The Deep roared and charged first.
He struck with his right fist, bringing with it a shrill rush of wind.
His headlong charge certainly had plenty of momentum.
But in that skin-tight green, scaly suit, he looked just like a walking cucumber stick.
Translucent had long since vanished, even deliberately suppressing the sound of his heartbeat.
The bastard was creeping over the rubble, preparing to deliver a fatal sneak attack from the arrogant man's blind spot.
Chen Mo stood where he was, a hand on his chin as he wondered who had sent the two of them to their deaths.
The broad, dark red fleshy wings on his back fluttered slightly, and a violent gale swept up all the sand and stones on the ground.
A barely perceptible disturbance suddenly rippled through the air.
Translucent had crept around to his rear flank. Thinking his plan had worked, he raised a heavy fist and aimed straight for the back of Chen Mo's head.
Unfortunately for him, his movements were too obvious and too slow to escape the Blacklight Virus's senses.
Chen Mo tilted his head slightly, and one of the wings on his back lashed out.
The massive wing muscles tensed in an instant, smashing into Translucent.
An incredibly muffled boom erupted.
With a teeth-grating crack of bones and the sound of Translucent's skin shattering, a huge cloud of glaring scarlet blood mist burst into the air.
Forced out of his transparent state, Translucent flew sideways like a broken sack and slammed into a damaged load-bearing wall.
The sturdy wall came crashing down.
Chen Mo turned and looked at Translucent, who was convulsing wildly in a pool of blood, his face full of disgust.
"Running around naked in the middle of the night instead of sleeping, putting on some kind of performance art? I thought you were hiding some devastating ultimate move."
Translucent's chest had caved in completely, his bulletproof carbon skin was covered in cracks, and blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs spurted from his mouth.
His eyes bulged, filled with shock and despair.
The carbon armor he was so proud of had shattered in a single blow.
How was that possible?!
Chen Mo planted a foot on his bald head. Countless sharp tendrils emerged from his sole and consumed the mangled body completely in an instant.
The Deep had only made it halfway across the room when his raised fist froze in midair.
His mouth hung open wide enough to fit a giant ostrich egg, and his eyes nearly rolled down his cheeks and onto the floor.
Translucent, the supposedly invincible man impervious to blades and bullets, the shield of The Seven.
He had been instantly killed and eaten clean without surviving a single blow?
The Deep instantly realized how serious the situation was.
His legs gave way, and he fell heavily to his knees on the shattered glass covering the floor.
The arrogance he had shown when he came in vanished in an instant.
"B-big bro... It's a misunderstanding. This is all a misunderstanding."
The Deep's teeth chattered wildly as he forced an ingratiating smile and raised both hands high above his head.
"I'm just a passing ocean conservation volunteer. I saw the groundwater quality was bad, so I came here especially to clean up the trash."
Chen Mo pursed his lips as the orange-red ball of energy at his fingertip grew brighter and brighter.
"Ocean conservation? Have you been talking to fish so much you can't even think up a decent lie?"
"Weren't you just saying you were going to break all my limbs? How come you dropped to your knees so quickly?"
"Come on, get up. I'll give you a chance to prove you're not a loser who can only talk to fish."
Terrified out of his wits, The Deep didn't dare say another word. He scrambled to his feet on all fours, turned, and ran for the door.
His legs blurred as he ran, accelerating faster than a cheetah.
But it didn't do him any good.
Chen Mo sneered and casually flicked a finger.
The orange-red energy ball traced a deadly arc and caught up precisely with the disheveled green figure.
An earth-shattering explosion blew the metal cover off the top of the entire underground structure.
The Deep didn't even have time to scream before most of his body was blasted into a bloody pulp, bursting apart in midair like an overripe tomato. He plunged headfirst into the depths of the ruins, his fate unknown.
Chen Mo dusted off his hands and was about to go finish him off and see what salted fish tasted like.
Just then.
A terrifying sonic boom split the night sky, piercing his eardrums.
A violent gale rushed in through the blasted-open ceiling, blowing what little remained of the laboratory into disarray.
An oppressive, suffocating pressure filled the air.
Scarlet light pierced the smoke and dust, instantly melting two scorching trenches of lava into the concrete floor.
High in the sky, a stars-and-stripes cape snapped in the wind.
Homelander hovered with his arms crossed, posing like a god descended to earth as he looked down on the ruins below.
There was none of his usual false smile in his blue eyes, only cold killing intent.
The Deep struggled to lift half his charred head out of the rubble. When he saw the figure in midair, he burst into tears of excitement, as if he had seen his savior.
"C-captain! Help! He killed Translucent! This bastard is a monster!"
Homelander didn't spare The Deep so much as a glance, his gaze fixed firmly on the black-and-red viral armor.
The secret base had been destroyed, the precious test subjects had died horrible deaths, and even a core member of The Seven had been butchered like a dog.
This was an open affront to Vought International, and even more so to his absolute authority as a god.
"No matter what filthy gutter you crawled out of, you piece of trash."
Homelander's voice was low, carrying an unquestionable sentence of death.
"Tonight, I'll grind every bone in your body to powder, then hang your head from the Statue of Liberty's torch."
Chen Mo looked up at the man showing off and, far from being afraid, laughed so hard his shoulders shook.
"Well, well, isn't this our beloved Homelander?"
Chen Mo reached up with a claw and scratched the shell on his face, looking utterly puzzled as he asked:
"Why aren't you hiding in your mommy Madelyn's arms, drinking her milk in the middle of the night? What are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere, pretending to be a big bad wolf?"
"Look at that skintight suit. It's squeezing you so tight, are you afraid people won't know your thing is as underdeveloped as The Deep's?"
In the ruins, The Deep was so frightened his eyes rolled back and he foamed at the mouth, nearly fainting on the spot.
You dare say that, but I don't even dare listen!
No, I have to run.
If Homelander goes crazy, I'll die too if I stay here!
While the two faced off, The Deep secretly crawled away from the ruins.
The muscles in Homelander's face twitched violently, his famously perfect control over his expression crumbling to dust.
Those vicious jabs about Madelyn and his development had sent Homelander into a rage.
His eyes instantly lit up with blinding scarlet light, and two beams of Heat Vision as thick as buckets shot straight at Chen Mo's head, carrying a furious heat that could burn everything to ashes.
Chen Mo had no intention of retreating. He thrust his right arm up, and black-and-red fibers rapidly intertwined and rearranged themselves.
An enormously thick tower shield formed in an instant.
The heat rays slammed into its surface, erupting in a shower of dazzling, blinding sparks.
The terrifying force pushed Chen Mo backward, his feet plowing two long, deep furrows in the ground. But the tower shield's surface merely gave off a cloud of blackened smoke; the rays couldn't penetrate it at all.
After consuming large amounts of superhuman genes in succession, Chen Mo's defenses had undergone a qualitative change, especially with the addition of Translucent, whom he had just consumed.
After multiple enhancements, the carbon skin was now capable of standing up to Homelander.
"Is that all the heat you've got? Homelander, you're a pretty nice guy, aren't you? Coming all this way to warm me up on such a cold day?"
Holding out against the continuous Heat Vision, Chen Mo turned his left hand over, and an energy sphere three times larger and even brighter than the last one took shape.
He twisted at the waist and hurled the sphere at Homelander.
Homelander's pupils narrowed. Clearly, he hadn't expected this guy to block his Heat Vision and launch a ranged counterattack at the same time.
He immediately cut off the beams and darted sideways.
The energy sphere brushed past the edge of his stars-and-stripes cape and flew high into the sky, where it suddenly contracted and exploded.
The pitch-black night sky lit up like day, and buildings on the ground cracked and collapsed one after another.
Chen Mo gave Homelander no chance to catch his breath.
The dark red wings on his back beat with explosive force, sending a shockwave sweeping outward.
He became a streak of black lightning tearing through the night sky, shooting upward and crashing head-on into Homelander.
A violent sonic boom cloud erupted between them.
The most primal, brutal hand-to-hand combat began high in the sky.
Homelander roared repeatedly, swinging heavy fists with enough force to smash a skyscraper in a single blow.
Chen Mo's right arm transformed into a savage Blacklight hammer, which he swung straight at him without any flourish.
Their fists collided fiercely.
It was like two out-of-control meteors smashing into each other high in the sky. The shockwave became a visible, violent white blast that spread madly in every direction, tearing through vast banks of clouds.
At the factory below, every glass window shattered into a cloud of fragments at the same instant.
The tremendous recoil sent Homelander flying backward over a hundred meters, his entire right arm tingling and aching. A flash of incredulous shock crossed his eyes.
Since he had been created, no living being had ever been able to confront him head-on in pure strength!
None had even been capable of causing him the slightest pain.
What the hell was this monster?
Chen Mo, who had also been sent flying, flapped his wings to steady himself and brushed nonexistent dust off his breastplate, the mocking smile on his face growing wider.
"What's wrong, Homelander? Didn't eat enough dinner?"
"Your punches are so soft, it's like getting a massage at a club. Want to go back and have a few more sips of mommy's milk before you fight again?"
The utter humiliation consumed the last of Homelander's rationality.
Like a crazed beast, he let out a roar and blasted through the air toward Chen Mo again.
His fists became a blur as he unleashed destructive force without holding anything back.
Chen Mo threw back his head and laughed wildly, the Blacklight Virus boiling inside him as his arms shifted freely between giant blades, heavy hammers, and long whips.
The two fought furiously thousands of meters above the ground.
Every collision was accompanied by an earth-shaking boom, like the god of thunder pounding his war drums.
The remaining clouds were torn to shreds by the force of their blows.
The battle in the sky was exceptionally fierce.
Homelander's physical abilities were indeed terrifying, currently exceeding even Chen Mo's. A few days ago, that gap would have allowed Homelander to kill Chen Mo with a single punch.
But now, after consuming Translucent, Flame Demon, and Sky Lord and incorporating a large quantity of superhuman genes, all of Blacklight's attributes had transformed.
Although he was still a little behind in speed and absolute strength, he held a clear advantage in defense and recovery.
After hundreds of rounds of fierce fighting, Homelander's breathing grew ragged, and a slight pause inevitably appeared in his relentless assault.
Chen Mo seized the opening.
The hammer on his right arm smashed aside his opponent's crossed arms.
A highly compressed orange-red energy sphere formed instantly in his left palm, and he pressed it against that handsome face without holding back.
A tremendous boom echoed across the night sky.
The energy detonated at point-blank range.
Homelander let out a piercing scream, smoke pouring from his body as he plummeted straight down and crashed through a nearby barren mountain.
Dust billowed everywhere.
Chen Mo hovered in midair, flapping his wings as he looked down and admired the seemingly bottomless crater.
Tens of seconds later, Homelander staggered out of the ruins.
His once-immaculate blond hair was now blackened and curled, giving off a burnt smell.
His stars-and-stripes cape had been reduced to ragged strips.
An even more horrifying sight appeared.
A bright streak of blood slowly ran down the bridge of his nose and dripped onto his dust-covered chest.
He was bleeding.
The god among men who had swept all before him had actually been beaten until he bled.
Homelander blankly raised a hand and wiped his nose. He stared at the red liquid on his fingertips, and something in his mind shattered completely.
How long had it been? The word "injury" wasn't even in his mind.
The unfamiliar agony coursing along his nerve endings, and his instinctive fear of death, seized his heart in an instant.
An indescribable fear overwhelmed his anger.
He looked up at the terrifying figure in midair, like a demon god, and his blue eyes filled with extreme horror and reluctance to fight.
He would die.
If he kept fighting, this perfect body really would be torn to pieces.
"I can't possibly lose... I'm the strongest person in this world!"
Homelander muttered to himself neurotically, all the lofty superiority he had shown before the fight gone.
His legs bent and tensed, shattering a broad expanse of rock beneath his feet. He became a terrified streak of red light, shooting into the sky at a speed far beyond his usual limit, not even daring to look back.
He had completely lost even the courage to leave a parting threat.
He was terrified that if he ran a second too slowly, that trash-talking monster would latch onto him.
Chen Mo pursed his lips in boredom and spread his hands helplessly as he watched the red trail fleeing in disarray.
"You run faster than a dog. What happened to all that talk about hanging me on the Statue of Liberty?"
"Giving up already? I haven't even finished warming up, damn it. Want to come back and have another chance to choose your words, you giant baby?"
Chen Mo didn't give chase.
Mainly because he couldn't catch up, and after all that fighting, Homelander had only gotten a bit of a nosebleed. He really was a little too tough.
Still, the beating tonight was definitely enough to give that narcissistic bastard nightmares for months.
He folded his wings and slowly landed in the underground laboratory, now reduced to ruins.
"Alex Mercer could tank a nuke after eighteen days. Chen Mo, you've still got a lot to learn!"
He picked up the backpack full of Compound V samples and leaped into the sky, leaving the wreckage behind.