Homelander held the Black Youth up, with no intention of hearing his explanation. His icy gaze swept over the people around him. "I saw it with my own eyes. The rock he threw injured that man."
It sounded like an explanation, but it was more of an announcement.
Homelander tossed the Black Youth upward, then threw a punch the instant he hung suspended in the air.
With a muffled grunt, the Black Youth flew over the crowd like a kite with its string cut.
A vicious grin curled Homelander's lips. Deadly crimson light gathered in his eyes, and beams of intense thermal energy shot out.
The sounds of flesh and bone tearing like snapping branches, flesh scorching, and desperate screams before death rang out one after another, joining into a symphony that made the soul tremble.
In an instant, flesh and blood flew through the air, and a bloody mist spread.
Drops of scarlet rained down as the Black Youth fell from the sky in "pieces."
The hair, skin, and clothes of the people nearby were all spattered to varying degrees.
The horrifying turn of events happened too suddenly. Caught completely off guard, the people stood frozen.
Many on the outer edge of the surrounding crowd did not know what had happened. All they saw was Homelander killing an ordinary person in midair with his heat vision, and their eyes widened in terror.
Hundreds of livestreams were broadcasting from the scene, and even their scrolling comments stalled.
Dead silence.
Homelander shut off his heat vision and observed the reaction around him, feeling inexplicably satisfied.
This was the first time he had killed an ordinary person in full public view, but he did not regret it. A lightness akin to release rose within him.
He found the feeling of not caring