Above the Pacific Ocean, fierce winds tore through the clouds.
The massive 747 passenger jet was plummeting straight toward the sea.
But directly beneath it.
A figure in a military-green overcoat stood with his hands behind his back, quietly hovering.
He raised a single hand, and an invisible, majestic force surged forth, steadily catching the steel behemoth weighing hundreds of tons.
His posture was effortless and free, as if he were not holding up a dying leviathan, but a drifting feather.
Inside the cabin, the surviving passengers clung desperately to anything they could grab.
Through the windows, they saw the figure that looked like a descending god, witnessing a miracle that defied all laws of physics.
"God... it's a god..."
It was unclear who started it, but the passengers struggled to kneel in his direction, weeping bitterly.
It was gratitude for their lives, and even more so, worship of a divine miracle.
Just then, a streak of red and gold lightning tore through the sky, coming to a sudden halt not far away.
The figures of Evil God and Shangguan Lieyang appeared.
When they saw Ian holding up the plane with one hand, reverence flashed in their eyes.
The two of them solemnly saluted in Ian's direction mid-air.
Ian gave a slight nod in response.
"Lieyang," he said.
"Yes, sir!"
Shangguan Lieyang took a deep breath, and the emerald ring on his right hand burst with brilliant light.
Boundless willpower surged out, constructing a materialized runway thousands of meters long, looking as if it were carved from jade, entirely shaped by his will.
The platform steadily caught the airplane.
With a flash, Ian appeared inside the cabin.
He radiated a gentle, golden divine power that, like the warm spring sun, instantly soothed everyone's panic and pain.
"Don't be afraid. You are safe now."
His voice carried a convincing, reassuring power.
This scene was broadcasted live in its entirety through the media's lenses.
That holy figure standing tall above the raging winds and waves, saving three hundred lives.
It formed a stark contrast to Homelander's earlier callous departure, when he had simply turned and fled.
The global internet completely exploded at this moment.
A wave of condemnation swept through every corner of Vought International like a tsunami.
Inside Vought Tower, Madelyn stared at the screen, her face deathly pale.
It was over.
Everything was over.
Meanwhile, Homelander, who had just flown away, also saw the broadcast.
He saw the "trash" he had abandoned.
Those Huaxia people he couldn't be bothered to save, whom he had even wished would all die.
Now, they were being held like precious treasures by that man and his lapdogs, saved under the watchful eyes of the entire world.
A feeling of being viciously humiliated in front of the whole world flooded his underdeveloped brain.
The Crossed rash on his forehead grew increasingly sensitive, radiating a searing, stinging pain.
"No!"
"This glory is mine! It's mine!!!"
Homelander let out a furious roar, the string of his sanity snapping completely.
He abruptly turned around, transforming into a red and blue streak of light once more as he charged madly toward the Pacific Ocean.
He was going to "take over" the rescue!
He was going to snatch the praise that rightfully belonged to him back from those yellow monkeys!
However, as fast as he was, someone was faster.
A streak of red and gold lightning suddenly blocked his path like an insurmountable fortress.
Evil God hovered in the air with his arms crossed, his face as dark as still water.
His gaze was no longer the gentle one he showed his compatriots; instead, it was as bone-chillingly cold as a Siberian draft.
In those eyes lay pure, unadulterated killing intent.
"Get out of my way, you yellow monkey!"
Homelander was consumed by rage, and a blazing red light instantly gathered in his eyes.
Two devastating beams of heat vision erupted forth!
A disdainful sneer curled the corners of Evil God's lips.
His figure merely flickered, leaving behind countless afterimages in the air.
The heat vision pierced through layers of phantoms but failed to touch even the hem of his clothes.
Against the Speed Force, the speed of lasers was simply too slow.
In the next instant, Evil God's figure appeared beside Homelander like a ghost.
His icy voice drilled into Homelander's ears like an inescapable nightmare.
"Homelander, do you bleed?"
Before his words even faded, Evil God's right fist—fusing the martial essence of the thunder and fire powers from the [Fourteen Ultimates of the Protectors] with the Speed Force—struck out ruthlessly!
This punch concentrated all his power and all his willpower into a single point!
"Military Dao Killing Punch!"
This was a martial art born to protect Huaxia, created to slaughter all invading enemies!
At this moment, it carried a soldier's resolute will to defend his home and country!
Bang—!!!
An extremely muffled, thunderous boom exploded ten thousand meters in the air.
Homelander couldn't even see Evil God's movements; he only felt an unprecedented, soul-tearing agony erupt from his right cheek.
His proud, previously unblemished body of steel had its defenses effortlessly shattered by this single punch!
His entire body became like a cannonball struck head-on by a battering ram.
He was blasted away in a twisted posture!
He plowed a white wake thousands of meters long across the ocean's surface before finally crashing into the deep sea amidst a towering column of water.
The globally broadcasted satellite cameras captured this shocking scene!
The world fell into a dead silence.
In front of televisions and internet screens, everyone's jaws dropped, unable to believe their eyes.
That invincible, god-like Homelander...
Had actually been sent flying with a single punch!
Inside a dilapidated apartment reeking of cheap whiskey and cigarette smoke.
Billy Butcher stared intently at the screen, an unprecedented light bursting from his eyes.
He seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
He united all the families of the bank massacre victims he had contacted.
Through a hacker he had already arranged, he forcibly pushed the video—one capable of overturning everything—onto every live-streaming screen across the globe.
The next second, the global live broadcast was replaced by a silent, static-filled bank surveillance video.
In the footage, Homelander was brutally tearing a hostage's upper body to pieces.
Then, he slowly raised his head and looked toward the camera.
On his face hung a sickeningly satisfied, morbidly spine-chilling smile.
At this moment, the bloody truth was laid bare!
The perfect hero image Homelander had painstakingly cultivated for decades collapsed in an instant.
Vought International's public relations phone lines were instantly flooded with calls.
Meanwhile, deep within the freezing ocean waters.
Homelander felt the burning agony on his right cheek and the unprecedented, crushing humiliation deep within his soul.
He burst out of the water, throwing his head back to unleash an inhuman roar filled with endless malice and madness.
"Ahhhhh—!!!"
On his twisted face, the Crossed rash on his forehead began to spread at a visible rate.