Chapter 440: Fear as the Source, The Divine Monarch’s Authority

Chapter 440: Chapter 440: Fear as the Source, The Divine Monarch’s Authority

Soon, Darian thought of a few more names.

First, on the side of the Marvel Universe, he locked onto two candidates.

One was Frank the Punisher, and the other was Eric the Blade.

The former was adept at fighting violence with violence, practicing the creed that the guilty must die.

When criminals fell into the hands of other superheroes, at most they would get a severe beating and finally be thrown to the police to be judged by the law.

But when they fell into Frank’s hands, forget about any laws—first taste a lead bullet of mine to test the hardness of your skull.

Just because of this merciless intent to kill, the entire underground World hated and feared him, and even gang emperors of Kingpin’s level had to be three parts wary of him.

If Darian was the Gotham Gun God, then Frank was the New York Gun God, long firmly holding the top spot on the local K/D leaderboard, Satan’s most favored corporate sales champion.

And the latter was the nightmare of all Vampires.

His status in the Vampire circle was the same as Batman’s status in the hearts of Gotham gangsters, both belonging to urban legends that could stop children from crying at night.

These two people shared a common trait: both were anti-heroes, and their strikes were more ruthless than the last.

Violence and fear, these two things had always been bound together.

Darian had already verified that the fear of pain and Death came more fiercely than any other fear.

If the fear ring were handed to these two people, it would indeed be a good choice.

As for the DC World, after Bruce was eliminated, the first candidate was unquestionably the Green Lantern Thaal Sinestro.

This one naturally went without saying, the greatest Yellow Lantern, the spokesman of the power of fear; no one was more suitable than him.

Of course, the people suitable for this ring were definitely not just these three, it was just that the others either didn’t know which corner they were in, or couldn’t make the list for the time being.

Darian pondered for a moment and finally decided to start with Frank first.

Late at night, Brooklyn.

Deep inside an old three-story warehouse, intense gunshots constantly echoed.

Frank leaned against a concrete cover, holding a modified M4 carbine, wisps of blue smoke still floating from the muzzle.

His whole body was stained with blood, and it was impossible to tell which was his own and which belonged to his enemies.

On the open space outside the cover, more than a dozen corpses lay sprawled horizontally and vertically, every single one of them covered in bullet holes, blood flowing all over the ground, the smell of gunpowder mixed with the stench of blood rushing straight into the nasal cavity.

"Hahahaha! Frank! You can’t escape!"

An unbridled and manic burst of laughter came from deep within the warehouse.

Immediately following, a dense barrage of bullets poured over, hitting the concrete surface, debris flying everywhere, splashing across half of Frank’s shoulder.

Frank’s expression was extremely gloomy.

He would never forget this voice in his life.

Billy Russo, code-named Jigsaw, was once his brother who fought side by side with him in the Marines, a person he was willing to entrust his back to.

Yet it was this person who later betrayed him for money and interests, becoming one of the behind-the-scenes instigators who caused the Death of his entire family.

Frank took a long time to find him, throwing him into a glass blender, wanting this bastard to pay blood debts in extreme pain.

Unexpectedly, this guy had a hard life and actually survived, except that his whole face was mashed into pieces by glass shards, looking like a human face pieced together from a pile of jigsaw puzzle pieces, the kind that didn’t even need makeup to act as an actor in a haunted house.

Since then, he had carried the moniker Jigsaw, carving out his own notoriety in the underground World.

After being disfigured, Jigsaw’s hatred for Frank went straight into his bone marrow.

He directly pulled together an armed force and launched an encirclement and suppression campaign against Frank.

If it were just an ordinary armed squad, Frank could completely handle it with his ability.

But now blocking around him were at least a hundred people, each fully armed, and some even carried RPG Rocket launchers out.

Frank cursed inwardly.

"This battle array is almost catching up to a small troop, does it have to be so exaggerated!"

Relying on Jigsaw’s own forces, of course he couldn’t gather such a team.

But just when he was recruiting soldiers, a group of armed personnel of unknown origin suddenly popped up, taking the initiative to apply to join the team, saying they were passing righteous soldiers who had long looked down upon lawless fierce criminals like Frank, and were willing to contribute manpower and effort solely to act on behalf of heaven.

Seeing people coming to help, Jigsaw naturally wouldn’t refuse.

As a result, not long after, several more waves of righteous soldiers took the initiative to come to the door, all with the same rhetoric.

Jigsaw:

"...Did Frank commit some monstrous crime?"

There was no way around it, Frank’s enemies were simply too many.

Almost all the big and small gangs in New York had been taken care of by him, and each of them wished they could chop him into pieces.

But they didn’t dare to provoke Frank overtly, for fear of being targeted by this mad dog.

So once they heard that someone was taking the lead in surrounding and suppressing Frank, the major gangs felt this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, successively sending elite hands to quietly merge into Jigsaw’s team.

Anyway, whatever happened, there was still that idiot Jigsaw taking the brunt in front.

The scale of the encirclement team rolled bigger and bigger this way, actually having the posture of the Rebals joining forces in one place to jointly crusade against King.

"Catch him for me! Preferably alive!"

Jigsaw stood on the high platform, looking at Frank’s distressed appearance, his shattered face pulling out a twisted smile.

At the order, the surrounding gangsters began to shrink the circle, pressing toward the cover where Frank was hiding from all directions, the sound of footsteps getting closer and closer.

Frank was not the kind of person who would sit and wait for Death.

Disregarding danger, he stuck his body out from behind the cover and raised his gun to strafe, taking out several more gangsters.

But at the same time, the opponent’s bullets also greeted him; unable to dodge in time, several splashes of blood instantly burst across his body, the huge impact causing his whole body to sway violently, almost tumbling to the ground.

Frank’s heart sank.

He was very clear that today he probably wouldn’t be able to walk out of this warehouse.

But he was a person who never accepted pressure, pulling out the last few grenades from his tactical vest, the pull rings already hooked on his fingers, preparing to drag a few more people down with him before dying.

Clatter!

Just at this moment, the glass window high up in the warehouse suddenly shattered.

A dazzling yellow light broke through the window, extremely fast, too fast for anyone to react.

That light passed through the heavily surrounded gangsters, turning a blind eye to them, and precisely hovered in front of Frank.

After the light stabilized, Frank could see clearly what it was.

It turned out to be a levitating ring, printed with a special symbol, emitting yellow light all over its body.

Then, this ring made a sound, its tone cold and mechanical.

"Intelligent life locked on, Frank Castle from Earth, you possess the power to inflict great fear on others."

"Do you, are you willing to accept the power of fear and become one of us?"

Frank froze for a split second.

He looked at this suddenly popped-out Yellow Lantern ring in front of him, several thoughts spinning rapidly in his head.

But it only took a short second for him to throw all distracting thoughts to the back of his head.

Up to now, what did he have to hesitate about?

Instead of waiting for Death, it was better to gamble, placing all bets on this variable that killed its way out of thin air. ℯ

Without a shred of hesitation, Frank reached out and gripped the Yellow Lantern ring in front of him.

"Willing!"

The moment the words fell, the yellow light suddenly exploded.

The dazzling light instantly filled the entire warehouse, and everyone except Frank was forced by the sudden strong light to subconsciously turn their heads away, raising their arms to shield their eyes.

"Welcome to the Fear Corps."

The cold voice came.

The next moment, a large amount of information flooded into Frank’s mind, all instructions on how to use the Yellow Lantern ring, from entry to the grave.

Finally, there was also a special boot password.

Frank’s expression instantly froze: "Must this oath be read out?"

The Yellow Lantern ring replied: "Yes, only by reciting the oath can the power of the Yellow Lantern ring be activated, and it needs to be loud, emotionally full, and the decibel must exceed ninety."

Frank: "..."

Not knowing if it was an illusion produced by excessive blood loss, he always felt that this ring seemed a bit improper.

But he had no way out; suppressing the shame in his heart, he raised his head and roared loudly.

"In blackest day, in brightest night!"

"Evil factions and traitorous parties, fear our divine light!"

"Consumed by fire and burial, those who oppose me perish!"

"Fear as the source, the divine monarch’s authority!"

As the last sentence of the oath fell, the yellow light suddenly converged.

Everyone present opened their eyes again and looked over; Frank had completely changed his appearance.

He was wrapped in a layer of eerie yellow light, and his body gained a dark golden uniform, with the Punisher’s iconic skull printed on his chest, looking as if it were alive, two empty eye sockets staring at the crowd, making one’s scalp tingle.

And on the index finger of his right hand, a quaint-styled yellow ring was unexpectedly worn.

Everyone was dumbfounded watching.

Didn’t they agree the Punisher was just an ordinary person?

How could he transform while fighting?

Jigsaw suddenly felt that something was amiss, and sternly said: "What are you dazing for! Shoot! Hurry up and shoot for me!"

The gangsters only then recovered their wits, hurriedly pulling the triggers toward Frank.

Da da da da da da da—!

Firelight flashed, countless bullets spewing out from the muzzles, pouring down like a torrential rain.

However, when the bullets landed on Frank, they were all blocked by the layer of yellow light on the surface of his body, the bullet heads clinking onto the ground, piling up a thick layer near his feet before long.

The gunshots gradually thinned out, and the gangsters looked at the unscathed Frank, their Adam’s apples rolling up and down, involuntarily swallowing saliva.

Is it still too late to surrender now?

Feeling the constant surge of fear emotions pouring from them, Frank slowly cracked the corners of his mouth, revealing a ferocious smile.

"Scums, your doom has come."

As he spoke, he flipped both hands, and the yellow light rapidly condensed in his palms, shaping into the form of two assault rifles in the blink of an eye.

Da da da da da da da—!

The yellow bullets condensed from the energy of fear instantly shot out, piercing through the bodies of several gangsters, who collapsed to the ground uttering shrill screams.

Frank had a good sense of measure in his strikes; the bullets specifically targeted the limbs, deliberately avoiding vital points, without killing anyone right away.

He was not showing mercy; on the contrary, he was doing it on purpose.

According to the information in his mind, the Yellow Lantern ring needed charging, and the raw material for charging was other people’s fear emotions.

This happened to be Frank’s comfort zone.

He was proficient in all kinds of interrogation methods and knew too well how to make criminals feel fear.

Killing them directly was simply too cheap; only by letting them experience extreme pain bit by bit and slowly feeling the taste of approaching Death could more fear emotions be squeezed out of them.

Frank had not a shred of pity for this gang of people.

At this moment in his eyes, these gangsters were ready-made power banks and the first batch of fuel for his Yellow Lantern ring.

For a time, screams rose and fell one after another inside the warehouse.

Thick fear emotions surged wildly, and the Yellow Lantern ring was greedily absorbing all of this.

"As expected of the Punisher, this speed of collecting fear is truly fast enough."

In the shadows at the highest point of the warehouse, Darian looked down at the slaughterhouse below, the corners of his mouth slightly hooking up into a satisfied arc.

Just as Frank was harvesting fear emotions, a portion of the fear emotions simultaneously flowed into Darian’s sealing space.

Not much either, occupying about 80% or so.

If it weren’t for having to leave a portion to maintain the normal operation of the Yellow Lantern ring, he guessed he could squeeze out even more.

As for Frank, just casually dismissing him with a little fear energy would do.

In the words of some black-hearted bosses, I already gave you work, and you actually still want a salary?

Not long after, a rumor began to circulate in the underground World.

It was said that the Punisher had obtained some eerie power from somewhere, his entire body glowing with yellow light and impervious to swords and guns.

What was even more outrageous was that he could conjure all kinds of weapons and equipment out of thin air—long guns and short cannons, cold weapons and hot weapons—becoming a truly mobile arsenal.

The Punisher, who was originally just an ordinary person, was already terrifying enough, and now he was actually enhanced by a wave; how was one supposed to play this chicken feather! Some knowledgeable comic fans recognized the styling on Frank’s body.

Isn’t this the Yellow Lantern from DC Comics.

Where is the Green Lantern?

Hurry out and save us!

Unfortunately, there was no Green Lantern Corps in this World, only the Yellow Lantern Corps.

Frank truly lived up to being Hell’s number one sales champion; after getting the Yellow Lantern ring, he didn’t rest for a single moment, directly wielding a broadsword condensed from fear energy, hacking all the way from the east side of New York to the west side, hacking back and forth for three days and three nights without blinking an eye even once.

Over these days, the villains who died in his hands were almost too numerous to count.

And not a single one of these people died a quick Death; broken hands and feet were considered mild, and some were even scared to Death alive directly.

Nowadays, the entire underground World trembled in fear upon hearing the Punisher’s name.

The bosses of the major gangs shrank their heads one after another, preferring to give up some lucrative turfs rather than provoke this baneful star.

After dealing with Frank, Darian directly found Blade located in Eastern Europe through HYDRA’s network intelligence.

Compared to Frank, Blade’s side was much simpler.

After Darian found Blade, without any pleasantries, he came up and threw the Yellow Lantern ring to the other party.

"Congratulations, you have been chosen by the Fear Corps. Put on this ring, and from now on you are one of us. The task of punishing evil and promoting good is handed over to you from now on."

Blade looked dumbfounded: "But aren’t you a person of the Holy See?"

Darian said with a straight face: "That’s right, the Holy See is a branch of the Fear Corps."

Blade’s face turned even darker: "Who are you kidding, this name sounds like a villain organization at the very first listen!"

Darian blinked: "I didn’t say the Holy See isn’t a villain organization."

"..."

Blade tentatively asked: "Can I refuse?"

Darian’s expression turned stern, holding the Golden Desert Eagle: "I didn’t expect there to still be a surviving Vampire slip-through here."

Blade: "..."

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