The Ambition to Conquer the World

Deep Sea King's presence had grown terrifying, and his expression bordered on madness.

"I, Deep Sea King, am the true ruler of this world! I can draw endless power from the endless ocean. No one can defeat me!"

As a lord of the sea, Deep Sea King could not unleash his full strength on land. His speed, strength, and even his size were diminished to varying degrees.

But the moment he touched seawater, he could swiftly replenish the power he had lost. With the ocean at his back, his strength was truly inexhaustible.

Even Starlight at full power paled before Deep Sea King in this state!

Deep Sea King licked his lips. He could hardly wait to make the Girl who had caused him so much trouble taste fear.

Deep Sea King suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a glob of dark green liquid.

Starlight knew she could not let a single drop touch her.

She dodged aside, and the liquid struck the section of deck where she had just stood.

It punched straight through steel plating dozens of millimeters thick.

No—it had not punched through. It had corroded it. The instant the dark green liquid touched the deck, the steel seemed to melt, rapidly opening a hole. Metal along its edge turned molten and dripped away with a hissing sound.

In moments, the hole had spread several meters across, exposing the cabin below. Wisps of smoke still rose from its edges.

Starlight was horrified. If that liquid had hit her directly, she would have fared little better than the deck.

She had no time to dwell on it. Deep Sea King suddenly appeared right in front of her.

The two clashed in a pure contest of strength.

Golden and dark green light intertwined. In the blink of an eye, Deep Sea King and Starlight had traded dozens of blows.

They broke apart and landed at opposite ends of the deck.

That brief exchange had already shown which of them was stronger.

Starlight looked pale. Her chest heaved, and her power had noticeably waned.

Deep Sea King, meanwhile, looked relaxed, as though he had plenty to spare.

He relished the thrill of the fight. Few opponents could last this long against him, much less withstand his full-powered barrage.

She was a member of The Seven, after all.

A gleam lit Deep Sea King's eyes.

His dream was to conquer the world, and The Seven, who stood at the pinnacle of superheroes, would be the greatest obstacle to that dream.

Of course, not every member of The Seven posed a threat. A-Train and Translucent were not combat-focused heroes, and The Deep, with whom he had long maintained a secret partnership, would never become his enemy.

That left the newest member, Starlight, along with Queen Maeve, Black Noir, and Homelander as the people most likely to stand in his way.

Homelander, the man known as the strongest superhero, would be his greatest enemy on the road to domination.

If Starlight was already this formidable, just how strong was Homelander?

Deep Sea King was curious.

He had absolute confidence in himself. On land, he might not be Homelander's match.

But in the sea, no one could defeat him.

As long as seawater was nearby, Deep Sea King's power would never run dry. If he used that advantage well, he was invincible.

Deep Sea King pulled his thoughts back to the present. A battle with Homelander might be an unavoidable showdown on his path to world conquest, but first he needed to deal with this Girl.

Before he finished her off, Deep Sea King wanted to show her his true strength.

He had always savored the sight of despair on an opponent's face.

Now that he held an overwhelming advantage, he did not mind toying with her.

"Before I kill you, I'll show you just how small humans are before the power of the sea."

As Deep Sea King raised both hands, Starlight felt the ship rock violently.

Then she saw something staggering.

Behind Deep Sea King, a wave rose dozens of meters high. It roared toward her with overwhelming force.

Before that towering wave, the massive ship, weighing over ten thousand tons, seemed as helpless as a leaf in a storm. A crushing sense of powerlessness seized Starlight. She felt like an ant beneath a wall about to collapse.

After a day of doing nothing, Luke got ready to wash up and go to bed.

As usual, he turned on the television to listen to the evening news while he washed up.

As an unemployed man in his twenties, Luke desperately wanted to prove himself and be needed by the world.

To be needed by the world, he had to start by understanding it.

That was why he had made a habit of following the TV news.

As always, the news was full of stories about superheroes.

Luke wanted the world to need him, but it did not seem to.

What the world needed were superheroes—people like Homelander.

Why did people adore and support a hypocrite like that while Luke remained unknown?

He could not understand it.

"We have breaking news. A fishing dock on the city's western coast has been attacked by an unidentified creature, capsizing multiple vessels. Authorities suspect a supervillain. According to sources, members of The Seven, The Deep and Starlight, happened to be carrying out a mission there and are currently fighting the attacker. Stay tuned for further updates..."

Luke stopped washing up. One name in the report had caught his attention.

Starlight.

Among superheroes, there were people like Homelander, whom he despised, but there were also people like Starlight, whom he respected.

Luke decided to go and see whether there was anything he could do to help.

Just before leaving, he remembered something.

He went back to his room and put on the cheap superhero costume he had bought online.

Meanwhile, at Vought International headquarters, in Vice President Madelyn's office.

Madelyn, who had just received the news, looked grim. She paced before the enormous floor-to-ceiling window, then told her assistant Ashley, "Go get Homelander."

Starlight had only just joined. If something happened to her on her first mission, it would reflect very badly on the company.

Madelyn had no choice but to send the company's greatest asset to make certain the rescue succeeded.

Whatever this new supervillain was, Madelyn believed one thing.

No one could defeat Homelander.

Thanks to a reader named "Qingyu" for pointing out that ship decks are measured in millimeters. Aircraft carrier decks are generally 80 mm thick. I've corrected the text. Sorry for the mistake.

The End of This Chapter