Central City.
Barry Allen was streaking naked through the city, with a squad of armored Kryptonians in pursuit, slightly slower than him.
"What in the World is going on?!"
At this moment, Barry was in utter despair.
Here's what happened: He was diligently attending class at school, and just as he was engrossed in the lesson, a group of burly men descended from the sky, attempting to abduct him on the spot.
Barry, of course, couldn't just surrender. He was, after all, a metahuman now, so he immediately tried to use his super speed to deal with these guys.
At the time, he was still fantasizing, 'Could it be like in superhero comics, where once the protagonist gains superpowers, they inevitably face their first opponent?'
Then he, Barry Allen, was also a protagonist!
This greatly excited Barry Allen, whose inner chuunibyou still lingered.
However, Barry was quickly taught a lesson by reality.
He had initially intended to gently push them over, but the weight that would usually budge with a slight push now didn't move an inch.
Barry was puzzled for a long time, only to push harder, but as he truly began to exert force, he noticed one of the guys was actually tilting his head, watching him!
This greatly shocked Barry, as within his Speed Force domain, he had never encountered anyone whose mind could perceive him!
Since gaining his powers, Barry had occasionally used his abilities in front of outsiders, but those people had never seen his face, not even his Shadow.
He was a very intelligent student, so he could sense that the essence of his ability was not just simple speed.
More accurately, when he accelerated, he entered a domain of speed. He wasn't a researcher in this specialized field, so he couldn't quite explain it.
But he felt that when using his superpower, he seemed to enter a rift space between reality and time.
In this space, although he could interact with people or objects from the outside World, the fundamental flow of time and physical laws were different.
With Barry's knowledge, he could only understand this much.
After gaining this superpower, his biggest difficulty was his uniform.
When he ran at extreme speeds, his clothes would rub against the air at high velocity, accumulating a large amount of heat and electrical charge.
Within fifty meters, all the fabric on his body would burn to ashes due to the extremely high temperature.
It was strange, though; although his clothes would burn, Barry himself was fine, and he didn't suffer any foot injuries from his shoes burning up during his runs.
But even so, he couldn't run naked every time!
So he was currently trying to devise a uniform that could withstand high-speed abrasion and release excess electrical charge, but he hadn't had time to create it before these strange guys came knocking.
Once his speed was matched, Barry was just an ordinary student.
He had neither Batman's fighting skills, nor Superman's immense strength, nor Shazam's magic power... Wait, could he release lightning by accumulating electrical charge?
It seemed worth trying, but definitely not now.
When those Kryptonians discovered Barry was trying to attack them, they immediately counterattacked.
Fortunately, their speed still couldn't match Barry's, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.
But even so, these people were very fast, and Barry could only try his best to escape their attacks, running with all his might.
And then he ran right out of his clothes, pants, and shoes.
If he started running out of fear of being caught by those Kryptonians, he was now running because he dared not stop; once he stopped, he would suffer immediate social Death.
But Barry wouldn't have to worry about that for long, because Hespera had been waiting for him up ahead for a long time.
"A very peculiar power."
Hespera was very sensitive to the forces of nature, so she could sense an extremely unique energy within Barry, an energy she had never encountered before.
"No wonder Hades sent me here specifically."
Hespera watched silently as Barry Allen ran towards her. She pointed a finger, directly freezing Barry in place.
At this point, Barry didn't yet know how to perform many intricate maneuvers with the Speed Force; he hadn't even come close to his running limit, so Hespera easily captured him.
However, the moment Barry stopped, his entire body was completely exposed. Hespera's eyelid twitched, but then she quickly regained her composure.
She was an "old" Goddess of Mount Olympus; what kind of arsenal hadn't she seen? Barry's model was truly nothing in her eyes.
But having been confined to the divine realm for too long, Hespera hadn't tasted a man in a very long time, so even she didn't realize she was looking at Barry's lower half a bit too often.
Barry's face flushed crimson. He was still a virgin, and he couldn't withstand Hespera's fiery gaze.
If he hadn't been completely immobilized, he would have wished for a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Moreover, Hespera, having consumed the golden apple, had significantly regained her youth; she now appeared to be a mature woman in her thirties, naturally exerting a suppressive effect on a young man like Barry.
The Gods of the Greece pantheon were generally quite uninhibited, so Hespera was actually considering whether to enjoy herself with Barry before handing him over to Hades.
Although she was a Goddess, she also had needs!
But before she could act, she suddenly heard a sonic boom from a distance, and Hespera's heart immediately skipped a beat.
She quickly looked in the direction of the sound, and sure enough, just as she thought, Shazam was coming!
Barry also followed her gaze, and upon seeing him, he was overjoyed, unable to help but shout out: "Shazam—! Save me!"
Dane looked over, and his lightning eyes almost went blind; all that pale flesh was truly an eyesore!
He quickly averted his gaze, focusing on Hespera, then accelerated and charged towards her. Around Hespera, an ethereal Fire ignited, and another squad of Kryptonian Soldiers materialized from the flames, flying towards Dane.
They formed a formation in the air, jointly grabbing Dane's limbs.
Under their encirclement, Dane threw them off one by one, occasionally using his lightning vision to attack them.
His lightning strike vision contained the divine power of thunder, so those who were hit inevitably retreated, but these Kryptonians had strong regenerative abilities, and it was daytime, giving them ample power from the sun.
Thus, with the Kryptonians' relentless assault, Dane was temporarily held back.
Hespera dared not delay any longer and quickly used magic to teleport Barry to the Underworld.
But before Barry disappeared, Dane suddenly threw an object, sticking it onto Barry's body, then watched him vanish.
By this time, those Kryptonians were almost surrounding him like a ball; he was now beset from all sides, with Kryptonians all over him.
He concentrated the divine power within his body in his chest, and it instantly erupted, a massive explosion forming a powerful divine energy shockwave that blasted all the Kryptonians away.
Immediately after, he teleported in front of Hespera, grabbing her by the neck.
"What do you want with Barry Allen?"
"You know this young boy?" Hespera was a little surprised; despite being held by the neck, she remained composed.
"He is Hades's designated target."
Dane frowned: "Why?"
But then his thoughts stirred, as if answering himself: "Is it for his power?"
"You are very clever; indeed it is."
Hespera nodded, marveling at the wisdom of the current Shazam, but this did not change the fact that they were enemies.
"Hades discovered a nascent power being born in the Universe, and the source of that power is that boy."
Dane immediately understood; Hades was indeed after the Speed Force.
In the DC Universe, the fundamental basis of the World's existence is not the four fundamental forces; because this is a World built upon creationism, its foundation is even more bizarre.
The operation of the Multiverse relies on something called Anti-Crisis Energy, and this energy is divided into seven major parts in the Universe.
Namely: Speed Force, Emotional Spectrum, Life Force, God Realm, Collective Unconscious, Dimensional Structure, and Loyalty.
These seven cosmic forces are the foundation of the Multiverse; these energies shaped the Multiverse, imbuing it with concepts such as emotion, magic, knowledge, and wisdom.
Dane's powers—divine power and magic—originated from the God Realm.
Barry Allen, however, was different; he was both a user of the Speed Force and its creator.
When that lightning bolt struck Barry Allen, the Speed Force began to generate, connecting the Multiverse together...
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