Clark looked bewildered, he said: "Me? But aren't you the one who…"
Hal deliberately raised his voice: "I've been infected! Did you forget? When I was resurrected earlier, I was already infected by the Power of Death, and it's deeply corroded me. Now only you have the shallowest level of erosion. The White Light is most likely to choose you as a host!"
Clark suddenly understood and hurried towards the Lantern ring. No matter who can become the White Lantern, as long as it's one of their people, that's good enough. But this White Lantern ring might be limited, and if it's destroyed by someone over at the Black Death Emperor's side, they're completely out of luck.
Clark accelerated to his maximum speed, almost reaching the ring in the blink of an eye, but Kalibak was just as fast. He broke free from those few Kryptonians and punched towards Clark.
Clark refused to show weakness, dodging as he tried to grab the ring. Kalibak was determined not to let him succeed, and the two ended up battling around the ring.
Hal wanted to dive in and grab the ring directly, but the chaos from the fight was too intense, and he was also afraid of being hurt by mistake. So he decided to act like he was trying to lure Kalibak away and also approached the ring.
However, Kalibak didn't fall for it, possibly because Hal's previous words had had an effect. Kalibak may look rough, but he's not dumb, and a little deduction showed that among those present, the chances of Superman becoming the White Lantern were the highest. As long as he can fend him off, the rest are not to worry about.
The two were exchanging blows around the ring, making it impossible for Hal to intervene, so he could only launch some ranged attacks from the sidelines.
Fortunately, Clark was in a hurry and exerted strength far beyond his usual level, momentarily pressing Kalibak down, even driving him beneath the sea surface.
Hal wanted to rush over and seize the ring, but suddenly had a bad premonition flash in his mind. His action paused, he stopped in front of the ring, and then, in an instant, a swift red light directly struck Superman, who was entangled with Kalibak.
Immediately, Superman fell. Hal snatched the ring, and the oath echoed in his mind.
"In the day of white there is light, cleansing the soul from wrongful blight. Darkness falls, and eyes gaze skyward, as new day rises, light shall flood!"
Instantly, the ring shone brightly. Hal's uniform, under the Life Force's imprint, turned into pure white. His eyes emitted intense light, and he appeared newly reborn and pure.
Yet he didn't get to experience it for long before he rapidly descended and caught Superman. The instant he touched Clark, Hal nearly broke down, because he felt that Clark was dead.
This time, it wasn't a staged death; he really had no life signs. Hal gritted his teeth, what was that damn light? It could kill Superman directly?!
Kalibak seemed to see his confusion and shouted, "He was killed by His Majesty Darkseid's Omega Beam! Superman is dead!!!"
Hal didn't care at all what the Omega Beam was. In his eyes, a flash, intense Life Force poured into Superman's body. The white light was so rich it obscured everyone's vision, like a new sun rising.
The Life Force scattered the dark clouds. Hal carried Superman's body, flying to the broken sky above. The Sun mercifully once again bestowed supreme grace upon this Son of the Sun.
Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump.
The heartbeat grew stronger from weak. The heart resonated with Earth's pulse. From life to death, from death to life, it may have only taken a few seconds. But Clark had a very long dream.
Piercing through the crust, passing layers of rock, seeing countless biological skeleton fossils piled in the heavy earth layers until, in the burning Earth core, he saw a pair of bright white eyes.
"Spirit of Existence..."
Clark called out his name. The other replied with a smile. Then, Clark suddenly awoke.
"Spirit of Existence?" Hal repeated Clark's whisper, "What is this? What did you see?"
"Its name." Clark murmured, "The source of Life Force—Spirit of Existence."
Then he came to his senses, touched his chest, and asked: "Have I resurrected?"
"Indeed," Hal nodded and said, "You were killed by some Omega Beam. I think it's Darkseid's doing. Enough chat, I've got to destroy those Black Lantern rings."
Clark waved his hand. Hal immediately went after Kalibak and Atlanna, mainly to reclaim their rings, otherwise, who knows, they might come back and disgusting us someday.
Clark looked down at his chest again, he couldn't believe he really came back to life, and he didn't feel any abnormality. Was this an unconditional resurrection?
Just as he landed on the ground, he suddenly felt a thought appear in his mind: "No, you are special."
Clark widened his eyes. He asked in his mind: "Is that you, Spirit of Existence?"
"I am just its deputy." The voice gradually became clear.
"Are you also the White Lantern?"
The other side didn't respond anymore. Clark pursued several times, but without answers, so he gave up. He sighed, planning to go back and ask Batman.
Thinking about Batman, Clark got nervous again. He needed to go check on Batman quickly.
Back at Wayne Manor, everyone was there, including the infected Barry and Diana, and the injured Arthur. Batman was treating them, though only for external injuries; the infection needed Hal's return for further treatment.
"Great, you're all safe," Clark said sincerely, "It's almost over."
"Far from it." Diana said gravely, "Do you know there was an attack spanning half the universe that just struck Earth?"
Clark was stunned, then replied, "Omega Beam?"
Batman looked at him, and Clark explained, "That guy named Kalibak said it was Darkseid's Omega Ray. That thing successfully killed me, but I was revived by the Spirit of Existence."
Everyone was in an uproar. Diana kept examining Clark, as if trying to see if there was anything unusual about him. Clark shook his head and said, "I'm fine. The Spirit of Existence said I'm special, which is why I could be revived."
"To think it could reach so far and kill you directly," Ron's face turned extremely dark, "Doesn't that mean he can kill anyone he wants?"
"That thing must have some limitations," Barry said, "If it could be released without limit, we would have been dead long ago."
"And why Superman?" Diana, who had been to Battleworld, raised a question because she knew that in other universes, the absolute core of the Justice League is Batman. If Darkseid were to unify the multiverse, he should deal with Batman first."
Just then, Xile entered with another person, and everyone looked up. Clark couldn't help but exclaim, "Luthor?!"
Lex Luthor calmly nodded to the crowd. Diana looked at Batman and asked, "Why did you bring him here?"
"He's important," Batman replied, "because the most powerful aspect of the Omega Ray isn't its attack power."
"Then..."
"It can revive the people it has killed."
"What??!!"
Everyone stood up, looking at Batman in disbelief. Batman said, "That's why he would choose Superman."
"Because he wants to revive Superman?! But... but Superman has already been revived..."
"Perhaps there would be two Supermen," Batman said, "This is a common programming error. Without a specified unique file, two simultaneously executing generation programs will result in what should have been one file becoming two."
"Oh my god," Diana exclaimed, "Isn't the programmer a bit too sloppy? Can't God increase the HR budget a bit?"
"It's only a possibility," Batman said, "but we must be prepared. That's why I brought Lex Luthor. He knows best how to deal with Superman."
Clark's expression was utterly speechless. So his number one enemy had a use after all. But one had to admit, if what Batman said was true and Darkseid was preparing to revive another him, then Luthor was indeed indispensable.
"You don't have to worry too much," Schiller said, "our preliminary arrangements are enough to handle Darkseid's schemes."
Schiller looked at Diana and said, "Remember Phryne's Serpent?"
Diana closed her eyes and leaned back against the sofa, saying, "Don't tell me, you're planning to sell this thing to Darkseid, or you're planning to let Darkseid fall under the Pharaoh's Curse?"
"Something like that," Schiller said shockingly, "Phryne's Serpent could indeed potentially thwart Darkseid's meticulously prepared resurrection plan."
Everyone looked at him. Schiller asked, "Why do you think he would revive Superman and not Batman?"
Diana had thought about this question before. After some consideration, she said, "If it were possible, he would definitely want to revive Batman, but the problem is, he might not be able to control Batman."
"Even if the revived person might have some weaknesses only Darkseid could exploit, Batman is too comprehensive. If there's even the slightest mistake, it could be inviting a wolf into the house. Comparatively, Superman is easier to control."
"What method do you think he would use to control Superman?"
"Uh... Spirit Manipulation?"
Ron shook his head and said, "Impossible. Superman's spiritual power is extremely strong. Even a race like mine, specializing in Spiritual Control, wouldn't dare claim to control him. Even if Darkseid could control a part, it would be extremely difficult and consume too much energy, let alone long-term control."
Diana thought about it again. Schiller had just mentioned that it was related to Phryne's Serpent. Thinking about Phryne's Serpent led to thoughts of the Pharaoh's legend; thinking about the Pharaoh's legend led to thoughts of the scepter; and thinking about the scepter naturally led to thoughts of the Green Gemstone Kryptonite.
"Oh, I understand," Diana suddenly realized, saying, "Darkseid knows Kryptonite is Superman's weakness. So he would revive Superman and then use this weakness to control him."
"Exactly," Schiller laughed, "Superman's weakness is too obvious. As long as you get your hands on the green stone, you can hurt or even control him. That's why Darkseid chose Superman over anyone else in the Justice League."
"But..." Diana looked at Clark.
Clark nodded and said, "I'm already immune to Kryptonite. If another identical me is indeed resurrected, Darkseid won't be able to use Kryptonite to threaten him."
"And not just that. Because you've merged with Magic Energy, you're immune to most of the energies in this world, and possibly even those of the Apocalypse Domain. Magic Power is one of the known forces that can invade the Apocalypse Domain. This means you can move freely within the Apocalypse Domain."
"This will be quite a show," Diana exclaimed.
"To Phryne's Serpent," Schiller raised his glass.
Even Diana, who had the heaviest psychological shadow and was most reluctant to mention it, had no choice but to raise her glass. "To Phryne's Serpent."
But Batman turned around, also picking up his glass, and said to Schiller, "To Schiller Rodriguez."
Now everyone finally had a bit of genuine sincerity. "To Schiller Rodriguez."