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Chapter 757: Orange Lantern Starscream
A group of Controllers, a mix of shocked and furious, roared and attacked Loki. But Loki only gave them a disdainful glance.
"Compared to the branch on Oa, you all are truly pathetic."
Loki casually threw out a few spells, blasting the Controllers away, then reached out and snatched the Orange Lantern Ring.
The Orange Lantern Ring didn't resist. Having just been born, it was observing.
The orange Power Ring slipped onto Loki's finger. A powerful Power of Avarice surged forth, bathing the entire dim altar in a dazzling orange hue. The light flared for an instant before immediately retracting.
"The Orange Lantern Ring is mine!!!"
Loki roared with laughter, his emotions running wild. An endless tide of avarice, welling up from the depths of his heart, constantly urged him to possess everything.
Loki could clearly feel that he could become stronger with this Power Ring.
The more avaricious the wielder, the more powerful they could become using this Power Ring.
Without a doubt, a guy like Loki perfectly fit the Orange Lantern Ring's criteria.
Boom!
Starscream finally broke into the underground area. His towering body was extremely intimidating. His red eyes scanned the scene, finally fixing on the Power Ring on Loki's hand.
Loki sneered, raising the Power Ring. "This ring is mine. You're too late."
Starscream also sneered. He raised his hand and swiftly gunned down the remaining Controllers, leaving the ground littered with corpses. Only then did he say, "Now, the Orange Lantern Ring is no longer yours."
Loki's brow furrowed. He tried to use the Orange Lantern Ring to attack Starscream, but the ring paused for two seconds, seemingly reluctant, before stingily replying, "No usable energy constructs available."
"Can't use it, can you? The Orange Lantern Ring's operational mechanism is the same as the Yellow and Green Lantern Rings, but its method of combat is completely different. Cybertron has been researching all kinds of Lantern Rings; our understanding of this thing far surpasses yours."
Starscream was grinning sinisterly.
Loki's face darkened as he continuously received new information from the Orange Lantern Ring.
"Cannot activate."
"Lacking usable energy constructs."
"..."
"Where do the energy constructs come from?!" Loki couldn't help but curse.
"Kill enemies, create energy constructs." This time, the Orange Lantern Ring replied swiftly.
Loki glanced at the constantly smirking Starscream, then at the Controllers' corpses littered everywhere. His expression shifted, growing increasingly grim.
"This Orange Lantern Ring..."
Loki's face twitched. He had a sinking feeling he'd been tricked...
"The Orange Lantern Ring is the ring of avarice. Even if it doesn't possess clear sapience, the power from the Light of Avarice within the Emotional Spectrum makes it instinctively want to possess everything while being an absolute miser."
Starscream materialized a heavy cannon, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and its muzzle began to rapidly charge with energy. He aimed it at Loki with a vicious grin.
"However many people you kill, the ring can drain their bodies and souls and perfectly replicate them as Orange Lantern soldiers."
"The way to use the Orange Lantern Ring isn't through imagination, but by becoming a one-man army!"
Starscream approached Loki step by step, his body's scanning and analysis system operating at maximum. He watched Loki with an equally greedy gaze, wary of any of his dirty tricks.
Loki looked down at the faintly glowing Power Ring on his hand, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.
This bastard Starscream had slaughtered all the Controllers. Where was he supposed to find people to create Orange Lantern soldiers?!
"I have a proposal." Loki's eyes darted about as he forced a smile.
"I reject your proposal."
Starscream grinned ferociously, his killing intent intensifying. The heavy cannon in his hands fired, instantly engulfing everything. The powerful blast of energy annihilated matter and destroyed the altar.
Loki was completely enveloped by the aftershock of the explosion, with no way to dodge.
Starscream's method was crude: a direct area-of-effect blast, regardless of whatever tricks Loki might have.
The entire structure began to collapse. The ground shook and the mountains swayed, and massive boulders fell.
Starscream blocked a falling boulder with a punch. His strength was enough to lift an aircraft carrier; the collapse of a mere building was nothing to him.
It would, however, cause Loki a little bit of trouble.
A fluctuation of magic dissipated, which Starscream instantly detected. The next second, Starscream's eyes lit up, and he lunged viciously at Loki.
Flying debris scattered as the two figures clashed. Amidst the roaring, a large amount of matter was brutally destroyed.
Starscream gritted his teeth and endured a magic spell, reaching out to grab Loki. Though he looked quite battered, he had a firm hold on him.
Loki's expression was ugly. "How did you do that?"
"My entire body is made of Primary Adamantium. For this mission, Primus personally helped me upgrade my chassis. Your magic is completely incapable of breaking through my body."
Sneering, Starscream squeezed hard. The shocked and enraged Loki tried to break free, but Starscream's target wasn't him—it was the Orange Lantern Ring on his hand.
Crack!
A ferocious look appeared on his menacing face as Starscream snapped one of Loki's fingers.
"Damn you! How dare you treat a god like this!" Loki screamed in agony.
Starscream turned a deaf ear, casually tossing him aside like garbage. On the finger, stained with blue blood, the Orange Lantern Ring was flashing incessantly.
"You're mine! I, Starscream, will become your master and build a powerful Orange Lantern Corps!"
With a greedy expression, Starscream carefully removed the Power Ring and put it on his own hand.
After a second, Starscream was still waiting to receive the knowledge transmitted from the Orange Lantern Ring, but... nothing came.
Starscream's face twitched. He forcefully commanded the Orange Lantern Ring to transmit its knowledge to him.
Another two seconds passed before the Orange Lantern Ring reluctantly transmitted the information about the orange spectrum to Starscream.
An oath, unique to the Orange Lantern Ring, appeared in Starscream's mind.
"Through theft and deception, by any means foul,
Whatever the object, it shall be mine, body and soul.
To the good and the saintly, I am harmless,
Fear my avarice, the orange light's prowess!"
After a pause, Starscream's eyes sparkled as he roared out an additional oath, also unique to the Orange Lantern Ring: "What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine, it's all mine! Mine, mine, mine! Not yours!"
That's right, the Orange Lantern Ring has a two-part oath. It's so greedy that even its oath has to be longer than the other Lantern Rings, all to display greater possession...
The key part is the second verse. It's simple and crude, directly expressing the Orange Lantern Ring's ultimate pursuit: What's yours is mine; if it isn't now, it will be eventually, but what's mine will always be mine!
Zap!
With a soft sound, an even larger ball of light flew up from the collapsed underground, circled in the air, and came to a stop before Starscream.
The Orange Lantern Power Battery materialized.
Starscream grabbed the orange power battery. With the central power source for the Orange Lantern now in his possession, the next step was to assemble the Orange Lantern Corps.
In other words, killing.
However many people he killed, he could fully manifest the dead to serve as soldiers under his command. The wielder of the Orange Lantern has absolute control over their Orange Lantern soldiers.
(end of chapter)
A group of Controllers, a mix of shocked and furious, roared and attacked Loki. But Loki only gave them a disdainful glance.
"Compared to the branch on Oa, you all are truly pathetic."
Loki casually threw out a few spells, blasting the Controllers away, then reached out and snatched the Orange Lantern Ring.
The Orange Lantern Ring didn't resist. Having just been born, it was observing.
The orange Power Ring slipped onto Loki's finger. A powerful Power of Avarice surged forth, bathing the entire dim altar in a dazzling orange hue. The light flared for an instant before immediately retracting.
"The Orange Lantern Ring is mine!!!"
Loki roared with laughter, his emotions running wild. An endless tide of avarice, welling up from the depths of his heart, constantly urged him to possess everything.
Loki could clearly feel that he could become stronger with this Power Ring.
The more avaricious the wielder, the more powerful they could become using this Power Ring.
Without a doubt, a guy like Loki perfectly fit the Orange Lantern Ring's criteria.
Boom!
Starscream finally broke into the underground area. His towering body was extremely intimidating. His red eyes scanned the scene, finally fixing on the Power Ring on Loki's hand.
Loki sneered, raising the Power Ring. "This ring is mine. You're too late."
Starscream also sneered. He raised his hand and swiftly gunned down the remaining Controllers, leaving the ground littered with corpses. Only then did he say, "Now, the Orange Lantern Ring is no longer yours."
Loki's brow furrowed. He tried to use the Orange Lantern Ring to attack Starscream, but the ring paused for two seconds, seemingly reluctant, before stingily replying, "No usable energy constructs available."
"Can't use it, can you? The Orange Lantern Ring's operational mechanism is the same as the Yellow and Green Lantern Rings, but its method of combat is completely different. Cybertron has been researching all kinds of Lantern Rings; our understanding of this thing far surpasses yours."
Starscream was grinning sinisterly.
Loki's face darkened as he continuously received new information from the Orange Lantern Ring.
"Cannot activate."
"Lacking usable energy constructs."
"..."
"Where do the energy constructs come from?!" Loki couldn't help but curse.
"Kill enemies, create energy constructs." This time, the Orange Lantern Ring replied swiftly.
Loki glanced at the constantly smirking Starscream, then at the Controllers' corpses littered everywhere. His expression shifted, growing increasingly grim.
"This Orange Lantern Ring..."
Loki's face twitched. He had a sinking feeling he'd been tricked...
"The Orange Lantern Ring is the ring of avarice. Even if it doesn't possess clear sapience, the power from the Light of Avarice within the Emotional Spectrum makes it instinctively want to possess everything while being an absolute miser."
Starscream materialized a heavy cannon, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and its muzzle began to rapidly charge with energy. He aimed it at Loki with a vicious grin.
"However many people you kill, the ring can drain their bodies and souls and perfectly replicate them as Orange Lantern soldiers."
"The way to use the Orange Lantern Ring isn't through imagination, but by becoming a one-man army!"
Starscream approached Loki step by step, his body's scanning and analysis system operating at maximum. He watched Loki with an equally greedy gaze, wary of any of his dirty tricks.
Loki looked down at the faintly glowing Power Ring on his hand, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.
This bastard Starscream had slaughtered all the Controllers. Where was he supposed to find people to create Orange Lantern soldiers?!
"I have a proposal." Loki's eyes darted about as he forced a smile.
"I reject your proposal."
Starscream grinned ferociously, his killing intent intensifying. The heavy cannon in his hands fired, instantly engulfing everything. The powerful blast of energy annihilated matter and destroyed the altar.
Loki was completely enveloped by the aftershock of the explosion, with no way to dodge.
Starscream's method was crude: a direct area-of-effect blast, regardless of whatever tricks Loki might have.
The entire structure began to collapse. The ground shook and the mountains swayed, and massive boulders fell.
Starscream blocked a falling boulder with a punch. His strength was enough to lift an aircraft carrier; the collapse of a mere building was nothing to him.
It would, however, cause Loki a little bit of trouble.
A fluctuation of magic dissipated, which Starscream instantly detected. The next second, Starscream's eyes lit up, and he lunged viciously at Loki.
Flying debris scattered as the two figures clashed. Amidst the roaring, a large amount of matter was brutally destroyed.
Starscream gritted his teeth and endured a magic spell, reaching out to grab Loki. Though he looked quite battered, he had a firm hold on him.
Loki's expression was ugly. "How did you do that?"
"My entire body is made of Primary Adamantium. For this mission, Primus personally helped me upgrade my chassis. Your magic is completely incapable of breaking through my body."
Sneering, Starscream squeezed hard. The shocked and enraged Loki tried to break free, but Starscream's target wasn't him—it was the Orange Lantern Ring on his hand.
Crack!
A ferocious look appeared on his menacing face as Starscream snapped one of Loki's fingers.
"Damn you! How dare you treat a god like this!" Loki screamed in agony.
Starscream turned a deaf ear, casually tossing him aside like garbage. On the finger, stained with blue blood, the Orange Lantern Ring was flashing incessantly.
"You're mine! I, Starscream, will become your master and build a powerful Orange Lantern Corps!"
With a greedy expression, Starscream carefully removed the Power Ring and put it on his own hand.
After a second, Starscream was still waiting to receive the knowledge transmitted from the Orange Lantern Ring, but... nothing came.
Starscream's face twitched. He forcefully commanded the Orange Lantern Ring to transmit its knowledge to him.
Another two seconds passed before the Orange Lantern Ring reluctantly transmitted the information about the orange spectrum to Starscream.
An oath, unique to the Orange Lantern Ring, appeared in Starscream's mind.
"Through theft and deception, by any means foul,
Whatever the object, it shall be mine, body and soul.
To the good and the saintly, I am harmless,
Fear my avarice, the orange light's prowess!"
After a pause, Starscream's eyes sparkled as he roared out an additional oath, also unique to the Orange Lantern Ring: "What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine, it's all mine! Mine, mine, mine! Not yours!"
That's right, the Orange Lantern Ring has a two-part oath. It's so greedy that even its oath has to be longer than the other Lantern Rings, all to display greater possession...
The key part is the second verse. It's simple and crude, directly expressing the Orange Lantern Ring's ultimate pursuit: What's yours is mine; if it isn't now, it will be eventually, but what's mine will always be mine!
Zap!
With a soft sound, an even larger ball of light flew up from the collapsed underground, circled in the air, and came to a stop before Starscream.
The Orange Lantern Power Battery materialized.
Starscream grabbed the orange power battery. With the central power source for the Orange Lantern now in his possession, the next step was to assemble the Orange Lantern Corps.
In other words, killing.
However many people he killed, he could fully manifest the dead to serve as soldiers under his command. The wielder of the Orange Lantern has absolute control over their Orange Lantern soldiers.
(end of chapter)
