Planet Oa.
This emerald world is the central base of the Green Lantern Corps, as well as the seat of the Guardians who stand behind them.
Beyond the planet's atmosphere, the entire world is enveloped in the willpower energy that serves as the Corps' source of power, maintaining a stable environment for the planet itself.
Over countless ages, the Guardians have continuously developed and reshaped this world, until all traces of its original natural state were erased. The surface is now almost entirely covered by vast metallic cities and fortresses.
According to the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians, the planet known as Oa is the center of the universe—a world that upholds peace and order across all existence.
Without the Guardians' unfathomable wisdom, exercised over billions of years to suppress evil throughout the cosmos, the universe would likely have long since descended into chaos and destruction, with justice and stability erased entirely.
"Stop feeding me those lies of protecting the weak! If you really want to do something, then authorize us to mobilize against the Black Lantern Corps—now!"
Inside the central headquarters of the Green Lantern Corps on Oa's equator, a red-skinned Green Lantern roared at his superior—one of the Guardians.
"First Kilowog, then Abin Sur, and now the Tamaranean has gone missing too! How many more do we have to lose before you finally act?!"
Each name struck like a blade into the heart of the Guardian floating at the center of the chamber—Ganthet—and at last, he too showed a rare flash of anger.
His crimson robes stirred without wind, driven by his immense power. A crushing psychic force, like a mountain, pressed down upon the Lantern before him.
"Watch your tone, Sinestro!"
There are nine Guardians who openly rule Oa. Though they harnessed the green light of willpower from the emotional spectrum to protect the universe, they themselves treat emotion as something to be feared and avoided at all costs.
Ganthet is one of them—but unlike the others, he has not fully reached the state of complete detachment. He has not yet become utterly free of emotion, immune to insult or provocation.
And so, a single sentence from Sinestro was enough to break through his composure.
Despite his small, almost dwarfish stature, the power within a Guardian is immense. Even this slight leak of his strength was enough to make Sinestro struggle—without even invoking his ring's full power.
Sinestro's ring activated automatically. The green light of will clashed against Ganthet's presence. His pale yellow eyes burned with doubt and disdain as he spoke even more boldly:
"The Black Lanterns have already swept through hundreds of sectors! The survival of the universe is at stake—and you are still hiding inside your fortress on Oa, doing nothing!"
"You don't care about us. You don't care about any member of the Corps!"
For him to say something so outrageously disrespectful, it was clear that Sinestro had become utterly disillusioned with the leaders of the Green Lantern Corps.
"You!"
Hearing this, Ganthet's veins bulged on his forehead. He wanted to say something, but in the end it only came out as a long sigh: "…Hah."
Once an argument reaches this level, there is usually no point in continuing it.
Fortunately, Ganthet was no ordinary being. He suppressed his frustration and spoke to calm the Sinestro who stood in direct opposition to him:
"Thaal, don't let fear and anger cloud your judgment. We're already struggling just to hold the 2,700 sectors we have—let alone launch an offensive."
Thaal Sinestro—one of the most powerful Green Lanterns. With the Corps' veterans nearly wiped out, he was now perhaps the only one capable of carrying its burden.
Ganthet understood his anger. That was why he alone had chosen to appear and listen.
The Green Lantern Corps, in recent centuries, had stumbled from one failure to another.
First came the massacre of Sector 666 by the Manhunters. Then the rise of Krypton. And alongside it all, the spread of the undead across the cosmos.
Nearly nine hundred sectors had fallen—occupied by Kryptonians or the Black Lantern Corps. Oa's control over the universe had reached a historic low.
In just a few decades, too much of the Corps' strength had been lost.
To the other Guardians—beings of pure reason who had long abandoned emotion—this loss meant little. To them, Lanterns were expendable. When one fell, the ring would simply find another bearer.
But Ganthet knew this cold logic would eventually lead to disaster.
The constant reports of death would break the Corps' morale. Sinestro's anger was only the beginning.
These Lanterns were not emotionless machines like the Guardians. No one could remain indifferent to the deaths of their comrades.
Not even Ganthet himself.
He knew—and cared about—every name Sinestro had spoken. That was why he had lost his temper.
Kilowog, Lantern of Sector 674, was the Corps' most renowned instructor—the chief trainer of seven thousand recruits.
He had died during the Black Lantern catastrophe that swept across four hundred sectors.
Before the war in the Tamaranean system ended in devastating casualties, at least one-third of all Green Lanterns had once trained under him.
Abin Sur—'the greatest Green Lantern'—was one of the most powerful Lanterns in the Corps, perhaps the strongest, with no equal. Sinestro himself was even his brother-in-law.
He had been assigned by another Guardian to travel to Earth within his sector to retrieve something of critical importance—but vanished within the solar system.
Koriand'r, the last survivor of Tamaran, possessed immense potential. Her escape pod had been discovered by Sinestro when he had once wandered through the wreckage of a battlefield without authorization, and he had even personally trained her for a time.
The final Tamaranean later encountered Kryptonians in Sector 2828, within the Vega Nebula. She left her unit without permission—and disappeared within the solar system.
According to reports from other Lanterns, there were scattered traces of Kryptonian activity in that region—evidence of a single, extremely powerful Kryptonian individual.
Whenever the solar system came to mind, Ganthet felt a deep sense of difficulty. That star system—and the surrounding sectors—hid far too many things that could not be brought into the light.
"Listen, Thaal—if you rush in now, it will only be a meaningless sacrifice. A counteroffensive requires more than passion—it needs precise planning, enough soldiers, and powerful weapons..."
Ganthet continued patiently, reasoning and persuading at the same time, soothing the ambitious and volatile Sinestro:
"And a key figure capable of calm command on the battlefield—you!"
Ganthet knew that Sinestro had long been dissatisfied with the Guardians' decision, over the past two decades, to stubbornly clash head-on with the resurgent Kryptonians. The Green Lantern Corps had lost far too much strength in that war.
In Sinestro's view, the Kryptonians' conquest, though ruthless, was no different from countless other interstellar conquerors over the millennia.
At least they were living beings one could communicate with.
Meanwhile, on the far side of the universe, the spreading undead had already devoured four hundred sectors—and yet the Guardians had turned a blind eye.
There were things Ganthet simply could not tell an outsider like Sinestro.
All he could do was offer reassurance once more:
"Trust me—the Guardians have already agreed to withdraw from the war against the Kryptonians. We have a counteroffensive plan to contain the Black Lanterns, but it requires time."
This was not empty reassurance.
After the devastating defeat in the Tamaranean system, the Guardians' council had voted—five to four—to temporarily allow the expansion of the Kryptonian Empire.
Anyone with clear judgment could see that the Black Lantern Corps posed the greater threat. If left unchecked, the entire universe could fall into ruin.
"Then make your preparations as fast as possible!"
Sinestro was not obsessed with becoming the Corps' battlefield commander—he simply cared about the fate of the universe.
"I am always ready to carry out my duties!"
Good.
Seeing the volatile Lantern finally calm down, Ganthet quietly let out a sigh of relief.
If the other, emotionless Guardians had been the ones to speak with Sinestro, they likely would have expelled this unstable—but indispensable—figure from the Corps already.
Without someone like Ganthet holding things together, Oa itself might truly fall apart.
Satisfied, Sinestro turned to leave.
But at that moment, the other eight seats in the chamber suddenly lit up.
The projections of the remaining eight Guardians appeared. They glanced at Sinestro briefly—then ignored him entirely, focusing instead on Ganthet.
The voice of the Guardian Appa Ali Apsa echoed through the vast chamber, amplified by Oa itself and broadcast across the universe:
"Summoning all Lanterns across the universe. Abandon all current assignments and return to Oa immediately!"
"What?!"
Sinestro's expression brightened with surprise.
"We're launching the offensive against the Black Lantern Corps now?"
The other eight Guardians remained silent.
Through mental communication, Ganthet received the full details of the situation.
Krypton's Jor-El, despite holding the advantage in the war, had withdrawn his fleet from the stalemate between the Thanagarian Empire and the Rann Alliance.
He had even abandoned eight sectors already under Kryptonian control—simply to enable a rapid, large-scale retreat.
According to reliable observations from outer-sector Lanterns, the main Kryptonian fleet's jump destination was Earth.
The location of the Life Entity—the embodiment of existence itself.
The other eight Guardians had received this intelligence first.
The Kryptonians had likely learned of the Life Entity's secret through some unknown means. All eight agreed: action was necessary.
Eight to one.
There was no choice.
"No—we are not going to face the Black Lantern Corps."
Ganthet looked at Sinestro with bitterness. Reality had proven, once again, that plans could never keep pace with change. Everything he had promised moments earlier now amounted to nothing.
"Prepare yourself, Sinestro."
"We are going to the solar system—to fight the Kryptonians."