Emperor Joker: Batman Says Hi!

Whatever.

Chen Tao thought.

Scared the hell out of me. I thought Hal really was going to make it down here, Chen Tao breathed a sigh of relief. For a split second, he, just like Lord Barbatos, genuinely believed Parallax Hal would be savage enough to withstand everyone's attacks and forcefully claw his way down from the Over-Time Stream.

That would have been far too terrifying. If Hal actually pulled that off, Chen Tao would probably have had to carefully reassess his previous plans. Once he let such an overlord down, would he really have the ability to keep the guy in check?

Things were nowhere near that rosy for Hal, though.

He was injured. Severely injured.

His momentum as he was about to plunge into the portal was abruptly cut short. At the same time, that successful future of Hal's shuddered and grew a shade more illusory.

Right in the middle of forging history, someone dealt him a fatal blow at a critical junction, landing it precisely at the moment he had defeated his other enemies and let his guard down the most.

A massive hole yawned in his chest, yet not a single drop of blood spilled out. First Lantern, who was manipulating the Emotional Spectrum, chose the exact right moment to strike. His mastery over the Emotional Spectrum also allowed him to easily bypass the Green Lantern energy autonomously defending Hal's back while Hal was caught off guard.

Combined with the fact that Parallax Hal's guard was slightly lowered after consecutively crushing enemies like Anti-Monitor Dragon, Brainiac, and Barbatos...

With so many factors piling up, First Lantern's single strike succeeded. He became the sole and first person among the numerous besiegers to genuinely threaten Hal, inflicting wounds so severe they might just sway victory and defeat.

First