"I... I want a fight with you. One real fight, or I'll never be at peace!" Black Thea's expression was contorted with pain, but Eclipso's takeover had been pushed back, at least temporarily.
How deep her obsession ran was anyone's guess. With her body almost completely lost, Black Thea had—through sheer stubborn refusal to accept defeat—slammed on the brakes hard enough to make the young miss, who had been wrapping things up to head home for some rest, break into a coughing fit.
She sighed. The other woman wanted a fight. She couldn't refuse. Even a Goddess of Death had her pride.
"You're bringing this on yourself. Why? Eclipso is using me to break what's left of your faith. Wouldn't it be better to just slip away quietly?"
Thea's tone was light, almost casual—but she pushed her aura to its peak. Cut the knot fast, end this quickly. This time she wouldn't borrow from the universe. She would use her own divine power.
The whole universe seemed to tremble faintly under the weight of her full power. She didn't have to look. She knew, in this moment, that she was the focus of the entire multiverse.
Highfather and Darkseid in the Sphere of the Gods. The top-ranked Archangels and Archdemons. The Monitors in the Monitor Sphere. The Anti-Monitor in the Antimatter Universe. Destiny of the Endless. And the lords of countless worlds beyond the fifty-two parallel universes—every one of their gazes was probably fixed on her.
Black Thea had always thought she could borrow the universe's power and become unstoppable. That view was not entirely correct.
The universe's power was real. But it didn't replace individual strength. Borrowed power and personal power were two different things.
Thea could overlay her own divine power onto the universe's rules right here—heaven's heart, mortal hearts, all of it had to step aside. The effect wouldn't last long, but it was more than enough for one battle.
The Seven Lantern Corps had received advance warning and were already pulling back to the rear. Their rings dimmed as the emotional energy was drowned out by the divine power of death.
Hal Jordan, however, was as fearless as ever. The instant his ring went dark, he led with a right hook and dropped Power Ring—whose ring had also gone dead—with a single punch. Proof, in the most direct way possible, that he was a hero with or without the ring.
Elsewhere, the Flash sprinted back to base. The divine power of death had also severed his connection to the Speed Force dimension. Without the Speed Force, staying out in the open was suicide.
The originally blood-red sky was now smothered under black clouds. A bone-deep, freezing rain drizzled down without end. Fighting across the entire world stopped abruptly. Everyone took cover, trying to figure out what these omens meant.
The only one still active on the surface of the planet was Superman.
Superman's energy belonged entirely to himself. The blackout had no effect on him. Lex, currently being chased down, was not so lucky. His grab-bag of abilities was Black Thea's experimental product, drawing on power from seven or eight outer-dimensional sources. With Thea blanketing the entire parallel universe and severing every external connection, his power equilibrium collapsed and he started coughing up blood violently.
For reasons known only to her, Superwoman was actually carrying Lex through the air, slowing herself down significantly. Getting caught was just a matter of time.
Thea's golden hair had turned black. Her eyes were utterly grave. She had donned the regalia of the Goddess of Death once again, the Nightsword in her hand. The image made Steppenwolf—watching the broadcast on Apokolips through tech equipment—feel his blood run cold.
Black Thea glanced up at the sky. The sealing barrier the Anti-Monitor had set up was completely shattered. Black mist drifted over everything, the freezing rain dropped the surface temperature steadily, the air was cold and lifeless. Every detail screamed the same thing: this is the world of the dead.
"This is your full strength? Pretty unimpressive, if you ask me." Black Thea spoke with deliberate insincerity, contempt thick in her tone.
"Overdone. All of this—completely unnecessary. Pointless venting of power. All it proves is how shallow you are." She gestured at the sky, at the freezing rain, dismissive.
Thea sneered. "Did you figure that out yourself, or did Eclipso whisper it to you? Critiquing me with someone else's eyes—that's some real dignity right there. Can you even tell me how I'm doing it? You don't understand a thing. You're the one who knows nothing about power."
"You think any of this is righteous? You're no different from me. You went into the dark to gain power!" Black Thea pointed around them, fury in her voice.
Thea rolled her eyes. The naive good-vs-evil framing wasn't worth arguing. Batman wore a black cape every night and ran around scaring people in the dark—anyone calling him evil?
People could be good or evil. Power was neither. Especially in modern society, where the narrative belonged to whoever held it. Call yourself good. Don't betray your own line. That's good enough.
"Enough talk. Let's see if you can back any of it up." With that, Thea's silhouette blurred, then vanished from everyone's sight.
Black Thea immediately deployed every method she had to scan the area. Nothing. She started to panic and fired off a frantic question to Eclipso inside her body. "Where is she? Is she going to ambush me?"
Eclipso laughed darkly. "An ambush—guaranteed. Where she is right now, though, you've actually got me there."
"How is that possible! Even you can't track her? Has she left this universe?" Black Thea hadn't expected Eclipso to admit a limit. Eclipso was sinister and cunning, but he didn't lie. As the Presence's former Spirit of Vengeance, his pride wouldn't allow him to.
Eclipso thought for a moment. He hadn't wanted to engage at first, but Black Thea seemed to genuinely care about the answer, so he relented. "Probably some kind of death realm. I don't know that domain. I don't die—I cause death. I never bothered studying what death actually means."
Eclipso said it casually. As long as the Presence existed, he existed. What kind of death could touch him? Nothing in this world had the power to kill him.
He was perfectly at ease—even idly observing the outside world from inside her soul.
Black Thea, meanwhile, was anything but. Jealousy, envy, hatred—endless bitter resentment filled her chest. Why did this woman get this kind of power? Power that even Eclipso found impressive? That was rare. And worst of all, this power was hers alone, with no aftereffects.
"I suggest you try moving around. Your body is starting to stiffen up. Haven't you noticed? You idiot." Eclipso's voice came again from her soul.
Black Thea suddenly realized she'd been pulled into something between a swamp and a spider's web. There was no light around her. But she could sense countless threads converging on her body. They had almost no weight—the lightest possible touch. The problem was that there was no end to them. Every thread that touched her made her body imperceptibly heavier.
"What kind of attack is this?" She swung the sacred sword, slashing at the threads.
"She's turning you into an undead being. I'd estimate your body has less than three minutes before it loses all vitality." For once, Eclipso wasn't mocking. His tone was deadly serious.