"Go down!!"
Boros's fists kept slamming into Jovian's body. He was deliberately controlling his energy, forcing everything he had into tight, efficient output. Against a stubborn opponent like Jovian, he had to regulate his power with precision—no waste, no spillover. Otherwise… the one who ran out of power first would lose this fight.
"Ghh…"
After taking Boros's relentless barrage, Jovian's body was already riddled with holes. The white clothes on his body had long since been soaked through and stained dark red. And yet, despite all that damage, Jovian didn't look even slightly defeated—if anything, the more he was beaten, the more fired up he became.
When Zombieman's trait, that one-eyed alien's trait, and Viltrumite-level regeneration were fused together, something bizarre happened—some kind of chemical miracle. Even if half his body was blown apart, Jovian could still keep fighting at terrifying strength. Zombieman's nature meant that as long as he wasn't completely erased, he'd regenerate fast. And that one-eyed alien's near-death power spike meant the worse Jovian's injuries got, the stronger he became.
On top of that, the moment Jovian felt his body filling and soaking in his own blood, he activated the Cell Energy Release Method he'd obtained from Deep Sea King. Which meant that right now, Jovian was running two different cell-energy release methods at the same time—while also being nearly unkillable—just to grind Boros down in a pure battle of endurance.
The result was simple.
The longer it went, the weaker Boros became.
The longer it went, the stronger Jovian became.
"That's it?"
As Boros threw another heavy punch, Jovian lifted a palm and caught it.
"…"
Boros stared at Jovian, who had stopped his attack, and fell into silence.
"No!"
"You think this is over?"
"It's only just starting!"
As Boros spoke, something inside his body seemed to burst open.
"Meteoric Burst! Full power release—fodder (Dragon-level monsters) vanish the instant they get close!"
Boros roared as he released everything. His body shifted from deep blue to an even darker shade—then, in a blink, it turned cherry-pink.
The instant Boros's body became pink, the ship beneath both Boros and Jovian vaporized.
Just like that, Boros and Jovian were left hanging in the open sky—fully exposed above everyone's heads.
"So that's the Dominator of the Universe… How can something be that strong?"
The S-Class heroes stared up at Boros, eyes wide.
This was the first time they'd ever seen a presence this terrifying—something they knew, just by looking at it, they could never defeat. And at the same time, they finally understood what the so-called strongest hero, Jovian, had been fighting all along.
"Jovian…"
Tatsumaki's expression tightened with worry. She tried to rush in to help, but her psychic power didn't even get close—before it reached them, the energy radiating from those two shattered it like mist.
Boom!
Just as the heroes kept watching from below, the horrific shockwave spilling from Boros's power began raining down from the sky toward the ground!
"This is bad! Massive energy is falling—Earth will be evaporated by this, instantly!"
Genos, who had been monitoring the energy above, went pale. Based on his calculations, even the leftover shockwave alone was enough to destroy the planet beneath their feet.
"Hah!"
Tatsumaki pushed her power to its limit, trying to stop the falling shockwave.
Boom!
But that wave was like a natural disaster—how could any human being block it? Even Tatsumaki could only slow it down… just a little.
"Damn it!"
Genos saw the veins straining on Tatsumaki's face as she forced herself to hold the line. He pushed his own output to the maximum and fired his Incineration Cannon into the sky—adding to humanity's repair bill in the process.
The rest of the S-Class heroes could only stare at the chaotic, multi-colored energy tearing through the heavens, helpless. In the end, they were flesh and blood—they had no way to meaningfully stop an attack happening up there.
"Damn…"
Tatsumaki bore down against a shockwave that far exceeded her output. The pressure kept multiplying. She didn't want to admit it, but she knew the truth:
She was only alive because the owners of that energy weren't aiming at her.
If they were, she'd be vaporized in less than a second.
She could feel it—those two were actively suppressing their own output, controlling every leak, trying not to waste anything. And even so, the tiniest casual overflow they didn't care about was still more than she could withstand.
Boom!
Right as Tatsumaki was about to be overwhelmed by the constant torrent of energy—
Mechs began assembling in the sky.
No one knew where they came from. One after another, machines reconstructed and linked together, forming a massive black metal wall that covered the sky above A-City, taking some of the pressure off Tatsumaki.
"Is that Metal Knight?"
Everyone froze, staring at the black wall.
"How many drones does he even have…?"
Genos looked up at the endless sea of black machines, stunned.
"I don't care about whether an enemy is beatable or not," Metal Knight's voice sounded in everyone's ears. "But if Earth gets destroyed, that's a hassle for me too."
"That's great. If Dr. Bofoi is helping, we can definitely stop this disaster!"
Child Emperor let out a slow breath. As Metal Knight's former assistant, he understood better than anyone how terrifying Dr. Bofoi's capabilities were.
"No. I miscalculated. Looks like Earth is finished… I should start preparing to run."
The moment Child Emperor thought they'd turned the tide, cracks suddenly spiderwebbed across the black wall in the sky—and Metal Knight's voice echoed again.
"No… wait…"
"Dr. Bofoi… are you really going to abandon us like this?"
Child Emperor yelled helplessly.
"Child Emperor…"
"If fate allows it, I'll see you in your next life."
After Metal Knight finished speaking, the wall in the sky finally shattered completely.
Endless energy poured down toward Earth.
"…Hah."
For a moment, the S-Class heroes all shut their eyes.
BOOM!!
After a deafening roar, the ground beneath them trembled.
And then… nothing.
"…Am I dead?"
A few seconds later, Bang was the first to open his eyes.
Boros and Jovian—who had been fighting in the sky—were gone.
Earth was still intact.
Not only Earth—A-City itself hadn't suffered any serious damage.
"What just happened?"
Tatsumaki, knocked down into rubble by the shockwave, floated back up, confused.
"No idea. We closed our eyes…"
Puri-Puri Prisoner and Tanktop Master shook their heads repeatedly.
"Useless."
Tatsumaki couldn't be bothered with the two embarrassments of S-Class and looked toward the others instead.
"If you're looking for the Dominator of the Universe and Jovian, they aren't on Earth anymore," Drive Knight said, his eye sensors rotating as he processed data. "About thirty seconds ago, they punched through the Moon and are currently heading toward Venus. As for why the energy wave that was about to destroy us disappeared… I don't know."
"Are you guys okay?!"
As the S-Class heroes tried to make sense of it, KING—who had apparently taken a nasty spill—slowly got back up, brushing dust off his clothes as he looked at everyone.
"So that's it—did King save us?!"
"Did King use his ultimate move, Purgatory Peerless Superheated Oscillation Cannon, to disperse the energy wave that threatened Earth?!"
Child Emperor—big brain, humanity's greatest prodigy, the universe's walking encyclopedia—shouted at King.
"Uh, well…"
"I didn't do anything…"
"It wasn't me…"
King fell quiet. He'd just tripped, then stood up and dusted himself off.
"That's exactly like you, King! So humble!"
"Thank you, King!"
"With you and Jovian around, we can finally feel safe."
"Hmph. Fine. I'll admit it—this time you saved Earth."
One S-Class hero after another thanked King.
"…Fine. It was me."
After a long silence under everyone's gratitude, King crossed his arms and raised his chin.
"Hup…"
"That was seriously close…"
In a spot no one was paying attention to, a caped baldy barely landed from above, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"Teacher… was it you?"
Only Genos—who had been intentionally keeping an eye on Saitama, despite his built-in presence-dampening buff—noticed the truth.
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