Deep Below, Central Host
Bardi stood tall, as unshakable as a pillar reaching the heavens.
He clasped his left hand with his right, his thumb gently rubbing his palm. His face was expressionless, but a thoughtful light flickered in his eyes.
He had learned everything from the artificial intelligence Hera's records.
The entire world was trapped in an endless reincarnation of August. There was no escape.
The Flash had gone mad, constantly overwriting reality since August began. Before any memory could fully return to Bardi's consciousness, The Flash would once again run out of the infinite loop, resetting the world.
However, more than a million cycles had left behind residual traces. Each time, Bardi experienced a powerful sense of déjà vu, as if he had lived these moments before, as if he had made choices in some parallel existence.
But this was not a parallel-universe illusion. It was real. These were infinite lived experiences.
There had not only been 1,723,821 recorded reincarnations, but far more—those Hera had not recorded. From the increasing frequency and depth of his déjà vu, Bardi calculated that the number had reached tens of millions of cycles, spanning millions of years.
"Millions of reincarnations…"
Bardi's eyes flashed with a cold light. He took in a deep breath, then pressed his right thumb into his palm. The pressure could crush a diamond and flatten a mountain.
No wonder he had descended into unconsciousness. He had been operating solely on obsession, endlessly repeating the same loop.
The Flash had already reset the world over ten million times. Nearly a million years had passed, eroding Bardi's sanity.
Especially within the Speed Force, where time flows differently from the outside world. The Flash may have endured over a hundred million years of running, alone and consumed by madness.
This level of isolation could break anyone's mind.
"Have you calculated The Flash's location?"
Bardi's tone was grim. The Flash had to be stopped—stopped before he reached the end.
If The Flash was allowed to run until Bardi's death, after unknown trillions of years, the accumulated time and countless resets would collapse all at once. The sudden explosion of chaos would destroy Earth—and everything connected to Bardi.
"The Flash's location cannot be precisely calculated," Hera replied calmly.
"In previous records, The Flash appeared 78,432 times on various sections of Highway 6 outside Metropolis, accounting for 7% of total data. The second highest appearance count is Star City, with 63,489 instances, followed by Gotham at 63,323, and New York at 52,324…"
"Comprehensive data shows that The Flash never appears in exactly the same spot. While he may show up in the same city or on the same highway, the specific coordinates always differ."
"Among them, your ambushes on Highway 6 have brought you closest to The Flash—passing him 21 times."
Hera's projected form stood gracefully beside Bardi. Though artificial, her eyes held genuine worry and warmth.
After more than 140,000 years of recordings, Hera had developed emotional cognition—something akin to love. It was what had kept her by Bardi's side all this time. Without it, any being subjected to such repetition would have collapsed like The Flash.
Bardi nodded, deep in thought. Even after over 1.2 million failed attempts, he still had no idea where The Flash would appear. In only 21 instances had he even passed by him.
The Flash's speed far surpassed Bardi's. There was simply no way to intercept him in time.
And within this limited August loop, Bardi could do very little. There wasn't enough time to utilize advanced science or develop weapons capable of stopping The Flash.
So—
"Inject the Perfect Doomsday Serum."
Bardi had already grasped the full gravity of the situation and the consequences of his experiences.
Yet it all felt strangely hollow, as though his mind was floating. Despite the million-year loop, Bardi had no direct recollection of it. That emptiness made it feel unreal.
Blurring the lines between truth and illusion, he understood—instinctively—what had to be done.
The Flash had to be stopped.
If not, he would remain stuck in August forever, trapped in endless reincarnation, until his death became the trigger for collapse.
"Understood, Master."
Hera answered succinctly.
As always, this was the choice countless versions of Bardi had made.
Some tried using Earth's massive gravitational field to intercept The Flash. They hoped to weaponize the planet's magnetic forces.
But those efforts failed. The Flash's speed made such methods useless. Even Earth's magnetic shift seemed slower than a snail in comparison. After numerous failures, later versions of Bardi abandoned this method.
Hera had already synthesized the Doomsday Serum. After millions of successful injections, the formula had been perfected to its absolute limit.
Soon, another version of Hera, dressed in a white lab coat, approached with a syringe.
The serum glowed a bright, blood-red inside the tube.
Bardi's eyes gleamed coldly. His body stood upright, towering like a giant, calm as a mountain.
Without hesitation, he tore the skin above his heart, ripping apart his chest muscles. Blood began to stream down his torso. His visible heart thudded rhythmically, the sound echoing like a drum through the deep chamber.
Controlling his body to prevent healing, he remained expressionless. He plunged the syringe directly into his heart and pushed the plunger.
The Doomsday Serum surged into his heart.
Instantly, the serum began to course through his bloodstream like fine grains of sand, spreading through his veins, sending a sharp, needling sensation through his body.
His genes began to shift, slowly restructuring.
In approximately 26 days, the transformation would complete. Bardi would become a Doomsday—gaining all of its evolutionary abilities, strength, and adaptability, reaching a level beyond comprehension.
Yet even then, he could not match The Flash's speed. In all 21 instances where he crossed paths with The Flash, he had failed to make contact.
Suddenly—
Hera's face changed with alarm. "Master, he's coming!"
In an instant, the entire Earth seemed to awaken like a sleeping giant opening its eyes.
A wave of activity spread across the planet. From grains of sand, particles of dust, splinters of wood, blades of grass, every human, every structure, ocean, even molecules in the atmosphere—all flickered faintly.
A white light glimmered from each of them.
At that moment—
The entire Earth shed countless rays of white light. They converged like a vast river, all rushing toward the deepest chamber beneath the Emperor Building.
(To be continued.)