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[Superman] Chapter 223: The Crisis of the Multiverse Approaches
🕑 Added 2024-09-04 03:41:18 +0000 UTC"What? There's a dark force about to engulf the entire multiverse? How is that possible?"
In the Speed Force, the Flash from the future explained to the younger Flash everything he had encountered after traveling to another universe, including the massive darkness that threatened to consume the entire multiverse.
However, he wasn't aware of what happened to Barry after he was overtaken by that dark energy and transformed into the Zombie Flash. Nor did he know that the terrifying entity known as the Great Darkness had set its sights on the reality of the entire omniverse.
It even seemed like this entity was using its dark power to corrupt the strong beings across different universes, helping it to carry out its plan to engulf the entire omniverse.
But just this basic information was enough to leave the young Barry, who had never experienced a large-scale crisis, in a state of shock and disbelief.
He had never even left his own universe, yet here he was, hearing about a crisis that threatened the entire multiverse. How could a novice like him stop such a terrifying crisis?
"Barry, whether the multiverse can be saved and whether we can overcome this crisis all depends on you!"
The future Barry said this with a serious expression to the young Barry.
At this moment, he wasn't afraid of his own death. He had to deliver this crucial message to give the multiverse a chance to be saved.
"Me? How is that possible? How could I, alone, accomplish something so crazy?"
Faced with the future Barry's solemn words, the young Barry was filled with doubt and lacked confidence in himself.
"Barry, you have to believe in yourself. You possess incredible power, capable of achieving things that no one else can!"
The future Barry reassured him earnestly.
In fact, if there had been another option, he wouldn't have wanted to place such a heavy burden on the shoulders of a novice like the young Barry.
But he had sacrificed his life to deliver this important information, and the only one who could receive it was the person standing before him.
Because, at this moment, the future Barry had already died. He was now just a consciousness existing within the Speed Force, unable to enter reality.
"But I..."
Even with the reassurance, the young Barry still found it difficult to feel confident.
"Barry, although you may not fully understand the incredible power of the Speed Force right now, soon enough, you will grasp it all. You will understand the immense and incredible strength of the Speed Force."
"And more importantly, you won't have to face this crisis that threatens the entire multiverse alone!"
"You can seek out Superman, Batman, and the Justice League! They will definitely help you save the entire multiverse!"
"You are not fighting alone! All you need to do is spread this message across every universe. Then, countless others will join you in resisting the darkness that threatens to consume the reality of the universe!"
"Only then will the entire universe stand a chance of defeating the darkness!"
The future Barry spoke quickly and gravely.
"That's right. I'm not alone. There's Superman, Batman, and the Justice League! They won't just stand by and watch as such a massive crisis unfolds!"
At this moment, the young Barry, who had been feeling lost after hearing about the terrifying crisis, finally began to calm down.
Yes, though he was currently the only one who knew about this, once he left the Speed Force, he could inform the Justice League.
They would not ignore such a serious crisis.
"But how can I be the one to spread this message across all the universes? Is that even possible?"
However, the young Barry still doubted whether he could actually accomplish the task of spreading the message about this multiverse-threatening crisis to every universe.
"Trust me, the power of the Speed Force is far beyond your imagination! Even I haven't fully mastered its power!"
"Moreover, as far as I know, the Speed Force is a powerful force that connects the entire multiverse, so naturally, it also has the ability to communicate with other universes..."
The future Barry's understanding of the Speed Force far surpassed that of the novice Barry.
He knew that with the power of the Speed Force, many incredible things could be accomplished.
Although he hadn't tried it before, he believed it was entirely possible to use the Speed Force to connect with other speedsters across the multiverse.
Once the message was spread throughout the multiverse, more powerful beings would join in the fight against the darkness that sought to destroy the multiverse.
"But how exactly do I do that... Wait, your body... What's happening?"
The young Barry was about to ask how to use the Speed Force to connect with other universes when he suddenly noticed that the figure before him was gradually fading, becoming semi-transparent, as if it were about to vanish completely.
"I don't have much time left!"
"Next, I'll pass on all my understanding of the Speed Force to you as my final gift before I go!"
"I hope you will carry my hopes and continue on, to save this multiverse, to save our home..."
The future Barry also felt his body changing.
He knew that his remaining consciousness was about to completely disappear.
However, he didn't feel sadness or regret, because he had already done everything he needed to do.
Whether the future could be changed and whether the multiverse could be saved was now up to them!
As his words trailed off and his eyes filled with hope, his figure gradually faded away before the young Barry.
"No..."
The young Barry reached out, as if trying to grab him, but it was in vain.
The figure before him slowly disappeared, leaving only a faint golden light that seemed to sense his presence.
It gently drifted toward his forehead and merged into his mind.
In that instant, as the golden light merged into his mind, a vast amount of knowledge and information flooded into his consciousness.
And in that moment, he felt a sudden jolt in his awareness, and he was abruptly pulled out of the Speed Force...
...
"Where is this? I just... had a strange dream, didn’t I?"
Inside a sealed medical pod, Barry, who had been unconscious, suddenly began to stir and woke up slowly.
However, he didn’t seem to realize what had just happened, assuming that everything he had just experienced was nothing more than a strange dream.
But the next moment, he suddenly sensed that there were some new memories in his mind, ones that hadn’t been there before.
It was as if he had already lived through an alternate future life.
In that future, he spent most of his time resisting an alien invasion of Earth by an army from Apokolips.
"Could all of that be real? But how... how is that possible?"
As countless memories that didn’t originally belong to him surfaced in his mind, the young Barry quickly realized that everything that had just happened was real.
He had indeed entered the Speed Force and, while there, encountered another version of himself from the future. And...
"Damn it, if all of this is true, then the crisis that the other me spoke of, the one that threatens the entire multiverse, must be real too!"
In that instant, Barry suddenly realized that the crisis the future version of himself had warned him about was indeed real.
This realization left him feeling utterly shocked and panicked.
"No, I have to get this crucial information to Superman and the others as soon as possible!"
Overcome with panic, Barry disregarded the fact that he had just woken up and immediately launched himself into a super-speed run.
However, he failed to notice that the room he was in was a sealed medical pod.
As he accelerated, he was about to crash into the transparent walls of the pod when he suddenly snapped back to awareness.
"I need to stop... Wait, it seems I have another option now..."
Still relatively new to the Speed Force, Barry tried his best to stop himself as he faced the imminent collision with the wall.
But at this moment, after gaining the memories of his future self, a method to handle this situation suddenly came to his mind.
His entire body began to vibrate at an incredibly high frequency, and then, to his surprise, he effortlessly phased through the wall in front of him!
"I actually passed through the wall? So this is what my future self meant by a more effective application and control of the Speed Force?"
At that moment, Barry finally realized that the Speed Force he possessed could indeed accomplish many things that he had previously found impossible to believe.
...
"Barry woke up so quickly?"
Meanwhile, outside the medical pod, the others were still discussing everything that had just happened and had not yet dispersed.
At that moment, they noticed that Barry, who had recently been unconscious, was already awake.
"As expected of a speedster, with an incredible recovery rate!"
Before they could even marvel at Barry’s speed of recovery, they noticed that he had already appeared before them, having emerged from the medical pod.
With a panicked expression, he quickly said to them, "Everyone, something terrible has happened!"
...
"So you're saying that while you were unconscious, you entered a space called the Speed Force and met your future self in there?"
"And he told you that a dark crisis, one that will sweep across the entire multiverse, is imminent, correct?"
Shortly after Barry had explained everything to the group, they fell silent.
Finally, it was Batman, Bruce, who spoke up to confirm the details with Barry.
"That's right, that's exactly what he said! I felt this matter was extremely important, so I informed everyone as quickly as possible!"
Barry nodded, confirming the truth of his story.
"Isn't there something strange about this? If it was really Barry, why didn't he tell us directly? Why tell him instead?"
As everyone continued to ponder, Aquaman voiced his skepticism.
"Could it be that he's suffering from some aftereffects of the recent events? Maybe that bizarre dark energy invaded his mind, making him hallucinate?"
It wasn't unreasonable for Aquaman to question this, given that the recent strange events were still fresh in their minds.
They had never experienced anything so bizarre before.
What stood out most in their memory was that eerie dark energy.
If the dark energy had caused some unknown aftereffects in Barry, leading to such hallucinations, it might explain things.
"Perhaps this is real!"
However, in response to Aquaman’s doubts, Cyborg, who had been deep in thought, slowly shook his head, indicating that he believed this was real.
"Victor, why do you think that?"
Everyone’s attention now turned to Cyborg, waiting for his explanation.
"Earlier, Barry and I discussed some aspects of his Speed Force. He did mention that the Speed Force could accomplish many incredible feats, like reversing time—something we’ve all experienced firsthand!"
"And he also mentioned that the Speed Force could indeed form an independent spatial dimension, and even hinted at the possibility of opening a time-space portal to other universes."
"Not long ago, we were discussing the potential of using the Speed Force to explore other universes in the multiverse. But then this happened..."
Cyborg recalled their conversations with a serious expression.
"So it's entirely possible that Barry encountered some incredibly terrifying dark energy in another universe and learned that this dark energy will one day engulf the entire multiverse..."
"Including the universe we live in..."
As Batman slowly spoke these words, everyone present became incredibly grim.
"That dark energy did seem to possess immense power, but the idea of it engulfing the entire multiverse... isn’t that a bit far-fetched?"
Diana also had a serious expression but still couldn't help expressing her doubts.
Even though she had just experienced the formidable power of that dark energy firsthand, she still found it hard to believe that it could have the power to engulf the entire multiverse.
After all, not even her father, the almighty King of the Gods, Zeus, possessed such terrifying power to control the entire universe.
"No, I don't think Barry would risk everything to pass on a false and exaggerated message. We must prepare for the impending universal crisis!"
Superman said this gravely. He trusted Barry and trusted his own instincts. He had never felt as helpless against an energy as he had today.
Even when using his greatest strength, he had been unable to break free from that bizarre dark energy.
In fact, if that energy hadn't been exhausted in their universe, they might not have been able to dispel it at all.
"That's right. No matter what, we must protect our universe and our home!"
Batman spoke solemnly, knowing that they must now fight for the survival of the entire universe.
"But can we really fight against a darkness strong enough to engulf the entire universe with just the few of us?"
"No, we are not alone!"
"Everyone across the entire multiverse will be our allies in this battle!"
...
(End of Chapter)
