Godfather Owl: Guardian of Batman

"Excellent!"

Paradox Batman watched as his plan unfolded—Bruce was already beginning to spout nonsense.

Zurr-En-Arrh... meaningless babble, clearly a result of him losing his sense of self.

With a sharp motion, he grabbed Bruce. Black lightning crackled incessantly as the Flash Moment activated, slowing everything around them to a crawl.

He couldn't linger on this timeline any longer; staying risked unforeseen complications.

As Paradox Batman prepared to leave, he suddenly noticed a small figure approaching from among the gravestones, making their way toward him.

It was Peter Pettigrew.

He cradled a bundle in his arms—Voldemort, not yet fully revived.

Paradox Batman frowned.

This was the precise moment in the original timeline when he was supposed to die, only seconds away from having his life snuffed out by the Killing Curse.

He could change everything now. A flick of a lightning bolt would kill Peter Pettigrew and prevent everything that followed.

It would be so easy.

He could survive the future with just the slightest effort.

But—

"So, this is your final trick?"

Paradox Batman sneered coldly. "You think disrupting the timeline and summoning temporal wraiths will stop me? Bruce, I've been running through the timeline for ten years. You think I wouldn't see through such petty tricks?"

Without hesitation, he carried Bruce away from the graveyard.

"What was that?"

In the graveyard, Harry and Cedric had been watching the scene unfold.

The red-and-black lightning was seared into their vision.

Cedric stood silent, staring at the lightning until it vanished.

"I don't know," he said, "but seeing that lightning gave me a strange, familiar feeling, Harry. I can't quite explain it…"

Cedric wanted to explore the sensation further, but the situation wouldn't allow it.

A figure was approaching through the gravestones. Cedric and Harry raised their wands.

The figure stopped in front of a tall marble tombstone, only six feet away from them.

For a moment, Harry and Cedric locked eyes with the short silhouette.

Suddenly, Harry's scar burned with intense pain.

He clutched his face, knees buckling as he collapsed to the ground.

Above, a cold, commanding voice rang out: "Kill the interlopers."

A whooshing noise followed, then a piercing cry split the night sky.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A brilliant green light pierced Harry's tightly shut eyelids. As the pain in his scar subsided, he opened his stinging eyes fearfully.

He saw Cedric's body behind a tombstone, unscathed.

The Killing Curse had struck the gravestone and not Cedric.

Relief flooded Harry. Cedric's quick reaction had saved him from death.

Cedric's face was as pale with fear as Harry's, but it also bore deep confusion.

He didn't even know how he had reacted in time.

When the green light flashed, his body had moved on instinct.

The distant figure clearly hadn't expected this outcome.

"Wormtail, your incompetence exceeds my imagination," came a sharp rebuke from the bundle in Peter's arms. "You even managed to miss with Avada Kedavra! What good are you?"

"Master…" Peter stammered, both crestfallen and terrified. "Please, give me another chance!"

But there was no more time.

Cedric, now fully alert, lunged forward and grabbed Harry.

"Accio Trophy!" Cedric shouted, pointing his wand at the Triwizard Cup.

The cup soared through the air toward him.

Cedric seized its handle—he heard the bundle scream in rage and felt a tug beneath his navel as the Portkey activated.

The two of them were swept away in a whirlwind of color.

They were safe.

---

Bruce and Paradox Batman returned to their original timeline.

They were still running, still fighting.

"This is impossible!"

Paradox Batman stared at Bruce, who now seemed invigorated, and fell into deep self-doubt.

Including this attempt, they had traversed the timeline four times.

Bruce had clearly lost his sense of self earlier, forgetting who he was.

Yet upon returning to the original timeline, he had somehow regained his clarity and was calling himself Bruce again.

Red and black lightning continued to flash as they ran, their speeds increasing, their battle growing more intense.

Now, with both wielding the Speed Force, the fight had escalated into a brutal melee.

Every trick had been used; all that remained was raw physical combat.

Their gazes burned with unyielding determination, crackling with lightning as they clashed. From here on, it was a contest of fists and bodies.

Bruce sidestepped a vicious punch and retaliated with a precise strike to his opponent's abdomen.

Paradox Batman grunted in pain, blood trickling from his lips, but he didn't back down. With a roar, he struck Bruce's Hellbat armor directly in the face.

The armor's formidable defenses did little to mitigate the force—Paradox Batman's godlike strength bypassed them entirely.

The impact reverberated through Bruce's skull, the pain sharpening his resolve.

Fists collided in mid-air, each clash sending shockwaves through the atmosphere.

Time seemed to slow, each breath, each heartbeat syncing with the rhythm of battle.

The fight continued.

Their strength drained, Bruce and Paradox Batman grappled with each other, their punches now mere desperate swings.

"It's over, Paradox Batman!" Bruce roared through gritted teeth. In that moment, an owl's cry echoed through the air.

Ripples emanated from Bruce's chest as Kathoom burst forth, colliding with Paradox Batman.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Kathoom shouted suddenly, a blinding green light flashing.

Paradox Batman groaned and collapsed heavily to the ground.

Bruce, too exhausted to stand, slumped onto the dirt.

Paradox Batman was defeated—or so it seemed.

As expected—

In the next moment, Cedric's motionless body suddenly twitched.

Black lightning flickered around him, enveloping his form completely. A temporal tunnel opened, and Cedric's body was drawn inside.

Immediately afterward, with no time to catch a breath, a figure stepped out of the temporal tunnel.

Clad in black armor with a bat insignia, surrounded by crackling black lightning.

Paradox Batman had returned.

"Bruce, I have to commend you," Cedric said, his voice calm yet filled with chilling intensity.

This version of Cedric was nothing like the exhausted one from moments earlier.

On the contrary, he appeared in peak condition, exuding a more composed and terrifying aura.

"Ten years ago, when you defeated me, I accepted my loss," Paradox Batman said nonchalantly, his eyes fixed on the breathless Bruce before him. "But you still don't understand. Armed with the wisdom of a war god, I've already transformed myself into an immortal being."

Man cannot kill a god.

Even Zeus couldn't completely destroy Ares; at most, he left behind a god-slaying weapon for humanity's final stand.

Now, Cedric had uncovered the secret to a god's immortality.

"It's not about raw strength," Paradox Batman stated evenly. "It's about transforming one's body into a divine vessel. Bruce, during our battle ten years ago, my transformation was incomplete. But now, you can experience it fully."

For Cedric, that battle was a decade ago; for Bruce, it was mere seconds past.

In this iteration, Cedric's lightning bore a new hue. Amidst the black flickered streaks of blue.

Clearly, during his ten years of renewed running, Cedric had achieved his original goal—merging with Savitar.

He had finally become the master of the Speed Force.

At Bruce's side, Kathoom whispered urgently.

"This is the terror of the timeline," Kathoom said. "You can never calculate how many versions of Paradox Batman are running along it."

Defeat one, and another would appear.

Cedric's immortal body rendered his future infinite.

This was a battle Bruce could never win.

"If I defeat this version of you," Bruce said, collapsing to the ground, too exhausted to stand, "then thirty years from now, another will emerge, right?"

"Thirty years, forty years, fifty years..." Paradox Batman confirmed. "I will keep appearing until you are utterly crushed and erased."

"Exactly," Bruce sighed, sitting heavily on the ground. "So my future belongs to Cedric."

"Only a little dejected?" Paradox Batman sneered.

"Of course," Bruce said, propping himself up with his hands. He did not appear to be consumed by despair, much to Paradox Batman's surprise.

"I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith," Bruce recited softly, gazing at the sky, quoting from the New Testament. "Now, a crown of righteousness is laid up for me."

"What are you talking about?" Cedric frowned.

"Cedric," Bruce said, his voice calm, "after I obtained the Speed Force, I released Dumbledore and the others from the Speed Force dimension."

"This battle," Bruce continued, "I entered it with the resolve to die."

"So, that's your ace in the hole?" Cedric shook his head. "Even Dumbledore and the four founders combined can't stop me now!"

He raised his hand, and objects materialized out of thin air.

The Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Invisibility Cloak.

"I've already mastered death itself," Cedric said, his tone triumphant. "Your mortal tricks are meaningless to me."

"That's not what I'm referring to," Bruce sighed. "You still don't understand, do you? I already admitted that the future belongs to Cedric."

"Just not this Cedric."

"Paradox Batman," Bruce's tone sharpened, "did you think I lured you to your own death timeline for nothing more than a spectacle?"

---

At the end of the Triwizard Tournament, Cedric and Harry returned from the graveyard.

Cedric felt himself hit the ground, face buried in grass, the scent of greenery filling his nostrils. His head spun, and the ground beneath him swayed like a ship's deck.

Terror and exhaustion kept him lying there, breathing in the scent of grass.

A flood of noise overwhelmed him—shouts, footsteps, chaos everywhere.

Strong hands grabbed him and turned him over.

"Harry! Cedric!"

Cedric opened his eyes, stars dotting the night sky above him. Albus Dumbledore crouched in front of him.

Dark silhouettes surrounded them, pressing in closer.

"It was Voldemort," Cedric whispered, clutching Dumbledore's hand with the last of his strength. "He nearly killed me."

Dumbledore bent down and, with surprising strength for a frail old man, helped Cedric to his feet.

"We'll talk about this later," Dumbledore murmured. "For now, don't show any signs of distress in front of the others."

The Triwizard Tournament concluded.

Hogwarts claimed victory, and Cedric and Harry shared the glory.

As the school year drew to a close, Dumbledore summoned Cedric to his office.

When Cedric entered, he found another elderly man waiting—one who looked strikingly similar to Dumbledore.

It was Aberforth Dumbledore, the owner of the Hog's Head Inn.

"Let me introduce you," Dumbledore said. "This is my brother, Aberforth Dumbledore."

Aberforth nodded. "We've met before."

"Good evening, Mr. Aberforth," Cedric greeted him. At Dumbledore's gesture, Cedric sat down, uneasy but curious.

"We've sent people to investigate that graveyard," Dumbledore said. "You don't need to worry about it. But there's another matter to discuss, Cedric. Earlier, you mentioned seeing two lightning bolts in the graveyard?"

"Yes," Cedric confirmed, "and I also heard someone mention the name Bruce. But isn't he supposed to be..."

Dead.

Bruce had died before Cedric's third year at Hogwarts.

A shadow of sadness crossed Dumbledore's face before he quickly concealed it, returning to the matter at hand.

"Let's set Bruce aside for now," Dumbledore said. "Can you describe the two lightning bolts in more detail? And tell us how you managed to avoid the Killing Curse."

Cedric didn't hesitate, recounting everything in vivid detail, including his thoughts and feelings at the time.

"I didn't consciously react," Cedric admitted. "It was as if my body moved on its own. Maybe my reflexes were just too fast for my mind to process."

Dumbledore and Aberforth exchanged a knowing look.

Cedric's account stirred old memories.

"Does it seem familiar?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

"Very," Aberforth replied, nodding. His gaze turned to Cedric, filled with nostalgia.

"You have potential, my boy. Real potential," Aberforth murmured. "Cedric, I have a gift for you."

He turned and retrieved a neatly folded red cape from behind him.

"This belonged to my son," Aberforth said solemnly. "It was his legacy."

Aberforth handed the cape to Cedric. "Now, I entrust it to you."

Cedric stared in confusion.

"Mr. Aberforth," Cedric stammered, "I can't accept this! I—I don't even know why you're giving it to me!"

"Because you've been chosen by the Speed Force," Aberforth said softly. "This cape carries traces of my son's Speed Force energy. Passing it to you was his wish."

"Many years ago, he told me that this world should not possess the Speed Force—it was a mistake."

"On his deathbed, he asked me to preserve this cape. He believed it held hope for the future."

Hope...

Cedric murmured, "You want me to inherit the Speed Force?"

"Inherit it? No!" Aberforth said firmly. "I want you to find a way to erase it—completely."

"To restore the world to normalcy."

"Cedric, I believe you have the intelligence and determination to achieve this."

"Now, take this cape!"

Cedric, still dazed, accepted the Flash's cape from Aberforth.

It felt like both a legacy and a mission.

At that moment, the gears of fate turned in reverse.

---

Back in Bruce's timeline, Paradox Batman had seized control of the battle. Victory for Bruce seemed impossible.

"I know you lured me to that timeline with ill intent," Paradox Batman sneered. "But I made no disruptive moves. The variables you hoped for didn't manifest!"

"Didn't they?" Bruce responded quietly, staring at Paradox Batman.

He recalled a conversation with Kathoom.

"Why does Cedric keep saying his future is bleak?" Bruce had asked.

"I don't know," Kathoom replied, before muttering, "Maybe he's worried about being rebooted by Warner Bros…"

The present—

"Mastering fate..." Bruce murmured, gazing skyward, as though speaking to Paradox Batman in casual conversation.

"Cedric, let me show you how to change destiny."

Paradox Batman frowned, uncertain of Bruce's cryptic remarks.

"This conversation ends now," Paradox Batman declared. "You're finished."

Black lightning exploded around him as his speed surged beyond comprehension.

His vibrating hand, a lightning-fast blade, moved to pierce Bruce's chest.

"Don't you feel it?" Bruce asked calmly, unflinching. "A new power has already emerged."

Paradox Batman froze, startled.

BOOM!

Suddenly, a yellow blur appeared in the center of the battlefield.

A single punch sent Paradox Batman flying, sparing Bruce from certain death.

"Sorry I'm late," the yellow figure said, removing his mask.

The face beneath was identical to Cedric's.

"Better late than never," Bruce said with a smile, looking at the newcomer.

No, this wasn't Cedric.

It was—

Reverse Flash!

---

T/N: sheeeeet

Reader, your presence signifies commitment.

To walk this path is to contribute to the pursuit of eternity.

Should you wish to further fortify our resolve, step forward: [patreon.com/WiseTL].

Each action contributes to the unyielding foundation of our creation. Together, we etch a mark that transcends the fleeting nature of time.

For those who aspire to push the limits further, offering one 'Burger' will unlock an additional 5 chapters: [ko-fi.com/wisetl]. Specify which story your donation pertains to; this offer applies exclusively to stories available on Scribble Hub.

— Raiden Shogun