"Hahahaha—my stage!"
The Deep let out a piercing, maniacal laugh and leaped, plunging into the water like a cannonball.
The Crossed virus hadn't completely destroyed his sanity; instead, it amplified his connection with the ocean to an unprecedented intensity.
He could feel the pulse of every wave and hear the primal whispers of twisted creatures in the darkest corners of the deep sea.
Hiss—
Beneath the surface, shadows swarmed.
Several mutated sharks, far larger than normal and covered in blood-red markings, emerged from the darkness.
A giant octopus, its tentacles lined with barbs and suckers, slowly stretched its body.
They clustered around The Deep in the center, as if worshipping him.
The Deep felt the blood-linked resonance between himself and these monsters. The unprecedented sense of comfort drove him to the brink of madness.
On the other side.
Tian Hu remained expressionless as he walked down the steps one by one.
The azure armor he wore, blending Eastern aesthetics, remained undisturbed under the lights.
He didn't have The Deep's maniacal laughter, nor did he adopt a posture of absolute dominance.
He simply walked into the water, calmly.
The knee-deep seawater gently lapped against his armor.
The eyes of the entire world were focused on him through the high-definition underwater cameras.
Tian Hu stood in the water, the waves surging behind him, before an indescribably massive killer whale leaped out of the water.
He then slowly extended his right hand and gently threw a punch at the kingdom that seemingly belonged to The Deep.
Sea Tiger Blasting Punch! Haa!
In the next second.
The entire underwater world seemed to be bombarded by an invisible, giant hand of a god!
Time seemed to freeze for a moment.
The massive bodies of the mutated sharks and giant octopus, which had been parading their might around The Deep, suddenly stiffened.
A colossal phantom of a killer whale emerged from behind him.
Immediately after, an irresistible, terrifying pressure from every water molecule in all directions descended with a crash!
Splat! Splat! Splat!
There were no screams, no struggles.
The water currents transformed into the most indestructible cages and the sharpest blades.
Those massive mutated creatures were squeezed, torn, and crushed in an instant!
The "army" The Deep was so proud of instantly turned into clumps of filthy minced meat and bloody water under his horrified gaze, blooming into a bizarre red within the deep blue seawater.
"No... don't!"
The Deep's mind went completely blank.
He couldn't understand why his powerful friends, his beloved concubines, were so fragile in front of this opponent.
What kind of power was this? He only felt that it seemed even stronger than Homelander!
Tian Hu remained standing in place, not even sparing him a glance.
That clenched fist slowly opened, five fingers hooking, then transforming into a palm, into fingers, into a fist.
A martial arts stance blending the essence of the Fourteen Ultimates and the Sea Tiger Blasting Punch was executed by him in a peculiar manner.
And the entire underwater world danced madly along with his movements!
The water transformed into indestructible swords, spears, and halberds.
Countless spears formed from high-pressure water currents thrust from all directions, carrying a sharpness that could tear through anything.
The Deep dodged wretchedly. The cheap hero suit on his body was instantly sliced to shreds, leaving behind deep, bone-deep wounds.
The water transformed into a bottomless vortex that devoured everything.
Tian Hu struck out with a palm, and the seawater in the entire tank spun along with it, forming a massive millstone of death that aimed to grind The Deep into powder.
Extreme sorrow, utter defeat, and an insurmountable gap in strength.
This massive wave of negative emotions became the final spark that ignited the virus within The Deep's body.
He gave up.
He gave up fighting, gave up his dignity, and gave up his last shred of rationality as a "human."
The most primal, despicable, and hidden desires in his heart were magnified thousands of times by the Crossed virus at this moment, completely swallowing him whole.
"Heh... hehe..."
He no longer let out human roars; what came from his throat were bizarre pants mixed with pain and extreme pleasure.
He turned around, abandoning all resistance, allowing a water blade to slice open his back.
Like a mad dog, he swam frantically toward the deeper, darker seabed.
He was going to find... find those "lovers" who could understand and accept him.
He no longer wanted to scheme against these humans.
Billions of viewers worldwide, through the underwater cameras faithfully recording everything, witnessed a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
The Deep began an act of extreme ecstasy with those twisted, indescribable deep-sea creatures he had once controlled.
He let out sighs of satisfaction, engaging in a depraved "communion" with those monsters that could not be described with words.
He had completely become a slave to his desires.
The signal was urgently cut off at this moment.
But that final scene had already become an eternal brand, etched into everyone's minds.
The next few matches were less of a battle and more of a one-sided massacre.
The members of the Huaxia Justice League, with an almost crushing dominance, defeated Vought's virus-enhanced "heroes" one by one.
Evil Dragon knocked a fire-spewing fallen one into the sky.
As a result, it seemed to hit a certain spot on him, bringing him pleasure. After letting out a comfortable cry, he exploded in mid-air.
Shangguan Lieyang smashed a burly man who claimed to be invulnerable into a meat patty with a single punch.
The ultimate fate of these fallen ones was either being tortured to death in extreme agony or having their minds completely consumed by the virus, turning into monsters that only let out meaningless roars and vented their primal desires.
The arena was a river of blood, a complete mess.
On Vought's side, only Homelander remained, standing alone on the high platform.
He watched all of this, watching the "New Seven" he had assembled get completely wiped out.
On his face, there wasn't a single trace of fear or anger.
Instead, that hideous blood cross mark became even hotter and brighter red due to the thick stench of blood and despair.
"Haha... hahahahahaha—!!!"
He laughed maniacally in excitement, his laughter piercing the clouds and echoing throughout Las Vegas.
"The warm-up is over!"
Homelander slowly flew up, stopping in mid-air, facing the distant aerial base from afar.
He opened his arms as if to embrace the entire world.
"Do you think you've won?"
His gaze pierced through thousands of meters, locking dead onto the figure wearing a military overcoat at the very front of the base.
"Do you think you can defeat me with these lapdogs?"
"Naive!"
He roared hideously, his voice carrying the thrill of revealing his trump card.
"In the Russian base! I found him! I found everything about 'Soldier Boy'!"
"His blood! His genetic research data! Everything about him!"
Hum—!!!
Homelander's chest, covered by the Stars and Stripes, suddenly lit up with an extremely blinding, crimson-gold light.
A terrifying energy storm—identical to Soldier Boy's but several times stronger, capable of suppressing and erasing superpowers—gathered madly at his chest!
"Go... to hell!!!"
Boom—!!!
The crimson-gold pillar of energy, like divine punishment, blasted violently toward the aerial base where Ian was located!
A determined, utterly crazed smile appeared on Homelander's face.
He could almost see the scene where Ian and his so-called "Justice League" lost all their powers and fell screaming from the sky like puppets with cut strings.
However.
That energy storm, capable of annihilating a small city, passed right through Ian's body.
It didn't even stir a single ripple.
The energy storm was like a harmless phantom, passing through him, passing through the base behind him, and shooting off into the distant horizon.
Ian remained standing with his hands behind his back, not even a corner of his clothes fluttering.
His eyes were calm, as if looking at a pathetic clown who had just finished jumping around and performing an entire one-man show.
The crazed smile on Homelander's face froze.
That smile shifted from extreme madness to utter bewilderment.
And then from bewilderment, it shifted into an incomprehensible, bone-deep terror.
"No... impossible!"
He screamed, his voice becoming sharp and distorted from fear.
"Why?! Why doesn't it work on you!?"
"Impossible! You must be bluffing!"
Homelander charged madly at Ian, throwing a vicious punch at his chest.
The moment he landed the hit, his expression turned crazed.
"Damn it, so arrogant, so conceited! To actually dare take my punch head-on without dodging."
Homelander was extremely confident that with his current strength, a single punch, even if it couldn't defeat him, would at least scrape his body.
When that happened, he would infuse the virus smeared on his hand into his body.