Chapter 165: Godfather Owl: Guardian of Batman [165]
It all began with Savitar.
He introduced the Speed Force to this world, disrupting its timeline and creating the Paradox Batman.
The entire world was now teetering on the brink of chaos.
Bruce could find no reason to forgive Savitar.
Though Kathoom had mentioned the idea of pitting enemies against each other, Bruce wanted no part of it.
The memories of the worst timeline still echoed in his mind.
The bloodshed at Hogwarts—Savitar might not have been the direct perpetrator, but he was far from innocent.
And even now, he showed no remorse.
Bruce's gaze shifted to Draco Malfoy, who sat nearby, his mind fractured and lost, trapped between identities.
Malfoy wasn't Julian. He was Draco Malfoy—annoying, arrogant, and entirely his own person.
And the Speed Force Wall, which had spawned these overlapping memories, existed because of Savitar.
"You're no longer human," Bruce growled, his anger boiling over.
The moment Bruce appeared, Savitar sensed danger.
In an instant, his body lit up with blue lightning. The world froze as he entered Speed Force time.
Or rather, it didn't freeze—Savitar was simply moving too fast for the world to keep up.
He leapt from his chair, making the decision to flee instead of fight.
In his current weakened state, he had no chance against the Paradox Batman, who could appear at any moment. Retreat was his only option.
If he could reach a safe haven, he could regroup.
But just as Savitar began to run, something unexpected happened.
Standing motionless, Bruce seemed frozen. Yet Savitar could feel the weight of his icy gaze following him.
Following me?
The realization sent a chill down Savitar's spine.
Could it be—?
Before the thought could fully form, Bruce moved.
From behind him, the Hellbat armor's crimson wings unfurled, and arcs of red lightning surged across Bruce's body.
No, not across him.
In that moment, Bruce became a streak of red lightning, hurtling straight at Savitar.
He was too fast.
Even though Savitar's injuries had slowed him, he was still a speedster. Ordinary humans might as well have been statues to him.
But Bruce wasn't ordinary.
Savitar didn't even have time to react before Bruce's fist slammed into him, sending him flying through a wall and out of the manor.
The blow forced Savitar out of Speed Force time, snapping him back into reality.
"How… is this possible?"
Savitar's eyes widened in disbelief.
This was supposed to be his domain. He was the God of Speed. Yet twice now—first Cedric, and now Bruce—he had been outpaced.
Bruce, clad in the Hellbat armor, loomed over him.
"Not so fun, is it?" Bruce's voice was cold. "Being toyed with by someone faster? Treated like a plaything? That's exactly how you treated me in the last timeline."
"Last timeline?" Savitar's mind reeled.
Who was this boy? How many enemies had his future self made?
"Wait, wait!" Savitar stammered, sprawled on the ground. "We can talk! Let's negotiate!"
"No one wants to talk to you."
Bruce's boot connected with Savitar's side, sending him skidding across the ground.
"This isn't your true strength, is it, Savitar?" Bruce bellowed. "Aren't you the God of Speed? The master of time travel? Why are you so slow?"
"My speed… was stolen…"
Savitar clutched his abdomen, wincing. Bruce didn't realize the magnitude of the enemy he'd just faced.
The Paradox Batman wasn't merely a monster born of the Harry Potter world.
He carried the knowledge and memories of a war god, wielded the Speed Force, and—worst of all—was a Batman.
The Paradox Batman had anticipated Savitar's every move, even constructing a device to siphon his speed.
"Stolen?"
Bruce's expression didn't shift. He wasn't surprised.
Kathoom had warned him about this possibility.
"Think about it, Bruce," Kathoom had said while feeding Halley chunks of metal and stone.
"Cedric becoming the Paradox Batman might have only been a few days for us, but what about Cedric himself? How long has he been running through the timeline?"
For Cedric, the events of the worst timeline could have been years—or even decades—ago.
That was more than enough time to master the Speed Force.
"And what are we supposed to do about it?" Bruce had asked, frowning. "Run through the timeline ourselves? Spend years doing what Cedric did?"
The very thought was absurd.
Bruce would rather leave the Harry Potter world entirely, journeying to other universes before returning to deal with the Paradox Batman.
"You don't need to go to such lengths," Kathoom had reassured him.
"Cedric can't leave the Harry Potter world because other universes don't have the Speed Force."
"And no matter how much he runs, the timeline will correct itself. Time punishes those who disrupt it. Ever heard of Time Wraiths?"
Kathoom's grin had been as wide as ever—equal parts clever and sinister.
"We're never fighting alone."
Back in the present, Bruce loomed over the fallen Savitar.
"Your stolen speed doesn't matter to me," Bruce said.
"What matters is finishing this fight and ending the chaos you caused."
Kathoom, perched nearby, watched as Bruce readied himself for another attack.
"It's time Bruce," the owl said, his wings unfurling.
"We're going to fight side by side again."
And for the first time in this timeline, Bruce felt ready.
---
Back in the present, Bruce had beaten Savitar through several rounds of brutal combat.
"If you hadn't shown up, none of this would've happened!"
Bruce's voice seethed with anger. "What can you possibly do to repay the debt you owe this world?"
"I only just arrived…" Savitar groaned. "I don't even know what's going on!"
Bruce's brow furrowed.
Ignorance wasn't an excuse. If Savitar didn't know, then he should've stayed out of it.
He deserves this.
Bruce raised his fist, ready to deliver another devastating blow, when a voice cut through the tension.
"He's telling the truth. He doesn't know anything."
Bruce turned, his instincts braced for the worst.
Standing before him was Cedric—or rather, the Paradox Batman.
"Bruce," Cedric greeted, a faint smile on his face. "It's been a while."
He gestured toward the battlefield with a calm air. "Speedsters attract each other, you know. The way you're using the Speed Force is practically a beacon."
"Let Savitar go. He doesn't have the answers you're looking for. Hand him over to me, and I'll become the true master of the Speed Force."
Cedric's confidence was palpable. He had prepared meticulously for this moment, his plans all but complete.
"It hasn't been that long," Bruce replied coldly, dropping Savitar to the ground. "For me, it's only been a few days."
"A few days…" Cedric nodded slowly. "But for me, it's been ten years.
"Bruce, you can't imagine what those ten years have been like for me."
"I don't need to," Bruce said sharply. "Because soon, you'll be gone."
As his words fell, Bruce activated Speed Force time.
The world froze.
To an outsider, everything stopped, but in truth, Bruce had simply entered a realm of unparalleled speed.
Red lightning crackled around him as he surged toward Cedric.
But Cedric didn't flinch.
"You've tapped into the Speed Force," Cedric said, his smile unchanged. "Impressive. But unfortunately… you're still too slow."
Black lightning erupted from Cedric, enveloping his body in an ominous aura.
The two streaks of lightning—one red, one black—collided and shot off into the distance, their clash tearing through cities, plains, and even across the ocean.
As they ran across the surface of the water, exchanging blows mid-stride, Cedric's expression darkened.
"You've grown stronger than I expected, Bruce," he admitted, his tone losing its casual air. "There's no way you could've gained this much power in just a few days."
"It's you who's surprising," Bruce countered, his voice laced with cold disdain. "To keep up with me after all I've gained—well done, Cedric. You've made good use of those ten years."
Bruce was no longer the helpless boy from the worst timeline, fleeing with Hermione and barely surviving.
He was now fused with Kathoom, his power amplified tenfold.
Clad in the Hellbat armor that was armed with the abilities from The Boys world, Bruce had the Speed Force of the Valstrax—enough to rival Cedric in both speed and strength.
"Interesting," Cedric muttered as they continued their high-speed battle.
For speedsters, running wasn't just movement—it was survival. Their power grew with their momentum, and they had to keep running to maintain it.
Their duel blurred time and space as they raced across continents, eventually looping back to Malfoy Manor.
When they reappeared, Savitar was just blinking, his perception too slow to register what had happened.
"Cedric," Bruce said, pointing at his opponent. "You're… not bad."
"Good, good, good!" Cedric's casual demeanor cracked as his eyes gleamed with determination.
Ten years had transformed him into a master of countless spells and techniques, blending the magic of this world with powers he had studied from others.
Even Savitar had been forced to flee before Cedric's overwhelming presence.
But Bruce had turned the tables.
Cedric couldn't fathom how Bruce had grown so strong in such a short time.
"You've opened my eyes, Bruce," Cedric admitted, his black lightning flaring. "But let's see how you handle this!"
With a burst of unparalleled speed, Cedric launched a punch, his lightning crackling with destructive energy.
Bruce barely had time to block, raising his armored arm in defense.
BOOM!
The impact sent Bruce hurtling backward, straight into a mysterious tunnel that opened behind him.
"Here we go!"
Kathoom's voice echoed in Bruce's mind.
"This is the real fight, Bruce. Stick to the plan!"
Bruce was flung through the tunnel, crashing into a massive creature with enough force to reduce it to a lifeless heap.
As he regained his footing, he recognized the remains.
"A mammoth?"
They were in a frozen wasteland, the icy winds biting at Bruce's armor.
Though the Hellbat suit shielded him from the cold, the relentless chill began to encroach on its functionality.
Frost crept across the armor, restricting his movements—a minor inconvenience in most battles but a critical disadvantage for a speedster.
Cedric reappeared, his fist cloaked in black lightning, and struck with devastating force.
Bruce was forced to defend again, but this time the blow jarred his mind, disorienting him.
When he opened his eyes, the landscape had changed.
The frozen tundra was gone, replaced by a volcanic wasteland.
Fire and ash filled the sky as terrified creatures fled in panic.
Bruce realized what Cedric was doing.
"This is the power to shatter timelines," he muttered.
The ice age had been the distant past. Now they were in the era of catastrophic asteroid impacts, when volcanic eruptions threatened to wipe out all life.
"You're not planning to leave me here, are you?" Bruce sneered.
"I wouldn't waste my time," Cedric replied coldly. "But can't you feel it, Bruce? Your body is breaking down."
Bruce faltered, his legs trembling as the mental chaos from repeated time jumps overwhelmed him.
"Messing with timelines has consequences," Cedric said, his tone almost sympathetic.
"In my early days, every time I traveled through time, I'd suffer days of disorientation. I realized that frequent jumps would cause irreversible harm."
"But I also learned how to weaponize that chaos."
"I'll keep dragging you through time until your mind collapses. One more jump should do it."
Cedric surged forward, his fist poised to deliver the final blow.
But just as his strike was about to connect, Bruce's eyes glinted with icy determination.
"Cedric," he said, his voice steady. "Do you remember the moment you died?"
Cedric froze mid-punch, his mind flashing to the scene he knew all too well.
As a time traveler, he was acutely aware of his original death:
During the Triwizard Tournament, at the hands of a newly resurrected Voldemort.
This isn't right.
Cedric realized too late that Bruce's words weren't a distraction. They were a trigger.
His thoughts spiraled back to that fateful moment.
And when his punch connected, the time stream dragged them both to Cedric's death.
---
Fourth Year.
The conclusion of the Triwizard Tournament.
The graveyard where Voldemort was reborn.
Harry's feet slammed against the ground, his injured leg buckling as he fell. The Triwizard Cup tumbled from his hands.
He looked around, disoriented.
"Where are we?" he asked.
Cedric shook his head, pulling Harry to his feet as they surveyed the dark, overgrown graveyard.
To their right, the silhouette of a small chapel loomed behind a towering yew tree.
"We…" Cedric began, but his words were cut off as the sky tore open above them.
Two figures, locked in combat, tumbled through the rift.
"You're finished, Bruce!" one shouted. "Three time jumps, you've lost yourself completely!"
"Shut up!" the other bellowed. "I'm not Bruce!
"Remember my name—Zur-En-Arrh!"
---
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