The live broadcast was interrupted.
At this moment, the entire World fell into a state of bewilderment.
People stared blankly at the black screen, silent for a long moment.
Who won?
This question felt like a heavy boulder, pressing down on everyone's chest.
In Times Square, a white-collar worker in a suit and leather shoes clutched his head with both hands, his legs giving out, and he knelt directly on the ground, his eyes filled with despair.
"It's over... He can't hold on... That monster is too powerful, we are all doomed."
A hip-hop youth nearby immediately grabbed him by the collar, hauled him up, and roared, "Shut your stinking mouth! Homelander never fails! Do you hear me, you son of a bitch? He definitely won!"
Many more were hugging their friends, family, and loved ones tightly, eyes closed, whispering prayers for a miracle to happen.
Tension, confusion, pessimism, optimism... various emotions spread through the crowd.
Yet, a persistent light still flickered in people's eyes—a firm belief hidden deep in their hearts, a blind trust in Homelander.
"He will save everyone, he promised us, right?" a little girl asked, holding her mother's hand with a childish voice.
"That's right!" someone in the crowd immediately chimed in loudly, "He is Homelander! He must have beaten that ugly monster into a pulp! We are waiting for his triumphant return!"
Thus, people kept their bitter vigil before the dark screen, filled with complex emotions.
...
Meanwhile, in the Dark Dimension.
The violent turbulence of energy had gradually subsided.
But Dormammu's massive body had been pierced directly by that punch; most of it had vanished, and even a small part of his head was missing.
The remaining torso floated silently in the void, motionless, as if completely dead.
It looked as if Homelander had won.
But there was no sign of relaxation on Homelander's face.
Because he saw the prompt popped up by the system.
[Skill trigger conditions met...]
As expected.
Not long after, that broken shell began to squirm again.
Twisted energy poured back in rapidly, repairing Dormammu's missing body.
Dormammu was not dead.
But his heart was in turmoil at this moment.
He couldn't remember how many years it had been since he felt the emotion of fear.
Just a moment ago, the instant that punch hit his core, he had truly smelled the scent of death.
Even though he knew he was immortal in the Dark Dimension.
Before even recovering his form, Dormammu let out a fierce but cowardly, insane howl.
"You lowly insect! You cannot kill me! I am the master of the Dark Dimension! In this World, I am eternal and immortal!!"
Yet his broken body was very honest, silently pulling away.
He instinctively felt that the seemingly tiny creature before him might really have a one-in-ten-thousand chance of completely obliterating him.
One in ten thousand? No! Even one in ten million would not do!
Dormammu absolutely would not allow such a threat to exist.
He decided that even if it meant burning the dimension's source and falling into a ten-thousand-year slumber, he would strangle this massive threat in the cradle, along with Earth!
"Since you refuse to join my eternal life, then embrace destruction!"
Dormammu fell into madness, and without hesitation, began to sacrifice his own life source.
Forbidden magic: Dark Singularity Explosion!
As the power of the magic gradually manifested, the dimensional space of the entire region instantly lost its stability.
The void began to collapse violently, forming terrifying gravitational vortices.
The ubiquitous chained planets, unable to withstand this pulling force, disintegrated one after another, turning into dust and being sucked into the center of the singularity.
This collapsing force destroyed all matter and energy.
At this moment, Homelander also had no intention of giving Dormammu any chance to turn the tables.
At the exact same moment Dormammu unleashed his ultimate move.
Homelander moved his thoughts slightly.
He activated the skill flashing with red light on the system panel: [Execution]!
Commonly known as... plot kill.
"Ding—!"
A crisp chime sounded in the void, and the system took control of Homelander's actions.
Homelander, now controlled, took a single step, his figure instantly penetrating layers of spatial lockdowns, ignoring the terrifying gravitational pull of the spatial collapse.
In Dormammu's extremely terrified gaze, he arrived before him.
Homelander hovered before that giant face that occupied his entire field of vision, as tiny as an ant.
But this ant had now transformed into the deadliest butcher's knife.
With an unstoppable momentum, he thrust fiercely into Dormammu's left eye, which resembled a purple star.
"Splurt!"
A bursting sound rang out.
An incredible reality occurred.
Dormammu's ethereal energy body, the moment it made contact with Homelander, actually became a solid, flesh-and-blood body.
Dark purple, viscous blood gushed out from his eye socket.
"Ahhhhh—!"
Dormammu let out a shrill scream that resounded throughout the entire dimension.
Pain! Heart-wrenching pain!
This sensation, belonging only to carbon-based life, was like billions of sharp blades, crazily slicing through his consciousness along his nerve endings.
This was the first time in endless eons that he had felt the intense pain belonging to a material form.
"What are you doing?! Stop!" Dormammu roared madly, the massive sound waves whipping up a spatial storm in the dimension.
He wanted to retreat.
But Homelander's left hand suddenly shot out, locking tightly onto the edge of his eye socket.
Like a steel nail driven into a cliff face, no matter how wildly Dormammu thrashed, he could not shake him off.
The Execution continued.
Homelander clenched his right hand into a fist, the force of the punch becoming tangible, and hammered away at the center of Dormammu's brow like a violent storm.
Dormammu's brow bone shattered inch by inch under the heavy blows.
Large chunks of solidified fragments shattered and peeled away, drifting into the abyss.
The intense pain caused Dormammu's thoughts to fall into chaos.
He began to regret.
He had once longed for the material World in endless eons, longing to possess a real physical form.
But now, this heart-wrenching pain made him feel a deep fear of the material form.
"Get away! Disgusting insect!"
Dormammu roared, trying to mobilize the power of the dimension to fight back.
Countless thick black lightning bolts struck down from the void, aiming directly at Homelander.
As he dodged and wove, the lightning left not a single mark on him.
And Homelander's counterattack soon followed.
He formed his fingers into a blade and dug deeply into Dormammu's skull.
He exerted force with both hands simultaneously.
"Crack!"
Dormammu's skull cap was actually forcibly ripped open by Homelander!
Purple-red brain matter poured out like a waterfall.
"No! No! No!"
"Stop! Stop! Please stop!"
Dormammu was finally afraid; pride and dignity were not worth mentioning in the face of absolute violence and pain.
"You won! Human! You won!"
But Homelander ignored his surrender.
The giant scalpel formed by the high-temperature Heat Vision from his eyes mercilessly pierced into his brain.
"Ah—! Human, no, Exalted One!"
Dormammu completely collapsed, begging humbly.
"Spare me! Please spare me! I am willing to give you everything!"
"I swear allegiance to you! I am willing to be your slave!"
"I will conquer other Universes for you! Please! Stop this damn torture!"
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