Barry's Choice
You are not me from the future.
"What did you say..."
The Future Flash slowly stood up, put his mask back on, and his expression was obscured.
"You are not my future self. You don't know Kino or Sister Venom, and I would never say something like this. You are just one possibility for me, the possibility of giving up becoming a hero."
Barry's expression was grave as he stared intently at his future self. "No matter what you've been through, you shouldn't use such an extreme method—using lives from other worlds to change the past."
"Ha ha ha ha..."
The Future Flash let out a burst of the Batman Who Laughs, a laugh filled with madness and despair.
"Mother, Father, Wally, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern..."
Watching people around me die one by one before my eyes, the world being destroyed, and I being powerless to stop it—do you understand that kind of despair?!
"So I changed the world before, in that world, all Metahuman and enemies I could pull into the Speed Force space, so they would never endanger the world."
The Blue Lightning around him surged once more.
Hearing these names, Barry felt a chill run down his spine. Were they all dead?
But Barry took a deep breath and calmed himself.
"I may not have experienced what you've gone through, but I know that pursuing so-called perfection at the cost of hurting others is always wrong."
Yellow lightning flashed all around him, creating a stark contrast with the Blue Lightning of the Future Flash.
"You don't know anything!"
A flicker of pain flashed in the Future Flash's eyes, and madness and determination once again enveloped them. The surging Blue Lightning around him grew even more violent, and he vanished from his spot in an instant.
Appearing behind Barry, a fist crackling with Blue Lightning slammed towards Barry's back.
Barry sensed the danger, dodged to the side, and his fist grazed Barry's suit, sending sparks flying.
The dodged fist slammed into the wall, instantly unleashing a terrifying Havok boom that destroyed everything in its path.
First the walls, the furniture, then the civilians taking refuge in their homes...
Barry's pupils contracted as he rushed to save people before the Havok, when he heard Kino's voice in his ear.
[Focus on the battle, leave the rest to me.]
With a crisp snap of the Snap, all the humans who had been hiding in the city vanished.
From the air, several buildings collapsed instantly under the impact of the Havok, raising clouds of dust.
The collapse covered an area of tens of meters, resembling a terrible disaster that had befallen the world.
Then, the deafening roar finally came.
A strike of infinite mass, with a maximum force equivalent to an oncoming white dwarf star, possesses immense destructive power.
Speed alone is not enough to compete with the New God.
Barry and the Future Flash have long since disappeared.
The two moved at incredible speeds, weaving through the city streets like two illusory streaks of light.
Wherever it passed, streetlights were uprooted by the powerful airflow, billboards were torn to shreds, and cars were blown about.
"You're insane!"
Barry shouted angrily.
With his fists imbued with the yellow and blue Speed Force, he rained down attacks on the Future Flash.
"This is our true power; you can use it on me too."
In the Future Flash forms a Blue Lightning shield around his body to block Barry's attack. At the same time, he finds an opening and delivers a swift, lightning-infused whip kick to Barry's shin.
Barry performed a backflip in mid-air to dodge the attack. The moment he landed, the ground beneath his feet was scorched black by the powerful friction and Speed Force.
He quickly circled behind Future Flash, swirled his hands to create two tornadoes, and swept Future Flash directly into the sky.
If you don't touch the ground, running fast is useless.
Just then! Another Future Flash appeared behind Barry and punched him in the side.
Bang bang bang--
Barry crashed into the building like a cannonball, sending bricks flying, walls collapsing, and billowing dust into the air.
He struggled to his feet from the ruins, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Even Vibranium Suit have their limits.
The Future Flash who attacked Barry has disappeared.
It's not a remnant of time, but pure speed.
The Future Flash is gradually becoming Barry.
"I'm faster, more skilled, and more experienced than you. I know your weaknesses perfectly well. What are you going to use to stop me? Kino? He hasn't shown up yet, has he?"
From space, Kino watched the battle below. The Parademons had all been eliminated, and the Dark Elites were either dead or had fled.
[I really don't care about your little brother.]
Of course not, but at most I could help him before he died, and it was his own choice.
[I really don't understand what this kid is thinking; he has powerful connections but doesn't know how to curry favor with them.]
Kino heard Venom's words, he remembered that Barry had found him the day before.
(Brother Kino, is this incident related to me?)
You've discovered it.
(No, it was my mother who found out I wasn't her child, so I told her the truth.)
Almost, if I'm not mistaken.
(Brother Kino, can you give me some time? I want to...)
We've collected almost everything.
"You ask me what I rely on? I rely on myself!"
Barry wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, grabbed the lightning bolt symbol on his chest, and spun it hard. Blue Lightning surged out and was absorbed by him, while the yellow lightning gradually turned red.
"My speed! You thief!"
The Future Flash paused in his tracks.
"It's all Barry's, this is called a loan!"
Barry vanished instantly, transforming into red lightning bolts that circled around the Future Flash.
The Future Flash couldn't see Barry this time either, but knowing his habit, he dodged to the side, but was still a step too slow.
A powerful punch, accompanied by a red flash of lightning, struck his shoulder, sending him flying towards a shopping mall on the side of the street.
But Barry appeared in his flight path and punched him in the chest.
In an instant, countless Barry appeared, surrounding the Future Flash and beating him up.
He could only stand, struggling to maintain the lightning shield with the Speed Force, but Barry's fists kept hitting his body through the gaps in the shield.
That's how battles between speedsters work; once a speed gap widens, the situation becomes one-sided.
Under Barry's relentless attacks, the Future Flash suffered repeated and severe blows, each strike feeling like a small cannonball hitting him.
His Blue Lightning shield was shattered, his battle armor was tattered, and blood seeped from his wounds, making them a shocking sight in the lightning's reflection.
The Future Flash endured excruciating pain.
"You ungrateful bastard!"
He suddenly let out a roar, fully mobilizing the Speed Force within his body. Blue Lightning erupted around him, shattering all of Barry's clones around him.
The Future Flash raises his Blue Lightning and takes away the fist, while Barry throws a powerful punch wrapped in red lightning.
The two fists clashed, unleashing a powerful burst of energy that created a visible circular shockwave, scattering debris and dust from the surrounding buildings.
The shockwave generated air currents like a mini typhoon, uprooting streetlights and tearing billboards to shreds, sending them flying everywhere.