Chapter Summaries

Mongul shrugged off Shazam’s strongest attack and knocked him unconscious with one punch, then again tried to recruit Jason. As Shane judged Mongul’s guard to be down, he told Jason it was time to act.

• Shazam provoked Mongul into agreeing to a one-on-one contest while Jason stayed ready with the Kinetic Gun.
• Shazam called down Blazing White Lightning and followed it with a punch, but Mongul emerged nearly unharmed and knocked him unconscious.
• Jason contacted Shane, who assessed that Mongul exceeded him in raw physical strength but not by an entirely different tier.
• Mongul’s Daughter mocked Jason and Shane, but Mongul silenced her and offered Jason another chance to join him.
• Shane told Jason that Mongul was likely to let his guard down and said it was time to act.

Shane returned to Warworld’s arena after dealing with Lobo, startling Mongul and his daughter with the feat despite his lower combat rating. As Mongul questioned how Shane had won, Shane recalled Lobo’s revelations about the Consciousness Orb and the universe-wide changes that began months earlier.

• As Mongul prepared to subdue Jason, Shane emerged from the wreckage, and Mongul’s Daughter recognized him as the man who had pursued her.
• Mongul’s Daughter checked the Holographic Device and confirmed Shane’s rating was 7.8, while Lobo’s was 8.4.
• Mongul asked Shane how he had defeated Lobo, and Shane recalled that he had won Lobo’s confidence by easing the fight and talking with him.
• Lobo had told Shane that Mongul possessed a Consciousness Orb capable of invading minds and controlling victims, including Dual Lantern.
• Lobo had explained that a strange mutation had swept the universe months earlier, changing the memories, abilities, and combat ratings of metahumans and cosmic warriors.

As the Green Lantern Corps faltered and Mongul’s Warworld rampaged, Shane learned from Lobo how Mongul had captured him with the Black Mercy. Shane then manipulated Mongul into underestimating him and agreed to fight, hoping to uncover the truth about Oa’s destruction.

• Lobo recounted how a desperate alien woman tricked him into accepting a mission against Mongul, after which Mongul’s Combat-Scanning Curio exposed him and Mongul beat him repeatedly.
• Mongul used the Black Mercy to trap Lobo in a random illusion, subjecting him to an agonizing nightmare until he submitted.
• Shane recalled Lobo’s warning about the Black Mercy and considered how to defend himself against Mongul’s curios.
• Shane told Mongul that Lobo had been unwilling to fight, striking a nerve and convincing Mongul that Shane’s victory over Lobo had been a fluke.
• Mongul challenged Shane to a direct fight and offered to make him his Second Gladiator, while Shane planned to wear down Mongul’s patience before striking with his allies.
• Mongul approached the fight without taking a battle-ready stance, confident that Shane’s 7.8 rating could not overcome his defenses.

Shane let Mongul build a gladiatorial arena and fought him while hiding part of his strength, hoping to provoke an opening. He confirmed Mongul was extraordinarily fast but arrogant enough to fight one-handed, leaving Shane poised to exploit that confidence.

• Shane refused Mongul's demand that he and his companions become fighters if he lost, and Mongul ordered his subordinates to prepare an arena.
• Shane and Jason moved the unconscious Shazam aside, and Shane pretended to check his condition while buying time.
• Mongul arranged a large arena enclosed by a Laser Cage, and Shane joined him inside after dismissing Mongul's attempt to explain its history.
• The arena floor changed into a simulated desert, and Shane charged Mongul while holding back some of his strength.
• Shane changed direction, kicked sand at Mongul, and aimed a punch at his crotch, but Mongul intercepted him with startling speed.
• Shane evaded Mongul's attempt to grab him and retreated, then feigned anger at Mongul for fighting with one hand while recognizing his arrogance.

Shane exploited the Godforged Body’s ability to negate injuries with divine power to withstand Mongul and strike him down after Joker’s distraction. As the Resistance Army stormed the Arena and Jason confronted Mongul’s Daughter, Mongul returned as a ghost and warned that Shane’s combat rating was 9.1.

• Shane learned that the Godforged Body used divine power to prevent physical injuries from impairing him, and he used that ability to keep fighting Mongul.
• Jason named Shane Zhent, and collared gladiators began cheering for “Unyielding Zhent” while Mongul’s Daughter prepared to whip them.
• Joker freed aliens Mongul had not subdued and led them into the Arena, distracting Mongul as he turned to stop her.
• Shane switched back to his actual body and stabbed Mongul through the chest, but Mongul struck back and shattered half of Shane’s skull before dying.
• Shane’s wounds healed, the Blue Crystal showed his rating as 9.1, and Jason aimed a gun at Mongul’s Daughter.
• Mongul’s ghost appeared and warned his daughter that Shane’s power rating was high enough to inflict fatal injuries on him.

Shane’s attempt to destroy Mongul failed when a flesh bud revived and controlled the corpse, forcing him to call Lobo and Shazam into the fight. Shazam awakened with a new blessing from Shane and joined the battle as Sha, while Mongul continued fighting against all three.

• A flesh bud grew from Mongul’s corpse and took control of his body, knocking Shane away as Dual Lantern attacked.
• Shane called for Lobo and Shazam, while Mongul’s Daughter tried to stop Shazam from waking.
• Lobo broke through the arena’s laser grid, and Shane and Lobo charged Mongul together.
• Shazam awakened, transformed into a new form, struck down Mongul’s Daughter, and entered the fight against Mongul.
• Shane explained that he had added his own blessing to Shazam’s magic, creating Sha with the martial might of Zhent.

Shane, Mongul, and their allies were overwhelmed when Mongul unleashed a swarm of Black Mercy seeds, which trapped nearly everyone on Warworld in illusions. Shane and Mongul eventually escaped, and Shane revealed that his illusion had made him live as an ordinary person on Earth for twenty years.

• Mongul blamed Shane and Rob for turning against him as the three of them pressed their attack.
• Mongul scattered Black Mercy seeds across the Arena, and the plants trapped Shazam, Mongul, Shane, Lobo, Joker, Jason, and Dual Lantern.
• Ten minutes later, Shane used the Scepter of Destruction to burn away the Black Mercy holding him, while Mongul tore free of his own plant.
• Rachel tried to contact Shane telepathically, but he rejected her and struggled with the effects of his illusion.
• Shane recovered enough to learn that only ten minutes had passed, though he had lived twenty years as an ordinary person on Earth in the illusion.

Shane woke inside Black Mercy’s illusion and realized it was designed to test whether he would abandon the elderly woman who had come to visit him. He refused its offer of freedom and spent twenty years in the illusion, eventually leaving prison and living with her for five more years.

• Shane woke in an illusion resembling his former life and searched for Rachel, but concluded he had to wait for her to find a chance to free him.
• Shane attacked a man who ordered him back to work, then was arrested and transferred to a psychiatric hospital.
• Black Mercy challenged Shane to kill the elderly woman visiting him or simply refuse to read a statement she brought him, promising either choice would end the illusion.
• Shane refused to comply and spent twenty years in the illusion, with the woman continuing to visit him.
• Shane’s good behavior reduced his sentence, and after his release he lived with the increasingly elderly woman for another five years.

Shane confronted the dazed Mongul on Warworld, but learned that the being inside Mongul was Neron, the seventh Lord of Hell. Neron explained his role in Mongul’s resurrection and the Black Mercy outbreak, then offered Shane a deal as the possessed survivors lay around them.

• Shane found Mongul still dazed after escaping the Black Mercy illusion and tried to interrogate him.
• Black Mercy plants swarmed toward Rachel when she emerged from the Shadow Dimension, so Shane pushed her back inside.
• Shane stabbed Mongul and seized his heart, but Mongul said he was Neron rather than Mongul.
• Neron revealed that he had deceived Mongul with memories and treasures from another universe, including a Resurrection Seed.
• Neron admitted he had cultivated and released the Black Mercy, then offered Shane a deal while surveying the people it had possessed.

Shane resisted Neron’s offer to send him home, then agreed to discuss a deal that did not involve souls. By the end, Shane had nearly worked out that Hal Jordan inherited Parallax Hal’s memories through the Universe Patch, though the reason for the Green Lantern Corps’ destruction remained unresolved.

• Shane remembered the higher-dimensional being’s warning that technology and magic could not take him back to the Invincible universe, and decided Neron could not grant his wish.
• Neron explained that deals were exchanges and recounted bargains he had made with Joker, Luthor, Dual Lantern, and Batman, including how he had used Jason’s soul to deepen Jason’s resentment toward Batman.
• Shane checked with Rachel, who said demons were not necessarily cunning and that humans often were more so.
• Shane asked Neron what it would cost to learn the true reason for the Green Lantern Corps’ destruction, and Neron said the answer was already in their earlier conversation.
• Shane guessed that Hal Jordan inherited Parallax Hal’s memories through the Universe Patch, and Neron said he was close to finding all the answers.

Shane learned that Neron had taken over Mongul to make deals, then seized Mongul’s hidden weapons and helped restrain him when he awoke. With Mongul’s contingencies gone, Shane demanded answers before his execution, while Joker volunteered to torture him.

• Neron traded with Shane for Batman’s whereabouts, gave him a coin, and said Batman was no longer in this world.
• Neron made deals with Rob, Jason, and Joker, granting their requests and giving each of them a coin.
• Shane found Mongul’s Dimension-Reversing Cube and the Cosmic Curio controlling Dual Lantern, then confiscated both.
• Neron left Mongul’s body, and Battle Beast and Jason restrained Mongul as he awoke.
• Mongul failed to control Dual Lantern or use the Cube, then asked Shane to make peace.
• Shane demanded that Mongul answer questions and choose a quick death, while Joker offered to torture him.

Shane and Jason freed Kyle Rayner from the Black Mercy and learned that he had come from a universe where the Green Lantern Corps had been destroyed. Kyle’s Red Lantern rage flared at the sight of Shane, but he regained control and explained how he had arrived in this universe.

• Joker failed to hurt Mongul with an alien dagger, then persuaded Lobo to help with the interrogation while Rachel remotely looted the treasury.
• Jason examined the captive Dual Lantern and identified him as Kyle Rayner, then hesitated to wake him because Kyle made him uneasy.
• Jason removed the Black Mercy, and Kyle woke ready to fight before becoming confused by the group assembled around him.
• Kyle recognized Shane and his Red Lantern energy surged, but Jason intervened and Kyle used the Green Lantern oath to steady himself.
• Kyle explained that he had arrived in this universe after a mission to the 31st Century, and that he had learned his original universe no longer existed.

Kyle told Shane how his arrival on Oa led to Hal Jordan’s imprisonment and a crisis over a weapon aimed at Earth. As Hal absorbed Parallax’s memories and seized several Power Rings, he turned his fury on the Guardians of the Universe.

• Kyle explained that Hal welcomed Kyle, Guy Gardner, and John Stewart to Oa, though Kyle distrusted him because he remembered Hal destroying the Corps in another universe.
• Kyle warned Hal that the Guardians could not all be trusted, but the Guardians imprisoned Hal after he opposed their plan to erase Shane.
• Ganthet showed Kyle the dangerous particle model and explained that the Guardians intended to destroy Shane, whom Hal had identified as a mass killer.
• Hal defended Shane as his friend, while Guy and John broke into the prison and Kyle joined their fight against Green Lantern reinforcements.
• A Guardian revealed that the weapon targeting Earth was ready to fire, and Hal received Parallax’s memories before seizing several Green Lanterns’ Power Rings by force.

After Hal Jordan’s rampage on Oa, Batman calmed him and discovered that a mysterious attack had caused most of the Green Lantern Corps to suffer memories of deaths from other universes. Mongul and a coalition of the Corps’ enemies arrived to exploit Oa’s weakened defenses, including a giant Kyle identified as one of the Old-Timers.

• Kyle explained that Hal had defied the Guardians of the Universe after becoming overwhelmed by memories of another universe.
• Batman appeared on Oa, stopped the Guardians’ weapon, and persuaded Hal to lower his weapons.
• Green Lanterns across Oa collapsed as memories of their counterparts’ deaths flooded into them, leaving the Corps with nearly seventy percent of its fighting strength lost.
• Batman deduced that someone had attacked Oa with a specific frequency, and Ganthet saw Warworld approaching under Mongul’s lead.
• John Stewart and Guy Gardner identified several alien enemies arriving with Mongul, while Kyle recognized their giant companion as one of the Old-Timers.

Shane and the others interrogated Mongul and learned how the Green Lantern Corps was destroyed and how Hal sent Batman and two Lanterns away. Kyle recovered fragments of his future as a White Lantern, while the search for Batman ended with the group realizing he had vanished from this universe.

• Mongul told Shane that Starro had recruited several factions to attack the Green Lantern Corps, and Last Survivor had joined to seize the Lanterns’ energy cores and seal away the emotional entities.
• Kyle remembered wearing a White Lantern uniform and sealing Last Survivor in the Source Wall, though it had failed to contain him.
• Shane helped Shazam recover from the Black Mercy’s illusion and worried that Last Survivor could be roaming the universe.
• Hal Jordan had concluded that he needed to accept Parallax’s power, but he and Batman agreed not to let Parallax fully take him over.
• Mongul revealed that Hal had opened a spatial rift before Oa’s destruction and sent Batman and two Green Lanterns away.
• Kyle wondered whether the others had abandoned him, and Mongul insisted that they had not.

Shane examined the Green Lantern ring Hal had given Kyle and discovered that Hal had modified it to provide inexhaustible energy and remove the restriction against lethal force. Hal had left Kyle behind to guide the Survivors back.

• Mongul told Kyle that Hal had placed a Green Lantern ring on his hand while Kyle was unconscious.
• Shane examined Kyle's ring after Kyle projected his willpower energy to him.
• Shane discovered that Hal had changed the ring's power supply into an inexhaustible source and removed the Guardians' restriction against lethal force.
• Shane found Hal's message explaining that Kyle was meant to be the beacon that guided the Survivors back.

Shane interrogated Mongul and learned that another version of Monarch had conquered three Lantern Corps and become famous across the universe. Alarmed by the resemblance to his own identity, Shane tried to claim a newly created Power Ring, but it chose Jason instead.

• Kyle accepted Hal's trust, and Shane questioned the captured Mongul after Battle Beast had cut off his legs.
• Mongul said fragmented memories from other versions of himself had revealed Monarch's reputation and conquests across the universe.
• Shane learned that Mongul's Monarch was known as Veedelom and wielded the powers of rage, fear, and will, but had been defeated by the Blue Light of Compassion.
• Shane decided the Monarch in Mongul's memories was a crude imitation of himself and asked Kyle to create a Power Ring.
• The new Green Lantern ring rejected Shane and chose Jason as its host, leaving Shane irritated and determined to find the person behind the fake Monarch.

Shane freed Amazo from the Anti-Dimensional Cube and learned that Mongul carried a dangerous war-god curse. The chapter ended with Amazo suggesting Shane was uniquely suited to deal with the threat.

• Shane released Amazo from the Anti-Dimensional Cube and greeted the evolved being, who scolded Shane for failing to advance.
• Shane considered the cosmic factions threatening the universe and told the group to deal with Mongul before returning to Earth.
• Shazam and Jason refused to kill Mongul because he had not invaded Earth, while Joker said she could not hurt him.
• Lobo refused Shane’s offer to kill Mongul, explaining that the next Mongolian War God would inherit both Mongul’s and his killer’s strength and talents.
• Amazo told Shane that dealing with such a threat was precisely what Shane did best.

Shane spared Mongul after binding him with a pact that forbade him from harming Earth or Shane’s allies, then returned toward Earth with the others. As Shane struggled with the possibility of losing his hatred, Atrocitus and the Red Lanterns intercepted their group and sensed the hatred within him.

• Shane questioned Mongul about revenge, and Kyle confirmed that Mongul had erased the Milky Way’s coordinates from Warworld’s star charts because he feared Superman.
• Shane drafted a Demon Pact that let Mongul seek a one-on-one rematch but barred him from attacking Earth or anyone close to Shane, and Mongul signed it.
• Shane ordered the others to clear away the Black Mercy, then the group began traveling back to Earth with Kyle’s Green Lantern sphere.
• Joker demanded that Shane release Wilson Morgan from the Shadow Dimension, while the others celebrated Shane’s change and Shane worried that he might lose his hatred for Viltrum and Thragg.
• Atrocitus and the Red Lanterns intercepted the group, and Bleez warned Atrocitus that Shane’s hatred made him an even more suitable Red Lantern.

Shane negotiated with Atrocitus to let his friends leave while he stayed behind to learn why the Red Lantern leader wanted him. Atrocitus then used his ring to confront Shane with an illusion of Viltrum and provoke his rage.

• Atrocitus demanded that Shane and Kyle Rayner come with the Red Lantern Corps, but Shane asked to speak with him alone in exchange for letting his friends go.
• Shane left Kyle Rayner’s protective barrier, and Atrocitus agreed to let Kyle and the others depart while Shane stayed behind.
• Atrocitus revealed that his ring told him Shane was better suited to command the Red Lantern Corps and asked why.
• Atrocitus used rage energy to show Shane an illusion of Thragg rallying Viltrumites to destroy Earth, and Shane clenched his fists.