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Deep within the lowest level of the pyramid, darkness lingered, so dense and ancient it felt almost tangible. In the pitch-black room, black-robed figures moved quietly toward the center, eleven in total, each standing watch, breath held as they spread out in a coordinated formation.
Their eyes glowed with a menacing red light, infrared vision allowing them to see perfectly in the dark. Wisps of hot vapor escaped from their mouths, hinting that their bodies were like blazing furnaces within.
They waited patiently for the intruder.
They didn't have to wait long.
From the shadowed ceiling above, two golden sparks flickered into existence. In an instant, golden heat rays slashed across, slicing through the metal grates above.
Homelander dropped through the opening, landing like a meteor and making the entire room shake.
As he stood, his eyes ignited with a golden radiance, like two miniature suns piercing the darkness. Though he didn't have infrared vision, the light from his heat rays illuminated the surroundings, revealing the black-robed figures scattered around him, some crouching, others standing—all ready for combat.
In the center of the encirclement, Homelander coolly looked around, counting each robed figure. "One, two, three…" he said, unfazed by their ominous stares. "Eleven in total. Add that to the one I took out earlier… looks like I've hit my quota."
While they couldn't understand his words, Homelander's indifferent tone was enough to infuriate them. In the fragments of memory they retained, humans were supposed to be fearful, groveling, trembling—never so dismissive, as if counting stray dogs.
A female black-robed figure let out an enraged hiss. Muscles tensed beneath her cloak, and in a surge of white-hot breath, she launched herself at Homelander like a speeding vehicle. Her form blurred, moving faster than most eyes could follow, as she zeroed in on Homelander's neck, her sharp fangs aimed to pierce his throat.
But just as her teeth closed in, she felt as though she had bitten down on solid steel—pain shot through her jaw.
Nearby, a bald black-robed figure's pupils contracted sharply. From his vantage point, he could clearly see that the female hadn't actually bitten into Homelander. Between her fangs and his neck, there was a barely perceptible gap—thin as a hair or a sheet of paper.
What she had bitten wasn't Homelander's skin or even metal. It was empty space—specifically, Biological Force Field.
Before she could react, her teeth shattered, and she recoiled, panicked. But it was too late. A fist suddenly burst through her back, shattering her cloak as Homelander's arm extended through her chest, clutching a still-beating heart.
"Disgusting," Homelander sneered, pulling his arm free from the woman's body, letting her heart crumble to dust. A faint red glow shimmered around his hand—the residue of the force field reacting to her body's intense heat. It was clear these creatures ran hot, their blood like boiling magma, possibly fueling their strength.
However, the rest of her anatomy was lacking. In durability, these creatures were no match for true superhumans like the "Ice Queen." Their bodies were fragile yet fast, like lethal but flawed constructs.
Seeing Homelander easily dispatch one of their own, the remaining black-robed figures unleashed furious roars, igniting the dormant power within them. Their internal temperatures rose sharply, reaching over 1500 degrees Fahrenheit. This heat, which would normally destroy a body, was harnessed by their physiology to amplify their strength temporarily.
Their once-pale skin took on a translucent amber hue as their bodies emitted streams of white-hot vapor.
Homelander raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You want to fight me with numbers?"
"Let me show you what it really means to outnumber someone."
As he spoke, an ethereal shadow appeared behind him, gradually solidifying into another Homelander—a Self-Replication clone. This first clone then produced additional clones, rapidly multiplying until twenty Homelanders now filled the room.
Each clone, while possessing only a portion of Homelander's full strength, was still formidable. He motioned with his hand, and the clones attacked in pairs, targeting a black-robed figure each.
Individually, these black-robed creatures were no match for even one clone, let alone two.
The black-robed figures, having pushed their powers to their limits, managed to hold off the clones momentarily, but their short-term burst of strength fell short. They had no hope of actually eliminating a clone.
In the darkened chamber, bodies blurred, heat rays flashed, and shadows collided. Amidst the chaos, Homelander observed the surroundings leisurely. His eyes soon fell upon a gray stone coffin. Ancient Egyptian carvings adorned its surface, and hieroglyphics ran along its sides.
It was infused with zinc, preventing his heat vision from scanning its interior. But he could guess: this had to be the sarcophagus of Brox, Elder of the Undying Empire.
At that moment, one of the black-robed guards tried to shift into mist, only to be caught mid-transition by a clone. The clone's eyes gleamed, unleashing two golden beams that seared into the guard's chest. The guard howled, struggling to block the heat rays with his hands.
But then, a second clone's eyes blazed, firing another set of rays at the guard's back.
Caught between the two heat beams, the guard screamed, his form quickly disintegrating in a fiery burst.
With one down, the two clones split off to assist the others, quickly tipping the scales.
One by one, the black-robed figures fell, their numbers dwindling rapidly until only one remained. Realizing it was hopeless, the last guard screamed, transforming into mist to escape. But Homelander's clones were faster; they surrounded the figure in an instant, dozens of golden beams slicing through the air.
The beams crossed in a deadly web, cutting the final guard into fragments. The pieces crumbled and scattered, dissolving into dust.
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