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Chapter 581: The Peculiar Ganthet
Ganthet was the only one among the seven Guardians who had a semblance of humanity. At the same time, he held the Guardians' greatest secret—the Ring of Origin.
All the Guardians, except for Ganthet, were in fact devoid of emotion, each possessing a numb and indifferent personality.
Ten billion years ago, they encountered a visitor from an alternate universe for the first time, a man named Volthoom, and began to cooperate with him.
Volthoom generously and magnanimously showed the Little Blue Men his unprecedented discovery—the Emotional Spectrum. This was a monumental find, and Volthoom was the first living being in history to perceive the Emotional Spectrum.
But the immense power of the Emotional Spectrum, an energy that could influence the emotions of all living beings, triggered tremendous fear among the Little Blue Men.
Thus, all the Guardians chose to strip themselves of their emotions, making themselves immune to the influence of the Emotional Spectrum.
Later, the first Lantern Ring, the Ring of Origin, was born. Volthoom used this ring to combat sin and uphold justice, spending a pleasant honeymoon period with the Little Blue Men.
Then, the situation took a sharp downturn. Coupled with the Little Blue Men's series of blunders, proving more of a hindrance than a help, it ultimately led to a fallout with Volthoom. Then these emotionless beings brazenly backstabbed him, ambushing Volthoom and imprisoning him in the "Shadow Cabinet."
After deliberation, the Ring of Origin was sealed within Ganthet. But what no one knew was that, due to the ring's influence, Ganthet had slowly recovered his emotions over the long course of ten billion years.
Ten billion years had passed to this day.
He could feel anger, joy, and hatred. He had become like a person again, not a machine that thought only in terms of self-interest.
But he had to disguise himself, pretending to be no different from his peers, with numbness and indifference as his dominant emotions. Only when a conflict of interest arose would he feign anger and indignation—faking anger was actually very simple, requiring no acting talent. Every Guardian had long since made acting an instinct.
However, this time, Ganthet's anger was real. The other Guardians' indifferent pupils showed no fluctuation, but their faces wore a mask of feigned rage.
They had to keep up the act for the Lanterns present.
"We will give Optimus Prime a fair trial, but I hope you will not interfere in Oa's internal affairs," Ganthet said, raising his head coldly.
"Of course. All I want is fairness, because you lot have never known the meaning of the word."
Tony's lips curled into a smirk of undisguised mockery.
What a joke. If this bunch of scumbags were capable of fairness, if they could use their wooden heads for even a moment, so many tragedies would never have happened.
Stripping away their emotions didn't make these Little Blue Men any smarter; instead, it turned them into fools who made one disastrous decision after another.
When tragedy struck, the Little Blue Men's first thought was not to make amends, but to use every means to cover it up and continue maintaining their great and righteous image.
Suppression and whitewashing were always the Little Blue Men's greatest strengths. As for foresight? Complex political maneuvering? Rallying the majority to strike the minority? Sorry, such precious strategies would never exist in the minds of this group.
Otherwise, these idiots wouldn't have done something as stupid as attacking Apokolips back then. When the Green Lantern Corps was newly founded, they arrogantly wanted to establish their might and make a name for themselves. But of all the tough nuts to crack, they chose Apokolips. The result was that Apokolips beat them to a pulp, and all two thousand Green Lanterns were wiped out.
The Corps' first leader, Scott, was even personally betrayed by them, handed over to Darkseid to be tortured and killed just to appease Darkseid's rage.
"You've spent ten billion years meticulously managing things within your narrow field of vision, yet you've made a complete mess of everything beyond it."
"Your wisdom worries me. If I hadn't come, you might have just executed Optimus Prime on a whim. That's what you've always done, isn't it?"
In front of seven thousand Lanterns, Tony revealed a chilling, cold smile.
Ganthet's heart skipped a beat, but his face remained impassive. He made a gesture: "Although I don't know why such a great misunderstanding has arisen between you and us, we would be happy to invite you to be a witness to the trial."
Tony scoffed, ignoring the thousands of angry glares. His face was calm and cold as he rapidly descended in the Mobius Chair, leaving a long white trail in the air.
On the high platform, atop seven thousand-meter-tall stone pillars, the Guardians stared intently at Tony.
The Lanterns wanted to follow to protect the Guardians, but Ganthet stopped them, strictly ordering all Lanterns not to approach without a command.
"A wise choice. You're the only Guardian whose brain isn't broken," Tony said faintly.
Never doubt the stupidity of these Little Blue Men; otherwise, you will be cruelly defeated by their terrifyingly low IQ and EQ.
Ganthet glanced warily at the chair beneath Tony, his expression grim. The other Little Blue Men also had cold expressions, acting as if Tony didn't exist at all.
The Mobius Chair was the divine artifact of their nemesis, Mobius. For it to have fallen into Tony's hands was truly terrible news.
Optimus Prime, his hands bound by green energy shackles, stood quietly in the center of the platform, awaiting the outcome.
Tony and he met each other's gaze, but neither spoke.
Ganthet flew to his designated stone pillar, coughed, and said in a low voice, "Optimus Prime, you took it upon yourself to release the criminal Sinestro, a serious violation of the Green Lantern Corps' regulations."
Another Guardian, Sayd, added coldly, "Concealing this from the Guardians is a grave crime."
"Stealing Tomar-Re's ring has had a severe negative impact."
"You have disappointed everyone who trusted you, and you have disappointed us as well."
"You inherited Abin Sur's ring, yet you have insulted it."
"You will receive a just trial."
Six of the Guardians spoke in turn, one sentence each.
The last Guardian opened his mouth, realized that everything that needed to be said had already been said, and after a moment of thought, declared with conviction, "In short, you are guilty."
"Pronounce the sentence."
"I recommend stripping him of his Green Lantern ring."
"I recommend expelling him."
"I recommend banishing him permanently."
"I recommend he redeems himself through meritorious service."
Everyone turned to look at Ganthet, their eyes filled with confusion.
Ganthet subtly glanced at the expressionless Tony and said gravely, "Sinestro did Optimus Prime a great favor. Although the act of releasing a criminal is detestable, there are extenuating circumstances. I suggest we temporarily revoke his authority to enforce the law, pending observation. If he shows genuine remorse, we might as well give him a chance."
The other six Guardians looked at each other, somewhat bewildered.
"Then it is decided. Optimus Prime, I order you to leave Oa. Leave this place. As you are now, you are not worthy of the title of Green Lantern," Ganthet said.
(end of chapter)
Ganthet was the only one among the seven Guardians who had a semblance of humanity. At the same time, he held the Guardians' greatest secret—the Ring of Origin.
All the Guardians, except for Ganthet, were in fact devoid of emotion, each possessing a numb and indifferent personality.
Ten billion years ago, they encountered a visitor from an alternate universe for the first time, a man named Volthoom, and began to cooperate with him.
Volthoom generously and magnanimously showed the Little Blue Men his unprecedented discovery—the Emotional Spectrum. This was a monumental find, and Volthoom was the first living being in history to perceive the Emotional Spectrum.
But the immense power of the Emotional Spectrum, an energy that could influence the emotions of all living beings, triggered tremendous fear among the Little Blue Men.
Thus, all the Guardians chose to strip themselves of their emotions, making themselves immune to the influence of the Emotional Spectrum.
Later, the first Lantern Ring, the Ring of Origin, was born. Volthoom used this ring to combat sin and uphold justice, spending a pleasant honeymoon period with the Little Blue Men.
Then, the situation took a sharp downturn. Coupled with the Little Blue Men's series of blunders, proving more of a hindrance than a help, it ultimately led to a fallout with Volthoom. Then these emotionless beings brazenly backstabbed him, ambushing Volthoom and imprisoning him in the "Shadow Cabinet."
After deliberation, the Ring of Origin was sealed within Ganthet. But what no one knew was that, due to the ring's influence, Ganthet had slowly recovered his emotions over the long course of ten billion years.
Ten billion years had passed to this day.
He could feel anger, joy, and hatred. He had become like a person again, not a machine that thought only in terms of self-interest.
But he had to disguise himself, pretending to be no different from his peers, with numbness and indifference as his dominant emotions. Only when a conflict of interest arose would he feign anger and indignation—faking anger was actually very simple, requiring no acting talent. Every Guardian had long since made acting an instinct.
However, this time, Ganthet's anger was real. The other Guardians' indifferent pupils showed no fluctuation, but their faces wore a mask of feigned rage.
They had to keep up the act for the Lanterns present.
"We will give Optimus Prime a fair trial, but I hope you will not interfere in Oa's internal affairs," Ganthet said, raising his head coldly.
"Of course. All I want is fairness, because you lot have never known the meaning of the word."
Tony's lips curled into a smirk of undisguised mockery.
What a joke. If this bunch of scumbags were capable of fairness, if they could use their wooden heads for even a moment, so many tragedies would never have happened.
Stripping away their emotions didn't make these Little Blue Men any smarter; instead, it turned them into fools who made one disastrous decision after another.
When tragedy struck, the Little Blue Men's first thought was not to make amends, but to use every means to cover it up and continue maintaining their great and righteous image.
Suppression and whitewashing were always the Little Blue Men's greatest strengths. As for foresight? Complex political maneuvering? Rallying the majority to strike the minority? Sorry, such precious strategies would never exist in the minds of this group.
Otherwise, these idiots wouldn't have done something as stupid as attacking Apokolips back then. When the Green Lantern Corps was newly founded, they arrogantly wanted to establish their might and make a name for themselves. But of all the tough nuts to crack, they chose Apokolips. The result was that Apokolips beat them to a pulp, and all two thousand Green Lanterns were wiped out.
The Corps' first leader, Scott, was even personally betrayed by them, handed over to Darkseid to be tortured and killed just to appease Darkseid's rage.
"You've spent ten billion years meticulously managing things within your narrow field of vision, yet you've made a complete mess of everything beyond it."
"Your wisdom worries me. If I hadn't come, you might have just executed Optimus Prime on a whim. That's what you've always done, isn't it?"
In front of seven thousand Lanterns, Tony revealed a chilling, cold smile.
Ganthet's heart skipped a beat, but his face remained impassive. He made a gesture: "Although I don't know why such a great misunderstanding has arisen between you and us, we would be happy to invite you to be a witness to the trial."
Tony scoffed, ignoring the thousands of angry glares. His face was calm and cold as he rapidly descended in the Mobius Chair, leaving a long white trail in the air.
On the high platform, atop seven thousand-meter-tall stone pillars, the Guardians stared intently at Tony.
The Lanterns wanted to follow to protect the Guardians, but Ganthet stopped them, strictly ordering all Lanterns not to approach without a command.
"A wise choice. You're the only Guardian whose brain isn't broken," Tony said faintly.
Never doubt the stupidity of these Little Blue Men; otherwise, you will be cruelly defeated by their terrifyingly low IQ and EQ.
Ganthet glanced warily at the chair beneath Tony, his expression grim. The other Little Blue Men also had cold expressions, acting as if Tony didn't exist at all.
The Mobius Chair was the divine artifact of their nemesis, Mobius. For it to have fallen into Tony's hands was truly terrible news.
Optimus Prime, his hands bound by green energy shackles, stood quietly in the center of the platform, awaiting the outcome.
Tony and he met each other's gaze, but neither spoke.
Ganthet flew to his designated stone pillar, coughed, and said in a low voice, "Optimus Prime, you took it upon yourself to release the criminal Sinestro, a serious violation of the Green Lantern Corps' regulations."
Another Guardian, Sayd, added coldly, "Concealing this from the Guardians is a grave crime."
"Stealing Tomar-Re's ring has had a severe negative impact."
"You have disappointed everyone who trusted you, and you have disappointed us as well."
"You inherited Abin Sur's ring, yet you have insulted it."
"You will receive a just trial."
Six of the Guardians spoke in turn, one sentence each.
The last Guardian opened his mouth, realized that everything that needed to be said had already been said, and after a moment of thought, declared with conviction, "In short, you are guilty."
"Pronounce the sentence."
"I recommend stripping him of his Green Lantern ring."
"I recommend expelling him."
"I recommend banishing him permanently."
"I recommend he redeems himself through meritorious service."
Everyone turned to look at Ganthet, their eyes filled with confusion.
Ganthet subtly glanced at the expressionless Tony and said gravely, "Sinestro did Optimus Prime a great favor. Although the act of releasing a criminal is detestable, there are extenuating circumstances. I suggest we temporarily revoke his authority to enforce the law, pending observation. If he shows genuine remorse, we might as well give him a chance."
The other six Guardians looked at each other, somewhat bewildered.
"Then it is decided. Optimus Prime, I order you to leave Oa. Leave this place. As you are now, you are not worthy of the title of Green Lantern," Ganthet said.
(end of chapter)
