Chapter 780: Bald Saitama, a Hero for Fun, What is a Serious Punch?
City Z had been completely reduced to a desolate wasteland of shattered concrete and twisted rebar. The devastating earthquake had left nothing but vast, sweeping ruins in its wake, burying streets and skyscrapers alike under millions of tons of debris.
Amidst the wreckage of what used to be a residential apartment building, a bald man popped out from beneath a massive pile of rubble, completely covered in a thick layer of gray dust.
His dead-fish eyes slowly blinked, surveying the apocalyptic surroundings for a long, silent moment.
He stood up, casually brushing the dirt and pulverized cement from his gleaming bald head.
"Ah... an earthquake?"
Saitama scratched his cheek. He distinctly remembered sitting at his low table, chopsticks in hand, just about to fish a perfectly cooked piece of meat out of his boiling hotpot when the ground violently heaved beneath him.
"My hotpot... my house... they're gone!!!"
Saitama's eyes widened to comical proportions, the sheer gravity of the situation finally crashing down upon him.
But the tragedy did not end there.
"And my supermarket discount coupons!—!!!"
Just as Saitama frantically rolled up his sleeves, fully prepared to excavate the entire city block with his bare hands just to salvage his precious weekend sale flyers, a faint sound reached his ears.
"Teacher!"
The voice was incredibly weak, barely more than a metallic rasp.
"Genos?"
He was far too familiar with that voice. Saitama stopped his frantic digging and turned toward the source of the sound. His blank gaze fell upon a massive, multi-ton slab of reinforced building material pinning something to the ground.
He walked over, grabbed the edge of the concrete slab with one hand, and effortlessly tossed it aside like a piece of cardboard.
"Genos, why are you here?"
Beneath the rubble lay his cyborg disciple, completely broken down. Genos was a mangled mess of sparking wires and leaking fluids. Blue electricity arced erratically across his shattered chassis, and a large portion of his synthetic head had been violently torn away, exposing the complex, glowing mechanical structures beneath his artificial skin.
"...What happened to you?"
Saitama's normally vacant expression vanished, replaced by a dark, heavy shadow that fell over his eyes.
"Teacher... the enemy, very..." Genos choked out, his vocal synthesizer glitching as he tried to relay a warning.
"I understand."
Saitama cut him off. He knelt down, carefully adjusting Genos's battered torso to ensure his core was stable, confirming that his disciple was still functional. Then, he stood up and turned his back to the ruined cyborg.
"Teacher... don't go..."
Genos desperately wanted to dissuade Saitama, knowing the sheer, beyond understanding terror of the monster that had done this to him.
But Saitama did not look back. His voice was flat, carrying a cold, absolute certainty. "If a student is bullied, the teacher must go and seek justice."
"Teacher..."
Watching Saitama's departing back, Genos's remaining optical sensor flashed with a frantic red light.
"You're going the wrong way."
...
Thump! Thump-thump!
The King Engine was roaring at maximum capacity.
King stood completely frozen, his face a mask of absolute, terrifying stoicism. His sharp features and the three scars over his eye made him look like a hardened warrior staring down an insect.
In reality, he wasn't calm at all.
It was simply because the towering, cyclopean alien known as Boros had suddenly dropped down right in front of him. The sheer, suffocating pressure radiating from the alien conqueror had completely paralyzed King's facial muscles. He was so utterly terrified that his body had locked up, trapping him in a permanent scowl.
"Are you the strongest in this world?"
Boros looked down at the trembling human, his single massive eye narrowing as he assessed the man standing before him.
Thump! Thump! Thump!!!
The King Engine beat even more violently, the sound echoing like a war drum in the silent ruins.
King was genuinely on the verge of wetting his pants. His mind was a chaotic mess of pure panic. 'Someone come! Help! Heroes, stand up quickly! Anyone! Please!'
"If you don't speak, then let me see your strength through battle."
Boros stared at this human who appeared to be entirely full of openings. Yet, the deafening heartbeat and the sheer confidence of a man who refused to take a fighting stance intrigued him. Boros chose to verify this supposed power with real combat.
He pulled back his arm and threw a punch.
Boom!!!
An explosive shockwave of compressed air swept across the ruined city, tearing the remaining concrete structures from their foundations. The sheer kinetic force of the strike was enough to vaporize a normal human instantly.
At this exact moment, King saw the grim reaper waving at him.
But he didn't die.
A human hand, clad in a simple red glove and vastly smaller than Boros's massive fist, casually caught the apocalyptic strike.
"Was it you who bullied my student?"
Saitama, who had suddenly appeared right in front of King, stared up at the towering alien conqueror with his trademark indifferent, dead-fish eyes.
Boros blinked in genuine surprise.
The bald man standing before him possessed a physical density and raw power that far eclipsed the weaklings he had crushed earlier. Although this bald human also stood with his arms hanging loosely, completely full of flaws, there was something deeply unsettling about him. He seemed a bit interesting.
"Who are you?" Boros asked, pulling his fist back.
Saitama answered with a perfectly flat tone. "I am just a hero for fun."
"A hero? Interesting."
Boros grinned, exposing a row of sharp teeth, his battle lust igniting. "Human, let me see your full power."
Saitama blinked slowly.
He clenched his right fist, pulling his arm back as his muscles coiled tight.
"Since you said so, then... Serious Punch!"
Boros's single eye widened as the very air around them seemed to scream.
Saitama threw the punch, his fist colliding with the alien's guard. The sheer force of the impact shattered the ground beneath them for miles, sending a shockwave into the upper atmosphere that parted the clouds.
The next moment, Boros's massive body was sent skidding backward, his feet tearing deep trenches into the bedrock.
But... he only retreated a few steps. He didn't explode. He wasn't vaporized.
Saitama's expression showed a noticeable fluctuation for the very first time. His jaw dropped slightly, and he looked down at his red-gloved right fist in utter confusion.
The punch he had just thrown wasn't a casual swing. It was a genuine Serious Punch.
In the past, absolutely no monster could withstand it. Blasting towering behemoths into a shower of bloody mist with a single strike was the standard outcome.
Yet Boros had taken a Serious Punch head-on and merely skidded backward a few paces?
"It seems Boros has become very strong."
Ren, who had just arrived in this ruined world through the Doomsday Companion function, stood atop a jagged piece of rubble, watching the scene unfold with deep interest.
A short distance away, Tatsumaki was completely stunned.
She had been floating in the air, preparing to unleash her psychic powers, when she glanced to her side and realized that three people had suddenly materialized out of thin air.
Ren, Vivi, and Mumei.
Just a few moments prior, the Chat Group interface had exploded with notifications.
[Ding! Detected that Chat Group member Tatsumaki has come into contact with an Abnormal Doomsday factor. Doomsday Companion activated!]
[Doomsday Companion]: Four people
[Companion Time]: 3 days
[Companions]: Ren, Tatsumaki, Vivi, Mumei
[Companion Mission]: Eliminate Boros, the white hole radiated by the Light of Destruction.
[Companion Doomsday]: Doomsday Termination
[Companion Time]: Unlimited
[Companions]: Unlimited
[Companion Mission]: Find and erase the Light of Destruction.
The moment the Doomsday Companion message populated the Chat Group, the members immediately exploded into a flurry of discussion.
Shinobu Kocho: "Light of Destruction... that sounds incredibly familiar."
Saeko Busujima: "I remember now. It was that strange, corrupting light we encountered in Mikoto Suoh's world."
Shiroyasha: "Oho? Something I haven't heard of again. It seems the infinite worlds outside of Little Garden are quite exciting indeed."
Erza: "Do not take this lightly. This is a Doomsday Factor. Even your world could encounter it eventually."
Shiroyasha: "Oh. Fair enough."
March 7th: "Emmm, everyone, let's try to stay focused and discuss the main topic!"
Silver Wolf: "Shouldn't we deal with the actual Doomsday first before chatting?"
March 7th: "That's true."
Exusiai: "Tatsumaki, are you there? Are you there? Please respond if you hear me!"
A long moment passed, but Tatsumaki did not send a reply to the group.
Silvia: "It seems something urgent happened on her end and she hasn't noticed the notifications."
Tsunade: "I suggest we stop guessing and directly find the key person. Ren, what's the situation?"
Ren: "I've been watching the whole time."
Ren: "Anyway, let's go take a look first. Mumei, Vivi, get ready."
Mumei: "Alright. I'm ready."
Vivi: "I'll set off right now."
As for Ren himself...
He had originally planned to sit down and have a long, pleasant chat with the three red-eyed, white-haired Abyssal Hunters he had just taken under his wing.
Now, it seemed he would have to put those plans on hold.
Standing in the sleek, metallic corridors of the landship, he turned to Gladiia and Specter, both of whom were looking at him with puzzled expressions. "I need to leave for a bit to handle something. You two can just wander around Rhodes Island for now and get acquainted with the place."
With those casual parting words, his body dissolved into particles of light, vanishing entirely from the spot.
'...Just like back then.'
Watching him disappear, Gladiia maintained her elegant posture, but her mind was racing. From an outsider's perspective, she knew she was still only seeing the very tip of the iceberg. In her eyes, Ren possessed a mysterious, completely unfathomable power that defied all logic of Terra.
"My Lord..."
Beside her, Specter suddenly closed her eyes and clasped her hands together in a devout, prayer-like gesture, looking exactly like a pious nun offering reverence to a deity.
Gladiia blinked in surprise.
She was actually praying for Ren. Gladiia still wasn't entirely sure what Specter's true mental state was, nor could she fully grasp her companion's absolute devotion to the man.
As for herself, Gladiia didn't really care either way. As long as they survived and found their purpose, the details mattered little.
She turned her gaze toward the third member of their trio. "Skadi, do you know exactly what he went to do?"
Among the three of them, Skadi had spent the most time with Ren and knew the most about his secrets.
But Skadi did not answer her captain.
She simply stood there, her beautiful red eyes entirely focused on the empty air in front of her, silently watching the live broadcast streaming directly into her mind.
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