Are You Panicked by My Calling You "Dad"?

A person is irrational when they are driven mad with rage.

One cannot rule out battle-hardened veterans who might pretend to be deceived by your tactics, only to catch you off guard and kill you the moment you become complacent.

But Stormfront, this centenarian hag?

Ryan could tell you with absolute certainty that she was not that kind of person.

Therefore, between the extreme contrast created by his sudden reveal of her true nature as a villain, his complete dropping of his facade, and the final verbal provocations and constant skill-based deceptions, The result was that a debuff called "Enraged" was successfully applied to Stormfront.

A more intense battle erupted the instant he dove down.

"Bang!"

A heavy punch, containing the full extent of Ryan's Super Strength, slammed hard into the bridge of Stormfront's nose.

The powerful impact only forced her head to tilt backward.

The damage caused by this full-force punch could only be described as utterly laughable.

Yet, this was entirely within Ryan's expectations.

Did he really think he could break Stormfront's defenses with only Level 1 Super Strength?

He was overthinking it.

In Ryan's mind, Stormfront could rank within the top five of the Seven's combat power.

"Damn it!!"

Stormfront was furious, and without a second thought, she retaliated with a punch of her own.

Facing her greeting, Ryan... would consider himself a loser if he even dodged.

The initial attempts had already proven that his Level 4 Steel Body could withstand attacks boosted by Stormfront's Super Strength.

And this was precisely the best outcome he had hoped for.

"Thud!"

When he was struck in the face, Ryan even slightly controlled his Steel Body to lower his defense by half a level.

It hurts!!

My face must be bruised.

But he held his ground.

"Hahaha... Stormfront, is that all the strength you have? Are you just tickling me?"

Ryan didn't wait for Stormfront to pursue; he scrambled up, mocked her again, and charged right back at her.

"Ahhh!!! Die! You go to hell!!"

The plasma current was overloading, and the violent energy gathered with unprecedented intensity—this was no longer the minor skirmish from before.

It seemed Stormfront had been driven to the point of losing her mind, truly prepared to kill him regardless of the consequences.

"You want to kill me?"

Ryan wasn't afraid in the slightest.

Mid-flight, he spoke rapidly: "Everyone saw me fly away with you. If you kill me, how are you going to explain it to my dad!"

"Uh..."

Stunned by his sharp question, the power of the plasma current Stormfront was unleashing at full capacity instantly weakened.

That's right, I wasn't supposed to kill him; I was supposed to capture him and have Edgar find someone to wipe his memory.

I can't kill him!

"Fell for it again, Stormfront."

Ryan, having charged into the cluster of plasma current, lunged at her.

At this very moment, Stormfront's brain was in a state of cognitive dissonance.

She was like a crashed computer, letting Ryan manipulate her emotions and her superpowers.

The energy attack effect driven by the plasma current had been halved and was continuing to weaken, falling well within the range Ryan could withstand.

So, having closed the distance again, he instantly activated Berserk!

All skills -1!

Only his original Level 1 Heat Vision saw its power elevated without limit during the duration of Berserk.

In a mere split second, two short, thick beams of crimson light erupted straight from Ryan's eyes.

At the end of his gaze was Stormfront, who had been played into a state of near-total stupor.

At the same time, Ryan, who had been counting the seconds in his mind from the very beginning, pressed the button on his wristwatch at that exact moment.

The next instant...

"BOOM!"

A deafening energy explosion rang out.

"Ah... my, my hand..."

After the blast of the level-four Heat Vision, a severed arm remained on the ground.

Not far from the explosion site, Stormfront, with nearly half her body scorched by the terrifying high temperature, knelt on one knee while clutching her stump, wailing miserably.

"Ahhh... damn you... Ryan!!!"

Her eyes held hatred and venom, but more than that, a profound sense of regret.

She regretted letting Ryan manipulate her emotions, regretted her lack of resolve during the fight, and regretted even more...

Wait, what was Ryan trying to do now?

"Thud..."

Ryan, covered in minor scratches with only a bruise near the corner of his eye, flopped onto the ground with practiced ease.

He tilted his head slightly to look at the shocked and fearful Stormfront.

After giving her a meaningful smile, his expression instantly twisted into one of agony.

Immediately after, he began to roll around and scream, "Ahhh!"

"What kind of..."

BOOM—BOOM—

A terrifying sonic boom echoed from the distant horizon just a moment ago, and in the next second, it crashed down wrapped in a mighty gale, leaving no time for anyone to react and forcing the rest of Stormfront's "conspiracy" back down her throat.

The Stars and Stripes Cape drifted down slowly!

Stormfront stared blankly at the cape turned toward her.

The pain of her severed arm was completely blocked out by a body paralyzed with fear.

Homelander!

Why would he appear here?

Or rather, how did everything turn into this?

Don't think about it anymore, whatever the reason!

Run!

Run fast!

"Dad!!"

Ryan cried out with a sob, looking pitifully at Azu.

Stormfront was snapped back to reality by that "Dad," and without a word of nonsense, she shifted her plasma currents and launched herself into the air using magnetic fields.

But how could she escape in front of an enraged Homelander?

Before her body could leave the ground, a terrifyingly large hand crossed the distance in an instant and clamped directly onto her throat.

Stormfront met those eyes suffused with crimson.

"Hurting my Ryan, Stormfront, where do you think you're going!"

"Home, Homelander... it's not, what you, think, I... urgh!"

Azu nodded with a grim smile, his palm tightening to crush Stormfront's excuses back into her stomach.

Then, he pulled Stormfront close to his face.

The distance between them was so close that their breaths mingled.

"Not what I think?"

His other hand slowly climbed to Stormfront's remaining arm, gripping it and applying force bit by bit.

"Urghhh..."

Muscles tore; her super-durability was as fragile as a knockoff under Azu's furious strength.

"RIIIP!"

The arm was torn clean off Stormfront's body.

Blood sprayed like mist and rain.

Ryan closed his eyes—not because he was afraid to look, nor because he lacked the heart.

He had no saintly compassion for his enemies; he was simply using this interval to think about how to handle the aftermath.

Azu's emotions had been influenced by the Emotion Manipulator; his deep love and irritability were only the surface manifestations.

Judging by how he was brutally torturing Stormfront to vent his anger even with me present, the influence he was under was deeper than I had anticipated.

Changing the plan on the fly at the set and aiming that Berserk Heat Vision only at Stormfront's arm at the last second had been the right move.

Let Azu vent some of his excessive negative emotions through the slaughter first.

Once I confess a portion of the truth to him later, then regardless of whether Mother Becca and the Boys have evacuated, they will no longer be in mortal danger.

Besides...

Ryan opened his eyes, his gaze already calm from the lingering echoes of the battle.

He looked at Azu and thought to himself: No matter what, I still have you, Dad.