DC: Rise of the Kryptonian Tyrant

"No... no... don't do this."

"I didn't do anything to you! Please don't do this!"

"Let her go, I won't resist. I won't fight back..."

"I'm begging you. Please, let her go first!"

"Take it out on me. Whatever your grudge is, it's with me. Let her go."

Barry's face was filled with horror. A cold chill surged from his spine to his skull. He trembled uncontrollably and fell to his knees, terror-stricken, pleading with all his heart, tears of grief streaming down his face.

The sudden appearance of this enemy, grabbing his lover Iris and attempting to kill her, sent Barry into a state of utter panic and fear. He didn't even understand why.

"Well, if your wife doesn't die, the hatred won't be deep enough. Without that, the next version of me can't be formed."

Bardi nodded and said flatly. The ferocious armor and helmet began to dissipate into glowing fragments, fading piece by piece. As they disappeared, they revealed the sinister face of Barry—his right eye burned and scarred.

Bardi smiled directly at The Flash. The burn scar over his right eye, coupled with the madness in his expression, gave him a wild, evil charm.

This was still part of the process.

The Flash froze.

This wasn't like in the show, where he and the team at S.T.A.R. Labs gradually uncovered that Savitar was himself all along.

Since Bardi's chaotic intrusion, the plot had already shifted. Bardi had entered the Speed Force first and completed Savitar's obsession—becoming a god. Of course, the Speed Force god was weak by cosmic standards. In this universe, the so-called Speed Force deity was merely several times faster than light.

Then, Bardi had pinpointed the timeline again, returning to fulfill Savitar's final wish—killing Barry's wife, Iris—thus allowing Barry to form the necessary Time Remnant.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Maybe I should explain. You'll hate seeing me even more."

"You threw me into the Speed Force Prison to endure the rejection of your family. They ignored me, denied me, shunned me... all ties of love and friendship severed. That torment turned Savitar into a lonely demon."

"As for the burns... the scars... you should remember how they happened."

Bardi slowly tilted his scarred face, the disfigurement from Barry's own immaturity and sentimental recklessness.

If Barry hadn't been so overwhelmed by emotion and kindness, it wouldn't have come to this.

With a look of pity, Bardi glanced down at Iris, still clenched in his hand.

She had already lost consciousness.

After all, Bardi had no interest in giving her or Barry any heartfelt final farewells. He came here to kill her, plain and simple.

This was the critical moment. Letting Iris and Barry experience it to the end, he would slay her, finish off the remaining Barry, and complete the reincarnation of Savitar. That would fulfill Savitar's final wish.

Savitar had only two desires.

One was to kill Iris, torture Barry, and ensure a Time Remnant of himself would be born.

The second was to become a god within the Speed Force.

Bardi had already fulfilled the second, completing countless reincarnations of Savitar in the Divine Speed Force.

"You're... you're that Time Remnant... the one after the fight with Zoom..."

The Flash's eyes widened in disbelief. His legs went limp. He stared at the burn scar, at the twisted version of himself, in complete shock.

In Season 2 of The Flash, he nearly lost to the final villain, Zoom. To win, he used the Speed Force to create a second version of himself—a Time Remnant. That self-sacrificial duplicate stopped Zoom and died in the process.

But after Barry went back in time to save his mother, creating the Flashpoint, that Remnant was restored.

When that Time Remnant returned, Barry's family refused to accept him. They avoided him, rejected him, and isolated him. That pain gave birth to the demon Savitar.

All of it was caused by Barry—and his family.

"...That's basically it. Do you understand his pain now?"

"Do you understand why your wife has to die?"

"For Savitar, this reincarnation must happen. Pull yourself together and accept her death."

Bardi's scarred face gleamed beneath the flickering lights. His expression was terrifying—pale, hideous.

Slowly, he raised the spike on his right gauntlet.

"No—!"

The Flash cried out in agony. He leapt forward with all his strength, surging with yellow lightning that blasted the ground beneath him, scorching it black. The surrounding streetlights shattered in bursts of sparks, glass flying, flames erupting.

In the darkness, he was a torrent of yellow lightning, lighting up the entire scene.

Time slowed, nearly to a halt.

The dust in the air crackled with energy.

The Flash's anguished face, streaked with tears of despair, was frozen in yellow sparks.

His pace was torturously slow, like a crawling tortoise.

He watched helplessly as Savitar raised the steel spike.

Time crawled, suffocating, hopeless.

Prick.

The spike tore through the air, driving forward with a crack, stabbing into Iris's back.

Iris snapped awake from unconsciousness. Her eyes widened. She lowered her head in disbelief, staring at the steel spike protruding from her chest.

"No!!!"

The Flash screamed in anguish, lightning bursting from his body, his face contorted with unbearable grief. The whites of his eyes were bloodshot. His pain was deep, desperate, and consuming.

At that moment, he broke past his previous speed limits and charged at Savitar.

But—

Boom!

As he came flying in, Savitar calmly extended a foot and slammed it into Barry's chest.

The lightning around Barry instantly dispersed. He was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing through two camphor trees before smashing against a third, his body finally stopping as blood spilled from his lips. His eyes were filled with blood and grief as he stared at Savitar.

Savitar tossed Iris's limp body aside like a ragdoll. She landed hard on the plaza pavement behind him, leaving a bloody trail. Her body twitched once, then lay still, lifeless.

Savitar's ferocious helmet reformed over his face. The full armor lit up with silver arcs of violent lightning.

Thunder wrapped around him.

He stood like a demon risen from the abyss, forged in a prison of thunder.

As he took a step forward, his armor crackled with lightning. A low, mournful voice echoed from within the helmet.

"Back then... Savitar felt the same pain."

(To be continued.)