The blinding white light instantly stripped everyone of their vision, followed immediately by high temperatures and an all-consuming Impact.
The bustling City, the towering Markvis Tower, and the dense office buildings were reduced to ashes in an instant upon contact with the nuclear explosion, like pieces of paper in a raging fire.
On the land of this Markvis nation, the massive mushroom cloud symbolizing destruction erupted.
Homelander hid his form, looking down coldly at the scorched ruins below.
He felt little pity; in his script, someone had to be sacrificed.
And for this sacrifice and it was not not him who chose this place but Gravik. So He won't take any responsibility.
"What a spectacular display of fireworks."
At that moment, Homelander suddenly thought of someone.
"I wonder if Phastos, that fat black inventor from the Eternal race..." he mused mockingly to himself.
"...seeing this third mushroom cloud, would once again kneel on the ground, weeping bitterly and repenting for his role in advancing human technology? Haha."
Meanwhile, Gravik was still immersed in an all-powerful sense of invincibility.
He hovered over the ruins after the nuclear blast, looking down at the Earth with a gaze full of lofty, king-like contempt.
"The first round, you lost. Markvis is the price."
"Today's game ends here, but this is only the beginning. Tomorrow, same time, same place, the game continues..."
"I will be there waiting for you. Bring all your confidence, or bring your letter of surrender."
Leaving behind this declaration, Gravik turned around arrogantly.
Homelander timely channeled The Force, taking this Skrull leader, who was still dreaming of invincibility, and vanishing into the murky sky following the nuclear explosion.
...
As Gravik's figure disappeared from the live broadcast.
An unprecedented psychological tsunami swept through the entirety of human society.
The crowds that had gathered to protest and march now slumped to the ground, as if all their strength had been drained.
"Oh God... is this real? Even nuclear bombs were useless... how can we win against him? Tomorrow... tomorrow might be our turn!"
"We're all going to die... those monsters will kill us all!"
"What did we do wrong?! Why do we have to endure this?!"
"Damn alien bastards! Damned Skrulls! I curse you to hell!"
"Mom, where did that big city we saw on TV go?" a five-year-old boy asked innocently, pointing at the scorched Earth on the screen.
The mother didn't answer; she only held the child tighter as tears streamed down her face.
She looked out the window at the World-famous Eiffel Tower, and the terrifying scene of it being vaporized and melted like the Markvis Tower uncontrollably surfaced in her mind.
Tomorrow, if they failed again, would the next target be Paris?
Or London? New York? Moscow?
No one knew.
This unknown sense of waiting for death to strike randomly was destroying people's psychological defenses step by step.
Fear and hatred, these two extreme emotions, were intertwined in the hearts of people of different skin colors and classes.
"If only he were here..."
No one knew who in the crowded throng sobbed out those words.
It was like sunlight piercing through the night, or dawn quietly breaking across the horizon.
Instantly, it resonated with countless people.
Homelander!
They began to miss that man, who always wore a confident smile, with an absolute frenzy.
Looking back over the past few years, Earth had never truly been peaceful.
But for the vast majority of ordinary people on Earth, those disasters were more like Hollywood action blockbusters happening on a screen.
They would drink beer and eat popcorn at home while watching the news live on TV.
They would like social media posts about superheroes and argue endlessly over some hero's gossip and scandals.
Why?
Because those disasters that destroyed cities and even threatened the World were mostly intercepted on U.S. soil, held back by Homelander at a distance far removed from their lives.
Their subconscious had grown accustomed to the idea that the sky wouldn't fall, because an invincible man would always hold it up.
Until this moment.
When the Sword of Damocles hanging overhead truly fell.
When Markvis vanished into nothingness in a nuclear blast.
When the shadow of death loomed indiscriminately over the head of every Earthling.
Only then did all of humanity, as if waking from a grand dream, truly experience this cruel truth.
There was no such thing as peaceful times, nor was peace something to be taken for granted.
It was simply that someone was carrying the burden for them, blocking the danger in places they could not reach!
"To protect us, he disappeared into the deep reaches of the Universe..."
An angry youth, who usually criticized everything, knelt in the street weeping uncontrollably. "But we once complained about Vought International's arrogance, about superhero privileges, about the economic fluctuations caused by battles... we are simply a bunch of ungrateful idiots!"
"Come back! Please come back!"
Countless people were frantically spamming the comments in the now-frozen livestream room.
"Come back! Homelander! Humanity needs you! Earth needs you!"
"As long as you can come back and save us, we are willing to offer everything!"
People issued a blood-weeping call from the depths of their hearts.
Prayers, calls, and confessions converged into torrents of popularity.
Prompt! Gained popularity value +985,221!
Prompt! Gained popularity value +853,320!
Prompt! Gained popularity value +891,678!
...
High up in the distant sky, Homelander silently enjoyed the heavenly sound of the surging popularity.
"What lovely people they are," he praised inwardly. "Don't worry, I will definitely protect you well. After all, you are my most precious wealth."
...
Markvis, once a bustling international metropolis, had now turned into a purgatory.
Broken walls and debris were everywhere, and twisted, deformed steel skeletons emitted a dull red glow under the high temperatures.
On this wasteland devoid of any signs of life, a charred body was slowly moving.
Nick Fury had not perished in this nuclear explosion.
But his current condition was no better than being dead.
The power of the Spirit of Vengeance within him was incomplete, and this power could not make him completely immune to such World-destroying damage.
Being at the center of the nuclear blast, his flesh and bones were vaporized, only for the Flames of Vengeance to reshape him.
But in the next second, his body collapsed again.
Life and death, destruction and rebirth—he was forced to repeatedly experience the ultimate agony of his physical body being annihilated.
"Ugh..."
Fury let out a low, raspy roar of pain.
The Flames of Vengeance on his body were now like a candle in the wind; the sinful souls he had previously harvested were nearly exhausted.
By now, Fury's consciousness was blurred. Driven by instinct, he dragged his broken steps, moving forward unconsciously.
One step, two steps, one step, two steps.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, his footsteps suddenly came to a halt.
Even on the edge of chaotic consciousness, he suddenly became restless.
The aura here... was unusual.
This area seemed to have centuries of accumulated guilt; that aura of sin, so thick it had almost materialized, caused the Flames of Vengeance to let out a hungry roar.