Pa—!
A sharp crack rang out as the baseball in Homelander's hands burst apart—crushed purely from his excitement.
"Hey~, control your strength!"
Sebastian complained, clearly displeased.
"Sorry, Sebastian… I wasn't paying attention!"
For the first time in his life, Homelander showed a genuinely guilty expression. The unfamiliar feeling left him almost overwhelmed.
"Forget it, it's just a ball. How about this—let's have a 1v1 real man's fight this round. Your fighting skills are terrible. Let me teach you."
Sebastian raised his fists, bouncing lightly on his feet, signaling for Homelander to come at him.
Homelander shook his head.
"No… I've already discovered your weakness. If we fight again, either you'll beat me senseless or I'll accidentally kill you."
'And that would make Lady Theresa sad.'
He didn't say it aloud, but the intention was clear.
"Huh?"
Sebastian blinked. My weakness? You figured that out from one hit? Who do you think you are, Buddha?
"Your superpower is energy absorption," Homelander explained calmly. "You can absorb and utilize all forms of incoming energy—even kinetic force and laser beams.
"But every time you absorb too much, a brief golden radiation appears through your body. The stronger the attack, the shorter the interval between flashes.
"Your whole body turned gold after my last strike this morning—that must be your limit warning.
"If I'd hit you just once more at that moment, you would've overloaded and exploded. I could have killed you easily.
"But in a normal sparring match, you'll just absorb everything. I'd be beating a sponge while taking all the hits myself. That's not fair. So let's skip the competition."
He finished his surprisingly coherent breakdown.
"[…•_•]?"
Sebastian stared like he was listening to a lecture on alien physics.
"What's with that face? Did I say something wrong again?" Homelander asked, confused.
"No… it's just… you shouldn't be capable of that level of analysis."
Sebastian was genuinely stunned. Homelander's education level was basically "illiterate kid raised in a lab who can't do long division."
Was this… the legendary combat-focused super brain?
Homelander stared back.
"???"
Sebastian grinned.
"︿(￣︶￣)︿"
Homelander exploded.
"ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=(o｀ω′)ノ 1v1 MAN BATTLE!"
He shot into the air and charged, fist first, smashing it square into Sebastian's jaw.
"Heh. That's more like it. Let's have ourselves a full-contact UFC brawl!"
Sebastian absorbed the hit, swayed slightly, and countered. His fist blurred into several afterimages as it struck back.
"You're not using your full power?"
Homelander staggered two steps—not launched into orbit like before—and couldn't hide his confusion.
"We're just digesting after dinner. No need to blast you into mulch," Sebastian replied casually. "Besides, I don't want to wreck my yard."
His footwork grew faster, his fists weaving into fluid combat techniques—moves he learned from battle-hardened veterans and stolen memories of soldiers from Bad Country.
"But where are you storing all the extra power? Aren't you afraid of exploding?"
Homelander asked, worried. His x-ray vision could see all of Sebastian's bodily changes, and every time Sebastian absorbed too much energy, golden light flickered briefly.
But then the radiation vanished—devoured by Sebastian's body like a bottomless black hole.
Yet Sebastian didn't become stronger, nor did his strength spike. He was punching at maybe one percent of his actual power.
"John, when you grow up, you'll understand who's really the boss!" Sebastian teased smugly.
Homelander's eyebrow twitched. Clairvoyance was turning out to be far more annoying than his laser eyes.
"Fuck you! YOU'RE the boss? I'M the boss!"
He roared, raining down blows so fast they left a forest of afterimages.
"Hohoho—hit here! And two over here!"
Sebastian didn't even dodge. He simply shifted slightly, letting Homelander tee off on him like a punching bag.
At the same time, Sebastian tested whether Homelander's vision could detect the Dimensional Farm.
Seeing Sebastian stand still, Homelander activated his clairvoyance at full power. Hundreds of different angles, methods, attacks—yet still nothing.
Not a single hint of gathered energy.
It was as if Sebastian absorbed it straight into his cells like a cosmic vacuum.
"No… I can't find any secret at all."
Homelander finally gave up.
He revised his earlier theory.
Golden radiation was indeed a limit signal, but not Sebastian's limit—just a threshold before the farm siphoned the excess away.
Sebastian could keep absorbing infinitely.
In other words:
—His earlier 'one-hit kill' assumption was wrong.
—Even if Sebastian looked like he was at the limit, he needed less than one second to reset.
—And if Sebastian was ever allowed to punch with full power…
Homelander would die instantly.
The conclusion:
He still can't beat Sebastian.
"Well, that's enough for today," Sebastian said as he hooked an arm around Homelander's neck and dragged him toward the house. "You can keep exploring tomorrow."
Edgar stood up.
"Homelander, it's getting late. Time to go."
"But…"
Homelander clearly hadn't had enough.
"You'll see him tomorrow. At the Vought Building."
Edgar reassured him.
"Right, Captain!"
"Understood! I'll report to the Vought Building tomorrow!"
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