I Am Who I Am

His strength had increased.

And he had gained a new effect.

Secondary Impact—every attack now carried the effect of a "Secondary Impact."

Although it was limited to physical attacks, still...

"This feeling of truly becoming stronger is really հաճ հաճ pleasant."

Azu smiled, turned around, and flew back toward the video store.

A moment later, Azu returned to the video store.

"Welcome—oh, Homelander!"

When Hughie saw Azu in his blue combat suit, his eyes shone with admiration. "What just happened is already on the news. You saved everyone again. You were so cool!"

Azu waved it off, indicating it was nothing, then said, "My things?"

"Right here."

"Here you go. And here's your credit card back."

Hughie handed the already wrapped teddy bear to Azu.

Taking it, Azu thought for a moment before saying, "Mr. Hughie, if that bearded man comes looking for you again, would you be willing to call me?"

Hughie paused, then readily agreed. "Of course."

Then he lowered his voice. "That bearded man is a terrorist, isn't he?"

Azu laughed. "Of course not. He's a fanatic. He wants to kill me, but he isn't a terrorist."

"Do you have a pen?"

After leaving his phone number behind, Azu carried the gift out of the video store, shot into the air with a whoosh, and left.

In a café several blocks away from the video store, Butcher took off his sunglasses and watched the pedestrians outside the window, deep in thought.

He suddenly said, "Don't pat me on the shoulder unless you don't want your hand anymore."

Behind the bearded man, a white man wearing glasses smiled. "You're very cautious, Mr. Butcher."

"I watched your livestream. I have to say, you're the bravest man I've ever seen."

Butcher turned around with a false smile. "If you don't hurry up and tell me why you approached me, do you believe I'll chop off your hand and shove it up your ass?"

The man with glasses took out a business card and placed it on the table. "Mr. Butcher, we have a common enemy."

"If you want the power to fight Homelander, you can consider coming to find me."

"Have a pleasant evening."

He waved and left.

Only then did Butcher pick up the card. It bore the words "Olga Weapon Research Company."

*

*

*

Back at Seven Tower, Azu knocked on the door.

The door opened, revealing a puzzled Angelina, young and beautiful.

"A gift for you."

Without waiting for her consent, Azu forcefully entered the room, tore open the packaging, and placed the teddy bear with the camera inside it in a conspicuous spot in the living room.

"Master, when can I begin my revenge?" Angelina closed the door.

Azu smiled faintly. "Soon."

"You need to be patient."

"And have faith in me."

Angelina thought for a moment. "Will you be staying here tonight?"

"If that's an invitation?" Azu shrugged. "I don't think I'd refuse."

Angelina gently bit her lip. "I'll go take a shower."

The next morning.

Azu glanced at Angelina's beautiful bare back and got out of bed with satisfaction.

A short while later, he walked into the command hall.

The moment he entered, his assistant Ashley came over.

"Wonderful, Homelander."

"How did you think of using a livestream to build a relatable image?"

"You must have realized that flawed heroes feel more down-to-earth, so you deliberately got that bearded man to put on a reality show with you, right?"

"Who was the director?"

"Who wrote the script?"

"Can you tell me? I think we can work with this production team long-term in the future."

Azu closed his eyes slightly and raised one finger. "First, that wasn't a reality show."

"Second, you're too noisy."

Ashley hurriedly shut her mouth, while one thought after another surfaced in her mind.

It was real?

Homelander slept with that woman named Becca?

He seemed to have spent last night in Miss Angelina's room.

It would be nice if something happened between me and him.

That would definitely be exciting.

Shaking her head, Ashley continued, "Even though it wasn't a reality show, the results were unexpectedly good. Today, your male approval rating rose by 27%, and your female approval rating also saw a slight increase."

"Our polls show that people think you took responsibility for what happened last night. Quite a few people feel that a Homelander like this gives them a greater sense of security."

Azu smiled. He did not care about such things at all.

Before absolute power, whether people supported him or not truly did not matter.

Would a lion care whether a swarm of ants liked it?

And if they did not, so what?

One slap would kill them all.

"Ashley, I picked two members of The Seven. Arrange a time. I want to meet them."

Ashley immediately said, "All right. Princess Frost and Livewire—I'll arrange for them to meet you as soon as possible."

"Are you free Sunday afternoon?"

Azu nodded.

Ashley took out her planner and wrote it down, then added, "Oh, they've identified the criminal who took hostages last night."

"It was Nathan, A-Train's brother."

"Looks like he wanted revenge for his younger brother. What a foolish thing to do!"

Azu waved a hand, cutting her off. "Go call the costume design team for me."

Ashley paused. "Do you want to design a new combat suit?"

A short while later, the costume design team of Seven Tower met Azu in the command hall.

Azu tore off the Stars and Stripes cape from his back in one motion.

"I want you to redesign my combat suit."

"First of all, I don't like the Stars and Stripes cape design."

The head of the design team frowned. "But, Homelander, the Stars and Stripes can reflect your patriotism and also correspond with your name."

"That isn't my name."

"It's only a title."

Azu corrected him. "I am who I am. I am not anyone's property. No one can define me—not even this country!"

"I'm not discussing this with you now. I'm giving you an order."

"I order you to come up with a workable proposal by next Monday."

"My requirement is that the new combat suit must no longer have anything to do with this country."

"It must represent me!"

"Do you understand?"

The design team nodded like chicks pecking at grain. They did not dare linger and left the command hall with their heads lowered.

Azu's eyes lit up. Adjusting the output, he burned the Stars and Stripes cape with a blast of Laser Eyes.

"Ever since I was reborn, I always felt like something was missing."

"Now I feel better."

Watching the Stars and Stripes burn, Azu's lips curled upward.

Then The Deep's voice rang out. "Oh, oh, oh, boss, what are you doing?"

Azu looked up. Led by Maeve, the members of The Seven entered one after another.

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