"According to the normal timeline, I eventually take those dark powers, but not because I need them, only because the mysterious entity peeking into my brain learns where this power resides, and I can sense its greed."
"Before, I had no other powers, I could only delay this matter by refusing to satisfy its desires. But when I awakened my Divine Speed, I thought this speed could control this power, so I took it to prevent those monsters from rushing in and detonating the energy."
"But at that time, I had just obtained Divine Speed, my control over it wasn't stable, this power gradually fused with my Divine Speed, but I didn't notice, or even if I did, I couldn't stop it, the corrosiveness of this power is astonishingly strong."
"Later, the dark energy completely turned into a part of the Divine Speed that I could control, when I ran, my world was dark, when I dragged anyone else into the black lightning, they were trapped and gradually devoured by the dark."
Shiller looked into his eyes, he understood from the young man's evasive gaze that he must have done this, but his conscience wouldn't let him admit it to anyone.
"Was it the enemy?"
"What?"
"The ones you devoured, were they the enemy?"
"Of course!" The Flash turned red as if insulted, he said, "Who else could it be?!"
"Then I don't think you should see that psychologist, he might call you stupid because you devoured the enemy but feel guilty, and then spend about six hours trying to explain to you the need to reduce moral sensitivity."
The Flash was dumbfounded, then he said somewhat flustered: "At that time, I was just for self-defense... forget it, that's not the point."
"You say you lose control, under what circumstances?"
"When I'm excessively emotional, my inner dark emotions will enhance the dark power, when it surpasses Divine Speed, they will both burst out."
"And then?"
"Then I just lose control."
"What I asked is, what destruction do you cause when you lose control."
"Err... there will be people who will stop me, or when I'm about to lose control, Jason will take this out." The Flash reached behind his waist and pulled out a Freeze Gun, waved it in his hand and said, "He will freeze me and then I can't move - honestly, this thing is quite handy."
"Usually when I get frozen before I activate Divine Speed, I can't enter Divine Speed anymore. But there were a few times I was already in Divine Speed but lost control, I lost my direction, but in the end, they still brought me back."
Shiller nodded and said: "Okay, and then?"
"What else is there?" The Flash asked a little puzzled, he said a bit anxiously: "I just lost control a few days ago, I can't keep going like this, it's a very dangerous thing!"
"Has anyone ever told you that?"
"Isn't that common sense?" The Flash exclaimed: "What if they didn't freeze me, I would have destroyed the world!"
"Another question, where are you living now?"
"Err... Gotham."
"Okay, I believe if unprevented, disasters that might destroy the world occur approximately 3,000 times a day in Gotham, I guess you could make it into the top 1,500. Why don't you go get an award from Batman."
"I..." The Flash opened his mouth wide.
"Why didn't you go find the Shiller from your timeline?"
"He's not around lately, and I haven't finished my thesis."
"Then why don't you today..."
"I'm not here to write a thesis." The Flash said, somewhat despairingly: "I'm distraught, so I was thinking whether or not I should tell my former self, who had just awakened Divine Speed, not to take that dark energy, having Divine Speed is enough!"
"Then will another you from a different timeline replace you?"
"That would be better, anyway that's me too, it's better if I disappear."
Shiller sighed a little helplessly, he leaned back in his chair and said: "If your friends don't find this bothersome and never suggested you to improve, it means they don't actually care about these things at all."
"If your elders have never blamed you for this decision, have never called it a mistake, it means they think it might be a bit dangerous, but you can handle it."
Shiller picked up his teacup and took a sip of water and said: "I guess, you are at the age where you feel like the whole world is watching your every move, but what I want to say is, you are not the center of the world, humans probably prevent 10 million dangerous actions that if not stopped, could destroy the world every day, Gothamites have been either preventing these dangers or becoming these dangers since birth, you're just one more."
Just as The Flash was about to speak, Shiller interrupted him, saying, "I think you should listen to your own advice. You could go talk to the young Barry, tell him all the possible consequences before you make any choices and ask him what he would choose."
"That's how it is." The Flash, standing in divine speed force, looked into Barry's eyes and said, "If you use divine speed to leave here now, then I will disappear, and another version of me in the alternate timeline will replace me. He will be a normal Flash, free from the troubles of dark power and losing control, and you won't remember this."
After a moment of thought, Barry asked, "Have you used this power to help others?"
The Flash was taken aback, then replied, "I guess so. I can't say that I've been very effective in certain things, but I tried my best."
Barry suddenly laughed and said, "I thought so, otherwise your friends... I mean, my future friends would not be willing to help me out of trouble time and again."
The Flash blinked, seemingly contemplating the meaning behind these words. Young Barry didn't have such complex thoughts, he spread his hands and said: "Surely it is because your contribution outweighs the danger you bring, so no one blames you, and they try their best to help you, right?"
After a pause, The Flash replied, "But it's not necessary to use this dark power."
"When you took this power, was it just to prevent others from getting it?"
"Not entirely..." The Flash took a deep breath. Facing his younger self, he seemed to open up and said something he had never told his other friends, "I thought I could help Batman. I knew he wanted to save Gotham, and I wanted to do the same. No matter what others say, I think those people are quite pitiful. I thought maybe if I give him this power, he could discover the secret of Gotham's darkness."
"I never intended to hog this power. But it was too late when I found out that it had fused with the divine speed. I didn't dare to tell Batman of this cosmos, because I thought he might consider me a thief. And maybe I really was one because it was only a matter of time before he discovered and got this power himself."
"So, did you get any results from your research?"
"I...didn't dare to study it too deeply," The Flash admitted after slight hesitation. "Someone told me that it could be quite useful, but I was truly terrified that it would leak out and cause pollution, or make me go mad. Given the number of lunatics in Gotham, my fear wasn't unfounded, right?"
"Thanks for the warning then. I'll remember to tell Batman about it later, and then let him study mine."
"No, wait, I am you from the future, if you tell Batman in advance, I might..."
The next moment, the speed force space filled with golden light collapsed, and Barry returned to the real world. He found that time had not moved at all. The monster's claw was still less than three inches above his head, threatening his skull and brain.
"Barry, I'm not joking, you'll die if this continues. Only this energy can save your life!" Doctor Strange's voice became stern.
Suddenly, Barry let go of his hand. He took a deep breath, and the boundless darkness surged into his body. He opened his chest, accepting this primal dark power. Doctor Strange's satisfied voice was blocked out before it even sounded.
Doctor Strange watched the dark energy permeate every cell of the boy. He knew that soon, the negative emotions would be released, and this boy would become a prisoner of power, more extreme and violent than himself. Everyone craved more after tasting power.
But suddenly, a glimmer of golden light appeared in the endless darkness, and then began to spread through the dark power at an incredible speed, until the two blended into one, inseparable.
Barry floated up, an endless energy storm swirling around him. The monsters stopped awe-inspiring at this spectacular view, lifting their heads to look at Barry.
A drop of black liquid fell, its clear sound echoing in the empty room. The liquid reflected a majestic golden sheen on its surface.
As the ripples spread out, the monsters vanished instantly.
"Why do I hear something over there?!" In another corridor of the maze, Spider-Man was running and shouting back, "Turn right, I can feel it's safe to the right!"
"I can still eat more, burp..." Helen's roar was caught in her throat by a burp. Spider-Man was carrying Aisha in one hand and Helen in the other. He roared angrily with a seldom angry tone in his voice, "You said there was good food underground! Risking our lives to run here, that's what got us trapped!"
"You're the one who is trapped, I could eat all of them!"
Despite Helen's yelling, she didn't struggle excessively and let Spider-Man carry her to run.
After all, in her current form, she couldn't swallow these monsters. If she wanted to return to her original Doomsday form, she would definitely break the ceiling. From the moment the ceiling was sealed, Helen knew there must be a plan by others. Unless it's an emergency, she wouldn't want to disrupt the plan of her allies.
Spider-Man's speed suddenly slowed down. He looked bewilderedly at an empty corridor ahead of him. He cautiously walked forward a few steps, found no traps, and his spider-sense was perfectly calm.
He continued to walk forward with the two girls, and then saw that big door. The hallway outside the door and around a certain range was completely empty, and the room behind the door remained quiet.
When Spider-Man opened the door, he saw a boy floating in mid-air. His soft hair danced with the wind, his eyes had no sclera, but were instilled with the swirling black power tinged with golden light.
"Barry!!!!!"
With a "swish", Barry fell from mid-air onto the empty room's floor. Helen quickly rushed over and grabbed his arm to help him up.
But Aisha was faster, she zapped to Barry's side, sniffed hard then yelled out:
"You smell like my dad!!!"