Chapter 216: The Dangers Within Heroics Part 3

After climbing back up the many floors they had descended, Arias, Cheshire, and Raven found the facility in a devastating state. Walls were crumbling, lights either out or short-circuiting, and even the dead bodies of those unlucky enough to cross paths with the villains that had passed through.

"Woah, seems we missed the party here." Completely unmoved by the sight, Cheshire showed a wide grin as she looked around, her attention piqued by the panicked screams and sounds of explosions coming from other rooms.

Arias, on the other hand, turned his head toward a seemingly ordinary wall before replying to Cheshire, "Don't be so sure about that."

As Arias said those words, the wall he had been looking at was broken aggressively by a large semi-transparent green hand, revealing the familiar figure of Green Lantern as he flew into the room and paused to look at Arias's group.

However, rather than worry, he instead looked a bit smug and even grinned. "Look, we already know how this is gonna end, so why don't you save yourselves the beatdown and just surrender, okay?"

The one to take offense to that statement was Cheshire, who tilted her head first and already withdrew a kunai.

"It's always the small ones that talk a lot. Can I cut him up, boss?" Clearly unfazed by the Justice League member before them, Cheshire showed great intent to fight Green Lantern, but Arias shook his head.

"You and Raven head back. I've got a little business to attend to here."

Cheshire showed visible disappointment at the instruction but nevertheless relented. "Oh well, there's always next time."

Following these words, Raven outstretched one hand to the side and muttered, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos," invoking her power and opening a dark portal beside her.

Cheshire stepped through first, and Raven was about to do the same when Green Lantern chose to act. "I don't think so!"

He stretched out his dominant hand, and his lantern ring lit up, forming another large hand-like structure aimed at capturing Raven before she could enter the portal.

However, before it could get far…

*Crack!*

The resounding noise of bone cracking echoed through the scene as Arias invoked his telekinesis on Green Lantern's forearm, breaking its bones halfway to one side.

This sudden act caught Green Lantern completely by surprise, and he, of course, groaned in pain. The large hand he had created also vanished.

"Dammit, what the hell?" Confused by the action, Green Lantern looked at his hand to assess what had happened, then looked at Arias, wondering how he did it.

Seeing the unfamiliar costume, Green Lantern had no idea who he was dealing with, but the power used on his hand… it was one every Justice League member could now recognize.

"It's you… heh, I knew all that 'I'm leaving my wealth behind' bullshit was just a cover." Despite his broken hand, Green Lantern still looked confident as he faced down Arias, who couldn't help but chuckle mockingly at Green Lantern's conclusion.

"Even an attentive child could see it was a cover. What you should have wondered instead was: a cover for what?"

Having said this, Arias ignored the laws of time and space to close the distance between him and Green Lantern in no time at all.

It was so immediate that Green Lantern couldn't recognize what had even occurred. To him, one moment Arias was there, and now he was here.

"How the he—argh!"

Green Lantern couldn't even express his confusion before Arias made another move. This time, his eyes could keep up with the movements, but his body couldn't react.

Thus, Arias grabbed and held Lantern's fisted hand in his palm… and crushed it.

By ignoring the laws of force as he had done before, Arias exerted an inhuman amount of force through his hand and splattered Lantern's hand.

Lantern instinctively pulled away in pain, groaning much louder. As he looked at the disfigured remains of his hand, he noticed his ring was gone, before realizing Arias was holding it between two fingers casually.

"You place too much faith in borrowed power without accepting that one day it may be taken away and you'll die." As Arias spoke, he once again began to exert tremendous force, only this time the target was Green Lantern's ring.

Before long, cracks appeared in its structure before a powerful green light shone across the room, dissipating as quickly as it had appeared.

Green Lantern looked to be in complete disbelief at what was happening and his helplessness to do anything. After destroying the ring, Arias took a step closer and crouched down near him before shaking his head. "I read your profile, you know, after learning your identity. And if I must be honest, I'm reluctant to kill you. After all, more people will celebrate your death than care."

Fear flashed across Lantern's eyes, but he didn't waver, as he possessed an immensely strong will. Using all his effort, he tried to punch with his undamaged hand… only for the same thing to be done to it.

"Argh! Shit! Dammit… argh."

Arias stood up from his crouched position and briefly glanced in the direction of some fighting noises in the distance.

"It really looks like no one is coming for you. They're too busy scrambling in their own fights or evacuating people, putting confidence in you to handle the breach? It's almost laughable how meaningless your death will be… except to me."

Saying nothing more, Arias reached out to grab Green Lantern by the head, slowly exerting more and more force as Lantern gritted his teeth in pain. Arias continued to apply pressure until his skull popped open, with blood and brain matter splattering around.

Arias shook off the bits that landed on his hand before looking at the disfigured corpse and kicking it down.

"It's time to spread some fear toward empty heroics. Let's hope this serves as an adequate message—for now at least."