The scene before Storm's eyes withered away like a burning painting.
It faded, disappeared, turned to ash, and scattered into the air.
Behind that painting was an undamaged Love Island, blue skies and blue seas, a world where the nuclear missile had never exploded.
'Why?'
Storm stood there in disbelief.
"So it's true."
"So the one who attacked my home and killed my mother... wasn't Homelander at all. It was Wilson?"
A young voice sounded behind her, filled with anger.
Storm spun around.
She saw Ryan, and Homelander, who gave her a wink.
Storm looked down.
There was no sign of Homelander's corpse beneath her feet.
There was only a patch of grass.
"When he showed me that video earlier, I still couldn't believe it."
"But just now, you confirmed it yourself."
"Why? Why would you do this?", Ryan shouted.
His eyes glowed crimson, and a plasma beam flashed across the ground, slicing through the grass before striking Storm in the chest and blasting her away.
Ryan shot after her at once.
In an instant, he caught up to Storm, and with a shout, his small fist smashed into her nose, sending her crashing into a Ferris wheel.
With a loud hum, the Ferris wheel shook, bent out of shape, and toppled over.
The massive steel structure crushed Storm into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
A few specks of dust drifted into Homelander's nose.
His nose itched, and he sneezed.
Then a smile spread across his face as he looked toward the dust cloud in the distance.
After he and Ryan had arrived on Love Island, Homelander had shown Ryan a video.
In that video, it was clearly visible that what attacked Ryan's home had been a rocket-propelled grenade.
Wilson had then appeared at the scene and said that Becca needed to sacrifice herself for the Federation.
Ryan naturally hadn't believed it and had even gotten into a fight with Homelander.
The little "Homelander" was impressive, but he was no match for the real one.
Homelander subdued him with ease.
During that process, Homelander used his Reality Warp ability, making Storm and the others watch an elaborate performance.
As for the nuclear missile, under the effects of Reality Warp, it turned into a string of bubbles and disappeared before it could explode.
The earth-shaking nuclear explosion had naturally been part of the performance as well.
Storm had suspected nothing. She had personally come to the island to verify the results and, under Homelander's guidance, had finally revealed the truth herself.
It was easy to imagine how devastating that was for Ryan.
At that moment, Ryan charged furiously at Storm.
The roar he created as he flew was like a meteor tearing through the sky as he slammed into the dust cloud.
With a loud crash, the dust was blown away.
The Ferris wheel shattered into pieces from Ryan's impact, and Storm, inside it, was knocked flat onto the ground, her face covered in blood.
Ryan's eyes lit up again as he prepared to fire his plasma beams.
Storm suddenly reached out with one hand.
The sky immediately darkened.
Thunder rumbled as countless bolts of lightning fell like a swarm of locusts, converging onto Ryan.
Thousands of bolts merged into a single pillar of lightning. Plasma surged wildly, blasting Ryan away from Storm.
Taking the opportunity, Storm shot into the sky, trying to escape.
But Homelander wasn't about to let her.
Storm had just flown upward when a smiling face suddenly appeared in the corner of her vision.
Then someone grabbed her by the hair.
Teleporting over with Teleportation, Homelander held her by the hair and said with a grin, "Where are you going, old lady?"
"LET ME GO!", Storm roared.
Lightning blazed in her eyes.
Dark clouds gathered overhead, and a blue-white bolt as thick as an oil drum crashed down.
But it never reached Homelander.
It exploded in midair while still some distance above his head.
"How is this possible?", Storm looked up.
Only then did she notice that a curtain of light had appeared above them.
Diamond-shaped patterns continuously appeared and flickered across its center.
Absolute Domain!
Within this domain, as long as Homelander believed he couldn't be harmed, nothing could harm him.
"Back down you go."
Like a baseball pitcher, Homelander hurled Storm down.
The woman screamed as she crashed back toward Love Island.
On the island, Ryan had already stood up.
The red glow in his eyes kept growing brighter.
As Storm plummeted from the sky, she saw a flashing red point on the island below.
The next second, a crimson plasma beam tore through the air, staining the entire space red.
The beam struck Storm in the chest.
She immediately screamed.
She tried to dodge, only to realize she couldn't move.
Homelander had grabbed her from behind, holding her up like a kitten, leaving her nowhere to escape.
Storm immediately tried to block the beam with her hands.
But two golden beams swept across in quick succession.
Her hands flew away from her.
"No!"
"No!"
With both hands severed, Storm cried out in agony.
The beam had already pierced through her skin and was burning deeper into her body.
"Please... spare me."
"Homelander, I'll never go against you again."
"I'll be your dog."
"Whoever you want me to bite, I'll bite."
"Please don't kill me."
Storm turned her head and tried her best to force out a beautiful smile.
Unfortunately, in her current state, she looked anything but beautiful.
Homelander let out a chuckle, "I'm not interested in a dog with only two legs left."
Even as he said that, he raised a hand and blocked Ryan's plasma beam.
"That's enough, Ryan."
"Getting some revenge is enough."
"Your mother wouldn't want to see you kill someone."
Hearing those words, the glow in Ryan's eyes flickered, and the beam stopped.
The boy frowned, "Are you really going to let her go?"
"Who said I was?"
Homelander pointed at himself, "But I'm the adult."
"The dirty work should be done by adults."
"Now turn around."
Ryan hesitated for a moment, then finally turned his back.
"No... no."
"Please don't do this."
"I have a secret."
"It's about Mallory. That's right, she's not dead!"
"I know what she's gone to do!"
Storm pleaded, "Homelander, let me go!"
"I'll tell you every secret!"
"I'll personally kill Mallory!"
Homelander glanced at her armless body.
"Kill her with what?"
"Are you going to bite her?"
"I don't think she has anything for you to bite."
"Besides, what else could Mallory possibly be doing?"
"Other than digging Soldier Boy out to deal with me, what other tricks does she have?"
Storm's eyes widened little by little.
She couldn't believe Homelander already knew such a secret.
She opened her mouth to say something.
At that moment, Homelander's eyes lit up.
Golden beams burst from his pupils and shot straight into Storm's mouth.
Then they swept sideways.
Half of Storm's head exploded.
Homelander casually tossed her corpse away.
It fell into the Pacific Ocean.
[🎉 Shoutout to Mozart and Photobug for joining p@treon. Thank you very much.🤗]