Chapter 850: Serious Punch Duet, The Resonating Echoes of Saitama and Kaito Shirogane
The astonishment in Kaito Shirogane's eyes swiftly morphed into manic fervor.
If his spatial senses weren't mistaken, the moon harbored an entity that vastly eclipsed Boros and that abyssal black dragon.
That sheer presence practically blanketed the entire celestial satellite. Had he not been kicked directly onto its crust, he wouldn't have perceived a single trace of it from outside lunar orbit.
Unlike Kaito's current Third Sequence standing—where scaling in power twisted and concentrated his presence into an oppressive spatial singularity—this being was like the moon itself, radiating a colossal, immutable presence across the cosmos.
Only upon touching the regolith could Kaito sense the staggering ocean of biological vitality coiled within.
If an ordinary human's life force was an ant, a Second Step Reincarnator beginning bloodline modification was a wisp of smoke, and a pureblood dragon was a roaring bonfire...
Then Kaito, having continually ascended and unlocked Tier 7 of the Physique of the Primordial Man, possessed a life force forged anew within the Furnace of Life—a hyper-biological phenomenon born from the convergence of countless ancestral lifeforms.
Yet the creature slumbering on the moon represented another evolutionary threshold entirely. Its life force had undergone an absolute, qualitative metamorphosis. Within Kaito's Limit-Break Spiral, the very conceptual boundaries separating dragon-kind and star spirits began to blur.
This colossal dragon occupied the liminal space between dragon and astral spirit: a conceptual lifeform cast into physical reality.
Second Sequence!
The classification surfaced instinctively within Kaito's thoughts. The sequential hierarchy was a universal measuring standard shared across the elder Spaces, carrying far more objective weight than the Infinite Dimensional Space's localized tiers of Paper, Parallel, Strong, Fierce, Madness, and God. Kaito could not definitively judge whether this beast had breached the God tier, but it had undeniably opened an unbridgeable, qualitative gulf between itself, Boros, and his current baseline.
To think the Primordial Dragon Court had deployed an asset of this magnitude into this world...
Whoosh...
Suspended in the vacuum of space, Kaito distinctly perceived the flow of wind. The terrifying titan coiled across the far side of the moon bestowed atmospheric currents upon the satellite purely through the rhythm of its respiration.
White mist swirled across the craters. Watching the fog drift, Kaito caught the shifting silhouettes of draconic phantoms within the vapor. The shapes coalesced into a humanoid frame boasting a horned dragon skull and an elongated tail.
With a single glance, Kaito recognized the form: it closely mirrored the hybrid battle state of that titanic black dragon.
Hum!
Golden radiance bloomed from within the white mist. Kaito's forward momentum stuttered for a fraction of a second before snapping back to fluid motion.
[You have resisted Dragon King's Domain]
Kaito didn't care whether the dispel was triggered by the Stairway of Miracles and Destiny nullifying absolute authorities, or if the boundless Ki overflowing from his Sixteen-Fold Kaio-Ken had forcibly blown the domain open.
He took a heavy stride forward. Pitch-black Conqueror's Haki infused the regolith, detonating in a web of crimson and black lightning that arced across nearly half the moon.
Apocalyptic spiritual pressure flattened the area. The draconic phantom woven from mist scattered into air, sending shockwaves through the rolling sea of white fog.
Across Kaito's Mantra Network, the physical form of the great dragon finally resolved into sharp clarity.
Weathered ash-gray scales, trailing whiskers like mountain roots, and a colossal draconic chassis wrapped around half the moon's circumference. Most anomalous of all: hovering behind its horned skull was a circular halo of divine light spanning thousands of meters in diameter.
A pureblood dragon bearing the traits of an astral spirit, crowned with the divine halo of an upper-tier divine species. This creature had fused the pinnacles of the cosmos's three strongest races into an unbroken, singular whole.
In a sense, it walked the most flawless sovereign path conceivable.
A qualitative metamorphosis of life force surpassing Kaito's own, uniting the three supreme lineages. Even the draconic mirages naturally exhaled during its slumber commanded combat ratings comparable to the Third Sequence...
Kaito felt the sheer density of the dream-state. With every breath exhaled from the beast's nostrils, the chalky mist spontaneously generated legions of formidable monstrosities.
High-ranking dragons could project their dreams onto material reality while deep in slumber; Kaito had reviewed that lore before. But for draconic mirages to manifest Third Sequence combatants far exceeded the parameters of standard intelligence.
This was an entity from another operational echelon entirely—capable of single-handedly inverting the narrative trajectory of a world, or shattering the planet to cinders through individual will alone.
Even Kaito felt a fleeting pang of hesitation.
Yet in the span of a single heartbeat, that hesitation was cast aside.
Kaito took a stride forward, plunging directly into the rolling white mist. With his next step, the cervical spines of several draconic phantoms condensing around his path snapped like dry twigs, collapsing back into ambient vapor.
With another step, Kaito cleared ten thousand meters, hurtling toward the far side of the moon.
Hum...
The dense mist parted as though cleared by a gale. Kaito's silhouette emerged directly before the cavernous nostrils of the great beast.
"Mortal. You may still turn back."
The telepathic decree rattled Kaito's eardrums with searing pain. The resonant frequency twisted local space. Even behind Kaito's reinforced wards, his inner ear vibrated violently, threatening to rupture his internal closed loop.
A phenomenon of this caliber could never be generated by a Third Sequence combatant.
Kaito was certain: the creature before him was a bona fide Second Sequence titan.
An entity that stood completely above his current parameters.
Yet he did not retreat an inch.
The colossal dragon remained deep within its slumber, sustaining its draconic stasis as the mirages continued to billow outward. Kaito reached out his arm, pressing his hand toward the titan's brow.
Though neither the Martial God's Ultimate Intent, nor his Mantra Network, nor even his Limit-Break Spiral could parse an organic flaw across the creature...
Kaito resolved to strike. He didn't even bother activating the [Anchor of Causality].
The fact that this dragon appeared utterly devoid of structural flaws was the most glaring flaw of all.
If the Primordial Dragon Court possessed an entity of this tier to deploy into this world, it served only one logical tactical purpose: containing Saitama.
Otherwise, this beast was bound by severe operational limitations.
A dragon capable of steamrolling this entire world, lounging idle on the far side of the moon? Flawless concealment was itself an undeniable tell.
Furthermore, Kaito had traversed dimensions specifically to challenge the summit of power. He held zero fear of mortality.
Even if his deduction proved entirely mistaken, Kaito saw no loss in turning to dust against such might.
Compared to facing Saitama, this ancient beast was likely the lesser trial!
Hum!
Spacetime twisted. Scorching thermal energy flared before Kaito's left forearm. The Sovereign's Left Arm groaned under the escalating pressure. The closer he drew to the dragon's chassis, the higher the temperature of the white mist spiked.
It had long exceeded the heat of molten magma.
Even the synthetic atmosphere generated by the beast's respiration was igniting into plasma.
Unfazed by the thermal display, Kaito felt his hypothesis confirmed.
The next second, Kaito took a smooth step backward. Within the blinding white fog, an enormous draconic maw was condensing into shape.
Yet Kaito's frame had already coiled with organic precision. His right fist settled against his hip, his various energetic reservoirs imploding into absolute concentration.
Behind Kaito's back, that familiar yellow-suited silhouette flickered into view. Kaito's biomechanics were an identical, mirror reflection of Saitama's posture.
[Serious Punch]!
The far side of the moon caved inward instantly. Before the kinetic payload could even detonate, the local coordinate space fractured like brittle glass, forcing the draconic mirages back into the ash-gray nostrils.
Within an isolated dimensional pocket, Saitama stood atop the peak of a colossal draconic mountain range. Genos looked back across the wasteland: not a single enemy remained standing. Even the titanic abomination spanning hundreds of thousands of meters beneath the valley floor had been obliterated by a single strike from his master.
Yet they had found no exit from the pocket dimension.
By now, even Genos had deduced that the entity calling itself Tiamat had deceived them.
There was no adversary in this realm capable of providing his master with an authentic challenge. The dragon had merely been stalling for time.
Suddenly, Saitama's senses stirred. He looked up toward a specific coordinate in the void, feeling something intimately familiar.
So familiar it felt like encountering another version of himself.
Simultaneously, the withered, ancient heart of Tiamat—beating at the absolute dregs of its lifespan—thumped with violent force.
It was a sensation so distant the dragon could scarcely recall its name.
The tightening of the ventricles, the reverse-scales along the neck bristling in unison, the cold numbness gripping the nervous system...
It was called fear.
Tiamat had been the operational toll paid by the Primordial Dragon Court to breach this world. Securing the core narrative authority of a realm that birthed an anomalous information singularity like Saitama represented an immense leap in systemic capital for the Dragon Court.
And Tiamat, a Dragon God Candidate teetering on the edge of biological decay, had willingly laid down his ancient life for his lineage.
Yet at this final hour, terror breached his defenses.
The primal biological instinct of an enlightened soul.
An anomalous entity had locked unadulterated killing intent directly onto his existence!
What Tiamat could not comprehend was how the champion flagged as the Infinite Dimensional Space's absolute ace—the Third Sequence Martial God, Mercenary Tao—showed zero hesitation before him.
Standing before a Second Sequence titan, that mortal should have trembled in the exact same manner Tiamat trembled before Saitama!
While Saitama was notoriously detached from mundane affairs, his instincts cut directly to the core of any crisis the moment serious mode engaged.
Saitama turned his torso, pulling his right fist back to his hip. The red glove was concealed beneath his fluttering white cape, his eyes locked onto that singular coordinate in the sky.
He took a single step forward.
[Serious Punch]!
BOOM!
A strike eclipsing any offensive output in historical record detonated outward. Genos felt the atmosphere scream in agony as the pocket reality shattered like porcelain.
The azure sky turned pitch-black as the entire dimensional pocket collapsed. The towering mountain ranges and the endless sea of draconic carcasses evaporated into nothingness.
In their place lay the cold, star-dusted vacuum of deep space, and hanging in the distance... planet Earth.
Beholding the azure sphere suspended in the dark, Genos's central processing units practically overheated into a hard crash. He held zero memory of when they had left the planetary surface. His sensory suites rebooted frantically, parsing a torrent of astronomical telemetry.
Saitama pinched his nose with one hand, attempting to prevent himself from suffocating in the airless void.
Kaito Shirogane held his follow-through stance, watching the fractured skull of the great dragon split down the center. As the white mist dispersed into the vacuum, Saitama and Genos materialized out of thin air.
This is...
This dragon truly was the anchor deployed by the Primordial Dragon Court to quarantine Saitama!
As Kaito's thoughts spun, the gargantuan dragon—its cranium caved in from both dimensions—quivered violently.
The entire lunar body shuddered on its axis. A near-planetary organism was thrashing in its death throes!
Boundless vitality flared without reserve. Draconic blood showered across Kaito's frame, grinding against his golden Ki with concussive friction, scorching through the aura to hammer against his AT Field.
Saitama clenched his fist a second time, but Kaito was faster. Stepping forward in lockstep, Kaito mimicked the exact kinetic leverage Saitama had displayed.
A phantom surfaced behind his back—and accompanied by the grinding roar of iron chains, a pitch-black avatar of death manifested alongside it.
The celestial dragon that shook the moon had been stripped of its life force by the simultaneous convergence of two Serious Punches; this was merely the post-mortem muscular reflex of a dying serpent.
Kaito felt the ravenous hunger of the Space surging through his interface. His advancement quest was flashing with blinding urgency. There was no material in existence more optimal for his ascension than slaying an entity of this bracket!
BOOM!
The cratered moon buckled as golden Ki erupted clean through the crust, triggering the total structural collapse of the lunar surface. Genos recognized the biomechanics instantly—it was a carbon copy of his master's technique!
"Sensei, that man is—"
Saitama kept his nose pinched, deeply uncomfortable with being unable to breathe. Though curious about Kaito, he pointed toward the distant blue planet. Seizing Genos by the waist, he bent his knees.
Sensei—
BANG!
The moon shattered into fragmented tectonic plates as Saitama shot toward Earth like a beam of pure light.
The concussive recoil of that lunar leap thoroughly pulverized what remained of the great dragon, right as Kaito's [Serious Punch] paired with the [Yama] trait connected with its core.
[You have slain Dragon God Candidate: Tiamat]
[You have obtained S-Rank Singularity Point * 3]
[You have obtained Dimensional Points * 200,000]
[Advancement Quest: Flesh of the Enemy, Sustenance of Mine detected. Consume target: Tiamat as the catalyst to complete the trial?]
"Yes."
From the floating sea of lunar debris, Kaito snatched the severed, colossal dragon skull.
[You have acquired Material: Tiamat's Dragon Skull (Mythic)]
The next fraction of a millisecond, Kaito bent his knees, mirroring Saitama's posture, and launched himself off the wreckage with explosive force.
BOOM!
As the remaining fragments of the moon dissolved into orbital dust, a streak of golden light lanced straight toward the blue planet.
Along the smoking perimeter of City A, Neltharion held his posture, his jaws parted to rain down catastrophic fire. Yet an armored hand clamped firmly around the scales at the base of his skull.
"Hey, beast. Battle isn't supposed to feel like this."
Boros looked down upon the dragon who, while he had been occupied dueling Mercenary Tao, had leveled the city and slaughtered his alien crew alongside the defending mortals.
He felt profound disgust.
This creature had clearly perceived the battle between himself and Mercenary Tao, yet had deliberately skirted around them to prey upon weaklings.
Boros despised such conduct.
Thus, despite his depleted state—his hair withering to brittle straw—Boros resolved to attend to one final piece of business on behalf of his destined rival, Mercenary Tao.
Namely: put this beast down.
Whoosh—BOOM!
A concussive shockwave ripped through the atmosphere once more.
Her psychic glow flickering on the verge of total exhaustion, her face streaked with blood, Tornado looked on in disbelief as a bald man stepped out from a colossal impact crater, a relieved smile on his face.
"Ah... We're back!"
BOOM!
A second shockwave shattered the bedrock.
Her arms spread wide to embrace her execution, Makima's amber, ringed pupils quivered violently. Standing amidst the pulverized concrete of the ruins, cloaked in blinding golden Ki, was the long-haired martial artist, his cold gaze settling directly upon the towering black dragon.
"Mercenary Tao... for Fun?!"
Having harvested an extraordinary mythic-tier catalyst, Kaito Shirogane was in an exceptionally foul, euphoric mood. Turning his head toward the Control Devil posing dramatically in the dirt, he cracked a sharp grin:
"Well now... posing like that just to welcome my return?"
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