"Hiss—"
The intense pain from the wound made Clark take a sharp breath. Being not often injured, his tolerance for pain had never been very high. Perhaps because the Power of Death kept invading, the wound was exceptionally painful. That sharp pain seemed to act directly on his brain, causing Clark's body to waver, and the arm of the Savage Wolf fell.
Atlanna seized the opportunity, hitting Clark's back with a waterjet. It didn't break through Clark's skin defense, but it knocked him into the water. The dense Power of Death dragged him into the Deep Sea.
Fortunately, at the critical moment, Ron flickered beside Clark and pulled him up with one hand. He turned to look at the wound on Clark's arm and then his face fell. From the condition of the wound, the situation was not optimistic.
The scratched area had completely turned black, and the flesh was beginning to rot. If it weren't for the Magic Power within Clark's body resisting, the Power of Death might have polluted the entire arm in an instant.
Clark panted heavily, clearly suffering. He also turned to look at his arm, saw the miserable situation, closed his eyes tightly, and then said, "Don't worry about me. Savage Wolf..."
When the arm of the Savage Wolf fell off, Victor had already rushed over. But Atlanna obviously wouldn't let him get it so easily. He raised massive waves around, even blocking the sky. Victor's vision was obstructed, and he had to risk wasting energy to activate the modification mode, finally seeing the Black Lantern Ring about to fall into the seawater.
Absolutely cannot let them get the ring, Victor thought, otherwise, it won't be long before the Savage Wolf comes back. It is necessary to completely eliminate him here.
Victor gritted his teeth, quickly flying through countless raging water columns, using the modification mode's clear vision, keeping his eyes on the ring. But at this time, the Savage Wolf also sprang out from the water. Although he lost an arm, it did not affect his agility. Moreover, he was closer to the ring than Victor.
Victor accelerated again, sparks appeared in the air, and the surrounding seawater evaporated into vapor. Passing through one layer of fog after another, at the moment of grabbing the ring, below, the blood-red eyes of the Savage Wolf lit up.
"Ugh!!!!"
Victor's scream was heard. Ron hurriedly rushed over. On Victor's chest, who was falling, there was a long scar, even the mechanical body had been clawed open. But in his gasping breaths, Victor raised his right hand. Ron saw that what he was clutching was exactly the Black Lantern Ring from the Savage Wolf's finger.
Ron first placed Victor on the beach and then took the Black Lantern Ring, activating the phasing mode to prevent the pursuing Atlanna and Savage Wolf from taking advantage.
Atlanna and the Savage Wolf knew they couldn't retrieve the ring, so they simply didn't chase Ron and instead, as planned, focused their attention on Superman. However, Hal, all the way, protected Superman retreating, and they couldn't catch up.
On reaching the beach, taking Victor, the remaining members of the Justice League withdrew from the battlefield. Atlanna and the Savage Wolf hesitated to pursue further.
Back at Hal's house, Victor completely collapsed. He lay on the sofa, clutching his chest, emitting painful groans. His wound was even deeper than Clark's. Though the Mother Box Power was also resisting, the pain brought by the continuous invasion of the Power of Death and decay into living flesh was unimaginable, like slowly roasting the meat.
Hal clenched his fists. With one in his left hand, one in his right, he continuously used Green Lantern Energy to help them drive away the Power of Death. But the power of death, once it encounters fresh flesh, is like fish entering the water, not easily dispelled.
"Save Victor first," said a pale-faced Clark, "I'm still okay here, but his condition might be dire."
Everyone had already noticed that corpse spots started appearing on Victor, and they spread rapidly without any development or diffusion process. The speed of pollution penetration was unbelievably fast.
"It might be because you all were directly attacked," Ron speculated, "Barry and Diana were indirectly exposed to the Power of Death, and didn't have wounds on the surface, so their injuries developed slower. But you two have traumas, leading to deeper infection."
"I must go and eliminate the Savage Wolf," Hal said, "Without the ring, he won't revive anymore. Then it's only Atlanna and Ares left. We still have a chance of winning."
Ron nodded, knowing it had to be this way. The battle had reached the point of endurance. Don't be misled by the casualties on their side, the other side was near collapse too. As long as they could last longer than the other side, victory would certainly be theirs.
Ron stayed to look after the wounded, while Hal continued to prepare for battle. But just as he was about to leave, Clark stopped him and said, "I'll go with you."
"But your wound..."
"It's okay," Clark shook his head and said, "Maybe I can also devour the Power of Death, just like with Devouring Magic and Kryptonite Strength."
Hal hesitated briefly, but then said, "Alright, be careful. The War God is formidable."
The two set off together, returning to the surface of the sea. Neither rushed to act, as Clark prepared to locate Savage Wolf for a lethal strike.
But these guys were cunning, seemingly noticing their intention for another battle, staying hidden under the sea. Clark was in no hurry. He began using the Exhaustion Method to search for the source of pollution at the seabed. If he could find it quickly, the opponent would be forced to show up.
Sure enough, on the eastern side of the Pacific Ocean, beneath a small reef, lay another seabed hot spring. Sensing the change in water temperature, Clark knew this should be the pollution source they were looking for.
As he approached, the heavens suddenly changed colors. A dense, rancid odor wafted through the air. Atlanna resurfaced and said to Clark, "You've been infected. The Power of Death will continue to erode you until you become one of us. Superman, don't resist stubbornly. Join the Black Death Day and rule the Multiverse."
"Sorry, I'm a bit busy," Clark replied, "Besides, it's not certain who is infecting whom."
With that, he wasted no more words. As his Super Senses sharply captured underwater sounds, he fired a dazzling laser directly toward that direction. This laser, unlike previous ones that were grandiose in scale, concentrated immense Strength into a pinpoint, like a sniper rifle. With a sizzle, the sea surface showed no ripples, but seconds later, the remains of Savage Wolf floated up, his entire torso vanished, leaving only bits of limbs.
Having successfully defeated Savage Wolf, Clark breathed a sigh of relief. The next instant, a giant axe swung at him. Clark swiftly dodged, and with a backward kick, sent the charging Ares flying. He then evaded the stealthy waterjet attack, grabbing the War God Axe that returned, and cleaved half the Pacific Ocean.
Ares seemed taken aback by his combat prowess, staring at the split seawater without action for a while. It was Hal's turn to sneak attack; he suddenly emerged from a Teleportation Portal, piercing Ares with a Green Longsword. The green light exploded, dismembering Ares on the spot.
Hal did not forget to search for a ring on him, but Atlanna was faster. At the moment Ares was hit, he swept through with seawater and took the ring.
Now just by himself, unable to withstand Hal and Clark, he merged into the seawater. The two chose not to chase him because underwater, Atlanna held too great an advantage. Each current could be his clone, pursuing him was pointless.
The two reopened the hot spring, and sure enough, numerous skeletons lay below. They cleared the skeletons as before, allowing the Pacific Ocean to gradually restore its clarity.
"Only one place left," Hal said, "Should be over in the Indian Ocean. Should we head there now, or wait?"
"We can't wait any longer," Clark said, "I have a bad feeling. We need a quick resolution."
Hal nodded, although unsure where Clark's premonition came from, he believed Superman had his own exceptional qualities. So, the two flew together to the skies above the Indian Ocean.
The Indian Ocean wasn't vast; their search should be quicker. They soon locked onto the target. But just as they were about to act, Clark froze.
He turned to look in one direction. Hal followed his gaze, and a strong figure appeared on the horizon. With thick, wild hair and an ugly face, he looked like a primitive man, holding something golden resembling a trophy, directly jumping into the ocean from mid-air.
"Who is that?" Clark frowned.
Hal's fingers twitched slightly. His communication had been connected to the Green Lantern channel. During their battle with the Black Death Day, Lantern Corps received news of victory. They successfully killed Darkseid's firstborn, Kalibak. In the battle report, this being was described as a crude and ugly humanoid creature, wielding a Beta Trophy able to emit Nerve Laser waves at people.
Lantern Corps paid a high price to defeat this strong, savage warrior and successfully killed him. But now, he appeared on Earth.
If the battle report wasn't fabricated, then the Black Death Emperor must have resurrected him. Although it was known that Darkseid and the Black Death Emperor were colluding, seeing this truth made Hal grit his teeth and curse.
Clark turned to him, and Hal gave a brief Explanation. Clark's expression darkened. The two were indeed working in seamless coordination: one side keeping Lantern Corps occupied, preventing them from aiding Earth, while the other resurrected warriors fallen in battle, to put greater pressure on the Justice League.
Yet this wasn't the most despairing. Shortly after Kalibak's appearance, a black line emerged on Earth's horizon, followed by hordes of Demon-like Army descending. They landed in the nearest city, preparing to massacre.
Hal's heart sank; the situation indeed reached the worst point. Darkseid's army could provide the Black Death Emperor ample corpse material, and perhaps aid him in amassing Power of Death. Once he gathered sufficient Power of Death, the Black Death Emperor would have no more concerns.
"Let's deal with the pollution source in the sea first," Clark said, "Batman must be preparing something on land."