Everything happened so abruptly.
First Lantern did not even have time to let his gaze linger on his mother—or rather, his copied mother's—face. All he felt was a stabbing pain, like a sharp blade scraping across his face with a grating sound that set his teeth on edge.
Then he felt the sensation of being controlled. Icy seawater surged up from beneath the ground and soaked his ankles. Huo Rong felt a bone-chilling cold, along with a buzzing in both ears.
The sea continued to rise, spreading over his calves, his lower abdomen, and finally reaching his chest. First Lantern began to feel suffocated.
At first, he did not even realize who was attacking him. Then a winding resonance passed through him, and he realized exactly who was trying to control him.
Foolish. How utterly foolish. Even if you hadn't done this, I never intended to betray you. I never intended to rebel against you for the sake of my copied mother... for the sake of my copied mother. She's only a copy, understand? I saved her before simply because, after realizing I could no longer save my true home, I wanted some small measure of compensation. Do you know that if I truly could bring back my real home, if you really could change everything as you promised me, creating an indestructible home upstream in the Over-Time Stream...
I could bow my head! I bowed long ago! Why don't you believe me? Forget it... This doesn't seem to mean anything to me anymore.
Wait, wait. If I surrender now and let you twist and seize my will completely, will you restore my Earth-15?
You won't break your word, right?
He knew he should resist.
But it seemed not to matter anymore.
Life had no meaning. Everything he pursued had