Location: Sector 666 – Dead Zone Orbit
Elias hovered alone in space, wrapped in a cocoon of Omega light and cracked armor. The black void stretched endlessly. Stars flickered like dying embers. There were no planetary systems here — just the rotting husks of what used to be.
Below him… floated the Vault.
A drifting mausoleum the size of a moon, forged from fractured emotional spectrum energy, shattered willpower, and forged sorrow. It wasn't built. It grew — fed by the corpses of Lanterns long gone insane.
Elias exhaled slowly.
"You smell that?" he whispered to himself. "That's the stench of power no one wanted to clean up."
[System Online – Reboot 47% Complete]
[Status: Internal Damage Stable. Vital Signs: Peak Omega Response]
[New Trait: Kinetic Memory – Incoming Combat Will Upload Automatically]
[Target: Vault Detected – Emotional Lock Barriers: Fear, Rage, Apathy, Love]
Elias rolled his neck. Bones popped. Scabs split.
"Let's make them unlock themselves, shall we?"
He descended.
Entry Gate – Vault Exterior
The first barrier was yellow. Fear.
An enormous guardian construct floated into view — a mass of radiant yellow willpower. Not sentient. Just rage made geometry.
[Barrier Echo Detected: Former Sinestro Corps Energy – Lantern Vrog's Residual Fear Field]
It roared.
Elias held out his hand.
"I don't fear you."
He clenched his fist.
"You should fear me."
Omega energy poured from his body — not in a blast, but in a silent ripple. The fear-construct hesitated. It felt something wrong. Something darker than yellow.
It backed away — and then shattered.
The yellow ring orbiting the gate cracked in two, then disintegrated.
[First Lock Disengaged – Fear Broken]
Elias stepped forward, a sick grin curling his lips.
"Next."
Second Barrier – Rage
A tide of red plasma surged around the entrance. Lanterns who died from rage — pure, unfiltered hatred — haunted the air like ghosts. One appeared before Elias, body half-melted, mouth frothing.
"Y͎͓̻Ó̮U̟̱͇͉̙̠ ̝̬̜B̠̜̲͚͉͇̱U͟R͚͖͈̺N͚͉͈ ̬̠ͅW̡̳͚̤̼Ḭ̩T̷̘̟̱͓̳̱̗H͖͢ ̵̱͉U̸̖̥͕͇̠S̖͚̀!"
Elias didn't flinch.
"I burn above you."
He opened his palm — and red lightning erupted from his wrist.
[New Skill: Omega Crucible – Rage Absorption]
The ghost tried to scream.
Elias absorbed it.
Every trace of its hatred flowed into his core.
The red plasma dimmed.
His body trembled with new rage, and for a moment, he staggered…
[Warning: Emotional Contamination – Stabilize Mental Core]
But he laughed through it.
"I like this place."
Final Barrier – Love
The vault itself wept.
Pink-hued tendrils reached from its gate, clinging to Elias's memories — his mother, his dead sister, his former life. It tried to break him with what he missed. What he couldn't get back.
He stood still.
Silent.
Then he spoke cruelly.
"They're dead."
The gate pulsed.
He stepped forward.
"And I'm still climbing."
The tendrils recoiled in horror.
[Love Denied – Final Seal Broken]
Interior – Vault Core
Elias descended into the heart of the Vault.
Thousands of Lantern rings, still glowing, floated in stasis — spinning slowly in silence. Each one a life lost. Each one humming with dormant energy.
In the center?
A black crystal the size of a coffin, beating with pulses that made his skin crawl.
[System Analysis: This is not a weapon. It is a godseed.]
[Object Class: Anti-Emotion Core – Believed Destroyed During Nekron Reign]
[Purpose: Incubates will-erasing energy – Precursor to Anti-Life Equation]
Elias approached.
A smile crept across his cracked lips.
"Now we're talking."
He reached forward and placed his hand on the crystal.
The Vault shook.
Ghosts screamed.
Rings flickered.
[Initiating Absorption – Anti-Emotion Core Syncing with Omega System]
[WARNING: THIS MAY PERMANENTLY ALTER USER'S CONSCIOUSNESS]
He leaned in, grinning ear to ear.
"Finally. A warning worth obeying."
The black crystal shattered.
Omega fire erupted around him, dark tendrils of lost willpower lashing against his mind. His screams echoed through the entire sector — but not in pain.
In ecstasy.
Moments Later
Silence.
Elias stood.
Eyes black as space.
Heart pulsing with three emotions:
• Rage
• Defiance
• Void
He stepped out of the Vault, dragging a trail of dead light with him.
Then, his communicator pinged.
[Incoming Call – Source: Justice League Emergency Line]
Elias raised his hand.
"Answer."
Batman's voice. Cold. Clipped.
"We've got a problem. A major one."
"Unless it's Darkseid in a tutu, I don't care."
"Worse. Lantern Central Command just issued a kill-on-sight for you. Every sector. Every corps."
Elias grinned, eyes still smoking.
"Good."