Diana watched the abomination writhing within Eron's magnetic field. The stench of decay emanating from the creature was an insult to the scent of roses and sea from Aphrodite that was now part of her. But instead of disgust, she felt a morbid curiosity. The power she had stolen was not just about beauty; it was about desire, about the force that moves all living things—and perhaps, even the dead.
She placed her hand on Eron's chest, feeling the dangerous voltage pulsing beneath his skin.
— Wait — she said, her voice sounding like a caress that disarmed the storm. — Let me try something.
Eron looked at her, his white eye flashing with a spark of possessiveness.
— What do you want to do, my queen? That thing is a corpse. There is nothing in it for you to control.
— Everything that exists, Eron, desires — Diana replied, approaching the paralyzed creature. — Even death desires life.
Diana concentrated Aphrodite's essence. She didn't just emanate light; she emanated an emotional gravity that would make an ordinary man weep on his knees. The pearlescent glow of her skin became a warm pink mist that enveloped the Black Lantern.
The villain, whose eyes were merely empty sockets of darkness, stopped fighting against Eron's magnetism. He let out a moan, not of rage, but of an ancestral pain. He felt Diana's beauty penetrate his black armor, touching memories of the life he had before becoming a slave to the Black Lantern Corps. He saw the light he hated so much, but which now, through her, seemed like the only thing that mattered.
— Beau...ty... — hissed the Black Lantern, his bone claws relaxing. The black ring on his finger went still. The villain was hypnotized, trapped in a web of love and desire that no Green Lantern force could ever create.
The Green Lantern, fallen in the rubble, watched the scene with his mouth agape. He had never seen a member of the Black Lantern Corps be dominated by anything other than the White Light of Creation. He looked at Diana, feeling a pang of admiration and fear. Who were these beings who controlled magnetism and love itself as if they were toys?
Eron watched everything with his arms crossed. He saw Diana's power at work and, for a moment, felt a pang of something he hadn't felt in a long time: jealousy. Not jealousy of a corpse, but jealousy that her power was as effective as his own. He didn't like seeing that abomination look at his queen with such disgusting devotion.
The electricity around Eron crackled more loudly, and the metal of the parked cars began to groan, crumpling under the magnetic pressure.
— Enough playing with your food, Diana — Eron growled.