Chapter 80
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Homelander's entire face had frozen inside the ice. The ice remained clear, letting Adam see Homelander's eyes through it.
Those eyes kept turning redder. Homelander's heat vision was already firing beneath the frozen layer. Its red glow spread through the transparent ice and melted it little by little. The ice stayed clear as it slowly became thinner.
Adam pulled back a short distance. Homelander gave all his attention to melting the ice that covered his features. Nothing in his defense was ready for Adam's next strike.
Adam moved away just far enough to draw his fist behind him. Then he rushed forward, bringing the fist he had drawn back toward Homelander's stomach. He closed the short gap before Homelander looked away from the ice. The punch struck Homelander directly in the stomach.
The punch sank into Homelander's abdomen. His stomach folded back around Adam's fist, and his body bent behind it.
Heat from Homelander's vision broke through the ice. Across his features, the frozen layer split and came apart. Around his mouth, it melted or broke away, freeing his features, though a frozen ring remained around his neck.
Homelander kept drifting backward while holding his stomach. The movement carried him farther from Adam. He tried to straighten himself and began coughing.
'Shit, can I do that too?'
He filled his lungs and tried to copy the same attack. Then he blew toward Adam with one deep breath.
No ice appeared.
A strong burst of wind rushed from Homelander's mouth instead. The air struck Adam and moved past him. The wind could not stop him or make him give ground.
Adam smiled. "Were you trying to make ice? Come back after some practice."
He moved in without hesitation and drove one knee toward Homelander's face.
Homelander crossed his arms just before the knee landed, blocking it with both forearms. The blow never reached Homelander's features. The impact pressed both arms back toward him, and pain spread through them. The strike also landed on the burned area and made the pain worse.
Adam was impressed that Homelander had endured his attacks for this long.
Homelander pulled back while gripping the burned area on his wrist. Adam watched the burn mark shrink while the damaged skin healed at a rapid rate.
Homelander looked at him.
'He is more dangerous than I expected. But there is one thing I do not understand. Is he becoming stronger with time?'
Their first confrontation returned to Homelander's mind. Adam had worn a zinc mask then. One punch had thrown Homelander backward and surprised him, but Adam had fled instead of staying to finish the fight. That brief confrontation had not shown Homelander everything Adam could do. The power behind that first punch had not felt like the attacks he was taking now.
The next time, they had met around the falling airplane. Adam had held the plane in the air while his heat vision pushed against Homelander's attack. That fight proved his flight and heat vision matched Homelander's powers. Adam also possessed super strength.
Their third fight had revealed more. Adam possessed abilities beyond those three powers.
Each encounter had given Homelander the same impression. In each fight, Adam revealed another part of what he could do. He appeared to be growing stronger every time they met, and the difference between the first masked man and the fighter before him was becoming harder to ignore.
"I have a question for you, Adam."
The question was the reason Homelander stopped attacking. Adam remained suspended in the air across from him. Neither of them moved against the other.
"Yes, ask your question."
Homelander watched Adam's face without looking away. "Tell me the truth. On the day we first confronted each other, were you already this powerful?"
A smile appeared on Adam's face. "What do you think?"
Homelander answered with clear disappointment. "From the way you ran, it looked like you were much weaker."
Adam's smile remained. "Oh, so that is what you think; I will end your disappointment right here."
Adam lifted both arms until they were spread beside him. They traveled back through the air until they were behind him. Then he began swinging them toward each other for a thunder clap.
Homelander understood that another attack was coming. He flew toward Adam at full speed, trying to reach him before his hands met.
Adam's palms struck each other.
A powerful sonic boom exploded between his hands. The air burst outward as a shock wave and slammed straight into Homelander's body.
Homelander forced himself to keep flying forward. He put everything he had into his flight, but the pressure stopped his advance and began driving him backward instead.
He pushed his flight harder, forcing himself against the wave. It made no difference. His body stayed angled forward, but the distance between them kept growing. The shock wave overcame him, and his body began falling backward through the air.
The pressure did not end with the first wave. Another wave struck before Homelander could steady himself. More followed it, each one forcing him farther back.
Below them, Frenchie and Kimiko looked up. Kimiko had already healed completely from Homelander's earlier attack. Her body showed no trace of the burns he had left on her. The moment they saw the wave rushing toward them, both covered their ears.
Glass in nearby cars and houses shattered.
Farther away, Ryan was crying. Becca lay on the ground in front of him while Butcher stood to one side. Mother's Milk was still nearby.
Stormfront lay a short distance away. Both of her legs had been cut away. Blood came from the wounds and from the injury through her stomach.
The people around Ryan felt something rushing toward them at high speed. They looked up together and realized that the shock wave was moving in their direction.
Butcher shouted, "Mother's Milk and Ryan, cover your ears!"
Mother's Milk and Ryan covered their ears. Butcher did the same, and they lowered themselves toward the ground.
The wave tore trees from the ground when it reached them. The remaining trees shifted sideways under the same wave.
Then something fell from the sky. No one could tell what it was as it came down.