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The dust from the crater still swirled lazily in the air, carrying the scent of blood with it. Larfleeze lay half-buried in the fractured earth, his claws twitching feebly, his once orange glow reduced to a trembling flicker. His breaths came ragged, wet, and shallow, each one a struggle with his broken body.
A shadow stretched across him smiling and merciless.
Arthur's violet eyes glowed faintly as he stepped forward, the crunch of debris under his boots was the only sound that can be heard now. Beside him, Galatea descended with a cold, sharp grace. Her arms crossed over her chest, her boots hovering just above the shattered ground, her gaze locked on the fallen creature as if she was looking at a crippled prey.
Arthur's expression didn't shift much; his voice was almost dismissive as he turned his head toward her.
"He's all yours."
Galatea's lips curved faintly, and she uncrossed her arms, floating closer to the twitching Orange Lantern. Her shadow stretched long over his crumpled form as her boots finally touched the dirt.
Larfleeze coughed violently, spitting dark flecks of blood as his wide eye darted between them. "W–wait… Shadow Lantern, wait! Let's...Talk!" His voice cracked, a rasp of desperation, his clawed fingers clawing weakly at the ground as if to drag himself away. "I… I can help! The Blackest Night...these wretched Black Lanterns...you and I, both! We can destroy them all!"
The words spilled out in frantic bursts, his greed clawing for survival, not alliance. His ring sputtered again, the faint orange light flickering erratically as if mocking him for begging for his life.
Galatea slowed her approach, tilting her head slightly, unreadable for a heartbeat. The desperation in Larfleeze's voice sharpened; his single remaining eye widened. "No..wait!"
She flexed her hands, fingers curling into fists, the knuckles cracking audibly as faint violet light traced along her shadow form. There was no smile now only a cold, flat calm in her voice as she spoke.
"Die with dignity."
Her fist blurred.
The first blow landed like a thunderclap, shaking the ground beneath them. Dust erupted upward in a choking wave, and Larfleeze's body bucked under the impact, his claws flailing helplessly. Another punch. Then another. The ground splintered and groaned with each strike as Galatea descended on him like a hammer, raining fists into his torso, his skull each blow precise and devastating, relentless.
Arthur raised an arm against the storm of debris, his ashen white hair snapping with the force of each shockwave. His voice cut through the chaos with dry sarcasm.
"Try not to damage the body too much. I still need to extract his shadow."
Galatea's hair whipped about her face, her expression hard but alight with something… almost like satisfaction. Her lips twitched into a faint, strange smile between blows, her fists cracking the ground deeper with each impact as Larfleeze ate every attack.
Arthur exhaled through his nose, lowering his arm as another fist sank deep into the crater. The dirt shifted under his boots. He muttered, more to himself than her, with a faint sigh,
"Or you can just continue and fill his body with bloody holes…"
Galatea slammed her fists down one final time, leaving a red imprint beneath her knuckles. Larfleeze no longer moved, his ring barely flickered now, the orange light fading. She straightened slowly, the dust still hanging in the air like a veil, and glanced back toward Arthur with that same faint, unsettling curve at the edge of her lips.
Arthur met her gaze, the violet glow in his eyes steady, and he simply nodded.
Galatea hovered a few feet from the battered form of Larfleeze, her fists still trembling faintly from the judgment she had unleashed upon him, his body lay twisted, ribs jutting wrong beneath torn flesh. Blood bubbled past his jagged teeth as he tried to form words, one eye swollen shut, the other too bloody to tell its shape.
Galatea straightened ever so slightly, her face set in calm understanding. No words were needed; the command was clear from her Monarch. She gave Larfleeze one look, her shadowed figure reflected in his terrified gaze. A wet cough tore from his throat, spraying blood across the cracked stone beneath him.
His voice rasped, barely more than a croak, "… I…" His hand twitched but he could not carry it towards Arthur, as if reaching for a lifeline that would never come.
Galatea's expression didn't soften. There was no pity there, no hesitation. Only the silent obedience of a weapon honed to perfection.
"..No" Larfleeze managed to wheeze again, out of desperation, but it was far too late.
Her eyes ignited with a sharp, searing crimson light.
Twin lances of heat vision erupted, they carved through the dust and slammed into what remained of his face. The beam pinned him in place, and the last desperate movements of his fingers curled into stillness as the scent of burning flesh filled the air. His body jerked once, twice, and then fell limp no light left in his ring, no greed left to drive him.
Arthur watched it without flinching, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "Good work," he said simply, his voice that of a commander satisfied with a well-delivered execution.
The orange ring, freed from its bearer, flickered to life and tried to dart away like a frightened firefly. Arthur's hand twitched, and a web of shadow coiled around it mid-flight, dragging it toward his palm. He studied it for a moment, the glow reflected in his cold, violet stare, then slowly closed his fingers around it until it cracked, splintering with a sharp hiss before crumbling into useless shards that fell to the dirt.
He stepped closer to the still-smoking corpse, his boots crunching over broken stone. The battlefield had gone quiet, only shadows stirring at his presence. He looked down at what was once the most possessive being in the universe and let a thin smirk curl at the edge of his mouth.
"Arise."
The command slithered out like a whisper, and the shadows responded instantly, from the corpse like liquid night, a Figure emerged.
The new creature raised its head, its eyes now glowing with that same deep, regal violet. The mouth twisted into something resembling a grin, fitting for the greed that had consumed it in life.
Arthur looked at the kneeling figure. "Welcome, 'Greed', to the Shadow Legion."
[Greed – Rank General]
The newly formed general bowed low, the old arrogance stripped away, replaced with something darker... blind loyalty etched into every motion.
"My King.." the shadow rasped, its voice a hollow echo of the monster that once was.
Arthur's voice, when it came, was level and commanding.
"Now that we are done here," he said, the corner of his mouth twitching upward, "you'll be helping, just like you said you would a minute ago."
The shadow that had been Larfleeze raised its head slowly. Its glowing eyes once feral, now calm with that strange, eerie obedience narrowed as the pulsing of its ring intensified.
"I am at your command, my king," Greed rasped, the title rolling off his tongue with grim reverence. "We shall reduce the Black Lanterns to ash."
Arthur's lips curved faintly, almost in approval. "Good." He raised his hand, the ring on his own finger glowing, as faint, crackling energy gathered at his command. The air tore open in front of them, a portal yawning wide, casting a swirl of light and shadow onto the battered ground. Beyond it, faint traces of green, blue and dark energy danced, chaotic, desperate a Green Lantern and an odd lantern fighting a losing battle against a force of death somewhere far from here, in the middle of space.
Arthur's gaze stayed fixed on Greed. "As your first assignment," he said, "you'll go and help that Green Lantern. Aid him in killing the Black Lantern he's fighting."
Greed rose to his feet with a stiff, slow motion. The light in his new shadow ring flared briefly as he inclined his head, his voice carrying a new purpose.
"I will carry out this task, my king."
He stepped into the portal without hesitation, the swirling light swallowing his silhouette. Arthur let it linger for a breath longer, then he lowered his hand, and the portal collapsed into nothingness.
Only then did his attention return to the one name that had not yet been crossed off this list, the one he was trying to get rid of before Larfleeze intervened. His head turned slightly, the glow in his eyes sharpening as he found the faint trace of a shadow solider, one that he had assigned to the Herald of Nekron before escaping.
"As for you… Black Hand." His tone became colder.
He let the silence stretch for a heartbeat, then added with a faint smirk, "You just made this far too easy for me… by being there."
/-\
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