The rain hadn't stopped in the night.
Thunder rumbled.
Lightning didn't just tear across the sky outside, inside the house, countless blue bolts seemed to flash—the Speed Force vortex in the center of the living room spun madly like a black hole.
It mercilessly devoured everything around it. The genuine leather sofa was ripped to shreds and sucked in, instantly turning to dust. Even the floor tiles were torn apart and absorbed into the violent energy spiral.
Ian only managed to save his mom's antique vase, he failed to save the toolbox his dad had placed further away—it seemed Superman was genuinely preoccupied with something important.
The toolbox contained all of Clark's favorite wrenches, iron tongs, and similar items.
Years of accumulation.
The farm boy loved tinkering with these things.
Now, they were utterly destroyed.
The body of the Reverse-Flash who had just died was also swept up, drifting towards the vortex core. In the final moment before it vanished, his yellow uniform peeled away like burning paper, revealing the rapidly carbonizing torso underneath.
The flesh withered quickly.
The corpse even opened its eyes and let out a roar—speedsters obtained the right to use the Speed Force, but they also paid the price. Their final resting place was neither Heaven nor Hell.
It was to become a slave of the Speed Force.
Just like the black figures swimming in the Speed Force vortex. Each black figure represented a former speedster, who would continue to serve the Speed Force after death.
Until the end of time.
"What is that?" Ian also saw the black figures in the Speed Force vortex. He asked knowingly, attempting a sneak attack. However, Reverse-Flash easily dodged Ian's Instant Transmission ambush.
After all, the speed of Ian's eye movement determined his landing position, a detail that couldn't possibly escape the observation of a speedster. Not to mention, this newly appeared Reverse-Flash looked significantly faster than the previous one.
He had even appeared behind Ian's intended landing spot the moment Ian moved his eyes, though he didn't attack, merely whispering in his electronic reverb.
"Ian Kent, you are the boy who should not exist. Perhaps the universe has given you some marvelous abilities, but in front of a speedster, those abilities are negligible."
This seemingly less-volatile Reverse-Flash's tone was still condescending, carrying the unique arrogance of a speedster. "The little tricks the universe granted you are completely worthless against a speedster like me."
"Ultimately, you are merely a product created by our abilities, born in Flashpoint." Reverse-Flash reappeared in another location the moment Ian turned to attack.
He still didn't launch a counter-attack against Ian. This Reverse-Flash's focus remained entirely on the Speed Force vortex. He clearly wasn't interested in killing Ian or the Flash.
The black shadows in the vortex were reflected on his damaged mask.
The shadows writhed like living things.
"Oh, really?" As Ian attacked again, his brain began frantically calculating. He knew he needed enough data to analyze Reverse-Flash's patterns of movement.
To deal with a speedster, most people could only rely on prediction.
The same went for Ian.
"You will understand that I am merely stating a fact, and I hope the pain of losing your family tonight will grant you enough motivation to grow." This Reverse-Flash's speed was at least twice that of the previous one.
"Just like your two older brothers."
He was too fast.
He could even stand still and just slightly tilt his body to dodge the heat vision that Ian had already predicted. Of course, Ian's sneak attack this time was visibly closer to Reverse-Flash than the previous attempt.
He genuinely was improving.
But there was still a lot of room for progress. Upstairs, Jonathan and Jordan were crouching at the edge of the shattered ceiling, looking nervous. They too had been startled by a glance from Reverse-Flash.
"Damn it, what happened at home while I was studying?" Jordan seemed to have only just understood what occurred. He had been holed up in his room with headphones on until then.
He wasn't doing anything inappropriate.
It was actually true concentration that allowed Jordan to practice controlling his super-hearing effectively, blocking out the sounds he didn't want to hear and only listening to the music and "yes" sounds he wanted.
Saying he was studying was not inaccurate.
However, his slightly guilty expression made Jonathan hesitate to speak.
"An intruder broke into the house, but Dad's phone isn't answering..." Jonathan ultimately didn't criticize his younger brother, instead gazing down at the living room below with worry.
They were both hunkered down in the same hallway, acting as sideline observers.
"Old man is Superman; he's definitely just busy. Maybe I should go help Ian, after all, I'm Superboy too." Jordan said, preparing to jump down.
Jonathan grabbed him.
It wasn't that Jonathan thought Jordan shouldn't go. He dragged a wooden box out from under the bed, neatly stacked with various styles of small god statues. "Quick, hang some statues on yourself."
"And put some on Ian too. These are occult protective gear. Although there's a risk of offending the gods, an enemy who smashes the statues is definitely more serious than our offense to the gods."
Jonathan was as superstitious as ever.
Yet, Jordan couldn't argue against it.
He thought Jonathan made too much sense, so he accepted the statues his older brother handed him and continuously hung them around his neck. Seeing this, Jonathan displayed his rigor.
"Different vital areas require different statues. For example, the statue of God must be placed in your crotch. The most powerful deity must guard your most vulnerable place."
Jonathan was instructing.
And Jordan was genuinely giving serious feedback.
While the two were discussing their support plan, downstairs, facing Reverse-Flash's verbal attack, Ian's heart also tensed up. He stared intently at the constantly shimmering man nearby.
"Losing my family? What are you talking about?" Ian asked.
In response, Reverse-Flash merely smiled sinisterly.
"You'll receive the news soon. Don't rush. I look forward to seeing your potential." Reverse-Flash served up his cryptic words with his super-electronic voice. He looked at Barry Allen and adopted a running posture.
"Tonight is the beginning of the Justice League's downfall, and each of us, it seems, will have our own little game." The moment Reverse-Flash's last sentence fell, he immediately began to run.
The guy instantly turned into a red streak of lightning.
He shot straight out of the house.
Simultaneously, the Speed Force vortex violently exploded!
Several black figures shot out from within, lunging into the living room like ghosts.
They had human forms, but were clad in rotten skin, with faces half-flesh and half-dried-out bone, wearing black suits marked with the Speed Force symbol.
"ROAR! ROAR!"
The humanoid monsters roared.
But the sound was not one a living creature could make.
They were—Black Flashes.
Time Wraiths with legs.
The Grim Reapers exclusive to speedsters.
The Black Flash exists for one purpose: to end the lives of speedster heroes and villains in the DC Universe and drag the speedsters back into the Speed Force to become part of them.
The instant the nine Time Wraiths appeared, their eyes locked onto the outside—the red electrical arcs of Reverse-Flash's escape still lingered on the street.
"ROAR—"
Eight Time Wraiths shot out immediately.
They instantly transformed into black streams of light.
Their speed even surpassed that of regular speedsters. Clearly, the targets of this group were the Reverse-Flash, who did not belong in this timeline and whose abnormal status was sensed by the Speed Force.
The way the Time Wraiths moved was bizarre to the extreme. Each step left a charred footprint on the floor, and those footprints extended forward like fast-forwarded video.
Eight of them fanned out in eight directions for pursuit and interception.
As for the remaining one,
"CLANG!"
It stayed put not because it didn't want to move, but because the moment it and its "companions" shot out of the Speed Force vortex and were lingering to strike a pose, it was ambushed.
Unlike Reverse-Flash, a Time Wraith never cared about those who dared to touch it.
They could dodge.
But they didn't need to dodge.
All living things that touched them would have their life force taken away—because of this, the last unlucky Time Wraith, having been careless and not flashing, was spiked to the ground by a double-door refrigerator that dropped from the ceiling.
It still carried some cold temperature inside.
Of course, negative twenty degrees Celsius wasn't enough to slow the Time Wraith down much. It passed through the material obstruction, but Ian, who had prepared in advance, directly grabbed the right leg it used for running.
"ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!!"
The Time Wraith roared in anger. It was always its job to harvest others' time; today, someone dared to grab it? It looked back at the boy who seemed completely unfazed.
At that moment, the Time Wraith was confused.
It seemed to realize only now that it had run into something filthy.
"ROAR! ROAR! ROAR~"
It couldn't speak, or was no longer able to speak, and could only issue a warning roar at Ian, who was holding it. It extended its hands, attempting to directly take Ian's life.
However, the Time Wraith quickly realized that its "innate" ability didn't seem to be working as it should. The opponent not only wasn't heading toward death, but his smile was growing increasingly twisted.
"Wait for me for one hour, just one hour. You're definitely a great tonic species!" Ian's arm was indeed being corroded, but this only caused his flesh and blood to decay.
[Berserker EXP +9]
[Berserker EXP +7]
[Berserker EXP +8]
...
Ian stared at the job awakening countdown.
He really didn't want to give up this rare species. If he devoured the Time Wraith, he might gain speed-related enhancements. If not, maybe he could offer it to his godfather.
Just like the Son of the Demon God before!
Ian had suffered enough from having low base stats. He also wanted to overpower the Speed Force purely with numbers like his dad. Speedsters were truly a natural counter to superheroes like him with insufficient stats.
"Just one hour! It won't delay you for too long!"
Ian exerted force, trying to pull the Time Wraith closer to his body. Perhaps because he hadn't spoken enough small truths recently, his soothing attempts didn't even convince a "ghost."
"ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!"
The Time Wraith struggled desperately, like a Komodo dragon caught by a guy.
When it realized Ian's hands wouldn't budge, it even used its other foot to kick Ian's face—the result was that its other ankle was also grabbed.
Faced with the boy whose eyes were gleaming, the Time Wraith finally made a decision that went against its identity as a speedster.
"CRACK!"
A sickening sound of breaking bones rang out—it escaped by breaking its legs. The upper half of its body frantically scrambled on the floor, using its hands for propulsion, and shot into the Speed Force vortex as a black lightning bolt.
The outside world was too dangerous!
It wanted to hide in the embrace of Speed Force Mom!
"Damn it! Come back! I won't eat you! Christmas is coming. I'll let you be my reindeer." Ian couldn't possibly catch up. His deception hadn't tricked the Time Wraith.
After all, the Time Wraith was only dead.
Not stupid.
They once had a functional brain.
"If I jump in, can I become a speedster too?" Ian wasn't always bold. At least at this moment, he didn't dare to rashly follow the Time Wraith.
Of course, the Speed Force didn't give him a choice.
"SWOOSH~"
The Speed Force vortex vanished almost instantly, as if it had never appeared. The living room went directly from commotion back to silence.
It disappeared too fast.
It was almost as if the Speed Force itself was worried about Ian rushing into its body.
"Don't be like this, Santa Ian's reindeer now only has two reindeer legs left?" The two legs Ian held in his arms were still attempting to escape his grasp.
However, even though red Speed Force flickered on the legs' surface, it was still useless. Ian's strength was immense, and he held them firmly in his embrace.
[Berserker EXP +4]
[Berserker EXP +3]
[Berserker EXP +3]
...
Some kind of power was still corroding Ian's chest.
But it wasn't a big problem.
As soon as the Healing Frenzy ability was activated, the lost life force was replenished. The power that constantly corroded his body even made Ian feel a sense of joy hidden within the corrosion.
The Time Wraith's legs could very well become Ian's new leveling artifact.
"This is great stuff!"
Ian studied the two constantly twitching Time Wraith legs like a new toy.
The black limbs squirmed in his hands.
The red electrical arcs jumping on the surface of the legs occasionally made a "CRACKLE" sound.
"Ian! I've come to save you!"
Jordan's voice came from overhead. With a "BOOM," the second young master smashed into the living room in a less-than-elegant posture, his body stuffed with the statues Jonathan had given him.
He looked quite comical, yet strangely dignified.
"Where is he?"
Jordan, exuding a religious aura, looked around. His gaze finally locked onto the legs wriggling in Ian's hands, looking somewhat astonished, with a sense of gaping awe.
"I can't give these to you. I have a brilliant use for them!" Ian's vigilance immediately rose. Just in case, he quickly hid the Time Wraith's legs behind his back.
"I know they must have a brilliant use! Come on, Second Brother wouldn't steal your stuff... I actually just wanted to ask, what was that yellow guy all about?"
Jordan coughed.
He very awkwardly changed the subject.
An awkward silence filled the air.
"That was Reverse-Flash." Barry Allen's voice suddenly cut in. The speedster had woken up at some point and was leaning against the shattered wall, rubbing his bruised neck.
"He was here for me. I'm sorry, you guys got caught up in this." Barry Allen's voice carried a hint of guilt. He felt it was his fault that the children of this family had suffered undeserved disaster.
No one really cared about that.
"Oh, oh."
Jordan's eyes were drifting, his focus clearly very specific.
"It was a he, not a she?"
He didn't know what he was expecting. The Second Brother, with his social anxiety, lacked meaningful adolescent life, so it was evident he had an extremely repressed tendency to show off.
Ian couldn't help but look sideways.
He had specifically paid attention earlier.
When his Second Brother was still in his room and shot through the roof for some reason, he had subconsciously peeked out, but had retreated after seeing the figures in the sky and Ian.
"Our lab never considered that question. You're right, Reverse-Flash's gender is ambiguous. Maybe I should mention your speculation to Dr. Wells when I get back."
"If Reverse-Flash is a female speedster, then we've definitely been investigating the wrong direction." Barry Allen seemed to have been inspired by Jordan's wild idea.
He woke up relatively late, so he didn't know what had happened earlier.
Ian hesitated to speak.
And at that moment, Barry Allen looked at Ian, who was holding two legs.
"You fought Reverse-Flash? And... are those Time Wraith legs you're holding?" He was clearly deeply shocked by yet another one of Ian's actions.
Those were the Time Wraiths that speedsters avoided at all costs!
Why were there only two legs left?
And why were they in the little boy's hands??
For a moment, the Flash was unable to process what had happened.
"There were two Reverse-Flashes. One ran into my Second Brother's shot and was seriously injured, then he was taken out by the other Reverse-Flash." Ian had a Time Wraith leg tucked under each arm.
He recounted the absurd events he had encountered.
Even the Flash probably couldn't figure out all the issues related to speedster time travel. One only needed to look at Barry Allen's shocked expression to realize that.
"Two Reverse-Flashes?"
Barry Allen abruptly stood up straight, almost triggering the Speed Force.
"No wonder Time Wraiths appeared!"
His eyes were locked on what was under Ian's arms.
"I think you should... let go of that... it's poisonous." Barry Allen even recoiled a little, clearly terrified of the Time Wraiths.
"If they weren't poisonous, I wouldn't like them."
Ian blinked.
He looked at his corroded armpits. The experience prompts from the system were getting fewer and fewer. He even felt the Time Wraith's "toxicity" was slightly underwhelming.
"..."
Barry Allen didn't know how to respond to Ian's statement.
He couldn't even understand why Ian was still talking. Logically, Ian should have been deader than dead by now. Time Wraiths were beings that killed anyone they touched.
Were Kryptonians truly that unbelievable?
Barry Allen, who had never encountered this situation before, was clearly venturing into a knowledge blind spot.
"You saved all of us. You must be tired. I can hold some for you. Maybe I'm not afraid of the poison either." Jordan's proactive eagerness seemed slightly devious.
"No, I need to use them to push myself hard. When the little me catches that Reverse-Flash someday, I'm definitely going to make him deliver takeout non-stop for twenty-four hours a day."
Ian had already registered his grudge with Reverse-Flash in his heart. This incident would require at least thirty years of takeout delivery from Reverse-Flash to be settled. He felt Reverse-Flash's battle suit was naturally suited for delivery work.
"???"
Barry Allen was rendered speechless by Ian's statement.
"Did you know I own a takeout company? I delegated the management to Uncle Bruce," Ian preemptively usurped, telling Barry Allen.
Hearing this, Barry Allen swallowed hard.
"I can't... I can't deliver takeout. I have other work." He seemed afraid that Ian would also make him deliver takeout. The Flash's thought process was sometimes wonderfully peculiar.
"That's such a shame. You're my Uncle Barry—I'd buy you medical insurance! Doesn't that tempt you? If you work for thirty years, I can even promote you to shareholder, you know."
Ian's temptation made Barry Allen's mouth twitch wildly.
He wanted to pass out again.
Just then, Jonathan, who had made dozens of unanswered calls, returned with his phone, looking worried.
"Dad's phone still won't answer."
He had a bad feeling.
"I'll go look for Dad right away." Ian recalled Reverse-Flash's words and felt a little uneasy too. He grabbed the Flash's discarded suit and walked over to the ruptured water pipe to wash it.
Aquaman and the Sea Queen still had their heads buried in the fish tank, blowing bubbles.
"You really don't need to wash my clothes. You should hurry up and find Clark and Diana." Barry Allen was awkwardly helped by Jonathan to sit on some concrete amidst the ruins.
He scratched his head sheepishly. "Actually, my leg will be completely healed soon. I can wash the clothes myself. I might even be able to help you later."
The Flash was always dedicated to being a superhero.
However, the sound of water continued nearby.
No response.
A moment later, Ian walked out, shaking his wet hands, followed by the guilt-ridden Jordan—the robust boy held a stack of cash in his left hand and a familiar-looking chainsaw in his right.
"No rush, Uncle Barry. You take care of your injury."
Ian flashed a sunny boy's smile. "My Franklin has already instructed Jordan. He will ensure your leg remains in Schrödinger's ideal state."
The Kent family's youngest son seemed quite considerate.
However, Barry Allen was not happy at all.
"What are you doing?"
Barry Allen didn't dare to look too closely, afraid that if he did, he'd use his hands to push off the ground, activate the Speed Force, and run away—the boy nearby had put on his uniform.
To be precise, he had forcefully squeezed himself into his uniform.
The red and gold spandex was stretched into comical wrinkles on Ian's body. The cowl was crookedly hanging on the back of his head. The ill-fitting suit looked distinctly cheap.
"Obviously, I am now the core member of the Justice League—The Flash." Ian had found a way to join the Justice League. He was once again employing his signature skill.
A master of identity theft.
There was no identity Ian couldn't steal in this world, only ones he hadn't decided to steal yet. The previous Batman incident had successfully proven how superb his identity theft methods were.
The world only recognized the superhero.
No one cared who the person beneath the superhero costume was.
The costume was the hero's true identity!
"???????" Barry's mouth dropped open into an 'O' shape. This distressed him more than seeing Iris on a date with another man—at least the other guy wasn't wearing his battle suit that time!
"I am The Flash!" Barry protested weakly.
"With the suit on me, who knows?" Ian winked and began wrapping exposed wires around his body. "The Justice League cannot be without me—I mean, it cannot be without The Flash."
He corrected himself in time, and the good Second Brother beside him immediately chimed in as a foil.
"I know this! The Flash is an indispensable member of the Justice League, just like the 3D zone can't be without My Little Pony!" The good Second Brother's words instantly silenced everyone in the room.
Including Ian.
Seemingly realizing his mistake, Jordan quickly ran towards Jonathan—the gentlest older brother in the house was helping Aquaman and the Sea Queen, whose injuries didn't seem to be cured even by the fish tank.
"Ian said Atlanteans heal their wounds with seaweed. He couldn't find seaweed, but he gave me this nori." Jonathan was pasting nori onto the two superheroes in the fish tank.
The same kind as the popular packaged seaweed snacks.
"I'll help you."
Jordan was trying to bury his head in the sand in this area.
However, "You have to stay and guard Uncle Barry!" Ian called him back again.
Having no choice, Jordan returned to the living room ruins, sat down next to Barry Allen, and placed the chainsaw, which he didn't want to have wasted a trip to the warehouse for, on Barry Allen's leg.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Barry. Ian gave me too much..." Jordan preemptively apologized while Barry Allen shivered. Knowing that the mischievous boy was capable of anything, Barry Allen quickly looked back at Ian.
"But you don't have the Speed Force. How can you be The Flash?" Barry Allen couldn't worry about complaining anymore. He stared helplessly at Ian, who was wrapping wires around himself.
"I can pretend I do."
Ian pulled out his miniature nuclear reactor, connected and debugged it. Blue electric arcs initially sparked around his body, which he finally managed to turn into yellow arcs.
"Few people know that I'm actually a top student," Ian said softly, feeling the current stimulating his body, without a hint of showing off.
[Berserker EXP +1]
He turned up the current.
The electric arcs around his body became more intense.
But the damage wasn't high.
"Your brother is going to cook himself with that electricity!" The Flash smelled his suit scorching. He frantically shook the boy sitting next to him, who was suppressing his broken leg with a chainsaw.
Barry Allen felt his battle suit was ruined, but he didn't want the Superman family's youngest son to be ruined along with it.
"Ian has his plan." Jordan didn't move, sitting solid as a rock, the chainsaw pointing steadily at Barry's plaster cast. Both he and Jonathan knew who the smartest child in the house was.
"Exactly, I have my plan, Uncle Barry. You're without your physical form right now, so I don't blame you for not recognizing this is my Speed Force resonance. The Flash is just that generous."
Ian's voice successfully acquired an electronic reverb.
He couldn't make his muscles truly vibrate to an indistinct blur, but fortunately, the Flash's classic cowl only exposed his mouth.
If the mouth could vibrate, that was enough.
"How about that? There's always a way. This time, I absolutely won't get beaten up, because Ian is still at home, but The Flash is going to go support the Justice League that is so loyal to him." Ian first glanced at the gaping counterfeit Flash, then looked seriously at his Second Brother.
"Time for your line."
He reminded him quietly.
"Oh, oh."
Jordan quickly responded, lowering his voice.
"Run, Ian, run... You are the fastest man alive." His tone was exaggerated and dramatic, making the Barry Allen next to him sit bolt upright, his expression absolutely priceless.
"Here we go! Run!"
Ian immediately strapped the two Time Wraith legs to his own legs—the wildly thrashing Time Wraiths propelled him forward. Four legs ran faster than two.
"SWOOSH!"
Ian had genuinely found a way to steal the speed only a speedster should possess, without paying the price—the two legs strapped outside his own legs flashed with true Speed Force!
"BANG~"
Ian, who smashed through the wall, seemed to have become a speedster too.
He ran incredibly fast.
The only issue was controlling the direction when turning was slightly difficult.
Not a big deal.
Controlling the turn with Instant Transmission was perfectly fine.
***
Hi there, I've been busy with exams lately so updates might be a bit inconsistent until 11th March.
***
Read 30 Chapters early on P-atreon.com/Redestro666