Searchlights bathed the old highway in a deathly pale glow.
Homelander slowly descended, his cape fluttering in the night wind. His usual smile was gone, replaced by a dark expression that barely concealed his anger.
He hovered more than ten meters above the ground, looking down at Chen Mo.
"Last time, I was just careless."
His voice was quiet, but more serious than ever. "Do you really think you can beat me?"
Chen Mo looked up at him, then glanced at the superhuman soldiers who had spread out around them.
Metal arms, scaly skin, blue pupils.
Their positions looked professional enough, but their expressions suggested they had been pushed into something they weren't ready for.
He activated Emotion Sensing for the first time in a while. Apart from a few ringleaders, the entire field glowed with fear.
"Tonight, this is where you die." A red glow slowly kindled in Homelander's eyes, and his voice turned icy. "You'll learn what happens when you challenge a god."
Chen Mo stopped chewing his gum for a moment.
He lowered his head and spat it out at his feet.
"Buddy, don't get ahead of yourself." Chen Mo grinned as black and red bloodstreaks slowly emerged beneath his feet. "You've got one very important thing wrong."
Homelander narrowed his eyes.
"You're not here to judge me tonight."
Chen Mo bent forward slightly, the muscles across his body tensing inch by inch. "You're here to challenge me."
As soon as he finished speaking, the asphalt beneath his feet exploded.
Chen Mo vanished from where he stood, leaving only a web of spreading cracks and gravel swept up by the shockwave.
The next second, he was in front of Homelander.
Homelander's gaze went cold. He suddenly dived, driving his fist toward Chen Mo's chest.
Neither bothered with anything fancy. Fist met fist.
They crashed together in midair, each striking with all his strength.
Boom.
A visible shockwave exploded outward from the two of them, sweeping across the wasteland like a ring-shaped transparent wall.
Several overturned armored vehicles were hurled into the air. Doors and tires flew everywhere, kicking up clouds of dust when they landed in the distance.
The weaker tactical superhumans below were swept off their feet before they could open fire and sent sprawling.
"Hold formation!"
Someone shouted over the comms, his voice cracking.
Chen Mo and Homelander hung in midair, their fists pressed tightly together.
Homelander's expression grew uglier by the second.
He had expected to punch this monster straight back into the ground.
Instead, they were evenly matched!
"What's wrong?" Chen Mo tilted his head as black and red sinews rose along his arm. "Is that all the strength a god has?"
The red light in Homelander's eyes flared instantly.
Two beams of Heat Vision fired at point-blank range.
Chen Mo jerked his head aside. The heat grazed his cheek, burning two scorch marks into his black and red armor.
The next second, he drove his knee up into Homelander's abdomen.
Homelander grunted, his body jolting halfway upward.
Chen Mo seized his shoulder, pressed the fingers of his other hand together, and extended a black blade from his forearm, slashing at Homelander's neck.
Clang.
The blade struck skin, and a spray of sparks flew.
Chen Mo pushed harder, driving sonic vibrations through the blade. It buzzed, its surface blurring, and only then did it cut a bloody line across Homelander's skin.
Homelander gritted his teeth, grabbed Chen Mo's wrist, and slammed him toward the ground.
"What do you think you are?"
Chen Mo's back smashed into the old highway. The entire stretch of road caved in, sending dust and rubble several meters into the air.
Homelander dived after him, fists clasped together as though he meant to smash him straight into the earth.
But before his fists could land, a huge black and red hand shot out of the dust.
Chen Mo grabbed Homelander's face, clamping his fingers around his jaw and forehead and forcibly stopping his descent.
"What am I?"
Chen Mo sat up in the crater, the few wounds on his body healing rapidly. His tone was quite serious. "Didn't you people at Vought already look into that? A new species, a huge gold mine, a high-value asset."
Homelander's pupils contracted slightly.
Chen Mo grinned. "What, didn't anyone forward you the news that the boss was praising me?"
At those words, Homelander's face twisted completely.
Red light burst from his eyes, and his Heat Vision erupted almost against Chen Mo's palm.
The flesh of Chen Mo's palm burned and curled back, but he didn't let go. Instead, he used the force to flip himself up and kick Homelander in the chest.
With a boom, Homelander was sent flying through an armored vehicle, then carved a trench more than ten meters long across the wasteland.
Stormfront finally moved.
She flew up from the side, purple-white arcs flashing between her hands, a smile on her face as she watched the spectacle.
"All right, boys, don't turn the party into a muscle-bound brawl."
As soon as she spoke, a great burst of high-voltage arcs shot from her palms, spreading like an electrical net and heading straight for Chen Mo's back.
Chen Mo had just been about to pursue Homelander when the skin at the back of his neck suddenly tingled.
He didn't turn around.
The Blacklight tissue on his back burst open, dozens of black and red tentacles springing from his spine and lashing toward the arcs.
Crackle.
Electricity surged along the tentacles into Chen Mo's body, and broad scorch marks instantly appeared across his skin.
Chen Mo paused, the corner of his mouth twitching.
"Lady, that electrotherapy packs a punch."
Stormfront sneered and increased the current.
Chen Mo reached back, grabbed one of the electrified tentacles, and snapped it sideways like a whip.
The charged tentacle swept out and struck two superhuman soldiers who were preparing to fire. Both screamed as they flew backward into a searchlight frame, knocking it crooked.
The searchlight swayed, its beam sweeping across the wasteland.
In the instant the light and shadows shifted, a dark figure silently closed in behind Chen Mo.
Black Noir.
He made no sound.
The short blade in his hand slashed upward at a tricky angle, aimed straight at Chen Mo's lower back.
Chen Mo seemed not to notice.
The instant the blade pierced his flesh, Black Noir's gaze flickered.
It had gone in.
But not all the way.
The flesh of Chen Mo's lower back closed around the blade like a living thing, biting down on it as black and red bloodstreaks curled back along its edge.
Black Noir immediately abandoned the blade and retreated.
But it was already too late.
Chen Mo turned and drove an elbow into his chest.
Black Noir flew backward, his feet carving two deep grooves in the ground before he crashed into a concrete barrier by the road, cracking it on impact.
"You're really rude, you know that?" Chen Mo reached back and pulled the short blade from his lower back, glancing at the coating on it. "Poisoning your blade for a backstab? Is Vought's training really that underhanded?"
Black Noir didn't answer. He simply got back to his feet.
The combat suit over his chest was caved in.
Chen Mo raised an eyebrow.
He could take a beating.
Behind them, Lamplighter held up his lighter with both hands, his face pale.
A small flame danced at his fingertips.
The next second, it swelled into a huge, searing fireball that hurtled toward Chen Mo, trailing a blinding plume of flame.
Chen Mo looked up at it.
"Oh, the retired barbecue chef is back on the job too?"
The fireball crashed down with a boom.
The entire stretch of road was instantly swallowed by a wave of fire. Asphalt melted, and fuel tanks in the wreckage exploded one after another, lighting up half the night sky.
Stormfront took the opportunity to fly lower, sending arcs of electricity darting around the edge of the sea of flames to cut off Chen Mo's retreat.
Homelander also flew back up from the trench.
His lip was split, his blond hair was dusty, and his eyes were full of killing intent.
"Burn him to death," Homelander said quietly. "Burn him to ash."
Lamplighter's Adam's apple bobbed, and the flame at his fingertips continued to grow.
He stared at the sea of fire, his gaze a little uncertain.
He had done this kind of work many times.
But this time, the thing in the fire didn't seem like it would obediently turn to ash.
Sure enough.
A series of muffled footsteps suddenly came from the flames.
One step.
Two steps.
The red-hot asphalt peeled back to either side as black and red flesh spread through the fire, forming a layer of living armor.
Chen Mo walked out of the flames.
His skin was covered in thick black and red armor. Bony spikes jutted outward from his shoulders and back, his arms were thicker than before, and curved claws hung from his fingertips.
Flames still burned on him.
But no sooner had the charred tissue carbonized than fresh flesh pushed it away.
Stormfront was finding it harder to smile.
Homelander also stopped in midair, his expression grave.
The superhuman small fry below instinctively took a step back.
Chen Mo raised a hand and unhurriedly brushed the sparks off his shoulder.
"Seriously, that's quite a lineup you've got."
He looked up at Homelander, then at Stormfront, and finally let his gaze settle on Lamplighter's lighter.
"You've got a main course, an electric grill, an open flame, even waiters and a welcoming crew to set the mood."
Lamplighter's hand trembled slightly around the lighter.
Chen Mo grinned, his teeth slowly sharpening in the firelight.
"There's just one problem."
Black and red bloodstreaks burst from beneath his feet and surged in every direction along the cracked highway.
Tentacles wrapped around the ankles of several superhuman soldiers who were too slow to retreat. They fell screaming and were dragged into the firelight before they could resist.
The red glow lit up in Homelander's eyes once more.
Electric arcs crackled between Stormfront's hands.
Black Noir lowered his body and tightened his grip on another short blade.
Lamplighter gritted his teeth and pushed the flame to its maximum.
Amid the rubble, scorched earth, and smoke swirling through the air, Chen Mo spread his hands and unleashed the Blacklight Virus within him to its limit. Savage, terrifying black and red armor surged over his body, and with a violent aura that overwhelmed everyone present, he opened his bloody maw:
"You're all just too fucking weak!"