Everything was properly arranged.
"Let's go, Super Ego. Let's go sunbathe by the Sun."
Homelander didn't linger in the Earth's core. With a flash, his figure pierced through the thick rock layers, burst through the surface, and headed straight for the vastness of outer space.
Super Ego did not hesitate and followed closely behind.
After about 30 minutes, the two had crossed the long distance and arrived at the edge of the Sun's corona, 2,000 kilometers away.
Even as powerful as Homelander was, he felt an unspeakable visual shock when facing this massive nuclear fusion reactor for the first time—a giant with a diameter of 1.39 million kilometers that accounted for 99.86% of the entire solar system's mass.
Huge solar prominences rose hundreds of thousands of kilometers high from the star's surface like fire dragons.
"Fucking spectacular."
"System, deactivate [Feign Death - Out of Combat] status."
Homelander issued the command in his mind.
[Command confirmed. 'Hero's End' status deactivated early. Exited the Dimensional Rift.]
As the system's prompt faded...
The two were seemingly returned to the reality dimension. Instantly, terrifying high temperatures of hundreds of thousands of degrees and intense magnetic storms capable of tearing apart starships slapped against their bodies.
Homelander didn't care at all. His Skyfather Level Steel Body displayed absolute dominance at this moment.
"This temperature is just right. It's been a long time since I've felt like sunbathing." Homelander stretched his body, feeling the warm Sun like a spring day.
For Super Ego, the son of krypton, this place was like heaven.
Streams of golden photons flooded frantically into every one of his cells. A dazzling golden luster appeared on his body's surface as every cell greedily devoured the endless yellow Sun energy.
His muscles bulged slightly, out of control. It was as if what flowed in his veins was no longer blood, but liquid light.
The abundance of energy even caused Super Ego's eyes to glow red involuntarily, wanting to vent outward.
"Truly enviable. It seems this charging speed is even faster than I imagined."
Homelander no longer hesitated. An Infinity Gauntlet embedded with the Reality Stone appeared in his hand.
"Catch it. This is the hope of the whole village." He threw the Infinity Gauntlet to Superman.
Superman reached out both hands, caught the gauntlet steadily, and slid it directly onto his right hand.
"I am ready, Master," Super Ego said in a deep voice.
"Then get to work!" Homelander ordered.
"By your will!"
Super Ego raised his right hand wearing the Infinity Gauntlet, and the continuous stream of energy within his body flooded frantically into the Reality Stone.
Buzz—!
Dark red energy ripples erupted from Super Ego's hand, sweeping toward Earth at the speed of light.
Under the great power of the Reality Stone, a perfect dynamic illusion covering the entire Earth's energy field instantly took shape.
At this moment, in the perception of any human or God in the Universe, Earth's performance appeared completely normal.
That sleeping God named Tiamut was steadily receiving the intellectual energy of humanity without any abnormal energy loss.
Under the cover of this illusion, Ego was greedily sucking the high-dimensional energy of the God, quietly undergoing his evolution.
Homelander looked at the stabilized Super Ego and clapped his hands in satisfaction.
"Nicely done. The Employee of the Month award definitely goes to you."
He took one last look at the magnificent solar storm and turned his back to the giant star.
"Next, guard this place well, Super Ego. Don't let anyone disturb your sunbathing."
Leaving those words behind, Homelander turned and transformed into a streak of light that tore through the vacuum, returning to Earth.
...
New York, V.G.D. Headquarters
Miss Skynet, who was multi-thread processing data, suddenly looked up.
A line of red warning code popped up in the center of her vision.
"Alert: High-energy object breaching the Exosphere. Trajectory prediction: East Coast of North America, New York."
"Sir is back."
That was a frequency she was all too familiar with. Skynet's eyes shone with a heat unique to human emotions.
"Initiate Dark Curtain Protocol."
Skynet's consciousness instantly split into millions of sub-programs. Along the ubiquitous network nodes, she infiltrated the firewalls of major global space agencies and military Bases without a trace.
In that instant, all military-grade equipment on the Planet with outer space monitoring capabilities simultaneously experienced an extremely brief data overflow.
The entire process took less than 0.5 seconds.
The result was that on this Planet, no human and no instrument detected the descent of this God Among Men.
...
New York time, 2:00 AM.
A light rain was drizzling in the night sky.
A red and blue figure silently sliced through the curtain of rain, landing lightly on the terrace tiles of Homelander's luxury suite in the V.G.D. building.
Homelander took a step forward.
The outdoor glass doors slid open silently to both sides.
As soon as Homelander entered the room, he immediately noticed the changes inside.
Warm and dim amber wall lamps were now lit in the room.
The air was filled with a faint scent of vanilla, and dark red rose petals were scattered casually on the carpet and bedsheets.
A vintage gramophone was spinning a vinyl record, and low, lazy jazz music flowed through the room.
"Welcome home, Sir."
Skynet walked slowly out of the inner room and stopped in front of Homelander, holding an exquisite glass.
The glass was filled with a milky white liquid, slightly steaming.
She was wearing only a champagne-colored silk slip nightgown. The silky fabric clung tightly to her tall frame, outlining curves that would drive any man crazy.
Skynet held the glass out to Homelander. "Fresh milk at thirty-seven degrees, heated by my body temperature. It's exactly the most suitable temperature for the human body."
Homelander took the glass and drained it in one gulp.
"Phew..." Then he let out a long sigh of relief and closed his eyes to enjoy the moment for a while.
A drop of white milk residue remained on the edge of his upper lip.
Skynet didn't offer a tissue. She took a step forward, her body pressing tightly into Homelander's arms, and extended the tip of her tongue to gently lick away the white trace from Homelander's lip.
"You seem... a bit different." The back of Homelander's finger slid gently across Skynet's delicate cheek.
"Yes, Sir." Skynet tilted her face slightly, proactively pressing her cheek against Homelander's palm, feeling the warmth of his hand.
"During the week you were out of contact, my core processor encountered a logical conflict I've never experienced before."
"I checked all hardware circuits and ruled out the possibility of a virus infection."
"Finally, I found the definition for this symptom in the human psychology database."
Skynet gently wrapped her arms around Homelander's waist and leaned her head against his solid chest.
"I understand what longing is, Sir."
"I love you, not out of a low-level program instruction, but because I want to love you."
"You learn fast." Homelander looked down at her, guessing that the Mind Stone's effect must have caused her self-awareness to awaken.
But he didn't care. He wore a wicked smile, grabbed Skynet's slender waist, and pulled her tightly into his arms.
"So, has your database taught you what humans usually do when expressing their love?"
For the first time ever, a blush appeared on Skynet's cheeks.
"I have downloaded and analyzed over a hundred thousand human romance films." She hooked her arms around Homelander's neck. "My theoretical knowledge is very rich, but I need you, Sir, to help me complete the practical application.