In that singular breath, Ryuu's aura detonated outward with terrifying force. Raising the Black Blade: Yoru high into the air, he brought it crashing down in a thunderous, unmitigated strike.
HUM—!
A piercing, high-pitched screech of tearing metal echoed across the shattered city blocks.
FLASH—!
A monumental, hyper-dense crescent of green light erupted directly from the earth. Like a primeval, ravenous emerald beast, the shockwave tore forward, charging relentlessly toward Saitama's position!
Wherever the flying slash traveled, the concrete sheared like cheap parchment, and reinforced structural stones were instantly ground into fine powder under the crushing kinetic force.
"What on earth!?" Fubuki shrieked in mid-air, her mind going completely blank.
She had absolutely never anticipated that Ryuu would suddenly turn his blade on Saitama!
Saitama, too, was visibly caught off guard. His blank, dead-fish eyes blinked once in mild surprise. Before his brain could even fully process the sudden hostility, the cataclysmic energy wave split the ground beneath his feet and slammed squarely into his chest.
The next instant, Saitama's entire silhouette was completely swallowed by the blinding green radiance, and his body was violently blasted backward through the ruins.
"Hawkeye Mihawk, what do you think you're doing?!" Fubuki finally gathered her wits. Driven by her innate responsibilities as a hero, she yelled down at Ryuu in panic.
Seeing Ryuu cleanly decapitate and slaughter Vaccine Man earlier, she had subconsciously categorized him as a champion of humanity and justice. Yet, without a single word of explanation, this mysterious swordsman had just unleashed an apocalyptic strike on a seemingly ordinary human civilian.
What kind of twisted logic was this?!
Moreover, Fubuki noted with sheer terror that the strike Ryuu had just casually thrown out was exponentially more violent than the one used to execute Vaccine Man!
Looking down, a horrific, canyon-like trench—resembling a massive underground subway tunnel—had been perfectly carved into the earth. The surrounding terrain was fractured into millions of pieces, looking as though a cataclysmic subterranean dragon had violently rampaged through the district.
Against a localized strike of this magnitude, Fubuki was absolutely certain that the plain-looking youth could not have survived.
Why would Ryuu commit such a senseless murder?
But just as Fubuki's mind spiraled into despair, a scene unfolded that shattered her entire understanding of reality!
Across the newly formed canyon, the bald youth who had just been forcefully blasted away casually pushed himself up from the debris and stood right back up on his feet.
Not only was he entirely in one piece without a single scratch on his skin, but there wasn't even a trace of blood anywhere on his body.
"Huh!?" Fubuki froze again, her jaw dropping.
Ryuu's sudden unprovoked assault was bizarre enough, but Saitama's current condition defied all known laws of biology. Who exactly was this guy? How could an undocumented civilian seamlessly tank a slash that easily surpassed the force required to execute a Dragon-level disaster?
In stark contrast to Fubuki's utter bewilderment, Ryuu didn't display a single shred of surprise.
That opening strike had carried the absolute pinnacle of his newly unsealed strength, but if the legendary Caped Baldy had actually been injured by it, that would have been the real anomaly. Only by standing completely unfazed could he truly deserve his reputation as the ultimate, invincible titan of this universe!
An unbridled, thrilling battle lust ignited within Ryuu's veins.
At that moment, Saitama looked a bit perplexed. He scratched his perfectly bald head as he stood among the rubble, looking across at Ryuu with a sigh. "Are you really trying to teach me swordsmanship? You could at least give a guy a warning first so I can get ready!"
Then, his face fell into a look of genuine heartbreak as he looked down at his yellow outfit. "Man... you ripped my clothes!"
Indeed! The flawless, peak-tier flying slash from the World's Strongest Swordsman had achieved nothing more than destroying a few layers of cheap fabric!
Ryuu couldn't help but chuckle inwardly at Saitama's signature, nonchalant attitude. Resting the heavy tip of Yoru onto the shattered concrete, he pointed the black blade directly at Saitama's chest and delivered a cool, demanding response:
"I do not waste my time instructing the fragile."
"If you truly wish to inherit my craft, let me witness the baseline of your strength first!"
"State your name, boy!"
Naturally, Ryuu couldn't realistically predict Saitama's name without a formal introduction, so he deliberately chose to ask the obvious.
Saitama, maintaining his standard dopey expression, gave a casual reply. "Ah, I'm Saitama. I'm a hero for fun."
But right as Saitama finished his self-introduction, an unexpected chime detonated inside Ryuu's mind once more.
[Ding! Current role-playing completion rate +2%!]
Ryuu's heart skipped a beat.
Compared to his previous staggering leaps, a mere 2% upgrade seemed almost negligible. But he quickly realized the math behind it: his current synchronization had already breached the 80% mark! At this ultimate tier, even a single fraction of a percent was an exceptionally rare, precious acquisition.
He had unlocked a whole 2% just by engaging in a brief dialogue with the universe's protagonist.
Anticipation flared fiercely within him. If a casual conversation could yield this much value, what would happen once their fists and blades actually collided? How much synchronization would an active clash with Saitama provide?
Could it potentially push him all the way to 100%, unlocking an ultimate realm of power that completely transcended the baseline limitations of Hawkeye Mihawk himself?
Ryuu didn't have the answers yet. But there was only one definitive way to find out: fight first, figure out the rest later!
With his hawk-like eyes narrowing into a razor-sharp focal point, Ryuu swung the massive Black Blade: Yoru once more, blitzing directly toward Saitama.
Thick, volatile waves of Armament Haki coiled violently up the obsidian blade, coating it in a pitch-black mantle. The next instant, another colossal, roaring emerald beast of a flying slash erupted into existence, charging fiercely at the bald youth across the clearing!
HUM—!
BOOM—!
The overlapping screeches of tearing wind and shattering concrete detonated simultaneously.
Up above, Fubuki was completely paralyzed with fear. Though she had been entirely unprepared for the initial chaos, she managed to gather her wits enough to manifest her residual psychokinesis, pushing her body significantly higher into the sky.
Even though she still couldn't comprehend the true relationship or background between Ryuu and Saitama, one thing was blindingly apparent: any individual who could seamlessly tank Ryuu's apocalyptic slashes without a single scratch was an absolute monster.
The impending clash between these two was no longer a human battle—it was a collision of primordial, god-like anomalies. It was infinitely safer for her to stay as far away from the blast radius as humanly possible.
And a split second later, the reality of the battlefield perfectly validated her survival instincts. The moment Ryuu and Saitama formally traded blows, the entire ruined district was instantaneously transformed into an absolute, cataclysmic wasteland
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