I Don't Need to Be Defined

As the Seven's new members began to engage in battle—

Bam!

The town square shook violently.

A ring of dust slowly spread outward.

Azu stood within that ring of dust, holding a stone in both hands. On that stone, a man's face was emerging.

At this moment, that face was filled with terror.

Insight.

Name: Kroft

Life Level: Level 4 (Supers)

Status: Fear

Talent: Petrification.

Azu studied the face on the stone and smiled. "Goodbye, Kroft."

He suddenly squeezed with both hands.

Cracks immediately spread across the stone, racing toward the face.

"No, no—"

Azu pressed his hands together. The stone shattered instantly, crumbling into fragments that fell to the ground.

He dusted off his hands, tapped his earpiece, and said, "Angelina, free hunt."

Deep in the distant forest, Angelina, who had been lying in wait, immediately lifted her head.

A faint red glow flickered deep in her pupils.

Excited and nervous, she took a deep breath, then burst forward.

In an instant, she turned into a blur, flickering and darting through the trees.

In the blink of an eye, she broke free of the forest and entered the town from another direction.

As she charged into the town, she spotted the pitch-black-skinned 'Nightcrawler'.

Angelina recalled her sparring sessions with Homelander, then accelerated abruptly, grabbing the 'Nightcrawler' by the back of his collar.

She yanked him up, twisted her waist, and swung her arm.

Shoulder throw!

Bam! The 'Nightcrawler' slammed into the ground, head-first. His skull shattered on impact, spilling red and white across the pavement.

Angelina's expression shifted instantly. She covered her mouth, stumbled back, and pressed herself against a wall, dry-heaving.

Suddenly, a pair of arms burst through the window behind her, viciously clawing at her face.

Several bloody gashes appeared on the girl's fair, delicate cheeks.

Angelina jerked her head up. On instinct, she grabbed both arms and pressed down, snapping them on the spot, forcing the broken bones to pierce through the flesh.

Then she lifted her foot and kicked forward savagely, shattering the wooden wall in front of her and sending the 'Nightcrawler' inside flying backward.

By then, the wounds on Angelina's face had already healed.

The injured 'Nightcrawler' climbed to his feet, reset and restored his arms, then roared and charged at the girl.

As he lunged through the gap in the wall, the shadow on the wall behind Angelina flickered.

The girl's figure raised a claw and swept toward the 'Nightcrawler'. Midair, he was instantly sliced into segments.

Angelina lifted her foot and crushed the head beneath it, its eyeballs still rolling.

She seemed to be growing accustomed to battle and killing. The nausea faded. She charged toward the other 'Nightcrawlers' and began her own hunt.

In the town square, Azu scanned his surroundings and quickly locked onto the 'Big Eater's' position.

Just then, a crowd of animals burst out of the circus tent.

Tigers, lions, leopards, zebras, hippos, gorillas.

Every single animal—herbivore or carnivore—had bloodshot eyes and charged at Azu with ferocious momentum.

"You're kidding me. You're really gonna fob me off with animals?" Azu spread his hands.

The fastest leopard reached Azu's side and pounced.

Azu's eyes flared with golden light. Two Golden Beams shot through the air, slicing the leopard apart. But before he could sweep the beams across the other animals, they veered off course and shot straight into the circus tent.

No doubt about it—the 'Big Eater' had used his Talent to absorb his rays again.

Azu rose into the air, planning to attack from above, when a dark blur flashed at the corner of his eye.

A moment later, a figure slammed into him.

Azu stood motionless, but he saw the man—dressed in an exaggerated outfit—whose body seemed boneless, his limbs slithering around Azu like pythons.

Then one arm reached down, grabbed a lamppost in the square, and pulled for leverage.

Azu let himself be pulled back to the ground, but tried to pry his body open.

To his surprise, the man's body was like rubber—even when Azu stretched his arms to their limit, he couldn't break free from the grip.

"It's useless, Homelander."

"I know you're strong, but for someone like me who can stretch infinitely, no matter how strong you are, you've got nowhere to put that strength!"

The 'Rubber Man' wrapped around Azu bragged loudly.

Then cheerful music started playing again inside the tent, and figures began to appear one after another.

Some of these flamboyantly dressed people rode unicycles, some bounced on balls, some tumbled, and a few stacked themselves like a human pyramid as they emerged.

It was like a circus troupe.

The strange thing was, all these acrobats looked exactly the same.

Female, brown hair, thick lips, purple eye shadow.

They gathered around Azu, completing the encirclement alongside the many animals.

Azu casually used 'Insight' on one of the women.

Name: Replicant Life Level: Level 4 (Supers) Status: Excited Talent: Self-Replication

By now, Azu had a rough grasp of the 'Black Bat Circus's' tactics.

They were using 'Big Eater' as their Secret Weapon to counter his most powerful weapon: Heat Ray.

They used Stone Golem, Rubber Man, Replicant, and the clearly controlled animals to restrain him while protecting 'Big Eater'.

Also, the 'Midnight Clown', whose whereabouts were still unknown, might have a way to hurt him—or at least believed he could.

And the linchpin of this strategy was, without a doubt, that 'Big Eater'.

Thinking this, Azu smiled.

"You don't actually think you have a chance to beat me, do you?"

The 'Midnight Clown's' voice rang out from the speakers.

"We don't need to beat you."

"Homelander, open your eyes and take a good look."

"The military, and the so-called Seven, are barely holding on."

"Once my 'Nightcrawlers' break out of this town and attack the city—"

"Even if you kill us all, you've already lost."

"People will never trust you, worship you, or support you again!"

"Your legend ends here!"

Azu shook his head and laughed. "What makes you think I care about trust, worship, or support?"

"I don't need any of that."

"And I don't need to be defined by anyone!"

"Also."

"How long are you going to hide?"

"I'm curious—if I go kill that fat man right now, will you keep hiding?"

The moment Azu finished speaking, the 'Rubber Man' on him sneered. "Homelander, I won't let you shake me off."

"Oh?"

"We'll see."

Azu crouched down, assuming a starting stance, but looked up at the sky.

He clenched his fists.

Boom!

A ring of air burst outward.

The gravel on the ground began to tremble, the vibrations growing faster and faster—until they suddenly sprayed in all directions as Azu shot into the sky like a blur.

"Ahhh—!"

The Rubber Man let out a piercing scream. His arms, wrapped around Azu, were stretched longer and longer.

But Azu was too fast—too fast for him to extend his own length in time.

The Rubber Man felt like he was about to be torn apart. He quickly let go of the lamppost he'd been gripping.

Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, he saw Azu still flying upward.

In the blink of an eye, outer space was already in sight.

Rubber Man was instantly terrified, wanting to scream, but the air pressure and the raging wind made it impossible.

At that moment, the high-altitude cold quickly froze the surface of his body.

Moments later, with no protection at all, Rubber Man's blood froze, his body stiffened.

With a casual slap from Azu, he shattered into pieces, falling away.

Azu looked down at the earth, smiling faintly. "You can twist and redirect Heat Ray, but what about pure physical impact?"

Thanks to the support of patrons like Bu Wu Zheng Ye De Miao, Liang Ye Qi Qi, Xiao Qu Boy, Ding Hai Feng, and others—wishing everyone a happy New Year!

~(^з^)-☆