However, Homelander's full-force strike landed on Ian without even ruffling the corner of his clothes.
Right at that moment.
Crack—
A crisp sound, like shattering glass, echoed from the sky.
The entire world suddenly split open, revealing a long, narrow, blood-red rift!
The ground beneath their feet, the distant cities, the entire planet began to tremble violently!
Two completely different worlds began their final convergence at this very moment!
Under the horrified gazes of billions.
Ian's body began to radiate a brilliant golden light.
A figure identical to him, seemingly composed of pure slaughter and destructive will, emerged from the blood-red rift and slowly merged with him.
His Superman clone in The Boys universe.
And his clone in the Crossed universe.
At this moment, they became one!
A terrifying pressure, surpassing the imagination of all living beings in this world, descended with a crash!
The earth wailed, and space distorted.
Outside of Huaxia, all across the globe.
Countless ordinary people who were screaming, fleeing, or staring blankly at their screens began to undergo a mutation.
Hideous blood-red crosses appeared on their faces without warning.
After the agonizing pain, a cold gleam of lust and brutality surged in their eyes.
A hunting game targeting normal humans quietly unfolded on a global scale.
Just kidding! They slaughtered other infected too!
...
"Ahhhhh—!!!"
Homelander hovered in mid-air, letting out an agonizing roar.
The blood cross mark on his face fully formed, stimulated by the merging of the worlds. The mark seemed to come alive, with countless fine, blood-red nerves piercing deeply into his bone marrow and his very soul.
The terrifying power brought by the virus washed madly through his body, tearing at his every cell.
Yet, this sensation, which was enough to drive any living creature to madness, unexpectedly brought a trace of unprecedented clarity to his chaotic mind.
He was no match for him; he had to run.
He looked at the figure in the distance, bathed in golden light, slowly merging with his alternate self.
That terrifying, trans-dimensional pressure weighed heavily on his heart like an immovable mountain.
'Run!'
That was his only thought at this moment.
He hadn't even enjoyed this hard-won apocalypse where he could do whatever he wanted and screw whoever he wanted! He couldn't die!
Without a shred of hesitation, Homelander turned and fled into the distance at the fastest speed he had ever achieved in his life.
He wanted to escape this world that filled him with dread.
However, above the base.
Ian merely watched the fleeing speck of light with calm indifference.
"The game is over," he spoke indifferently, his voice echoing clearly between heaven and earth.
An Ultimate Fume-shroom sprouted from his shoulder, spitting a string of freezing bubbles toward Homelander.
Tens of thousands of meters away, Homelander, who was flying frantically at dozens of times the speed of sound, suddenly stiffened and was instantly frozen solid.
An invisible yet irresistible force locked him in place like the sturdiest of cages.
The energy within him boiled, and his muscles roared, but he was like a bug trapped in amber—no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't move an inch.
Then, he was forcefully yanked back by that invisible giant hand.
"No! Let me go!!"
Homelander was dragged backward at high speed in a humiliating posture.
The wind howled in his ears as the cities and mountains below flashed by.
He desperately wanted to threaten, to curse, to use his heat vision to burn that lofty figure to ashes.
But all his power was firmly sealed within his body.
For the first time, he truly tasted the flavor of despair.
Ian ignored his roars and simply raised a hand.
Like a dead dog with a broken spine, Homelander was dragged by that invisible force all the way from Las Vegas back to New York.
Finally, he came to a halt beneath the Vought International tower, the building that once symbolized his supreme glory.
Ian slowly descended, hovering in front of the massive Homelander statue at the base of Vought Tower.
He flicked his finger.
Several golden energy chains materialized out of thin air, tightly binding Homelander to his own statue in an extremely humiliating posture.
"No... no... you can't do this to me! I am Homelander!" he shrieked, his voice laced with terror.
The streets of New York had long since turned into a chaotic hunting ground.
A large number of virus-infected citizens noticed the commotion here.
They raised their heads and saw the idol who had once stood high above them—the godlike figure they had worshipped, feared, and envied.
Now, he was bound like a criminal awaiting judgment, completely powerless to resist.
The god had fallen from his pedestal.
The massive contrast in his status acted like a key, unlocking the most primal and darkest switches in their hearts.
Intense desires bred madly under the catalysis of the Crossed virus.
"Roar—!"
They roared in excitement, charging from all directions.
One figure charged at the very front.
He wore a tattered black trench coat, his eyes bloodshot, and his face bore a slanted X-shaped blood cross mark that differed from the others.
It was none other than Billy Butcher.
He had been infected during the chaos, and his strongest desire post-infection was to slaughter all supes!
His mind was incredibly clear at this moment. Having injected a recently acquired vial of Temp V, he now possessed the exact same powers as Homelander.
Looking at the terrified Homelander bound to the statue, he let out a maniacal laugh of absolute, unbridled satisfaction.
"Hahahaha! Homelander! Look at your fucking self now!"
He had seen the video—the video of his wife being violated by this bastard.
He swore he would make Homelander experience that exact same feeling!
"Get him, boys! Let's properly 'worship' our hero!"
Butcher took the lead, charging forward first.
Countless infected swarmed their 'god' like crazed zealots.
They tore at his cape, using their nails, their teeth, and anything they could find to vent their most vicious desires upon his invulnerable body.
His skin was incredibly tough, completely ignoring the tearing of ordinary people, but bound as he was, he couldn't protect his vulnerable spots.
The ultimate humiliation began.
"Get off! You scum! Get off!"
Homelander struggled with all his might, but the golden chains didn't budge an inch.
He tried to use his heat vision to burn the bugs crawling all over him, but he could only pierce through the few in front of him, while many more gathered behind him.
He opened his mouth to curse, to roar.
But the endless humiliation and powerlessness reduced the sounds escaping his throat to shrill, inhuman whimpers.
Instead, by opening his mouth, he gave Butcher an opening to exploit.
Then, relying on his superhuman physique, Butcher subjected Homelander to a humiliation he had never before experienced.
Slowly, whether due to the virus's effects or the awakening of some innate nature within Homelander...
...his mindset began to undergo a bizarre transformation.
That extreme agony, that bone-deep humiliation, gradually... morphed into a sick, unprecedented sense of comfort that made him tremble.
Homelander's whimpers gradually ceased.
He stopped struggling. His azure eyes began to glaze over, losing their focus.
A sick, intoxicated, and utterly bizarre smile even surfaced on his face.
He was completely broken.