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...Silence.
And then—
"WOO—!!!!!!"
All of New York, all of America,erupted in the wildest cheer humanity had ever known.
"Homelander!!!"
"My God!! He's a god!! A god on earth!!"
"Long live Homelander!!"
Countless people in the streets of New York knelt weeping; others hugged and kissed strangers in delirium.
Even Tony Stark stared blankly at that figure.
"Fine... he stole the spotlight again." He flipped up his visor, gulping air.
"But... good for him."
Meanwhile, Anthony's system backend began to spam once more.
"Ding! Popularity +150,210!"
"Ding! Popularity +121,440!"
"Ding! Popularity +138,125!"
"..."
"Ding! Regional popularity level upgraded: All Eyes On You!"
"Ding! Ability enhancement: Super-strength (10,000 tons), super-speed (Mach 400), steel body (stellar+)..."
"Ding! New ability unlocked—Fist of Bonds"
"Description: expend 5,000 special popularity points to multiply the destructive force of your next strike by ten!"
The numbers in the system danced until Anthony's head spun.
"Awesome!"
Anthony howled inside.
The feeling of being worshipped while turning the tide was ten thousand times better than anything on Earth.
Not everyone found the scene beautiful, though.
"ENOUGH—!!!"
A roar of rage rolled from the mothership high above.
"You... repulsive worm!!"
The carrier's hatch blew open.
Malekith shot out.
Dark-red fluid now sheathed him like living armor;
the Aether burst from his body, turning into tangible darkness.
The world lost its color.
The crimson storm swelled, a gargantuan maw poised to swallow New York—and that arrogant blond man—in one bite.
Anthony turned, snorted, and glared.
"Zzz—!!!!!!"
Two thick beams of searing heat lanced straight into the red mist.
"Fssss—!"
The two forces collided mid-air.
But something shocked Anthony.
His unstoppable heat vision sank into the red fog like an ox into the sea, scattering as black ash.
"..." Anthony blinked.
"The hell? Some magic trick?"
"I am the lord of darkness!!" Malekith sneered.
"Your power is nothing before me!!"
"Heat vision no good?"
Anthony rolled his neck with a crack.
"Then I'll go with something plain and simple."
Super-vision pierced the layers of crimson haze, locking onto the blurred core shielded by the Aether—resolution lousy, but close enough.
"Found you."
"System! Load 'Fist of Bonds'!"
"Ding! 5,000 special popularity consumed! Fist of Bonds charged! Multiplier: 1,000%!"
"Load 'Team Rally'!"
"Ding! Nearby teammates detected: Homelander, Jewel (2/7)."
"Team Rally mode activated!"
"Current boost: 120%!"
High in the sky.
Anthony braced like a slingshot.
BOOM!!!
A sonic cloud exploded, shattering a layer of clouds below.
"Malekith—!!"
His voice still hung in the air when he arrived.
"Take this punch!!"
Malekith saw only a red-blue flash.
BOOM——————————————!!!!!!"
Anthony's fist slammed square into his chest.
Before pain could even reach his brain, Malekith was rocketed past the sound barrier, shot from New York's sky across the horizon, vanishing somewhere over the Pacific.
The sky above New York cleared instantly.
The crimson fog lost its master and dispersed.
"What... just happened?"
On the ground, Deadpool tried re-attaching his severed leg and scratched his head.
"The big bad got punched into another dimension?"
Tony's HUD flashed red: "Target trajectory... estimated impact... Asia."
"..." Tony swallowed. "He punched the guy... to the other side of the planet?"
Ten thousand kilometers away.
In a Unknown Island in Pacific Ocean.
Only the sound of wind is heard.
"BOOM————————!!!!!!"
A "meteor" punched through a mountain blasting it into pieces.
Smoke billowed.
Malekith lay in rubble, half his body gone, white bone jutting, black blood pooling.
"Cough... cough..."
He still lived.
Dark-elf resilience plus Aether kept a faint spark in his chest.
"Damned... Midgardian..."
Hatred and terror swirled in his eyes.
That force—raw physical power—how could it be so vast?
"Humm—"
The Aether inside him surged.
Dark-red tendrils, conscious and writhing, poured from his wounds, knitting, rebuilding.
Bone regrew, muscle re-formed, skin closed.
Malekith's shattered body mended before his own eyes.
Such was the might of the Aether.
"I am... immortal!"
"Cursed Midgardian..." He glared skyward, fury ready to set the world alight.
"You think mere brute strength can overcome the Aether?!"
BOOM—!"
Another sonic boom overhead.
A red-blue silhouette dropped from the sky, hovering above Shibuya.
Anthony had arrived.
And he wasn't alone.
In his arms: a pale woman—Jessica Jones.
Anthony touched down near Malekith, eyed the rapidly healing monster, and raised a brow.
"Nice recovery, dark-face."
He set Jessica down and smoothed his glove.
"Perfect. That last punch..." His grin turned ice-cold.
"...didn't satisfy me."
He turned to Jessica.
"Still standing, my queen?"
Jessica clutched her chest; proximity to Malekith had set it burning like a furnace.
She lifted her head, eyes fierce.
"If it kills that ugly bastard..." Vibranium bracers snapped into place with a metallic snick.
"...I can go all day."
"Hah, won't be necessary." Anthony tucked a wind-torn strand behind her ear.
"Wait here; it'll be over soon, and the pain'll stop."
Jessica glanced at the raging elf, worried.
"That thing... looks unkillable."
"Anything alive can die."
Anthony straightened, surveying the island.
"So this is a unhabited Island..."
He chuckled.
"Which means... I can finally..."
...stop holding back."