The city was dark. Black lightning tore through the sky. Barry, now touched by the Black Force, felt time differently—thicker, sicker.
— You know this choice has a price, warned an inner voice.
Barry, with clouded eyes and a darkened suit, whispered:
— I've lost everyone. I won't lose time too.
---
Lucas felt it.
— A new presence… distorted. Corrupted.
He appeared in a ruined field, where Barry was waiting.
— Finally decided to run like a monster?
— I'm not like you, Barry replied coldly. — But if I have to walk through darkness to stop you… then so be it.
Lucas laughed.
— Welcome to reality.
Then they clashed.
The fight was violent. Neither held back.
Lucas used blue energy and his spectral clones. Barry summoned shadows that duplicated him in alternate speeds.
— This isn't you, Barry! — Lucas shouted while striking.
— No, but maybe it's what you deserve! — Barry countered, hitting him with a burst of dark lightning.
They flew over buildings, each blow creating temporal shockwaves that cracked the fabric of time.
Barry trapped Lucas for a moment in a dimensional snare.
But Lucas still smiled.
— You're becoming what you hate.
Barry replied, panting:
— Better to hate myself… than let you win.
---
Lucas gathered his clones.
— There are fragments in time that resist my influence. Stored power. Sealed by the ancient Orders of the Force.
One clone, the most violent, spoke:
— You want to rule Eternity?
— No — Lucas said. — I want to rewrite it.
---
The Temporal Gems were hidden across lost Earths:
Gem of Constancy (Earth-23)
Gem of Repetition (Earth-11)
Gem of the Beginning (Earth-Prime, 10th century)
Lucas hunted them one by one. He destroyed guardians. Fought temporal entities. Subjugated time-knights.
On Earth-11, he faced medieval versions of speedsters—and defeated them without mercy.
With all three gems collected, he embedded them in his chestplate. A triangular symbol formed.
— Now… no one can stop me.
---
Zatanna. Magical Batman. John Constantine. Speedster-X (Raijin). All assembled.
On Earth-19, a dimensional refuge, Barry arrived exhausted.
— He'll strike soon — he warned.
Raijin, the spiritual lightning speedster, asked:
— If he's already defeated all of you, why keep fighting?
Barry answered:
— Because the only thing faster than light… is hope.
---
Lucas arrived with his clones.
Zatanna raised a magic shield.
— Halt, creature!
— You speak as if you still have a choice — Lucas said, advancing.
The battle was epic.
Constantine used time-runes to trap clones.
Zatanna sealed Lucas briefly.
Raijin summoned an electric dragon.
But Lucas advanced. He destroyed Raijin. Broke the seal. Killed two clones to absorb their strength.
Zatanna screamed:
— He's feeding on his own army!
And then, the alliance fell.
Lucas rose over the bodies, eyes burning blue.
— Next Earth.
---
Chapter 24 – The Fall of the Clones
At the heart of his blue fortress, Lucas felt something was wrong.
His clones… were becoming corrupted. Unstable. Glitching.
One of them, the oldest, tried to confront him.
— You don't need us anymore. We exist… only as reflections.
Lucas approached with disdain:
— Reflections… shatter.
And he destroyed them.
One by one.
All seven.
In the end, alone, Lucas felt… emptiness.
— What happens when even my creations fear me?
The Blue Force spoke within him:
— Then you are ready… to be the only one.