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Chapter 783: Breaking Open the Speed Force Prison
Tony wasn't exactly the most diligent person. He was more than happy to use the cleverness of a lazy genius to solve difficult problems.
However, creating a barrier to cover the entire Earth was undoubtedly the most troublesome task of all.
But he had no other choice.
"The number of Black Lanterns on Earth is finite. For every one we eliminate or drive away, that's one less forever!"
Tony raised his arm and fired a blast of Emotional Energy from his armor's hand cannon, sending a dozen or so Black Lanterns flying. His loyal sidekick, Spider-Man, quickly followed up to finish them off, completely destroying the Black Lanterns.
Batman's voice rang out through the Lantern Ring: "Superman, go help Black Bolt deal with that big guy. At the very least, throw that thing into outer space. I'm sure you can do it."
Without a word, Clark forcibly carved a path through the horde of Black Lanterns and sped towards Antarctica.
Aside from Black Bolt, Clark—injected with the Doomsday virus—was undoubtedly among the most powerful beings on Earth, infinitely close to Level Seven.
Not to mention, he was also boosted by the Lantern Ring.
The plan to create the barrier was rapidly set into motion. Leveraging the convenience of real-time communication between Lantern Rings, the vast majority of Earth's survivors were informed of the plan—codenamed Guardian—in the shortest possible time and began to act swiftly on their instructions.
"What is The Flash doing? His super speed could wipe out countless enemies in an instant," Batman said hoarsely, his voice tinged with suspicion at Barry's reluctance to join them in exterminating the Black Lanterns.
...
Barry had no desire to help the idiots of Earth fight their enemies. As the cold and ruthless Savitar, he had absolutely no intention of fulfilling the duties of The Flash.
Even if he was operating under the guise of The Flash.
*Whoosh!*
*Zzzt...*
A yellow electric arc surged from Savitar's body as he moved swiftly through Central City, a large horde of Black Lanterns in hot pursuit.
What infuriated Savitar the most were not the ordinary Black Lanterns, but the two individuals clinging relentlessly to his heels.
One was The Flash, the other was Reverse-Flash—two troublesome Speedster Black Lanterns who were relentlessly hunting him down.
"I never should have turned Reverse-Flash into the Black Flash..."
Savitar glanced back, catching sight of the two figures with their twisted, greedy expressions out of the corner of his eye. A faint tinge of regret welled up within him.
The Flash's revival was easy enough to understand. He had ignored Tony's repeated warnings, insisting on running into the past to save his mother from Reverse-Flash. This resulted in a backlash from the timeline that tore his body to shreds, and now he had been resurrected by a Black Lantern Ring.
But Reverse-Flash becoming a Black Lantern... that put Savitar in a foul mood.
"That was supposed to be my experimental weapon!" Savitar's killing intent surged as he watched the Reverse-Flash behind him.
When Reverse-Flash was still alive, Savitar had thrown him into a blue tunnel, pinning him against the wall and grinding him to death at super-speed. Savitar had then used the Speed Force to twist and augment Reverse-Flash's very being, turning him into a killing machine that obeyed his commands.
But the moment a Black Lantern Ring slipped onto Reverse-Flash's finger, Savitar lost all control and now found himself being hunted by his own creation.
With a loud *BOOM*, Savitar stopped dead in his tracks. His hands shot out, tearing Reverse-Flash in two, and then he was running again.
"I should have kept the Orange Lantern Ring..." Savitar's regret deepened.
An Orange Lantern Ring had once chosen him, but the proud and arrogant Savitar had haughtily refused it. Not only that, he had even grabbed the ring as it tried to fly away and, with a savage grin, crushed it in his hand.
Savitar believed that as the man who existed across the beginning and end of time, as the powerful God of Speed, he had absolutely no need to accept charity from Tony.
But now, he was regretting it immensely.
Behind him, innumerable Black Lanterns had their sights set on him. Each one used their Black Lantern Ring to achieve super speed, somehow managing to keep pace with him.
"Barry, why are you running...?"
"You are me. Why do you run from me?"
The Flash and the newly-reformed Reverse-Flash whispered sinisterly, their hollow eyes filled with a ravenous greed—a craving for Savitar's heart.
A powerful heart, steeped in and augmented by a massive amount of the Speed Force... Devouring a heart like that would be worth more than consuming millions of others!
These Black Lanterns had long since descended into madness, desperate to devour Savitar's heart.
Inside Savitar's futuristic, warrior-like armor, his gloomy face was dark as thunder. After a moment's thought, he let out a cold snort. The sparse yellow electric arcs around his body suddenly trembled, and their color began to shift rapidly!
The yellow faded, replaced by a faint wisp of blue. The blue electric arc then spread rapidly before the color began to shift again... After several transformations, a white electric arc engulfed him entirely. The sheer number of arcs was terrifying, forming a visible curtain of light as he ran.
For any user of the Speed Force, a general rule is that speedsters with red electric arcs have the lowest upper limit. Yellow is slightly better, and blue is higher still... But at the white stage—Savitar's level—time itself begins to lose all meaning.
As for the most terrifying golden electric arc... for now, only the mutant who created the Speed Force Wall possessed it.
Savitar raised his head, his gaze cold. Within his eyes, which surged with the Speed Force, the boundaries of the prime universe could no longer contain his vision. He began leaping across dimensions, his consciousness and reflexes moving at a speed that time itself could not match, until he finally pinpointed a specific location.
"It's a bit earlier than planned, but it won't make much of a difference."
With a sonic boom, Savitar's speed exploded. He surpassed the speed of light—ten thousand times, a hundred thousand times, a million times, a hundred million times over... He was moving so fast that even the Black Lantern Rings couldn't track him.
Having lost their target, the dense horde of Black Lanterns stood stunned for a few seconds before scattering in all directions to hunt down other living prey.
...
The Speed Force Prison.
The Spectre and Tony were still flying aimlessly, and had been for a long, long time—perhaps a thousand years, perhaps ten thousand, perhaps even longer...
Fortunately, both were men of terrifying willpower. Their spirits wouldn't be crushed by the monotony and despair, driving them to madness.
For the first few years after their arrival, they still communicated occasionally—even if only through hurling insults at each other.
But now, a very, very long time had passed without a single word spoken between them. They simply flew on in silence.
That is, until Savitar arrived and smashed open a breach with a single punch.
The Spectre and Tony stopped abruptly, their faces impassive as they watched Savitar burst in.
The entire Speed Force Prison suddenly erupted. The boundless space-time and its billions of overlapping dimensions began to roar in unison. An endless torrent of Speed Force surged forth as a powerful Will descended upon the prison, its gaze fixed coldly on Savitar.
Savitar tore open the barrier of the Speed Force Prison. He glanced around at the cage that had imprisoned him for countless years, then turned his gaze to Tony and The Spectre. In a low, raspy voice, he said, "Welcome... home!"
(end of chapter)
Tony wasn't exactly the most diligent person. He was more than happy to use the cleverness of a lazy genius to solve difficult problems.
However, creating a barrier to cover the entire Earth was undoubtedly the most troublesome task of all.
But he had no other choice.
"The number of Black Lanterns on Earth is finite. For every one we eliminate or drive away, that's one less forever!"
Tony raised his arm and fired a blast of Emotional Energy from his armor's hand cannon, sending a dozen or so Black Lanterns flying. His loyal sidekick, Spider-Man, quickly followed up to finish them off, completely destroying the Black Lanterns.
Batman's voice rang out through the Lantern Ring: "Superman, go help Black Bolt deal with that big guy. At the very least, throw that thing into outer space. I'm sure you can do it."
Without a word, Clark forcibly carved a path through the horde of Black Lanterns and sped towards Antarctica.
Aside from Black Bolt, Clark—injected with the Doomsday virus—was undoubtedly among the most powerful beings on Earth, infinitely close to Level Seven.
Not to mention, he was also boosted by the Lantern Ring.
The plan to create the barrier was rapidly set into motion. Leveraging the convenience of real-time communication between Lantern Rings, the vast majority of Earth's survivors were informed of the plan—codenamed Guardian—in the shortest possible time and began to act swiftly on their instructions.
"What is The Flash doing? His super speed could wipe out countless enemies in an instant," Batman said hoarsely, his voice tinged with suspicion at Barry's reluctance to join them in exterminating the Black Lanterns.
...
Barry had no desire to help the idiots of Earth fight their enemies. As the cold and ruthless Savitar, he had absolutely no intention of fulfilling the duties of The Flash.
Even if he was operating under the guise of The Flash.
*Whoosh!*
*Zzzt...*
A yellow electric arc surged from Savitar's body as he moved swiftly through Central City, a large horde of Black Lanterns in hot pursuit.
What infuriated Savitar the most were not the ordinary Black Lanterns, but the two individuals clinging relentlessly to his heels.
One was The Flash, the other was Reverse-Flash—two troublesome Speedster Black Lanterns who were relentlessly hunting him down.
"I never should have turned Reverse-Flash into the Black Flash..."
Savitar glanced back, catching sight of the two figures with their twisted, greedy expressions out of the corner of his eye. A faint tinge of regret welled up within him.
The Flash's revival was easy enough to understand. He had ignored Tony's repeated warnings, insisting on running into the past to save his mother from Reverse-Flash. This resulted in a backlash from the timeline that tore his body to shreds, and now he had been resurrected by a Black Lantern Ring.
But Reverse-Flash becoming a Black Lantern... that put Savitar in a foul mood.
"That was supposed to be my experimental weapon!" Savitar's killing intent surged as he watched the Reverse-Flash behind him.
When Reverse-Flash was still alive, Savitar had thrown him into a blue tunnel, pinning him against the wall and grinding him to death at super-speed. Savitar had then used the Speed Force to twist and augment Reverse-Flash's very being, turning him into a killing machine that obeyed his commands.
But the moment a Black Lantern Ring slipped onto Reverse-Flash's finger, Savitar lost all control and now found himself being hunted by his own creation.
With a loud *BOOM*, Savitar stopped dead in his tracks. His hands shot out, tearing Reverse-Flash in two, and then he was running again.
"I should have kept the Orange Lantern Ring..." Savitar's regret deepened.
An Orange Lantern Ring had once chosen him, but the proud and arrogant Savitar had haughtily refused it. Not only that, he had even grabbed the ring as it tried to fly away and, with a savage grin, crushed it in his hand.
Savitar believed that as the man who existed across the beginning and end of time, as the powerful God of Speed, he had absolutely no need to accept charity from Tony.
But now, he was regretting it immensely.
Behind him, innumerable Black Lanterns had their sights set on him. Each one used their Black Lantern Ring to achieve super speed, somehow managing to keep pace with him.
"Barry, why are you running...?"
"You are me. Why do you run from me?"
The Flash and the newly-reformed Reverse-Flash whispered sinisterly, their hollow eyes filled with a ravenous greed—a craving for Savitar's heart.
A powerful heart, steeped in and augmented by a massive amount of the Speed Force... Devouring a heart like that would be worth more than consuming millions of others!
These Black Lanterns had long since descended into madness, desperate to devour Savitar's heart.
Inside Savitar's futuristic, warrior-like armor, his gloomy face was dark as thunder. After a moment's thought, he let out a cold snort. The sparse yellow electric arcs around his body suddenly trembled, and their color began to shift rapidly!
The yellow faded, replaced by a faint wisp of blue. The blue electric arc then spread rapidly before the color began to shift again... After several transformations, a white electric arc engulfed him entirely. The sheer number of arcs was terrifying, forming a visible curtain of light as he ran.
For any user of the Speed Force, a general rule is that speedsters with red electric arcs have the lowest upper limit. Yellow is slightly better, and blue is higher still... But at the white stage—Savitar's level—time itself begins to lose all meaning.
As for the most terrifying golden electric arc... for now, only the mutant who created the Speed Force Wall possessed it.
Savitar raised his head, his gaze cold. Within his eyes, which surged with the Speed Force, the boundaries of the prime universe could no longer contain his vision. He began leaping across dimensions, his consciousness and reflexes moving at a speed that time itself could not match, until he finally pinpointed a specific location.
"It's a bit earlier than planned, but it won't make much of a difference."
With a sonic boom, Savitar's speed exploded. He surpassed the speed of light—ten thousand times, a hundred thousand times, a million times, a hundred million times over... He was moving so fast that even the Black Lantern Rings couldn't track him.
Having lost their target, the dense horde of Black Lanterns stood stunned for a few seconds before scattering in all directions to hunt down other living prey.
...
The Speed Force Prison.
The Spectre and Tony were still flying aimlessly, and had been for a long, long time—perhaps a thousand years, perhaps ten thousand, perhaps even longer...
Fortunately, both were men of terrifying willpower. Their spirits wouldn't be crushed by the monotony and despair, driving them to madness.
For the first few years after their arrival, they still communicated occasionally—even if only through hurling insults at each other.
But now, a very, very long time had passed without a single word spoken between them. They simply flew on in silence.
That is, until Savitar arrived and smashed open a breach with a single punch.
The Spectre and Tony stopped abruptly, their faces impassive as they watched Savitar burst in.
The entire Speed Force Prison suddenly erupted. The boundless space-time and its billions of overlapping dimensions began to roar in unison. An endless torrent of Speed Force surged forth as a powerful Will descended upon the prison, its gaze fixed coldly on Savitar.
Savitar tore open the barrier of the Speed Force Prison. He glanced around at the cage that had imprisoned him for countless years, then turned his gaze to Tony and The Spectre. In a low, raspy voice, he said, "Welcome... home!"
(end of chapter)
