DC: Rise of the Kryptonian Tyrant

"You're not me. You're not Savitar."

"If it were me, I would never hurt Iris!"

The Flash clutched his aching abdomen. After Bardi's kick, several ribs were broken and punctured his lungs. Waves of searing pain radiated from his torso.

He stood up with difficulty, blood already pouring from his abdominal cavity and gushing out of his mouth. His teeth were stained red, but he ignored the physical pain. Mentally, the anguish from Iris's death overwhelmed him. His bloodshot eyes bulged with grief and madness.

Violent yellow lightning surged from beneath his feet, enveloping his body. His face twisted in a mixture of rage, sorrow, and despair, growing more savage amid the yellow thunderstorm.

Bardi stopped, unmoved. Ironically, the Flash was too confident in himself and placed too much faith in love.

Even in the original timeline, once Savitar turned, he was fully blackened, killing indiscriminately and never letting anyone go.

Savitar's menacing armor, bathed in silver lightning, stood tall beneath the night sky, dominating the entire plaza.

His steel clawed fingertips lifted, and arcs of violent lightning danced between the sharp claws, brimming with devastating electrostatic energy.

At the same time, a crazed yellow arc of lightning ignited on the Flash. He turned directly, condensing intense yellow lightning in his right hand, and hurled it toward Savitar.

A ball of lightning roared forward.

And collided with Savitar's fingertips.

Boom!

A massive kinetic explosion burst forth like a missile, shattering the plaza.

Concrete shattered beneath Savitar's feet, black smoke billowed, and intense flames erupted into a massive fireball.

The air compressed, contorted, and detonated violently. Vehicles along the distant roadside screeched as their alarms blared. The glass curtain walls of nearby skyscrapers shattered, raining down shards. Flashing lights descended from the sky, triggering panicked screams from pedestrians.

Savitar's figure emerged from the explosion, his body wrapped in silver lightning. He stepped forward like a demon, the silver arcs dancing around his fingertips unscathed.

"The arcs dancing at my fingertips wield power you will never reach!"

Bardi's expression was cold and emotionless. He had reincarnated over 10,000 times within the Speed Force, using the identity of Savitar to become a god capable of controlling the Speed Force. Though such a god was like a child to Bardi, merely a lesser deity, it was still far beyond this Flash, whose top speed was only Mach 8.

He had merely used static electricity and high-frequency Speed Force movement to build up kinetic energy for an explosion—such a basic tactic. Yet the Flash couldn't even handle that. How could he possibly deal with Bardi himself?

"Ahhh!! Why?! Why!!"

The Flash's face twisted in fury. Yellow lightning surged in his eyes, his pain and rage reaching an extreme. Arcs of thunder crackled through the air and dust, popping with violent 'snap' sounds.

None of his powers could match Savitar. His wife had died right before him, and all he could do was scream in helpless desperation.

Bardi remained indifferent, watching the Flash's pain and despair. As the Flash approached his breaking point, Bardi coldly and ruthlessly reminded him, "You think you can take Iris's body from me? Never!"

Indeed.

The Flash's contorted face grew even more manic. His form wavered amid the yellow lightning, vibrating uncontrollably.

He no longer feared the Savitar before him. The death of his wife, his own powerlessness—even being unable to reclaim her body—drove him into madness.

Now, the Flash had only one thought left: no matter what, he had to kill Savitar and take back Iris's body.

In an instant, his blurry figure split in two, then four, then eight, then sixteen…

A dense cluster of Flashes, formed from time remnants, surrounded the entire plaza. Each one crackled with violent yellow lightning, their expressions fierce.

The square lit up with blinding yellow electricity that shot skyward.

"Very good. Savitar's last wish is now complete."

Bardi nodded. Beneath his fierce helmet, his gaze swept coldly over the time remnants.

The final wish—the reincarnation cycle that gave birth to Savitar could finally end at this moment.

"Go to hell!!!"

In an instant, all the Flashes went berserk, bursting with yellow lightning as they charged toward Savitar.

Bardi stepped forward. In a flash, the silver arcs on his demonic armor flickered, and he vanished, leaving behind only swirling dust and residual silver sparks that crackled lightly.

None of the Flashes could track his speed.

Even with the super perception granted by the Speed Force, which could slow time to a crawl, Bardi left no trace.

Bang

Bang

Bang

Bang

Bang

Bang

Bang

A series of violent blasts echoed across the square. In an instant, the once dazzling arcs of yellow lightning vanished.

All 498 time remnants of the Flash had been completely atomized. They died without even realizing it, incapable of reacting to Bardi's speed.

The square returned to darkness.

Only one time remnant remained, face twisted with rage, as the main Flash rushed to Iris.

Savitar's demonic armor silently approached from behind, gliding like a ghost. His steel claws, sparking with silver arcs, rested on the trembling remnant's shoulder.

"Begin being Savitar..."

His deep, ruthless voice echoed from within the helmet. He grabbed the time remnant with his claws, flung him backward, and hurled him into a space-time wormhole Bardi had opened. This remnant would return to the past to become Savitar, completing the cycle of reincarnation and fulfilling Savitar's last wish.

Only by sending this remnant into the past, where he would face discrimination again and again, would he become Savitar—giving birth to the dark Savitar molded by their rejection.

Suddenly, Bardi's body relaxed. With Savitar's final wish fulfilled, Savitar was now freed from the timeline.

At this moment, Bardi could choose to use the quark structure of this body to construct a subsystem, dispersing himself through this universe, absorbing information to enhance himself.

Bardi had done this several times in the past, but never had someone interfered so quickly.

This time, Bardi chose not to do it.

Suddenly,

The Savitar armor on Bardi's body disintegrated into tiny starlike arcs and flowed back into him like a thousand electric currents.

Bardi rubbed the scar over his right eye. Using the Speed Force, he regenerated his cellular structure and erased the scar. Then, with a sweep of his hand, he styled his hair to match the Flash's exactly.

With a surge of divine speed, his body formed the familiar lightning suit.

He took a step, quietly appearing behind the grieving Flash who held Iris in his arms.

"You're not me! You're not Savitar..."

The Flash wept in grief, clutching Iris tightly.

Bardi stood behind him, reached out, and placed a hand on his shoulder. A powerful Speed Force vibration resonated through him, instantly shattering the Flash into atoms. He retrieved the Flash's contact group light ball from his brain, pinched it between his fingers, adjusted its frequency to synchronize, and pressed it into his own brain.

Bardi's expression instantly changed to one of grief, cradling Iris's corpse in sorrow.

Only ten seconds passed.

Cisco opened a breach with a shockwave and arrived with Caitlin, staring in shock at Barry holding the lifeless Iris.

(To be continued.)