Fortunately, the Rot invasion was quelled by superheroes shortly after it began. Only then did he breathe a quiet sigh of relief.
Now Barry Allen had officially taken his place. While Barry ran around every day, Reverse-Flash kept shouting "Run, run, run!" supposedly to train the new Flash.
As Barry raced at high speed, his Speed Force recovered rapidly. This led to his recent days of reconnaissance.
He'd tried to secretly observe Superman and Batman, but unfortunately couldn't find either. Thea had been his next reconnaissance target—he just hadn't expected her to come looking for him directly. His eyes hardened as he transformed into a red streak and charged forward.
Watching the red lightning rush toward her, Thea simultaneously increased her own speed and chose evasion. The two quickly engaged in a chase across the wilderness.
Reverse-Flash was definitely running through gritted teeth. Thea, not so much. Sure, anyone with two long legs could run, and originally she'd wanted to compete with Reverse-Flash. But after two steps she'd discovered a problem.
Reverse-Flash wore a friction-resistant bodysuit with a fully sealed hood—an outfit designed specifically for racing.
What was she wearing? The Divine Punishment robe! When Heathyr had designed it, she'd considered Thea a goddess and created a female-style long robe—fitted at the waist, elegant from a distance, truly beautiful. But this garment's applicable range definitely didn't include racing!
She'd stopped after two steps. The visual was too bizarre. The long robe combined with her golden hair, and since she lacked Speed Force protection to face air resistance directly, running made her look like a lunatic.
Thea really wasn't good with speed. However, for someone at her level of power, there were no weaknesses. If she ran with everything she had, she could run extremely fast.
But for the sake of her image, she couldn't do that. With some regret, she abandoned the idea of racing Reverse-Flash, though she still wanted to see how fast this guy was.
Relying on her unparalleled mastery of teleportation, she began using short-range teleportation to create distance, looking from afar like rapid blinking—whoosh, whoosh, advancing forward.
Reverse-Flash had never seen such a peculiar method of movement. He had great confidence in his Speed Force. He didn't care where she ran—he'd just chase her down.
For a moment, a sky-blue phantom led in front while a red streak of lightning followed behind as the two competed in speed.
They went from Coast City eastward, finally entering Texas.
Neither went to major cities, instead racing wildly on the highways. Of course, this "wild racing" was relative to Reverse-Flash. Thea herself didn't expend much magical power. During the chase, she observed many things.
Reverse-Flash, as the Flash's counterpart, couldn't deviate too far from Flash himself at the Speed Force rule level. In other words, whatever speed the Flash had, Reverse-Flash had roughly the same.
Thea felt like a veteran fighting a rookie. Was he fast? Definitely fast, and as time passed, Reverse-Flash's speed kept explosively increasing. But it wasn't to the point of despair. By her rough estimate, initially he'd been around 1,000 kilometers per hour, now increased to about 1,500.
The highway had no obstacles on either side. Despite his best efforts, Reverse-Flash couldn't catch Thea. By this point, he already knew he couldn't catch this woman—at least not with this much Speed Force inside him.
Panting heavily and silently gritting his teeth, Reverse-Flash figured that once he recovered his full power, he'd definitely teach her a lesson. Suddenly he realized something: why was he so exhausted? He could run around the Earth hundreds of times without stopping. This was just a few minutes of chasing—how could he possibly be tired?
"You noticed? Let me see the true nature of your power." Reverse-Flash's exhaustion was naturally the work of magic. Energy Drain—this extremely advanced necromantic spell came straight from Morgan le Fay's grimoire. She'd set it up early on that magical rope, triggering directly when it tripped Reverse-Flash.
Thea had drained not just his life force but also mental energy, willpower, and a whole bunch of other things. This naturally included the Speed Force!
She couldn't act freely while invisible in Central City that day, but today she had no such concerns. She gestured with her hand, and a large mass of red arcs, wrapped in divine power, was extracted from his body.
Holy crap! Seeing this, Reverse-Flash's eyes went wide. He'd always been the one stealing other people's Speed Force—today someone had turned the tables on him. You're supposed to be a righteous hero! I'm filing a complaint!
The red arcs were extremely unruly, constantly slamming against the divine power barrier, trying to return to Reverse-Flash's body.
"What is this thing?" she asked, knowing full well.
"No idea!" Reverse-Flash answered just as curtly.
"What are you looking for?" Thea didn't bother playing games with him. Her body floated in mid-air, looking down at Reverse-Flash. She could fly; he couldn't.
Reverse-Flash was indeed speechless. He had no flight ability.
Seeing he didn't answer, Thea dropped another bombshell: "Is that yellow lightning in Central City connected to you? What exactly are you people?"
Hearing this, Reverse-Flash's eyes definitely flickered evasively. Right—two people with such similar abilities, any idiot would know they were connected. If she found the Flash, it would definitely alert him and trigger a chain of consequences. Reverse-Flash was truly afraid of this world now. If the Flash beside him changed again, he didn't know what he'd do.
His eyes rolled as he decided to lie. "We... we're together. We're looking for a way home." This was half-truth, half-lie. It explained his purpose while borrowing the Flash's good reputation to bind them together, disguising them as a do-gooding duo.
In his impression, superheroes were incredibly easy to fool. Strong, yes, but each one too naive. As he'd expected, the Flash's good name helped him. The superhero across from him took the bait.
Thea laughed inwardly but didn't expose him. Her attitude became more cordial. "A way home? ...You're not from this world? Parallel universe or different time period?"
Reverse-Flash was a bit surprised by her perceptiveness, but Thea's reputation as a great scientist was quite intimidating. He wouldn't underestimate her knowledge—after all, they'd chatted in person.
Coughing twice, he pondered: was he in a parallel universe or a different time period? Why did it feel like combining these two options was the real answer?
The miserable Reverse-Flash could only skip the parallel universe option and say somewhat bitterly: "We're from the future."
Seeing him constantly dragging the Flash into it, Thea wanted to laugh. This guy really understood the importance of disguise.
"People from the future? A.R.G.U.S. previously captured a woman from the thirty-first century called the Emerald Empress, and there's an escaped Abra Kadabra from the sixty-fourth century on the run. What year are you from?"
Holy shit! Really? Reverse-Flash felt like he'd been struck by lightning again. Thea's words made his jaw drop. This really wasn't the world he knew. The thirty-first century was terrifying enough—what era was the sixty-fourth century? Would Earth still exist then?
Somewhat embarrassed, he said: "We're from the twenty-fifth century."
Thea nodded silently, starting to show off her own acting skills. "Do you need our help?"
"No, no need." Reverse-Flash hastily rejected this proposal. He didn't dare let Barry Allen appear before these superheroes. If the two sides compared notes, even an idiot would know someone was lying.