"Wait!"
Joey suddenly snapped to his senses. Speaking and acting at the same time, he cut in and interrupted Starfire's explanation, asking more urgently:
"So it's actually hidden on Earth? How many people know about this?!"
"Mm…"
Starfire only let out a soft hum. The Life Entity had merely revived her and told her some things—but right now, she had no spare energy to explain everything to Joey.
Flames burned intensely across her entire body. The multi-band energy radiation emitted from her form was enough to kill any native life on Earth, but to a Kryptonian like Joey, it was nothing more than ambient lighting.
The name 'Life Entity' felt somewhat unfamiliar to Joey, but he tried to piece together fragments from deep within his memory.
Combined with Starfire's explanation once she had the chance, Joey finally confirmed one thing:
No matter what he did, Earth would not be able to stay out of the chaos that was about to sweep across the entire universe.
The fact that the Life Entity was hidden within Earth was at least known to the Guardians—the ones who created the Green Lantern Corps. After all, it was they who had placed it on this remote planet.
The Green Lantern ring on Starfire's finger was known as 'the most powerful weapon in the universe,' and its power came from the green light of the emotional spectrum.
But the emotional spectrum wasn't limited to just green. It also included other colors:
Red for rage, orange for greed, yellow for fear, green for will, blue for hope, indigo for compassion, and violet for love. These seven lights together formed part of the emotional spectrum.
Each light contained immense power capable of distorting reality. And the white light represented by the Life Entity was the sum of all these colors—something that stood above the seven.
A being of such a high order clearly hadn't revived Starfire on a whim—it had its own purpose.
Its demand was exactly what its name implied: Life.
All life in the universe sustains the Life Entity—and in turn, it sustains all life. Its survival maintains the vitality of the entire cosmos.
Joey's earlier time displacement, being anchored between two worlds—there was no need to guess. That had clearly been its doing.
Without Superman, the universe would inevitably fall into ruin. And if the Life Entity were destroyed by external forces, the universe would meet the same fate.
As the embodiment of life's will in this universe, Joey could only admit—this entity had an incredibly strong survival instinct.
If this thing was truly hidden on Earth, then Earth had become a place of critical importance to all life in the universe.
That turned this remote planet—located in the solar system on the outer arm of the Milky Way—into a true battleground that every major power would fight over.
If the Kryptonians were heading straight for Earth, the Guardians on Oa couldn't possibly remain inactive. And the New Gods of Apokolips were clearly watching as well—once things descended into chaos, they would have every reason to act.
After everything, the two of them lay there, holding each other on the ground.
The once indestructible, sharply patterned crystal floor was now full of cracks. The base's main computer was directing nanobots to spread outward from the two of them, repairing the structural damage caused by the 'battle'.
Joey gently held Starfire. Her sweat had long since evaporated from the heat of her body.
Exhausted, Starfire rested her head on his arm. Sensing his movement, she turned to face him.
She simply looked at him quietly.
And at that moment, all Joey wanted… was a cigarette.
Of course, it was just meant to ease the restlessness inside him.
Unfortunately, he knew it wouldn't work. Cigarettes and alcohol were, at their core, still poisons—and for Kryptonians with near-maxed toxin resistance, they had absolutely no effect.
A man and a woman doing what people do in moments like this was supposed to relieve stress, but after it was over, Joey only felt the pressure growing even heavier.
The Life Entity possessed supreme power beyond life and death. If he could protect Earth—or even bring peace to the universe and maintain stability—then could it help him accomplish one thing?
The 'thing' hinted at by Raven in this world suggested she ultimately escaped death. Was that also through the Life Entity?
It was only a fleeting, impulsive thought from Joey—most likely impossible. The light of life of this universe probably couldn't interfere with an external universe.
Once everything here was over, he had to find Raven and get a clear answer.
How exactly had she cheated death?
"Joey."
Starfire placed her hand on Joey's chest, her fingers tapping lightly in a steady rhythm. The Kryptonian diplomatic uniform she had worn earlier had already been reduced to ashes by the flames.
Her emerald eyes quietly studied him.
"Are you thinking about the same thing as me right now?"
Starfire also needed Earth to remain intact—because she also needed the Life Entity hidden within it.
Joey gave a bitter smile.
"You could've just said it earlier. I wouldn't have refused. Why go through all this?"
"No. This isn't a transaction."
Starfire leaned closer, listening to his heartbeat.
"As you said before… it's just loneliness."
"When you're lonely… you have to try. You can't keep meeting the wrong person every time."
Joey took her hand—the one resting on his body—and interlaced their fingers. Then he made a promise:
"If we can survive until the end with Earth intact… I will find a way to ask the Life Entity to restore everything on your homeworld."
All previous plans might have to be reconsidered.
The Kryptonian conquest had already clashed multiple times with the Green Lantern Corps under the Guardians, resulting in heavy casualties.
The battle in Starfire's home star system had forced the Guardians to pull back their front lines, no longer directly confronting Kryptonians under yellow suns—but that did not mean the war had ended.
When you pull back your fist in a fight, it is only to gather strength for a more devastating strike.
Perhaps Jor-El had come to Earth only for a family reunion—but the massive Kryptonian fleet approaching Earth would undoubtedly trigger the Guardians' highest level of alert.
Whether or not their fists were fully charged, they would strike.
On this small, insignificant, primitive world, two godlike interstellar civilizations were about to collide.
One side: the Kryptonian Empire, awakened from ten thousand years of decline, reclaiming its land—and perhaps the entire galaxy.
The other: the Guardians of the Universe, who had existed since the dawn of time itself, maintaining peace across 3,600 sectors of the cosmos.
A war between giants was coming.