Just wait.
After this match I’m going to beat you into the ground, and then everything will be mine!
Backstage Homelander listened to the crowd still roaring Dean’s name and clenched his fists so hard the knuckles went white.
The sound grated on every last nerve he had.
Once the cheers hit their peak, Madelyn’s voice cut in at the perfect moment.
[Now, please welcome our first champion of the day, undefeated through countless battles… Black Noir!] A cold figure in a fully sealed black combat suit walked out from backstage into the arena.
The second he appeared the cheers for Black Noir finally managed to edge out Dean’s name, just barely.
[And our second guest to be welcomed is our second champion, the super rookie who defeated nine contestants with the momentum of thunder—Dean Osborn!] Rumble~~!
A thunderclap rolled through the entire stadium.
A thick bolt of purple electricity smashed straight into the turf.
When the purple light faded, a tall figure radiating pure confidence stood in the center of the arena.
“Dean!
Dean!
Dean!!!” In the next heartbeat the cheers for Black Noir vanished completely.
The entire stadium turned into one single name: Dean.
The fanatical roar was even louder than the thunder itself.
“Be humble, I gotta be humble~” Dean waved a hand, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
As expected, lightning might not always be the absolute strongest power in raw force, but for pure showmanship it was undefeated.
With an entrance that cool, every contestant who walked out after him was completely screwed.
No matter who stepped onto the stage, the crowd would not even bother shouting their hero codenames.
The stands only screamed Dean’s name.
By the time all five of the day’s final winners were standing in the arena, a violin-heavy BGM suddenly filled the air out of nowhere.
Clang clang clang clang, clang clang clang clang, clang clang clang clang—!!!
The first half of the track was fast and blood-pumping.
The second half slammed the tempo way down, wrapping the whole stadium in pure oppression, like a final boss was about to drop.
During the high-tempo first half Homelander rocketed into the sky, broke the sound barrier, and left a long, striking white trail across the blue.
Then, as the music slowed into that heavy second half, Homelander, American flag cape billowing, descended slowly from high above like a god coming down to earth.
Credit where it was due: Vought’s publicity team knew exactly what they were doing.
Homelander had not shown a single real feat yet, but that divine entrance paired with the oppressive soundtrack already sold the entire audience on the idea that he was something terrifying.
After a brief stunned silence, a second name finally rose up behind Dean’s.
“Homelander!” “Homelander!
Homelander!
Homelander!!!” Once the first batch of Vought plants in the crowd started the chant, it spread through the stadium like a plague.
Homelander touched down slowly, listening to cheers that were more than a hundred times louder than the ones he had gotten earlier in the lounge, and grinned from ear to ear.
Yes!
Yes!
That’s it!
Your adoration should have belonged to me from the start.
All of it.
Not that ungrateful Dean!
Madelyn deliberately let him soak in the ocean of cheers a little longer before she spoke again.
[Our protagonists, the five champions, and the Captain of The Seven, Homelander, have all arrived.
Next is the official friendly sparring match, so let us once again give a round of applause to the contestants, thanking them for presenting us with this wonderful extra match, alright?] Clatter clatter clatter—!!
[I believe our contestants can also feel the passion of the audience, so please let our friendly match begin.
Before that, a small reminder: during this friendly spar, please don’t be too violent, oh, after all, everyone might be teammates in The Seven in the future~] With that, Madelyn’s voice cut out.
The spotlights on the arena expanded from the six people on the field to light up the entire stadium.
The match officially began!
Homelander put one hand on his hip, pointed the other at the five people including Dean, and said with pure arrogance, “All of you, come at me together!” Dean raised an eyebrow, glanced at Black Noir beside him, and asked, “Is this baby-bottle kid imitating what I said during the day?” Black Noir: “…” He was trembling with pure fear and did not dare answer at all.
You two gods are about to throw down—don’t drag a mortal like me into it… Luckily Black Noir’s whole character was built around never speaking, so he did not have to answer Dean either.
“Hey, Dean, Black Noir, stop chatting you two!
How about we team up and beat Homelander into the ground first?” Seeing Dean still casually talking to Black Noir in the middle of all this, a big guy could not help roaring.
He successfully pulled Dean’s attention onto himself.
Dean’s indifferent gaze swept over the big guy.
“I really like your proposal.
But I really dislike your tone, so…” Rumble~~!
A thunderclap cracked.
A bolt of purple electricity dropped from the sky and slammed into the unprepared big guy.
This guy had fought his way through other groups to claim a champion spot, so he actually had some real ability.
He did not drop instantly into a baby-like sleep the way the nine people Dean one-shot during the day had.
Instead he stood there wobbling for two full seconds before his charred, bulky body collapsed face-first onto the turf with a heavy thud.
“What the fuck?” Not just the other contestants—even Homelander wore a look of pure disbelief.
Homelander’s expression at that moment was priceless.
Weren’t the five of you supposed to be fighting me alone?
How the hell did you start infighting before the match even began?
For the first time Homelander felt like he had run into someone completely impossible to understand.
He could not even begin to guess what Dean would do next.
Dean looked completely unbothered and kept mocking: “You can’t even take a single hit from me.
A teammate like this is worth less than a piece of shit.
At least a piece of shit can still disgust the enemy!” With that, Dean pointed at the remaining people in the arena, then pointed straight at Homelander.
“You, you, and Black Noir—you three go together and beat the shit out of Homelander!” Black Noir and the other two looked at each other, completely dumbfounded.
“Us… go fight Homelander?” “Is this for real?” In this match every single one of them had already decided Dean was the real main threat.
Now Dean was sitting out and ordering them to attack Homelander instead?
That was basically sending them to die.
But the three of them looked at Dean..
purple electricity still flickering between his fingers and a creepy grin on his face..
then looked at the equally confused Homelander.
Between the obviously terrifying Dean and Homelander of unknown strength, they still chose Homelander.
Even Black Noir, who actually knew how strong Homelander was, made the same choice.
Because he really did not want to look at Dean’s face any longer.
It kept dragging up that lost youth he never wanted to remember again…