Routine, a word by definition means to do something the exact same way with little to no variation, a word that most would use to describe their every day lives or just their jobs. But what if there truly was no variation, at least nothing worthwhile anyways, would one's routine become so bleak and hopeless that the thought of getting up and going through it again would just seem ultimately pointless? That is how Saitama felt every day since he became the world's strongest hero, for while along this journey he did make friends, he did have some interesting adventures and experiences, overall it wasn't enough to free him of the burden that had become his life. Every day just seemed like a repeating cycle that would never change, never again would he know the joy of an adrenaline rush or experience the fear of loss or injury, for now as he was there seemed to be no consequence to his life making it truly boring.
Even now, as he stood atop of the hero association headquarters, staring out at both a massive ship and the ruins of what was once City A, he felt no anger, fear, excitement, sadness, or so on, even though he knew he should. But sadly his curiosity of what lay before him seemed to take priority over his concern of his lack of emotional response, causing him to come across as his usual laid back self.
"Whoa that's big, are they aliens?" He asked as his cape fluttered in the breeze.
Choosing not to wait around for an answer but to simply go and get one himself, he bent his legs before leaping from the roof heading straight for the ship. However, the moment he did so something caught his attention, a fast glow of purple light from somewhere on the ship's underside soon followed by some kind of object flying right towards him. Of course he managed to dodge it with no issue at all, but as he did so he took notice at how it seemed to be an insanely large bullet, but was more than likely closer to an artillery shell than the former.
"So that's what blew the city to pieces." He noted as it flew past him and into the horizon.
But before he could continue on his way without hindrance towards the ship, several more bright purple lights appeared followed by just as many more shells. Though just as before he was able to dodge them all with no trouble whatsoever, making sure to land on the last one as to send it back.
"I've had enough, get lost!" He exclaimed as he kicked it back causing a small explosion the moment it reached the ship.
Meanwhile directly below him at the building's front, the man clad in armor had just finished dealing a rapid series of blows to the monster's body, leaving him somewhat winded in the process. Unfortunately for him as he stood there staring at the creature, it's wounds began to rapidly heal seeming to not do anything in the way of harm to it.
"This is one militant creature." "Also cautious." Hurry, let us hurry and kill." "That is good." Four of it's heads, speaking after one another said as it looked down towards him.
"Can it even be destroyed?!" The man wondered as he had regained his breath steadying his stance as he did.
However, before he could do anything more or even think of a new plan of attack, the creature's left arm morphed into a massive hammer before striking with such speed and power that despite his own haste in dodging, the man still lost his left arm.
"Each of it's strikes is lethal! I can't beat this thing!" He thought to himself as he took his remaining hand from his blade's hilt and put it to his wound.
"Such a weak and frail species." "So easily killed." "That is good." Three of it's heads said, as all of them began to pull away from one another forming their own bodies as they did.
"It's splitting?! damn it! what is this?!" He wondered as a frustrated glare came to his face.
"I will dispose of this one, you handle the others." "Very well then." "I will go kill those that ran away from us." "That is good." "I-" Four manged to speak, but soon met the same fate as the fifth who had been cut off.
Feeling his eyes widen in shock as a blinding light appeared followed by the creatures collapsing into several pieces, the man knew there could be only one person responsible.
"Master!" He called out as the dust from the attack began to settle revealing Atomic Samurai.
"Iaian, you don't look so good, you okay? your left arm's kinda-" Atomic Samurai began to say only to be cut off by his disciple.
"Master! swords have no effect on this strange creature! forget about me get out of here!" Ianian shouted to his master hoping to save him from taking any injury or even death.
Sadly, before he could get any response to his words the creatures rapidly reformed into a single being, but just as before it was swiftly dealt with by Atomic Samurai.
"Be gone!" He exclaimed as he returned it to pieces before looking back to his student "Iaian, the path of the sword does not end for you yet, stop bleeding!" He commanded.
"Yes master!" Iaian responded without question seeming to somehow despite all logic actually stop his bleeding.
Yet just as the creature had also done before it reformed into a singular entity, this time much bigger than the previous one with more eyes as well as teeth to show for it.
"Hahaha, good, seems a life form on this planet can fight, excellent, I invite you to try withstanding our invasion!" It challenged no longer speaking in multiple voices.
"Planet huh? so you're from outer space then?" Atomic Samurai asked as he glanced up at the ship "And you got friends up there in that floaty toy ship thing right? yeah that's it." He went on before looking back to the creature "I doubt you have the strength or the power to cause this much destruction to the city by yourself." He said as he took a combative stance.
"You can count us in Atomic Samurai." Bang said as he and Metal Bat had caught up with him from the building and now stood at his sides.
"You the ugly bastard who smashed this town?" Metal Bat asked with an expression that told anyone who saw it that he was pissed.
"What happens if I say yes?" It asked as it's already present grin grew a slight bit bigger.
"For all of the beautiful men you killed I claim vengeance!" Puri Puri Prisoner suddenly exclaimed as he swiftly approached the creature from it's right side before leaping into the air, and with a flex of his muscles completely destroyed his clothes, whilst also somehow making black feathered angel wings appear "Like he said, each separate attack must be delivered with intent to kill!" He thought as the image of the Deep Sea King came to mind before he began to fall towards the creature "DARK ANGEL FLASH!" He shouted before unleashing a powerful series of punches upon the creature.
Caught by surprise from the sudden attack the creature simply stood there and took each and every blow as they made contact, countless dents and holes being made in their body as a result. However, as Puri Puri Prisoner continued in his barrage of punches and the others were readying themselves should they need to assist, Flashy Flash, Watchdog Man, Pig God, Drive Knight, Zombieman, TankTop Master, and Metal Knight were focusing on other tasks.
"There's survivors." Watchdog Man told them as he began to sniff the ground "But they're all over the place and buried pretty far down." He noted.
"There's also the giant ship in the sky." Zombieman said as he stared at it "How're we supposed to deal with that?" He asked.
"Leave that to me." Metal Knight told them as his robot stepped forward "I cannot guarantee I will be able to bring it down, but I at the very least can try and do some kind of damage." He said.
"Hmph, I'm surprised." Flashy Flash admitted as he crossed his arms "Normally you'd just try and blow everything up with missiles and rockets, why not do that now?" He questioned.
"Everything about our enemy is unknown including the materials used to not only make that ship but also to power it, destroying it would be a waste of research potential." Metal Knight explained as some compartments on his robot opened up "I'll send some scouting drones first to see if there are any weak points." He added as several small spherical robots suddenly shot out of the compartments all heading towards the ship.
"I guess that leaves us to take care of the civilians seeing as how those four can handle that creature." Zombieman said as he looked over at the others.
"We can still attack the ship." TankTop Master told him as he lifted with ease a massive piece of debris from the ground before throwing it towards the ship "We just have to be creative." He added right as it made contact.
"No damage." Metal Knight noted as one of his drones scanned the impact zone "Not even so much as a scuff mark is visible." He added.
"Then let's stop wasting time and save the trapped civilians." Drive Knight told them as he got to work.
Following in his action they began to swiftly toss and destroy all the debris around them all except for Metal Knight of course as he was busy surveying the ship. Meanwhile as all of this was transpiring, inside the building all of the employees were frantically running about with Bearded and Bespectacled Worker both going straight towards the command center.
"Issue an evacuation warning to City A and all neighboring cities right away!" Bearded Worker ordered the moment they were inside the room receiving a resounding "Yes sir!" from all of the workers present "And expand the system and vitals monitor to cover all of City A! we need an accurate count of the survivors we'll need to rescue!" He added.
"What's the threat level?" One worker asked his own curiosity getting the better of him.
"Dragon, without a doubt." Bespectacled Worker answered which seemed to shock everyone but them.
"Not quite..." Bearded Worker replied as he looked towards the main monitor with a look of uncertainty "This might be god..." He corrected as he stared towards the live feed of the ship they were receiving.
Feeling fear and dread wash over them like a tsunami the others despite this knew that if they were going to have any chance of surviving this potential cataclysm they would need to do as much work as the S class heroes no doubt were at this exact moment. Which in truth did apply to those on the ground but for those who had gone to the roof via the tunnel Saitama had made they were facing a complication they had not originally foreseen.
"Four class S heroes can take care of the enemy on the ground, same goes for the others looking for survivors, but the real problem's up there." Child Emperor stated as he, Tatsumaki, Genos, King, and Superalloy Blackluster looked towards the ship "We can't reach that ship, any aircraft would be shot down in a matter of seconds." He noted as he licked his lollipop.
"Any ideas?" Superalloy Blackluster asked as he looked towards the others, hoping that they would have something in mind.
"There's nothing I can do." King said in a tone that held both disappointment and frustration as he clenched his fists.
"I could attack it from here, but I doubt I will do anything." Genos said as he scanned the ship in hopes of finding a vulnerability.
"So I'm the only one who can be of any use then?" Tatsumaki asked as she looked at them "Honestly there has to be something all of you can do besides just standing here." She added while crossing her arms.
"To be honest One Punch Man's probably on the ship by now." Child Emperor said with a shrug "Seeing that everyone else has the situation on the ground handled, we actually could just sit back and watch." He admitted.
"Well I'm not just going to sit here and do nothing." She told him as she began to levitate "I'll give him five minutes to make the ship start falling before I get involved." She said.
"So you're just going to watch like us then?" He questioned causing her to glare at him.
"No I am waiting to see if I even need to deal with this and if I do then I will." She replied before she assumed a sitting position in the air.
"Uh huh." He he said as he licked his lollipop before he and the others returned their focus to the ship.
Walls adorning holes big enough for someone to easily pass through, several corpses laying everywhere throughout countless corridors, and the unknown total amount of blood splattered upon the ceiling, floor, and aforementioned walls all came together to show the path of death that Saitama paved as he made his way through the ship. Yet even still as he ran through an alien vessel killing creatures that no doubt came from unknown worlds, he still just casually ran through the place looking for their leader.
"Ah ha ha ha!" A sudden laughter sounded from above him causing him to stop and look towards it's source "Well done making it this far intruder! but you have reached the end!" A giant talking plant that had a human like body, except for the two additional mouths that served as it's hands complimented as it looked down at him "For I am Groribas! and there is no way you can hope to defeat me!" It exclaimed before it leapt off of the ledge and headed straight towards him "My acid breath will melt you into a pile of fleshy pulp!" It warned as it opened it's mouth readying to attack.
But unfortunately for this strange creature it would not even get to go through with it's attack as with but a quick leap upwards and an even quicker punch, Saitama simply took the top half of it's head clean off causing it to fall lifeless to the ground. With that having been dealt with in the same manner as all the others, Saitama resumed in punching and even kicking random parts of the ship around him in hopes of doing more damage than he already had. Like a chain of dominoes did explosions go off one by one by one as a result from his attacks, and while no one from the ground or even the rooftop could see it Metal Knight however could, thanks to his survey drones.
"Incredible!" Dr. Bofoi thought to himself as he simply watched the explosions continue to go off "He's damaging the ship with such speed and efficiency, not bothering to waste any time on going for specific parts!" He noted as he began to type something into his command console "I should broadcast this feed to the association, as well as any media outlets, they're all going to want to see this." He decided as he sent one of the drones into one of the openings made by the damage as to follow Saitama.
"Huh, you'd think the boss would've shown his face by now, if he's even alive anymore." Saitama noted just as he punched another wall.
And yet despite all of the damage and shaking that was currently taking place, elsewhere the very leader he sought simply sat upon a throne seeming to be lost in thought.
"Could it be?" They questioned as they stared intently towards their room's entrance "Could the prophecy...be true?" They wondered as yet another explosion could be heard going off in the distance.