The frontal assault shattered, Causal Exile shattered, and even the self-destruct that would have taken them both down shattered.
Barry pulled out the last metal Patch from his chest.
It was the Neural Activator Bruce had given him. Black liquid sloshed inside the transparent tube.
Without hesitation, he slapped it against the artery on the side of his neck.
Hiss!
The black liquid flooded into his bloodstream.
Several cracks instantly split open at the corners of Barry's eyes, and blood streamed down his cheeks.
The Speed Force inside him was forcibly drawn out from the depths of his withered cells. Golden-white arcs scraped across every nerve like an iron brush.
There was no chance of victory in his mind, only those black eyes branded at the end of time.
That nightmare.
That abyss that surfaced every time he closed his eyes.
"Try it one more time..."
Barry forced the broken syllables through his clenched teeth.
"Just once..."
Bang!
The ground caved in.
Barry's body dragged out a pure-white trail of light.
His speed surpassed the sound barrier, exceeded the first cosmic velocity, and crossed the critical threshold of lightspeed.
The collapsed pillars around him hung suspended in midair. Gravel froze in the air currents, while distant sparks solidified into dark-red beads.
The world lost its colors, transforming into pure black and white.
The barrier of time emerged before his eyes.
It was a silver waterfall spanning the universe, surging with the endless causality of the past and future.
Barry slammed into it.
As long as that monster hadn't awakened yet...
The silver torrent crashed toward him.
But there was no time corridor as he had expected.
Boom!
In the very center of the tranquil silver River of Time, a dark-red giant hand that blotted out the sky thrust out violently.