Vampire

Gandy fled without fighting, catching Maeve off guard. In that brief moment of distraction, a blue blur flashed past the corner of her eye, and she saw Homelander get knocked away as well.

But he made a far bigger commotion than Gandy, smashing straight through an entire wall and exposing twisted rebar around the breach.

Maeve shook her head before following after him.

Outside the department store, Azu floated in midair and watched Gandy land in the parking lot, out in the sunlight.

Suddenly, Gandy sprang back as if electrocuted. The parts of his black skin exposed to sunlight had turned red and caught fire.

Gandy flung his arms, finally shaking off the flames. The burned skin then quickly returned to normal.

"He really does look like a vampire."

Azu muttered quietly.

On the ground, Gandy looked up at the blue figure in the sky, then began searching around for something.

By then, Queen Maeve had already leaped from the breach on the fifth floor. She landed on the ground with a whoosh, leaving behind a shallow crater.

As she rose to her feet, Gandy had already rushed toward a Sewer Entrance. With a fierce pull, he lifted a manhole cover and hurled it away like a frisbee.

Then Gandy jumped into the sewers.

"Seriously?"

Maeve frowned but still chased after him. Before she could jump into the sewers, however, two dark-red beams suddenly shot down from the air.

The beams then swept forward, cutting across the parking lot. In the next second, dark-red pillars of fire erupted one after another along their path!

The unceasing explosions brought deafening roars. The ground was ripped open, countless cars in the parking lot were blasted into the air, and the alarms of those lucky enough to escape rang out in a shrill chorus.

Crash, crash.

All kinds of debris and stones rained down from above.

Standing less than three meters from the Sewer Entrance, Maeve looked up at Azu as he slowly descended and spread her hands. "Seriously? You were going to blow me up too?"

Azu smiled. "How could I bear to?"

"See? Aren't you perfectly fine?"

He then jerked his chin toward where Gandy had jumped down. "Besides, it reeks down there. You don't want to spend the next week soaking in a bathtub, do you?"

Maeve rolled her eyes.

Azu passed by her and stepped onto the blast zone, where thick smoke billowed. His eyes glowed faintly red as he scanned the area, quickly locking onto Gandy.

He was still alive.

The man was curled into a ball with his head covered. His clothes had almost been reduced to ash, with only a pair of pants remaining.

His body was a mangled mess of blood and flesh. No one knew how much muscle had been torn away, and bone was exposed in several places.

But his head remained intact, so the wounds across his body recovered in the blink of an eye.

Gandy quickly climbed to his feet. Perhaps realizing he could not escape like this, he let out a roar, and the muscles all over his body began to writhe.

Azu gave a surprised grunt. "He can still keep transforming? Or did this guy hold something back?"

While he spoke, Maeve had already jumped into the blast zone and into the sewer that Azu had blown to pieces.

As she passed a piece of rebar, Maeve pulled it from the concrete. After straightening it slightly, she hurled it with all her strength.

Boom!

The rebar shot out like a cannonball, aimed straight at Gandy's head.

Gandy sharply ducked, and the rebar grazed his scalp, carving a bloody trench across his back before vanishing into the depths of the sewer.

The torn muscles on Gandy's back did not close. Instead, new tissue squeezed out from the wound, rapidly stretching into two arms.

By then, Gandy had swollen to nearly twice his original size. His muscles bulged, and additional eyeballs grew from his brow and cheeks.

In an instant, Gandy transformed into a monster that looked both human and spider-like. With a simultaneous burst from all his limbs, he sprang out of the sewer.

He landed on the ground, out in the sunlight. His black skin immediately glowed red, followed by flames licking across it.

"What kind of monster is that?"

"Take pictures, this is a rare chance!"

"That thing is hideous."

Voices rang out one after another. They belonged to the reporters stationed at the mall's main entrance. Hearing the explosions in the parking lot, they had immediately moved over and witnessed Gandy's monstrous transformation.

Ignoring the danger, they raised their cameras and video recorders, snapping away at Gandy in hopes of capturing this rare scene.

Gandy moved into the building's shadow, avoiding the sunlight. Only then did the flames on his body go out.

He glanced at Homelander floating in midair and let out a hiss. Grabbing a pickup truck beside him, he gave it a violent heave and actually flung it at Azu.

Azu scoffed and fired Laser Eyes, slicing the pickup in half.

As the wreckage passed along either side of him, Azu called out, "My proposal still stands. What do you say? Are you really not going to consider it?"

Gandy answered with action.

He lifted another car and hurled it with all his strength.

At that moment, Maeve leaped out of the sewer, stepped on the airborne car, and used it as a springboard to charge at Gandy.

The eyeballs across Gandy's face lit up at once. He raised all four arms and slammed them downward.

Azu then heard a crackling sound above his head. Numerous electrical wires and cables on the building's exterior suddenly snapped loose, sparking as they shot down and wrapped around Maeve like tentacles.

The sparking cables electrocuted Maeve. They would not kill her, but the powerful current made her whole body convulse uncontrollably. She had no strength left to break free from the cables.

Fortunately, two Laser Eyes swept over her body, cutting the cables apart. Only then did Maeve fall to the ground.

She twitched slightly. The shock had left her legs weak, and she could not stand. For the moment, she had no strength to deal with Gandy.

"Leave it to me."

Azu spoke softly as he passed her, then lunged toward Gandy.

But Gandy suddenly shouted, "Don't come any closer!"

"Otherwise, I'll kill them!"

While Azu had been busy freeing Maeve, Gandy had used his ability to control the reporters' ties, camera straps, and even the necklaces around their necks.

He used those items to choke the reporters, threatening Azu with their lives.

Yet Azu showed no sign of stopping. As if he had not heard Gandy's threat at all, he slammed into Spider-Man with a bang.

Gandy's chest nearly collapsed entirely, and he was sent flying into the air. Then ripples suddenly exploded in front of him, launching him even farther away.

Azu shot after him, catching up to Gandy, who had been blasted away by Secondary Impact. He grabbed one of Gandy's arms, spun him several times, and used the momentum to hurl him into the parking lot.

Boom!

Gandy flew from the air into the parking lot, smashing through car after car. Dazed from the impacts, he no longer had the strength to control those objects.

The reporters felt the pressure around their necks ease. They instinctively drew a breath, but the moment the air entered their lungs, every one of them broke into violent coughing.