Zilius, his bloated face stained green with G'rek's blood, looks almost disappointed as he watches the ring depart. "Already? I was just starting to enjoy myself." He prods the corpse with a stubby finger. "At least this one lasted longer than the Lantern in Sector 1422. That one broke too quickly."
"Because you lack finesse," Bleez observes with cold pride. "Suffering is an art form. Quick death is mercy, and mercy has no place in Atrocitus' vision."
Razer steps to the shattered window of G'rek's dwelling, scanning the awakening city below. Emergency lights flash across Dren-Vokai's concentric districts as the distress beacon from G'rek's ring triggers automated defense protocols. The volcanic glass towers, once gleaming proudly against Vorunn's harsh landscape, now reflect the pulsing red glow of the intruders' rings.
"We've completed the primary objective," Razer says, his voice controlled despite the carnage behind him. "We should move to the next target according to the timetable."
Bleez glides to his side, her bloodstained wings folding slightly as she surveys the cityscape with predatory interest. "What about the city itself? Atrocitus commanded we make examples of Green Lantern worlds." Her wings unfurl again with anticipation, the membrane between bone-like protrusions rippling with barely contained excitement. "Two million souls below us, living in ignorance of their protector's failures. Shall we enlighten them?"
In the streets below, citizens have begun to emerge from their homes, drawn by the commotion and the strange red glow emanating from the upper levels of G'rek's tower. Emergency vehicles with pulsing blue lights converge on the building, their wailing sirens carrying up through the night air. Security forces establish perimeters, their weapons trained upward with growing anxiety.
Zilius floats to join them at the window, his bulbous form casting a grotesque shadow across the room. Green blood still drips from his distended mouth, spattering on the floor as he speaks. "Yes! Let's burn it all! Show them what real power looks like!" His stubby fingers wiggle with childlike excitement as his ring generates crude destructive constructs—massive drills and hammers designed to breach the city's environmental shields. "Let them see what happens to worlds that trust in Guardians and their weak green light!"
Razer hesitates, a flicker of something other than rage crossing his features. Atrocitus' instructions had been clear: no mercy, no distinction between Corps members and bystanders. The message required maximum impact to properly terrify the Guardians. Yet he thinks of G'rek's family, safely hidden away from this madness—his one small rebellion against Atrocitus' absolute vision.
"Their defensive systems are already activating," he observes, gesturing to weapon emplacements emerging from several towers surrounding the central district. Energy cannons rotate toward their position as military vehicles deploy from underground bunkers. "A prolonged attack would delay our primary mission timeline."
"Are you afraid of a few planetary defense guns?" Bleez asks incredulously, her crimson eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Since when does a Red Lantern fear anything? Did you not feel the power when we tore apart their precious Lantern? Did his screams not feed your rage?"
"It's not fear, it's strategy," Razer counters smoothly, meeting her gaze without flinching. "Atrocitus was specific about the timetable. Five Lanterns in twelve hours, moving inward toward Oa. Lingering to destroy this city completely would cost us precious time."
Below, a crowd has gathered at the security perimeter, citizens demanding information about the disturbance. A government official appears on a hovering platform, attempting to calm the growing panic with assurances that the situation is under control. Automated emergency broadcasts echo through the streets, instructing civilians to proceed to designated shelter areas. Many ignore the warnings, their curiosity overriding caution as they crane their necks upward, pointing at the red glow emanating from their protector's home.
Zilius looks disappointed at Razer's hesitation but nods reluctantly. "The master's schedule must be maintained." Then his grotesque face splits into a wide grin. "But perhaps a small demonstration?" Before Razer can respond, his ring projects a concentrated beam of red energy into the city below, targeting the governmental platform. The official and his security detail disappear in a spectacular explosion that sends flaming debris raining down on the gathered crowd. "Just to sign our work?"
Screams erupt as panic spreads through the crowd. The orderly evacuation transforms instantly into chaos as citizens flee in all directions, trampling those who fall in their desperate attempt to escape. Emergency responders rush toward the wounded, only to be forced back as secondary explosions ripple through nearby buildings.
"Now they know!" Zilius cackles with delight. "Now they understand what happens when their precious protector fails them!"
Before Razer can object, Bleez joins in, her ring generating dozens of burning projectiles that rain down on the city's central district. "Let them remember who brought justice to their world!" she cries, her wings spread wide in a pose of terrible majesty as destruction blooms below. Each crimson missile strikes with devastating precision—power substations, water purification plants, communication hubs—critical infrastructure collapsing in cascading failures.
"The people must understand," she declares, her voice rising with fervent certainty. "The Green Lanterns promise protection they cannot deliver. The Guardians offer security built on lies. When the Blackest Night comes, only the embrace of rage will save them."
Faced with his companions' initiative, Razer makes another calculation. Damage control is now impossible—the city will burn regardless of his participation. His only choice is how to direct the destruction to minimize civilian casualties while maintaining his cover.
"A brief demonstration only," he concedes, directing his own ring energy to form the massive symbol of the Red Lantern Corps above the city—a stylized lantern formed of blood-red flame that illuminates the entire metropolis. The symbol's appearance draws gasps of horror from the citizens below, its pulsing crimson glow casting everything in the color of spilled blood.
Using the symbol as cover, Razer sends subtle energy pulses to activate emergency evacuation protocols in residential districts—protocols he identified in milliseconds by scanning the city's infrastructure with his ring. Automated systems respond, blast doors sealing critical shelter areas, protective shields engaging over medical facilities.
Together, the three Red Lanterns unleash a coordinated assault on key infrastructure—not indiscriminate enough to destroy the entire city, but carefully targeted to cripple government, communication, and defense systems. Bridges connecting the city's sections collapse under Zilius's brutal constructs, the massive ogre-like Red Lantern laughing maniacally as each structure buckles and fails, sending vehicles and pedestrians plunging into the lava channels below.
Communication arrays explode as Bleez's wing-blades slice through their support structures, silencing emergency broadcasts and isolating sections of the city from one another. "No more lies! No more false promises of safety!" she cries, her voice carrying across the city through her ring's amplification. "The only truth is rage! The only certainty is retribution!"
And atmosphere generators falter as Razer reluctantly targets their control centers, careful to leave enough functional to prevent catastrophic failure that would expose the entire city to Vorunn's toxic atmosphere. He calculates each strike precisely—enough damage to appear committed to the destruction while ensuring the remaining systems can compensate until repairs are possible.
In the streets, terror and confusion reign. Citizens who had lived their entire lives under G'rek's protection now witness the horrifying reality of a universe where Green Lanterns can fall. Some flee toward emergency shelters, carrying children or helping the injured. Others stand frozen in disbelief, unable to process the collapse of the order they've always known. Still others turn to violence, looting and fighting in the sudden absence of authority.
A brave squad of security forces attempts to mount a counterattack, their energy weapons firing up at the Red Lanterns. The beams, designed to repel volcanic predators and typical criminals, barely register against the red auras surrounding the invaders. Zilius responds with casual brutality, sending a massive crimson fist construct to crush the entire squad into paste against a building facade.
"Like insects," he gurgles with satisfaction. "They don't even understand what they're facing."
"Dren-Vokai will never be the same," Bleez observes with satisfaction as flames engulf the city's central district. The volcanic glass towers, designed to withstand the planet's natural hazards, begin to melt under the intense heat of the Red Lanterns' assault, transforming from elegant spires into grotesque, twisted shapes. "A fitting tribute to our cause."
Razer watches the destruction with an outward expression of cold determination that masks his inner conflict. The devastation is significant—entire districts in flames, critical infrastructure destroyed, countless lives lost in the initial assault—yet he's managed to ensure the survival of most civilians through his subtle interventions. Emergency shelters remain intact, medical facilities continue functioning, and the atmospheric integrity holds despite the damage to control systems.
It's a compromise that taints his hands with innocent blood, yet falls short of the genocide Atrocitus might have demanded. Another small mercy that could potentially cost him everything if discovered.
From below, a new sound rises—not just screams and explosions, but voices raised in anguish as word spreads through the populace about G'rek's fate. Security forces who had entered his dwelling have discovered his mutilated corpse, the gruesome details spreading through the remaining communication channels. Citizens who had known their Lantern personally—who had seen him grow from a young recruit to a respected veteran—collapse in grief. Children who had grown up hearing stories of G'rek's heroism cry out for their fallen protector.
"They mourn him," Bleez observes with cold satisfaction, hovering higher to better observe the city's suffering. "Good. Let them feel a fraction of the grief Sector 666 endured."
"Now for the declaration," Razer announces, ascending to hover directly above the burning symbol. His ring amplifies his voice to reach throughout the city, the red energy carrying his words to every terrified citizen below. The destruction pauses momentarily as all three Red Lanterns position themselves in formation above the burning metropolis.
"People of Vorunn!" Razer's voice thunders across the city, echoing off the melting towers. "Your Green Lantern has failed you, just as the Guardians of Oa have failed the universe. For billions of years, they have maintained order through deception and genocide. That era ends now."
Bleez joins him, her wings spread dramatically against the backdrop of destruction, her silhouette a demonic presence against the flames below. "The Red Lantern Corps claims this sector in the name of Atrocitus, last true survivor of Sector 666! Your planet now exists under our protection and judgment!"
From the streets, a brave voice calls up: "What have you done to G'rek? He protected us for decades!"
Zilius swoops down toward the voice, stopping just above the crowd, his massive form blocking out the light from the fires. "Protected you? While millions suffered elsewhere? While the Guardians allowed entire worlds to burn?" He projects images from G'rek's final moments—the brutal torture, the extracted eyes, the mutilated hands—horrific scenes that send many collapsing to their knees or fleeing in terror. "This is what happens to all who serve the great lie!"
Hovering back up to join his companions, Zilius completes their triumvirate, his massive form pulsing with barely contained destructive energy. "Neither the Guardians nor the Nova Corps can save you! The age of will and duty is over! The age of rage and retribution has begun!"
Together, their rings project a final, massive hologram above the burning city—a three-dimensional rendering of Atrocitus himself, his massive scarred form and burning eyes visible to all below. The illusion dominates the sky, larger than the tallest buildings, his ravaged face bearing witness to ancient suffering beyond comprehension. The citizens of Dren-Vokai can only stare upward in horror at this new deity of rage.
The hologram speaks with the pre-recorded voice of their master, a bass rumble that seems to vibrate the very air, shaking loose debris from damaged buildings and causing the ground itself to tremble:
"I am Atrocitus of Sector 666. Your Guardians murdered my sector—trillions of innocent lives extinguished to cover their failures. For billions of years, I have awaited justice. That justice comes now, written in the blood of their Corps and the flames of their protected worlds. The Blackest Night approaches, and only those who embrace the red flame will survive what comes."
The message delivered, Razer signals his companions. "We move to the next target," he commands. "Sector 3319 awaits."
Bleez seems about to object, her red aura flaring with bloodlust not yet sated. "But there's still so much left to burn," she protests, gesturing to portions of the city still intact. "So many more lessons to teach."
Below, a crowd has gathered around a fallen security officer, a woman who had served alongside G'rek for thirty years. As she dies from wounds sustained in Zilius's attack, she recites the Green Lantern oath, her voice faint but determined. Others join her, the words spreading through the crowd—a desperate affirmation of the light now extinguished.
"In brightest day, in blackest night..." they chant, faces upturned in defiance despite their terror.
"Listen to them," Bleez hisses. "Still clinging to their false faith. Let me show them how meaningless their words are."
"Atrocitus wants efficiency," Razer counters firmly. "Not needless bloodshed that alerts the entire Corps before our campaign is complete. The symbol is burned into their consciousness now. The message is delivered. We move on."
The red lantern symbol still burns above the city, its flames etching permanently into the volcanic glass of the tallest towers. It will remain there for decades, some parts of the symbol fused into the very structure of the buildings—a scar that will never fully heal, a reminder of the day when rage eclipsed will.
Zilius gurgles with disappointment but complies, already rising from the burning city. "Next time, I want more time to play," he grumbles. "These brief visits barely satisfy my appetite."
"The final confrontation will give you all the violence you crave," Razer promises, his eyes fixed on the stars above. "When we reach Oa itself, there will be no restrictions."
Though clearly unsatisfied, Bleez follows as Razer launches skyward. "You're walking a dangerous line, Razer," she observes quietly as they leave Vorunn's atmosphere. "I sometimes wonder which you serve more—Atrocitus' vision or your own conscience."
"They are one and the same," Razer replies without hesitation. "Justice for Sector 666. Vengeance against the Guardians and their Corps. Everything else is simply... methodology."
But as they accelerate away from the burning world, Razer casts one final glance over his shoulder. Through his ring's enhanced vision, he can see G'rek's family—still unconscious but alive—being discovered by emergency responders in the location where he secretly deposited them. A small mercy in a night of calculated cruelty.
Behind the Red Lanterns, G'rek's ring streaks across the void of space, carrying its emergency data packet that will soon alert Oa to the horror that has occurred. The recording will show G'rek's final moments, the symbol burned into his flesh, and the declaration of the Red Lanterns' ascendance. What it won't show is Razer's moment of mercy, the small act of defiance against Atrocitus' absolute vision.
Across five neighboring sectors, this scene repeats with methodical precision over the next twelve hours. Five Green Lanterns ambushed. Five bodies left with the same symbol burned into their flesh. Five rings racing back to Oa with their final, terrible recordings. Five worlds bearing the scars of the Red Lanterns' campaign.
A message written in blood and fire, moving steadily closer to the center of the universe itself.