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Chapter 177: Where Is Darkseid? IV
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A Flash of surprise passed in the Flash's eyes as he eyed something behind Ian. From a gap in space, in the very concept of time, arose something dark... Death with its hands extended to take Ian's life away.
Something odd and incomprehensible was about to happen, and Ian was at the very core of it all.
Ian could see it all. He could see both the Flash and Wally West, and he could also see the Black Flash in sought of his Death.
This creature of Death didn't look too much different than other speedsters, when it comes to outfits at least.
He had a black uniform seeming to be melted to his skin. His eyes were hollow, seeming lifeless. His mouth was like that of a skeleton with his outfit digging deep into his face.
It was a horrifying picture, but nowhere as horrifying as the Black Flash's capabilities.
The Black Flash fulfills the role of Death for those who possess super-speed, returning them to the source of their powers: the Speed Force.
As such, he has the power to kill by touch, and a speed almost unrivaled by anything and everyone.
Ian found it very strange that such an entity is targetting him when he isn't a part of the speed force at all. His speed force is entirely his. It's special and completely separated from the universe's speed force.
'Is it because of what I'm trying to do?' Ian wondered in his mind. He was after all trying to assemble all of the cosmic forces together to create a greater force.
The black Flash must know exactly how dangerous that is, so he took it upon himself to stop him.
Many things still didn't make sense to Ian as his brain worked at a speed never thought possible, like the beam of light that enveloped him just as black Flash was about to touch him.
The beam of light's source was the sky, no, space. Afar far away space. It was a bright white light, very much different than the red beam that tried to take his life long ago.
All of them were speedsters, black Flash even surpassing the speed of light much to common sense's dismay, yet the beam of white light was instant, seemingly surpassing the concept of time itself.
Before anyone can react, Ian vanished, and it wasn't of his own volition. The black Flash was left there, confused while the Flash was on the verge of pissing himself.
The Flash's eyes twitched in light speed, comprehending the image before him, the image of black Flash's finger mere millimeters away from his face, a single push, and the Flash would be dead.
Ian on the other hand found himself in a state of pure confusion. He absolutely understood nothing of what was happening.
Things only became clearer when he switched from the Rose of still to the Rose of sage force. The world seemed to slow down as his brain computed everything at an incomprehensible rate.
Ian saw many things, but he couldn't react to any of them. He found himself teleported to space without his consent, making him wonder why the police of consent didn't stop this, such a violation of his rights.
Alas, Ian could only watch what appeared to be a spaceship, or what he would prefer to call a fucking metallic planet with how huge it was.
He happened to be in its path, in the very center of a bridge of light leading to its destination. Such a massive thing seemed to be moving at a speed surpassing that of light by far.
But Ian was sure it wasn't fast per se, it was more so messing with space, establishing a bridge to a destination far far away, and basically negating the concept of distance.
In the course of using the sage force, Ian came to the conclusion that he was set up by quite the strong and resourceful being.
This being must know of his Death immunity which is exactly why he placed him in such a situation. The being's target should be within the ship.
He must be hoping for his Death immunity to trigger and reverse the situation with an equal amount of Death certainty.
Ian was quite sure that the certainty of his Death at the moment was 100%, so he waited with bated breath, what'll happen?
"So much Death... I... Finally... Out" Outside of the boundaries of time, a voice reverberated throughout existence at the same exact singularity.
Everyone heard the words being spoken in a singular instance, but almost no one managed to comprehend them. In fact, very few were able to comprehend anything because their brain couldn't understand what cannot be understood.
Right before Ian, something crawled out of the darkness of space. It couldn't be called a being for it wasn't, and it was no creature.
It was something dark, something that isn't supposed to exist, and certainly something that shouldn't have appeared here.
'Nekron?' Ian has never been more speechless. Of course he knew who was before him. With his connection to Death, how could he not know? How could he forget?
Rising from the darkness was a thing akin to a dark skeleton, but it was not. If the spaceship wasn't massive enough, then this thing showed a whole new realm of what massive can be.
The thing must be the size of a continent, and if that wasn't enough, the thing held an inky scythe in his hand, a weapon many times bigger than it, seemingly able to slice the Earth apart with a simple swing.
Nekron, the Lord of the Unliving, one of the most powerful forces in the universe, able to summon the dead to serve him towards whatever ends he might seek.
Nekron is a physical manifestation of the concept of death as a cosmic certainty, being born from the shattering of the Emotional Spectrum and serving as the Emotional Embodiment of Black; Death.
He is the direct counterpart to the Life Entity and the ultimate opponent of all life that exists.
Ian's eyes caught the Nekron's eyes shoot open. In contrast to Nekron's ominous presence, his eyes spoke of beauty, bright Turquoise eyes.
And that is the last thing Ian saw before the spaceship collided with Nekron's back.
It was like a Deja vu to Ian. It happened before when Reverse Flash kindly stood in front of a red beam for him, and now Nekron itself took the burnt of the collision for him.
Why Nekron appeared before him was left unanswered for now though considering they both have a connection to Death, it's easy to assume that it's because of it.
All Ian could do at that instance was do something that takes nothing but a thought... The Rose of Fear.
And so, a galaxy vanished from the known universe, leaving absolutely nothing to speak of its legacy. Everything, anything, and all things disappeared just because of that single collision.
Ian survived, albeit barely. It was as if Reality wanted him to go through such experiences, one sorrier than the other.
The orchestrator behind the event on the other hand looked terrified. He was absolutely horrified by many things that took place before his very eyes.
The Highfather, the ruler of New Genesis, a powerful New God who seeks to bring peace to the Multiverse and destroy his eternal enemy and brother Darkseid.
The only thing is that he doesn't mind getting his hands dirty for that goal, especially for the destruction of Darkseid. One might even say that he lost his way in the path of trying to kill Darkseid.
It after all led him here, watching the absolute monstrosity that just took place because Darkseid was within the spaceship, or at least that's how it was supposed to be.
The Highfather perked up from his throne in absolute fright, his cosmic awareness alerting him of a certain fact... Darkseid wasn't within the spaceship despite that same cosmic sense telling him just a second ago that he was in there.
"Where is Darkseid????!!!"