32 Chapter 32
Though Naruto had been extremely cautious, his battle had been captured by enemy forces. The Light had a close experience of his powers as they watched him dominate Centurion. It was done through the usage of magic beyond Naruto's capabilities by Klarion The Witch Boy.
They didn't interfere and opted to watch, and analyze the new entity. They had heard everything from the interview, but they wanted to see him in the field. They wanted to see if they could work together as their goal was similar.
The members of light weren't gathered in a single place and watched trough a screen. All of them appeared as shadow holograms in a central location where they watched the magical screen and had their usual meetings. They had different bases around the World and all of them were equipped with some measure of High Tech equipment.
"That idiot was asking for it. His stupid face looked even more idiotic with those cringey dialogues." Klarion muttered with a childish tone as he saw Centurion's retarded display.
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Klarion was a Croatian, which was a mixed race between Human's and the Sheeda. Melmoth, the King of Sheeda, had created the original witch-men and witch-women by interbreeding with the humans at Roanoke. He was born in Limbo Town, where the former residents of Roanoke ended up after supposedly disappearing centuries ago, Klarion Bleak grew up in a sort of perverted version of Puritania, where necromancy was common (and in fact was a vital staple of the local industry) and every witch-man, witch-woman and witch-child had their own familiar.
His true father having disappeared years earlier, Klarion always suspected there was a world beyond, but was vigorously discouraged from asking questions by the strict Submissionary Judah. However, when a spine-rider of the Sheeda arrived in Limbo Town one day, Judah and his fellow submissionaries panicked, convinced that the spine-rider had been sent in advance of their extermination. They transformed themselves into a Horigal, a monstrous gestalt form bonding the three of them and their familiars together. They then attacked all the witch-men in town, including Klarion's stepfather Ezekial. Klarion, who had found out about the Horigal and had tried to warn everyone, was pursued by the monster and fled upwards. In the process, he was separated from Teekl, his familiar.
He went through some adventures in the human world and returned back to his world, saving them from annihilation. However, Klarion was adventurous and couldn't stand living a stagnant life. So, he returned to earth and started looking for fun.
Lex Luthor approached him with a proposal and Klarion agreed because he found it very fun and engaging. He was part human so the Light had no issue with his membership, plus Klarion was extremely powerful and added his magical prowess to the groups disposal.
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"Hehehehaha, he could definitely become a good comedian." Joker laughed as he judged Centurion's display as a joke. Even the crazy jester was part of the group, but even he had his part and wasn't just there to make them laugh.
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Joker was one of the most insane beings in the Universe and it was that insanity that the Light wished to use for their benefits. He was unpredictable and showed them a way that was out of the box for normal people, meaning he was one of their strategists and he also helped with breaking people. Joker was an expert at mind breaking and torture, allowing them to brainwash people.
Before becoming the Joker, he was a failed stand-up comedian with a wife named Jeannie. Jeannie was pregnant with their first child, but due to his difficult life he started becoming erratic and mentally imbalanced. Jeannie, fearing for both her life and the life of their unborn child, went to the police, who helped her fake her death and move to Alaska to escape her husband. The man who would become the Joker was informed that his wife and child had died, forcing him to experience "one bad day".
Many years later, Jeannie continued to live in Alaska in peace with her son, neither she nor the Joker knowing where they had landed in life. Bruce Wayne, who had encountered the comedian before he became the Joker, was aware of her true fate and kept it a secret in order to protect her and her son. Because of this, he was also forced to keep Joker's true name a secret.
He used to be a kind man that had gone through abuse from childhood and lived in a dark world. His mind was hanging by a thin thread called family and with them gone, he snapped.
He snapped and killed the people that beat him up.
From that point he slowly descended into complete insanity. He couldn't feel that this was real anymore and treated it as such.
He forgot about his family and all he became numb unless he was playing with people's lives.
To him, his world was fake. It was just a story to be enjoyed so he made sure to entertain the audience.
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Other than these two childish members, the rest were pretty much serious individuals with high level of intellect as their unique point.
There was the leader of the Light; Alexander Joseph Luthor also called Lex Luthor. Lex Luthor was the genius, ego-centered Metropolis businessman who, with his company LexCorp and scientifically advanced Warsuit, had acted as both an antagonist and ally to Superman and the Justice League.
From the beginning, Lex set himself up as a troubleshooter. When he began intercepting signals from an alien craft that called itself the "Brain Inter-Acting Construct", he set up a dialogue, trading data about Earth for alien scientific knowledge.
Through a strange benefactor, he was recruited into an alliance of convenience with General Lane of Project: Steel Soldier and Glen Glenmorgan, the corporate master of Metropolis, against Superman. However, Luthor double-crossed Lane and Glenmorgan, stealing the Kryptonite the group planned to use, and leaked their plan to a reporter named Clark Kent.
He attempted to aid Brainiac during the shrinking of Metropolis, but, in the aftermath, there was no evidence and so the government was forced to let him go. Luthor spent the next several years filling the power vacuum in Metropolis left by Glenmorgan.
Around four years after the formation of the Justice League, he instigated the American invasion of Qurac so that he could sell his super-weapons to the army. That was also the year that he personally faced Superman for the first time and was detained by the hero, receiving a facial scar across the left side of his face in the fight. Luthor spent a year in prison, during which Superman would sometimes visit to ask his opinion of a particularly troubling scientific disaster.
However, his prison sentence didn't last long and he was back in business with more power than ever. Seeing that he alone wasn't enough, Lex started a group to lead humanity after understanding the Universe. His pride couldn't allow him to sit down and allow other species to dwarf humanity; as such The Light was created.
To them, the heroes were a hindrance and a plague that caused humanity to stagnate because of overreliance. Humanity had become reliant on them and didn't even try to find their own solution for the fundamental problem.
Lex found people that were useful to the group and could contribute.
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Ultra-Humanite was Superman's first recurring nemesis, even ahead of Luthor. Due to a scientific experiment, the Ultra-Humanite had "the most agile and learned brain on Earth". He was one of the greatest criminal geniuses ever. Unfortunately for him, while the energies of his mind continued to develop and expand, even developing low level mind energy techniques such as telepathy, his physical brain interface never advanced. Unable to contain the mental energies, his body began slowly burning out. Thus in his early career, he was a small, elderly, crippled scientist, who fought Superman using his intellect, inventions and numerous front men and stooges.
The Ultra-Humanite's signature achievement was surgically transferring his brain into other bodies. But, that wasn't enough and he needed a stronger body to handle his expanding prowess. As such, he came into contact with Brain and transferred his brain into a modified silver gorilla.
With that, he entered a new realm of physical and mental power. It advanced all his abilities and he started working with Brain before both of them were recruited by Lex.
He was a man with deep interest in experimentation and agreed with the vision of the group. He had suffered the limitation of humanity and was ready to make the Ultimate Human Form.
Though, he was very ambitious and even held the desire to rule all of humanity. Just like the rest of the members, he was not truly subordinate and saw himself as an equal to everyone else.
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The Brain was a superb scientist, as he was capable of reverse-engineering the Kobra-Venom and used it on Indian fauna to enhance their strength. He also evinces some sadistic traits, mainly evidenced when he surgically removed his victims' brains while they were still alive. The Brain has an idiosyncratic speech pattern: he speaks English with a very thick French accent, and often code-switches, throwing French words in the mix. He does this because he detests speaking English.
The Brain was essentially a disembodied brain kept alive in a mechanical dome. Before that, he took the appearance of a scraggy, tall man with unkempt black hair and black eyes. His new robot body was equipped with retractable mechanical appendages that allowed him to handle objects, as well as weapons. The robot body had been enhanced after joining the light which gave him ample reasons to follow the group, since he saw the benefit of their cooperation.
The Brain was one of the unnamed leaders of a group of scientists that settled in Bwunda, in 2008, to conduct experiments on the indigenous gorillas. The scientists built a compound of laboratories, which they named "Gorilla City" as a display of sadistic mockery, and proceeded to enslave an entire troop of gorillas. They subdued the gorillas with inhibitor collars and enhanced them with brain procedures and Kobra-Venom, meaning The Brain had an army of Super Gorillas under his command that were equipped with High Tech weaponry.
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Following the two scientist, there was one of the warriors of the group called Black Manta. Black Manta was the archenemy of Aquaman. He was originally an agent of Ocean-Master, but later became one of the leaders of the Light.
Black Manta was a black male with high cheekbones and black hair that was graying around the temples. He sported a thin ring beard. Black Manta's suit was characterized by the manta-shaped head with two large, daunting red eyes that also allowed him to shoot plasma beams from; there were small tubes that connected from the back of the head to his shoulders. The hands of his suit were webbed; the suit also sported fins on each of his legs. Hidden in his suit were compartments that allow him to fire rockets.
The suited had gone through heavy modification after joining the group and he was sure that it was more than enough to dominate his nemesis. But, he chose patience because Aquaman had the backing of the Justice League and Manta wasn't strong for that threat.
The boy who would become Black Manta was an autistic youth who grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and loved to play by the sea. As a youth he was kidnapped and forced to work on a ship for an unspecified amount of time. At one point he apparently saw Aquaman with his dolphin friends and tried to signal him for help but was not seen. Finally, he was forced to defend himself, killing one of his tormentors on the ship with a knife. Hating the emotionless sea (and Aquaman, who he saw as its representative), the boy was determined to become its master.
Placed into an institution for his mental "affliction," the boy was treated cruelly by his attendants. The boy experienced being immersed in water as sublime ecstasy, while the softness of the cotton sheets of his bed bore for him excruciating pain. The attendants would strap him to the bed anyway, and to stifle his screams of pain, they would smother him with pillows until he passed out. The boy could barely speak, usually repeating a few words, such as "love swim." The doctors began performing experimental treatments on the boy, experiments that seemed to cause him pain. One of these experiments was successful enough that he became able to speak in complete sentences. Using his newfound ability to seem normal, the boy put his doctor at ease enough to unstrap him. Afterward, the boy used the syringe used to help him speak to murder the doctor and escape.
As an adult, he designed a costume (primarily a black wetsuit with bug-eyed helmet that was able to shoot blasting rays from its eyes) and fashioned a high-tech submersible inspired by black manta rays. Taking the name Black Manta, he and his masked army became a force to be reckoned with.
Manta become a menace to Aquaman and would try his best to destroy Atlantis, no matter what. He was a ruthless bastard that would murder anything that came in his way. Black Manta was commanding, focused and led his men with great authority. He had shown to detest any failure or mistake, and chastises his men for any failings. Black Manta could lose his temper if things do not go according to plan.
His power and expertise were a great addition to the group as the muscle. Along with the other warriors, Manta also enjoyed the new inventions and powers. He was mainly focused on the ocean side of things.
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Ra's al Ghul was the founder of the League of Assassins and League of Shadows, an organization of deadly warriors that he used to achieve his goal of ridding the world of evil. The League's violent methods had made him a sworn enemy of the Batman. Through the continued use of a Lazarus Pit, Ra's had been able to live for thousands of years and had gathered large amount of experience in multiple fields.
He was a man with great knowledge and wisdom, having contacts everywhere. There was not a thing that had escaped his knowledge.
He was one of the main leader's of the Light and contributed with his strategies and his shadows that were excellent as assassins, information gatherers and kidnappers.
After meeting Lex, he had come to the same conclusion and agreed with the vision. Humanity with its current form was too limited and weak. Their destruction was a matter of time and it was certain because of how the world was developing.
Just like the rest of the group, he had also developed beyond his initial prowess as he let go of his inhibitions about genetic manipulation.
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In the group as one of the muscles was Slade Wilson, known by his codename, Deathstroke. The man was an elite mercenary, commonly considered the world's greatest and deadliest assassin. He was a master of weapons and with the help of the Light he had become a threat to superhumans.
Deathstroke was cool and efficient in the discharge of his duties. The emotionless mask does tend to slip when he was truly challenged, and a degree of impatience slips through. He also takes great delight in the thrill of battle, and takes a sadistic relish in taunting his opponents. Deathstroke was also very ambitious, as he made plans to "take a seat at the table" at the head of the Light. Though, he truly cared for his children and wished to make a better world for them in his own way. He had lived in the battlefield for too long and made many enemies, it was impossible to live a normal life.
He was one of the biggest enemies of the Titans and had been a thorn for Batman countless times.
Deathstroke was a tall, slender man, with long white hair, and a full beard. He was missing his right eye, and wore an eyepatch, while the remaining eye was blue. His armor was primarily black and gray, with goldenrod greaves and gauntlets. He wore a matching goldenrod mask with a black area that obscured the right half of his face, including his missing eye. He wore a utility belt with pouches, and sheaths for a sword and rifle on his back.
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The other main member of the group was called Vandal Savage. Vandal Savage, born Vandar Adg, is an immortal caveman supervillain.
Vandar Adg was born in the 47th millennium BCE, in what would one day be the Perigord Noir region of France, as the son of the chief. One spring, there was a territory dispute between his clan of Neanderthals and a group of Cro-Magnons. However, a bright shooting star caused a halt to the hostilities, which Vandar used to kill the rival chieftain. His father claimed the kill, and when the clan went to see the fallen shooting star, his father claimed that, too. But Vandar felt hurt, and wanted the acclaim he felt was due. He killed his father with the strange glowing rock, even as it wrought fearsome changes on his body, and when his clan tried to punish him for the murder, he killed them too.
His clan had regarded the meteor as evidence of the benevolence of the Sun, their god, but as Vandar's life extended to a superhuman degree, his religious view would become more complex, and he would enact intricate ritual sacrifices in honor of the deities he thanked for his gift of immortality. Vandar tried to found empires, but all of his efforts ended in collapse, and this frustrated him.
Vandar drifted west, somehow becoming affiliated with the Vandals, even gaining the moniker "Vandal Savage". After the most recent fall of Camelot, Vandar found himself in the town of Little Spring, and wound up accidentally founding the Demon Knights which later became Stormwatch.
Just like that Vandal moved through the years learning new things and causing death and despair over the centuries.
By the modern times, he had grown tired of such things and become civilized. Though, he still committed crimes and didn't like being ruled by weaklings.
Lex came to him and Vandal agreed as he had learned over his journey that the world was at risk, there was a storm on the way and they might not live through it. Humanity needed to reach a new level of power and leave the current Solar system or face extinction.
Vandal was uncaring towards outsiders but he wasn't a loner. He wanted to live in a place populated by his people and rule over them.
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The final member of the group was known as Queen Bee and her name was Zazzala. Zazzala of Korll is Queen Bee, an intergalactic conqueror. The leader of the hive-world Korll, Zazzala lived only for the interstellar expansion of her species. However, she was not immortal and could die from age. Queen Zazzala created an army of bee-men to find a potion of immortality for her. She first tested them by having them loot various worlds. But on Earth they failed, being defeated by the Justice League.
Seeing the heroes of the world through the bees on the planet, Zazzala realized that it would cause immense damage to her people to fight directly. As such, she decided to act patiently and destroy her enemies from within.
She took over the mind of a human leader and helped the country become powerful. Her ferocity and power attracted Lex and she joined the group, which made her objective much easier or she would have slowly taken over all the leaders of the world.
Zazzala was a powerful being with royal attitude. She was overwhelming and demanded servitude from others. She looked down on humanity as an inferior species but that changed somewhat because of the Light.
Every member was unique and together they had the power to rule the world. Their enemies on earth were the Justice League, Titans, USA government, Russian Government, Chinese Government and finally the Stormwatch led by Merlin.
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Getting back to the scene, the members finished watching the battle and were quite except for the talkative ones. They were absorbing what they had seen and analyzing it carefully. Their decisions were calculated and were made slowly, not hastily since mistakes weren't allowed. Most of them were perfectionist for such a thing.
Losing Centurion to Naruto wasn't a problem as they had already gotten his DNA. They had examined the man completely and could make a clone without much trouble especially with the help of Klarion, who could handle the spiritual part if there was an issue. Though, none of them believed that there would be an issue since Centurion's power came from an experiment by some ancient scientist.
"It was quite disappointing, but that man has caught my interest. Is he really The Will of Humanity?" Zazzala muttered with a hint of curiosity as she rubbed her lips and watched Naruto intently on the screen.
His existence put her in a dilemma and made her feel jealous if that was true. She had never seen such a thing for her people or any other being. So, why was humanity so blessed?
She had already been worried about the Heroes, but the new player might completely destroy her plan.
'Can it be controlled?' Zazzala thought about mind controlling Naruto to completely take over all of humanity like she controlled her people.
Her question was on everyone's mind.
Was he really the will of humanity or was he just talking empty words?
"V, what do you think? Have you heard anything about this before?" Lex asked using the codename of the members, their first initial. Just like everyone, he was also curious and in deep thought. He asked Vandal because of his long age and journey.
Vandal had been thinking on this question since he heard about the man, but nothing seemed to click. He had never heard about such a thing.
"No, I haven't come across such a thing. Maybe, it developed a complete conscious in recent years." Vandal replied while walking around hologram of Naruto as the members had finished watching the battle and decided to focus on one individual.
None of the other members had anything to add about him either. So, there was no information about him previously.
Bringing his data to the front, Lex had everyone shift their focus to it.
Using their High Tech system installed in the Lex Corp Satellite, The Light could analyze individuals and other things from the safety of their base. The Tech was gained from Darkseid before his invasion and it was finally being utilized properly by the group.
"He doesn't possess a flesh body, but replicates all of it with pure energy of some kind. Or, he can only form in that manner." Ultra-Humanite muttered as he looked at the data.
"His energy levels are almost equal to our planet. The threat level is high. How does he compare to our main enemies?" Brain muttered as he compared the data with others.
"He has less energy than Green Lantern and Superman. But, is this all of it. He seemed to be everywhere at once, so that might not be an accurate reading. Regardless, this data won't really help us clarify the fact about his origin. We might need to make contact with him, it." Ras Al Ghul added as he looked at Naruto. He could see that the man was a warrior but that didn't make him any human since he was supposed to be the will of humanity.
"Apt point, but we might need to test him first. His objective is similar but he might be too hard to handle even if his words were false." Lex agreed with his words but disliked Naruto's tone. It seemed that he was going to be treated like a dog, if they ever met.
None of them disagreed since Naruto had clearly said it on television.
"How do we test him? What if he was truly the will, then we might be digging our graves?" Manta spoke up and brought out the risks involved.
"There is only one risk, slavery. He has publicly declared that everyone gets a second chance and it is visible from his approach. We don't have to fear him in the first encounter. Second encounter is where we have the risk of death." Deathstroke disagreed with Manta and corrected his interpretation of the situation.
Both belonged to the group, but there was always some rivalry involved.
"Let me play with him guys. I will make him sing very quickly." Klarion offered with a smile as he also found the mystery interesting and he was itching to solve it.
The offer was very attractive but there was the problem of Dr. Fate getting involved if Klarion was sighted.
"Then, let us plan for the meeting. We need to give Klarion some time to test him before others interfere." Ras muttered as he brought out the list of the enemy forces so that the members could plan for them.
They all planned, but none of them wanted to discuss the possibility of losing. They all possessed pride in their belief and wouldn't want to submit.
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A.N. Naruto won't just walk through everything. He will grow in power and gain the forces and support. But, he will face losses and danger.
He will be defeated and imprisoned, tortured. None of the slaves have total loyalty to him and some of them will die, and some might walk away when Naruto is in trouble.
