"SON OF A BITCH! WHY WON'T THESE MOTHERFUCKERS DIE?!" Sasha yelled.
"Language, Ms. Waybright! But, yes, WHY WON'T THESE FUCKERS STAY DOWN?!" Mr. X exclaimed.
After Marcy had broken into the bunker where Sasha and Anne were, the Black Lantern zombies that had invaded the bunker left to go and assist Marcy in fighting the newly christened White Lantern. Sasha met up with Mr. X, her parents, Terri, Jenny, and the Boonchuys and told them what happened. And thanks to some surveillance systems that were still operational, they were able see some of what was going on outside. They did manage to see a bright flash of white light go off, but the brightness proved too much for the sensors of the cameras and it ended up frying them.
Oum and Bee Boonchuy were equipped with their combat gear from Frog-vasion, along with the weapons that were made for that attack. As much as Ted and Linda didn't want to, they weren't given much choice and donned the same combat gear as the Boonchuys. It was better than nothing given their circumstances. After a while, there were no signs of attack, but then they heard a huge, thundering boom echo through the skies, and that's when the attack started up again. The Black Lanterns that were knocked out had risen again and were now seeking them out to add to the ranks of the undead.
Oum, Bee, Jenny, and Mr. X were currently firing their laser rifles down a hallway and shredding through the zombies' ranks. Unfortunately, this did little more than slow them down. The moment the zombies were hit, they would regenerate almost immediately after getting shot or torn apart. It was getting to the point that Sasha said, "Screw it", grabbed a rifle, and joined the adults in shooting the corpses.
"This goes against all the rules of zombie horror movies!" Bee complained. "They're supposed to stay down after you shoot them in the head!"
"Hate to say it, Mr. B, but these are not conventional zombies!" Terri exclaimed. "Whatever's powering them, that same something is giving them the ability to regenerate at an unprecedented rate! Not only that – incoming!"
The adults and Sasha ducked as several beams of black energy shot towards them.
"They can do that!" Terri finished.
"I don't get it! The way they make those things, it's similar to how me and the girls used our powers," Sasha noted.
"What are you talking about?" Ted asked.
"When we fought that Core back in Amphibia, after we ended the invasion, we powered up to stop the 'Final Boss'. It was similar to how Anne went super during the invasion, but times a hundred. We could create whatever we wanted, and it was made of light energy," Sasha explained.
"And you think these things are operating under the same power?" Mr. X asked.
"No, whatever this is, it can do what we did, but this power is definitely bad news. Like Marcy said, it's the darkness." Sasha picked up a grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it in the direction of the zombies. "We just have to hold out until Anne gets to us or stops Marcy."
An explosion went off down the hallway as several Black Lanterns were torn apart, sending black blood splattering against the walls and floor. But just like before, the Black Lanterns pulled themselves back together, negating whatever damage they took.
"And how long will that take?!" Linda asked.
"Don't worry, Linda! Anne can do it! She hasn't let us down yet, and she won't now!" Oum assured.
The Black Lantern zombies were drawing closer, muttering different things as they did.
"Turn them for our Mistress."
"Bring them to her."
"Bring forth the Blackest Night."
However, before the zombie horde could get closer, a large puff of purple smoke exploded between the zombies and the group of survivors. When the smoke cleared, the hallway was lit up with three different lights of indigo, blue, and orange. The adults and Sasha looked upon the individuals before them with confusion. One of them had a head of hair that resembled Anne's, but another had blue, shimmering hair that was reminiscent of Anne's hair when she used her Calamity power. But the other one, her hair was in a kind of mohawk style.
Oum and Bee looked at them and uttered at the same time, "Anne?"
All three figures turned around, and everyone was shocked as they realized that all three of them were Anne.
"…I don't know how I should feel about this," Sasha remarked as she stared at the three different versions of her crush.
"SASHY!" Marcy cried out as the Anne's parted and let her through.
"MARCY?!" Sasha yelled as she broke away from the adults and ran towards Marcy and without a second thought, wrapped in her a bear hug. "YOU'RE ALIVE! YOU'RE ALIVE!" Sasha stopped for a moment. "You are alive, right?"
"Y-Yes! I'm alive! Uh, Sasha, could you please let me go?" Marcy asked.
"Not a chance!" Sasha refused.
"Um, it's just…I'm kinda naked under this sheet, and…it's really embarrassing being held this close like this," Marcy explained.
Sasha blinked and separated herself from Marcy a little to understand what she was talking about. The sheet that was covering Marcy opened slightly, and that's when Sasha understood.
"AAH! Sorry! But why are you…you know?!" Sasha asked as she released Marcy.
"The ring made that outfit, and no ring equals…well…no clothes."
"Okay, then you can explain why there are three different Annes standing behind you?"
"Hopefully, we'll get to that later," said Guardian. "For now, let's take care of these jokers."
"Let's see, a long hallway, and three of us. I think I know what to do," said Avatar.
Avatar, Guardian, and Shaman raised their rings, and as one, all three fired beams of orange, blue, and indigo light that filled the other end of the hallway and obliterated the entire horde of zombies.
"Uh…wow, it was that easy," said Mr. X.
"Not exactly, but now we got them," said Shaman.
"Yeeaaah, about that," Avatar announced.
Despite their combined energy beams wiping out the zombies, their rings were still left behind. And from those rings a black ooze started to pour out. The ooze kept pouring out and took on the shape and forms of the rings previous wielders. After a few seconds, the undead were once again back on their feet.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Guardian exclaimed.
"Okay, this just got a lot harder," Avatar commented.
"It's okay, we don't need to defeat them. Our mission is to get them out of here, we'll deal with the zombies later," said Shaman.
Avatar and Guardian nodded. She was right, they weren't here to defeat the Black Lanterns, that would come later. Their priority was getting Saint Anne's family and loved ones out of harm's way so they could take the fight to Angel of Death and her army of darkness. Avatar, Guardian, and Shaman flew over to where the adults, Sasha, and Marcy were. Avatar created a shield that blocked off the entire hallway, while Guardian created a second layer behind Avatar's.
"I…I don't get it, how is this possible?" Oum asked. "How are there three Annes?!"
"It's the multiverse theory! Amphibia was located in another universe, and if Amphibia's universe exists, then so too must there also be parallel and alternate universes," Terri explained with great enthusiasm.
"She's not wrong,"said Shaman as she concentrated. "We're all Anne, but different versions that…took different paths. Some we're not proud of."
Oum and Bee could feel a heaviness in this Anne's voice. They weren't sure what she went through, but by the look on her face, and the sound of her voice, it must've been a lot.
"So, now what? If you can't destroy them, how are we any better off?!" Linda asked.
"Relax, the tribal me is going to get us out of here. You are going to get us out of here, right?" Avatar inquired.
"I can teleport us out of this place, but I don't know where to go that's even remotely safe right now," said Shaman.
Mr. X hummed for a moment as he thought of an alternate safe location. "I can think of one that shouldn't be in use. But are we sure that those things won't find us if we do?"
"Like I said, I'll teleport us there. Plus, once we join the fight, they'll be too focused on us and the others to worry about you guys," said Shaman as she offered her hand to Mr. X. "Take my hand and keep the location you're thinking about clear in your head."
"Better hurry up!" Avatar warned. "They're starting to break through!"
Everyone looked in the direction of barriers as the Black Lanterns started creating construct claws, swords, axes, chainsaws, and whatever else they could think of to tear through Avatar's barrier wall. It pained her to admit it, but angelic Anne was not wrong about their power eating through her own. Avatar kept reinforcing the barrier, but the Black Light of Death was even more voracious than her own Orange Light of Avarice.
Shaman took Mr. X's hand and concentrated for a moment. The Indigo Tribeswoman's eyes opened, now glowing the same color of her light. "I got it. Avatar, Guardian, let's go!"
"Finally!"
"On three! One, two…THREE!"
Guardian and Avatar jumped backwards and floated quickly to where the others were. Once they were close, Shaman raised her staff and hit the floor with the butt of it. A huge plume of purple smoke wrapped around all of them, and in an instant, they were transported out of the bunker and away from the Black Lantern horde. Meanwhile, Mr. X, Jenny, Terri, Jenny, Ted, Linda, Oum, Bee, and Sasha were marveling at the wispy trails of sparkling indigo smoke that surrounded them. Mr. X kept the location firm in his mind as the smoke started to clear up, and in the next moment, all of them were now standing in a dark room.
"Uh…where are we?" Sasha asked.
Guardian, Avatar, and Shaman increased the brightness of their auras, shining more light into the dark room and revealing it to be some kind of command center. Mr. X released Shaman's hand and walked up to a console on the far side of the room. After pressing a few buttons, the command center came to life as the overhead lights kicked on. A large computer screen, along with some others, switched on, and were now connecting to whatever network was still up and running.
"We should be safe here, it's an underground facility similar to the one we were just in. But it's in a completely different location from that one," Mr. X explained.
"Good, then we can get back to the fight," said Shaman.
"Hmm…"
Guardian and Shaman shifted their gazes to Avatar, who was now floating in front of Sasha and Marcy and giving them a look as if she was appraising them.
Sasha, instinctively, pulled Marcy away, making the Taiwanese teen stand behind her in a protective manner. Sasha didn't know why she was doing that. The person in front of them was Anne, at least, a version of the Anne they knew. But for some reason, compared to the purple and blue versions, this one made the hairs on the back of Sasha's neck stand on end out of fear. This Anne had a look in her eyes, a kind of dementedness, and it didn't help that the few times she noticed how this Anne's teeth were noticeably sharper, predatory. It was already unsettling to look into this one's eyes, and the aura she gave off was so unlike the calming and welcoming auras of the blue and indigo Annes.
"W-What? What's wrong?" Sasha asked.
"You remind me of my Sasha and Marcy," Avatar stated.
"Why don't I like the way you said I 'remind' you?"
Avatar chuckled as she leaned closer, making sure that only she, Sasha, and Marcy could hear them. "Have you and your Anne had your firsts with each other yet?"
It took everything in both Sasha and Marcy not to noticeably react to what Avatar had asked, but thankfully the adults were behind them, so they couldn't see their expressions.
"We did. The night before she betrayed me for her own selfish reasons and led a coup to take over Amphibia. And of course, my Mar-Mar went and got us trapped in Amphibia on purpose for her own equally selfish reasons. Everyone was being so selfish, only focusing on what they wanted. And me? I was the one trying to be better, to be selfless, but I thought it was time to turn all that upside down and get what's MINE," Avatar explained.
Sasha gulped. Now she understood why this Anne felt so twisted. Another version of her took advantage of this Anne. Sasha remembered the night before she and Grime executed their coup attempt, but she never did anything like that with Anne. Sure, she felt something towards her, a growing romantic feeling towards Anne, but she was afraid of giving voice to it considering what she had planned.
But that Sasha didn't hold back, she…she went further than even I dared to. No wonder this Anne looks…broken. It was one betrayal after the other, and after doing something that should've been a memorable moment for them…
"I know it doesn't make up for what she did, but…I'm sorry," said Sasha. "I'm sorry that that other me did that to you, hurt and betrayed you so deeply that it…it drove you to becoming this."
"…I am, too. I can't make it right, but…you deserve to hear those words," said Marcy.
Avatar blinked, her eyes widening for a moment as she looked dumbfounded by what this universe's Sasha and Marcy said. That expression lasted for about three seconds before Avatar broke out into hysterical laughter that deeply disturbed the others in the room.
"Ooh, man. That was great. But, hey, water under the bridge. After all…" Avatar's face contorted into a crazed look as she narrowed her eyes and smiled. "I killed them and everyone else who betrayed me. And now they live on as my army of living constructs. Well, their personalities anyway. I guess you could say I 'stole their souls' and stuffed them into my ring. AHAAHAHAHAHA!" Avatar calmed down and then moved a little closer to Sasha. "You know, you two really are different from my Sasha and Marcy, you look the same, but you're different too. Hey, want to be a part of my horde? Of course, I won't take your personalities, you'd be better alive than dead."
Before any answer could be given, Guardian appeared on Avatar's right, her ring hand pointed at Avatar's temple. Shaman appeared on Avatar's left, and mimicked Guardian as she had her ring placed next to Avatar's temple.
"Back off, Avatar," Guardian warned.
"We're done here, so let's get back to the fight," Shaman sternly stated.
Avatar glanced at both her doubles and chuckled as she shrugged. "Jeez, you guys. Take a chill pill. I was just joking around."
Whether it was a joke her not, Guardian and Shaman weren't going to take the chance. The longer they lingered here, the stronger the temptation for Avatar would become.
"Mar-Mar, Sash, sorry we can't stick around and chat, but we need to go help your Anne end this thing," said Shaman.
"Can you all really win?" Ted asked. "This is…This is all so crazy; I don't know what to believe anymore."
"Don't worry, Mr. Waybright. All will be well," Guardian assured.
Avatar turned her back and began walking away from Sasha and Marcy, with Guardian and Shaman flanking her. However, the Avatar of Avarice stopped and said, "Sash…Marce…thank you."
"Hey…"
"Let's go, we're wasting time!" Avatar shouted.
Shaman glanced at Guardian, and Guardian nodded back. Shaman struck her staff against the floor, and all three Annes disappeared into a plume of purple smoke.
"What was all that about?" Oum asked.
"I don't think you want to know, Mrs. B. It'd only make you sad if you did," said Marcy.
Oum didn't believe she should press that. Considering how the orange version of her daughter looked, something told her that if she learned what caused that Anne to look so twisted and crazed, she would break down into a crying fit.
A great battle raged outside as beams of multicolored light shot through sky and clashed with the dark beams of the Black Lanterns. Scarlet Avenger and Emerald Knight called upon their asura and knight construct avatars. Both working back-to-back as they used their swords to slice through the seemingly endless number of the undead.
Knight swung her great sword around and slashed through an incoming wave of the zombies, slicing several of them in one swing. Unfortunately, they didn't stay cut up for long as they mended themselves and attacked. Several of the Black Lanterns raised their fists into the air as they used their rings to create a combined construct sword and began clashing with Knight's construct knight avatar. The air vibrated with the powerful impacts of each sword strike, and with each one, cracks started to form along Knight's construct sword.
"HEY, SCARLET! HOW'RE YOU DOING?!" Knight asked.
"OH, I'M JUST GREAT! FUCKING PERFECT!" Scarlet back.
Scarlet's four larger arms were busy either shooting blasts of crimson energy or using their claws to swat the Black Lanterns out of the sky. For the ones that got closer, Scarlet had her asura avatar construct's two main arms wield two swords as they sliced through more and more of the horde. Three of them managed to land on the chest of the construct and were stabbing at it with their black construct swords, knives, or shooting at it point-blank with their construct guns. Scarlet inhaled deeply and unleashed a fiery napalm blood breath attack onto them. The three zombies cried out in pain as the intense acidic, burning power of Scarlet's breath attack melted them down to nothing in mere seconds.
A group of Black Lanterns came together and created a long construct spear with a barbed, arrowhead tip. The group charged forward as they flung the spear at the center of the asura construct's chest, right where Scarlet was. However, that attack didn't manage to get through as the Black Lanterns that created it were suddenly blasted by several exploding orange energy arrows. The few that weren't destroyed were cut to pieces by an orange flying being. With the creator's the construct gone, the spear broke apart into particles of black light before disappearing completely.
Orange Sasha and Orange Marcy flew closer to Scarlet's construct and giggled as they gave a salute to her. Scarlet became more angered whenever she saw them, knowing those constructs were copies of the once living versions of Avatar's Sasha and Marcy. Then again, there was another that was worse that needed to be dealt with.
Scarlet raised her ring to her mouth and asked, "Hey, you two, any progress on plugging that space hole?!"
{IT COULD BE GOING BETTER!} Queen replied.
High above, Queen, Star, and a majority of the Orange Lantern Corps., were fighting off the hordes of zombies that were spewing forth from the hole in space above the city. The huge alien beasts and warriors were doing their best to rip apart and blast the incoming zombies, but whenever they did destroy them, the zombies would reform later. Star created several huge chunks of star sapphire crystals and hurled them at the hole in space, attempting to literally plug the hole. But the collective Black Lanterns would shoot beams of black light at the incoming crystals and blast them apart into shards that dispersed into particles of violet light.
Queen was currently riding atop a nightmarish hell bat construct she had made as she fired her own beams at the portal, and even created construct rocket launchers to blast the horde.
"We're getting nowhere with this! Whatever's powering that portal is on the other side, past all these zombies!" Queen deduced.
"Well, there's always the last resort of one of us shooting through that wave of undead to destroy that portal device on the other side," Star suggested.
"And leave one of us stranded? We can't afford to lose any of us! We were all gathered up because that – whatever she was – said we all needed to fight together in order to win!" Queen glanced over her shoulder as she saw Saint Anne and Angel of Death shooting beams of black and white energy at each other, and occasionally coming to blows with their swords. "Saint's white light is the only one that can permanently put these guys to rest, but she's preoccupied!"
{If Angel of Death is the one that's controlling all of these zombies, then we just need to buy Saint time to take her down,} said Knight.
But this doesn't make sense. Why would the angel version of us say that Saint needs our help. It can't be just as simple as running interference and dealing with the zombies so she can concentrate on the fight. Even with us working together, we're still struggling against them. There has to be something else we're not getting. I can't imagine that goddess-like Anne didn't send us here without knowing that we can make a difference.
"HEADS UP, QUEEN!" Star yelled.
Fear Queen looked up at the last second, and that's when she spotted a black mechanical tentacle zoom straight for her. Queen jumped off her construct, but not before the claw of the tentacle managed to slice through her protective aura and uniform. The Yellow Lantern let out a cry of pain as the claw managed to slice through her left side as blood came spilling from the wound. Queen managed to fly away from the construct as it got impaled by the claw and shattered apart.
Star quickly flew to Queen and examined the wound, hissing at how deep it looked. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't fast enough to stop it!"
"It's fine…" Queen hissed as she created construct bandages and wrapped them around her midsection as tight as she could. "UGH! AH! Just…gotta apply pressure, I remembered that much from health class."
"Heh-heh-ha-ha," came the bubbly giggles of a certain girl both Star and Queen knew all too well. The tentacle retracted, with Star and Queen following it and spotting the owner as Death Maid Marcy. The undead teen descended and floated in front of the portal as she sweetly smiled at them. "Sorry about that, Anne. I was trying to aim for your heart. You know, make it as quick and painless as possible."
"Sorry to screw up your aim," Queen grunted.
"No worries." At that moment, twenty construct tentacles, each armed with different types of weapons sprouted from behind her back. Some had buzzsaws, others chainsaw blades, about three or four had sharp pincers like the one that cut Queen. Two had taser nodes that released sparking arcs of black electricity, and others had laser canon mounts. "I'll make sure to kill you fast."
The laser mounted tentacles began shooting at Queen and Star. The two Lanterns flew in opposite directions to evade the laser blasts, but unfortunately for Queen, Death Maid Marcy was in pursuit of her wounded prey. The undead Taiwanese girl launched her buzzsaw tentacles at Queen, but the Yellow Lantern countered by creating two shield constructs. She knew the Black Light of Death could cut through their constructs, so she used the shields to deflect, rather than to block. Thankfully this gambit paid off as the buzzsaws skidded off the shields' surface, causing sparks to litter the air around her.
Death Maid Marcy continued to giggle as she had each of her tentacles attack one after the other, forcing Queen to evade and aggravate her wound. The tentacles struck like angered vipers, but Queen managed to dodge them, but just barely as some managed to slice at her legs, arms, and one managed to cut her across her cheek.
"You're slowing down, Anna-banana! That wound must really hurt! I can make the pain go away! I promise it'll only take a quick second!" Death Maid Marcy promised.
"Yeah, no! I don't feel like dying today, or any day really!" Queen retorted as she turned around and pointed her ring at the undead version of her best friend.
One of the tentacles lashed out and grabbed Queen's right wrist, redirecting her hand away from Death Maid Marcy. "Too bad. Oh well, guess I'll just have to take you apart piece by piece." The undead teen's smile grew sinister, and just a bit perverse. "I can practice some things on you that my Anne and I can try out on each other later. Won't that be fun?!"
Suddenly, star sapphire crystals began rapidly growing over the tentacles, encasing them completely. A moment later, Star descended from the sky. Spinning around as she held a construct sword and slashed through the tentacles, including the one that was holding Queen captive. The Star Sapphire stopped in front of Death Maid Marcy and thrusted her fist against the undead teen's chest. Using the ring's power, she released a powerful beam of violet light that blasted Death Maid Marcy forward and away from both of them. Star rose up higher and readied to fire another shot, but that's when Death Maid Marcy stopped her flailing about and looked up at Star.
"Anne! Wait! Please don't hurt me!" Death Maid Marcy begged. "I know I've done…horrible things, but I can't help it! This darkness is controlling us!"
Star hesitated, for a moment, the visage of this undead Marcy was replaced with the one of her own living Marcy. "I…I…"
Death Maid Marcy smirked as she readied to attack, but she never got the chance to as Queen shot Death Maid Marcy in the head with a strong energy blast that took her head clean off. The body fell from the sky as Star looked back at Queen with a stunned expression.
Queen looked up at Star, noticing the look she was giving her. "I get it. You and your Marcy are girlfriends, along with Sasha. But this isn't your Marcy, and she's not mine. She's just a monster that wants to kill us and every living thing!"
Star floated down beside Queen and said, "I know that, but…c'mon, you didn't even hesitate for a split second. I'm kinda worried for your Sasha and Marcy now."
"Don't you dare compare me to that thing, or Avatar! I would NEVER hurt Sasha or Marcy!" Queen looked at her ring as she narrowed her gaze. "I was always afraid, I couldn't do anything to protect Marcy, and Sasha was always the one protecting us. I was a liability to her, and some kids from our school were looking to exploit that. Then I found this ring and made them pay. Now I can protect both of them, and I don't care if that means I have to kill the thing that threatens them to it!"
Star could feel it through the power of her ring. She could sense that Queen deeply loved her Sasha and Marcy, while her romantic feelings for Sasha were strong, it seemed that her feelings for Marcy were dancing between platonic and romantic.
"…I'm sorry. I feel it, you do care about them. Guess I'm just…rattled that any version of me could do this to someone that we love," Star admitted.
"I get it, it's hard to swallow. But they're not us. Different circumstances, different rings. Honestly, compared to Scarlet and Avatar, I think I got the lesser of the negative emotion rings," said Queen.
Death Maid Marcy's body stopped falling as her black aura returned. The headless body pointed her right fist into the air and fired a huge beam of black energy towards the two heroes. Star and Queen noticed the incoming attack, and Star used her ring to form a barrier bubble around Queen as she towed her away from the blast. Some of the Orange Lantern alien beasts were caught in the blast and shattered apart upon getting hit with the beam. Death Maid Marcy's body corrected itself and flew straight up to meet the two heroes, and once it was at eye level with them, black goo started to ooze out of her neck. The goo continued to come out until it completely reformed her head.
"Well, that wasn't very nice, Anny. But kudos for remembering to aim for the head when fighting zombies."
"This is going to be a long night…" Queen complained.
"And not the fun kind either."
Saint Anne and Angel of Death threw a right punch at each other, coated in the lights of their power. Black and white energy clashed in the air as the two Annes dueled for supremacy over the other. Saint Anne's body had been rejuvenated thanks to the White Light of Life, but Angel of Death's body had no such limitations. She didn't need to breathe or worry about breaking a bone or getting something torn off, because the undead Anne would just regenerate it a moment later. Saint Anne wasn't sure if she had the same regenerative capabilities, but given that her power came from Life itself, she assumed she could. Essentially, this made them almost dead even – no pun intended – in terms of stamina, endurance, and power.
"You know, this fight could go on forever if we let it," said Angel of Death.
"Yeah, it could! But I don't plan on it lasting past dawn!" Saint Anne remarked.
"Oh, trust me! You'll all be dead by dawn!"
Angel of Death poured more power into her attack, making her black aura grow bigger. Saint Anne retaliated by doing the same, adding more power to her attack and doubling the size of her aura as the two powers grinded against each other and created arcs of black and white lightning that shot off in different directions.
"Dude, look around you! This whole thing is pointless! The other uses are going to die trying to prolong the inevitable! I know you know what they're thinking! If they take care of my zombie army, that'll free you up to take me down and stop all of this! It's not rocket science, it's basic strategy! You helped your Sasha lead the rebellion, so you know what I'm talking about!" Angel of Death shouted.
"Yeah! I know! But you gotta admit, it's working! I mean, you and I fighting, and it'll take one opening for me to take you out!" Saint Anne replied.
"Same to you, one wrong move, and I'll add you to the ranks! I kinda wondered what it would be like to have a sister, let alone a twin sister! But if my GFs manage to kill the other Annes, I'll nine sibs! Now that I think about it…what do you call nine identical sisters?"
"Beats me!"
{Nonuplets denotes nine identical siblings born at the same time,} the white ring answered.
"OH, WHO ASKED YOU!" Saint Anne yelled.
"Leave it to the life ring to know that!"
The energy in the middle of their attacks began to build up, straining to keep the two attacks going. But the power build up was too great as an explosion blasted both Angel of Death and Saint Anne away from each other. The disorientation didn't last long as the Black and White Lanterns shot into the sky and clashed with each other as white and black streaks of light. Every impact caused a powerful shockwave that erupted like thunder across the sky as they continued their fight. Saint Anne decided to get a little monstrous as she raised her right hand into the air and focused her power. A bright white shined all around her until the light took form and transformed into a giant, yet familiar, monster.
"You have got to be kidding me," Angel of Death groaned.
The construct had a rough scaly hide, with jagged dorsal spines that ran from the top of its head to the end of its tail. Upon its chest glowed the symbol of the White Lantern as the beast's eye shined and emitted intense white light. The Kaiju construct stared at the Black Lantern in front of it and growled threateningly at her.
"Okay, if we're doing this, and we ARE doing this, then I gotta step up too!"
Angel of Death raised her right fist into the air and released a large flash of black light. The light grew bigger and bigger until and started to change shape like her white light counterpart. The black light formed two huge bat-like wings, along with scales, two tails, and three dragon-like heads. Although, much to the theme of her light's attribute, this construct looked like a zombie, with some of the flesh on its head missing, or in the center head's case, completely missing and just a spine and skull. The three-headed monster bore the symbol of the Black Lanterns on its chest in much the same way as the giant saurian beast across from it did.
The two titanic construct kaiju inhaled deeply and released great roars into the sky as thunder and lightning raged around them. With their battle cries given, the two titanic monsters rushed forward and collided with each other, creating yet another huge shockwave that pushed away all the rain in their immediate vicinity. The white kaiju slashed at the hide of the black kaiju's body, leaving behind white gashes across its body that made it screech in pain. But the black kaiju retaliated by using its sharp fangs to bite into the white kaiju's body, with one of the heads biting the left arm of the saurian construct and ripping it off.
The white kaiju roared in pain, but that's when its dorsal spines began to light up one after the other in rapid sequence. Once all the spines on its back had been lit up, the white kaiju opened its mouth and unleashed furious blast of flaming white light at the black kaiju's chest. The power and force of the blast forced the three-headed construct to be flung back several yards before slamming into several buildings and collapsing into the rubble. The white kaiju ceased its attack, snapping its jaws shut as its beam attack ended. The construct's left arm quickly reformed, now whole once again.
The black kaiju's heads roared as one as they got up, swiping their tails around and knocking down several more buildings in the process. The three-headed zombie beast looked to the sky, and as one, all three heads lurched their heads back before thrusting them forward and opening their mouths. All three heads' mouths unleashed three huge bolts of black lightning, and just as quickly, all three struck the white kaiju in the chest. A triple explosion took place as the white kaiju was knocked out of the sky and landed with a thunderous "thud" against the ground, crushing more buildings and vehicles in the process. A swipe of the white kaiju's tail pushed away the dust as the construct rose to its feet and roared at the three-headed monster. To which the black kaiju roared back. Once both were on their feet they charged towards each other once again and caused yet another great shockwave as they grappled and continued their savage fight.
Emerald Knight and Scarlet Avenger just stared with jaws dropped at the huge constructs their Life and Death doubles created, compared to them, their construct avatars might as well be bugs.
"And here I thought tonight wasn't going to get any weirder," said Knight.
"Well, they definitely don't have to worry about running out of juice," Scarlet pointed out. "This could seriously take forever if we don't find a way to perma-kill these zombies!"
"HEY, YOU TWO, LOOK OUT!" Orange Sasha and Orange Marcy warned.
The two turned to their right, and that's when they saw a giant black energy crescent fly towards them, tearing up the street in its wake as it got closer and closer. Orange Sasha and Orange Marcy moved to intercept as Orange Sasha slashed the air with her swords, creating a giant "X" energy slash. At the same time, Orange Marcy fired an equally large energy arrow. The arrow struck the back of the "X" energy slash and combined with it, increasing its size and power as it flew to meet the attack. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. The black crescent energy wave collided with the dual attack, and completely shattered it as the wave hit Orange Sasha and Orange Marcy, shattering their forms.
Knight raised her sword and slashed the air before her, sending her own green crescent energy wave. Scarlet added her own, using the two swords in her main arms as she slashed, creating her own "X" crescent wave. The green and red crescents combined, creating a six-pointed star slash that sailed to meet the black crescent. The two attacks met in the middle and crashed into each other, both fighting to overtake the other. Strangely, something odd began to happen. As the black wave fought against the red and green waves, the black crescent wave began to show cracks. With each passing second, the cracks multiplied until the crescent shattered apart and exploded.
"What the heck?" Scarlet exclaimed.
"That's a first," Knight noted. "Our attacks barely do any damage to their constructs."
The two Lanterns didn't have time to contemplate what happened as Dread Knight Sasha fell from the sky and slashed Scarlet's asura construct right down the middle with her construct buster sword. Scarlet's construct avatar shattered apart upon being cut after completing the attack. Dread Knight Sasha landed on the ground, cracking the asphalt when she did. The undead warrior teen snapped her head upwards and launched herself towards Scarlet. She reached out with her left hand and grabbed the Red Lantern by the throat as she took off like a rocket down the street.
Scarlet struggled against the iron vice grip of Dread Knight Sasha. She tried to conjure another napalm blood breath attack, but the dead teen warrior girl was squeezing her throat so tight that she couldn't get the attack out. Dread Knight Sasha raised Scarlet up and thrusted her forward as she slammed the Red Lantern through several buildings, one right after the other. She flew up and released Scarlet, only to fly higher and come down with a kick. Dread Knight Sasha and Scarlet fell and struck the ground hard, resulting in a crater twenty feet wide, and five feet deep. The undead warrior girl kept her foot pressed against Scarlet's chest, and Scarlet coughed up blood, but not the acidic kind. The Red Lantern felt pain radiate through her chest, she had definitely broken more than one rib, and she was sure that one or more of her organs had busted open or was torn.
Dread Knight Sasha looked down at Scarlet and grinned as she asked, "Like what you see, Anne?"
"As if I'd be attracted to a stone-cold corpse of a bitch like you!" Scarlet spat.
"Heh, my Anne doesn't seem to mind. Now, time to join us!" Dread Knight Sasha raised her bone armored right and thrusted it deep into Scarlet's chest.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Scarlet screamed.
"OH YEAH! SCREAM FOR ME, BABY!" Dread Knight Sasha goaded.
The undead warrior girl took her time as she wiggled her clawed fingers in Anne's chest cavity before finding her prize. With a satisfied smirk, Dread Knight Sasha ripped out Scarlet's heart right in front of her. The Red Lantern spewed out blood as she felt an intense wave of pain throughout her body. Dread Knight Sasha brought up Scarlet's heart, and when she looked upon it, she realized something wasn't right. Whenever she did this, the heart of her victim glowed the color of one of the seven Emotional Spectrum lights, and it was normally still beating. But not in this case. Scarlet's heart did not glow, and it wasn't beating at all.
"Wait, what's going on here? Why isn't your heart beating? It should still be beating and glowing with your color!" Dread Knight Sasha shouted in confusion.
"S-Sorry to break it to you…Sash…but my heart stopped beating long ago…!" Scarlet took a deep breath and released a huge blast of napalm blood breath right as Dread Knight Sasha.
The undead warrior teen wailed as the burning, acidic, fiery blood breath coated her upper half and set her on fire. Dread Knight Sasha stumbled backwards as the flames engulfed her, allowing Scarlet to roll onto her hands knees before getting back to her feet.
"Heh, looks like you don't like that too much do you, Sash," mocked Scarlet.
The flames continued to engulf Dread Knight Sasha until she was reduced to nothing but her ring, which clanked against the street. Knight managed to find Scarlet and landed in front of the Red Lantern. But when she saw her, Knight gasped.
"HOLY HELL! SCARLET!" Knight yelled.
"I'm fine," said Scarlet before she coughed up some blood.
"The hell you are! You got a hole in your freakin' chest!"
"Gee, didn't notice."
"How…How are you even live?!" Knight asked.
Scarlet raised her right middle finger and pointed to the ring. "My ring. Is my. Life support. My heart was never beating, so that bitch just basically ripped out something I don't even need. Although…" The Red Lantern looked down at herself and grimaced at the hole in the middle of her chest. "Fuck, how am I going to explain this to X when I get back? Ah, fuck, can't even wear a shirt now 'cause it'll bleed everywhere, even if I wear red!"
"Maybe Saint can do something about that? Her ring is powered by life, so…"
"Fight isn't over," Scarlet warned.
The black ring released the ooze and quickly reformed Dread Knight Sasha's body, and she was not pleased. "You little shit!" Dread Knight Sasha formed her buster sword again and got into a ready stance. "I'm going to rip you apart until your just a talking torso!"
"Great, you ticked her off," said Knight.
"Like I give a shit. But we're still back at square one," Scarlet pointed out.
Knight looked at her ring, and then at Scarlet's. She then shifted her gaze to Dread Knight Sasha's sword construct. That's when an idea formed in her head. "Hey, do you remember when we stopped that attack earlier?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"I wanna try something. Follow my lead."
Scarlet wanted to complain, but seeing as she didn't have any bright ideas of her own, she was willing to go along with her green counterpart's plan. Dread Knight Sasha let out a battle cry as she came in swinging with her sword. Knight dashed to the left, while Scarlet went to the right just as the sword pierced through the street.
"NOW!"
Knight punched with her right fist, and Scarlet did the same. Their fists struck on the opposite sides of the buster sword as they released their green and red energy at the same time. The construct buster sword began to show cracks immediately, and a moment after, the entire sword's blade shattered into pieces. Scarlet was shocked, and so was Dread Knight Sasha. Knight and Scarlet repositioned themselves, aiming their right fists at Dread Knight Sasha as both fired a tandem beam of red and green light at her. The undead warrior teen quickly dodged to the right, but unfortunately half her left arm was caught in the tandem blast.
Dread Knight Sasha spun around in the air for a second before she managed to stabilize herself. She growled in anger and raised her left hand to form another weapon. But something was wrong. When she looked at her left arm, nothing had reformed, it was still gone. "W-What the hell?! What did you do?!"
"AGAIN!" Knight yelled.
"I GOT IT!"
Both Lanterns began firing more dual green and red beams at Dread Knight Sasha, forcing the Black Lantern general to dodge instead of taking the blasts head on or forming a construct to block it. Dread Knight Sasha sent a mental command to the horde and had several Black Lantern zombies come and rain down black energy blasts on the Red and Green Lanterns.
Knight and Scarlet nodded to each other as they raised their fists into the air and combined their lights to create a shield. And just like before, the black energy was dispelled when the beams hit their combined shield.
"It's working! I knew it!" Knight cheered.
"What?!"
"Earlier, when our attacks hit Sasha's, it only shattered because your light and mine were combined!" Knight explained.
"Wait, so that's the secret?! We combine our light powers?! Nice! Then let's double team their asses!" Scarlet proclaimed.
The two Lanterns yelled out furiously as their two lights united and created another avatar construct. This construct borrowed traits from Scarlet's asura and Knight's, well, knight construct. The result was that of a giant, six armed, armored asura, wielding dual edged swords that were made of green and red light. With these swords in hand, the two Lanterns swiped their swords through the air, and the Black Lanterns that were hit were immediately destroyed, not only that, but their rings shattered apart. And without the rings, they could no longer regenerate.
"It's working! It's really working!" Knight shouted in joy.
Scarlet raised her ring to her mouth and said, "Hey! You guys, combine your light attacks! Knight and I are combining my red and her green lights together, and it's destroying the zombies! Their rings are breaking apart!"
"Shit! This isn't good!" Dread Knight Sasha realized as she decided to fall back for the time being.
"Are you sure?!" Queen asked.
{We're wiping the floor with 'em right now! So do it!} Scarlet ordered.
Star looked to Queen and asked, "It's worth a shot, right?"
"Better than nothing," Queen replied.
Death Maid Marcy was preparing to attack, but that's when her ring began flashing. She could sense that it was Dread Knight Sasha on the other end, so she answered, "What's up, Sashy?"
{MAR-MAR, WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LET THEM HIT YOU WITH BOTH OF THEIR LIGHTS AT THE SAME TIME! YOU WON'T RECOVER!} Dread Knight Sasha yelled.
"Whoa, whoa, wait! What do you mean?" she asked.
{The two Annes I was fighting combined their lights and shot me with 'em! They took half my left arm, and it's not regenerating! They're able to shatter my constructs by doing that, and they're destroying our zombies! Their rings are shattering when they do that!}
Death Maid Marcy's eyes winded. It made sense for the white light to be able to stop them, but how was the other Annes combining their different colored lights able to destroy their rings and nullify their regeneration? As she pondered this, Death Maid Marcy's arms and legs were suddenly wrapped up in chains made of violet and yellow light. The undead maid teen watched as the two Lanterns stood side by side and created a large bow and arrow construct. The arrow glowed with their two combined lights, and as one, they launched the huge arrow right at Death Maid Marcy. The arrow flew fast and struck the dead girl right in the heart as the chains broke and she was flung backwards. The arrow carried her all the way into the portal where the arrow detonated with twin light explosions of violet and yellow.
Queen and Star grinned, confident that they had managed to finally gain the upper hand. But that confidence was short lived as the Black Lanterns that were caught in the blast were reforming, and Death Maid Marcy flew out of the portal, and her body had been restored.
"Uh…that's not supposed to happen," said Star.
Queen raised her ring to her mouth and yelled, "SCARLET, YOU LIAR! IT'S NOT WORKING! WE JUST HIT MARCY WITH A COMBINED ATTACK, AND THE ZOMBIES, AND HER, CAME BACK!"
{WHAT?! That's impossible! We're doing it! Look!}
Queen formed a pair of binocular constructs and looked down at the city below. It wasn't hard to spot Knight and Scarlet, and as she watched, Queen zoomed in and saw that their attacks really were destroying the Black Lanterns on contact.
What's going on?! Why is it working for them and not us?! Is it only their two lights that work together?! Queen thought.
"Okay, wow, that almost gave me a heart attack. I mean, I'm already dead, but man, that was scary," said Death Maid Marcy. "Don't know what Sasha was talking about. Must've been a fluke. Oh, well. You know what time it is!"
A mass of black tentacles appeared from behind Death Maid Marcy as she licked her lips and commanded them to rush towards the Lanterns, all while shooting them a grin filled with madness and a promise of tortures to come.
Thankfully, the calvary had arrived. A huge plume of purple smoke puffed into existence above them, and when it faded, Shaman, Guardian, and Avatar shot three pillar sized beams of light down on their location. The beams bathed over the Black Lanterns and Death Maid Marcy, but fortunately for the undead maid teen, she used her multiple tentacles to cover herself and block the attack. Queen and Star shot their own beams at the same time, hoping that a combination of all five of their lights would work. A massive explosion took place in front of the portal that threw Queen and Star several feet back. The other Lanterns flew towards them, and when they got there, Shaman saw the injury done to Queen.
"Hold still, I can heal you," said Shaman.
"Thanks," said Queen.
Shaman focused her light of Compassion and onto the wounds, and immediately, Queen could feel the pain evaporating with each passing second until it was gone. Queen undid the construct bandages and saw that the wound had been completely healed. Now that it had, she fixed the damaged portion of her uniform.
"We heard Scarlet's message," Guardian informed.
"We tried it, but it didn't work," Star told them.
"Well, two might not have worked, but maybe five did?" Avatar speculated.
The flames of the explosion were extinguished after a moment as the tentacles swiped through the flames and revealed Death Maid Marcy, and the Black Lanterns which had come back after getting hit by that attack. All five Annes released a groan of annoyance and frustration. What were they doing wrong? If all five combined didn't work, then why were only red and green working?
Queen started to think, and that's when an idea popped into her head. "Shaman, you can use any of our lights, right? Like how you used Star's violet light?"
"Yeah, I can. I don't need to make contact with you, I can just channel that light and recreate it," Shaman explained. "Why?"
"Try and channel Scarlet's red light! And hurry!" Queen ordered.
Death Maid Marcy launched her multiple tentacles at the Lanterns, forcing them to take evasive action. It didn't take long for Shaman to channel the Red Light of Rage; it was easier given that there was a wielder of that light close by.
"Okay, now what?!" Shaman asked.
"I think I get what Queen's going for! Shaman, shoot where I shoot!" Star announced.
Shaman nodded and followed Star. The Indigo Tribeswoman and Star Sapphire weaved around the construct tentacles, and once they found an opening, the two pointed their rings and shot their beams. Shaman fired a red beam of light from her ring instead of indigo, the violet and red beams of light swirled around each other and struck one of the tentacles as it exploded. Unfortunately, there was no damage done to the construct.
"Hurry, channel Knights color!" Queen ordered again.
The tentacles began attacking Shaman more earnestly, separating her from Star. Thankfully, Shaman managed to tap into the Green Light of Will just in time. Guardian flew next to her as many of the tentacles closed off their escape routes and closed in on them. The others began to worry that their comrades would get swallowed up by the tentacles. But their worry didn't last long as green and blue light shined from the small gaps within the wriggling mass. The tentacles showed cracks forming along their surface, and then all of them shattered to pieces.
Shaman and Guardian grinned when the saw the results, but they needed to be sure. Shaman broke away from Guardian and teamed up with Avatar, much to her dislike. Avatar resummoned some of her fallen constructs, and when she did Shaman coated them with green light. Avatar had actively concentrated to keep her light from absorbing the green light, and it paid off. The alien beast constructs were carving through the hordes of Black Lantern zombies, destroying them and their rings in the process.
"Now I get it! It's Knight's green light! If we combine it with any of our lights, then it works!" Guardian observed.
"And that's how we're going to win!" Queen exclaimed upon finally figuring out their key to victory. "Guardian, you and I will go down to Knight and Scarlet and give them a hand! Star, Avatar, and Shaman, you guys take care of this portal!"
With the orders given, Queen and Guardian flew down to the streets below, while Star, Avatar, and Shaman stayed behind to deal with the portal.
Death Maid Marcy looked worried now that they had discovered a viable means of truly destroying them, and herself. "This might be bad…"
The undead teen maid quickly created more constructs, bigger ones. Some of them resembled giant mecha robots from anime, others were demonic Lovecraftian-like monsters. The Black Lantern army also armed themselves with construct weapons, varying between guns, swords, knives, warhammers, fantasy weapons, and sci-themed weapons.
"Try not to spread your constructs too far that I can't add my light to theirs," Shaman warned.
"No problem!" Avatar and Star replied.
Star created her pride of lionesses, and a giant heron construct as well. Avatar summoned her alien dragon monster from before and resummoned her own Sasha and Marcy. Shaman waved her staff and released a wave of green light that coated itself over their constructs. And together the constructs charged forward. The mecha constructs were besieged by the giant alien dragon beast as it clawed through them, and bit off huge chunks of them before they exploded harmlessly around the monster. The heron construct flew like a missile towards one of the grotesque monster constructs, forming an energy drill made of green and violet light as it pierced through the monster and shattered it. The pride of lionesses used their green and violet glowing fangs and claws to tear apart the Black Lantern zombies.
While their constructs were fighting, Star, Avatar, and Shaman went straight for Death Maid Marcy as she formed several weapons and fired a barrage of black energy beams at them, basically beam spamming the incoming Lanterns. All three Lanterns formed a tri-light shield that managed to tank all the beams at once, and barely caused a scratch on their shield. Death Maid Marcy was getting worried and agitated at how the tables were turning on them already.
"We can't just let this happen! We're so close! AAAAH-AAACK!" Death Maid Marcy croaked as a sword made of orange and green light pierced straight through her chest, aligning perfectly with scar on her chest. The undead teen maid turned her head and saw that it was herself, or rather, the Orange Marcy construct.
"I don't know why, but I'm getting a strange sense of déjà vu, even though I'm fairly certain this didn't happen to me. But judging from your exposed scar, I'm guessing someone stabbed me – or rather, you – am I right?" she asked.
"Y-You – ACK!"
Another two blades pierced through her, this time from the front. Death Maid Marcy realized that it was the Orange Sasha construct who had done it.
"Hope you're ready to die permanently!" Orange Sasha stated.
Death Maid Marcy released a loud shriek as she released a powerful wave of black light that pushed against the two constructs and forced them to dislodge their blades from her body. The undead teen maid panted and realized that the damage they inflicted really wasn't healing, just like Dread Knight Sasha warned. She realized she was at a disadvantage, so Death Maid Marcy quickly flew straight up into the air and took off in the direction of where Angel of Death and Saint Anne were having their battle.
"She's running away," said Avatar.
"We'll deal with her, but after we clean up here! You ready girls?!" Star asked.
"Ready!" Shaman and Avatar replied.
As one, all three light wielders shot huge beams of green, orange, and violet light at the portal. The three beams washed over the portal, and eradicated the horde of Black Lanterns that were pouring from it. There was a massive explosion on the other side of the portal, and not long after that explosion happened, the portal itself snapped shut as the remnants of the portal's light faded into nothingness.
"We did it!" Star cheered.
"Finally," Avatar complained.
"Let's clean up the rest!"
The armored asura construct continued to hack and slash through waves of the Black Lantern zombies, sending energy waves of their dual lights with each swipe of their blades. Scarlet and Knight were grinning with satisfaction as they had finally found a way to take down the undead for good. Just then, a huge black drill crashed into the back of their construct, the impact rattled them for a minute as the horrible screeching sound of the black construct drill boring into their construct's back. Chains started to appear from multiple directions that quickly wrapped themselves around all six arms of the construct's body, before two construct Mongolian death worm constructs broke through the street and wrapped themselves around the legs of the construct.
"UGH! Annoying bastards! I'm gonna–!"
"Kill us?" Scarlet stopped mid rant as their mother, well, the Black Lantern version of her, landed on the chest of their construct and peered at them from the other side.
"M-Mom…"
Bee Boonchuy, their father, also landed next to his wife, donned in the Black Lantern uniform as he too looked at them through the construct. "C'mon, honey, you wouldn't shoot your old man, would you?"
Much to Knight's surprise, Scarlet was hesitating. The same person who didn't spare Sasha a blood bath, was actually hesitating upon seeing their undead parents.
"Scarlet, what's wrong?!" Knight asked.
Thanks to Scarlet's hesitation, the construct weakened, and it was just enough for the drill boring into the construct to pierce through and break it apart. Now that the construct was broken, Black Lanterns Oum and Bee rocketed forward and grabbed Scarlet as they took her to the street several yards away. Knight turned around to go and help, but soon a pair construct chains wrapped around her neck, and two more coiled around her right and left wrists. The chains pulled her out of the air and unceremoniously threw her to the street, back first.
Knight let out a grunt of pain as she made an impression of her body in the asphalt. That's when she got to see who it was that bound her. It was the Black Lantern versions of Sasha and Marcy's parents, and all four of them were grinning with malicious intent.
"You know, Anne. If it wasn't for you, our daughters would never have been brought into this mess," said Black Lantern Linda.
"Marcy may've been the one to get you trapped in that frog world, but it certainly wouldn't have happened if you never met her when you were younger!" Black Lantern Ling chastised.
The chains began to tighten around Knight's neck and wrists, making it hard to breathe, and even harder to concentrate through the pain and lack of oxygen.
"I think it's time, we get to the 'heart' of the problem," Black Lantern Ted joked as he created a construct claw around his right hand.
"Really, Ted? A Dad joke now?" Black Lantern Xia chided.
"What? It's appropriate," he retorted.
Knight felt like she was about to black out before Sasha's undead father got to do his bloody work. Thankfully, it was at this moment that Knight felt an incredible surge of power course through her body. Her green aura flared up as that same green energy began to leak from the corners of her eyes. The other Black Lanterns snarled when they saw the brightening Green Light of Will, and readied to end her, but that's when blue soccer ball constructs swiftly struck Black Lanterns Ling and Xia in the face, hitting them with enough force to fling them through the concrete walls of the buildings behind them.
Guardian landed behind Knight's head, and pointed her right fist at Black Lanterns Ted and Linda as she unleashed a powerful pulse of blue energy towards them. Just like the other two, the undead parents of Sasha were thrown several feet away. Guardian released more of her blue light, creating a field of blue energy around her and Knight, which then mixed with Knight's green light, and once the two combined, the chains that were wrapped around Knight quickly snapped and shattered apart.
Knight got up to a seated position and began coughing as she took in gasps of air. Guardian moved closer and pointed her ring at her green counterpart and focused her hope to heal her. Within seconds, Knight's pain was erased, and she was now able to breathe easier.
"Thanks for the save, dude," said Knight.
"No problem."
"Let's go meet up with Scarlet, I need you to do that healing thing on her!"
"Why?" Guardian asked.
"Trust me, you'll know why when you see her."
Scarlet was taken to the ground by undead versions of her parents. Both of which were now holding a chainsaw sword in their free hands as they pinned their Red Lantern daughter to the ground. Scarlet was a about to unleash another napalm blood breath attack but was stopped when a construct metal plate was pressed against her mouth.
"Nuh-uh, none of that, Missy. It's rude to spit on people," Black Lantern Bee chastised.
"You know, Dear, she's got a pretty big hole in her chest. Why don't we just stuff a bomb in there and blow her up from the inside out?" Black Lantern Oum suggested.
"Ooh, messy, but sounds good to me!"
Scarlet shouted and yelled as she watched the undead version of her father create a construct IED and readied to shove into her chest cavity. That was when two leviathan monsters snaked towards the undead Boonchuy parents and snapped their jaws around their midsections. The two yellow constructs whipped both zombies towards a skyscraper, sending them crashing through several walls inside of the building. The construct metal plate around Scarlet's mouth disappeared as she rose to her feet, and that's when Queen floated down next to her.
"Perfect timing," said Scarlet.
"Holy shit! Your chest!" Queen exclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah, big gaping hole. Thank Sasha for that. At least she missed my assets, heh," Scarlet joked.
"Dude, seriously not funny! You have a HOLE in your freakin' chest!"
"…I could make a lewd joke right now, but I'm not the horny version of me. Now let's combine our lights and wipe them out!" Scarlet urged as she got into a ready stance.
Queen pressed her right hand against Scarlet's shoulder and said, "Like I said earlier, it didn't work. We used all five lights, and it didn't have the same effect as you and Knight."
"So, now what?!" Scarlet complained.
"Calm down, we found out the secret. It's Knight's green light," Queen informed.
"She's right!" Knight and Guardian flew over towards the Red and Yellow Lantern, with the latter adding, "It doesn't matter which of our lights is combined with it, so long as it's Knight's green light and any one or more of our – HOLY CRAP YOU GOT A HOLE IN YOUR CHEST!"
Scarlet angrily deadpanned and said, "Yes, thank you Captain Obvious. Would you like to stick your hand in it?!"
"Eh, no thanks. Hold on." Guardian pointed her ring at Scarlet. Gathering her own hope and blue light energy, she focused that power onto Scarlet. The blue light wrapped around the Red Lantern but was concentrated at the wound. Within seconds, her heart was reformed, along with the missing parts of her organs and bones that were damaged in the initial attack. A few seconds after, Scarlet's flesh had mended, and any trace of the damage was completely gone. "There, good as new."
Scarlet placed her hand against her chest, and the scoffed as she pulled it away. "I was still able to fight, walk, and talk even if you didn't do that. You just grew something back that was already not working in the first place." Scarlet took a step forward and tacked in, "…Thanks, anyway, I guess."
"I think this is where Marcy would say, 'She's so tsundere'," Queen teased.
Scarlet growled and was contemplating decking Queen, but her punching spree would have to be put on hold as the Black Lantern versions Sasha and Marcy's parents appeared, along with Black Lanterns Bee and Oum. All four Lantern Annes got into ready stances, prepared to do battle with the adults.
"Hey, Scar…about what happened earlier…"
"That was my stupid. It won't happen again," Scarlet assured. "…They've been dead for a while now anyway."
Queen already knew this, but it was understandable that Guardian and Knight would look shocked by this information. Unfortunately, they didn't have time to get more info about Scarlet's situation, as the six adult Black Lanterns charged straight for them. Guardian and Scarlet flew off to the right, while Knight and Queen flew to the left. Linda, Ted, and Bee went after the Annes on the right, while Oum, Xia, and Ling chased after the Anne's on the right.
Black Lanterns Xia and Ling broke off in two different directions as they came around in a pincer maneuver to try and take both Annes at the same time. Knight cocked back her right fist, and Queen did the same with her own. The Green and Yellow Lanterns glanced over their shoulders, looked at each other, and nodded as the two of them spun around and unleashed a twin energy wave of green and yellow light that was coated in both. Black Lantern Xia and Black Lantern Ling narrowly dodged the wave that came at them, but when they tried to get back to the attack, Knight shot a construct hand at the Black Lantern, and grabbed her. Queen created a clawed hand construct and snatched up Black Lantern Ling. The two Lanterns separated and flung both their hand constructs at each other and smashed both the Black Lantern Wus into each other.
Knight and Queen were on the same page as they melded their constructs together, creating a rocket that they shot into the air with both Black Lantern Wus trapped inside. The green and yellow rocket construct ascended higher and higher into the before the rocket exploded in a colorful explosion of green and yellow. The two Black Lanterns were not able to escape the blast as the undead versions of the Wus perished in the explosion.
Meanwhile, Scarlet and Guardian were doing their best to fend off the Black Lantern Waybrights. They noticed the explosions overhead, and as soon they did, Knight and Queen flew towards them. Black Lantern Ted and Black Lantern Linda were distracted by the incoming Lanterns, too distracted to realize that Scarlet inhaled deeply and blasted Black Lantern Ted in the face with a napalm blood breath attack. Guardian used a combination of her Muay Thai and blue energy to deliver powerful blows to Linda's face, chest, and stomach, ending with spinning elbow strike to the middle of the zombie woman's chest. Black Lantern Ted cried out in pain from the blazing flames of Scarlet's attack, and Black Lantern Linda was thrown straight into a car thanks to Guardian's last hit.
Once they were linked up, Scarlet charged for Black Lantern Ted, and created a duplicate of Grime's favored weapon, Barrel's Warhammer, except this one was tripled in size. Guardian held out her right hand and formed a construct sword with a lotus patterned guard, and heart shaped pommel. Scarlet flew towards Ted, who managed to recover and formed a huge black construct drill bit just as Scarlet came down with her hammer. Guardian charged forward with her lotus sword construct, but Black Lantern Linda formed a huge gauntlet and punched forward, meeting Guardian's blade. The two Lanterns struggled against the Black Lantern Waybrights, but that was just to lower the zombies' guard.
Knight raised her right hand, focused her energy, and fired two beams of green light at Scarlet and Guardian's constructs, imbuing them with the Green Light of Willpower. Now that their lights had been united, Scarlet grinned as she activated the jets on the back of the warhammer, propelling herself and the hammer forward as the drill Black Lantern Ted was using quickly began to crack with each passing second. Finally, the drill shattered apart, allowing Scarlet to twirl the hammer around and smashed it against Black Lantern Ted's body, creating a powerful shockwave that fractured the street. Scarlet let out a war cry as she made the jets release a second burst, driving the warhammer further as it crushed Black Lantern Ted along with his ring.
At the same time, Guardian used her empowered lotus sword to deflect Black Lantern Linda's gauntlet upwards. Using her amped up speed thanks to her ring and Calamity powers, Guardian slashed the zombie woman's arm off, and then proceeded to unleash a flurry of slashes. The blade of her sword left behind streaks of blue and green light in its wake with each swift stroke, and in the blink of an eye, Guardian had disappeared and then reappeared behind Black Lantern Linda as blue construct lotus petals floated in the air around them. The zombie woman patted her body for a moment with her still usable left hand and chuckled in relief.
"All that flashy movement, and you missed?" Black Lantern Linda mocked.
Guardian smirked and replied, "Wait for it…"
Suddenly, green and blue lines of light appeared over Black Lantern Linda's body. The lines began to multiply in rapid succession, and before the undead woman realized it, her body had been diced up into several pieces in a delayed reaction. The only thing that was still intact was her ring, but Guardian turned around and sliced upwards with her sword, severing the ring down the middle as it broke into several pieces. Guardian glanced at Scarlet and smiled, making the Red Lantern scoff.
"Pfft, show off."
"That just leaves…" Queen let that hang in the air as the remaining parental Black Lanterns floated down to the street and stared down the four Annes.
All four Lantern Annes knew these were not their parents, at least, not the ones from their home universes. But still, it was one thing to raise their rings at Sasha and Marcy's undead parents, although the degree of reluctance was lower considering they didn't have the same emotional attachment to them as they did the two before them. These were still their parents, even if they weren't from their own universes.
"So many Annes, so many to discipline," said Black Lantern Oum.
"Tell us, girls, do you want to kill us too?" Black Lantern Bee asked.
Knight glanced at her counterparts and brought up a question that knew the others were probably thinking of as well. "Guys…are we sure that destroying them the way we have is…isn't, like, erasing their souls or something?"
Guardian grimaced, Queen lowered her gaze, and Scarlet growled angrily.
"You chose the damnedest time to bring up that topic," Scarlet complained.
"I'm serious. Saint's power comes from Life itself. I mean, it makes sense that her power can free their souls, or something. But what if we're just erasing them from existence?"
"Yeah, that is a question," said Avatar. The four looked up and saw their orange, indigo, and violet counterparts land next to them. "Are they even in there to begin with? Or is it a similar situation to my powers?"
"Would it matter? Either way, I don't think Mom and Dad would willingly want to be like this," Queen argued. "The best thing we could do for them is to stop them before they hurt anymore people."
Shaman looked upon the faces of her undead parents for a moment, and then said, "Then let's find out." The other Lantern Annes looked at Shaman with confusion. "We have the lights of Compassion, Love, Hope, and Willpower. If there's one thing we all know for sure – and it's something that not even crazy over here–"
"Hey!"
"–Can deny. It's that Mom and Dad love us. They always had compassion for us. And they hope for us to have a good life. If none our lights can reach them, maybe there's another way," Shaman explained.
"So, you want to perform a kind of exorcism?" Avatar laughed.
"What's it hurt to try? If it works, we can save them. If it doesn't, it's back to plan 'A' and we blast them," said Star.
"Screw it, try it. But I got this," Scarlet formed a huge sci-fi looking bazooka weapon construct and aimed it at the older Boonchuys, "on standby."
Shaman took point as Guardian got on the right, and Star on the left. The three formed a sort of triangle, with their undead parents in the center. Knight stood behind Shaman and placed her right hand on the tribal Anne's shoulder. Green light layered itself over Shaman, and from Knight's ring a tether of green light shot towards both Star and Guardian, coating them in the same light as they raised their rings and pointed them at Black Lantern Oum and Black Lantern Bee.
"Now what are you up to?" Black Lantern Oum asked.
Guardian, Star, and Shaman's eyes all shined at the same time as their rings emitted their lights and bathed them over their parents. The two zombies started to feel strange, grunting and yelling as they clutched their heads. Black Lantern Oum and Black Lantern Bee dropped to their knees, shine from the rings was starting to fade, as memories flashed through their minds. Memories of Anne when she was baby, how they wished in that moment for Anne to grow up strong and healthy, and wished to give her everything that they were not able to when they were growing up. Mistakes were made, no parent was perfect, and neither was Anne, but they loved each other despite it all. Then came the regret, the regret that they couldn't protect their baby girl against the darkness of her own mind, and the darkness that eventually claimed her and turned her into the being that she was now. They felt like they failed her, but even after seeing her commit many acts of murder and destruction, and having a hand in it themselves, they still loved their child, and wanted to help her.
Black Lantern Bee and Black Lantern Oum looked at each other, and then at the seven assembled versions of their daughter. It was then that the two parents nodded at each other and grabbed ahold of the rings on their fingers. The two Thai zombie parents let out fierce cries of defiance as they slowly started to pull the rings off their fingers.
"No way…" Queen gasped.
"They…They're taking them off!" Scarlet exclaimed.
The black rings released its dark light energy, trying to reassert its control over the zombies, but the four positive lights of the four Lantern Annes shined even brighter, granting Black Lantern Oum and Black Lantern Bee the strength and resolve they needed, and simultaneously weakening the black light of the rings.
"Girls…thank you," said Black Lantern Bee.
"Tell our Anne…we'll be with her, and waiting for her," said Black Lantern Oum.
With one more loud cry, the two Boonchuy parents ripped their rings off and threw them into the air. Knight raised her ring into the air and fired a large beam of green energy, at the same time, Avatar fired her own. The rings were caught in the crossfire of the two beams and were instantly destroyed. The Annes looked upon the undead versions of their parents, and when they did, the watched as their bodies underwent rapid decay until nothing but bones, and a moment later, the bones themselves were reduced to dust that got smothered by the rain.
Despite not having used their power to kill them like the other zombies, and not even being their own parents from their universe, it didn't make having to see them fade away any less heartbreaking.
"Terrible day for rain, huh, guys?" Knight asked.
"Real bad," Scarlet agreed.
"Just…awful," Star added.
Avatar remained silent; her own feelings were…conflicted. She had killed her best friends, and even her found family from Amphibia. And yet, she didn't think seeing her parents – even if these weren't her own – die would make her feel anything. Now she was wondering if she'd have the resolve to do it when she returned to her own corner of the multiverse.
Queen inhaled deeply as she tried to calm the sadness in her heart and patted Knight on the shoulder. "We're not done yet. Let's clean up the rest of the zombies and give Saint a hand."
Knight sniffled and replied, "Yeah…it's time we ended the Blackest Night."