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The moment the live broadcast signal cut out, the World plunged into panic for the audience on Earth.
But the battle continued in orbit around Ego the Living Planet.
That crimson storm, infused with Homelander's complete rage and burning thirty million popularity value per minute, did not stop for a second,
ruthlessly slicing through the blue torrent spewed out by Ego.
It was a pure energy suppression.
Moving against the flow, it forcefully blasted a star-piercing hole right through the enormous rocky face spanning thousands of kilometers.
The originally hideous human face instantly collapsed, and a transparent cavity thousands of kilometers in diameter appeared in the center of Ego the Living Planet, with molten lava still pulsing at the edges.
From a distance, it looked like a donut coated in syrup.
Homelander hovered in space, his heart pounding violently.
At this moment, the familiar system notification sound rang out in his mind:
"Warning: Host's current popularity value is below the maintenance threshold for the current level."
"Popularity Level is about to drop..."
Homelander's eyebrow twitched. Before he could feel the pain, the next notification followed closely.
"A 'Popularity Level Penalty Exemption Order' is detected on the Host."
"Exemption mechanism triggered. Penalty has been canceled."
"Remaining uses of Exemption Order: 2/3."
These notifications were like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the nearly insane desire for destruction in Homelander's heart.
"Stop! Cease Injustice Mode!"
Homelander slammed on the mental brakes.
A sharp pang hit his heart.
That was hundreds of millions of popularity value! Just gone... As Injustice Mode was deactivated, the inky black color of his battle suit quickly faded, returning to its original red, white, and blue stars and stripes color scheme.
The dark red light raging in his eyes also gradually subsided.
That terrifying power, which filled his entire body and felt capable of destroying everything, receded like a tide, leaving behind a deep sense of emptiness.
He looked down at his hands, recalling that during the few minutes he had activated the high-power "Injustice Mode," he felt he had become something purer... destruction itself.
Not just Ego, but even the distant stars, and the entire Universe.
All of them became extremely irritating in his eyes, and he felt an impulse to utterly destroy them all.
"If I had kept it open any longer, I'm afraid I would have turned into that hairless old cat named Beerus..."
Suddenly, his super vision caught a hint of anomaly.
In the center of the pierced Planet, amidst chaotic energy turbulence, a faint blue flash was attempting to escape into the depths of the vast Universe under the cover of the explosion.
Homelander focused his vision and saw that it was a blue brain, about ten meters in diameter, its surface covered in crisscrossing grooves.
That was exactly Ego's brain.
This cunning old thing, the second before the torrent of destruction pierced the Planet, decisively severed all connection with its body, abandoned most of its divine power, compressed its core brain to about 10 meters, and ejected it from the deep core.
He abandoned almost everything he owned, just to save his life.
"Heh..." Homelander sneered. "Trying to run?"
"You burned hundreds of millions of my popularity value, and consumed one of my Exemption Orders..."
"And now you think you can just walk away?"
"No such luck!"
Homelander's figure left a blur in the vacuum as he chased after the blue brain.
Ego clearly sensed the killing intent behind him. The light on the brain's surface flickered wildly, and it stopped sneaking around, instantly accelerating its speed.
As a God who had lived for countless years, he had never been this afraid. His body was gone, his proud divine power was utterly defeated, and now only this most vulnerable core remained.
As long as the brain remained, given a few millennia, he could re-coalesce matter and become a Planet again.
But the prerequisite was that he had to survive!
And the harbinger of disaster behind him clearly had no intention of giving him that chance.
"Get lost!! You lunatic!!"
Ego's consciousness wave frantically vibrated through space, filled with terror.
"Didn't you want to assimilate the Universe?" Homelander's voice was transmitted next to Ego's brain through Asgard's magic.
"Didn't you want to become Eternity?"
"Don't run, come back and let's discuss the meaning of life!"
The distance between the two was constantly shrinking.
Ego had lost most of his divine power, and the strength stored within his brain was insufficient to shake off this monster.
One thousand kilometers... five hundred kilometers... one hundred kilometers... "Do you think you've won, mortal!!" Ego's mental roar was deafening.
He suddenly stopped fleeing. The neural tendrils that were trailing behind him abruptly stretched forward, weaving into a complex geometric pattern.
Gravitational Singularity Cage! That was his unique application of the Universe's rules.
Buzz—!
Homelander felt the surrounding space suddenly solidify.
The originally flat cosmic space, manipulated by Ego, formed an extremely complex gravitational vortex.
Up, down, left, right—all directions pointed towards the center.
Locking him tightly within a gravitational space with a radius of less than ten meters.
"Hahaha!"
Ego's brain floated outside the cage, letting out a maniacal laugh of survival.
"You are strong, truly strong."
"But you are ultimately a biological entity. As long as you are matter, you cannot escape the bondage of gravity!"
Homelander tried to move his finger.
It felt heavy.
Like a huge mountain was pressing down on him.
But Homelander didn't panic; his expression didn't change in the slightest.
He looked through the layer of distorted gravitational waves at the arrogant brain.
"Is that all?" His voice was flat, carrying a hint of mockery.
"Who do you think I am?"
"I am Homelander."
"I go wherever I want!"
The next second.
"System, Injustice Mode, activate. Burn rate: one million."
Boom!!
Power erupted from within him once more.
Although it lacked the World-destroying momentum of before, it was enough to deal with a lingering brain.
Crack—!
The seemingly indestructible Gravitational Cage was instantly shattered by Homelander.
The miniature black holes that constructed the Gravitational Cage devoured and annihilated each other after losing balance, disappearing entirely.
Homelander took a single step and appeared instantly before Ego's brain.
"Old thing..." Homelander looked at him coldly. "Time to say goodnight."
Ego despaired.
He couldn't escape.
He couldn't win.
He couldn't trap him.
All his methods, all his divine power, seemed like child's play before this unreasonable monster who seemed never to tire.
But he was unwilling.
He was a God! The Sower of the Universe! He couldn't just die like a lowly insect!
Ego's brain began to contract violently, and the originally blue light started turning deep purple.
"If I must die... then you won't live in this Universe either!!"
He ignited the little remaining primordial divine power he had, not for attack, but to open a pathway.
A black hole channel connected to the edge of the Universe. He intended to banish Homelander to the Anti-Matter Universe, but the cost was that his weakened self couldn't escape either.
Between Homelander and Ego, space collapsed without warning.
"That is..." Homelander's expression changed.