"ROOOOAR—!!!"
The Great Snake let out a shriek that shook the entire underground world.
Its six blazing scarlet pupils locked onto Kaito like bloody searchlights.
"Kaito! I'll show you TRUE POWER!
*Violent Heart Liberation Fist — STAR SHATTER!!!*"
In the next instant, its colossal body—hundreds of meters of scales, muscle, and hatred—exploded forward at a speed that defied physics.
Its right fist contracted.
A blinding red core ignited in its chest, pulsing like a supernova about to detonate.
"Come."
Kaito's calm reply echoed from within the Golden Armored Giant—steady, firm, and tinged with restrained excitement.
Facing a punch capable of leveling mountains, he didn't evade.
Instead, he lowered his stance and crossed his arms defensively.
The Emperor Engine's roar deepened—heavy, ancient, resonant.
Crimson-gold energy surged outward, forming a fluid, shimmering barrier around the giant's frame.
*BOOOOM—!!!*
As if two stars collided, a titanic shockwave erupted in all directions!
The reinforced rock walls—strengthened by Kaito's earlier precaution—shattered like brittle glass.
Cracks webbed across the cavern, stretching hundreds of meters as debris blasted upward in violent plumes.
Kaito's eyes flashed with fierce intensity.
His perfected Observation Haki surged to its limit, recording every fragment of the Great Snake's technique.
*Ding! Insight gained: "Violent Heart Liberation Fist" (1/3).*
"Not enough! Again!"
Kaito taunted, provoking on purpose.
"YOU COURT DEATH!!!"
The Great Snake howled.
The red light from its heart burned even brighter—then its left fist shot forward with catastrophic force.
*"Violent Heart Liberation — SKY COLLAPSE!!!"*
Even the air distorted around the incoming blow.
The Golden Armored Giant slid back half a step, crimson-gold energy rippling violently across its form.
*Ding! Insight gained: "Violent Heart Liberation Fist" (2/3).*
---
*Meanwhile, in the research facility far below…*
Black-Eyed Psykos nearly toppled off her clone body as the entire structure shook violently.
"W-What is happening?!"
Her playful demeanor vanished instantly.
This wasn't a normal tremor—this was annihilation-level force.
She activated a floating spherical monitor.
It pierced through layers of rock and projected a live feed onto the main screen.
The moment the image appeared—
Her mind went blank.
A colossal golden giant was trading blows with a monstrous serpent covered in hundreds of writhing black-scaled heads.
Every collision produced shockwaves strong enough to pulverize mountains.
"Oh… my god…"
The sight was beyond comprehension.
Even the aftershocks of that battle threatened to rip the entire underground facility apart.
"Nope. I'm out!"
She made the judgment instantly.
The stone layers above would not withstand another minute of this battle.
If she stayed, even a Dragon-level esper like herself would be flattened like a bug.
Her telepathic message shot directly to the Golden Armored Giant.
*"Darling! You two are going crazy up there! The house is going to collapse! I'm taking the sisters back to our place in M-City! Be careful, okay?!"*
Inside the Golden Armored Giant, Kaito's ears twitched.
"Understood. Be safe."
A thread of crimson-gold energy slipped from his aura into Psykos's body—a silent guardian meant to protect her from any danger during her retreat.
Then he redirected all focus toward the Great Snake—
—which was charging again.
*"Violent Heart Liberation — WORLD ANNIHILATION!!!"*
Both of the monster's fists fired at once, the red light in its heart nearly bursting through its ribcage.
This was its final, ultimate blow.
A strike that emptied its life force entirely.
Kaito crossed his arms—and met it head-on.
*BOOOOOOM—!!!*
A shockwave obliterated everything within a thousand-meter radius.
Reinforced walls shattered.
The cavern floor buckled.
Stone pillars disintegrated like chalk.
Off in the distance, Saitama sat on a boulder, bored, counting falling stalactites like they were raindrops.
*Ding! Insight gained: "Violent Heart Liberation Fist" (3/3).*
*Ding! Skill unlocked: "Violent Heart Liberation Fist" — Beginner (0/50).*
Kaito exhaled slowly.
"So that's the essence… Compress the heart, ignite the life flame, push explosive power to its absolute theoretical limit… Brutal, simple—yet undeniably beautiful in its destruction."
Kaito instantly understood—and roared:
"System! Max out *Violent Heart Liberation Fist* to the peak!"
**Ding! Deterrence Points - 50.
Skill upgraded: Proficient (0/200).**
…
**Ding! Deterrence Points - 30000!
Skill upgraded: Peak (15/—).**
*New Effect Unlocked — Heart Furnace: Melting Star (Active):*
Transform the heart into a stellar furnace. Momentarily erupt with power one hundred times the user's normal limit under extreme compression.
Attacks gain the *Incineration* property—annihilating energy bodies and suppressing regenerative entities.
(Requires recovery time after use.)
---
In the same moment, Kaito felt his heart undergo a cataclysmic metamorphosis.
The Emperor Engine—already a monstrous biological reactor—now evolved into something terrifying, something akin to a miniature star roaring inside his chest.
His comprehension of Violent Heart Liberation Fist soared to the absolute summit.
Kaito slowly exhaled.
"…My turn."
The Golden Armored Giant detonated with golden-red radiance.
Kaito drew his right fist back to his waist—
—and a light hundreds of times more brilliant than the Great Snake's ignited from his heart.
*Violent Heart Liberation — Stellar Core Burst!!!***
A single straight punch.
Nothing ornate. Nothing excessive.
Just pure, unrestrained, star-killing force.
The Great Snake's eyes widened in despair.
It couldn't dodge.
Space itself had locked around it like an execution chamber.
*BOOOOOOM—!!!*
The punch tore through its colossal body, blasting it backward through seven layers of rock before it finally slammed to a stop.
A massive hollow cavity opened in its chest—
golden-red flames devouring everything at the edges, refusing to let the flesh regenerate.
"N-No… impossible…"
The Great Snake writhed, its flesh crawling, twitching—yet utterly failing to heal.
"How can YOU use Violent Heart Liberation Fist… and even stronger than ME—?!"
Kaito raised his chin slightly.
"Is that all? If you've got more tricks, use them."
"YOU—YOU BASTARD!!! I'LL KILL YOU!!!"
Humiliation and madness obliterated the Great Snake's sanity.
It unleashed every advanced technique buried within its ancestral memories—
*"Whirlwind Iron Slash Fist — Sky-Shattering Blade!!!"*
*"Nether Body Trembling Tiger Fist — Hundred Beasts Tremble!!!"*
*"Booming Qi Sky-Splitting Fist — Whirlwind Flowing Water!!!"*
*"…"*
Ancient martial arts from a dozen extinct schools crashed down in a frenzy, forming a storm of lethal techniques—
—but Kaito merely watched, eyes calm, heart blazing like a newborn star.