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Kevin did indeed have a method for saving Barry's mother.
However, it was merely a conjecture, and whether it would succeed depended on Barry's execution.
Without keeping Barry in suspense, Kevin took him back to the DC Universe first, then said to him:
"My method is actually only theoretical. To complete my theory, there's a crucial prerequisite: you must be able to travel through time and space with someone."
"…"
"But it's quite clear you can't do that."
Kevin spread his hands, saying helplessly.
Barry's Speed Force was formidable; when pushed to its limit, he could traverse time and space.
But he only had speed and no other abilities.
Therefore, Barry might be able to save someone at extreme speed, running with them, but he couldn't take someone with him through time and space.
And the key to completing the method Kevin proposed lay in whether Barry could travel back and forth through time and space with someone.
If he couldn't…
While it wasn't impossible, the problem was that Barry's mother had been dead for too long. The longer the interval, the more variables would arise.
Well, in fact, the method Kevin proposed came from an anime about Transmigration.
It mentioned that to save someone destined to die on a timeline, one needed to deceive the timeline and the entire world.
To explain it simply, it meant that the person who was supposed to die would fake their death to deceive everyone, making everyone believe that person had died.
Kevin's idea was to use magic to create a doppelganger similar to Barry's mother, Nora, to die in her place, ensuring that people in that time period were certain of Nora's death.
Afterward, Barry would take the living Nora from the past back to his future, thereby deceiving the timeline.
After briefly explaining his idea to Barry, Kevin said:
"If you can't take someone through time, my method is useless even if I give it to you."
"…I… I think I understand what you mean."
After hearing what Kevin said, Barry quickly grasped the key point:
"The crucial part of making your method work isn't whether I can take someone through time, but that no one in the original time period of my mother's death can know she's still alive!"
"Exactly, but your mother, Nora, has been dead for too long. One or two years would be fine, but with a nearly twenty-year time span, no one can guarantee that someone won't discover her."
"I'll figure it out. Thank you, Kevin. Whether I succeed or not, you are my benefactor."
Barry sincerely thanked Kevin in the end.
The method Kevin suggested was indeed difficult to succeed, but at least it was a direction, one Barry had never thought of before.
With a goal, Barry at least knew what he should do. He wouldn't have to face the difficult choice of 'creating Flashpoint' or 'watching his mother die'.
Regardless of whether he succeeded in the future, at least he had tried.
Listening to Barry's gratitude, Kevin's expression remained unchanged. He earnestly admonished Barry at the end:
"You can only use my method once at most. More than that, and it will be useless, so you must succeed on your first try, understand?"
"…I understand."
"Good that you know. Oh, right, one last thing, you haven't forgotten why you came to this world, have you?"
Kevin suddenly asked.
'This world' he referred to was the Flashpoint World.
Barry recalled: "When I was traveling through time, I was attacked by someone…"
"Then do you remember what he looked like?"
"Not really. I only remember… he seemed to be wearing blue… WTF!?"
Before Barry could finish, he saw Kevin pull out a blue skin-tight uniform from somewhere.
The uniform looked very similar to Barry's hero suit, the difference being that Barry's hero suit was gold and red, while the one before him was silver and blue.
Of course, if it were just a uniform, Barry wouldn't be so surprised.
What truly shocked Barry was that upon seeing the uniform, he instantly recalled that the person who attacked him seemed to be wearing that very uniform!
"Time loop, you know."
Kevin smiled and handed the uniform to Barry.
Because of Kevin's involvement in the Flashpoint World, Barry in the Flashpoint World did not become Dark Flash, nor did he enter the Time Bowl to punch Barry.
So, fundamentally speaking, Barry should not exist in the Flashpoint World.
But Barry was still there, and Kevin had heard him say that he was punched out of the Time Bowl and came from his original timeline to the Flashpoint timeline.
With Dark Flash not present, who would punch Barry?
Kevin racked his brain and finally thought that perhaps it was Barry himself who punched Barry.
Because to complete the time loop and stabilize this entire cycle, someone had to 'send' Barry into this world.
Aside from the Marvel Universe, Kevin couldn't travel through time in other worlds, so to complete the final time closure, he needed to rely on a speedster.
Barry seemed reluctant to meet another version of himself, so the task of sending himself into this universe would have to rely on Barry himself.
Taking the blue suit from Kevin's hand, Barry then remembered to ask:
"So if that's the case, did I come to this world and meet you first, or did you first make me complete the time loop before bringing me to this world…?"
"None of that matters. The moment the time loop is completed, the cycle is achieved. There is no beginning, and no end."
Like an Ouroboros, the beginning is the end, and the end is also the beginning.
Barry nodded, half-understanding, then took a starting stance, ready to return to the past.
However, before returning to the past, Barry still asked Kevin:
"Will we be able to meet again in the future?"
"I don't know, but I think we will, I just don't know when that day will come."
Kevin replied.
As long as Kevin continued to advance along the skill tree, he would eventually master the mysteries of time and space travel. At that time, Kevin would be able to choose which worlds to go to, and perhaps, he could meet Barry again.
"If you ever come to my world, I'll introduce you to Bruce and the others."
"That sounds quite promising."
Kevin smiled and patted Barry's back: "Alright, you should get going."
"Goodbye."
"Goodbye."
Bidding farewell to Kevin, Barry, now in the blue uniform, took a deep breath and began his running warm-up.
No one knew if he would successfully change the past this time.
Including Barry himself, he was completely unaware of the future he was about to change.
But unlike before, Barry now at least had a glimmer of hope, though no one knew if this hope was good or bad.
Kevin could only wish him success in his heart, and that was all; besides that, Kevin couldn't help with anything else.
After all, even now, Kevin hadn't fully unraveled the mysteries of time and space.
Crackle, crackle.
A flash of golden-red electricity, and Barry transformed into a streak of light, streaking away from Kevin's sight.
Only when Barry's figure completely vanished at the end of the road did Kevin retract his gaze and raise his hand to look at the wristwatch on his wrist.
While Barry went to save his mother, Nora, Kevin also had his own things to do.
The first thing he needed to figure out was the runes he saw when traversing.
Before this, Kevin knew nothing about space and didn't understand how the skill tree worked.
But after this, inspired by the Ancient One and personally encountering chaotic space to create his own unique spatial skills, Kevin vaguely understood the principle of skill tree traversal.
The most important thing was indeed the magic patterns.
When Kevin traversed, the vast whiteness that appeared before his eyes was actually all glowing runes.
Because there were too many runes, and they were frighteningly dense, the light they emitted was also too dazzling, making people perceive it as a white expanse.
In reality, as long as Kevin had the ability to discern everything there, he could see the runes hidden within.
If Kevin had spatial abilities and understood spatial magic patterns, he could even copy some of the space-related magic patterns.
Just like now.
"Such complex magic patterns…"
Kevin flipped his watch, looking at the magic patterns on it, each less than a micrometer when placed individually, and frowned.
The magic patterns he had previously added to the watch had the function of copying any magic patterns they came into contact with onto themselves.
In this world, apart from Kevin, no one uses the magic pattern system, and therefore, this watch will not function as intended except when traversing space.
However, when Kevin traverses space to another world, the watch will automatically begin to copy the magic patterns it comes into contact with, which is everything that appears as a vast expanse of white in Kevin's eyes.
Of course, there are too many magic patterns there, and a single watch certainly cannot copy them all.
But Kevin doesn't need to copy them all; he only needs to copy a portion, enough to give him a direction for his research.
Now that the watch has completed its task of copying magic patterns, Kevin can finally see the full extent of those white runes when traversing space-time.
Yet, for the current Kevin, seeing these magic patterns is no different from not seeing them at all.
Because he simply cannot understand what those magic patterns are for.
He can only make sense of a small portion related to space; it seems a few similar magic patterns appeared when he was creating the portal.
But that's useless.
By comparing similar magic patterns, anyone can tell that these magic patterns are related to space, and Kevin can also create these magic patterns by imitating them.
However, as for how to arrange them and combine them into a spatial passage that can allow people to traverse worlds, Kevin truly has no clue.
Nevertheless… on this issue, Kevin can take his time. Compared to this, Kevin has more important matters to deal with.
The problem in the The Boys world must be resolved as soon as possible.
… … …
Outside Mallory's villa.
Butcher stood outside the villa, watching Rebecca and Ryan, who were currently undergoing psychological counseling inside, and suddenly sighed.
Mallory, who was beside him, handed him a cup of coffee and asked:
"Still thinking about Kevin?"
"I don't understand what he wants to do. It was true before, and it's true now. I even thought I could understand him."
Butcher said with a frown.
Through his interactions with Kevin, Butcher believed he could understand him, at least from the intelligence he received from the other Hughie, Kevin was not someone who would act recklessly.
After all, the other Hughie regarded Kevin as a hero and highly praised him, almost like a fanatical fangirl.
Butcher didn't understand Kevin, at least he understood Hughie.
If the relationship between Butcher's counterpart and Hughie in the other world was still good, then what Butcher saw in Hughie would not be too far off the mark.
Hughie would think this way, would consider Kevin a hero, and the fact that his other self didn't correct Hughie's idea proved that his other self thought the same way.
Kevin is a hero.
A true hero.
Perhaps Butcher had never actually thought so, but at least in his subconscious, he already had similar thoughts.
And so, what Kevin was doing now made it difficult for Butcher to understand him.
This was not something a hero would do.
"Look on the bright side, at least we have leverage against Vought."
"Are you talking about Ryan?"
Mallory raised a differing opinion. Butcher knew she wasn't talking about Rebecca, but Rebecca's son, Ryan.
Mallory said softly:
"Vought values Ryan very much, otherwise they wouldn't have spent so much manpower and resources to build such a large 'secluded place' for them."
"So? You plan to have this child also testify against Vought? Testify that Homelander forced Rebecca?"
Butcher looked at Mallory somewhat coldly.
Rebecca was back; his wife had returned to his side. Regardless of the process in between, this was a good thing for Butcher.
His hatred was thus diluted somewhat. Compared to targeting Homelander, Butcher did not want his wife, Rebecca, to be harmed more.
And testifying against Homelander in court would be equivalent to reopening Rebecca's wounds and bringing things they didn't want to face into the open.
So…
Butcher didn't really want Rebecca to testify, including her son.
"Dr. Vogelsbaum refused to testify; we have no other options."
Mallory sighed and said to Butcher.
Having Lamplighter alone testify to Vought's illegal activities was not secure enough.
Vought is such a large corporation, and their legal team is among the best in the world. A single witness, especially a former hero who withdrew from The Seven, cannot completely bring down Vought.
Therefore, to make this testimony more secure, Mallory went to find Dr. Vogelsbaum, the former chief Scientific Officer of Vought.
As a high-ranking executive of Vought and Homelander's nominal adoptive father, Dr. Vogelsbaum knew more hidden secrets of Vought that others did not.
If Dr. Vogelsbaum could testify, Vought would truly be brought down by them.
But unfortunately, Dr. Vogelsbaum rejected Mallory's invitation.
Mallory could only settle for the next best option, choosing Rebecca and Ryan, who were brought back by Kevin.
Mallory, of course, didn't know Kevin's purpose in bringing Rebecca and her son back, but it must be said that his actions did benefit Mallory.
From this perspective, Mallory seemed to even have to thank him.
"…"
However, after listening to Mallory, Butcher stood up and left without a word.
"Where are you going?"
"I'll make Dr. Vogelsbaum testify."
"We don't have time; the trial starts this afternoon."
"Don't worry, I'm very efficient. A morning is enough."
Butcher finished speaking and left the villa, ignoring Mallory.
With Butcher's methods, if he could truly get Dr. Vogelsbaum to help, it really wouldn't take a day, not even a morning; an hour, a few tens of minutes, or even a dozen minutes, and he could get everything done.
Mallory knew Butcher could do it because he was a gun she had trained.
No one understood better than she how to use this gun.
Watching Butcher leave the villa, before Mallory could even walk back inside, she saw a blue portal open beside her.
Mallory stopped and looked at the other end of the portal.
Inside the dark cabin, Kevin's figure emerged from it.
"You're back?"
Mallory put her hands in her trench coat pockets and turned to look at Kevin, especially staring at the portal for several more glances:
"Is this your new ability? I've never seen a Supe with so many abilities like you. Are you really a Supe?"
Mallory raised her doubts.
She had seen many Supes; there were Supes who could fly, Supes who could grow and shrink, and Supes who could turn their bodies into metal or something else.
But Mallory had never seen a Supe who possessed several completely unrelated superpowers with no connection to each other, like Kevin.
Even Homelander's superpowers mostly originated from his physical body, unlike Kevin, who controls water and mist.
Now he could even do things like spatial teleportation.
"Perhaps I am the true god?"
Kevin, who had walked out of the portal, said to Mallory half-jokingly, but then chuckled right after:
"Alright, just kidding. I just have more derivative abilities, and it's not important. The trial is this afternoon, right?"
"Yes, if nothing unexpected happens, Vought definitely won't be able to recover this time."
"Is that so? Then I'll give you some more crucial evidence."
Kevin said, throwing a small camcorder to Mallory, along with some documents in a file bag.
Mallory took the camcorder and the file bag and asked:
"What is this?"
"You should be able to guess. See for yourself. I need to rest for a bit. Call me when the trial starts."
Kevin said and walked towards the villa.
Leaving Mallory alone in the yard.
Watching Kevin's retreating figure, Mallory first opened the file bag to look at the documents inside, then quickly opened the camcorder Kevin gave her to watch its contents.
Then, a smile appeared on Mallory's face.
It was a very relieved smile, and a very happy one.
If Lamplighter's and Dr. Vogelsbaum's evidence alone couldn't truly bring down Vought.
Then what Kevin had given her now would definitely be able to plunge Vought into the abyss!
And ensure they could never recover!
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones=1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr | 16 novels being updated, I can't read all comments