Doctor Strange dismissed his magic and dropped back to the ground. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, and when he looked at Saitama, his eyes were full of awe—mixed with something complicated.
"Unbelievable power… You saved this city again, Mr. Saitama."
Saitama stood in the sunlight, brushed the dust off his cheap hero suit, and lifted his head to look at the dark vortex that had shrunk to less than ten meters—and was still rapidly dispersing.
But there wasn't much joy of victory on his face.
"Yeah… it's over," he said calmly. His gaze seemed to pierce through the dissolving vortex and look toward something even deeper and farther away. "But that 'Abyss's Throat'… doesn't sound like one person's name. And this 'envoy'… was probably just a doorman, right?"
He turned his head, looking at Spider-Man and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who were cheering and hugging each other. Then he glanced at Doctor Strange, who seemed lost in thought, and scratched his shiny head.
"So… this is probably… just the beginning?"
The last trace of ominous gloom over New York finally vanished. Sunlight once again bathed the battered city.
In the streets, people cautiously emerged from shelters, beginning to clear rubble and rebuild their homes. The air carried the relief of survival—and the faint smell of smoke.
However, standing atop a tall building, Saitama didn't feel relaxed at all.
On that familiar, slightly vacant face of his, his brow—rarely—furrowed faintly.
"Something's off…"
Saitama murmured under his breath, his eyes sweeping over the city below as it gradually regained life. After defeating the one who called himself the "Abyss's Throat" envoy, the terrifying dark vortex really had disappeared.
Yet a deeper, more hidden unease—like an undercurrent beneath water—lingered in his chest and refused to fade.
His intuition… or rather, the absurd, beyond-common-sense instinct he had—
Was soon proven right.
A few days later, abnormal reports from all over the world piled into Doctor Strange's Sanctum like snowflakes—and the news also reached Saitama.
A deep-sea detector in the Pacific captured an unknown energy pulse.
In the Siberian permafrost, vast areas of vegetation withered unnaturally.
Deep in the Sahara Desert, a brief spatial distortion was observed…
But the most unsettling report of all was an urgent transmission from the South American rainforest.
An international archaeological team, excavating an ancient ruin that had never been recorded, accidentally triggered some kind of unknown defensive mechanism.
A stone slab carved with bizarre black runes activated.
The three archaeologists who touched it were instantly corroded by a thick, ink-like dark energy.
They let out inhuman shrieks, their eyes rolled white, and black markings—similar to the runes—rose beneath their skin. Then they fell into total madness.
Extremely aggressive.
Monstrously strong.
Security on site tried to restrain them, only to be severely injured instead.
The news was tightly sealed, but Doctor Strange learned the details immediately through his channels—and contacted Saitama at once.
"Dark energy again… and it feels like it comes from the same source as that vortex before."
Saitama stared at the projected footage Doctor Strange displayed with magic—the ruin site, especially the three archaeologists' twisted, crazed faces and the black markings writhing across their bodies.
His voice stayed calm, but it carried certainty.
Doctor Strange floated in the center of the Sanctum, his expression grim. The Cloak of Levitation fluttered without any wind.
"That's right, Mr. Saitama. The outward form is different, but the energy nature is highly similar. That rune slab…"
He paused, eyes narrowing slightly.
"It feels like a fragment of some seal. Or… a 'beacon'."
(End of Chapter)
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