Bang!
The headless corpse exploded and instantly turned into ashes. The remains scattered into the air and disappeared with the strong wind.
Lucien narrowed his eyes. His expression was filled with deep enjoyment, almost like someone experiencing a long awaited climax.
Both his soul and body felt refreshed, as if a dying traveler in the desert had finally taken a drink of ice cold water. Every pore on his body seemed to open in satisfaction.
The war battle music still echoed through the air.
It had not even reached a third of the track.
Lucien slowly opened his eyes and floated calmly in mid air. He pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and inhaled deeply. A moment later, two thin streams of smoke escaped from his nostrils.
To be honest, that Reincarnator had truly been strong.
Unfortunately, he had also been foolish.
Instant teleportation was normally a terrifying killing technique. For most opponents, the speed alone made it impossible to react.
But Lucien possessed Observation Haki with future sight.
That ability was the perfect counter.
To guarantee that nothing went wrong, Lucien had even activated the war battle music. In his mind, it was the same principle as a lion hunting a rabbit, never lower your guard even if the prey seems weak.
Either do nothing, or strike to kill instantly.
The moment Lucien guessed that Olatayo could reflect energy based attacks with Full Counter, he completely abandoned the idea of dragging the fight out.
Even the thought of pushing himself toward near death for power growth disappeared from his mind.
Without Kamehameha and Great Might Heavenly Dragon, his offensive power would shrink. Meanwhile, his opponent could exchange for items or abilities at any moment.
That made Lucien feel extremely uneasy.
So the moment he saw the future, he attacked without the slightest hesitation.
Every move flowed together perfectly.
Cold.
Precise.
Merciless.
First, the war battle music was activated. Then the eight crystal thorns were prepared in advance. The beheading strike and soul extraction were already waiting.
By the time Olatayo swung the Guaílí Sword, Lucien had already finished setting the entire trap.
He did not allow Olatayo even the smallest chance to escape.
If Lucien had not possessed future sight, even if he eventually won that fight, he would definitely have paid a price.
That teleportation talisman earlier had already been consumed.
Even Lucien himself felt a faint sense of unreality.
After all, his opponent had been a cheat level existence. Normally, those types were extremely difficult to kill.
Yet in the end, Olatayo had died just like that.
Too young.
Lucien even felt that Olatayo's death was slightly unfair. The man had not even fully displayed his abilities before everything ended.
That final roar had probably been Olatayo's last stubborn resistance.
Lucien could still remember the confusion that appeared in his eyes.
The whole scene had been strangely dramatic.
"Lucien, you are really strong."
Just as Lucien exhaled another cloud of smoke, Saitama suddenly appeared beside him.
He looked around at the completely ruined landscape. His expression was slightly dazed.
Saitama had watched the entire battle from the beginning.
However, the fight had affected countless innocent people.
Under normal circumstances, someone might feel guilt or anger.
But Saitama remained unusually calm.
The deaths of ordinary people did not seem to stir much emotion in him.
Over time, Saitama had lost most of his emotional reactions.
This could be seen clearly during the meteor incident from the past. When Saitama destroyed the massive meteor with one punch, the fragments rained down across the city like a meteor shower.
Large portions of the city were destroyed.
Countless people must have died during that disaster.
Yet Saitama did not seem particularly troubled by it.
If someone looked deeper into the story of heroes, they would eventually realize something.
Even the so called chosen heroes were not perfect saints.
Their hands were stained with blood as well.
"Saitama, the music hasn't finished yet."
Lucien looked toward him with burning battle intent.
"Let's fight again."
When he saw Saitama's blank expression earlier, Lucien had actually felt a little relieved.
He had worried that Saitama might feel disgusted with him.
Even though the destruction of the city had not been Lucien's intention, he still carried part of the responsibility.
"Okay."
Saitama's previously dull expression instantly became serious.
He clearly wanted to experience the excitement of battle again.
After all, in this world, only Lucien could make him feel even a small sense of thrill.
Lucien's amethyst eyes shone with fighting spirit.
This time was different from before.
He had already experienced his fourth near death power growth, his strength had improved again, and he had mostly digested the experience from the fight with Olatayo.
This battle would be different.
Suddenly, another god level battle erupted.
The two of them moved away from the ruined city at incredible speed and soon reached a vast desert region.
There, they fought without holding anything back.
Every strike was direct.
Fist against flesh.
Shockwaves rippled through the sky.
At that moment, inside the Hero Association Headquarters, countless heroes and staff members sat silently while staring at the large monitoring screens.
Several cities had already disappeared from the map.
And the battle still had not ended.
Even though the fight was now taking place far away in the desert, the buildings around them continued trembling violently.
More than half of the planet seemed to shake under the terrifying battle aura.
From ordinary civilians to S Class Heroes, everyone felt the same emotion.
Fear.
Against this level of battle, it did not matter whether one was human or monster.
Every living creature on Earth was completely powerless.
All they could do was endure the shaking world and pray for survival.
At the same time, the Hero Association finally confirmed the identities of the two fighters.
Lucien.
And Saitama.
Five or six minutes later, the battle finally stopped.
The trembling atmosphere gradually calmed. The earthquake like vibrations slowly faded away.
However, the entire desert region had been completely reshaped.
Basins, shattered mountains, and massive canyons stretched across the land.
Bottomless abysses marked the surface of the Earth like giant scars.
From space, the area looked as if a massive octopus had pressed its tentacles into the planet.
Yellow streaks of light shot across the ground at incredible speeds.
Even the slowest movements reached twenty times the speed of sound.
By the time Saitama carried Lucien back to their residence, dawn had already arrived.
Inside the house, Mosquito Girl and Beast King had also woken up.
"BOSS, Mr. Saitama, what happened to you two?"
As Lucien entered the room, Mosquito Girl quickly covered her face with both hands. However, she peeked through the gaps between her fingers.
Saitama was completely naked and looked slightly messy.
Lucien looked even worse.
He lay half dead on the tatami floor with a cigarette in his mouth, filling the entire room with smoke.
"I haven't moved around like that in a long time."
Saitama stretched his arms comfortably and did not bother covering himself.
"I'll take a bath first. Call me when breakfast is ready."
Mosquito Girl and Beast King exchanged confused looks.
They could only stare blankly as Saitama walked calmly into the bathroom.
"BOSS?"
"You two go prepare breakfast."
Lucien spoke lazily while lying on the floor.
"I need to replenish nutrients."
"Yes."
Mosquito Girl hesitated for a moment but still followed Lucien's order.
Lucien's physical condition was actually terrible at the moment.
Almost every function in his body had dropped to its lowest point.
However, the situation was already improving.
He finished an entire pack of cigarettes while lying there.
Right now, all he needed was time to recover some movement, followed by food to replenish energy. Once he ate, his body's damage and losses would begin healing rapidly.
Clearly, Lucien had lost his second fight with Saitama.
Although this defeat was not as overwhelming as the first one, in Lucien's mind the result was still the same.
He had been powerless again.
Even after growing stronger through near death evolution, Saitama still stood far beyond him.
"As expected, it failed."
Lucien opened the system interface and looked at the information displayed there.
Even though he had already expected the result, he still felt a slight sense of disappointment.
Near death ability activation, failed.
Just as he thought.
That ability could not be triggered twice against the same opponent.
Originally, Lucien had considered using it during his fight with Olatayo.
But at the time, he had been too cautious and eventually abandoned the idea.
In Lucien's opinion, the threat from Olatayo had not been nearly as intense as the threat from the Sun's Daughter.
Without activating the war battle music, Olatayo could fight him evenly.
But once the music started, the difference between them became obvious.
Strictly speaking, Olatayo had never pushed Lucien close enough to death.
The most important factor was the limitation of the near death ability.
It could only activate during what the system described as a true battle, one that genuinely pushed Lucien to the brink of death.
Lucien still did not fully understand how the system defined a true battle.
Even though he felt a little depressed, his mood quickly improved when he noticed something else on the interface.
When he saw the VIP reward, Lucien could not help grinning.
This Reincarnator had truly been an unexpected gift.
"Successfully hunted Main God Space Reincarnator, Hero King Olatayo. Reward: four Dice rolls. VIP Luck plus one."
Previously, killing Genos had only given Lucien a single ordinary luck point, which triggered a random world crossing.
But now things were different.
Lucien felt as if the Goddess of Fortune was standing right beside him.
The Dice began spinning rapidly.
They bounced and rolled across the system interface.
A small model airplane flew past the screen.
Then a familiar dazzling white light appeared as the VIP Luck was consumed.