Chapter 26: Yellow Ring
A dark purple magic circle slowly unfolded.
Unlike the teleportation magic Rachel had used to escape earlier, this time she was casting soul magic.
"Soul magic typically requires a magical material to protect and stabilize the soul during critical moments. Your Golden Apple is perfectly suited for this purpose."
Following Rachel's instructions, Luka placed the Golden Apple at the center of the magic circle.
He then returned to stand opposite Rachel.
The girl raised her hands, fingers spread wide, palms facing Luka.
"During my time in Azarath, my magic teacher taught me about soul conflict magic. Your soul is currently experiencing this phenomenon."
As the magic circle continued to form and refine itself, Rachel slowly described the issues plaguing Luka's soul.
"The hidden past you've suppressed contains a spirit that is dull and mundane. This caused you to develop a strong sense of rejection when you were forced to absorb Viltrumite culture and mentality."
"Due to the intense clash of beliefs and your forced suppression of emotions for survival, your soul has fractured, splitting off a portion of your spiritual power."
Luka's eyes darted around in their sockets, watching the dark purple magical mist writhe like tendrils as they pierced his scalp. He shook his head uncomfortably.
"Um, are you saying I have schizophrenia?"
"Don't interrupt!" Rachel snapped coldly.
"I don't know how Earth's medicine defines it, but you don't have schizophrenia. It's a soul split."
"To protect yourself from being driven mad by that hellish environment, your soul began to gradually split into two parts from the age of three, when you became a true Viltrumite."
"One part is the ordinary Luka, yearning for a stable life."
"The other is the Viltrumite Luka, emotionally detached and fiercely protective of his past memories. He adapted to Viltrum's culture and rules, even actively participating in their competitive system."
She fell silent for a moment, as if recalling the gray, hollow-eyed boy she had just witnessed in his memories.
"Because of that part of your past experience, you effortlessly mastered Viltrum's survival strategies. You understood that the more exceptional you appeared, the safer you would be, and the greater your chances of escaping in the future."
"But every step you took toward excellence only deepened the agony of your original soul."
As if reaching a critical point in her spellcasting, Rachel abruptly fell silent.
Her ten fingers danced with focused precision, her expression resembling that of a surgeon performing a complex suture.
There was one more thing Rachel didn't say.
Originally, Luka's soul, under this constant fracturing, was likely to completely split into two entirely distinct souls.
At that point, it would have been real dissociation.
The Viltrumite version of him would likely have rejected his other self, maybe even tried to erase it from his own mind.
But fate intervened when Luka suffered a mental breakdown and outburst at the age of ten.
This prevented his soul from fully splitting. From a magical perspective, a blood-red youth with only half a face, an indifferent expression, and a strong, metallic scent of blood hovered behind Luka's back.
As the soul magic sutured the soul, that fragment gradually sank into Luka's body, merging with his original soul.
A bead of sweat trickled down Rachel's forehead, indicating the surgery had reached its most critical phase.
Luka wasn't having an easy time either. His brows were tightly furrowed, as if his brain was enduring some kind of agony.
He was gradually recovering the emotions he had lost over a decade ago.
Killing other "unqualified" young Viltrumites.
Erasing "defective products" that had not even lived a month.
Having over a dozen bones crushed by instructors as punishment for not fully completing training objectives.
Traveling to other planets for conquest missions with the goal of genocide
Years of suppressed darkness burst at once into the soul that had always yearned for peace.
Luka's face flushed crimson, and steam rose from his head as his brain boiled in excruciating pain.
"Ugh... Aaaah—!"
This soul-deep pain was unlike any physical torment he had ever endured, forcing him to cry out in agony.
Meanwhile, in the depths of space, a ring glowing with a dazzling yellow light hurtled toward Earth.
A mechanical voice, audible only on the soul plane, echoed relentlessly:
"Intelligent lifeform locked. Luka Thragg of the Virgo Supercluster. You have the ability to instill great fear in others!"
Rachel's gaze sharpened. The Golden Apple at the center of the magic circle levitated into the air. This artifact, which Luka's unconscious grip couldn't even leave a mark on, now seemed to be squeezed dry, exuding golden liquid.
The liquid swirled in the air before coalescing into a ten-meter-long golden thread that pierced Luka's forehead.
In the next instant, a sudden cool sensation enveloped his soul and mind, bringing Luka a wave of relief.
Rachel exhaled sharply, lowering her hands as she reassessed Luka's soul state.
The black miasma was rapidly diminishing, and the crimson soul, once mottled, was becoming pure and transparent.
A golden diamond-shaped gem, identical to the one on Rachel's forehead, gradually materialized between Luka's eyebrows.
But suddenly, Luka let out an incomprehensible groan.
The same itching sensation he had experienced three days prior surged back, this time more intense than ever before.
The Yellow Lantern Ring, which had already broken through the atmosphere, began to slow down, and its "Recruitment Broadcast" flickered intermittently, as if it had lost its target.
But the power of the Fear Spectrum still briefly irradiated Luka's entire body.
Rachel's expression changed drastically.
"How could this be happening?"
Through her magical vision, she saw the crimson energy in Luka's soul disintegrating at an alarming rate.
Even the golden gem between his eyebrows was melting away like ice cream under the sun.
In Coast City, Hal Jordan, who had been warned by Batman to stay away from Gotham City for the time being, could no longer contain his restlessness.
The Yellow Lantern Ring hovered thousands of meters above Gotham City, its presence an insult to Hal Jordan's professional pride.
A green beam shot skyward as Hal clenched his teeth and rocketed toward it.
"Get out of here! There's no one you're looking for on this planet!"
Green and yellow light clashed above Gotham City.
As the Green Lantern Ring blazed at full power over Gotham, Luka couldn't help but groan again, though this time his tone sounded almost comfortable.
The Batcave exploded.
The Dark Knight watched the chaotic energy fluctuations on his monitors as the Viltrumite particles in the observation chamber began evolving rapidly once more.
He hated this feeling of losing control.
With a flick of his black cape, he abandoned the idea of launching the Batplane to confront Hal Jordan in the sky. The Yellow Lantern Ring's sudden arrival was beyond anyone's control; the Lantern was simply doing his duty.
The Batcycle's dark engine rumbled to life, transforming into a black arrow that shot toward Nightwing's coordinates.
"Tell me you've found Luka."
Nightwing, who had spent quite a while finding Luka and Rachel again, was now in his superhero suit. He lay flat atop the roof of an abandoned warehouse, peering inside through a rusted hole.
The voice in his earpiece made him glance up briefly at the yellow and green lights flickering across the sky.
He carefully shifted his position and lowered his voice to a minimum.
"Yeah. I pretty much caught the whole show."
"How is he?"
"How would I know anything about magic? But judging from his face… I think it's good news?"
Rachel watched Luka anxiously as his entire body underwent incomprehensible transformations. When his expression finally calmed, she couldn't help but ask, "What's happening to you?"
Luka looked down at himself, clenching his fist in surprise.
"I don't know what's influencing me, but it feels like I'm evolving?"
"..."
"This is what evolution looks like?"
"Do you realize what's happening to you from a magical perspective?"
"Your soul, the divine power of the Golden Apple, and the magic... they have all been absorbed by your body!"