Mongul II was dragged into the mental realm by Deadman and Grodd for a brutal tug-of-war.
Sludge and the Super Virus were obliterated outright. The remaining Yellow Lanterns fell one after another. If not for the constant stream of reinforcements returning from the ground battle, they would've collapsed already.
But their complete lack of coordination and chain of command left gaping holes in their defense. Against Thea's superior forces, they were being ground down piecemeal—one died, one arrived; two died, three came.
They seemed to be holding on, but in reality, supporters of Mongul were dwindling fast. With no chance to earn the Cosmic Emperor's favor, many were already planning their escape routes.
Seeing the battle going well, Faora—the second-in-command and Thea's strongest lieutenant—personally entered the fray.
With enemies and allies mixed together on the battlefield, large-scale attacks weren't viable. For someone like Superman or Supergirl—whose every punch cratered the ground and every kick shattered mountains—this was restrictive. But Faora had no such problem.
Her combat technique was already refined. While her Kryptonian martial arts no longer matched her explosively enhanced physique, her battle experience remained. If Superman was a farmer with incredible strength, Faora was a maxed-out rogue.
Her movements were lightning-fast as she cut through the crowd. Not a single opponent could withstand even one strike. These low-tier constructs had zero defense against her. After instantly killing more than ten enemies, she reached the dazed Mongul II.
She signaled to Deadman and Grodd in the distance. Both (ape included) simultaneously released their control. Mongul II was still dizzy, unable to comprehend what was happening.
Then Faora grabbed his head with one hand and his chin with the other. She twisted hard.
CRACK!
The giant's neck snapped with a crisp sound. His tenacious vitality kept him from dying instantly. His lips moved slightly, as if trying to say something, but with his vocal cords and windpipe destroyed, he couldn't manage a single word. The ring on his finger still flickered weakly.
But as his life force drained away, so did his willpower. His vision blurred. Vaguely, he saw himself becoming Cosmic Emperor. He died in that delusion.
In a fair fight, Mongul II wouldn't have lost to Faora by much. But reality was cruel. He was completely locked down by their coordinated assault from start to finish. He couldn't display even a fraction of his power before being killed.
Thea was quite satisfied with her subordinates' teamwork. They'd worked together seamlessly to take down the enemy boss without her needing to lift a finger.
"This man was a warrior. He deserves a proper burial," Thea said, securing Mongul's body. Saying she'd dissect and study the enemy in front of her subordinates would be inappropriate. A small white lie.
The remaining Yellow Lanterns saw their new boss had fallen. Their fighting spirit evaporated. Some immediately conjured flight constructs and scattered in all directions.
Others surrendered outright, waiting to be taken in.
Thea had no moral hang-ups about this. Her forces already included plenty of bad people—she accepted everyone, good or evil, and would sort them out gradually later.
She didn't chase the escapees. Once she took control of the Central Power Battery and recalled all ring energy, those runners were in for a brutal reckoning.
The lucky ones might fall from mid-flight. The weaker ones would die on impact; stronger physiques might survive with paralysis.
The unlucky ones who fled into space would watch their rings suddenly die. Without space-survival capabilities, they'd just wait for death.
As for the unluckiest ones who'd already entered wormholes when their rings cut out—what horrific fate might befall them in transit, Thea couldn't even guess.
With the resistance scattered, they advanced through the corridors, guided by their turncoat allies.
Before long, Thea saw the massive Yellow Central Power Battery. Same design as the standard charging lantern, just scaled up a hundred times.
"How unoriginal..." She walked around the enormous battery, somewhat disdainful. That tiny yellow energy fragment had taken Sinestro tremendous effort to grow this large.
But the design was pathetic. The Green Lantern Central Power Battery on Oa looked exactly the same. That was understandable—the Guardians had no artistic sense, their minds calcified over billions of years.
But Sinestro? Surely he had more imagination than this? Copy-pasting everything except the color showed just how deeply the Green Lanterns had influenced him.
"Huh? You're here..."
"Why is it you..."
Thea extended a thread of mental energy into the Central Power Battery and unexpectedly came face-to-face with the "creature" inside.
Parallax—looking like a giant insect—was sleeping inside. He hadn't expected to encounter Thea, someone who wasn't afraid of him. Thea hadn't expected to find this guy hiding in the power source.
For this human who had fears yet wasn't afraid of him personally, Parallax had no good options. The beings she feared were ones he feared too. He didn't dare manifest images of those powerful unknown entities to scare Thea.
A strange paradox left him helpless. He could also see that Thea's mental strength far exceeded what it had been before—leagues beyond mortals like Sinestro. He went through the motions, asking if she wanted to be possessed or wanted great power.
You don't want any of it? Fine. I'll go back to sleep then. You do your thing!
Thea had no interest in this false external power. Parallax seemed equally disinterested. After perfunctorily running through the routine, Parallax fell into deep slumber.
"Recall all ring energy." Thea issued the command decisively.
The golden Central Power Battery received the highest authority command and began emitting a silent roar. Across the entire planet, yellow light streamed toward this location. Every ring on-site—enemy or ally, except Thea's own—had all energy returned to the main battery.
Even on distant alien worlds, accompanied by incredulous screams, yellow energy masses flew from rings and streaked toward Korugar.
"Asona, how's your situation?"
"We won! We won!" The commander on the other end was so excited she'd forgotten her own name, speaking incoherently.
The remaining battle was a massacre. Tens of thousands of Korugar resistance fighters against over a thousand powerless aliens.
They kept killing until only three hundred remained. Then Thea and Asona re-signed their agreement, formally ending hostilities. The Battle of Korugar was over.
Asona needed to reclaim their cities. Fifteen cities had fallen, six already reduced to rubble. Countless lives lost. Material losses reached astronomical numbers.
She was busy. Thea was busy too—receiving current members, sorting them by quality. The truly worthless ones had their rings confiscated and were sent back to their home planets.