Cherreads

Chapter 163 - The Spectrum Fractured

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Sinestro stirred, barely. The cracked, bleeding edges of his uniform sparked with fading yellow light. He tried to lift himself from the rubble, fingers trembling, jaw clenched. 

"No…" 

But before the word could even finish escaping his lips, something massive slammed Sinestro into the ground with the force of a meteor. 

DOOM. 

The monstrous jagged-foot of the shadowborn titan came crashing down onto Sinestro's chest with a bone-shattering impact, pinning him flat against the stone. A roar thundered from Doom's throat not words, just primal dominion. His clawed hand followed, wrapping around Sinestro's torso like a child might crush a doll. 

Sinestro's eyes widened with pain, with shock. 

"This… thing… where did it... come from!" 

But the grip tightened. Flesh, armor, and pride buckled under the weight of it. 

Doom didn't let go. But he didn't finish him either. 

Arthur didn't even glance down. 

He stood, ten paces away, arm outstretched toward the Central Power Battery once a beacon of golden wrath, now pulsating and flickering like a dying star. His black-violet ring gleamed violently, shadows pouring out of it in writhing tendrils of pure will. 

Arthur's voice was low, steady, commanding. 

"Let's see how much actual fear you can endure." 

From his ring, a beam of violet-black energy erupted, cutting through the air like a divine judgment. It slammed into the battery with a high-pitched shriek, a scream that did not echoe from metal, but it felt deeper and sentient. The light of the Yellow Lanterns flared in rebellion. 

At first… the Battery resisted. 

Its golden aura surged outward in defiance, pushing back the invasive power. Light warped, twisted, fought back. 

Arthur narrowed his eyes. His jaw tensed. 

He took a step forward. 

And poured more of himself into it. 

The ring pulsed brighter. Shadows twisted madly around his body, his aura bleeding across the ground like ink through water. The black-violet stream intensified, growing into a torrent of force that scorched the very atmosphere of Qward. 

Sinestro, beneath Doom's crushing hand, lifted his head barely. 

"What… what is he doing?" His voice rasped out, fragile. 

He could feel it. Not just in his bones. In his ring. 

A shudder. 

A tremble. 

His ring dimmed its glow faltering, flickering… dying. 

Arthur's breath grew heavier. His vision blurred with power. His mana was being sucked dry Yet he kept going. He didn't stop. The shadows pouring from his ring fed into the battery like poison into a heart. 

The golden core began to crack. 

Hairline fractures shimmered with black and violet. The yellow glow that once roared like a sun began to flicker. Dim. Waver. 

Then BOOM. 

A blast of unimaginable force ripped outward from the Battery. A storm of golden and violet light collided and exploded in all directions. Dust and residual energy seared the sky. 

The ground shattered. The foundations of the chamber buckled. Even Doom staggered back, Arthur shielded himself with ruler's authority. 

For a moment there was only silence. 

Smoke curled through the air. The only sound was the crackling of unstable energy. 

Then 

Arthur stepped forward, eyes wide in disbelief. He stared at the Central Power Battery as the dust cleared… and saw what remained. 

It hadn't been destroyed. 

It had changed. 

The once-golden surface now pulsed with black and violet hues. Like obsidian wrapped in bruised lightning. The corruption had taken root… and reformed it. 

Arthur's mouth opened slightly. 

"That wasn't my original plan… totally not what I expected." 

His gaze flicked to his ring. Still glowing. Still feeding into the Battery or rather, now being fed by it. 

[System Notification: The Central Power Battery has been overridden. Shadow Energy now anchors to Qward's Battery.] 

[Your Mana is no longer the only source of power to your ring. New ring creation accessible yet it is still limited without the black heart.] 

[The Being within the Central power battery now submits to the Shadow Monarch.] 

Arthur whispered to himself, stunned: 

'I was going to destroy it... but this... this is better. Also this being I'm sensing inside... is it Parallax?' 

Behind him, Sinestro stared in horror. His body trembled beneath Doom's hand, not from the pain anymore but from understanding. 

His ring just died. 

Its glow had vanished completely. Like the fear it thrived on had been devoured by something far older. 

His voice shook as he rasped out: 

"No… this isn't possible…" 

Arthur turned to look at him for the first time. 

"Your Corps," he said softly, "is no more." 

"Naturally," he continued, "the others will follow suit... assuming they're foolish enough to show up on Earth like you." 

Sinestro coughed violently, spitting blood onto the floor. He forced himself to speak through clenched teeth, through agony. 

"You foolish earthling," he rasped. "You have no idea... what consequences this will bring. The balance of power... the emotional spectrum... you've damaged it. You'll only hasten the Blackest Night this way." 

His words echoed like prophecy. Like a curse. 

Arthur stared down at him. Unmoved. 

"Maybe," he said. 

Then, without looking, he nodded once subtle. 

Doom moved. 

A single grinding twist of his enormous foot. 

CRUNCH. 

Sinestro's skull collapsed like glass beneath a boot of a god. Blood and shadow mist sprayed outward as silence fell across the chamber. His body went limp. The yellow ring that had long rested on his finger cracked and dissolved into ash. 

Arthur didn't blink. 

"I'll be ready for that sort of event," he said quietly, turning toward the corrupted Battery. 

"If it ever happens." 

Doom stepped back, steam hissing from his body like a war-forged titan cooling after a kill. The chamber pulsed, the very shadows thickening, as Arthur spoke with authority. 

"Arise." 

The temperature dropped. 

Darkness surged. 

From the torn and lifeless remains of Sinestro, shadow peeled like smoke, crawling up. Then it rose. 

Not as a man. 

Not as a Lantern. 

But as a greater existence, loyal, and bound to the shadow monarch. 

His body stood tall, wrapped in swirling shadows, his uniform no longer bears the symbol of Sinestro's Corps,it bears the same symbol of Arthur's ring,and on his hand, the Ring of the shadow corps. The familiar face was still there, but now with glowing violet eyes. No fear. No rebellion. Only submission. 

"You'll be called Sinestro.. I really don't know what to name you other than that..." Arthur muttered. 

[Sinestro] 

[Rank: General] 

Arthur stared at the former Lantern for a long moment. No words passed between them none were needed. Sinestro's head dipped in a respectful nod, his form awaiting command. 

Arthur gave the reformed Battery one last look. He didn't need to destroy it anymore. It would serve him well in the future. Its glow pulsed quietly, like a heart still beating but under new dominion. 

He exhaled. 

"Time to go home." 

**** 

MOMENTS BEFORE THE CORRUPTION OF THE FEAR BATTERY - 

Qward's sky burned gold and black. Lanterns clashed with monsters born of shadow. Screams of war echoed through the broken sky as the battle raged on a storm of constructs and chaos. 

Shadow met light. fear met death. 

Kamish soared overhead, his wings vast as city blocks, blotting out the stars like glow of the planet's artificial light. From his maw erupted a torrent of flame, black fire laced with purple sparks, a breath that melted constructs like wax. 

Below, the yellow lanterns were being pushed back hard. 

Ultra flew like a meteor a streak of violence, violet eyes glowing. His fists shattered constructs before they could even fully form. One lantern tried to speak, raise a barrier Ultra's boot caved in his face before he could finish the word. 

And then 

A sound like the scream of two dying gods. 

A boom low and hollow at first, then climbing into a deafening sound. The sky split, a shockwave of yellow and violet light bursting from the central power battery, far away but felt everywhere. The blast rolled through the battlefield. 

Dozens of yellow rings suddenly dimmed then fizzled. Lanterns, in mid-flight, screamed as their light died. The constructs supporting them crumbled, and they dropped like meteors. Some managed to scream. Most did not. 

A moment of stunned silence. 

Then came the slaughter. 

The shadow legion surged forward like a tidal wave of death. Kamish landed on a cliff of jagged stone, fire still crackling from his nostrils. He exhaled a long stream of breath, igniting several fallen lanterns where they lay, their broken rings barely pulsing with dying light. 

Quick blitzed past falling lanterns, red lightning snapping behind him like a trail of death. Every step was a neck broken. Every breath he took, another corpse. 

Baruka took the chance and walked calmly, slicing a lantern clean in half with his dagger, the dagger wrapped in shadow and dripping with blood. 

And Ultra stood among the carnage, Tri-Eye gripped in one hand by the throat. 

The grotesque alien lantern thrashed, his ring dead, his claws scraping against Ultra's arm in desperation. "No no, it can't be. Wait—WAIT—!" 

SNAP. 

Ultra broke his neck without a blink, the crunch lost in the wind. 

"Ugly creature," Ultra said. 

He stood tall, surrounded by the broken bodies of the Yellow Lantern Corps. Ash rained from the sky. The ground itself seemed to bow beneath the weight of victory. 

Ultra turned toward the center of the battlefield. In the far distance, a column of swirling violet and black power still rose like a beacon a signal of what had just happened. 

"My Monarch prevails." 

The shadow legion, scattered across the scorched plains of Qward, raised their weapons. They stood in perfect formation. 

The yellow impurity had died. 

The Legion of Fear was no more. 

/-\ 

If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros. 

If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my patreon at 

"https://www.patreon.com/FrenzyAren" 

You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want

More Chapters