"The Rise of Luya"
Luya stared at Nico, who stood in front of him, brandishing a knife. The whole situation was almost amusing to him.
Letting go of Gwen's hand, Luya calmly approached Nico in a few steps.
Nico's bravado quickly faded as he gazed into Luya's eyes. He saw no fear—only calmness—and that made him panic.
"Hand over the money!" Nico barked again, but his voice lacked confidence now.
When you can't read someone, it naturally sparks fear. That's exactly what Nico was feeling.
He nervously eyed Luya's hands, still resting in his pockets, terrified that Luya might pull out something deadly.
He snapped first.
"Go to hell!"
Nico lunged forward with the knife. His face twisted in desperation.
"Careful!" Gwen shrieked in terror, seeing Luya unmoved, his hands still in his pockets.
She regretted taking these back alleys now. If she hadn't, Luya wouldn't have…
The blade was just inches from Luya's abdomen, yet he moved like it was nothing. The speed of Nico's attack was laughable to him, almost like watching a turtle crawl.
With a slight shift, Luya dodged the attack effortlessly. He kicked out.
WHAM!
Luya didn't bother exchanging words with trash like Nico. Even a casual kick from him was more than any normal person could handle.
Nico flew like a human cannonball, collapsing into a pile of trash cans over ten meters away.
From the pile of garbage, Nico gasped for air, completely incapacitated by just one blow.
Luya shook his head, uninterested. He didn't even bother checking Nico for anything valuable—digging through Nico's pockets was no different than rummaging through a trash can.
[Homelander Template Unlocked: 32%]
The system notification flashed again, the unlocking increasing by 2%.
Turning back to Gwen, Luya noticed she was still frozen in shock, unable to process what had just happened. She had seen him take down Thompson with a punch back in the classroom, but kicking a guy who weighed at least 200 pounds across the street? That wasn't normal. Not humanly possible.
In her mind, images of superheroes flashed—Batman, Superman, vigilantes who roamed the night. Heroes she had only read about in comics suddenly seemed real.
Before she could say anything, a deep, menacing voice echoed from the shadows.
"As expected from the guy who took down Fat Hammer. The boss was right about you."
A sinister-looking man emerged from the darkness, flanked by two black-suited bodyguards.
"Come with me. The boss wants a word."
The man spoke like the 'boss' was someone important. Someone Luya should fear.
"Fat Hammer, huh?" Luya thought for a moment, recognizing the name. This guy must be from the underground fight ring where Luya had seriously messed up their top fighter.
Were they here for revenge? Or maybe for the money?
Honestly, Luya didn't care.
He glanced at the sinister man and his goons, chuckling.
"And what if I say no?"
He found it amusing they had the nerve to talk so boldly after witnessing what he had just done to Nico. Where did they get this confidence?
That's when he heard Gwen's scream.
"L-Luya!"
One of the bodyguards had a pistol trained on her.
Damn it! Luya cursed to himself. He had been too careless, feeling like everything was under his control since unlocking more of the Homelander template. He had let his guard down against ordinary people.
With his enhanced body, physical attacks barely registered. Even bullets were more of an annoyance than a real threat now—unless they aimed for his eyes.
But he forgot one crucial detail—his weakness wasn't him. It was the people he cared about.
"I can't believe I made such a stupid mistake..." Luya thought bitterly.
The sinister man smirked, seeing Luya's conflicted expression.
"Come with us, and I promise the girl doesn't get hurt."
Gwen, realizing she was being used to threaten Luya, suddenly found some courage. She kicked at the man holding her, aiming for his groin.
But unlike Nico, this bodyguard was a professional. He dodged the kick and retaliated, smashing the butt of his gun toward her head.
Gwen barely managed to dodge the blow.
"Haha! What, still trying to fight back?" the sinister man laughed, feeling victory in his grasp.
Luya, seeing Gwen nearly get hurt, felt his anger boil over.
"You're dead."
Without hesitation, he glared at the bodyguard holding Gwen hostage.
The bodyguard smirked, unphased by Luya's glare.
What's he gonna do? Stare me to death?
Suddenly, fear overtook his face as Luya's eyes glowed red, gathering energy.
ZZZZZZAP!
In an instant, two red beams of concentrated heat shot from Luya's eyes, slicing cleanly through the bodyguard, reducing him to nothing but ash and scattering parts.
[Homelander Template Unlocked: 37%]
The system chimed again, but Luya was focused solely on the smoking remains of the bodyguard.
Both Gwen and the sinister man stood frozen in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Gwen, standing just feet away from the blast, felt the heat of Luya's laser vision.
"Is he… really Superman?" she whispered in disbelief, her eyes filled with a mixture of awe, shock, and something else—an obsession.
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