The Black Dragon Fortress phased into existence high above Z-City without fanfare, without sound. One moment the sky was empty. The next, space folded inward, and the massive warship hovered there like an uninvited thought.
This world felt wrong the instant Su Chen stepped onto the observation deck.
Not weaker.
Not stronger.
Just… distorted.
The air itself carried a heavy, sour tension—like a city holding its breath before a scream. Below, Z-City looked ordinary at first glance. Traffic lights blinked. People walked with grocery bags. Life moved forward in neat, mundane routines.
Natasha leaned against the glass, squinting. "This is it? The famous monster world? Looks painfully normal."
Su Chen didn't answer immediately. His gaze drifted beyond the streets, past the buildings, toward the horizon.
"There," he said quietly.
Natasha followed his finger.
A massive crater scarred the city outskirts. At its center lay the remains of a gigantic humanoid corpse—muscle-bound, grotesque, already being cordoned off by emergency drones.
"A monster?" she asked.
"A symptom," Su Chen replied. "This world manufactures monsters the way others manufacture pollution. Fear. Anxiety. Obsession. Negative emotions ferment here until reality breaks and spits out something violent."
He straightened.
"It's a perfect chaos engine."
Natasha frowned. "And your target?"
"Lives in a ghost town," Su Chen said. "But before that… I need to confirm something."
---
The Ghost Town Encounter
Su Chen went alone.
No armor. No aura suppression field. No entourage. Just civilian clothes and a neutral presence, walking through the abandoned streets of Z-City's evacuation zone.
Buildings stood hollow and silent, windows shattered, signs rusting mid-sentence. The wind carried scraps of paper and dust through empty intersections.
Then he saw him.
A bald man in a yellow jumpsuit walked casually down the street, plastic grocery bag swinging from one hand. Green onions stuck out the top.
Saitama.
Su Chen stopped walking.
At first, nothing felt wrong.
No pressure.
No killing intent.
No energy fluctuations.
The man ahead of him felt like a pebble on the roadside. Like static background noise.
And that terrified him.
Every instinct Su Chen had sharpened across worlds screamed at the same time.
DO NOT ENGAGE.
He activated Spirit Sight.
Where an aura should have been—
There was nothing.
Not emptiness.
Not concealment.
A void.
A hole punched straight through the conceptual framework of limits themselves. Reality bent away from the bald man as if it didn't know how to define him.
Su Chen slid one hand into his pocket, fingers brushing against the system interface.
A warning detonated across his mind.
Su Chen's breath hitched.
He withdrew his hand slowly, a thin sheen of sweat forming at his temple.
"I thought so," he muttered.
Saitama's power wasn't a bloodline.
Wasn't cultivation.
Wasn't technique or inheritance.
It was a bug.
A cosmic oversight.
To replicate it, Su Chen would need to purge everything he had built—every bloodline, every system, every layer of evolution—and reset himself back to an ordinary human.
Level one.
No guarantees.
"Not worth it," he decided flatly. "I'm building a perfect lifeform. Not a broken one."
Saitama walked past him.
Up close, he looked painfully normal. Mildly bored. Mildly tired.
"Oh," Saitama said, glancing sideways. "Hi."
Su Chen nodded. "Nice leeks."
Saitama smiled faintly. "Thanks. Fifty percent off."
And then he was gone, footsteps fading into the quiet.
Only after the man disappeared did Su Chen realize he'd been holding his breath.
"…Okay," he said to himself. "The bald man is officially off-limits."
He turned away.
"Plan B."
---
The Blizzard Group
The B-Class Hero Registry building buzzed with activity. Inside an abandoned warehouse nearby, green psychic energy flickered through the air.
Fubuki stood at the center of the room, clad in her signature emerald dress and fur-lined coat, arms crossed with authority.
"Focus," she snapped. "We take down the Fan Monster, claim the bounty, and reinforce our ranking. No mistakes."
Her Blizzard Group—an assortment of nervous D-rank heroes—nodded eagerly.
Then—
Knock. Knock.
The warehouse door didn't open.
It disintegrated.
Dust and fragments drifted to the floor as Su Chen stepped through the empty doorway.
He didn't suppress anything.
Silver light traced his skin as his Silver Body activated. A faint halo of invisible pressure radiated outward—controlled, overwhelming.
The room froze.
"Who are you?!" Fubuki stepped back, green psychic light flaring instinctively. Her subordinates raised weapons that suddenly felt very small.
"I'm a recruiter," Su Chen said calmly. "And I'm looking for an Esper."
"I am the leader of B-Class!" Fubuki snapped, thrusting her hand forward. "You don't walk in here and—"
"Hells—"
Her psychic storm never finished forming.
Su Chen raised one finger.
"Stop."
The wind died.
Debris froze mid-air. Shards of concrete hovered like obedient pets.
Su Chen flicked his wrist.
"Sit."
The pressure came down like a collapsing mountain.
Fubuki dropped to her knees, gasping. Her group was slammed into the walls, pinned helplessly.
He walked toward her, unhurried.
"Your telekinesis relies on wind compression and brute force," he said. "That's not control. That's panic dressed as power."
He knelt, lifting her chin gently.
"Real telekinesis manipulates space itself."
Her thoughts bled through—fear, insecurity, resentment.
"You're terrified of your sister," Su Chen said quietly. "So you surround yourself with weaker people to feel strong."
Fubuki's eyes burned. "Shut up! You don't know anything about Tatsumaki!"
"I know she's lonely," he replied. "And so are you."
He stood.
"I'm not here to join your Blizzard Group. I'm offering you something better. A place where even Tatsumaki would just be another member."
Fubuki stared at him, stunned.
"…You want to recruit my sister?"
"Take me to her," Su Chen said. "I'll show you the difference between a hero and a god."
---
The Tornado of Terror
Hero Association HQ trembled.
Tatsumaki floated above the city, arms crossed, expression bored.
Another monster lay crushed beneath a floating meteor.
"Pathetic," she muttered. "Why is everything so weak?"
Her phone rang.
"Sister?"
"T-Tatsumaki…" Fubuki's voice shook. "There's someone coming. He defeated me."
Silence.
Then—
"WHAT?!"
Green psychic energy detonated outward, cracking windows for blocks.
"Who touched you?!" Tatsumaki snarled. "I'll twist him into scrap!"
The roof of HQ exploded upward—not from an attack, but from a landing.
Su Chen descended on a disk of compressed air, calm as gravity screamed around him. Fubuki stood behind him, visibly shaken.
Tatsumaki shot up to meet him, eyes blazing.
"You're the one who bullied my sister?!"
"I conducted an interview," Su Chen said mildly.
This wasn't raw strength.
This was control.
Perfect.
"Die!" Tatsumaki snapped.
She didn't throw rubble.
She grabbed the entire skyscraper and twisted.
Su Chen didn't resist.
He reached inward.
Mind Authority.
He didn't fight her power.
He severed her connection to it.
"Disconnected."
Tatsumaki gasped.
For a fraction of a second, the world went quiet.
"What… did you do?" she whispered.
"I control minds," Su Chen said, tapping his temple. "Your power lives there."
He vanished.
Reappeared in front of her.
Grabbed her wrist.
Pain lanced through his nervous system as his telekinesis mutated—rewriting itself under sovereign pressure.
Tatsumaki tried to fight back. Failed.
Su Chen released her.
"I have what I need."
He looked at both sisters.
"Fubuki, my offer stands. Come with me. You'll surpass her."
Fubuki stepped forward. "I'm done living in your shadow, Onee-chan."
A portal opened behind Su Chen.
"Welcome aboard," he said.
He glanced back at Tatsumaki.
"If you want your sister back…"
The portal closed.
"…try to catch us."
And they were gone—leaving a furious, shaken Tornado floating above the ruined headquarters, realizing for the first time in her life…
She had just been outplayed.