Two hours, down to the second.
The bustling heart of Z City had been turned into a ghost town by the Hero Association's efficient evacuation, now eerily silent.
Outside the balcony.
Whoosh—
The air quivered faintly as a green figure floated silently in place.
It was Tornado!
Arms crossed, her emerald curls swaying without wind, her small chin tilted high, she fixed Gaio, standing by the balcony door, with a sharp, visibly annoyed stare.
"Hey, White-Hair!" Tornado's crisp, haughty voice cut through the air. "You're the one saying there's a monster hideout down there?"
Gaio glanced up, his eyes briefly scanning Tornado.
Hmm, she does look a bit like Fubuki. Pretty. Figure… well, flat as a board. Hard to judge.
A stray thought popped up: Fubuki's top-tier.
So, this one… could she be a potential sister-in-law?
At that thought, Gaio's usual cold demeanor melted, replaced by a warm, almost friendly smile. His voice softened. "Yeah, deep underground."
This sudden "friendliness" caught Tornado off guard, and her annoyance only grew.
She let out a sharp "Hmph," chin tilting even higher. "Tch! We don't need you! Watch me drag them all out!"
Before her words even settled, a blinding green glow of telekinetic power enveloped her! The rubble on the ground trembled and floated upward! She was clearly about to rip the earth apart!
Whoosh—!
A bone-chilling cold surged up Tornado's spine, raising goosebumps!
Her green glow flickered!
She whipped her head around, glaring at Gaio.
His warm smile hadn't budged, as if that deadly chill hadn't come from him. His lips parted, and he said two words:
"Hold on."
"Wait a bit."
"For what?!" Tornado stomped her foot in frustration but forcibly restrained her surging telekinesis.
She hadn't forgotten the earth-shaking battle in A City—how terrifying this white-haired jerk and that bald monster were when they clashed.
Gaio tilted his head, gazing at the night sky, his pupils reflecting the moonlight.
---
He was pondering the entity Homeless Emperor called "God"—was it lurking deep underground or sealed in some temporal rift by Blast?
"Hey!" Tornado followed his gaze upward, seeing nothing but the moon, and her temper flared. "What're you staring at?!"
"Oh, nothing." Gaio looked back, turning toward the apartment. "You guys ready?"
With a creak, Gojo Satoru sauntered out, ruffling his white hair, his Six Eyes glowing faintly blue in the moonlight. "All set, of course~ Just waiting for you, Little Tian, to give the word~"
Saitama followed, decked out in a brand-new hero suit—yellow spandex gleaming with high-tech fabric, red gloves woven with special fibers, and even his white cape upgraded to nanomaterial.
Looked like the Hero Association was finally taking "Bald Cape" seriously.
But… Gaio glanced at the cape, doomed to become tatters, and his mouth twitched.
Genos was the last to step out, his mechanical joints humming faintly.
His brows were furrowed, his core processor running tactical simulations at full throttle.
Gaio raised an eyebrow at Genos.
The cyborg's combat ability was decent, but the upcoming fight was way out of his league.
Whoosh!
The Enma blade flashed, slicing through the air. A spatial rift opened silently behind Genos.
"Lord Gaio?!" Genos barely reacted before Gaio kicked him through the portal.
"Hey!" Saitama's eyes widened. "What's that for?!"
As the portal snapped shut, Gaio sheathed his blade. "Too dangerous for him here."
Saitama opened his mouth but said nothing. He recalled their time-stopped duel—if Gaio meant harm, he'd have been sliced in half long ago.
"Alright, alright~" Gojo perched on the balcony railing, his Six Eyes gleaming with excitement. "So, Little Tian, how we getting down there to have some fun?"
Gaio chuckled.
"Rip up the ground."
His words barely landed before his figure vanished.
The next second, a piercing blade hum rang from high above.
Everyone looked up to see Gaio standing in midair, Enma blade held vertically, both hands gripping the hilt—
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Three blade arcs tore through the night, too fast for afterimages.
The blade was sheathed.
Centered on Saitama's apartment, the uninhabited zone spanning kilometers lit up with countless blade marks!
Abandoned skyscrapers, empty highways, ruined parks… every structure was etched with fine cuts, and then—
Crash!
The entire zone crumbled into swirling sand, as if eroded by a thousand years!
"Whoa~" Gojo whistled, his Six Eyes eagerly tracking each speck of dust.
Gaio flashed back to the balcony, glancing at Gojo.
The white-haired maniac grinned, standing lazily and reaching toward the sky with a casual grab:
"Cang."
Buzz—!
A terrifying gravitational force erupted!
The swirling sand was sucked upward like a vacuum, coalescing into a massive sandball kilometers wide in the blink of an eye!
The ground revealed its truth—
A bottomless pit, its edges smooth as if laser-cut.
Saitama's apartment stood alone in the center, like an island in a vast ocean.
"This… this…" Saitama's eyes widened, his jaw dropping wide enough to fit a lightbulb.
Gojo was about to tease when the bald man clutched his head and wailed:
"Nooo! My house is an island now!" Saitama dropped to his knees, gripping the balcony railing in despair. "No water, no power! The supermarket's so far! The roads are gone! I can't get to the sales! The discounts are slipping away!!"
"…"
"…"
"…"
The three stood speechless.
Their stunned expressions lasted only a moment.
Buzz—!
A massive, nauseating malice erupted from the pit's depths! Accompanied by countless piercing, overlapping cackles, roars, and incomprehensible shrieks!
In the pitch-black abyss, countless eyes flickered to life, glowing with eerie red, sickly green, and ghostly blue… as if the gates of hell had opened, awakening a horde of dormant demons.
The pit was illuminated by this sinister "starlight."
Gaio's brow furrowed slightly. "Hm?"
Gojo tilted his head, his tone teasing. "Little Tian~ Slacking off? Didn't clear out all the small fries, huh?"
Gaio snorted. "I took out at least ten thousand."
He glanced at the writhing "stars" in the abyss. "They were just hiding deep."
His gaze shifted to Tornado, floating in the air, the implication clear.
Tornado huffed in annoyance but didn't hesitate. Her arms flung wide!
Buzz!
Blinding green telekinetic flames surged, a tangible torrent flooding the entire abyss!
"Hm?"
"Ahh—!"
"Gwah?"
"What the?!"
The pit's chaotic cries turned to shock, confusion, and screams.
"What's happening?!"
"My body… it's not mine?!"
"Argh! It hurts! My insides… they're being crushed!"
Pop! (The sound of some poor soul's eyeball bursting)
"Hey! Why's your arm twisted like a pretzel?!"
At the pit's bottom, the chaotic howls mixed with bewildered, panicked shouts.
Tornado's telekinesis churned like a meat grinder, brutally tearing and crushing every hidden monster!
Her power still roiled in the abyss, accompanied by unending shrieks and pops.
"Whoops~" Gojo grinned mischievously, cracking his neck. "Poor Tornado, cleaning up all alone. That's rough~"
He raised his right hand, a rapidly spinning blue energy orb forming in his palm.
"Cang."
He flicked his fingers.
Whoosh!
The tiny "Cang" shot down like a blue meteor!
It hit the pit's depths and expanded!
Buzz—!
A terrifying gravitational force erupted!
The monsters that had survived Tornado's telekinetic onslaught, cowering in corners, saw their luck turn to terror!
"Huh?!"
"No—!"
Their screams were cut short!
Their bodies were yanked uncontrollably toward the spinning blue gravity core!
The massive gravity ball spun like a bloodthirsty washing machine, shredding and tearing!
Monsters' bodies were twisted, ripped apart! Bones cracked, organs splattered!
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Crimson blood mist and flesh chunks churned in the spinning blue gravity field!
A massive, viscous, reeking vortex of blood and flesh formed above the abyss!
"Done~" Gojo clapped his hands, grinning as he looked away.
"…" Tornado pursed her lips but said nothing.
Then, Saitama stood upright, his dead-fish eyes fixed on the abyss. "Hey, something strong's coming."
Gaio and Gojo's gazes sharpened.
At the abyss's bottom, the blood-and-flesh vortex was torn apart!
Several auras, far stronger than before, erupted like a volcano, shattering the vortex! Blood and gore were scattered by the explosive force!
Tornado's expression shifted. "Hm?"
Gojo's Six Eyes blazed brighter than ever. "Whoa! More than one?"
"Ha!" Saitama clenched his fists, eyes gleaming. "They seem tough!"
Gaio glanced at the five figures landing on the last patch of ground before Saitama's apartment—Miaow, Ugly President, Gums, Natural Water, and a charred Phoenix Man, his costume half-shattered but radiating a stronger aura.
"Tch," Gaio scoffed, unimpressed. "This it?"
Monster Association bottom-tier cadres, plus a newly evolved, unstable dragon-level Phoenix Man. To him, they were all small fries.
He turned to Gojo and Saitama. "You guys splitting them?"
Gojo grinned, his Six Eyes locking on. "I'll take the cat and that water slime~ They look fun!"
Saitama shrugged casually. "Whatever. They seemed scary for a second."
He tilted his bald head, the "they're tough" vibe fading as he sized them up. "Now it feels like… one punch'll do?"
"Hey!" Tornado exploded, her green curls flaring. "You three! Don't dump the ugliest ones on me!!"
Floating in the air, she glared in disgust at the uniquely hideous Ugly President and Gums, her disdainful look even sweeping over the newly dragon-level Phoenix Man.
Phoenix Man's charred costume still smoked, his aura faltering under Tornado's unfiltered contempt.
The scene turned awkward.
At the pit's edge, the five monster cadres, who'd arrived with terrifying momentum, struck battle poses—only to be completely ignored by the four on the balcony, who started divvying them up like cuts of meat and complaining about their looks…
Ugly President's twisted face grew uglier, Gums let out an incoherent roar, and Phoenix Man's eyes darkened under his charred mask.
Miaow's fur bristled, and Natural Water's surface rippled.
Only Saitama, looking at the monsters waiting below, scratched his bald head in confusion. "You guys… why aren't you attacking?"
"Courting death?!"
A booming, savage roar thundered from the apartment's rooftop!
BOOM!
The roof and several floors were pierced by a barbaric force from above!
Concrete and rebar tore like paper, flying outward!
A violent gust of dust and debris poured down!
"Annoying," Gaio muttered, his brow unmoving as his right hand rested on the Enma blade's hilt.
Clang!
A cold, moonlit blade arc flashed.
Slash!
The roaring force above stopped dead.
Splat…
Two massive, bloodied halves of a corpse plummeted through the hole, crashing onto the last patch of ground before the apartment.
Thud! Thud!
Dust clouded the air.
The corpse, over nine meters tall, had steel-like muscles, spiky hair standing on end, and four scarlet eyes lined in a row, frozen in rage and shock.
Its sleeveless judo pants were sliced with mirror-smooth cuts.
The lingering ferocious aura pressed down on Miaow and the others, far beyond their level!
"Gouketsu's dead!"
Miaow's fur exploded, a shrill cat scream piercing the air with panic!
"Why do you keep destroying my house?!" Saitama's frantic yell erupted through the dust, staring in despair as Gouketsu's corpse smashed another chunk of the balcony's edge.
He was done! The sales were out of reach, and now his house was nearly gone!
Every time he wailed like this, things got worse.
RUMBLE—!
The apartment shook violently! A tremor, far stronger than Gouketsu's impact, surged from deep underground!
"Hm?" Gaio's eyes narrowed.
"Whoa! Here comes the big one!" Gojo's Six Eyes locked downward.
"Huh?" Saitama steadied himself.
Tornado's brows knit, her telekinesis instinctively shielding her.
Bang bang bang—!
On the ground, Miaow, Ugly President, Gums, Phoenix Man, and even Natural Water paled, leaping back toward the pit's edge!
As if the ground wasn't solid but a volcano about to erupt!
Crack—BOOM!
The ground beneath the apartment shattered like an eggshell!
A massive maw, lined with jagged, ring-shaped teeth, burst through with earth-shattering force!
The mouth, over two hundred meters wide, dominated everyone's vision!
Like the abyss itself opening, it chomped the crumbling apartment from the bottom up!
Bricks, rebar, and concrete turned to dust! The building collapsed like a crushed biscuit amid ear-splitting metal screeches!
Above the layered, spine-chilling maw, a withered, elderly face was embedded in the centipede's head, roaring with venomous rage:
"You killed my Monster Association cadres! You'll pay for this—!!!"
Dragon-level monster—Elder Centipede! Its massive body, just the part above ground, blocked the moonlight, casting a bottomless shadow!
As the apartment collapsed, Gaio, Gojo, and Tornado flickered, hovering steadily in midair.
Only Saitama.
His new cape whipped in the violent gusts, his body plummeting with the rubble and broken floors.
But his eyes were locked on the toothed maw that destroyed his last refuge and the roaring face above it.
The night's pent-up anger, his obsession with sales, and his fury at his home's destruction erupted!
"All of you! Why do you keep destroying my house—?!!"
Falling, Saitama drew back his right fist.
And then—
BOOM—!!
One punch, straight forward!