After seeing what happened to Sargon, her protective father John Zatara utters a spell that directs the Darkness's attack toward him instead. Doctor Fate is expelled as Etrigan was, unconscious.Īt the séance, the Darkness focuses its attacks on Zatanna. This is not the answer that was required. The Darkness responds that Fate has taught him contempt. Fate responds that evil is the ignorance that drags people back as they climb toward heaven a vile and wretched thing. The darkness demands to know what evil is. Fate kills Abnegazar in anger, but he is distracted and soon enveloped by the Darkness.

To their horror, they are forced to watch as Sargon burns to death, and still hold his charred corpse's hand, in order to keep the circle intact.ĭeadman and Doctor Fate fight against the demons loyal to the Darkness. The Darkness seems to focus on Sargon, who begins to smoulder in his seat. They know that they must not break the circle by letting go of each other's hands, lest their powers backfire, or they lose contact permanently. These are not what it needed, and it expels Etrigan back out onto the ground, unconscious.īack at the séance, the Great Darkness begins to sense their efforts, and attacks them, searching for a weak link. The Darkness, in its thirst for knowledge, has learned fatalism and inevitability from Etrigan. Etrigan responds that the Great Darkness is evil, locked in an eternal struggle with God's light. A voice comes to him demanding to know what it is.

When Etrigan engages with it, he is consumed by it, sucked into a vast darkness. His companions force him to go on, despite his complaints, and he watches as Etrigan leads his army directly into the Darkness' path. The Great Darkness rises from the waters of chaos beyond Hell, and the sight of it is horrifying to Mento, to the point that he instantly feels as though all is lost. With these reinforcements, they prepare for the Great Darkness' arrival. The Stranger brings with him a host of higher consciousnesses beyond bodies – angels. Swamp Thing and Deadman are surprised by the arrival of Doctor Fate and Phantom Stranger soon after. From Wintersgate Manor, the group watches as Etrigan puts on his armour and leads the other rhyming demons in a full on charge against the oncoming darkness. Meanwhile, John Constantine and his crew of occultists and sorcerers conduct a dangerous séance, using Mento as a conduit through which they can see what is going on in the Spirit World, and direct their combined magical energies to the aid of Swamp Thing's team. They intend to face the Great Darkness which threatens to destroy Heaven itself. In the Spirit World, Swamp Thing and Deadman march with the assembled demon horde, led by Etrigan.

Saga of the swamp thing