Can You Outrun Time... and Me?
The ruins of the Metropolis.
Golden lightning flashed, tearing space apart with ferocity.
Barry Allen pushed the Speed Force to its absolute limit.
The speed of sound. The speed of light. Faster than the speed of light!
The laws of physics were forcibly thrown to the back of his mind. The surrounding ruined buildings and the hero falling from the sky began to recede eerily in his retina.
Time has turned back.
The spatial barrier shattered, and Barry plunged headlong into a golden tunnel filled with endless lightning and fragments of spacetime.
Speed Force.
The absolute forbidden zone of the DC Universe, the ultimate source of all kinetic energy and time.
"Faster... faster!"
Barry raced through the golden lightning.
He had to go back ten minutes, back to the moment when the spatial rift had just appeared, to stop the black-clad man from descending!
This is the Justice League's, and even the entire planet's, last hope for a comeback.
However.
Right here in the real world.
Jiang Li had just finished vomiting Kryptonite energy and was no longer in the [Gluttony] state.
Watching Barry disappear into the afterimage of golden lightning.
Jiang Li's eyes were cold and full of mockery.
"Using speeds exceeding the speed of light to reverse time?"
Jiang Li slowly raised her hands.
Two watch faces appeared simultaneously on his left and right wrists.
Biomnitrix (Dual Fusion Table)!
"Good idea, but you're too slow."
Jiang Li crossed his arms.
He slammed his hand down on the watch faces of both wrists!
Smack!
A blinding green light erupted suddenly, instantly engulfing Jiang Li's body.
Genetic recombination! Ultimate fusion!
Streamlined black and blue armor. Long limbs. Conical helmet. This is the cosmic speedster [XLR8 (XLR8)].
This time, however, XLR8's body was covered with a thick layer of brass-colored metallic armor.
The rollers on its chest, shoulders, and feet are inlaid with a dense array of mechanical gears that are meshing wildly.
A huge green clock face was imprinted in the center of his chest.
Fusion Form: [XLR8] + [Clockwork]!
Absolute speed, combined with absolute time manipulation!
"The runway is ready."
Jiang Li's eyes, hidden beneath his mask, were fixed on the spatial node where Barry had disappeared.
The clock gears at the ends of the feet begin to spin at high speed.
Boom!!!
Jiang Li did not take a running start.
In the very first microsecond, his speed broke through all the limits that physics can explain!
Time made way for him.
Click!
The barrier of the real world was shattered by Jiang Li's extremely brutal kick!
A bolt of lightning, tinged with green and brass, crashed into the Speed Force at the very bottom of the DC Universe!
Inside the Speed Force.
Barry is traveling through Time Stream that is rapidly reversing.
He saw the scene from a few minutes ago Jiang Li brutally defeating Superman; he saw the scene of the Justice League assembling.
"We're almost there!" Barry gritted his teeth.
Sudden.
Buzz--!!!
A deafeningly loud clanging of mechanical gears exploded amidst the golden storm of the Speed Force!
The sound was more deafening than thunder.
Barry turned his head sharply.
His pupils shrank to pinpoints of terror in that instant.
Beside him.
On his proud Speed Force -exclusive track.
A bronze-colored mechanical afterimage, flashing with green light, was keeping pace with him at a terrifying speed that he could not comprehend at all!
No, not neck and neck.
The other vehicle is overtaking.
"You... how could you possibly get in?!"
Barry's brain completely shut down.
This is the Speed Force! Anyone not chosen by the Speed Force will be instantly torn to shreds by the turbulent flow of time upon contact with this energy!
"Do I need to knock before entering your backyard?"
Jiang Li's cold, mechanical voice resonated through the Time Stream.
The gears beneath his feet were frantically cutting through the golden lightning.
The Clockwork's ability renders the time turbulence within the Speed Force completely ineffective against him.
[XLR8]'s speed allowed him to reach the extreme on this frictionless, empty track.
Not only that.
The Omnitrix on Jiang Li's chest began flashing wildly!
[Ding! A higher-dimensional pure kinetic energy dimension has been detected!]
[Energy Level: Omniverse -Level Origin!]
[Initiating deep looting scan...]
Swish!
Hundreds of green data tentacles shot out from Jiang Li's mechanical armor.
This time, the tentacles didn't pierce the Flash. Instead, they plunged directly into the boundless "Speed Force source lightning" surrounding him!
He's drawing blood from the Speed Force!
The Speed Force began to tremble violently. Energy from the entire dimension, like a leaky pool, poured continuously into Jiang Li's system through data tendrils!
"You're insane! You're destroying the kinetic foundation of the universe!"
Barry roared hysterically. He could feel his Speed Force rapidly depleting.
"The foundation of the universe?"
Jiang Li sneered.
With a sudden push, the gears beneath his feet gave way!
Boom!
Jiang Li's speed surged again, instantly closing the final gap between him and Barry.
In the Flash's proudest area, he completely crushed the Flash with his speed.
"The runway is now closed."
Jiang Li suddenly extended his right claw, which was encased in brass armor.
Meeting Barry's despairing gaze.
He grabbed the Flash by the neck! He gripped it tightly!
Snap!
The kinetic energy was forcibly cut off!
Barry's feet were instantly lifted into the air, and the reversal of time came to an abrupt halt.
Jiang Li held him by the neck with one hand, lifting him into the air like a chick.
The surrounding images, which were flashing backward, shattered instantly.
The golden Speed Force storm, under Jiang Li's absolute violence, let out a mournful cry of unbearable strain.
[Bite!]
[Analysis complete on the core essence of the Speed Force!]
[The Speed Law has been permanently entered into the system's gene pool!]
Upon hearing the system notification, Jiang Li retracted the data tentacles with satisfaction.
He looked at the Flash in his arms, whose eyes had rolled back in his head from suffocation.
"Game over."
Jiang Li's left hand ripped through the void!
Sizzle!
He tore through the dimensional barrier of the Speed Force with his bare hands!
The real world. The ruins of Metropolis.
Only 0.01 seconds had passed.
For the superheroes still lying on the ground, the Flash had just vanished in a flash of golden light.
But the next moment...
Click!
The space in mid-air shattered with a deafening roar.
A mechanical monster clad in brass armor and a streamlined black exoskeleton stepped out of a spacetime rift.
And in his right hand.
He was gripping a person wearing a red bodysuit tightly.
Bang!
Jiang Li slammed the Flash, Barry Allen, to the ground like he was throwing away trash!
The ground was smashed into a deep crater. Barry coughed up blood and passed out completely.
Dead silence.
In the distance, amidst the wreckage of the Batwing, Bruce Wayne watched this scene on a screen, his mind completely blank.
The Flash has entered the Speed Force.
He was forcibly pulled out of the Time Stream by the other party?!
[Bite--!!!]
[Detected extreme shock and despair in the DC Universe!]
[Emotion Points +10 million! +20 million! +50 million!]
The system's numbers began a nuclear-explosive surge, even more insane than during the Marvel era!
Jiang Li deactivated his transformation.
Standing atop The Flash's chest, overlooking the ravaged DC metropolis.
"Is this your Justice League?"
Jiang Li sneered.
"It's not even a warm-up."