There are many times in life where we find ourselves in situations that are so tense and serious that more often than not it is joked that said tension can be cut with a knife. But then there are those who find themselves having these moments far more frequently than others, whether it be due to their own desire to experience them for whatever reason or perhaps it simply comes with the life they've chosen. Both could very easily apply to the entirety of class S, who at the moment found themselves all gathered together in one room, excluding the second highest rank Blast which was expected. However, this was the first time that any of the S class could recall where excluding association employees there were non S class people standing among them, the likes of which included class A hero Genos, Kaemon who was only known by a select few, and finally Doctor Genus who had been accompanied by Metal Knight.
And while their inclusion in the meeting was of no real issue, it did bring questions to some of the heroes minds while the rest were more so focused on the reason for why they were here.
"Who's that cute boy that Saitama and Tatsumaki brought?" Puri Puri Prisoner thought as he looked towards Genos.
"This must be serious, nearly all of class S is here, except for rank two." Genos noted as he looked around the room.
"What the hell is that seaweed looking thing?" Metal Bat wondered as he stared at Kaemon.
"Why is that guy with the weird hair staring at me?" Kaemon wondered as they did their best not to stare back.
"I wonder if Saitama would ever consider wearing a tank top?" Tank Top Master wondered as he cast a glance in the other's direction.
"If they bothered to bring Saitama here, then it might be worth my time." Flashy Flash reasoned as he simply stared across the room at no one in particular.
" ...Pretty sure somebody farted." Watchdog Man thought as he gave the air a few sniffs.
"They're all checking out my guns, HELL YEAH!" Superalloy Blackluster thought as he slightly flexed his pecs.
"Maybe I should get pizza later..." Pig God thought as he somewhat mindlessly ate the countless hamburgers in his possession.
"Metal Knight and Doctor Genus, something to be wary of." Drive Knight noted as he looked from one to the other.
"I still don't trust that he's changed." Zombieman thought as he stared towards Doctor Genus "And does that pig ever stop eating?" He wondered as Pig God's disgusting sounds reached his ear.
"Both Drive Knight and Zombieman are staring at me, Zombieman I expected, but why the other?" Dr. Genus wondered.
"If everyone's here, then this has to be something big, hopefully I'll be of some use this time." King hoped as he did his best to look strong and intimidating.
"Perhaps I will be able to acquire new data on Saitama, should there be something that actually requires his involvement." Metal Knight thought to himself, though of course in his actual place at the meeting was one of his robots.
"Rank two's a no show again? doesn't he ever want to meet Saitama?" Child Emperor thought as he casually licked away at a lollipop in his hand.
"Maybe this time I can convince Saitama to try using a sword, with his strength he could probably slice mountains in half." Atomic Samurai thought.
"So, why have we all been gathered here?" Bang asked, being the first of them to speak as well as ask the obvious question.
"Yeah this had better be important, otherwise I'm leaving." Tatsumaki said as she leaned back in her chair.
As for Saitama, he wasn't really thinking of anything at the moment nor did he have anything he wanted to say, instead he simply sipped a cup of tea that had been given to him by an employee, as he always asked for some whenever he was in these meetings.
"First off I'd like to show my appreciation that everyone, Metal Knight and Saitama included could make it to this meeting, and while we have not been able to locate Blast as to bring him here as well, we cannot afford to delay this meeting any further and so we will begin." Sitch stated as he placed his hands on the table "Now the reason why you all are here is simple, you are the best of the best and if there was ever a time we needed the strongest heroes the association had to offer then now is that time, however even with your skills and power I cannot guarantee your survival, walking away also takes courage and anyone here choosing to do so will retain their class S status, but for those who stay and hear me out you will not be allowed to walk away from this briefing, you will be confined here until we are certain the inciddent is over to avoid a general panic." He explained as he looked to all of them for a reaction "Alright then are all of you willing to hear this?" He asked.
Much to Genos, Kaemon, and even Doctor Genus's surprise, instead of anyone answering him directly they all looked towards Saitama as to see what his decision on the matter was.
"Yeah sure." He simply agreed with a shrug of his shoulders as he found there to be no point in NOT hearing him out given he'd been brought all this way for it.
Upon hearing his agreement the other S class heroes all gave a nod for confirmation as well, and while most of them did so because they wished to see Saitama in action such as Child Emperor and Metal Knight, others did it because they held a high respect for Saitama and trusted his judgement such as Bang and Flashy Flash.
"Very well." Sitch said before he looked down to the table seeming to find it hard to say whatever was to come next "...The great seer Madam Shibabawa...is dead." He revealed which managed to surprise a few of them.
"Wait, Madama Shibabawa? was she murdered?" Zombieman asked.
"No, while looking into the future for the next six months, she became agitated and had a bad coughing fit, she popped a cough drop in her mouth to ease her discomfort, unfortunately ended up choking on it." Bespectacled Worker answered.
"I get it, so we have to figure out some way to prevent disasters without the help of predictions, that's the reason we were all called to this meeting." Superalloy Blackluster said as he raised a finger.
"Incorrect, Madam Shibabawa has only been able to predict a handful of disasters over the years, the truth is while helpful she was unable to see most catastrophic disasters." Sitch explained.
"We've gotten through many crises without Madam Shibabawa's predictions, still we provided her with a bodyguard and gave her special treatment for her services." Bearded Worked added.
"Indeed, and that's because her few predictions were one hundred percent accurate, the crux of the problem is this." Sitch revealed as he pulled out a folded piece of paper from his suit's jacket "I hold in my hand her last and perhaps greatest prophecy, as she took her last breath choking on that cough drop she managed to leave this note, it is a grave prediction that will absolutely come to pass, here it is, can you read it?" He explained as he set it down upon the table, to which it was scanned before being displayed via hologram to the others.
Upon seeing the message be put on display most of the people in the room, excluding the likes of Saitama, Flashy Flash, Drive Knight, Tatsumaki, Metal Knight, and Genos all felt their eyes slightly widen at what was written, causing them to say it aloud in unison.
"The earth is, in trouble?" They all asked as they stared at the holographic piece of paper.
However, their widened eyes were not so much from horror or even a slight bit of shock, in truth they all felt a little over hyped so to say as the message in itself wasn't too terrifying.
"Are you kidding? that is so dumb, can I go now now? I have cram school." Child Emperor said in a somewhat hasted fashion, for while he would had loved to seen Saitama in action, given they now knew the scope of the problem the likelihood of that was nonexistent.
"I know you are prodigy Child Emperor, but if you cannot grasp the catastrophic danger I've presented before you today it reveals just how immature you are." Sitch replied as he looked towards the other.
"What'd you say?!" Child Emperor questioned as he quickly became angered.
"Now calm down, everyone listen up." Sitch said as he raised a hand to the air "Madam Shibabawa's predictions are one hundred percent accurate, she's miraculously foretold numerous tragedies and disasters in the past, while many were saved a few of them resulted in the loss of countless lives, but not once in all of her predictions did Madam Shibabawa use a word with the same weight as trouble, something more dangerous than a dragon level cataclysm or monster is on it's way of that we can be sure, and it will occur some time in the next six months!" He exclaimed hoping they would understand the dire nature of the issue.
Taking a moment to consider what he said, it would only be a few seconds of contemplation before one of the heroes spoke up.
"Okay, but does that mean you don't know when in the next six months?" Watchdog Man asked.
"Yeah, it's kinda hard to plan for that." Flashy Flash added.
"Yes your observations are correct, but I want you all to be ready for a fight in the next six months is that understood?" Sitch asked.
However before anyone else could say a word Saitama was the next to speak which caused everyone to look at him.
"In the next six months, so that could mean it's tomorrow or even today?" He asked.
"Uh, yes that's true but even so we need to do our best to be-" Sitch began to answer until he was interrupted by something hitting the association, with enough power to not only shake the building but to also cause what sounded like an explosion.
Responding immediately to this sudden attack all of the heroes rose from their seats just as all of the lights in the room began to flash red.
"The building is under attack!" Genos exclaimed as he began to try see what was outside, but found that the building's walld kept him from doing so.
"That's impossible, this is the hero association headquarters!" Superalloy Blackluster replied as another blow struck the building.
If there were any windows to be found on the building, or at the very least at the room they were all gathered in, they would be able to see their attackers much like the citizens who looked up in shock and horror. Flying in the skies above them were four demon like creatures, each possessing not only a set of wings similar to a bird's but also a unique color of skin, with the only exception being the one who seemed to lead them as he had two sets of wings. However, they weren't too focused on the creatures' details as they were busy attacking the hero association headquarters via spheres of pure fire which exploded upon impact, which was the main reason for their shrieks of terror.
"Ha ha ha! that's quite the formidable fortress to be sure!" Their leader exclaimed as he came to a stop in the air, the others that followed doing the same "Time to attack, Hawk, Eagle, Falcon, and Kite, wipe out these so called heroes and the land below will belong to us, we will dive in head first! follow me the sky king, fly!" He commanded as he dove towards the building.
But before he could close too much distance, he soon found the others falling towards the ground, all of them having sustained injuries beyond recovery.
"Father...above us...fly away..." One managed to say as they fell to their doom.
"The sky king killed like some worthless little insect...who could have-" He began to say only to be stopped as he was sliced vertically in half.
Falling after his sons now in two pieces, the one responsible for their deaths watched their corpses disappear among the buildings, as their blade like appendage was now covered in their blood.
"What was that?" "Who knows?" "It flew so we killed it." "That Is good." "Duty to protect the ship." A group of five voices though belonging to the same being came from five separate heads as their body hovered in the air due to their bat like wings.
Yet it was not this demon like entity that the populace below looked up to with frozen bodies and eyes as wide as plates, but instead the massive ship comprised of technology and materials the likes no one had ever seen before which flew above it. But before any of them could scream or even attempt to run away the entirety of the ship's underside glowed a bright purple, followed by a massive explosion which without issue decimated the city, all except for one building.
"Emergency power has now been activated." The automated voice of the association's headquarters said over the intercom system, just as the lights and other electronic devices came back on.
"What in the blazes was that? what the hell is going on out there?!" Sitch asked as he looked towards the ceiling.
"I don't know sir, all communications are cut off, we're in the dark!" Bearded Worker exclaimed as he put on his headset whilst taking out his cellphone.
Not wasting a single moment Sitch brought up countless system diagnostics and status reports via the table's projection technology, and upon seeing what was brought forth it made his blood run cold.
"Im-Impossible..." He said as he looked at all of the data.
"Is everyone okay?" King asked as he looked around making sure nothing beyond the obvious had happened.
"Ugh what happened?" Kaemon asked as they had fallen out of their chair and were feeling a bit disoriented.
"Are you alright Kaemon?" Tatsumaki asked as she helped them up.
"Yeah, don't really have any bones or organs, so I'm just dizzy." They answered as they got to their feet.
As everyone continued to ensure that they were fine and the building was at no risk of collapsing, just a few feet away a man who had miraculously somehow managed to survive such an attack frantically searched for his son. Grabbing onto the first fairly sized piece of rubble that was in view the man managed to move it aside just enough to where he could look inside to which he was able to breath a sigh of relief.
"DAD!" The boy cried out as he saw his father above him, unable to keep tears from spilling out of his eyes.
"We're okay now son, grab onto me." He instructed as he held out his hand for his son to grab onto.
Doing as he was told the boy took hold of his father's hand and with no issue at all was lifted into his father's waiting embrace. Unable to keep himself from breaking down into a sob any longer the boy hugged his father as tightly as he could before crying out of sheer fear for what had just happened. However, as he looked up only a slight bit from his father's shoulder, he saw the massive looming vessel that remained in the sky above covering them and what was once the city in a dark shadow. Feeling his fear grow it would only continue to worsen, as the sound of heavy footsteps approaching them was heard, accompanied by the far more sinister voice of their owner.
"What is this?" "It appears there are survivors." "The ship failed to kill them all." "We won't." "That is good." The Multi headed monster who appeared alongside the ship spoke as it now loomed over them, the fingers on it's right hand shooting out towards them as it did.
Thankfully, before anything else could transpire a blade sliced through it's fingers severing them halfway to the hand as well as managing to cleave the beast a fair bit in the process.
"Get away from here right now!" A man fully clad in a suit of armor ordered to the father and child as he sheathed his sword.
Watching as the father with his son in his arms hurried away, the man could not keep a small smile from appearing on his face. Sadly he would not get to enjoy his act of heroism for too long as he sensed the presence of the monster suddenly upon him, forcing him to dodge just barely in time as where his head once was would have been crushed, seeing as how his helmet had been caught by it's attack and now laid on the ground completely flat.
"You think I don't sense your thirst for blood?" He asked causing the creature to look towards his new position "I accompanied master Atomic here and was waiting for the class S meeting to come to an end, only to meet thunder and destruction." He explained as he readied himself in a combative stance "Is this your doing beast?!" He shouted in question as he leapt towards the other slicing him straight upwards through at least two of his heads while doing so.
"Destruction levels are at ninety nine point eight percent!" Sitch exclaimed as he gripped his head with his hands "City A has been leveled, it was destroyed in an instant! I thought we had more time how could we have known her prediction would come true so soon?!" He questioned as panic began to take hold.
"Hold on, why was this building spared then?" Bang questioned.
"You have me to thank for that." Metal Knight Spoke causing everyone to look at him "The association came to me and asked me to construct the headquarters, believe me when I say if they hadn't you'd all be dead right now." He admitted bluntly.
"Ah, so that's why there're no windows." Metal Bat said as he looked around.
"We should go outside and see what's going on for ourselves, just to see if the prophecy is actually happening." Child Emperor suggested as Atomic Samurai was already heading for the door.
"You want in on this Saitama?" He asked as he looked over his shoulder only to stop and turn back around at what he had found.
Confused at his sudden look of surprise, everyone else followed his gazed to Saitama's seat, where they found it was not only empty but now had a tunnel directly above it, telling them all where he had gone.
"He...managed to punch through the building..." Metal Knight noted, completely baffled by how that was possible.
"Pfft, of course he did! you think some concrete and metal's gonna stop him?" Metal Bat asked as he hurried to the door "I better get out there fast before they're all dead!" He shouted on his way out.
Upon hearing that be said all of the other heroes immediately followed in Metal Bat's action for none of them wanted to be left out of a fight where Saitama was involved. However as Kaemon tried to follow as well they found themselves being stopped by Tatsumaki.
"Stay here Kaemon, I mean it!" She told them before going through the tunnel Saitama had made, Genos, King, Superalloy Blackluster, and Child Emperor all following right behind.
But before they could protest or even ignore her instruction and follow as well they felt a hand be placed on their shoulder which belonged to Doctor Genus.
"I would listen to her if I were you." He warned as he looked up towards the tunnel "Any fight that One Punch Man's a part of is a fight best observed from as far away as possible." He advised.