Upon witnessing the crimson glow in Jordan's eyes, Homelander felt a sense of absurdity, as if looking in a mirror and seeing a completely different version of himself staring back.
At that moment, Homelander had a premonition of what was about to happen.
The dimensional channel connecting Jordan's eyes suddenly opened. Jordan's gaze fell on Homelander below, a smile appearing on his face.
Visual Shockwave—lethal mode.
Two thick ruby-colored beams erupted without warning, carving a trench down to the seabed from the churning ocean surface!
Even though he'd anticipated the ray attack, Homelander's expression still changed. He ducked and dodged the first wave, then accelerated into a dive, avoiding the sweeping cut of the crimson shockwave.
In an instant, the tables turned. Homelander dodged frantically while the balance of power shifted dramatically.
With nowhere left to run, Homelander found an opening. His eyes shot out fiery red rays in retaliation.
The battle officially entered the energy blast phase.
Amidst a deafening roar, two powerful high-energy lasers collided precisely as their gazes met.
Massive counter-current energy bred and expanded at the collision point, steadily moving toward Homelander.
Upon witnessing this scene, Homelander was completely dumbfounded. His invincible confidence crumbled entirely.
This man knows everything I can do, and he's even better at it than I am?
Is he the true Homelander?
It's broken. I'm the substitute.
Ignoring Homelander's intense inner turmoil, Jordan cleverly adjusted his position, placing himself to the left of New York City's view.
Having established his dominant position, the dimensional channel connecting his eyes suddenly expanded. The output power of the crimson shockwave surged dramatically.
The massive energy increase instantly broke the stalemate, ruthlessly engulfing Homelander's powerless heat vision and blasting him, along with the overwhelming beam, into the ocean.
After a moment of silence in the ocean depths, dark red light suddenly flashed.
A muffled rumble echoed faintly. The explosion's shockwave caused the seawater to fluctuate abnormally, eventually triggering a tsunami nearly one hundred meters high.
The surging water formed a colossal wave that blotted out the sky, roaring like a deep-sea monster breaking free of its restraints. It accumulated potential energy and burst from the ocean with apocalyptic force.
Other directions were fine. New York, however, was directly in the path.
Wealthy tourists vacationing on yachts in the near sea first felt something unusual beneath their feet. The originally stable hulls swayed from side to side as if drunk.
The sound of approaching tide grew louder and louder. A businessman and his bikini-clad companion instinctively clung to the railing and looked out, only to find a white line on the horizon rapidly expanding as countless tons of seawater formed a wall of destruction crashing straight toward them.
Several yachts were swept away by the waves and disappeared. Tourists on the beach finally registered the apocalyptic scene before them.
In the shadows, someone groaned and prayed in despair.
But the next second, God really did appear before their eyes.
Blue light flickered. A black figure materialized in front of the giant wave at some unknown moment. He raised his right hand, five fingers spread, as if to suppress the raging ocean with his own strength.
An overwhelming surge of telekinetic energy radiated outward from Jordan. The terrified crowd on the beach realized the sky seemed to have fallen at that moment.
An endless blue field of psychic energy descended from above, forcefully pushing down the roaring giant wave.
For a moment, the sea churned turbulently beneath the surface, but the surface itself remained stubbornly calm.
"Are we saved?!"
"God really appeared!"
"Is that person Homelander?"
"It looks like it, but when did Homelander release a black suit?"
"Pass it on! Homelander has saved the world once again!"
Just as people ecstatically praised and photographed Jordan, a blue and red figure appeared where the giant wave had crashed.
Homelander, who'd been hiding in the waves preparing to launch a sneak attack, twitched at the corner of his mouth as the water suddenly collapsed, leaving him alone in midair.
When their eyes met, whoever backed down would feel awkward.
"Look, that looks like Homelander too!"
"Why are there two Homelanders? They must be the newly released Vought heroes!"
"Are they filming a new movie?"
People on the beach talked excitedly. Some quick-witted individuals had already taken out their phones and started snapping photos frantically.
Jordan glanced at the excited crowd, then teleported behind Homelander.
"Relax and do as I say."
Jordan affectionately draped his arm around Homelander's shoulder. The latter instinctively tensed his muscles. Upon hearing Jordan's next words, his face turned ashen.
"Smile and wave at them with me. You don't want images of you getting beaten circulating and causing your approval ratings to drop, do you?"
"Right. That's it."
Homelander smiled stiffly, raised his hand, and waved to the crowd on the beach together with Jordan.
Even though he was unwilling, he still instinctively presented his best side to the audience.
But he managed to squeeze out a weak question. "What exactly do you want?"
"Not the right time yet."
Jordan patted him on the shoulder, flashing the same sunny smile as Homelander, and said something cryptic.
"Who eats the main course right at the start of a banquet?"
As he spoke, deep blue light enveloped his body and he vanished from the spot.
In the sky, Homelander's body trembled. A sinister look appeared on his face, which had lost its smile.
He didn't see that just before Jordan left, a large purple hand had pierced through his body, grabbed something, and disappeared into thin air.
His super vision scanned back and forth, unable to catch the black figure that had suddenly vanished.
"He also possesses teleportation..."
Realizing this, Homelander ignored the excited fans on the beach and suddenly sped away.
He needed to use headquarters' database to confirm the man's identity. He also needed a warm embrace to comfort his suddenly lost sense of security.
A deafening sonic boom erupted. The sky instantly became empty, leaving only a curse that was swallowed by the noise.
Office of the Vice President
Madelyn Stillwell looked at A-Train, who resembled a child who'd done something wrong, and felt very unhappy.
"Damn it, can't you even look around when you're walking, my dear Mr. A-Train?"
"It's my fault, ma'am, but what's done is done."
So it's only natural that I should come out and clean up your mess, right?
Madelyn cursed inwardly, but her still-charming features habitually revealed the encouraging smile she gave to Homelander.
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