[New York TV Station]
The station's live broadcast hall was a busy scene, with people moving around and cables covering the floor.
Because they were handling the live broadcast of Hero Hunt, the TV station was still incredibly busy even now.
The station director was shouting orders, directing the staff as they broadcast the battle currently taking place in New York.
At this moment, an assistant ran over, "Sir—"
"Don't come bother me at a time like this."
"Can't you see I'm busy?"
The director was holding a cigar but had no time to smoke it. He shouted, "Talley, you idiot, connect Line 3! Get to work, or I'll kick you home to your mother."
"Vog, use Camera 4. Zoom in and get a close-up of Ms. Angelina. Also, save that photo for me. Tomorrow's front-page headline will be 'The Green Goddess of War Slaughters Her Way Across the Battlefield'! Well, if we even have a tomorrow."
The assistant anxiously said, "Sir, Homelander."
"How many times do I have to say it?"
"Don't bother me!"
The director pointed at the assistant and shouted, "That guy who refuses to show his face isn't newsworthy at all. Forget about him for now."
The assistant finally said, "No, he's appeared."
"He's right there at the 'Destroyer.' No, he's near the 'Hive.' He just broke through the Hive's energy field."
"This is footage that was just posted online."
The assistant handed his phone to the director. On the screen, a series of exclamations could be heard.
In the sky, a black shadow slammed into the Hive's multicolored energy field, shattering it.
The person filming immediately zoomed in, allowing the director to see a red cape fluttering in the fierce winds high in the sky, while the black suit was outlined in gold by the sunlight.
Although the footage was blurry and grainy, it was not difficult to recognize him as Homelander.
The video's view count was rapidly rising online, and comments began flying across the screen.
[It's Homelander. It really is him. Is he finally willing to fight?]
[Looks like we misunderstood him. Homelander wasn't afraid to fight. He went to challenge the 'Hive.']
[Nice one, Homelander. I'm a fan now.]
[I hereby declare that Homelander has become a god after today's battle!]
Looking at the comments and view count, the director's eyes turned red with excitement, "Why are you only telling me about something this big now!"
The assistant looked aggrieved, "I've been trying to tell you, but, sir, you—"
"Enough. Stop wasting time."
The director shouted, "Contact the person who filmed this and buy the video from him. We'll broadcast it exclusively."
"Also, send another team. No, send three teams to film Homelander."
"Hurry! This is a global exclusive broadcast. Our TV station is going to be famous."
The assistant took his phone back, "We don't have that many helicopters and camera crews left."
The director pushed him along while saying, "Mr. Rambo, please use your brain."
"Can't we rent helicopters? Besides, we don't need so many camera crews covering the battle in New York."
"Leave one team there and bring two teams back."
"Hurry! Hurry! Time is life!"
———
High in the sky, having already broken through the Hive's energy field, Alex looked down from above at the enormous meteorite below.
Although part of it had burned and broken apart while passing through the atmosphere, it was still enormous. In front of it, Alex was as tiny as an ant.
But at Alex's level, size could no longer explain anything.
Alex crossed his arms and looked down, "I don't actually dislike you, but your refusal to follow my script is giving me a headache."
Suddenly, in a huge ravine on the Hive's meteorite, an eyeball emerged from the darkness.
The color of its iris kept changing. One moment it was orange-red, the next deep blue, then crimson, then golden yellow.
As it stared at Alex, tentacles began extending from the holes and cracks in the meteorite.
Some of these tentacles were covered with tens of thousands of human arms, some had mouths growing from them, some were covered in all kinds of eyeballs, and some displayed various strange faces.
One tentacle came before Alex. Its tip opened into a cavity, the layers of tissue inside writhing as they 'spat' something out.
It was a spaceman covered in slime.
The spaceman wore a bulky spacesuit, and his helmet had already shattered. Looking through the broken helmet, Alex saw a pale face.
It was a man. Whether he was still alive was unknown. His hair was clumped together by the slime, while one eye looked to the left and the other to the right.
His body suddenly trembled. He opened his mouth and vomited out a large amount of yellow-green slime before speaking indistinctly.
"Powerful human, I admire your courage."
"And your strength."
"Even in the vast universe, there aren't many lifeforms as powerful as you."
"Therefore, I'm willing to give you an opportunity."
"Follow me and accept my transformation. I will grant you eternal life."
"This is an honor that other lifeforms crave but cannot obtain. Now I place it before you. All you need to do is kneel before me and swear your loyalty."
"I am the 'Hive,' the Master of Fate, the Galactic Mother Goddess, the Eternal Light."
A laugh interrupted the Hive.
Alex couldn't help saying, "You're like a self-promoting salesman, and a really terrible one at that."
"And you also like to flatter yourself."
He shrugged, "I'll give you a condition too."
"Be my pet, or die!"
The 'Hive' was silent for a moment. Then the spaceman said while vomiting liquid, "I will place your corpse inside me as a collection and display it to lifeforms on other planets."
"Let them see how miserable the fate of an arrogant person can be."
"Let them know the consequences of defying me!"
After saying this, the spaceman was pulled back into the cavity of the tentacle. Then the enormous tentacles, each one comparable in size to the Golden Gate Bridge, all struck toward Alex.
But when the tentacles were still hundreds of meters away from Alex, they were stopped by the 'Absolute Domain.' They slammed into it, producing explosive thunderous sounds from the tremendous impact, but the constantly spreading diamond-shaped ripples on the 'Absolute Domain' did not even shake.
"What a shame. Looks like you chose the latter."
"But that's fine too. A pet as huge as you would be too much trouble to raise."
As he spoke, Alex's eyes lit up. The 'Thermonuclear Heat Vision,' wrapped in electric arcs, shot from his eyes. Jagged arcs of electricity danced within the golden light as the 'Thermonuclear Heat Vision' swept across the tentacles.
The enormous tentacles, each as huge as a bridge, were severed one after another, exposing blue tissue and thick white liquid inside.
The tentacles fell from the sky. Some crashed onto the surface of the meteorite, while others fell toward the ground.
The 'Hive' let out an angry roar from within the meteorite. It suddenly retracted all its severed tentacles back into the meteorite, like a turtle hiding inside its thick shell.
Then the meteorite actually developed a propulsion source. At one point on its surface, the rock cracked apart, and several thick streams of energy flames erupted, pushing the meteorite violently toward Alex.
Alex raised his right hand and spread his palm, using the 'Absolute Domain' to block the Hive's charge.
BOOM!
The collision created an astonishing blast of air. A wild storm swept through the surrounding clouds, tearing the thick clouds apart.
The clouds in the sky were swept away, revealing a clear blue sky.
Beneath that sky, dark-red energy flames rose around Alex's body.
As the energy flames rose, Alex's body also expanded slightly. His arms and thighs became more muscular, with clearer definition.
His chest and abdomen were outlined with powerful muscle lines beneath his battle suit.
Although there was an enormous difference in size between him and the 'Hive,' at this moment, the aura of power Alex released was in no way inferior to the Hive's.
The release of his power even caused the air high in the sky to vibrate with a buzzing sound.
Rings of shockwaves formed. They struck the surface of the Hive's meteorite, causing the mountains on its surface to tremble and crumble. Cracks in the ground gradually widened, and countless pieces of rock were shaken loose from the meteorite and fell toward the earth, creating a rain of stones.
Alex gently exhaled, feeling the power of 'Divine Power Output 200%' roaring inside his body.
He suddenly flew into the sky, paused briefly, then dived down.
Alex clenched both fists and straightened his arms. The ornate patterns on the 'Hercules Bracers' lit up one after another.
Tenfold Strength Amplification!
At this time, three helicopters from the TV station had already arrived nearby.
One camera after another was pointed toward the 'Hive,' allowing viewers around the world to see Homelander covered in a layer of dark-red flames as he crashed down like a meteorite.
He slammed directly into the Hive. The Hive shook continuously, and moments later, Homelander burst out through the bottom of the enormous super-meteorite.
He had punched straight through the super-meteorite.
[Beautiful. But isn't this like poking a whale straight through with a needle? It probably won't do much, right?]
[Who says it won't? If he hits it a few more times, won't he break the meteorite apart?]
[Not to be a hater, but getting poked by a needle a few times would still hurt.]
[Stop arguing. Look, something's wrong with the 'Hive.']
[Yeah, it's shaking. It's practically like someone put a vibrator inside it.]
[You're the one with the problem!]
———
In a place the viewers could not see, deep inside the Hive's meteorite, along the passage Alex had punched through, huge cracks were spreading in every direction.
Many of the cracks intersected with each other. Then, moments later, the super-meteorite containing the 'Hive' suddenly exploded with a thunderous roar. Tens of thousands of fragments, large and small, shot out in every direction like artillery shells.
"Lower the altitude!"
"No, we need to go higher!"
"It's too late!"
Of the three TV station helicopters, two were hit by the incoming meteorite rain and exploded on the spot. None of the people aboard survived.
Only one was luckier. It escaped the meteorite rain and hovered in midair.
The people aboard did not let out a huge sigh of relief until they were safe. One reporter even said through tears, "I want to go home. I want to go home."
Because two cameras had been lost, the live broadcast was interrupted for a while. But not long afterward, viewers on television and the internet could see the footage again.
As the camera moved, viewers could see the meteorite rain falling onto the nearby ground, even crashing into some towns in the distance and causing a wave of destruction.
But there was no longer any sign of the super-meteorite in the sky, which made everyone cheer.
[Homelander really has some serious skills. One hit and he smashed that thing apart.]
[The 'Hive' was almost as big as a state. Does that mean that if Homelander wanted to, he could completely smash the entire Federation into pieces?]
[Now that you mention it, it does seem that way. My god, is Homelander's strength really that ridiculous?]
[This is already comparable to a nuclear bomb. No, it's even more ridiculous than a nuclear bomb. He's basically a human-shaped tectonic earthquake machine.]
Online, people were discussing it excitedly. At this moment, the camera tilted upward, and a huge shadow appeared below the sun.
That shadow covered the earth, as well as Alex.
Alex raised his head and narrowed his eyes, "So this is what you look like."
A creature resembling a jellyfish floated in the sky. Its entire body was covered in many colors, which continuously shifted and changed.
It waved strange tentacles as large as bridges. The tentacles that Alex had severed with his 'Thermonuclear Heat Vision' had grown back.
Looking up from below, one could also see a huge abyssal mouth in the middle of the giant jellyfish.
Inside that mouth were layer upon layer of densely packed nest-like teeth, resembling the mouthparts of a sandworm.
This was the 'Hive's' true form.
This creature also appeared in the camera footage, allowing billions of viewers around the world to see it clearly.
[My god! So this is what the 'Hive' really looks like? It's actually a jellyfish?]
[This is the grossest jellyfish I've ever seen. Homelander, hurry up and kill it.]
[Homelander smashed its turtle shell apart. It should be pretty easy to deal with now, right?]
[I'm not bragging, but give me a fighter jet and a nuclear bomb, and I can blow it apart.]
[You're just bragging. You know that, right? Stick to your keyboard and stop talking nonsense.]
[Look, that thing is expanding.]
That was right. The 'Hive's' body began expanding like an inflated balloon.
More precisely, it opened its huge abyssal mouth and continuously sucked in air, creating an enormous and terrifying suction force.
Alex's cape immediately lifted up. Then his hair began to get messy, and his body was even pulled upward toward the Hive's abyssal mouth.
Not only that, the trees on the ground were ripped from the earth with cracking sounds. Smaller rocks on the ground were also pulled free by the suction force. Even the seawater in the bay transformed into streams of water that rose into the sky, let alone small animals such as goats and elk.
The 'Hive' continuously sucked in air, creating a terrifying suction force as it tried to pull Alex into its abyssal mouth.
Alex laughed, "Looks like you have a huge appetite. But I wonder if you can swallow this?"
His eyes suddenly lit up, and a scorching beam of light comparable to a cannon blasted out.
The 'Thermonuclear Heat Vision' unleashed their full power. Temperatures of tens of millions of degrees caused everything around Alex to melt.
The beam shot straight into the sky and blasted directly into the Hive's abyssal mouth.
[T/N: New fanfic chat—"Genshin Impact: Just Another Guy who Transmigrated". Currently, it has a Powerstones Goal for 5 bonus chapters. It ends on Monday, so rain those Powerstones.]
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