Chapter 79
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Frenchie forced himself to stop before he reached Homelander. At that same instant, Adam landed directly in front of him.
Adam and Homelander cut off their heat vision. The red beams vanished between them.
Anger covered Homelander's face. "Adam, enough of this hide-and-seek game."
He jumped forward as soon as he finished speaking. Homelander put everything into the punch coming toward Adam.
Adam moved to meet him without looking back. "Frenchie, take Kimiko and go."
Homelander's punch came forward. Adam knocked it aside with his other palm. Homelander's arm continued past Adam, leaving his collar within reach.
Adam used his right palm to grab the right side of Homelander's collar.
Adam jumped into the sky and carried him upward.
Homelander stopped holding back. His eyes reached full charge with a red glow. He fired heat vision at Adam's head.
Adam's right palm still held the same side of his collar. He sensed the attack before it reached him. Adam turned aside, and the beam passed beside his cheek.
Adam did not wait for another shot.
He turned in the air and pulled Homelander through a wide arc. Homelander's body followed the entire turn before Adam released him. The force of that spinning arc sent Homelander straight down toward the ground.
Homelander fell headfirst.
Above him, Adam crossed both arms over his chest. He opened them as his head, which had pulled slightly back, came forward again.
His eyes were already charged.
High-intensity heat vision burst from them and shot down at the falling Homelander.
Homelander stopped himself in midair. He felt something coming from above and looked up.
Red light rushed toward him.
Homelander raised a palm while grinding his teeth. Adam's beam struck it. The cloth burned away before the heat began scorching the skin beneath it.
The attack was deadly, but Homelander's durability had increased. His skin continued to burn. He endured the pain and kept the raised palm inside the beam instead of pulling it away.
The last fight with Adam had shocked him. It had also made him confront a truth he had avoided for years.
No one in this world had ever been able to challenge him.
That had always seemed like proof that he stood above everyone. In reality, it had become an anchor holding back his growth. Homelander had never tried to become stronger or learned how to keep fighting through pain.
Adam's punches and speed had changed that. They had forced Homelander to train after their last battle. Since then, Homelander had kept testing how much pain he could take without backing away. He had continued doing it for some time.
That was why he had wanted this fight. Facing Adam excited him. He wanted to show Adam that Homelander was still the most powerful man in the world.
Homelander shifted the burning palm aside. Adam's beam kept striking it, but the new angle gave Homelander a clear view.
His eyes fired.
Hatred for Adam filled him. He also thought of the system around him and all the people who kept speaking against him. The anger fed his heat vision until its intensity multiplied.
A dark-red beam tore upward with far greater intensity.
Adam shifted his own heat vision. The two attacks met at a point between them and pushed against each other. Their meeting point moved back and forth as each beam gained ground.
Adam ground his teeth. His heat vision was natural, but its intensity still rose with his emotions. Homelander's jaw stayed locked as he pushed harder against Adam's beam.
Homelander remained below Adam. He began flying upward as the beam struggle continued, while Adam moved down and shortened the distance between them.
'So Homelander can still grow.'
Adam did not consider that bad news. It was exactly what he wanted. Crushing Homelander would be more satisfying after Homelander reached his peak. The fight would be more fun that way.
Both of them reached the same understanding.
Their heat vision stopped together.
Adam and Homelander rushed at each other. Homelander prepared another punch and threw it as they came close.
Adam shifted to the side and avoided it without effort. Homelander's fist passed beside him while Adam moved inside the open guard.
Homelander's power had increased. His defense had improved as well, but his speed was still slow. Adam understood why.
Homelander lived alone because he accepted no one as his equal. That meant he had never trained with anyone. Even now, strength and durability had grown faster than his movements.
The damage to his suit exposed what lay beneath. Homelander did not have packed muscle or six defined abs. His build was heavy because no equipment could challenge his durability enough to train it.
Before Adam, no opponent had given him a reason to change that.
Today, Adam would teach him that lesson too.
Adam moved inside Homelander's reach and drew one arm back beside him. Homelander expected Adam to punch him in the jaw.
He lifted the same arm he had used to punch and guarded his jaw, ready to take the strike there. That movement left his chest open.
Adam did not throw the punch.
He turned his arm and drove his elbow into Homelander's chest.
Pain struck Homelander, but he endured it. He swung that arm toward Adam.
Adam blocked the swinging arm with his other palm.
Red light returned to Adam's eyes. Homelander began charging his heat vision too, but Adam looked up first.
His charged eyes stared directly at Homelander's face. For a brief instant, Homelander expected Adam to fire.
He pushed the thought aside. The fight was too serious for that hesitation.
Then Homelander noticed Adam's cheeks. They were swollen with the breath he had held inside his mouth.
Homelander knew another attack was coming. He did not know what Adam intended to do with it.
Before Homelander could fire, Adam released the held breath at him. Ice covered Homelander's mouth. It spread over the rest of his features.
At that same moment, Homelander fired his heat vision.