Although the shockwave wasn't the main ability of the Bracelets of Hercules, it could send even Doomsday flying, let alone Vera.
Homelander felt that, setting aside Gem enhancements and artifact bonuses, his current base strength alone might not be stronger than third-stage Doomsday.
So when the Bracelets of Hercules released a shockwave, Vera was immediately blown away.
Even the bio-force field around her body became faintly visible, showing that the level of her Bio-Force Field enhancement wasn't very high.
Of course, the shockwave couldn't cause any real damage to Vera. At most, it could give her a scare.
Vera was indeed startled, but not by the shockwave.
She was startled because Homelander had suddenly appeared beside her.
She didn't possess that kind of teleportation ability, nor did she know where Homelander had obtained it.
She wasn't sure whether it was an extra talent or a rune skill.
But she secretly took note of it. Teleportation was a troublesome ability. It could quickly avoid damage and also instantly move next to an enemy for a surprise attack.
Her Boots of Hermes could increase her speed, allowing her to move at supersonic speeds and greatly improve her agility.
But they couldn't compare to teleportation.
"I'm really jealous," Vera said softly.
Then she saw Homelander standing there with his hands on his hips and a smile on his face.
"Want to surrender?"
Vera let out a short laugh. She wasn't annoyed, "Let's keep going."
With that, she swung Mjolnir and charged forward.
Homelander's smile remained, but his eyes were cold.
He thought to himself, 'If I get the chance later, I won't keep testing her.'
'I'll kill this woman directly.'
But although he thought that, he knew it wouldn't be easy to kill Vera.
Unless he created a perfect trap and brought out all his artifacts and every hidden card he had, only then might it be possible.
Even then, as long as she used a surrender item at the critical moment, she could still end the event and leave this multiverse.
'So killing this woman Vera truly wouldn't be easy.'
Mjolnir was already smashing toward him.
Homelander raised a hand and grabbed it, then threw a punch.
Vera blocked with her elbow.
A shockwave spread from the collision and blew away the surrounding flames.
Then both of them bent their knees and slammed them toward each other.
Another collision followed.
Homelander was pushed back slightly, while Vera was sent flying by a Multi-Hit effect that triggered.
A white human skull covered in cracks suddenly appeared in Homelander's vision.
At the same time, a giant white skull appeared behind Vera and bit down.
Immediately, a blurry white figure inside Vera's body had one corner of it pulled out by the skull.
Vera hadn't made a sound when she was hit by Multi-Hit.
She hadn't made a sound when the shockwave blew her away.
She hadn't made a sound after taking so many of Homelander's attacks.
But now she cried out.
Not because the skull frightened her, but because she felt a kind of pain that was difficult to describe.
[Magic: Death Devour]
It could pull on a target's soul, inflict damage, and apply control.
Just as Vera's soul was about to be dragged out, the woman with short platinum-blonde hair raised Mjolnir high.
Electric light burst from the hammer.
Bolts of lightning struck the white skull one after another, quickly shattering it.
Homelander wasn't surprised.
After all, Death Devour was only a spell from The Boys universe.
What Vera held was an artifact.
Mjolnir had been blessed by Odin. If its lightning couldn't break Death Devour, that would have been the strange thing.
Homelander had never expected Death Devour to accomplish much.
He only intended to distract Vera and control her for a second or two.
Death Devour succeeded.
And those one or two seconds of control were enough for Homelander to flick several dark-red magical bands from his fingertips.
Crimson Bands of Cyttorak.
Another spell.
Except, this one came from a rune stone.
And it was also a control spell.
Continuous crowd control.
Vera was immediately bound by the dark-red magical bands and couldn't move.
Homelander's eyes instantly lit up.
Golden flames burst from his pupils.
The Heat Vision struck Vera.
After the initial explosion came a series of secondary explosions.
Inside the violent blasts, flames scattered everywhere.
Vera was left dizzy.
Her body was thrown through the air repeatedly.
When she finally stopped, her neck suddenly tightened.
Homelander had used Mind Transfer to teleport behind her and wrapped an arm around her neck.
The patterns on the Bracelets of Hercules lit up.
The artifact was finally displaying its main ability.
Tenfold Strength Enhancement!
Even without using Divine Power, the tenfold boost in his normal state was enough to make Vera's face turn red.
The woman raised Mjolnir and summoned a pillar of lightning from the sky.
The lightning column, formed from countless densely packed bolts, crashed down onto both Homelander and Vera.
However, as Mjolnir's owner, Vera was immune to the lightning's damage.
Homelander took it head-on.
But he possessed two layers of Bio-Force Field.
And his own Bio-Force Field was already Level 4.
On top of that, Super Regeneration could restore damaged Bio-Force Fields.
As a result, although Vera's lightning pillar was powerful, with silver light flashing and countless electric arcs dancing around, completely engulfing Homelander and forcing the Bio-Force Field provided by the Justice Cape to appear as strands of light that were constantly torn apart, the aftereffects couldn't even make Homelander's own Bio-Force Field appear.
So when the lightning pillar disappeared, Homelander remained completely unharmed.
"I surrender," Vera suddenly shouted.
"I surrender this conflict!"
At that moment, a line of information appeared on Homelander's retina.
[Survival of the Fittest effect activated. You achieved victory in this conflict.]
[The defeated party has offered you 100 Proficiency Essences. They have been placed in your inventory.]
Homelander released her.
Of course, he knew this wasn't all of Vera's hidden strength.
At the very least, she had barely used her artifact boots.
Now that Vera had voluntarily surrendered, she probably didn't want to reveal too much of her strength before the real battle began.
The woman rubbed her neck and coughed, "You bastard. You definitely have no luck with women. You hit way too hard. You almost strangled me to death, you asshole!"
Homelander scoffed, "Stop pretending. It's not that easy for you to die. Your Bio-Force Field isn't just for decoration."
"I know you want to save your strength."
"That's fine. But my advice is to surrender and leave as soon as possible. You'll suffer less that way."
After speaking, Homelander shot into the sky.
He turned sharply in midair and sped away.
Vera rudely raised her middle finger at him.
Then her expression became calm, "The level of his Heat Vision shouldn't be low. Same as mine, Level 4?"
"But his Bio-Force Field is at a higher level than mine. Or maybe he has some other defensive item."
"Either way, this guy's defense is incredible."
"Then there's that teleportation ability too. What a headache."
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