4.22

[Alexander's POV, a few minutes earlier]

As Queen Maeve fell to my sword, Butcher and Soldier Boy retreated from Homelander, hesitating whether to retreat or not.

Homelander, on the other hand, looked at Queen Maeve's corpse with apathy as he commented, "I do have to admit this is a sharp sword. I get why you picked it up. But I can't say the same for the mask."

Oh, fuck it.

I decided to open the Second Genetic Constraint.

Contrarily to the First Genetic Constraint, which I had now opened pretty much at all times, and didn't do anything to me anymore, the Second Genetic Constraint was a lot more stressful to my body.

But at the same time, it granted me great power.

My arms bulging, I suddenly jumped at Homelander and attacked him with my sword. Homelander was shocked, but he still had an extremely fast reaction speed.

Despite his protection, I managed to cut deep into Homelander's left biceps, only stopping at the bone. His humerus was not free of damage however as the power behind my strike transferred to it, cracking it.

Homelander tried to fly back in shock, but I strongly slammed him against the ground using the Force, before jumping at him and swinging down my sword.

This time however, Homelander was prepared, but dumbly decided to punch the incoming sword.

To his credit, his punch was so strong that I was forced to let go of my sword, unless I wanted my hands to be ripped apart, as it was sent flying.

But at the same time, the blade had still cut deep into his fist, going all the way to his wrist.

Homelander now had a left arm he could not use anymore, and his right hand had a cut in its middle.

Butcher and Soldier Boy seemed confused by the situation, but they quickly weighed their options as they came in to help.

I landed a strong punch against Homelander's face, cracking the ground beneath him and stopping him from using his laser eyes on me.

At the same time, Soldier Boy and Butcher arrived, the first slamming his shield into Homelander's chest, and the latter kicking his kneecap apart.

Possibly for the first time in his life, Homelander whimpered in pain, and did not hesitate as he tried to escape.

However, as he tried to fly off, he found himself unable to go past a couple meters off the ground as Soldier Boy stood behind him, grasping his cape firmly.

A dangerous grin marring Soldier Boy's face, he reminded Homelander, "Told you the cape was dumb, pussy," before slamming him strongly into the ground.

Stunned by the impact, Homelander passively received my punch to the nose, breaking it with a single blow.

The punch woke Homelander up as he tried to grab me, but I easily dodged his move, slithering around him to put him into a submission hold as I immobilized his arms. At the same time, I used Life Drain to its full capacity, my full body in contact with his.

"Give him all you fucking got!" I screamed at the other two, and they did not need to be told twice as they started pummeling Homelander.

Soldier Boy's experience and battle intelligence also showed as he did not try to use his nuclear move, surely understanding that I wouldn't just stand there to take the attack.

As for Homelander, his lifeforce was impressive, to say the least, although he wasn't on the level of Tailed Beasts. That didn't mean he was weaker, although he probably was, but it still made it hard enough to kill the guy.

Homelander wasn't just any Super however as after a few seconds, he started rising to his knees amidst the attacks. Knowing that if I stayed on top of him he would only end up tearing me apart, and deciding that I had weakened him enough, I placed a Force Seed within him, before getting off.

After all, even with the Second Genetic Constraint opened, I was still weaker than Homelander physically.

Having absolutely no perception or control over his lifeforce, Homelander had no idea about what had happened to him, and only looked at me with red eyes.

But just like I had done with Butcher before, I absorbed the energy of his laser eyes. He was quickly forced to stop as Soldier Boy slammed him into the ground, while I discharged all the additional energy I had into Force Lightning.

Hitting only Homelander wasn't exactly easy, but I still managed as Solider Boy held tightly onto him, his chest turning orange…

That fucker thinks he is about to kill steal from me?

Grabbing Shiroishi from afar with the Force, I stopped controlling my lightning with my other hand, spreading the lightning to both father and son.

Butcher looked from the side with interest, but did not move as I approached the two.

Soldier Boy asked, "What the fuck are you doing!"

I felt the Dark Side fuel my greed, telling me to try and kill the two, but I reined it in and gave him a fake explanation, "That won't be enough to kill him. Hold him tight."

Soldier Boy didn't look convinced, yet his chest still stopped glowing as he held firmly onto Homelander, who tried to get him off.

Butcher quickly joined however, both of them holding him by a shoulder, leaving his back wide open to me.

And having already experienced it before, they made sure he wouldn't be able to fly away this time.

Held against the ground, Homelander growled, "You cannot kill a god!"

I muttered in response, "We'll see about that," before driving my sword into his back, through his heart.

Homelander froze up, yet I did not receive any notification, his lifeforce still holding on.

That was quite the strong vitality.

But I twisted my sword, completely crushing his heart, while activating Death Surgeon.

Controlling a lifeforce that was much stronger mine was hard, even with Death Surgeon, but not only had Homelander's lifeforce been drained by my Force Drain and his crushed heart, but the Force Seed I had placed also gave me even greater control.

And so, despite his struggling, Homelander could only repeat, "You cannot kill a god," as I drained his entire lifeforce away.

[You have eliminated Homelander. Rewarded Rank A Reward and 27000 Points.]

Homelander's lifeforce was so strong that I felt bloated, so I quickly sent a large chunk of my lifeforce into Shiroishi, bringing it near its breaking point before stopping, allowing my body to assimilate the lifeforce faster.

Taking my sword out of Homelander, who had been turned into a husk, I did not say anything to the two, and sheathed my sword before flying off, in direction of Miami.

Although I had tried not to pay attention to it, several notifications had sounded from God, and as I headed for Miami, they continued.

[Score +1. Your current Score is -2.]

[Score -1. Your current Score is -3.]

[Score +1. Your current Score is -2.]

[Score +1. Your current Score is -1.]

Although I only heard one negative notification out of the four I got on my way to Miami, I did not hesitate to use all that was left of Stormfront's power to speed myself up, cutting several minutes off the normal trip.

By the time I reached Miami, there was nothing left of Stormfront's power as I relied on my already created momentum to reach the city, but I did not regret my decision as the building entered my perception.

Of the newbies, only Mary, Helena and Victor were still alive. As for the veterans, Erik and Claire had died.

That was already enough to fill me with fury, but the state of the survivors wasn't pleasant either.

The three newbies were relatively fine, especially the two girls. But for the veterans, not a single one was fine.

As I tore the building off its foundations, I got to see them with my own eyes.

Asher had blood all over her chest, and her chest had been pierced with a sword.

Jordan had a missing eye, and was covered in blood too as he was completely beat up.

It was Johnathan that was injured the most gravely out of the group however as his body was burned all over, and had one of his hands burned off. If nothing was done, he was going to die.

As for Sarah… she had still been facing her opponent, after having killed Starlight. One of her arms was completely broken, and several of her organs were smashed up.

Yet, they still lived. They would all die if nothing was done, but they had survived on their own.

I could feel that all of them had also managed to open their Genetic Constraint.

So, while I felt fury towards the other two teams, I only sent the meteorite on Aya, before landing next to Johnathan, and using Death Surgeon to stabilize his condition.

Sarah, the last one still conscious, only thanks to her Genetic Constraint being opened, smiled at me as she said, "We did it."

Offering her a sliver of my attention, I smiled at her, patting her head as she fell unconscious, her Genetic Constraint closing back.

I glanced at the three newbies, the only ones still conscious, and they tensed up. I nodded at them, and asked, "Have you all earned more than 1000 Points?"

They all nodded, and as if he had been listening to us, God addressed us.

[Stan Edgar has been reinstated as CEO of Vought International! Rewarded 1000 Points!]

[Your Final Score is -1. You lose 2000 Points.]

As I took my sword out of Johnathan's chest, we were all covered in the familiar white light.