Fuck!!!

Raven ran from my room to Dad's room in 19 seconds.

Relaying the survival and awakening scripts I taught her took 13 seconds.

Thirty-two seconds later, I would press Dad's pager, and Dad would fly over—estimated time, 2 to 5 seconds?

During this window, I would establish an undeniable fact: that Stormfront was the mastermind behind all of this, thereby securing a one-hit kill.

But!!

Ryan looked toward the corner of the set where equipment was piled, and the sight of his mother Becca's tear-filled, surprised expression met his eyes.

Standing beside Becca was Billy the Butcher, one corner of his mouth curled up in his signature "oi."

Following closely were Hughie, Mother's Milk, Frenchie—who was frantically crying out, "No!!! My love, what happened to you?"—and Kimiko, who was already lying on the ground.

Clearly!

Clearly... I wanted to be the mastermind behind the scenes, too...

It was all that evil Starlight's fault; she must have leaked the information to Mother Becca.

"Ryan, are you okay?"

Stormfront, having prepared early, rushed over first. With a face full of urgency and concern, she acted as if she cared deeply about his safety.

Ryan shook his head and sighed softly, "You forced me to use violence!"

"What?"

Stormfront froze for a moment, doubting she had heard correctly.

Ryan suddenly pointed into the crowd and shouted at Maeve, who had just arrived, "Maeve, my super-hearing tells me that person is suspicious!!"

And just as Maeve turned her head in the direction he pointed, he made another unexpected move.

He lowered his head abruptly, put strength into his body, and lunged forward, slamming headfirst into Stormfront's arms.

"Ryan?"

Stormfront was completely bewildered at this moment.

She had intended to gain Homelander's absolute trust by showing concern for Ryan and then protecting him when another supe attacked.

But... what was wrong with this child?

He had never shown any closeness to me before, yet now he was throwing himself into my arms. Could it be...

Is he scared, looking for comfort?

Before she could figure out what was going on with Ryan, she was seized by a sudden sense of weightlessness.

At the same time, a sentence rang in her ears that made her hair stand on end and her face change color drastically.

"Mom! Stormfront is a bad woman, and she has bad accomplices here! You need to leave now!..."

The next second, a deafening boom tore a massive hole through the roof of the studio.

That thunderous sound stunned everyone inside the studio into silence.

People stared blankly up at the giant hole in the ceiling, their minds full of questions. Wasn't someone just sick and lying on the ground? What was this? What happened that we don't know about? Can someone tell me?

"Oh no, Ryan... come back!"

Mother Becca screamed in sheer terror.

At the same time, another cry of alarm rang out almost simultaneously: "God!! Little ancestor Ryan... I'm fucking dead again!"

"BOOM!!!"

A figure whistled down from high altitude, sending dirt and stones flying as the ground impacted. A beautiful, miniature shockwave spread out from the point of impact the moment it formed.

From the rising dust, Stormfront emerged, radiating a gloomy aura.

Just then, another small figure slowly drifted down.

"29 seconds left."

Ryan said something that left Stormfront feeling completely baffled.

Stormfront's footsteps faltered, her cold, icy gaze fixed on Ryan.

"You..."

She was about to ask how Ryan knew, but a barrage of questions instantly crowded her brain.

Why did Ryan know about this but not tell Homelander? Why would he do this? What was his goal?

And... most importantly, why was this Ryan so completely different from before?

"Hurry up, Stormfront. I'm just using this opportunity to gauge the gap between me and you people. Don't overthink it; your brain capacity isn't enough to figure it out."

Stormfront sneered, "Although I don't know what's going on with you, Ryan... you got one thing right."

Ryan stretched his limbs lightly, smiling as he waited for the harsh words to follow.

At this moment, his superpowers were fully unleashed, and all previous pretenses were cast aside.

"I really should hurry. Edgar still has a supe who can alter people's minds. Before your father finds out..."

Stormfront was gathering her power.

Crackling, pale violet electricity appeared in the blink of an eye, dancing like a swarm of snakes.

Stormfront clenched her fist: "Gotcha!!"

Bang—

The void shuddered as the extreme current instantly transformed into a massive magnetic field covering several kilometers, using powerful magnetic attraction to pull and propel Stormfront's body forward.

Her fist, wreathed in wild electric snakes, smashed toward Ryan without mercy.

Super Vision!

Super Hearing!

His vision pierced through her clothes, making the exertion patterns of her muscle groups and the direction of her movement clear at a glance.

The sound of the airflow captured by his hearing confirmed the precise trajectory of the fist Ryan had identified.

But it also told him that without super reflexes and speed, he couldn't dodge it.

"Ha, then there's no need to dodge!"

Ryan felt an indescribable excitement spread throughout his body; his blood was boiling.

His brain raced, and the data for his Steel Body flashed before his eyes in a split second.

[Steel Body: Level 4]

Upgrade EXP: 1/200,000

Level 4 Effects: --Omitted--, added defense for vulnerable areas (eyeballs, ear canals, oral cavity, etc.) equal to overall state. Added minor energy attack, light radiation erosion, and low-level mental damage resistance.

Body can be freely condensed or relaxed; stamina depletes rapidly in the strongest state—Super Stamina can replenish stamina loss.

Setting aside the force of Stormfront's punch, the energy damage from her plasma current was a problem, but...

"BOOM!!"

"Impossible!!!"

The violent punch landed, and Ryan's small body was instantly sent flying.

But Stormfront was shocked to discover that the damage her fist dealt to Ryan was far less than she had expected.

Her fist had been blocked; she couldn't even console herself by saying it was because Ryan's reflexes were fast, so why did her electricity...

"Your super defense shouldn't have anything beyond low-level effects!"

Ryan, sent flying, stopped in mid-air. He lowered his crossed arms and replied with feigned confusion: "Could it be that you can't control the intensity of your own Steel Body?"

"That's impossible to do... you, you can?"

Ryan grinned and replied: "I can!"

Both Edgar and I have been deceived!!

Stormfront's composure shattered instantly. Just as she, in a state of extreme rage, prepared to fly up and kill this little liar, a scorching Heat Vision shot right in front of her.

Stormfront raised her hand, about to block it, when Ryan's shout followed: "Stormfront, guess which other superpower I've been hiding the true effects of."

A jolt went through her heart, and Stormfront shifted her magnetic field without a second thought.

The Heat Vision drifted harmlessly past her, and the ground... only kicked up a bit of dust.

Again... deceived again???

"Ahhh... I, I will kill you, you little brat..."

Before Stormfront, who was nearly driven mad with rage, could go completely Berserk, Ryan had already completed his combat deployment, disrupted her tactical judgment, and then dove down fearlessly.

Even if we're going to "do it," I still have to slap a debuff on you first.