The night sky above Metropolis returned to peace.
The dazzling white streak of light, along with that heart-pounding wild aura, vanished together.
Only Clark Kent and Kara Zor-El remained, suspended in mid-air.
The two looked at each other.
Clark raised his hand again, pressing the communicator by his ear.
"Barry? Barry! Can you hear me?"
"Zzz... zzzzzz..."
Only static from current, mixed with the howling wind, came from the communicator.
Clearly, Barry Allen's speed was too fast, so fast that conventional communication couldn't maintain a stable connection.
"He definitely can't hear us."
Kara paced agitatedly in the air, her arms crossed over her chest.
"He'd better not hear!"
She gritted her teeth.
"Otherwise, he'll turn Central City into his next free buffet!"
Just thinking about the small mountain of hundreds of stacked plates and the frighteningly long bill made her temples throb.
"My credit card..."
Kara's voice was tearful.
"That black card! Globally unlimited!"
"He... he actually crushed it!"
"Crushed! It!"
She stomped her foot in anger, and an invisible ripple spread through the air beneath her.
Looking at her cousin's fuming expression, Clark didn't know what to say for a moment.
Anger brought a healthy blush to her cheeks.
Her blue battle suit, due to the sudden stop, clung tightly to her body, perfectly outlining her vibrant, youthful curves.
Especially the 'S' symbol on her chest, representing hope, rose and fell with her rapid breathing.
Clark cleared his throat.
"Don't worry, Kara, Wayne Enterprises will handle the bill."
"It's not about the money!"
Kara raised her voice, her golden hair sweeping into a beautiful arc.
"It's an attitude problem! He has no sense of being family at all!"
Hearing the word 'family', Clark's expression also became complicated.
"I'm not worried about the bill."
His voice deepened.
"Barry's speed has a very special source, connected to a... special energy field."
"And Tel-Ror's energy, you felt it too."
"Too primal and savage, full of predatory intent."
"I don't know what will happen when these two completely opposite energies collide."
The anger on Kara's face gradually faded, replaced by a look of worry.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go now!"
"Alright!"
The night wind blew, carrying a chill.
They both looked towards Central City, their eyes filled with lingering concern.
Meanwhile, in Central City.
A red lightning bolt streaked across the night.
Barry Allen was enjoying the rush of adrenaline.
He had just tied up three jewelry store robbers with special ropes, like tamales, and hung them on the flagpole in front of the police station.
The entire process took 0.3 seconds.
Easy, enjoyable.
"Zzz... Clark... big... trouble... zzz..."
His earphone communication was intermittent.
"Big trouble?"
Barry smiled, not taking it seriously at all.
What trouble could there be?
Reverse Flash? Savitar? Or was Grodd trying to stir up trouble again?
As he thought, he planned his next route.
First, go to Jitters for a 'Flash' special, then get Iris her favorite caramel macchiato.
Perfect.
Just as he was humming a tune in good spirits.
A strong sense of oppression descended without warning.
Immediately after.
Boom—!
A deafening roar came from a few blocks away.
Barry subtly twisted his body, stopping instantly, and looked in the direction of the sound.
He saw the glass curtain wall of a distant skyscraper shattering from top to bottom, turning into a rain of glittering fragments.
His smile vanished.
He looked up.
A figure was quietly suspended hundreds of meters up in the night sky.
No flying vehicle, no magical fluctuations.
Just standing there in mid-air.
The next second.
Barry transformed into a streak of lightning, appearing before the figure.
"Hey, friend."
He put his hands on his hips, striking his most approachable pose.
"Did your pilot's license expire?"
"You were just speeding and damaged public property, and that repair bill won't be cheap."
Tel-Ror, suspended in the air, lowered his head.
His gaze swept over Barry's red suit and the lightning bolt emblem on his chest.
As if appraising an interesting item.
"You're the one who runs very fast?"
His voice calmly confirmed this fact.
"People usually call me the Flash."
Barry shrugged.
"One of the founding members of the Justice League, the guardian of Central City, the fastest man in the world."
"Are you looking for me? Need an autograph?"
Tel-Ror ignored his witty remark, instead closing his eyes.
He seemed to be perceiving Barry in a way that transcended vision.
A moment later, he opened his eyes.
"Your qi is very strange."
"It flows incredibly fast, like a chaotic current of electricity."
"But it's too dispersed, not solid at all."
This assessment made Barry feel a bit offended.
"Listen, I don't care what your 'qi' is."
"You need to come with me now and explain your destructive behavior."
Tel-Ror smiled.
It wasn't a happy smile, nor a mocking one.
Instead, it was the playful smile of a hunter who spots sufficiently interesting prey.
"Explain?"
"Alright."
He extended a finger and pointed at Barry.
"Let's fight."
"If you win, I'll go with you."
"If you lose..."
Barry wasn't even interested in hearing the rest of his sentence.
"Sorry, the word 'lose' isn't in my dictionary."
"Especially when it comes to speed."
Before he finished speaking.
His figure vanished into thin air.
A dazzling red lightning bolt, with Tel-Ror as its center, began to frantically circle the city.
He wanted to use absolute speed to give this arrogant fellow a taste of his power.
The red lightning shot up the tallest building in Central City, lightly touching the spire on the rooftop.
Then it swooped down, tracing a long golden path across the surface of the Central Park lake.
"See that?"
Barry's triumphant voice, transmitted to Tel-Ror's ears through high-speed air vibrations.
"That's speed!"
He subconsciously looked back.
Behind him, there was no one.
"Tch, looks like I've already shaken him off."
Barry felt a bit bored and was about to slow down and stop.
Just then.
A figure appeared ten meters in front of him without any warning.
It was still the black-haired man.
He was still floating in the air with his arms crossed, his eyes playful.
As if he hadn't moved from the start.
The light in Barry's eyes flickered violently, and his heart skipped a beat.
He made a sharp turn, and the gust of wind he created sent a roadside mailbox flying.
To shake off his opponent, he accelerated, rushing directly into a dark subway tunnel.
In the darkness, only the golden electrical arcs flickering around him illuminated the tracks ahead.
After traveling several kilometers underground, he was confident that he had completely shaken off that strange guy.
He burst out of another exit, seeing daylight again.
At the exit.
Tel-Ror was standing there, even lazily yawning.
"Too slow."
These two words hit Barry's heart like two heavy hammers.
This was definitely not just speed!
He no longer held anything back, nor did he have any thoughts of showing off.
Barry instantly pushed his speed to an unprecedented limit.
Streets, buildings, pedestrians... the entire world lost its concrete form in his eyes, turning into flowing streaks of colored light.
This was his speed, approaching the edge of the Speed Force.
In this state, time was almost static for him.
He should have felt safe.
"Is that all you've got?"
Barry felt his worldview collapsing.
He frantically squeezed out all his understanding of speed, all his insights into the Speed Force.
He wanted to run into the Speed Force!
Only by returning to his domain would he be safe!
Ahead.
Space began to distort, and golden cracks appeared out of thin air.
That was the entrance to the source of speed.
Every cell in his body cheered for it; just zero-point-zero-one seconds faster, and he would have... A hand, not particularly thick, but with a warm, dry touch.
It just casually rested on his right shoulder.
Buzz—!!!
Barry Allen, the man who claimed to be the fastest in the world.
Was forcibly... stopped from a near-light-speed run!
His terrifying kinetic energy, enough to smash a small asteroid, lost its outlet at this moment.
Rumble!
With him at the center, the asphalt road for a hundred meters around him cracked inch by inch, as if struck by an invisible giant hammer.
Ugly fissures spread wildly, and the uplifted earth and rock fragments were pulverized by the subsequent shockwave!
Barry remained frozen in his forward-leaning posture.
He trembled violently, and golden electrical arcs on his skin darted about like startled snakes.
But he couldn't move an inch further.
Nor could he break free from the seemingly ordinary hand on his shoulder.
"Your speed..."
Tel-Ror's voice, tinged with boredom and disappointment, came from behind him.
"Can it be faster?"
"Is this all you have?"