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Chapter 774: Resurrection (2)
Ever since the Scarred Guardian spat out the first Black Lantern ring, everything had been irreversible.
And a man on Earth named William was the medium chosen by Nekron, serving as the channel to connect him with the world of the living after his revival.
William was a man who had been obsessed with death since childhood. His greatest passion was slaughter. As a young boy, he began dissecting small animals with his own hands. As he grew older, he turned his attention to humans, eventually murdering his parents and brother.
Lying in a cemetery, slumbering eternally with the dead, was William's greatest hobby.
Monitoring William was A.R.G.U.S.'s most important mission.
Crane sat quietly on the sofa, holding a glass of red wine. He would occasionally swirl the glass, sniffing the wine's delicate aroma, his eyes shifting.
On the screen before him, William's every move was being displayed.
A.R.G.U.S. had been monitoring William for ten years. Crane had personally watched William grow up, watched his obsession with death develop. And now, after ten years of various arrangements, it was finally time to reap the rewards.
"What a wonderful feeling, a man who actively embraces death... This guy is even crazier than Thanos."
Crane murmured.
He watched as William returned home, sat in a chair drenched in the blood of his family, and raised a gun to his own head.
With the bang of a gunshot, a bullet pierced William's skull. Blood and brain matter gushed out as his life came to an end.
"It's starting..."
Crane took a deep breath. He didn't even have time to place the wine glass steadily on the table, instead just tossing it to the floor. The red wine spilled across the ground, the color of blood.
Reaching into his breast pocket, Crane pulled out a Yellow Lantern ring. He hesitated for a moment, but in the end, Crane still slipped it onto his finger.
"Crane of Earth, you have the ability to instill great fear in others. Welcome to the Yellow Lantern Corps!"
The Yellow Lantern ring conveyed the rigid information to Crane, just as it always did.
But this time, Crane figured he might not get the chance to take it off again.
...
The Scarred Guardian appeared silently in William's home. He looked indifferently at William, who lay in a pool of blood. After staring for a moment, a savage smile spread across his lips.
He opened his mouth, and black blood spilled out, a Black Lantern ring encased within it. Under the Scarred Guardian's control, the ring flew directly to William and slid onto his finger.
"William Hand of Earth, rise!"
The voice of the Black Lantern ring echoed in William's mind. A powerful black light awakened his soul. His broken body began to revive, and black blood replaced his red blood.
"The Blackest Night has fallen. Nekron will set everything right, and the world will return to the way it should be."
The Scarred Guardian faced the newly resurrected William and spoke in a voice filled with immense fanaticism, "William, you have been chosen by Death itself. You will become the herald of the Black Lanterns!"
The Scarred Guardian's face was a mask of madness, his scarred features contorted with a fanaticism akin to a holy pilgrimage.
William stared blankly at the Black Lantern ring on his finger. Death was with him, whispering something in his ear.
In a distant realm, the true Death was finally enraged. She stretched out a bony hand and, as if to vent her anger, destroyed half of her palace.
"Damn it, damn it! That's mine! Nekron is stealing what belongs to me!"
Death's skeletal face was contorted. This God of Death of the Multiverse could clearly feel that what originally belonged to her was being siphoned away by a far more terrifying being, the rate of loss astonishing.
The aura on Death's body also began to weaken rapidly. Eventually, the power of this clone was completely drained, and it collapsed helplessly to the ground.
A similar scene occurred in many universes. Across the entire Multiverse, every aspect of Death was being mercilessly slaughtered by a natural predator, falling one after another.
Meanwhile, Death's true self was already seething with rage.
"The Authority of Death is mine! By what right can he take it away so easily!"
Death was utterly furious, even looking at her own hands in horror. Her power was continuously draining away, and her supreme authority over the Multiverse was being brutally crushed and suppressed by a higher power.
This situation had begun long ago, and Death was powerless to stop it. But with Nekron's awakening, the process was accelerating to an unprecedented degree, so fast that even the mighty Death was terrified.
Although she and Nekron were both deities in charge of death, Nekron clearly had the upper hand. Before the Goddess of Death became one of the Five Creator Deities to stabilize the balance of the Multiverse, Nekron had already shouldered this great responsibility.
In terms of priority, Nekron utterly outclassed the Goddess of Death by a mile.
Beside her, four blurry figures watched her in silence.
"You have to help me!" Death said, her voice a mixture of shock and anger.
"How can we help?" Eternity said slowly. "Nekron is an essential component that has existed since the birth of the Multiverse. He is the core frequency of the Emotional Spectrum. This world can exist without you, but it cannot exist without Nekron."
"But he was crippled by the Light of Creation long ago! Without me, the Multiverse would have collapsed! Why should a defective product like him be able to so easily snatch away what I've gained over billions of years!"
"Simply because he is Nekron. His priority in the Multiverse far exceeds yours," Infinity said flatly. "Nekron cannot be replaced, but we Five Great Gods can be. Didn't Eternity only become the second Eternity by killing the first one—the First Firmament—and abandoning his old name?"
Galactus looked impatiently at the other four deities. He didn't care about this. His duty was simply to switch back and forth between Lifebringer and Galactus. He didn't even have a true body right now; the countless versions of him throughout the Multiverse were all clones. He couldn't interfere with the coming of the Blackest Night anyway.
Galactus's greatest strength was his indifference and unflappable nature.
Death looked at Oblivion and said in a low voice, "If it were you, you should be able to defeat Nekron. If the five of us team up..."
Oblivion gave Death a cold glance, said nothing, and turned to leave.
As a quasi-ninth-level being, he certainly possessed the combat power to defeat Nekron, but... why should he? Why should he take such a huge risk to provoke that madman Nekron?
Death's deep eye sockets watched the departing Oblivion, and gradually, she fell deeper into despair.
From the deepening darkness, Oblivion's voice drifted back: "Wait patiently. There are more people in a hurry than we are. The current lifeforms in the Multiverse are all favored by the light; they will be the first line of defense against Nekron... Besides, haven't you been preparing for this day for a long time..."
Eternity, Infinity, and Galactus left one by one, their expressions all meaningful.
Death stood silently in place, her expression conflicted—sometimes savage, sometimes calm. She looked down at her hands. What she had painstakingly accumulated was being violently siphoned away by the distant Nekron. She resisted with all her might, yet could only slightly slow the process.
One Death being suppressed by a more powerful Death—what a supreme irony.
"I just hope you don't disappoint me. I didn't go out of my way to stop you. Now it's time for you to repay me."
Death looked in the direction of the Prime Universe as her entire body was gradually devoured by darkness.
Her aura was also weakening rapidly, even breaking through the thresholds of Level Eight and Level Seven as it continued to plummet.
(end of chapter)
Ever since the Scarred Guardian spat out the first Black Lantern ring, everything had been irreversible.
And a man on Earth named William was the medium chosen by Nekron, serving as the channel to connect him with the world of the living after his revival.
William was a man who had been obsessed with death since childhood. His greatest passion was slaughter. As a young boy, he began dissecting small animals with his own hands. As he grew older, he turned his attention to humans, eventually murdering his parents and brother.
Lying in a cemetery, slumbering eternally with the dead, was William's greatest hobby.
Monitoring William was A.R.G.U.S.'s most important mission.
Crane sat quietly on the sofa, holding a glass of red wine. He would occasionally swirl the glass, sniffing the wine's delicate aroma, his eyes shifting.
On the screen before him, William's every move was being displayed.
A.R.G.U.S. had been monitoring William for ten years. Crane had personally watched William grow up, watched his obsession with death develop. And now, after ten years of various arrangements, it was finally time to reap the rewards.
"What a wonderful feeling, a man who actively embraces death... This guy is even crazier than Thanos."
Crane murmured.
He watched as William returned home, sat in a chair drenched in the blood of his family, and raised a gun to his own head.
With the bang of a gunshot, a bullet pierced William's skull. Blood and brain matter gushed out as his life came to an end.
"It's starting..."
Crane took a deep breath. He didn't even have time to place the wine glass steadily on the table, instead just tossing it to the floor. The red wine spilled across the ground, the color of blood.
Reaching into his breast pocket, Crane pulled out a Yellow Lantern ring. He hesitated for a moment, but in the end, Crane still slipped it onto his finger.
"Crane of Earth, you have the ability to instill great fear in others. Welcome to the Yellow Lantern Corps!"
The Yellow Lantern ring conveyed the rigid information to Crane, just as it always did.
But this time, Crane figured he might not get the chance to take it off again.
...
The Scarred Guardian appeared silently in William's home. He looked indifferently at William, who lay in a pool of blood. After staring for a moment, a savage smile spread across his lips.
He opened his mouth, and black blood spilled out, a Black Lantern ring encased within it. Under the Scarred Guardian's control, the ring flew directly to William and slid onto his finger.
"William Hand of Earth, rise!"
The voice of the Black Lantern ring echoed in William's mind. A powerful black light awakened his soul. His broken body began to revive, and black blood replaced his red blood.
"The Blackest Night has fallen. Nekron will set everything right, and the world will return to the way it should be."
The Scarred Guardian faced the newly resurrected William and spoke in a voice filled with immense fanaticism, "William, you have been chosen by Death itself. You will become the herald of the Black Lanterns!"
The Scarred Guardian's face was a mask of madness, his scarred features contorted with a fanaticism akin to a holy pilgrimage.
William stared blankly at the Black Lantern ring on his finger. Death was with him, whispering something in his ear.
In a distant realm, the true Death was finally enraged. She stretched out a bony hand and, as if to vent her anger, destroyed half of her palace.
"Damn it, damn it! That's mine! Nekron is stealing what belongs to me!"
Death's skeletal face was contorted. This God of Death of the Multiverse could clearly feel that what originally belonged to her was being siphoned away by a far more terrifying being, the rate of loss astonishing.
The aura on Death's body also began to weaken rapidly. Eventually, the power of this clone was completely drained, and it collapsed helplessly to the ground.
A similar scene occurred in many universes. Across the entire Multiverse, every aspect of Death was being mercilessly slaughtered by a natural predator, falling one after another.
Meanwhile, Death's true self was already seething with rage.
"The Authority of Death is mine! By what right can he take it away so easily!"
Death was utterly furious, even looking at her own hands in horror. Her power was continuously draining away, and her supreme authority over the Multiverse was being brutally crushed and suppressed by a higher power.
This situation had begun long ago, and Death was powerless to stop it. But with Nekron's awakening, the process was accelerating to an unprecedented degree, so fast that even the mighty Death was terrified.
Although she and Nekron were both deities in charge of death, Nekron clearly had the upper hand. Before the Goddess of Death became one of the Five Creator Deities to stabilize the balance of the Multiverse, Nekron had already shouldered this great responsibility.
In terms of priority, Nekron utterly outclassed the Goddess of Death by a mile.
Beside her, four blurry figures watched her in silence.
"You have to help me!" Death said, her voice a mixture of shock and anger.
"How can we help?" Eternity said slowly. "Nekron is an essential component that has existed since the birth of the Multiverse. He is the core frequency of the Emotional Spectrum. This world can exist without you, but it cannot exist without Nekron."
"But he was crippled by the Light of Creation long ago! Without me, the Multiverse would have collapsed! Why should a defective product like him be able to so easily snatch away what I've gained over billions of years!"
"Simply because he is Nekron. His priority in the Multiverse far exceeds yours," Infinity said flatly. "Nekron cannot be replaced, but we Five Great Gods can be. Didn't Eternity only become the second Eternity by killing the first one—the First Firmament—and abandoning his old name?"
Galactus looked impatiently at the other four deities. He didn't care about this. His duty was simply to switch back and forth between Lifebringer and Galactus. He didn't even have a true body right now; the countless versions of him throughout the Multiverse were all clones. He couldn't interfere with the coming of the Blackest Night anyway.
Galactus's greatest strength was his indifference and unflappable nature.
Death looked at Oblivion and said in a low voice, "If it were you, you should be able to defeat Nekron. If the five of us team up..."
Oblivion gave Death a cold glance, said nothing, and turned to leave.
As a quasi-ninth-level being, he certainly possessed the combat power to defeat Nekron, but... why should he? Why should he take such a huge risk to provoke that madman Nekron?
Death's deep eye sockets watched the departing Oblivion, and gradually, she fell deeper into despair.
From the deepening darkness, Oblivion's voice drifted back: "Wait patiently. There are more people in a hurry than we are. The current lifeforms in the Multiverse are all favored by the light; they will be the first line of defense against Nekron... Besides, haven't you been preparing for this day for a long time..."
Eternity, Infinity, and Galactus left one by one, their expressions all meaningful.
Death stood silently in place, her expression conflicted—sometimes savage, sometimes calm. She looked down at her hands. What she had painstakingly accumulated was being violently siphoned away by the distant Nekron. She resisted with all her might, yet could only slightly slow the process.
One Death being suppressed by a more powerful Death—what a supreme irony.
"I just hope you don't disappoint me. I didn't go out of my way to stop you. Now it's time for you to repay me."
Death looked in the direction of the Prime Universe as her entire body was gradually devoured by darkness.
Her aura was also weakening rapidly, even breaking through the thresholds of Level Eight and Level Seven as it continued to plummet.
(end of chapter)
