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Homelander hung up the communication and looked up at the temple.
He knew what was happening.
Star-Lord, Peter Quill.
That silly boy had already been impaled by Ego. He was connected to Ego's core, becoming a living battery.
Ego was extracting the God power from within Peter's body, forcibly activating the seeds buried on countless Planets across the Universe.
He wanted to turn the entire Universe into "Ego."
"There's no time left," Jessica said with an anxious face, her words coming out rapidly.
"This God has already begun to use his divine power to consume our Planet; we must interrupt him immediately!"
"Damn it! Something must have happened to Quill!"
Gamora snapped out her blade, preparing to rush toward the temple.
"Vroom, vroom, vroom—!!"
A massive roar echoed from the sky; the Sovereign drone fleet had already arrived above the battlefield.
"Zzzzt, zzzzt, zzzzt—"
A rain of countless lasers poured down.
"Take cover!!"
Rocket shouted, grabbing Groot as they ducked behind a giant boulder.
Gamora looked at Rocket: "Rocket! Didn't you just say you could handle this? Bring out those hundred methods of yours! Let them see how capable you are!"
"I..."
Rocket was momentarily speechless, looking at the thousands of fighters in the sky, then at the gun in his hand.
"We don't even have a single combat ship, how do you expect me to fight?! Use this gun to take on thousands of interstellar fighters?!"
"Who the hell can fight an interstellar fleet with their bare flesh?!"
"I can," a calm voice rang out.
Everyone froze and looked up.
It was Homelander.
"You?" Yondu was shocked. "Brother, those are space fighters! Thousands of them!"
"Just a few thousand... leave them to me."
"Go to the temple, disrupt Ego's actions, and save your friend..."
"Then hold on and wait for me to come..."
"But..." Rocket was stunned. "That's thousands of..."
"Go now!!" Homelander shouted, cutting off Rocket's hesitation.
"There's no time! Earth won't last much longer!"
"Go!" Gamora gave Homelander a deep look. She was a decisive warrior and led the others in a sprint toward the temple.
Seeing them leave, Homelander turned toward Jessica, who was still holding the camera.
"Jessica, you go help them too... they need your power, and so does Earth."
Homelander stepped forward and gently hugged her.
Jessica's body stiffened for a moment, then softened as she wrapped her arms around Homelander's solid back.
At this moment, the camera shook slightly, as if the person filming was also trembling.
The viewers in the livestream felt their hearts break at the sight.
[Sob sob... does this look like a final embrace?]
[You must come back alive!!]
[I ship this couple until I die!!]
Homelander leaned in close to Jessica's ear, his warm breath hitting her earlobe, making her flush red.
"Honey..." Homelander's voice was so low only the two of them could hear.
Jessica's heart raced, and her palms grew sweaty.
"...Protect the camera."
"Make sure you film a good shot of my back as I face ten thousand troops alone before you leave..."
"..."
Jessica's touched emotions were instantly thrown to the dogs.
She pushed Homelander away, glared at him fiercely, and said through gritted teeth:
"Just get lost! You bastard!"
"Hahahaha!"
Homelander laughed loudly, then slowly rose into the air, his star-spangled cape snapping in the wind amidst the energy barrage.
His eyes already glowed with a crimson light, destructive energy ready to burst.
The next second.
"Boom—!"
The red and blue figure tore through the air, the camera following his path.
Against the backdrop of Ego the Living Planet's brilliant and eerie sky, a tiny human figure charged toward the overwhelming golden fleet.
One man against an army.
"Is this guy... a lunatic..." Nebula, who was running at full speed with the others, suddenly looked back at the sky and subconsciously blurted out, "But I like this lunatic."
"Let's go! Don't let his efforts go to waste!"
Yondu roared, his Yaka Arrow turning into a streak of red light as it danced around them.
"To the temple! Kill that bastard!"
"I am Groot!!"
...High above.
The air grew thin.
Homelander's speed had reached its limit.
In his forward field of vision, the Sovereign drone fleet was clearly visible.
"Target locked! Unknown biological entity approaching at high speed!"
In the Sovereign control room thousands of light-years away, a group of golden-skinned "players" sat in simulation pods, controlling these fighters.
"What's that? A birdman?" an operator mocked. "Crush it!"
A small squadron of fighters broke formation, accelerating toward Homelander as their laser cannons began to charge.
"Zzzzzzzzz——!!!"
High-energy Heat Vision, outputting at full power without reservation!
The Heat Vision was like two brandished lightsabers, sweeping across the entire airspace.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
A series of brilliant fireworks exploded in the sky.
Dozens of fighters at the very front were sliced in half by the Heat Vision before they even had a chance to fire, their golden wreckage falling like rain.
Homelander's figure didn't pause for a moment, crashing straight through the clouds of fire from the explosions.
"Bang!"
He smashed the nose of a fighter with one punch.
Then he grabbed the wing and, like swinging a baseball bat, slammed it hard into another fighter nearby.
"Thud!!"
The two fighters collided, turning into a heap of scrap metal.
He wove through the fleet, his speed so fast that radar couldn't even lock onto him.
Every punch and every blast of Heat Vision was accompanied by the falling of several, or even a dozen, fighters.
"Damn it! What kind of monster is that?!" The Sovereign control room was in chaos.
"How is this possible?!" Ayesha stood up from her simulation pod in surprise, a crack appearing on her perfectly maintained golden face.
"Why can't our main cannons even penetrate his clothes?!"
"Concentrate fire! All units concentrate fire! Shoot him down!"
The remaining thousand-plus fighters adjusted their formation, weaving countless laser beams into a dense, impenetrable web of fire that enveloped Homelander.
"Is this all you've got?"
Homelander hovered in the air, letting the lasers strike his body.
"Want to play the numbers game?"
"Sorry, but your numbers..."
"...aren't even worth a glance from me."
Red light erupted from his eyes as thick beams of Heat Vision surged out!
Then his body suddenly spun non-stop, the crimson pillars of light acting like infinitely extended light-swords, sweeping repeatedly through the air.
360 degrees!
Cutting with no blind spots!
A golden mechanical rain fell from the sky.
Countless fighters exploded and fell at almost the same time... He landed heavily on top of one fighter and ripped off the cockpit cover with one hand.
Homelander faced the camera inside and gave a friendly smile.
He knew Ayesha was watching him through these.
"Tell your Queen."
"If I get the chance, I will personally go to Sovereign to discuss the most primitive form of human communication with her."