DC: Rise of the Kryptonian Tyrant

It's dark here. There is never daylight.

Even Bardi's immense power couldn't pierce through the darkness.

He was already inside the beast's body.

In an instant, the darkness surged.

Bardi grew wary, his eyes flickering slightly.

The dense darkness gathered before Bardi, forming a figure with a cold expression.

"You should recognize this face."

The figure formed by the beast spoke.

"?"

Bardi was puzzled. He studied the figure carefully, but didn't recognize the person it resembled.

"What are you trying to do, beast? You know you can't devour me."

Bardi glanced at the figure warily.

He wasn't lying.

Whether it was a beast or a god, once Bardi had devoured the Wall of Origin, they became fully self-aware, realizing their own trinity and recognizing their uniqueness. With that uniqueness came the impossibility of devouring each other.

Without hesitation, Bardi even had a deep conviction that they were all false, and only he was real.

Still, he believed that both the gods and the beasts must feel the same way. That's why the gods ignored the creatures in the Divine Realm.

As for the beast, Bardi genuinely didn't know what it was planning at this moment.

"You don't know?"

"He exists in the same reality as you. Both you and he possess true uniqueness."

The beast spoke in a conceptual tone.

He had once thought that encountering someone with such uniqueness was already the limit, but he never imagined that there could be another being with true uniqueness.

When he discovered Bardi's existence, the beast nearly collapsed.

It was something that contradicted everything he knew.

Sometimes, he even suspected that he himself was false.

Bardi was shocked.

The same reality?

That memory stretched far back, so far that Bardi thought of it as merely a different world of the same place.

Maybe there was something there that wasn't here.

Maybe the events there were just projections from another world.

At Bardi's level, he had already realized that countless universes and worlds were intricately connected.

He had truly sensed someone using him as a model to write a novel.

They claimed to have created it—but how could they know it was actually Bardi's own influence that inspired them to write the story?

Everything was a novel, a passage of text, an image, a fleeting thought, a splash from another world…

You could say it was a projection from another world, or a mere reflection, or a trace of leaked information.

It didn't matter, because the world did not exist in isolation. Everything was deeply interconnected. In reality, energy, spirit, soul, and true spirit were all endlessly entangled.

There was no such thing as a completely independent, sovereign entity.

So, they all pursued true oneness.

It was not surprising.

But now, the "same reality" mentioned by the beast triggered memories of a long time ago, of when Bardi first arrived on Krypton, and even the reality before he came to Krypton.

That reality… might as well be called the DC Universe.

"Looks like you've remembered something."

The beast seemed hopeful, as if sensing a new path forward.

Bardi's expression turned grim.

The beast didn't say much, but it still left Bardi with a heavy and irritable feeling that was hard to shake.

"Who is he?"

Bardi asked. Perhaps this was another traveler from the same place, someone who had arrived even earlier.

"The Pillar of Time."

The beast spoke the name with caution, doing its best to shield all associated cause and effect.

The thick black screen rolled, and it felt as if a gaze passed over, paused for a moment, then departed. The black screen rolled again and again.

"He once said that a mutation in reality led to his arrival, or the arrival of others, to this place."

"He's making some long-term plans and waiting for you."

"All of this… was told by him."

The beast's eyes were filled with deep regret, remorse, and resentment—rich emotions surged within.

The beast hadn't forgotten. When it encountered The Pillar of Time and tried to devour him, it was nearly beaten to death and then used for research. What made it angriest was that The Pillar of Time even used its skin tissue to make a cloak for his wife.

It was humiliating.

Completely outrageous, that bastard.

All of it left the beast with a terrible impression of the Pillar of Time. Yet, it had to admit the man's capabilities.

"The Pillar of Time... a figure among figures…"

Bardi muttered to himself thoughtfully.

He had no recollection of the name, but he knew the beast wasn't lying.

This must be a forerunner.

Or someone who came with him due to a rupture in reality.

He was working to resolve the issue and needed Bardi as well.

Whether to help or not—he'd decide that later.

At this moment, Bardi was helpless, even in danger of being swallowed by the beast.

"You'll definitely meet him in the future. But for now, let's get to business."

The beast spoke impatiently.

"I devour you, or you devour me."

"I don't believe what The Pillar of Time said. I don't believe that you'll be the one to win."

Bardi's eyes narrowed, a fierce light shining in them. His body erupted with overwhelming power, enough to tear the universe apart. Various concepts—fate, cause and effect, life and death, beginning, evolution, endings—all surged forth and were pushed to their extremes by him.

He knew he was about to face the most powerful battle in history.

The timing might be uncertain, but the result was clear: He would win.

Because he was truly unique, surpassing the uniqueness of both the beast and the gods.

Possibly—

"I am the real one!"

Bardi roared fiercely. Surrounded by chaos, his divine evolutionary body began to clash against the surrounding darkness, growing taller and stronger. The thick darkness was absorbed by him like ink, then turned into antibodies.

The traits of countless creatures began to appear in the surrounding darkness. Throughout the history of the Divine Realm, all kinds of magical biological traits were reflected in the beast's body, and all kinds of information were pushed to their limits and swarmed toward Bardi.

"Very good, use all your power to devour me."

The monstrous beast was pleased. The overwhelming black mist poured into Bardi's divine body, to the point of bursting. For a moment, it seemed like even Bardi's divine form couldn't contain it all.

It had never felt so full—so thoroughly devoured.

At the critical moment, Bardi evolved an even stronger adaptive devouring mechanism for the beast's information, then slowly began to recover and continued to consume the beast.

"What are you doing?"

Suddenly, Bardi was shocked.

The beast wasn't resisting at all.

"Devour me, then devour God, and you will become the only one in the Divine Realm."

"With everything I have, become the last, ultimate beast."

"Hahaha…"

Bardi suddenly understood.

The beast was destined to die at the hands of God.

God had allowed the beast to grow for three eras, letting it be reborn in the Divine Realm again and again, nurturing it for three generations, then harvesting it.

But unfortunately for the god, the beast met The Pillar of Time and saw The Pillar of Time's true uniqueness.

So it understood its final solution.

That was to make Bardi into the beast.

Bardi andThe Pillar of Time shared the same true uniqueness.

Only Bardi could defeat God—only he could destroy God.

The beast had no way out.

For him, for one who was bound to disappear, helping Bardi—who inherited everything from the beast, who became the new beast—was his victory.

And also Bardi's victory.

(To be continued.)