As soon as that voice rang out, even with the Will Green Light stabilizing him, Dante froze for a moment.
When he came to, he found himself inside a vast, crimson temple—soaked in red from floor to ceiling.
But unlike the Warden's facility, which had been forcibly stained with red energy, this place felt... natural. Like the crimson had always been part of it. Born into the stone.
Dante's eyes scanned the darkness stretching deep into the heart of the temple.
He should go inside.
Yeah. Go inside.
That thought surfaced out of nowhere, uninvited—but it felt too smooth, too certain.
Immediately, Dante snapped to attention.
Even with Batman's willpower—a mind strong enough to awaken and command the Ancestral Green Lantern Ring—he was still being subtly influenced by Cyttorak's consciousness.
An unseen pressure had already started crawling up his spine.
And still, Dante stepped forward without hesitation.
The moment he entered, the pitch-black void lit up around him.
He didn't know where the light source was coming from, but his vision cleared instantly.
A long, crimson corridor stretched endlessly inward. Dante walked. And walked. And kept walking.
Time slipped.
There was no rhythm here, no sense of movement—just the eerie echo of footsteps that shouldn't have existed.
This wasn't a normal universe. In Cyttorak's Crimson Cosmos, time and physics weren't even on speaking terms with reality.
After what felt like two hundred steps—but who the hell could be sure—the infinite corridor suddenly ended.
Dante took one more step forward... and the space around him unfolded.
The temple interior floated like it was suspended at the center of the entire universe. No crimson walls to his sides, front, or back—just a cosmic void stretching forever.
A crimson cosmic void, of course.
He looked up—and at some point, a towering "person" had materialized on the Crimson Throne in front of him.
"Human. You are... very interesting."
"Oh great, another one of you," Dante muttered, unimpressed. "Why is it that you minor gods always love to open with, 'You are very interesting'?"
He looked like he was having an allergic reaction to the cliché.
"No, human named Dante," Cyttorak said, leaning forward slightly. His massive form finally revealed itself fully on the throne. "I genuinely find you interesting."
The armor on Cyttorak's body was the same as Juggernaut.
Which pretty much confirmed it: the Juggernaut was a vessel—a suit—meant to let Cyttorak descend into the physical universe whenever he damn well pleased.
Jack Bright's current Juggernaut form—the one duking it out with the three Asgardian siblings—was also just that: a Juggernaut, empowered by Rage Red Light and imprinted with a shard of Cyttorak's will. Basically a clone.
And this… this was the catch.
Anyone who received the so-called "eternal immortality" of the Juggernaut would one day become Cyttorak's meat puppet.
Their original soul and consciousness? Erased, the second the real Cyttorak came knocking.
Immortal, sure—but headed straight for annihilation.
What a poetic little curse.
"As a demon god from an entirely different dimension, I'm not even sure you have what we'd call a 'heart.' Both your body and soul are built on rules that completely break human understanding."
"Hahaha. And yet you're still over here thinking all this through."
Cyttorak chuckled. "Every creature who's ever become a Juggernaut has fallen—completely consumed by power the moment they laid eyes on this temple. But you… you walked in, stood before me, and held your ground."
"That's because I know this is just a projection. The Crimson Gem dragged me here into the Crimson Cosmos. It's not actually you."
Even Dante was surprised. Aside from the whispers, Cyttorak's power didn't affect him directly at all.
"Will Green Light. Dionysus Factor. A bit of Asgardian genetic leakage... You are superior to every Juggernaut before you. No—you're superior to all of them combined."
Cyttorak didn't deny anything. Instead, he saw through Dante with a single glance—cataloging all of his powers in a heartbeat. Even the Dionysus Factor.
Even Batman—the literal "creator god" of DC logic—couldn't detect the Dionysus Factor in Joker's blood. And Cyttorak spotted it instantly.
"I never said I wanted to be a Juggernaut," Dante said.
"That's not your decision to make."
As soon as Cyttorak spoke, the entire Crimson Cosmos glowed brighter.
One thought from him was enough to shift his own universe.
Dante hadn't even finished being impressed when Ion Shark's voice exploded in his ears.
"Guardian! Merge with me now! Fast!"
"Otherwise, you're really gonna get dragged into the Crimson Cosmos!"
Dante froze, baffled.
Why the hell could Jack Bright just say "nah" and bounce, while he was about to be pulled in like a free upgrade?
He didn't believe for a second that Jack escaped. Cyttorak just wasn't interested enough.
...Is this guy seriously that into my body?!
And sure enough, something felt off. Everything around him was turning real. Solid.
He was starting to separate from the physical universe.
Shit. This bastard meant business!
Dante instantly summoned the Ancestral Green Lantern Power Battery.
Ion Shark didn't linger in the battery this time—he dove out and zipped straight into Dante's Lantern Ring.
"Guardian! I told you—I'm a newborn Lantern Beast. We can only hold fusion for one minute."
"One minute. Is that enough?"
"It's enough."
In the next instant, Dante's Green Lantern uniform morphed.
A sleek, green mask formed over his face.
For one minute—just one—Dante would become the Lantern Corps' strongest form:
Ion Man.
Ion Shark poured all of his power into Dante without hesitation, and in an instant, Dante had full command of the Ion Man form.
Granted, since Ion Shark was still newborn, this wasn't the peak Ion Man that could bend time or rewrite causality—but it was enough.
Enough to push back Cyttorak's cosmic influence bleeding into the real world.
Thirty seconds.
That's all it took for Dante to sever all contact with Cyttorak.
In a blink, the dimension shattered—and he was back inside the Warden's building.
"I underestimated you," Cyttorak's voice echoed faintly. "A newborn Lantern Beast... already born inside your Lantern Furnace."
"I'm very curious, Dante."
"What kind of chaos will you unleash... in the real world?"
"I'll be watching."
His voice faded.
And then there was silence.
(To be continued.)
***
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