Inside the cargo ship, Colonel Rodrigues looked at the screen, "Should we launch the nuke now, ma'am?"
Storm shook her head, "No, wait. Let Ryan create an opening for us first."
"Create an opening?"
Colonel Rodrigues looked doubtful, "Can that kid really do it?"
Storm said quietly, "He should be able to. After all... he's his son."
At that moment, Ryan's eyes on the screen lit up with a dazzling crimson glow. Two plasma beams suddenly shot out, blasting toward Homelander.
Homelander immediately raised an arm to block the beams while firing back, golden rays bursting from his own eyes.
The two figures clashed across the island, chasing and counterattacking, continuously firing their eye beams. Crimson and gold swept across the island again and again, carving through everything in their path.
The recreational facilities that had only recently been built were sliced apart. Even the island's mountains were cut through. The battlefield was so devastating that Rodrigues and the others could only stare in shock.
Storm narrowed her eyes slightly, searching for the right moment to launch the nuclear missile.
She watched the screen closely.
After dodging a golden beam, Ryan suddenly charged at Homelander. His tiny fist carried terrifying power as it slammed toward Homelander's chest.
Homelander answered with a heavy punch of his own.
The two wildly mismatched fists collided, sending a terrifying shockwave rippling outward. The entire island trembled, and enormous waves rose from the surrounding sea.
Then Homelander slammed Ryan down onto the island.
The boy known as the "Demon Child" crashed into the ground, creating a crater like a meteor impact.
Ryan got back up completely unharmed, brushed the dust off his pants, suddenly looked up, and fired crimson eye beams at Homelander.
The beam swept back and forth. After dodging several times, Homelander was finally hit and fell from the sky.
Ryan immediately flew after him. His small figure crashed into Homelander, throwing punches and kicks without pause.
The fight moved from the air to the ground as the two exchanged blows while darting rapidly across the island.
Storm and the others aboard the cargo ship watched as waves of energy continuously erupted across the island, destroying forests and shattering mountain peaks.
"Look, the island is starting to split apart!"
Colonel Rodrigues cried out.
Sure enough, one corner of the island broke away on the screen, with countless fragments sinking into the sea.
Cracks spread across the island, growing wider and wider. The ground rose and fell unevenly as seawater rushed inland. The entire scene looked like the end of the world.
"My God... it's like watching gods at war."
"Thank goodness we lured Homelander into the Pacific. If this battle had broken out on the Federation mainland, the consequences would have been unimaginable."
"It's one thing for Homelander to be this powerful, but where did that kid come from? He's actually fighting Homelander evenly?"
"Monsters. They're both monsters!"
The battle on the island continued.
Only one minute had passed since the fight began.
But in just that single minute, Love Island had already begun to fall apart.
At this point, Homelander and Ryan were no longer fighting on the ground. Both hovered above the island, exchanging attacks in midair.
Every collision of fists and kicks triggered terrifying impacts. The shockwaves spread over an enormous area, reaching even the sea beyond the island.
As the battle raged on, countless dead fish began floating to the surface.
The marine life living near the island had been killed by the enormous energy released during the clash between Homelander and Ryan.
Even birds flying overhead would suddenly explode into clouds of blood, their bodies shattering before they could even hit the ground.
Then, in the middle of the fight, Ryan suddenly flashed behind Homelander.
His small body pressed against Homelander's back as he wrapped both arms around Homelander's shoulders.
In an instant, Ryan locked Homelander in place.
"Now!"
Storm shouted, "Launch the nuke! Right now! Immediately!"
This was the opportunity.
If they missed it, they wouldn't get another.
All Storm could do now was pray that Ryan could hold on for one minute.
A section of the cargo ship's deck opened.
With a roar, a nuclear missile shot into the sky, then curved through the air and flew toward Love Island.
Storm stared nervously at the screen.
One of the displays showed the flight path of the Apocalypse nuclear missile, along with its estimated time to impact.
55 seconds. 40 seconds. 25 seconds.
At that moment, Homelander seemed to notice something.
He suddenly looked toward the direction the missile was coming from, then struggled desperately to break free from Ryan's grip.
Ryan gritted his teeth and held on with both hands, refusing to let Homelander escape.
The missile was now visible on the screen.
Less than ten seconds remained before impact.
Colonel Rodrigues unconsciously clenched his fists.
"Seven... six... five... four..."
The other soldiers joined the countdown.
"Three... two... one!"
The instant they shouted "one," a blinding light erupted across the screen.
The nuclear missile hit its target.
The sudden flash turned every monitor pure white.
At the same time, an electromagnetic shield enveloped the cargo ship, protecting it as the nuclear blast struck. The ship rocked violently from side to side but was not swallowed by the towering waves.
After the earth-shaking explosion, the screens showed that Love Island had disappeared.
The seawater there was surging violently outward in every direction. A monstrous mushroom cloud rose into the sky, and the intense radiation turned that stretch of ocean into a forbidden zone for life.
"Wait here."
Storm left the cargo ship and flew toward where Love Island had been.
Lightning surrounded her, forming a protective barrier that shielded her from the radiation.
She quickly arrived nearby.
Towering waves churned across the sea, and countless pieces of rock of every size floated on the water.
On one of the larger chunks, Storm saw Homelander.
He lay there, unable to move.
The nuclear explosion seemed to have drained all the life from him. He had withered into a dried corpse.
Only the faint rise and fall of his chest showed that he was still alive.
Storm landed nearby with a sinister smile and pulled out a specially made knife.
It was a nanoblade, extremely thin and long, yet unbelievably sharp.
It was a weapon created specifically to kill Homelander.
She walked toward him.
Homelander barely managed to glance at her before giving a bitter smile.
"So... that little brat never knew it wasn't me who killed his mother... It was Wilson?"
Seeing that Homelander was at death's door, Storm answered indifferently, "I doubt Wilson would tell him."
"But that old man personally admitted to me that he killed Ryan's mother, then fabricated a video to pin the blame on you."
"So that's it."
Homelander looked weakly at the sky, "No wonder he fought so desperately. You used him."
"It couldn't be helped," Storm smiled.
"After all, he's your son."
"If it weren't for him, we'd never have found a chance to drop a nuke right in your face."
When she reached Homelander's side, Storm raised the nanoblade and drove it straight into his eye.
She twisted it.
Homelander's brain was stirred into mush.
"Dead!"
"That bastard is finally dead!"
Storm burst into delighted laughter.
But as she laughed, she suddenly saw the surroundings peeling away like a burning theater curtain.
Behind that burning curtain... she saw intact buildings.
She saw trees.
She saw mountains.
She froze.
'What is going on?'
'Wasn't Love Island already destroyed?'