Boom!
The moment Adrian finished speaking, a beam of yellow energy struck Guy's body without warning.
Guy was thrown backward, tumbling hard across the ground.
The attack had not come from Adrian, but from a force descending from the sky.
A yellow silhouette cut through the air and entered Adrian and Carol's line of sight.
Sinestro clenched his left fist, his Yellow Lantern Ring still glowing with residual heat and power.
He spoke coldly as he looked at Adrian.
"Looks like you need help, Adrian."
Two Yellow Lanterns stood behind Sinestro, their presence heavy and threatening.
"H Adrian?"
Carol swallowed hard and turned to look at her boyfriend.
Adrian sensed her unease and immediately reassured her.
"Don't worry, Carol, he's on our side."
Cough, cough, cough.
Guy, who had been blasted away by Sinestro, struggled back onto his feet.
The Ferris Aircraft runway beneath him was fractured, deep cracks spreading outward from the impact site.
Sinestro's attack had clearly done serious damage.
Pain burned through Guy's spine, sharp and unbearable, forcing a grimace with every breath.
"Alright, if that's how it is."
Guy forced himself upright and looked toward Adrian.
"You know, I've been doing everything I can to keep this under control. I told them Adrian Jordan wouldn't side with Sinestro. I even promised I'd bring you back to the right path."
His disabled left hand hung awkwardly at his side, his gear missing or destroyed.
He took slow steps forward.
"The Guardians chose you, me, Kyle, but you're the best of us, Adrian. And now because you're not with us, everything we believed in is falling apart."
His voice sharpened with frustration.
"You won't be, and you shouldn't be, Homelander's puppet. You're supposed to be better than this."
Then his expression softened again, hope returning.
"Adrian, it's not too late. You can still turn back."
Sinestro, clearly irritated by the speech, raised his hand.
"Enough of this talking."
He turned to his subordinates.
"Shut him up."
"Finish him."
The two Yellow Lanterns launched forward immediately.
Their constructs surged with violent intent, their auras oppressive enough to make the air feel heavier.
Guy did not move to defend himself.
Instead, he raised his right hand over his damaged left arm and lowered his head.
"Yes, I'm a cynical bastard. But I still choose to believe in you."
The attack hit him a moment later.
Boom.
A yellow energy shockwave erupted on impact, shaking the ground and throwing dust and debris into the air.
Smoke rose in thick columns as a violent gust expanded outward from the blast.
Carol was forced backward by the pressure wave.
"Guy!"
Adrian shouted as he saw the explosion consume him.
Even if Guy's words had not swayed him, he did not want to see him die like this.
But then a voice came from within the smoke.
"That's right, this won't work. This is war. You really think we came here unprepared to die?"
The smoke slowly began to thin.
Guy's figure reappeared, completely unharmed.
A green energy shield surrounded him, absorbing every bit of the attack.
Behind him floated a Guardian.
Ganthet.
"Gan?"
Adrian stared in shock.
Ganthet did not respond. He simply raised a hand.
A ripple of energy spread instantly through the air.
In the next moment, Adrian, Sinestro, and the two Yellow Lanterns were all blasted away as if struck by an invisible force.
They were sent flying like debris.
The constructs holding the fighter jets shattered at once, releasing them from control.
Black Canary and the others quickly leapt out of the aircraft.
Sinestro recovered first upon landing.
He braced himself, then immediately formed energy bindings with his Ring, latching onto the fighter jets and hurling them back toward Ganthet.
Ganthet did not move.
He simply opened his hand.
The jets exploded midair into blazing fireballs.
A deafening blast echoed across the sky.
Burning wreckage rained down like a storm of molten fragments.
Carol looked up, eyes widening.
"No."
A falling fireball descended toward her.
Before it could hit, Guy transformed into a streak of green light, rushing in at full speed.
He grabbed Carol and lifted her away just in time.
"Got you."
Guy exhaled sharply while holding her midair.
"Better get you out of here. This place is about to be leveled. And Carol, you might want to check if Ferris Aircraft has intergalactic insurance."
Even now, he managed a dry joke.
Down below, Adrian pushed himself up, but the Guardian's pressure did not let up.
His vision blurred under the intensity of the energy surrounding him.
Then a fist emerged from the darkness.
It struck him hard across the jaw.
Adrian was launched backward into a metal flagpole before crashing to the ground.
His mind rang like a chaotic storm, disoriented and heavy.
But he forced himself up.
The Green Lantern Ring was still active, still responding, but something was wrong.
"No, not my eyes."
It was not his eyes failing him.
It was the Ring.
Its light was fading.
The connection between Adrian and his Ring was weakening, and with it, his senses began to distort.
Darkness spread across his perception, not empty blackness but a dull gray energy suffocating his awareness.
He could barely see anything.
Another strike hit him, sending him crashing back down.
"Adrian Jordan, you have broken your oath."
Ganthet's voice echoed from the darkness.
"You can no longer wield the Ring."
Adrian ignored him.
He clenched his jaw and focused everything he had.
The Ring had not abandoned him.
Not yet.
"In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might beware my power, Green Lantern's light."
As he spoke the oath, a small burst of green light ignited from the Ring.
It was weak, like a dying flame, but it was enough.
Adrian pushed himself upward.
"If you think this power will make me yield, Guardian, you are wrong."
His eyes burned with resolve.
"The will I carry now, the will to protect this world, the justice I stand for, the justice built by Adrian, it is stronger than ever."
Ganthet's voice cut through the darkness.
"What you support is tyranny, a distortion of universal order."
With a flick of his hand, Adrian's Ring was suppressed again.
Light vanished.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Blows landed from every direction, unseen but heavy.
Adrian fell again, coughing blood as he hit the ground.
But he forced himself back up.
"Even as a Guardian, you cannot fully extinguish my light. Because you cannot control my will."
He raised the Ring again.
Green energy surged outward, wrapping around him like flame.
His suit reignited with brilliant light, growing brighter by the second.
The sky itself reflected the glow.
Adrian's vision returned fully.
The Ring had reawakened.
"It was never given to me," Adrian said firmly, looking toward the darkness where Ganthet stood.
"It did not choose me. I am the will behind it."
The green light expanded behind him, forming the symbol of the Green Lantern Corps.
"I do not carry this Ring."
His voice hardened.
"I am it."
===
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