In less than half a minute, the Red Death's body began to change. The dark crimson bat-shaped afterimages vanished, replaced by gold.
The red battle suit peeled away. In the same instant, the Tenth Metal scattered across the Dark Multiverse descended and enveloped him. Wisps of black vapor were squeezed out of his body as a golden suit materialized in their place.
Team Flash exchanged glances. Nobody was sure what the transformation meant.
"I'm Barry. The other one's been mostly expelled—my body is under my control now. For the time being, at least." He removed his mask. The face was still Bruce's, but the voice belonged to Barry—the original Barry of this world. The one who was still good.
"I've suppressed the evil persona. You've won." This golden Barry spoke with quiet emotion.
Team Flash didn't entirely trust him, but after Daniel confirmed the situation, they accepted the outcome.
The final world was the Murder Machine's domain. There, a Batman had used technology to replicate his beloved butler Alfred, turning the old man into a horrifying virus program. Batman, completely oblivious, allowed the virus to merge with himself, ultimately transforming into a monster capable of controlling endless machines.
The machines were formidable. But under the combined assault of Batman, Lex Luthor, and Mister Terrific, they breached the enemy's computer network, purged the Alfred virus, and took the Murder Machine offline.
With the major nightmare worlds cleansed, the final hour had arrived.
Superman and Bruce, both clad in Tenth Metal armor, arrived to assist Diana.
Two beams of dark energy fired from Bruce's eyes—the Omega Beams, freshly fused just before the battle. His power level wasn't quite enough to unleash their full potential.
Seeing his friend shoot eye-beams was, frankly, a strange sight for Superman. He shook it off quickly and focused on the fight.
Channeling his own stellar energy, Superman fired twin beams of his own.
Barbatos was stronger than either of them, but not so overwhelmingly that he could ignore them both. He swept his left hand from one side to the other, deflecting their beams in sequence.
Diana spotted the opening. She planted both feet and launched herself forward, driving her sword—coated in the Fire of Justice—across Barbatos's torso from belly to chest, carving a wound over ten meters long.
Superman and Bruce pressed their own attacks simultaneously.
Barbatos's massive frame made him unwieldy, and these three were not opponents he could brush aside. Unfortunately, as the dragon that once devoured nightmares, his true form was enormous by nature. The corruption of nightmares hadn't granted him the ability to shrink. He could only grit his teeth and fight.
Diana was a half-step below him. They'd been battling for a long time already—she was no short-term problem. Barbatos ranked her lowest priority.
He weighed Superman and Bruce, then decided to target one of them to break the deadlock.
Barbatos ruled out Superman. The Godhood of Strength had pushed him to another level entirely. Barbatos didn't think he could take Superman down quickly enough.
That left his "own son"—Bruce. The mortal he'd secretly watched for so long.
Barbatos inhaled deeply, then unleashed a torrent of dark breath directly at Bruce.
This was one of his original abilities, now augmented with sonic force and negative energy.
Bruce had stared down Darkseid as a baseline human. Fear was not in his vocabulary. The Tenth Metal had massively amplified his capabilities. He launched himself skyward, executing a chain of mid-air repositions—not just evading the attack, but closing the distance to Barbatos.
Two Batarangs forged from dark divine power flew from his hands. He followed up with a kick square to Barbatos's face.
"Bastard!" Being struck by the mortal he'd regarded as an insect sent Barbatos into a fury. He reached out to crush Bruce in his fist.
Superman streaked in from the other side, arms forward, hurtling like a cannonball into Barbatos's midsection.
Diana struck at the same moment, carving another massive wound across his neck.
After several exchanges, Barbatos finally grasped how dire his situation had become. He broke off and fled. Even if he lost today, as long as he could retreat into the depths of the World Forge, he could recover and return.
At that moment, deep in the Underworld, Thea drew her bow. The string pulled taut, she aimed at the Dark Multiverse and loosed a single arrow.
This arrow had transcended the very definitions of speed, time, and space. It tore through dimensions, reappearing directly in front of Barbatos.
She's trying to kill me? The thought flashed through his mind. How dare she? Isn't she worried about upsetting the cosmic balance?
No time for deliberation. Faced with death, he didn't dare take the hit head-on. He didn't bother with phasing—instead, his colossal body twisted at the waist in a raw physical dodge, and for good measure, he layered a thick shell of pure black energy over his surface.
Thea hadn't actually intended to kill him. The arrow grazed his cheekbone and sailed past.
This arrow seems rather ordinary? Suspicion churned in his mind.
Then a voice rang out from behind him—bright and fierce: "I know how to shoot too!" Diana had caught the arrow in one hand. In the same fluid motion, she drew her own longbow, nocked the shaft, and aimed.
From the Underworld, Thea smiled at the sight. She lifted her bow again—no arrow this time—and drew back the empty string.
Diana felt a sudden surge of power flooding through her body. The arrow served as a conduit, linking them across dimensions. Thea's spectral silhouette appeared behind her.
Their minds aligned. Their movements synchronized. As their forms merged into one, Diana released the string. The arrow streaked across the sky and found Barbatos once more.
A soft, wet sound. The power of death pierced the barrier. Accompanied by the divine power of Justice, the arrow buried itself in Barbatos's heart.
This death energy seems... faint. Surely not enough to kill me? That was the last thought to cross Barbatos's mind before he sank into an endless sleep.
Outside, his body burned in the Fire of Justice. Roaring flames consumed wave after wave of dark nightmares. Barbatos's form began to change.
From the Underworld, Thea made another gesture. Every scrap of Tenth Metal scattered across the Dark Multiverse left its current host, crossing dimensional boundaries to converge on this final battlefield.
The purified metal rained down on Barbatos like a deluge. Once every last piece was in place, the purging of dark energy accelerated until Barbatos was completely sealed inside—a colossal metal egg, viewed from a distance.
Thea reached out, plucked the egg from the sky, and cast it into the deepest pit of the World Forge. Sealed away forever.
The rules of creation had an expiration date. The modern world no longer needed the Monitor, the Anti-Monitor, or the World Forger—and it certainly no longer needed a nightmare-devouring dragon.