152 An Odd Paradox VI
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Chapter 147: An Odd Paradox VI
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And he didn't have much time to contemplate things because the world was dying at an accelerated rate, much faster than Lucifer anticipated, quite odd, isn't it?
You see, this multiverse is quite odd in the sense that everything and everyone finds a reason to seek its destruction at some point in their life.
The world is very fair in that sense because of how many timelines and alternate worlds there are. That led to everyone basically experiencing the taste of destruction in one way or another.
In this current timeline, in this universe, there are plenty of people or beings like that. They wish the universe would cease to exist in a snap.
And now, there is an opportunity. It might take a while, but the paradox was certainly creating destruction to the point a large portion of Gotham became uninhabitable.
Cracks could be seen everywhere, quickly expanding. Getting close to them led to nothing. You just cease to exist, or at least that's the assumption made by the scientist of the US.
While Ian was away, Gotham was formally declared to be a dead land. Everyone was quickly evacuated before the city was closed down.
There was one exception to that, the Roses. They're a mystery to this current timeline's people, so most naturally assumed them to be associated with the paradox somehow.
Naturally, they'd want to hold them in captivity for interrogation. Alas, the Roses acted quickly as they simply vanished. They scattered away like ants crawling through holes invisible to the naked eye.
"Hmm, the green lantern power battery is still with Batman... To bad. My main timeline would've had way less destruction if it reached its destination in this timeline."
A gleam passed through Ian's eyes as he observed a few things. Giving away the power battery wasn't a thoughtless thing, but a scheme for a greater plan.
One of the things he finds to be the most fun in his pursuit of answers is collecting things. It all started with robbing grocery stores with the boys.
It escalated quickly from then to running an entire grocery robbing business. What followed was the heist of the diamond from the Gotham Museum of antics.
And it only went on to grow. His collection grew to unfathomable heights. He even acquired the Batmobile, and the Batwing, handed to him personally by Batman as a reward for getting rid of Doomsday.
Those were one of the rewards of the job. The most important of which was of course information Batman acquired somehow, but he still valued the addition to his collection.
Now, it reached a whole new universe. His collection involved things of unfathomable power, and he'd say it's growing well.
The staff of all things, an artifact quickly growing to be one of the strongest artifacts there ever was.
Filling each vessel with a new thing is such an enjoyable thing to him it became addicting.
Not just that, combining different energies together to see the results is even more fun, especially since he wants to perfect every energy in the vessels, and he knows he's very far away from that.
Indeed, he felt it long ago, none of the forces in the vessels feel perfect. He always felt something was missing despite the exquisite collection he had going on.
[First Vessel: Kryptonian energies (Red and Green)]
[Second Vessel: Orange speed force]
[Third Vessel: Light and darkness]
[Fourth Vessel: Magic and Mystic energies]
[Fifth Vessel: Divinity]
[Sixth Vessel: Force Of Evolution]
It was an exquisite collection, but it wasn't enough. It wasn't nearly good enough for all the good work he has done for the world, and the world agrees because what happened next was very fortunate.
You see, one of Ian's scariest opponents was none other than Reverse Flash. The guy has a goal, and he will stop at nothing to achieve it.
The changes in time definitely didn't affect him because he's also a conduit of the speed force. Moreover, he was way faster than Ian, and it isn't even close.
A lot of time passed since their last confrontation, and Ian worked hard on developing his Speed force, but it's still so much weaker than the true speed force, a force supported by the universe itself.
Ian knew that even with his speed supported by the Rose of speed and Lucifer's wings, he'd still look like a snail to Reverse Flash, so avoided him for a long time.
The only method he could see working out against the speedster is setting up a trap, but Reverse Flash must be very cautious of him after their latest interaction.
In fact, he should be even more cautious knowing he isn't affected by the change in time.
Luckily his work was cut out for him because before Ian's very eyes was Reverse Flash taking his last breaths with a sword in his chest, bleeding heavily.
"So unfortunate... I wanted to do it myself." Ian crouched next to the man, looking into his desperate eyes in sought of any satisfaction.
What Reverse Flash made him go through was... Well, Ian hated it despite it not being much, he just led him to become a piece of charcoal as well as feeling that sense of powerlessness under the power of motion.
It was one of his most hated moments in this world if not the most, so it was truly unfortunate that he felt no satisfaction knowing he didn't make him suffer himself.
However, a bright smile emerged on Ian's pale face as he eyed the man, "But worry not, we will meet again. I assure you of that. I've already met a different version of you, so meeting you again shouldn't be a challenge, right?"
Ian even went as far as to pat his shoulder to assure him, "Who knows, perhaps we'll even... No, I better not spoil my gift for you. That'd be rude."
He could see traces of fear emerging in his eyes. He knows exactly what Ian means when he says a gift, he just doesn't know what'll happen when the gift is opened.
"As I thought, you were planning something," Batman stated who was surprisingly standing next to Ian, and next to him was also another Batman.
Two Batmans at the same time and one would be even more surprised to find out that they were the ones to put down Reverse Flash, well, it was specifically Thomas Wayne, the Batman from this world.
The man was the true terror of the crime because he did nothing but kill. In fact, he'd consider it a failure not to kill his targets, and so, Reverse Flash naturally ended up lying on the floor, dying with Thomas's own sword in his chest.
What's even more surprising was that Bruce didn't seem against it, or at least, he didn't seem bothered by his father's action. The duo of father and son must've talked through things and reached a consensus, surprisingly.
"Yeah, and you two are weird, like, how did this happen?" Ian however as always focused on the important questions. How the fuck did two normal heroes with no superhuman abilities to speak of kill someone faster than light?
Like, Ian has never been so confused. I mean, he remembers something like this happening in Flashpoint, but this is different because the Flash isn't here.
He knows the Flash is far away, so things couldn't have gone the same way. In the Flashpoint, Reverse Flash was distracted by the Flash, allowing Thomas to kill him.
Even that doesn't make much sense considering Reverse Flash's speed. He'd have plenty of time to move away once he felt the sword peck him because it will be in slow motion.
However, he can ignore that because the word distraction was involved, and distractions can't be measured with common sense, so it all made perfect sense.
Now, however, seeing Reverse Flash, one of the fastest beings in the entirety of existence fall before two relatively powerless mortals, Ian was kinda speechless.
It would take 25,000 years to reach the nearest galaxy to ours if you traveled at the speed of light. In Reverse Flash's perspective, that's how long it would take for the sword to go through him, starting from when he felt it pocking him.
So one has to wonder. What the fuck happened? Bruce's answer was, "It's complicated." As he wisely stroked his chin.
"I see," Ian nodded in full understanding, "You bought out the universe, didn't you?" The most charitable of them all couldn't help but let out a sigh, "As I thought, the universe is a corrupted piece of shit..."
