"Hey, this guy's not easy to deal with!" Barry said with a grin. He was the one who'd pulled Bruce out of the beetle demon's attack range at the last second.
He didn't know if Bruce could've survived that second attack, but he knew very well how terrifying the beetle demon's strikes were.
The two turned around and looked behind them. The beetle demon stood up from the sunken crater, twisted its neck, and stared at them with those six malicious eyes.
"HISSSS!!!!"
With a loud hissing sound, the beetle demon disappeared again. But this time, pure white lightning suddenly lit up and blocked the demon's path to Bruce.
Crackle crackle crackle...
The sound of electrical current filled the air. Bruce could now see The Flash and the beetle demon fighting at incredibly high speed right in front of him.
Both moved at extreme velocity, but The Flash's speed was enough to completely overwhelm the demon. Bruce could see countless fists striking the beetle demon from all directions simultaneously.
Barry had stopped the beetle demon's advance and chosen to engage it directly, his body wrapped in white lightning as he traded blows with the creature.
Their speed amazed Bruce. This level of velocity was truly the first time he'd witnessed anything like it.
"I wonder what Marcus would do in a situation like this?" Bruce thought to himself.
The man and demon were moving so fast that he couldn't intervene at all.
Compared to Bruce's inner surprise, Barry—who was actively fighting—felt particularly excited.
He'd gained considerable power from the ring. Although this power couldn't make him faster, it significantly enhanced his body's capabilities.
Even the lightning covering his body could now be controlled at will, without having to enter a super-high-speed state like before to gather electrical current for attacks.
This development thrilled him. Even when facing the beetle demon, he didn't feel as nervous anymore.
"Come on and try this move!" Barry's voice rang out.
Hundreds of fists, wrapped in milky white currents, fiercely bombarded the beetle demon from every angle.
This could only be achieved through super-high-speed movement. His extreme velocity allowed all his attacks to land almost simultaneously.
The power that burst out wasn't just simple ordinary punches. When hundreds of strikes hit at the same time, even though his individual strength wasn't as great as the beetle demon's, the cumulative force would definitely drive the creature back.
BOOM~
Barry's attack and the beetle demon's counterattack collided violently. A shockwave clearly visible to the naked eye burst out instantly, with countless pure white electrical arcs crackling throughout.
"So speed is power..." Bruce understood as he watched the collision between Barry and the beetle demon.
He could see clearly that Barry's individual strike power wasn't comparable to the beetle demon's. But through extremely high speed and pure white electrical current, Barry had reached the same level of attack force as the demon.
"It seems the contingency plans for enhanced individuals need to be upgraded to a higher priority," Bruce thought grimly. "Barry has only had superpowers for a short time, yet he already has this kind of terrifying destructive power. If there are stronger ones out there, they could rival those Kryptonians."
The strength of the Kryptonians had been lingering in his mind ever since that incident. Although they'd successfully defeated those Kryptonians with Marcus's help, what if Marcus wasn't there next time?
How would they fight enhanced individuals then?
Therefore, after witnessing the Kryptonians' abilities, Bruce had begun considering contingency plans for all enhanced individuals—not just Kryptonians, but anyone with superhuman abilities.
Yes, he was planning countermeasures against all enhanced people. He wasn't just guarding against them—he wanted to master methods of defeating them if necessary.
But for now, he hadn't found reliable ways to restrain such individuals. He didn't even have a solid plan for handling Kryptonians yet.
Continuing to watch Barry and the beetle demon fight, Bruce suddenly seemed to remember something and shouted loudly.
"Electrical current! Its weakness is electricity! Attack with large amounts of electrical current!"
He remembered the beetle demon's reaction when he'd attacked it with the electrified harpoons earlier. The creature's body had been shaking constantly from the paralysis caused by the current. This was a weakness—at least one they could exploit.
After hearing Bruce's words, the current around Barry's arms became much more dense and concentrated.
Although his arms had been surrounded by electricity before, that was just to accelerate his limb movements and enhance his attacks.
But now, the pure white electrical current gathered in his palms like he was a modern Zeus, wielding lightning to judge demons.
BOOOOM!!!
With a deafening roar, Bruce watched as a massive lightning bolt shot straight toward the beetle demon.
This attack consumed more than half the energy in Barry's ring. The current covering his body changed from pure white to a faint yellow as the power drained.
The attack caused considerable damage to the beetle demon—its right arm was completely obliterated from the shoulder down.
The lightning column had nearly killed it. If the demon hadn't sensed the threat at the last moment and started moving, it would've been blasted straight through its body.
The severed stump was smoking, and there was no sign of the arm regenerating. Obviously, the heavenly power within the lightning was destroying the wound, preventing healing.
"Is this really the power of this ring?" Barry stared at his own hands in shock.
As the one who'd released that attack, even he was amazed. He'd never imagined he could unleash such a powerful strike.
However, he also noticed a problem with his ring. Its full power had clearly weakened now. If this continued, it wouldn't take long for the energy in the ring to completely disappear.
"Did you figure it out?" Bruce said quietly. "The ring's power isn't unlimited. You need to recharge its energy regularly."
He looked at the beetle demon slowly standing up again.
"But now isn't the time for recharging."
Bruce's body rushed forward. The energy rapier in his hand drew an arc of light in the air, cutting a crack in space itself as he attacked the beetle demon.
He wasn't the type to talk endlessly when he had the advantage. Years of combat had taught him that only defeated enemies were good enemies.
Gotham's Arkham Asylum was home to those insane criminals. But these demons? He would personally send them to Hell where they belonged.
SLASH~
One sword strike flashed out. The beetle demon raised its remaining arm to block. It truly couldn't resist Barry's lightning column, but that didn't mean it couldn't defend against other attacks.
Black energy spread across its arm as it raised it to block Bruce's rapier.
The rapier was indeed blocked, but the spatial rift didn't stop at all—it instantly pierced through the beetle demon's arm.
The hard shell on the limb was directly severed by the space crack. The entire arm was cut into two pieces. The severed piece fell to the ground, and the fluids within it mixed with black energy, burning like flames.
This sudden loss of another limb drove the beetle demon completely insane. Black energy covered its entire body, and it began transforming in front of them.
The originally smooth shell suddenly grew countless vicious-looking spikes. Even the two severed arms were rapidly regrowing within the dark energy.
"Barry! We're detecting a massive energy surge. What's happening there?" a voice came through Barry's communicator. It was Cisco, one of the STAR Labs staff members who'd also made his combat suit.
"It's hard to explain what's happening here," Barry said quickly. "I can only tell you that I met a demon—a demon that's almost impossible to kill!"
A demon?
The people at STAR Labs looked at each other in confusion. They could accept all kinds of metahumans, but why was a demon appearing now?
"Is 'demon' just the name of a new metahuman?" Cisco suggested hesitantly.
That was the only way he could rationalize it. Maybe the metahuman Barry was facing had abilities similar to mythical demons.
"That must be it," Dr. Harrison Wells said from his wheelchair, frowning. "After all, none of us knows what kinds of metahumans are out there."
But Harrison was different from Cisco and the others. He knew things about the future that they didn't. That's what made this strange.
Demons did exist. In the future timeline he knew, there would be not only super-powered individuals but also magicians—people who wielded actual magic. Among them was one particular magician who'd been fighting demons constantly, someone almost all demons wanted to destroy.
But that was in other places. At least in Central City, he'd never heard of demons appearing.
Frowning at the monitor, he decided he needed to watch carefully and make sure nothing happened to The Flash.
Back at the battle scene, Bruce and Barry looked grim. After the beetle demon's body transformed, they attacked it again.
But the hideous new shell had become even stronger. They couldn't break through it at all, let alone kill the demon.
At this moment, Bruce finally understood Constantine's frustrations. Demon power was simply too strong—they weren't a match for these creatures at all.
They had to hold out and wait for the backup Bruce had called to arrive.
Yes, Bruce had called for reinforcements directly after realizing the two of them couldn't kill this thing.
Neither he nor Barry could compete with the beetle demon in a direct confrontation. Their strength was like a child's compared to this demon.
They might be able to stall it, but defeating it was absolutely impossible. Most importantly, the power in their rings was nearly exhausted.
This was the real reason he'd called for help. Neither he nor The Flash were exorcists proficient in magic spells. They couldn't use what little remaining power they had to launch truly devastating attacks.
"We just need to hold it off until support arrives!" Bruce shouted.
"Got it!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Barry transformed into lightning and rushed toward the beetle demon. This time he didn't choose to trade blows with it at all. Instead, he continuously released electrical current to disrupt the dense demonic energy surrounding it.
Bruce also controlled the Batfighter, extending two machine gun barrels aimed at the beetle demon.
They weren't trying to kill it anymore—just stall it and keep it here until help came.
Meanwhile, in Smallville
"Bruce's distress signal?" Marcus suddenly received a call from Alfred. The elderly butler anxiously explained everything.
Bruce's distress signal was something he'd never used before, so when Alfred discovered it had been activated, he was genuinely alarmed.
Then he thought of who could help. Bruce couldn't defeat this opponent, so naturally Alfred's old bones wouldn't fare any better.
But he knew who could help Bruce. One was Superman in the neighboring city, and the other was Marcus on the farm in the countryside.
When he thought of these two, he immediately called Marcus.
It wasn't that he didn't want to contact Clark, but because he didn't have Clark's phone number. If he wanted to find Clark, he'd have to fly to Metropolis, which would take time. It was much faster to notify Marcus, who he could reach immediately.
After learning it was Bruce's distress signal, Marcus was quite surprised.
What on earth had his student encountered that made him call for help so decisively?
After asking for the signal's location, Marcus was stunned again. He hadn't expected that Bruce's distress signal was coming from Central City.
"What's that kid doing there?" Marcus muttered to himself.
He temporarily said goodbye to Jonathan and Martha, asking them not to go out. Then he was shrouded in thick void energy and teleported away.
"Central City is that speedster kid's territory—the one who can mess with timelines," Marcus thought during the teleport. "The enemies here should be some kind of metahumans, right?"
In Marcus's understanding, most of The Flash's enemies were metahumans with various superpowers. Only a few had no inherent abilities.
For example, Captain Cold fought The Flash with a freeze gun. Although that gun was modified with technology that could affect the Speed Force, it had to be admitted that Barry's rogues gallery almost all had some kind of powers.
Thinking of the Speed Force, Marcus suddenly smiled. He happened to lack that particular type of energy, so he'd just collect some new power during this trip.
His entire body rapidly changed in a stream of light, transforming into silver-white streamlined armor—Gauss.
"I wonder how much the Speed Force will enhance this frame!" Marcus chuckled.
He channeled power enhancement into the Gauss armor. Almost instantly, the frame's capabilities began surging upward.
The next moment, Marcus transformed into a blue streak of light and rushed toward Bruce and Barry's location.
BOOM!!!
Bruce blocked the space in front of him again, turning the invisible fabric of space into a solid wall to stop the beetle demon's attack.
But his power had nearly hit rock bottom. After blocking a few more strikes, he'd have no other options left.
The beetle demon slammed against the spatial barrier, releasing a high-pitched hissing sound. Then it attacked Bruce with all its might again, shattering the ground beneath it as it launched forward.
The moment the beetle demon moved, Barry—who'd been harassing it constantly—took action first. Golden lightning burst from his body. Before the demon's attack could land, he grabbed Bruce and moved him to another location at super speed.
BOOOM!!!
The ground shattered even more violently. There was almost no flat terrain left around them—everything had been smashed by this creature.
Hissss...
The beetle demon was hissing again when suddenly—
BOOM!!!
A violent impact sounded, and the demon was sent flying far away.
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