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Chapter 804: All Mine!
This was not the Netherworld of Chinese myth, the one ruled by King Yama; nor did it possess the Six Paths of Reincarnation.
Instead, it was a mysterious, unknown Top-tier Realm.
Normally, the Netherworld was terrifyingly low-key. It made no sound, no fuss, and unlike other Realms, it wasn't constantly getting into insane conflicts every other day—like Heaven versus Hell, or Apokolips's blood war against New Genesis.
Yet this mysterious and low-key world was still widely recognized as one of the Top-tier Realms. Even the Singular Gods of the Sphere of the Gods were extremely tight-lipped about it, unwilling to discuss it in depth.
Tony's brows furrowed deeply.
Even he, someone who had read the comics, knew nothing about the state of the Netherworld.
The only information he had was that the Netherworld was always secretly snatching people from the Multiverse... This had gone almost completely unnoticed by the natives of the Multiverse. After all, their numbers were countless, as were their Doppelgängers. The Netherworld would snatch just one out of a Multiversal native's billions of Doppelgängers over an interval of countless years...
Was that conspicuous?
No, it was terrifyingly discreet.
At that moment, Tony stared with bloodshot eyes, sizing up the Life Entity with a gaze full of suspicion and malice. Although the probability of the Life Entity deceiving him was low, Tony still felt like he was being tricked.
That damn old man had the ability to go to the Netherworld? Or rather, what qualified him to be chosen by the Netherworld and spirited away?
Even if he were to one day pilot Cybertron to smash through the Speed Force Wall, charge into the Sphere of the Gods, experience a series of blood wars, and successfully establish a foothold there—even if he saw the long-dead Ancient One, Zod, and the others, Tony wouldn't be surprised.
Zod, at least, was definitely in the Netherworld; the comics made that very clear. Whether it was the same Prime Universe Zod that Tony had killed was another matter.
But the Old Bartender...
Tony clutched his hair, unable to tell if he felt more surprise, joy, or anger. It was a chaotic mix of emotions.
An old man who just wanted to die had gone off to slumber in the Netherworld... If there was something wrong with that picture, it was absolutely everything. This wasn't just a simple matter of changing his sleeping arrangements.
The Life Entity flapped its wings again, seeming somewhat agitated.
She could clearly sense Tony plotting against her with malicious intent again, which greatly displeased her.
The desire to find someone to beat Tony to a pulp quietly intensified...
The Life Entity lowered its avian head and began to seriously consider the possibility...
ROAR!
Nekron roared, losing his composure for the first time. The darkness around him faded, his power severely weakened. He subconsciously tried to raise his scythe, but unfortunately, it had been shattered by the Life Entity, and he grasped at empty air.
Tony immediately shifted his gaze to Nekron. A stare imbued with the power of a Singular God transformed into two energy cannons, piercing through the white light's defensive field around his body and blasting through Nekron's torso with the power of life.
"Let's start the Rebirth of the next person!"
Tony's expression was grim, his mood extremely complicated as various emotions intertwined. He roared in a low voice, "The target is William Hand!"
William Hand, nicknamed Black Hand, was the nominal leader of the Black Lantern Corps, even though the guy was practically invisible the entire time...
But the greatest value of his existence was to serve as a medium connecting Nekron to reality.
The only way to truly bury Nekron was to somehow wrest Black Hand from his grasp and then use the White Lantern to annihilate him.
A flash of white light shot towards a cemetery where William, wearing a Black Lantern Ring, was trying to flee. But before the White Lantern, he was utterly defenseless.
"William Hand of Earth, Rebirth!"
The aura of death was swiftly replaced by the aura of life. The black ichor in his veins began to turn red again, and his dormant heart started to beat strongly and powerfully once more.
William's eyes shot open. He looked at his hands in confusion, then at the transformed world around him.
The scenes of being one of the Black Lanterns were still vivid in his mind, like a deeply memorable dream.
On the horizon, the dawn was breaking.
William was alive. Life was coursing through him.
Nekron remained indifferent and calm. He looked blankly at the White Lanterns surrounding him, his gaze finally settling on Tony.
"We will meet again, next time..."
"Go to sleep peacefully. The next time we meet, I'll be your final resting place."
Tony said faintly, giving him the middle finger.
The white light flashed, and Nekron was annihilated in the brilliant light, disappearing completely.
He once again fell into a deep slumber, awaiting his next chance to awaken. The timing was uncertain—it could be the next moment, or it could be after the Multiverse had been Rebooted countless times.
But Nekron would not give up. He would seek revenge on the light and on life, for he firmly believed that everything in this world owed him a damn debt.
The Darkness completely dissipated. Across the entire Multiverse, the countless universes that had been shrouded in darkness were restored to the Light almost simultaneously.
Countless beings wept with joy, embracing nearby strangers tightly and crying out loud. They rejoiced for their new life and mourned for their lost family and friends.
But happiness belonged only to some; tragedy was the destined fate for others.
When the Darkness receded, an unknown number of universes had been slaughtered into barren wastelands by the Black Lanterns. Entire vast universes, with their countless galaxies and planets, had fallen silent, without so much as a single-celled organism left alive.
The entire Multiverse had essentially suffered an unprecedentedly bloody Purge. The number of dead life forms was simply incalculable.
The world of the dead had receded, and the Light began to shine upon the living once more. Everything seemed poised to return to normal.
But that was still just an illusion.
Nekron's slumber was only temporary. He was immortal. As long as the Emotional Spectrum existed, Nekron, as the extreme end of that spectrum, could not be erased.
Unless the Emotional Spectrum itself was destroyed.
But the Emotional Spectrum originated from the Emotional Spectrum Pool outside the Source Wall, which meant one would first have to find a way to blow up the Source Wall...
The difficulty factor was astronomical.
On Earth, just as William underwent his Rebirth and the Old Bartender's body left the Darkness for the Light, a greedy figure suddenly stepped forward.
Larfleeze lunged viciously at the Life Entity, shouting, "You can't leave! You have to give me a White Lantern Ring first!"
After a moment's thought, Larfleeze shouted again, "One isn't enough! Give me at least ten, or you're not going anywhere!"
"..."
Countless people stared speechlessly at the guy.
Thud!
Tony kicked Larfleeze away, his cold gaze sweeping over the superheroes and supervillains present who were starting to get ideas they shouldn't have.
Clark hesitated for a moment before stepping forward. "A lot of people died. Since you can bring them back to life, then..."
"Impossible. The laws of life and death cannot be altered on a massive scale."
Tony cut Clark off directly. "Not only that, I'm taking back all the Lantern Rings in your possession. They were mine to begin with!"
Then, he pointed at the Life Entity. "That includes you! You're coming back to Cybertron with me! My planet is missing a living Consciousness, and I plan to plug you into it!"
The middle finger wearing the White Lantern Ring shone brightly.
(end of chapter)
This was not the Netherworld of Chinese myth, the one ruled by King Yama; nor did it possess the Six Paths of Reincarnation.
Instead, it was a mysterious, unknown Top-tier Realm.
Normally, the Netherworld was terrifyingly low-key. It made no sound, no fuss, and unlike other Realms, it wasn't constantly getting into insane conflicts every other day—like Heaven versus Hell, or Apokolips's blood war against New Genesis.
Yet this mysterious and low-key world was still widely recognized as one of the Top-tier Realms. Even the Singular Gods of the Sphere of the Gods were extremely tight-lipped about it, unwilling to discuss it in depth.
Tony's brows furrowed deeply.
Even he, someone who had read the comics, knew nothing about the state of the Netherworld.
The only information he had was that the Netherworld was always secretly snatching people from the Multiverse... This had gone almost completely unnoticed by the natives of the Multiverse. After all, their numbers were countless, as were their Doppelgängers. The Netherworld would snatch just one out of a Multiversal native's billions of Doppelgängers over an interval of countless years...
Was that conspicuous?
No, it was terrifyingly discreet.
At that moment, Tony stared with bloodshot eyes, sizing up the Life Entity with a gaze full of suspicion and malice. Although the probability of the Life Entity deceiving him was low, Tony still felt like he was being tricked.
That damn old man had the ability to go to the Netherworld? Or rather, what qualified him to be chosen by the Netherworld and spirited away?
Even if he were to one day pilot Cybertron to smash through the Speed Force Wall, charge into the Sphere of the Gods, experience a series of blood wars, and successfully establish a foothold there—even if he saw the long-dead Ancient One, Zod, and the others, Tony wouldn't be surprised.
Zod, at least, was definitely in the Netherworld; the comics made that very clear. Whether it was the same Prime Universe Zod that Tony had killed was another matter.
But the Old Bartender...
Tony clutched his hair, unable to tell if he felt more surprise, joy, or anger. It was a chaotic mix of emotions.
An old man who just wanted to die had gone off to slumber in the Netherworld... If there was something wrong with that picture, it was absolutely everything. This wasn't just a simple matter of changing his sleeping arrangements.
The Life Entity flapped its wings again, seeming somewhat agitated.
She could clearly sense Tony plotting against her with malicious intent again, which greatly displeased her.
The desire to find someone to beat Tony to a pulp quietly intensified...
The Life Entity lowered its avian head and began to seriously consider the possibility...
ROAR!
Nekron roared, losing his composure for the first time. The darkness around him faded, his power severely weakened. He subconsciously tried to raise his scythe, but unfortunately, it had been shattered by the Life Entity, and he grasped at empty air.
Tony immediately shifted his gaze to Nekron. A stare imbued with the power of a Singular God transformed into two energy cannons, piercing through the white light's defensive field around his body and blasting through Nekron's torso with the power of life.
"Let's start the Rebirth of the next person!"
Tony's expression was grim, his mood extremely complicated as various emotions intertwined. He roared in a low voice, "The target is William Hand!"
William Hand, nicknamed Black Hand, was the nominal leader of the Black Lantern Corps, even though the guy was practically invisible the entire time...
But the greatest value of his existence was to serve as a medium connecting Nekron to reality.
The only way to truly bury Nekron was to somehow wrest Black Hand from his grasp and then use the White Lantern to annihilate him.
A flash of white light shot towards a cemetery where William, wearing a Black Lantern Ring, was trying to flee. But before the White Lantern, he was utterly defenseless.
"William Hand of Earth, Rebirth!"
The aura of death was swiftly replaced by the aura of life. The black ichor in his veins began to turn red again, and his dormant heart started to beat strongly and powerfully once more.
William's eyes shot open. He looked at his hands in confusion, then at the transformed world around him.
The scenes of being one of the Black Lanterns were still vivid in his mind, like a deeply memorable dream.
On the horizon, the dawn was breaking.
William was alive. Life was coursing through him.
Nekron remained indifferent and calm. He looked blankly at the White Lanterns surrounding him, his gaze finally settling on Tony.
"We will meet again, next time..."
"Go to sleep peacefully. The next time we meet, I'll be your final resting place."
Tony said faintly, giving him the middle finger.
The white light flashed, and Nekron was annihilated in the brilliant light, disappearing completely.
He once again fell into a deep slumber, awaiting his next chance to awaken. The timing was uncertain—it could be the next moment, or it could be after the Multiverse had been Rebooted countless times.
But Nekron would not give up. He would seek revenge on the light and on life, for he firmly believed that everything in this world owed him a damn debt.
The Darkness completely dissipated. Across the entire Multiverse, the countless universes that had been shrouded in darkness were restored to the Light almost simultaneously.
Countless beings wept with joy, embracing nearby strangers tightly and crying out loud. They rejoiced for their new life and mourned for their lost family and friends.
But happiness belonged only to some; tragedy was the destined fate for others.
When the Darkness receded, an unknown number of universes had been slaughtered into barren wastelands by the Black Lanterns. Entire vast universes, with their countless galaxies and planets, had fallen silent, without so much as a single-celled organism left alive.
The entire Multiverse had essentially suffered an unprecedentedly bloody Purge. The number of dead life forms was simply incalculable.
The world of the dead had receded, and the Light began to shine upon the living once more. Everything seemed poised to return to normal.
But that was still just an illusion.
Nekron's slumber was only temporary. He was immortal. As long as the Emotional Spectrum existed, Nekron, as the extreme end of that spectrum, could not be erased.
Unless the Emotional Spectrum itself was destroyed.
But the Emotional Spectrum originated from the Emotional Spectrum Pool outside the Source Wall, which meant one would first have to find a way to blow up the Source Wall...
The difficulty factor was astronomical.
On Earth, just as William underwent his Rebirth and the Old Bartender's body left the Darkness for the Light, a greedy figure suddenly stepped forward.
Larfleeze lunged viciously at the Life Entity, shouting, "You can't leave! You have to give me a White Lantern Ring first!"
After a moment's thought, Larfleeze shouted again, "One isn't enough! Give me at least ten, or you're not going anywhere!"
"..."
Countless people stared speechlessly at the guy.
Thud!
Tony kicked Larfleeze away, his cold gaze sweeping over the superheroes and supervillains present who were starting to get ideas they shouldn't have.
Clark hesitated for a moment before stepping forward. "A lot of people died. Since you can bring them back to life, then..."
"Impossible. The laws of life and death cannot be altered on a massive scale."
Tony cut Clark off directly. "Not only that, I'm taking back all the Lantern Rings in your possession. They were mine to begin with!"
Then, he pointed at the Life Entity. "That includes you! You're coming back to Cybertron with me! My planet is missing a living Consciousness, and I plan to plug you into it!"
The middle finger wearing the White Lantern Ring shone brightly.
(end of chapter)
