Far from the city, in an uninhabited wilderness, a golden lightning bolt roared from the sky, finally stopping above a massive mountain. A yellow streak of light raced across the ground, moving as fast as the lightning itself.
"Are you sure you want to treat me to hotpot again?"
Saitama's usually dull expression sharpened with seriousness.
"Yes, but only if you fight me properly first."
Lucien stretched, "Alright then."
For a hotpot meal, Saitama agreed without hesitation.
Hoo~
Lucien inhaled deeply, and white flames ignited across his body. Golden lightning crackled, forming thunderous serpents that writhed across the wilderness. Dark clouds gathered, flashes of lightning painting the sky, while the ground trembled beneath his growing momentum.
Buzz, buzz, buzz~
The mountains quaked and slid, the terrain fracturing beneath him. Cracks spider-webbed outward from the mountain beneath Lucien's feet, spreading to the horizon.
"Warning! Warning! An energy reading exceeding Dragon-level has been detected in the southwest, and it's still rising!"
"God-level… it's reached God-level!"
At the Hero Association base, alarms blared continuously. Staff paled as the energy meter surged to God-level, still climbing.
"Notify all heroes immediately! A God-level threat is approaching, potentially catastrophic to humanity!"
Distant cities shook violently. The once-clear sky darkened with rolling clouds, flashing lightning, and level-ten typhoons.
"Is this… an earthquake?"
"The sky… it's gone dark!"
"Monsters aren't involved, are they?"
Ordinary citizens panicked as they watched the sky twist and the ground quake. In the southwest, where the energy originated, the situation was even more dire.
S-Class, A-Class, and B-Class heroes across the region all gazed toward the southwest. A radiant flare rose like a sun, its energy escalating by the second.
"This isn't just Dragon-level… is it truly God-level?"
Monsters, too, sensed the disturbance. Even they recoiled, their fear palpable.
"Attention all citizens: God-level disaster energy has been detected in the southwest. Evacuate immediately. S-Class heroes, proceed to the site!"
Alarms blared across major cities. From above, the scene looked chaotic; humans and monsters alike fled side by side, an eerie image of unity amidst terror.
The eruption of Lucien's aura reached its peak.
Crack!
Golden lightning danced along his spiky hair, his amethyst eyes, normally diamond-patterned, glowed gold, crackling with raw energy.
"Very strong," Saitama muttered, cape flapping in the gale, eyes reflecting the stormy sky.
"This is indeed powerful," he continued, "it's been a long time since I've truly pushed myself. But I know… you are the strongest."
Lucien clenched his fist. The air around him exploded with energy, his lightning-filled pupils locked onto Saitama with deadly focus.
"I feel… alive."
For the first time in a long while, Saitama felt a spark of excitement. Losing his hair had dampened his desire to fight, every opponent neutralized in a single punch. Yet now, something stirred within him.
"Then let's begin," Lucien said, stepping forward, sharp gaze cutting through the wind.
"Come on!" Saitama replied, taking a stance.
Boom~
The yellow streak of light dove diagonally, carving a canyon hundreds of kilometers long. Lucien's form blurred, leaving afterimages in his wake.
Mountains erupted from the ground as he descended, his enormous crystal-like foot striking the earth, an explosion of energy following the impact. Saitama countered with his right hand, sending tremors through the surrounding terrain and creating a crater ten thousand meters across.
Saitama shot forward like an arrow, piercing mountains and detonating the earth before anchoring himself with one hand.
Lucien's figure surged from the ground, now completely crystallized and reinforced with Armament Haki. Every technique at his disposal—Hardening, Thunder Breathing, Finger Pistol—was pushed to the extreme.
The sky tilted under the speed and power of their clash, mushroom clouds forming in succession. The earth trembled, mountains rolled, and canyons ripped open, as if the world itself shuddered.
"Satellites can't capture this," a hero reported. "Over a thousand kilometers of terrain already changed. If this continues, the entire southwest may vanish, half the Earth's surface could be destroyed."
"Is this… God-level?"
"The end of humanity."
"Have the other heroes arrived?"
"Even if they did, S-Class alone cannot intervene at this scale."
In the Hero Association base, staff watched helplessly as the battle obliterated everything on-screen.
At the battlefield's edge, a few heroes arrived. Surveying the endless canyons and shattered wilderness, their expressions hardened.
"Hey! This is… terrifying!" Atomic Samurai, S-Class Rank 4, clad in traditional attire with his sword at his waist, broke into a cold sweat.
"God-level… I've never seen anything like this," Silver Fang, Rank 3, added, his white hair and beard tousled by the wind.
Child Emperor (5), Metal Knight (6), Zombieman (8), Drive Knight (9), and Pig God (10) followed. Nearly all S-Class heroes were present.
"This isn't just God-level," one murmured.
"Hmph, a bunch of cowards," a cold voice cut through. A green-haired girl in a black slit dress hovered above the battlefield, disdain etched across her youthful face.
"Terrible Tornado."
"Shall we intervene?"
The heroes were unsurprised. Terrible Tornado, Rank 2, may look like a young girl, but at twenty-eight, she was formidable.
"Though we don't know the full situation, we cannot stand idly by as the Earth is destroyed," Silver Fang stated.
"Agreed," Atomic Samurai added. "It would be a shame to miss such a battle."
While some heroes held their ground, others retreated. Beliefs and choices differed.
Unseen by most, a cyborg hero had already flown toward the center of the clash, likely closest to the action.