Wonder Woman's Lesson

"Bang!"

A dull thud!

Barry felt an irresistible force surge from Diana's elbow and slam directly into his chest. The tremendous momentum granted by the Speed Force seemed to have struck an immovable divine mountain. It was as if he had been hit head-on by a speeding truck. He instantly lost control of his body and was sent flying backward!

"Thud!"

Barry spun through the air several times before crashing awkwardly onto the training ground's padded mat. He lay there for a long while before managing to get up.

"Cough, cough... wow..." He clutched his chest, feeling as though his bones were about to fall apart. Fortunately, his new suit had excellent cushioning; otherwise, that blow would have broken several ribs.

"Your speed is very fast, Barry." Diana slowly withdrew her elbow and remained where she was, as though she had never moved. Looking at the bedraggled Barry, she gave him a serious assessment. "But your attack path is too direct—too easy to predict. In a real battle, when you charge at an enemy, the enemy will charge at you as well. Your speed is both your weapon and a weapon your enemy can use against you."

Barry climbed to his feet and shook his slightly dizzy head. As he looked at the completely unscathed Diana, a grave expression appeared on his face for the first time.

His speed just now had reached at least Mach 5, yet before Diana, he had been like a reckless child charging forward, casually swatted down by an experienced adult.

"Again!" Barry shouted stubbornly.

This time, he had learned his lesson. Rather than charging in a straight line, he began moving at high speed through the training ground in an erratic pattern.

For a moment, flickering golden lightning and red afterimages filled the entire training ground. Barry's figure flashed continuously from every direction. At times, he ran along the ceiling; at others, he stood upside down on the walls. With the Speed Force, he turned the entire three-dimensional space into his personal playground. He tried to disrupt Diana's judgment this way and search for an opening in her defense.

Yet Diana merely stood still and closed her eyes.

She gave up trying to track Barry with her vision, knowing her eyes could not keep up with the Speed Force's path. She focused all her attention on her hearing, touch, and the battle instincts granted by her divine blood.

She could hear the air being torn apart, feel the faint tremors coming from the floor, and sense every subtle shift in the airflow Barry created as he moved at high speed.

To her senses, Barry was no longer an uncapturable afterimage, but a rapidly moving mass of energy made up of sound, vibration, and airflow.

Suddenly, Diana's eyes snapped open. Her body tensed like a fully drawn bow as she stomped fiercely toward an empty spot behind her to the left!

"Boom!"

The alloy floor beneath her feet cracked instantly! A visible shockwave spread outward in a ring from where she had landed!

And one thousandth of a second after the shockwave spread, Barry's figure appeared exactly there! He had intended to attack from Diana's blind spot, but instead, he had charged straight into the "Vibration Field" she had created with divine power!

"Urgh!"

Barry felt the ground beneath him go soft as a violent tremor instantly spread through his body, causing the speed he was so proud of to spiral completely out of control. Like an ordinary person standing atop an earthquake fault line, his body shook violently beyond his control, and his speed plummeted.

Now!

Diana seized that fleeting opportunity. She lunged like a cheetah, one long, powerful arm locking precisely toward Barry's throat!

Alarm bells rang in Barry's mind. He forcibly invoked the Speed Force, trying to use Phasing Vibration to pass through Diana's arm.

But Diana reacted even faster! Just as her arm was about to touch Barry, the pair of Guardian Silver Bracelets on her wrist, forged by the divine smiths of Paradise Island, slammed together!

"Clang—!!!!"

A crisp, resonant sound carrying boundless divine might echoed throughout the Batcave!

A visible circular golden energy shield erupted instantly from the point where the bracelets collided!

This energy was not a physical attack, but a strike against the laws of reality drawn from the divine power of Olympus!

Barry was in a quantum state of high-speed vibration. The Speed Force had made his connection to the real world extremely unstable. Diana's Divine Power Shock was like a heavy hammer smashing brutally into that fragile "anchor point" connecting him to reality!

"Pfft!"

Barry spat out a mouthful of blood. The vibrations in his body were instantly interrupted, and he was forcibly "smashed" out of his quantum state and back into the real world! It felt as though ten thousand massive bells were ringing inside his skull at once. The Speed Force rampaged wildly through his body, nearly tearing him apart.

Diana's hand stopped steadily one centimeter from his throat.

The winner had been decided.

"H-how did you do that?" Barry braced himself against the wall, gasping for breath, his face filled with disbelief. The Phasing Vibration he had been so proud of had been broken so easily.

"Your ability causes your body's particles to vibrate at high speed, allowing you to pass through objects." Diana slowly lowered her hand and explained patiently. "But that state is very unstable and easily disturbed by outside energy. The Divine Power Shock created when my Guardian Silver Bracelets collide disrupts the spatial laws around you, forcibly 'squeezing' you out of your vibrational state."

She looked at the dejected Barry, walked over, and patted his shoulder. Her tone softened considerably. "Barry, your speed is an unparalleled weapon. But you rely on it too much. You treat speed as the answer to every problem while overlooking the skill, strategy, and sense of timing that combat itself requires."

"In Smallville, the enemies you face are battle-hardened Kryptonian warriors. They may not have your speed, but they possess super senses like your companions', along with far more combat experience than you. If you still charge around recklessly like you just did, not only will you be unable to help Clark and the rest of us, you'll become the opening they exploit."

Diana's words were like a bucket of cold water, waking Barry from his overconfidence.

He had always believed that possessing the Speed Force made him invincible. But today's "spar" with Diana made him deeply realize just how far he still had to go.

He looked at the demigoddess princess before him, both powerful and wise, his heart full of admiration.

"I... I understand." Barry lowered his head and spoke sincerely. "Thank you, Diana. You taught me a very important lesson."

"We're allies, Barry." Diana smiled. "Helping each other is only natural. Now, take a break, then we'll go again. This time, try thinking instead of relying only on your feet."

As the fighting spirit reignited in the two of them, Bruce watched everything from behind a concealed surveillance camera some distance away.

On the screen, Diana was patiently explaining to Barry how to use small directional changes and feints while moving at high speed to confuse his enemies.

"Very good. A born warrior and a rookie with limitless potential," Bruce silently assessed. "Diana's arrival not only makes up for the League's lack of top-tier combat strength; more importantly, she brings invaluable combat experience and leadership. She can become the best mentor for Clark and Barry."

This pre-battle adjustment was proving even more effective than he had expected.

The League's embryonic form was quietly taking shape through this spar between a goddess and a speedster.