"You look like you could use some help."
The voice echoed over the battlefield, calm and biting with that familiar edge of confidence.
Kara, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern were locked in fierce combat with demons swarming the sky, yet at the sudden sound of the voice all three turned.
Demons descended without mercy — claws tearing through the air and foul screeches ripping through the chaos.
Thud!
Wonder Woman's Vulcan Sword chopped through a hulking demon, and with a powerful twist of her core strength she severed its head. The grotesque creature's blood splashed down around her armor.
She turned, blade dripping, to see Batman standing tall amidst the carnage.
"You're late this time, Batman!" she called out, her tone half amused, half frustrated.
"Late?" Batman replied with cool composure, his voice calm beneath the cowl. "I arrived exactly when needed. I had preparations to make."
"It's not like this battle was scheduled," Wonder Woman said dryly, shifting her attention back to the charging demons.
While she drove her sword deep into another fiend, Batman fired his grappling hook into a wall nearby and propelled himself into the shadows.
Bang!
A demon spewed flame his way, but he rolled cleanly under it, then launched a Batarang that struck another screeching creature in mid‑air.
Despite his tactical brilliance, the sheer number of demons soon surrounded him. With a swift flick of his cape, he sent them recoiling, then activated a small remote on his wrist.
In an instant, an unmanned Batmobile charged onto the battlefield, its engine roaring like a wild beast.
The armored vehicle came to a halt among the melee. Then, harsh ultrasonic waves blasted outward.
The frequency was agonizing — powerful enough to make even a Kryptonian's reinforced senses flinch.
Against these demons, bred in other dimensions and unused to such purity, the effect was devastating. Screams of pain echoed as they staggered, clutching their ears, slowed and disoriented.
"Hmph!" Wonder Woman said, still steady despite dizziness from the sonic pulse. She leapt forward, her Vulcan Sword slicing lethally through the weakened horde. Blood rained from the sky and corpses splattered the ground, leaving her like a warrior returned from the deepest fires of battle.
Kara and Green Lantern seized the advantage. With precision and teamwork they struck down wave after wave of demonic fiends, dismantling the onslaught with controlled, brilliant force.
Green Lantern approached Batman once the last demon fell. "If this was your extra preparation," he said with a wry grin, "you did well."
Batman's voice remained calm, his eyes focused on the demon remains. "Purity weakens corruption. There is nothing purer than truth and structure."
Green Lantern blinked once, then nodded thoughtfully. "That's… actually a good strategy against them."
Batman didn't respond; his attention had shifted.
He directed his gaze toward Baron Winters's room, where the next threat loomed.
"Has Trigon entered that room?" Batman asked.
Kara's expression tightened with worry. "Yes. But I no longer sense Adrian, Clark, or Rachel."
The four heroes entered the Baron's chamber. There, Baron Winters lay slumped in his chair, breathing shallow and exhausted, sweat beading on his brow. Merlin, his great leopard companion, lay defeated at his feet and whimpered softly.
"Baron Winters?" Kara knelt beside him.
He lifted his head slowly, brushing his hair back with a weak smile. "I'm fine. I just… pushed myself too hard."
He forced a tired laugh and tried to explain. "When emotions run high, especially under stress, you reach a point where your spirit bleeds energy like a candle burning at both ends."
His smile faded and his expression became grave. He lifted his cane and pointed toward the roaring flames in the fireplace.
With a flash of crimson flame, a moving image appeared within the fire — as vivid and real as if they were watching it unfold before them.
Eyes widening, Green Lantern muttered, "What is this place?"
Baron Winters studied the fiery vision. "San Francisco, early twentieth century."
"San Francisco?" Batman said in a low voice. "If this is 1906, then a massive earthquake and fire is imminent. Over 23,000 are expected to die, hundreds of thousands will be left homeless, and much of the city will be destroyed."
Kara stared at the flames, stunned as the image shifted. A building crumbled, seemingly from the impact of a powerful blow.
"So you're saying," she said, disbelief in her tone, "this world‑famous 1906 earthquake was triggered by… Adrian?"
Batman didn't look away. His eyes were fixed on the vision, and his voice was solemn. "Yes. And it appears Adrian Kent has become something even Trigon cannot ignore."
Across the timeline in 1906, screams of terror echoed down San Francisco's streets.
Trigon towered tens of meters tall, his body blazing with elemental fire. Civilians ran in panic, cries of terror filling the air as horse‑drawn carriages barreled through the chaos.
"Oh my god, it's a demon!" someone shrieked. "Run!"
"God, please save us!"
Crowds collided as people rushed to escape the horrific presence. Panic surged like a tidal wave.
At the center of it all, Adrian stood unleashed — bone spurs protruding, crimson aura flaring like hellfire brought to life.
Bang!
Adrian crashed into the open ground like a meteorite, tearing a massive crater into the earth. Shockwaves radiated outward, cracking the soil and swallowing those who couldn't flee in time.
Trigon responded with elemental fire, blasting Adrian's form. But the Doomsday Template within him adapted. Damage that would have been fatal before was now mere fuel for his growing ferocity.
Glass shattered on all sides, debris spiraling through the air as Adrian blurred forward like lightning. He struck Trigon's massive frame and sent the demon god stumbling backward with a pained roar.
Boom!
A building collapsed under Trigon's retreat, shaking the ground with tremors like a miniature quake.
More structures fell, flames igniting from ruptured gas lines. Amidst it all, the destructive aura around Adrian intensified. His being exuded an almost primal hunger for devastation, as though he had become the embodiment of ruin itself.
Bang!
He drove another punch into Trigon's chest, the impact blasting the demon god across the street. Buildings toppled like dominos. Fires erupted, and civilians screamed in terror as the city buckled beneath the clash of giants.
Spectators, watching from safety through the mystical flames, were struck silent. The sheer force of Adrian's attacks reshaped the battlefield into a landscape of destruction.
Even Wonder Woman, peering into the vision from another timeline, tensed involuntarily. She recognized in Adrian something terrifying — an unstoppable force of nature.
Before his colossal figure even reached Trigon again, an elemental vision beam struck him and hurled him like a boulder into a clock tower.
Crash!
The tower's top half collapsed, sending masonry raining down and prompting another chorus of screams from below.
Despite the ruin, Adrian rose. Blood streamed from his shoulder, pain mixed with a burning, unrelenting rage.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
He shattered through walls and buildings like a living missile, fists striking Trigon's body with thunderous force. The demon lord's confidence fractured as Adrian pushed him back blow after blow.
Bang!
A punch to Trigon's face thundered through the battlefield, elemental energy flickering as his skin cracked. Adrian's assault showed no sign of stopping.
Trigon's voice boomed in fury. "No! You must bow! This world is mine!"
Six beams of destructive energy fired from Trigon's eyes, crisscrossing the sky. Adrian responded with Heat Vision, but the force was overwhelming.
He was blasted through a wall and into another building, sending bricks and steel crashing down around him. The crowd below screamed in terror at the devastation.
Adrian stood up, chest rising with controlled, burning breath. Hellfire swirled around him — but the flames no longer stopped him. They merely added to his pain and fury.
His eyes gleamed with destructive intent as he advanced on Trigon, fists moving in a flurry of unstoppable blows.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each strike rang like thunder, while Trigon roared with humiliation as the young warrior pummeled him relentlessly.
In the manor back in the present, the group watched this unfolding nightmare.
Green Lantern cleared his throat.
"Perhaps we misunderstood," he said, voice low. "Changing the future doesn't mean undoing the past. Maybe there's another way. If we can unite with Adrian later… maybe he's the one who saves the universe after all."
Kara stood beside him, staring in disbelief at the figure consumed by bone spurs and power. Her face was pale with dread — not only at Trigon, but at what Adrian had become.
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