barrage of tendrils followed.
Max continued walking toward him.
Every tendril missed.
Knull fired a beam directly into his chest.
The Black Light washed over Max and disappeared into the emerald energy surrounding him without slowing him at all.
"What is this? You were not this strong when we fought before. How are you stronger?"
Max moved so quickly that Knull did not even register the distance closing between them.
Then Max grabbed him by the face.
He accelerated, dragging Knull through space before hurling him through the remains of three orbital structures. Before the King in Black could recover, Max appeared beneath him and struck upward, launching him toward Oa.
Omega Beams followed.
They burned across Knull's back, curved beneath him, and struck again from the front.
Knull screamed and answered with a storm of Black Light constructs.
None touched Max.
He moved through them almost casually, sometimes dodging by inches and other times allowing the attacks to break harmlessly against his body. Whenever Knull attempted to create distance, Max appeared beside him and hit him again.
One punch shattered his armour.
Another broke his jaw.
Max seized him by the ankle and swung him through the body of one of his own dragons before throwing him toward Oa once more.
Knull tried to regain control.
Max caught him again.
The battle carried them through the war raging across the system. Living Lanterns, spectral Lanterns, and the Elders fought side by side, dismantling what remained of Knull's forces.
Knull saw it all.
His invasion was failing.
Max drove him through a Black Light construct and followed with a blast that burned away most of his armour.
Knull attempted to summon the Necrosword.
Max caught the returning blade in mid-flight and threw it away again.
Knull screamed in frustration as Max struck him across the face hard enough to send him hurtling toward Galactus.
The Devourer noticed.
Galactus had already dismantled Veridion and was in the process of destroying what remained of the undead Celestial when his attention turned toward Knull.
The Power Cosmic erupted.
Purple-white energy engulfed Knull from one side.
Max appeared opposite him.
His eyes turned red.
Omega Beams struck from the other.
Knull screamed as the two attacks converged around him.
Then Max flew through the fading energy and caught Knull by the throat.
Without slowing, he dragged the charred body of the King in Black toward Oa.
The King in Black struggled in Max's grip as they descended.
Knull managed to force out a laugh.
"You may kill me now, Ion... but I will return."
Max looked at him.
"No."
Knull's smile faltered.
"Atom by atom, remember?"
The Central Power Battery appeared beneath them as Max's grip tightened around Knull's throat.
Then he threw him.
Knull fell toward the roof of the Battery.
Someone stood there waiting.
Lithiel.
Blue light had begun leaking through the edges of her uniform, spreading across her skin and gathering around her body until the emerald glow of her ring was almost completely overwhelmed.
Lithiel threw her head back.
Adara erupted from within her.
The Entity of Hope unfolded around her temporary host in a storm of blue light, enormous wings spreading across the skies of Oa.
Knull saw her.
For the first time since the battle began, true fear appeared on his face.
"No."
Adara raised both hands.
A beam of blue energy erupted upward.
Knull tried to change direction, but the attack caught him before he could escape and drove him back into the air.
Max descended from above.
His body brightened as the full power of Ion gathered between his hands.
Knull looked from the blue light beneath him to Max above.
"DAMN YOUUUUUU!"
Max fired.
The emerald beam descended.
Knull was trapped between them.
Hope from below.
Will from above.
The two colours struck simultaneously.
An enormous sphere of blue and green energy expanded above the Central Power Battery, swallowing Knull completely as the two forces of the Emotional Spectrum crashed together around the Black Light.
Knull screamed.
The sound tore across Oa.
Black energy erupted outward from his body, trying to resist both colours at once, but the Black Light could not maintain itself against the combined assault. Blue tore through the despair and emptiness sustaining it while green crushed every attempt to reform beneath the sheer force of will.
Knull screamed again.
His flesh began to disappear. He attempted to reconstruct himself, but every fragment that formed was immediately caught and erased.
Max increased the pressure.
He remembered Veridion.
The Lanterns.
The billions dead.
Knull's face began breaking apart. His body vanished from the feet upward, every atom caught between Hope and Will.
Knull's final scream became distorted as his mouth ceased to exist.
And finally, there was nothing left.
Knull was gone.
Completely.
For several seconds, the blue and green beams continued meeting in empty space.
Lithiel collapsed as Adara disappeared.
Max remained above them.
He searched for any fragment of Knull's presence that might have survived.
There was nothing.
His true form began to recede as Max started to fall.
He was unconscious before he reached the Battery.
An emerald streak crossed beneath him as Durin caught his creator in both arms.
The Alpha Lantern looked scarcely better than Max. One leg was missing, one shoulder remained torn open where Knull had driven the Necrosword through it, and deep wounds covered his body beneath the glowing circuitry of the Alpha transformation.
Durin held Max securely and flew downward.
"Ion."
No response.
"Ion, stay with me."
The Central Power Battery was becoming unstable beneath them. Emerald light flashed through its outer structure while entire conduits pulsed at irregular intervals, and Durin could feel the connection to the Source fluctuating through his Alpha ring.
Max's body had begun glowing again.
Green light escaped through cracks appearing across his skin, making parts of him seem translucent before becoming solid again.
"Jade..." Max murmured, his eyes barely opening.
"Did... we... win?"
"Yes, Max. We won."
Jade's voice filled the chamber.
"Three thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight Green Lanterns remain confirmed alive. Casualty calculations across the Oan system are still incomplete, but hostile forces are collapsing. Oa will recover."
A faint smile appeared on Max's face.
"Good."
His eyes closed.
"Max?"
He did not answer.
Durin entered the Battery.
Death stood waiting inside.
Durin looked at her.
"Are you here for Ion?"
Death shook her head.
Durin looked down at Max before turning toward the chamber around them.
"Jade, what is happening to him?"
"The breach to the Source is destabilizing. Ion released significantly more power through the opening than the Battery was designed to channel, and Adara's intervention widened the tear further."
"Can you fix it?"
"Only Max can do that."
Durin tightened his hold on him.
"What do I need to do?"
"You must take him into the central chamber. Ion has to be placed near the Source gateway itself. His presence will stabilize the breach while the Battery redirects the excess energy back into the Source. The same process should allow his body to heal."
Durin immediately turned toward the descent.
"Then open the chamber."
"Durin."
He stopped.
Jade rarely hesitated.
"What?"
"You will not survive."
Durin remained still.
"The opening to the Source has expanded beyond containment limits. An Alpha Lantern can endure exposure longer than an ordinary being, but not long enough to return. Your body will be broken down by the competing energies."
Lithiel's voice came from behind him.
"I will do it."
Durin turned.
She had recovered enough to stand, though barely. Her body still trembled after hosting Adara, and blue light occasionally flickered beneath her green aura as she approached them.
"I can carry him down."
"No."
Lithiel stared at him.
"Oa needs Durin the Deathless now more than ever. The Guardian may be unable to lead for some time. If doing this means someone must die, let it be me."
Durin looked at her for a long moment.
Then he looked toward Death.
The cosmic being watched him quietly.
Durin smiled.
"No."
"I have escaped death long enough."
His eyes never left the abstract entity.
Death's expression softened.
"The Corps will need Lanterns like you more than it needs this old Oan."
Before Lithiel could argue again, Durin stepped from the platform and descended.
The deeper levels of the Central Power Battery were no longer stable.
Emerald energy swept through the passageways in violent currents while colours that should not have existed inside the Battery flashed between them. Yellow appeared first, followed by red, indigo, blue, orange, and violet as the unstable gateway allowed fragments of the wider Emotional Spectrum to bleed through.
Durin continued.
His Alpha ring screamed warnings into his mind.
He ignored them.
The central chamber opened beneath him.
The Source gateway had become enormous.
What had once been a controlled tear surrounded by Celestial machinery now looked like a wound opened through reality itself. Emerald light dominated it, but every other colour crashed against the green around its edges.
Durin's body began hurting immediately.
He tightened his arms around Max.
"Almost there."
He flew into the storm of colours.
Durin screamed but continued moving.
His missing leg began dissolving farther up the thigh. The emerald lines beneath his skin flickered, and pieces of his suit were torn away.
Durin reached the central platform and carefully lowered his creator toward the heart of the gateway.
The effect was immediate.
Ion responded to the Source.
The chaos began to slow.
Emerald energy gathered around Max and spread outward through the chamber, forcing the other colours back. The violent collisions softened one after another as the Source recognized the presence connected most deeply to it.
The Battery stabilized.
Durin knelt on the floor as his hands began to fade.
He looked at them almost curiously, watching his fingers become translucent as the light broke his body apart.
He was not afraid.
Instead, an old memory came to him.
"What is it like? The Far Shores?"
"Imagine waking after a very long journey and realizing you aren't tired anymore. There's a sea beneath a bright sky, white shores stretching farther than you can see, and beyond them a green country beneath a sunrise that never seems to end."
"My father? My mother?"
"Waiting for you,"
"Caranthir, Celebrían, everyone you loved who went before you. No pain, no age, no duty left unfinished. Just home."
Durin smiled.
The central chamber faded around him.
For a moment, he thought he saw the Far Shores exactly as Ion had described them.
A bright sky stretched above an endless sea.
White shores reached toward a green country beneath a sunrise that seemed to have no end.
He felt pale hands hold him close.
Durin the Deathless closed his eyes.
And finally, he accepted death.
.
.
Green Lantern survivors: 3,768
Green Lantern dead: 11,000+
Oan-system civilian dead: around 3 billion plus..
Oan Moon Citadel: ~70% destroyed
Haven: massive planetary destruction.
Oa: severe but recoverable damage
Sanctuary: intact
Chronicle and Academy: damaged but operational
Vault I: breached
Vault II: breached
That closes the time loop ...well just dont think much about it.
Next chapter Arc 3 begins with a time skip to 2998 BC.