Chapter 174 174: Anomaly at the Edge of the DC Universe

Levi stared at the Green Lantern ring in Ganthet's hand.

It floated in midair, a dim green glow flowing across its surface—not as blinding as those of ordinary Lanterns.

This light carried a sense of weight, as if it had been tempered over thousands of years.

Levi could clearly perceive the energy contained within it—pure willpower condensed into form.

Its quality far surpassed Hal Jordan's ring.

This was useful to him.

Not just as fuel to tear open a dimensional rift—but more importantly, it could help him understand another facet of the Law of Reality.

At its core, a Green Lantern ring materialized willpower, turning abstract concepts into tangible constructs. This was similar to his reality-warping abilities—but approached from a different angle.

If he could absorb its energy and analyze its structure, it would greatly aid his breakthrough into the conceptual level.

"I'll only investigate," Levi said.

Ganthet nodded.

"That is acceptable. You only need to tell me the nature and origin of that force."

Levi extended his hand. The trident flew back into his grasp.

"When do we leave?"

"Now."

Ganthet turned and drew a circle in the air. Green energy instantly formed a portal.

Beyond it—endless stars.

"That region lies at the edge of Sector Zero, about twenty thousand light-years away."

Levi stepped through.

Hal Jordan opened his mouth as if to speak, but ultimately just clenched his fist. The three Green Lantern ships ignited their engines and followed.

The teleportation was smooth.

Levi felt his body wrapped in a gentle force, the surroundings turning into flowing streaks of light.

In less than ten seconds, he had traveled from Earth's atmosphere to deep space.

The portal opened into a pitch-black void.

Levi stepped out. Before him stretched dense nebulae.

But these nebulae weren't the usual vibrant purples or blues—they were dark red, like they had been soaked in blood. Their edges were jagged, as if torn apart by some immense force.

Ganthet stopped beside him and pointed ahead.

"The three destroyed star systems are in that direction. The most recent was seven days ago. The earliest, thirty."

Levi activated his super vision, focusing on a dead star several light-years away.

Its surface emitted no light or heat—just a gray-black shell. All surrounding planets were gone, without even debris remaining.

"Not a natural disaster," Levi said. "This level of energy extraction requires intelligence."

Ganthet's expression grew more serious.

"I agree. But the twelve Lanterns we sent to investigate… all disappeared."

Levi closed his eyes and expanded his Mental Law.

His consciousness spread outward, covering a thousand kilometers. He could sense every drifting asteroid, every strand of interstellar dust—even the distribution of dark matter.

But there was no life.

This region was dead.

Not ordinary lifelessness—but completely drained. Even basic energy fluctuations were absent, like a sponge wrung dry.

He pushed further, expanding his perception to fifty thousand kilometers.

Sweeping across nebulae and dead stars—

At one hundred twenty thousand kilometers away, he detected something.

A distortion in space.

It twisted into a knot, forming a vortex less than ten meters wide.

The vortex rotated slowly. With each turn, a faint strand of energy leaked out—strange in nature. Not matter, not any known law.

More like… a concept.

Levi opened his eyes.

"Found it."

Without waiting, he activated spatial law—his body turning into a streak of golden light, vanishing.

The next moment, he appeared a hundred meters from the vortex.

Ganthet followed, flashing in with green light.

"What is it?" Ganthet asked.

"No idea," Levi said. "But those Lanterns were probably swallowed by it."

He activated X-ray vision—his sight twisted instantly, unable to penetrate.

Switching methods, he used his mental law to create a consciousness projection and sent it into the vortex.

The moment it touched the edge—

It was pulled in.

A wave of dizziness hit Levi as chaotic information flooded his mind. Countless voices screamed simultaneously, without structure.

He stabilized his consciousness, sorting the data.

Three seconds later—

An image formed.

Endless darkness.

No light. No matter. Only void.

At the center floated a massive shadow, constantly shifting form—

Human, beast, tentacled horror.

It breathed.

With each breath, the surrounding void was consumed, reduced to absolute nothingness.

As Levi's projection approached, the shadow noticed.

Countless black tendrils shot toward it.

Levi severed the connection and withdrew.

The vortex stopped spinning.

Ganthet's ring flared.

"What happened?"

Levi didn't answer.

He stared at the vortex as all six laws within him activated simultaneously.

Space sensed structural collapse.

Time detected acceleration.

Power, Mind, Reality, and Death—

All conveyed the same message.

Something was coming out.

The vortex expanded.

From ten meters to one hundred—faster and faster.

In the blink of an eye, it became a thousand-meter-wide裂口. Black flames burned along its edges—the fabric of space itself igniting.

Ganthet's expression changed drastically.

He raised his hand, his ring blazing as it formed a five-hundred-meter-wide shield. Ancient Guardian runes shimmered across its surface.

But—

A hand emerged.

Each finger over a hundred meters long.

Pitch black. No skin—only flowing void, writhing like countless worms.

The hand grasped the edge of the shield.

The runes began to collapse—not shattered, but erased from existence.

The shield's structure vanished upon contact—no matter, no energy left behind.

Ganthet gritted his teeth, pouring more power in.

Second shield. Third. Fourth.

Layer upon layer.

The hand paused—

Then clenched.

All four shields shattered simultaneously, dissolving into green motes.

The arm continued emerging.

Beyond it, a larger body began crawling out.

Levi moved.

Not backward—but forward.

He charged the hand.

The Dark Trident ignited with dark red flames—pure Law of Death, his strongest technique learned from the weapon.

The trident struck the wrist.

Death law invaded, unraveling its existence.

The trident trembled—excited. It was born for slaughter, and against such an opponent, the Abyssal Will nearly went berserk.

But the hand didn't vanish.

Decay spread from the wound—black matter melting like wax.

Yet regeneration outpaced destruction. Each drop that fell was replaced instantly by new void.

It… laughed.

The voice echoed directly in Levi's mind—deep, like from a bottomless abyss. Each syllable shook his soul.

"Interesting… another… insect… who wields law…"

Levi ignored it.

He pulled back the trident and retreated fifty meters.

All six laws erupted.

A golden domain expanded, enveloping him and the arm. Its patterns blazed at full intensity.

"Here… you do not exist."

He invoked reality-warping, attempting to erase it at the conceptual level—rewriting the rules of existence within the domain.

Telling space, time, matter, energy—

You are false. You do not belong.

The hand froze.

Its surface flickered, like a glitched signal.

But only for three seconds.

Then it stabilized—

And continued crawling out.

Its upper body emerged.

A blurred face formed—featureless except for a constantly opening maw filled with endless darkness.

Ganthet retreated a thousand meters away, face pale. His life force was rapidly fading—he could barely maintain flight.

"That is the Anti-Monitor…" his voice trembled in Levi's mind. "No… not entirely… just a fragment… a projection… but even that… is beyond us… run…"

Levi didn't move.

He stared at the creature, mind racing.

The Anti-Monitor—one of DC's ultimate entities, devourer of universes.

At full power, Levi couldn't win.

But this was only a fragment.

There was still a chance.

He dismissed his domain and turned toward the裂口.

The rift continued expanding, black flames intensifying.

This was its entry point.

If he could close it—

He activated spatial law, attempting to sever the rift.

The moment he touched its edge—

He was repelled.

A force far greater pushed back.

It didn't belong to this universe—or any universe.

It came from the void between multiverses.

His arm went numb. Levi retreated several meters.

He looked at his right hand.

Black patterns spread across his skin.

The void energy had latched onto him.

He immediately invoked the Law of Death to counteract it—fighting poison with poison.

The spread stopped.

But it didn't recede.

Like a parasite clinging to bone—

It remained.

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