“That guy’s too arrogant!” None of the nine in the arena expected that even after Dean knew they had teamed up, he would still be this fucking arrogant.
They traded looks and dropped the act completely, surrounding him on all sides.
Originally they planned to play it subtle during the match and quietly take him out first.
But Dean had just provoked them again and ripped the mask off himself, so there was no point keeping the last layer of pretend.
The entire audience exploded into noise.
“What the hell is going on down there?
Why does it look like they’re about to start a gang bang?” “Idiot, isn’t it obvious?
Someone’s about to get his ass handed to him!” “Hahaha, that pretty boy’s about to eat a hero gang beating!” “Oh no, my little hunk, how can they treat him like that?
I want to report them for breaking the rules!” “Don’t be stupid, you simping bitch.
Vought said from the start it’s a no-rules free-for-all.
They never banned teaming up!” “Exactly.
If you can’t even handle a one-versus-many, how the fuck are you supposed to qualify as one of the strongest Seven?” … Once the crowd understood the situation, most of them had zero objections.
Outside of a handful of women who were purely thirsting over Dean’s face, the rest of the stadium only got more excited.
Up on the high-platform commentary desk Madelyn’s expression changed.
She reached for the microphone in front of her, ready to shut down the targeting of Dean.
After all, he was her favored candidate.
But before her hand could touch the mic, a red-gloved hand snatched it away first.
Homelander toyed with the microphone and spoke slowly.
“Madelyn, the rules of the competition were set a long time ago.
You can’t trash Vought’s fairness just because of some pretty boy.
I believe if Stan Edgar found out about this, he wouldn’t agree either~” Looking at that playful, jealous expression, Madelyn knew Homelander must have seen her earlier chat with Dean and gotten jealous.
Her heart sank, but she kept a smile on her face.
“That’s right, my baby.
Good thing you reminded me.
I almost made a mistake.
Then let’s just let the competition continue…” Between Dean and Homelander, Madelyn chose Homelander without a second of hesitation.
Even though Dean’s Oscorp was huge, it was still an outside power.
She was Vought’s person, so she had to prioritize the feelings of Homelander—Vought’s single greatest “asset.” The woman who had briefly allied with Dean less than an hour ago now dumped that ally without blinking.
Homelander smiled in pure satisfaction, unmuted the microphone, and announced in a clear voice: “Ladies and gentlemen, and audience members of the other ninety-seven genders, now let us enjoy the second competition!” “I am Homelander, and I declare the match officially started!” The second Homelander’s words rolled through the stadium the entire crowd boiled over and cheered.
Down in the arena the nine contestants all wore vicious grins and activated their powers.
“Pretty boy, you really love spewing shit out of that mouth of yours.
Watch me tear you apart today!” “Calm down, don’t go too far.
Just teach him a lesson.
This guy is the heir of Osborn Corp!
They can sue you to high hell!” Among the nine, some had pure crazy in their eyes while others still kept a thin layer of restraint.
Watching them still talking tough, Dean yawned and said with pure impatience: “Stop fucking around.
If you want to fight then fight.
Are you a bunch of pussies?
I don’t remember our group having any women.
Or did your dicks explode so you had to start taking it from behind and now you’re confused about your own gender?” The nine: ???
“Kid, you’re looking for death!” The second those words left Dean’s mouth, even the so-called conservatives among the nine snapped into full radical mode.
For a man, the single most unbearable insult is being called a sissy.
And the only thing worse than being called a sissy is being called a woman to your face.
“Don’t just tear his mouth open—rip his tongue out completely so this stinking mouth of his can never speak again!” The same guy who had just told everyone to calm down now thought the radicals were being too soft.
He waved a big hand and all nine unleashed their powers at once, charging Dean from every direction.
Even though they were furious they had not forgotten the strength Dean showed in the lounge.
They did not dare hold anything back.
From the first second it was an all-out swarm.
But in front of absolute power, numbers have always been nothing but paper tigers.
And paper tigers only need one light touch before they burn to ash.
Facing nine attackers coming from every angle at the same time, Dean did not even bother taking a defensive stance.
He simply lifted one hand and made a casual snapping motion.
Snap!
Rumble~~!
The snap was followed by a deafening roar of thunder.
Nine bolts of purple lightning dropped straight from the sky and slammed into the nine people charging him with perfect accuracy.
None of them even managed a single grunt.
They hit the ground hard under the purple lightning and stayed completely still.
At the same moment the entire stadium froze.
Nearly a hundred thousand pairs of eyes in the stands locked onto the arena, blown wide open.
Mouths hung open like someone had stuffed silencing sponges inside them.
Not a single sound came out.
What the audience saw Inst… Instant kill?
A nine-versus-one completely instant-killed?
Is that reasonable?
Is that scientific?
What?
You say this is a superpower showdown?
Fine, then never mind!
After that crushing silence came the explosion of cheers from the entire crowd.
Now it was not only the women conquered by Dean’s looks who were screaming.
The big guys in the stands were roaring even louder than the women.
You might hate a pretty boy, but you will never hate a guy who is ridiculously strong and pure fucking manly.
And right now, in their eyes, that was exactly what Dean looked like.
This was not a pretty boy.
This was a real man.
A pure man.
“Dean!
Dean!
Dean!” The voices of the entire stadium fused into one single name: Dean.
He stood as the absolute center of the arena, the most dazzling point in the whole world.
The shock of Dean one-shotting nine people with lightning hit the crowd’s adrenaline far harder than Black Noir’s slow, punch-by-punch victory ever did.
The cheers for Dean completely dwarfed anything Black Noir had received.
Standing in the middle of all that noise, Dean was not shaken in the slightest by the roar that nearly rattled the turf.
His expression stayed indifferent, a confident little smile on his face as he simply raised a hand and waved to the crowd.
As if, in Dean’s eyes, this outcome had always been inevitable and nothing worth getting excited about.
“This… this is simply me!
I want them to shout my name just like this!” Even Homelander up on the high-platform commentary desk could not stop a slight tremble of pure excitement.
His eyes burned hot as he stared at the scene.