What's up everybody? I'm back with the climactic conclusion between Frieza and Saitama, and for all you hungry fans waiting anxiously for this next chapter, it's finally here! And it's a long one too, so I hope that makes up for the 2 month wait. Now sit back and watch this chapter unfold!
"You're in for it now."
The aura and the intensity emanating around Frieza was astounding. It was as if he was an entirely different person. The spectators were at a loss; what did this new transformation mean? Was this the true power Frieza had kept hidden all this time?
In the sky, Zarbon and the Ginyus were just as bewildered as the Earthlings. "What's happened to Lord Frieza?" said Guldo.
"I'm not sure," replied Zarbon, "Captain Ginyu, do you know anything of this?" The Captain silently shook his head. "As far as I know, this form is entirely new; I've never seen Frieza beyond a state in his ultimate form."
"So then what the hell happened to him?" said Recoome.
"I have no idea..." was all Captain Ginyu could respond with. What had become of Lord Frieza? What was coming?
The only ones who had even the slightest grasp of the gravity of this situation were Saitama and Nappa. But for Nappa, this turn of events rocked his brain. This new energy Nappa was sensing was unlike anything he'd ever felt. The malevolence, the pressure, the fury, it had all skyrocketed to the point of causing him mild disorientation. It was simply too much for his brain to handle.
"You better be ready, Saitama."
The flowers were eerily still in God's dimension, and the sky was as cardinal as ever. The explosive growth Frieza experienced was insane, and this transformation Frieza had undergone was something God never thought would be possible. However, unlike the rest of the insects on the battlefield, God actually knew the cause of it.
"It's utterly astounding; just when I thought Frieza was at his limit, when the severity of his injuries would finally catch up with him, when all hope would be lost, he managed to surpass his limit, just like I'd hoped."
"But how could this have happened so quickly? More importantly, how could such a large increase of power occur? I expected it to be grandiose, but not this grandiose! Nearly all of the humans have been killed when subjected to this level of domination, and even for those who can survive, it takes months, no, YEARS, for them to achieve this kind of limitless growth in power. It appears that Frieza managed to surpass the feeling of death enough times for his body to undergo a transformation.
God shook his head. "No, that wasn't all. This was more than just the physical pain he endured, and even more than his high willpower. For all of his life, Frieza has never known the possibility of failure or the concept of humiliation. Being so utterly dominated by Saitama, this was an experience he'd never encountered before. To be forced into a corner like an animal surrounded by a hunter for the first time, it is a truly terrible experience. But it's when an organism is cornered like this, pushed this close to death and defeat, they become desperate. They are willing to do whatever it takes to win, removing any physical and psychological limitations they might have put on themselves and giving it everything they have.
"This, combined with Frieza's already-massive energy level, his power-up to 100%, his status as a mutant prodigy, and the ancient energy of this planet that amplifies any emotional, physical, or psychological changes of the inhabitants, all of these things served as the fuel for this groundbreaking transformation. Yes, that has to be the answer."
The monster's cackle reverberated across the barren field. "Saitama has no idea what he's in for."
In the Tako-yaki restaurant thousands of miles away, Dr. Genus, Zombieman, and Armored Gorilla were speaking with one another. Zombieman knew better than to trust Dr. Genus' words; he knew the doctor's sick, twisted mind firsthand, and found it hard to believe he would just give up on his pursuit of evolution so easily.
"It's been ten years. I figured you would search for me and exact your revenge one day," said Dr. Genus, his voice showing no indication of panic, "You've become a hero... Quite the remarkable change."
Having had enough of this casual conversation, Zombieman pushed himself off the ground, and grabbed an axe hidden beneath his trench-coat. The immortal hero held the axe above his head, getting ready to slice the doctor's head like an apple. Sweat beads began to fall down the doctor's face, but his eyes still did not display true terror. "You want to kill me? So be it; with my facility destroyed, my motivation has disappeared." Zombieman shot the doctor a dirty look, still mistrustful of Dr. Genus' words.
"How was the House of Evolution erased?" questioned Zombieman, "As long as you remain alive, you can rebuild the House as many times as you please. So why did you stop then?" Dr. Genus didn't respond at first.
"ANSWER ME, DR. GENUS!" shouted Zombieman. For a few moments, he remained silent. Then, he softly spoke, "He suddenly appeared before me. A man who had attained a power that far surpassed my artificial evolution. All of my work, all of my discoveries, they paled in comparison to his might. That's the conclusion I have reached.
"He has... removed his limiter."
Zombieman's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "Limiter? What are you talking about?"
"Every living thing has a limit of how much they can grow. Too much power can create many issues; for instance, they could become a mindless, rampaging beast enthralled with bloodlust and incapable of understanding anything beyond his animalistic instincts. That's why God created a range of growth for each being so they maintain their mental sanity and ensure their survival. This growth restriction is called a limiter.
"However, this man has managed to train well beyond his limit and successfully removed his limiter!"
The facial features of Zombieman's began to soften as he took these words into consideration, "So what you are telling me is that there was someone who obtained power that was strong enough to obliterate your entire ideology? Someone who could obtain that kind of power without any costs actually exists?"
Dr. Genus shook his head. "No, he paid a hefty price for it.
"In exchange for his enormous power, he became bald, and he felt an immense sense of alienation from his previous self, and a creeping feeling of tedium and loss has changed him, leaving him bland and emotionless."
"Hold on..." This description rang a bell to Zombieman. He was sure he had seen someone with a bald head and bland expression rather recently. But where?
"Did this man have a yellow tracksuit and white cape with red gloves and boots?"
"Why yes, he did."
That's when it hit him. "I know him! He's the B-class hero who was just promoted to S-class Rank 4! He's been called a hero swindler by the public because he always eliminates threats right after S-class heroes have faced them. But if what you're saying is true, then..." Zombieman dropped back to the ground as the pieces were being put together in his head. "Then everything the public believes is a lie. I thought his promotion to S-class was merely a mistake, yet it appears I was wrong. Could there perhaps..."
Zombieman vigorously shook his head. "No! That barely means anything! Yes, perhaps he is powerful, but I know of quite a few monstrous ones who completely disregard the limits of their abilities."
"No; he is on a completely different level than what you imagine.
"Humans become monsters due to a desire for power, a change in form, or merely bad habits. As a result, a cellular anomaly is produced in their bodies and morphs their form. Other monsters are created through genetic engineering, such as with my research. However, all of these things have nothing to do with removing their limiter. While it is true that an increased level of power is obtained, a new limiter is placed on their bodies. Heroes, on the other hand, are beings who already possessed innate abilities that could be drawn out through talent or training. But, he is different...
"An ordinary person, with no special talents or skills given to him at birth, through sheer effort and willpower alone, pried through the doors of his limits and broke his limiter."
"So you're saying that through training, one could attain the same level of po-" A faint sound filled Zombieman's hears, causing to pause mid-sentence. Dr. Genus noticed Zombieman's eyes harden, and tilted his head in confusion. "What is the problem?"
"I can hear several footsteps outside. Can't you?" Dr. Genus concentrated to hear what Zombieman was talking about, and sure enough, he could hear the pitter patter of many feet outside his restaurant.
"Perhaps it could be eager customers?" said Armored Gorilla.
"No; our restaurant has never been this popular. And besides, why would people want to come eat at a time like this?"
Zombieman pulled out his signature Desert Eagle from his pocket. "Well then let's find out."
The trio walked out of the room and stepped out into the street, and they gasped; standing a few meters from the entrance of the Tako-yaki shop, dozens of humanoid-looking beings with matching outfits were gathering. The three looked up, and saw that a few more were flying down from the sky to join their comrades. Each of the soldiers varied greatly in appearance, with only a few appearing like regular humans.
From the thralling mass of unknown humanoids, a single individual with a long face and brown, spiky hair walked in front of the group, staring at the three of them with a serious face and his hands clenched into fists at his sides. He was the only one in the group who did not have a blaster on his wrist.
Zombieman pointed his pistol at the individual and shouted, "Who are you? What is your purpose here?"
"My name is Karmath. We are soldiers of the Galactic Frieza Army. Our Master, Lord Frieza, came to this mudball in search of a bald warrior of unparalleled might."
"Hold on..." A bald warrior? "Don't tell me..." Coupled with the personal testimony Dr. Genus gave about a bald man with overwhelming strength, it was safe to assume that the warrior their master had come in search for and the bald man Dr. Genus described were one in the same. His thoughts lingered on what else the person described; he used both the words "galactic" and "mudball", implying that they were from space, and if that was the case...
All the pieces clicked together: these were soldiers of the God-level monster the other S-class heroes were currently fighting. But something still wasn't fitting into this whole picture...
"If your master has come in search of the warrior you spoke of, then why have you come here?"
The alien smirked. "My partner Orlen and I were scouting the human population of this city, when we came across you and your big friend over there with the white sweater. We saw you trailing him, and we decided to follow suit until you arrived at this shop. We started eavesdropping on your conversation, and learned that you were actually immortal. Not only that, but your creator is here as well. Can you imagine the reward we'll receive if we capture you both? We could give our master the key to immortality!" Karmath held his palm out toward Zombieman, and from it, a ball of red energy formed. "So, are you going to come quietly? Or are we gonna have to bring you in pieces."
Zombieman cocked the pistol and met Karmath's gaze with a stern intensity. "If you can."
Frieza still hadn't made a move. Shortly after speaking, he fell into a deathly silence and began staring at body, inspecting it to observe all of the changes that occurred after this transformation. Truth be told, he hadn't a clue what just happened. One moment, he felt a fiery surge of willpower flare up, and the next moment, he felt that fiery surge explode inside him. Even now, he felt that power coursing through his veins, giving him power he never thought could exist.
"Perhaps a demonstration is in order..." Frieza decided to test this newfound power out with a simple punch. So, he craned his right arm back behind his back, formed his hand into a fist, and punched the air. The effect was astonishing; a gust of wind blew from his fist, causing Saitama to hold his elbows in front of his face and sending him back a few meters. The Space emperor's eyes widened, and his mouth slightly opened up in amazement. "What raw strength! Could this transformation have increased my power this much?"
"Hey!" Saitama shouted to Frieza, causing him to look up. "Are you done checking yourself out?"
"What? Are you jealous?" replied Frieza.
Saitama scoffed. "I gotta hand it to you, you do kind of look like a badass."
"Indeed, such a grandiose change is badass."
"But this planet's only got room for one badass."
Frieza's mouth stretched out in a wide smile. "I couldn't agree more. So why don't we end the confectionaries and let round 3 start?"
As a response, Saitama cracked his knuckles and his neck simultaneously; the final, climactic battle between the strongest hero on the planet and the emperor of the universe was about to commence. Everything that the heroes had been waiting for had finally come to full fruition; all of the hero spectators were shaking in their boots both in fear and anticipation for whatever was to come.
Saitama bent his knees and sprung first. He slammed Frieza with a very hard right hook across Frieza's face. The force of the blow created large gusts of wind, managing to crack the ground below both of them and lifted rocks off the ground. Saitama's fist was indented in Frieza's cheek, yet this time, Frieza didn't wince or groan in any sort of pain. Frieza moved his face to stare at Saitama, all-the-while slyly grinning.
"Your love taps won't work anymore." The level of power Saitama put in his punch was the same as before, yet his punch now felt like an actual love tap. It was unbelievable! Frieza grabbed Saitama's wrist and ripped his hand off of his cheek. Frieza let out a boisterous bellow, taking command of his rage and his newfound power like the mighty weapon it was, and proceeded to kick Saitama in his stomach. Frieza's foot was surrounded by air friction and a light aura of black energy. Frieza's eyes widened in astonishment; once again, Frieza was amazed at this amazing increase of power, not only in terms of strength but speed as well. Just then, the speed of his kick had far surpassed anything he could have done, even at his previous maximum power. It was like he had a jumbo jet on his leg.
Yet something else had occurred on the other side, something that seemed benign in comparison to many, yet was shocking to Saitama: for the first ever, the bald hero actually felt pain. His hand was clutching his stomach, and his knees were slightly bent down. The pain wasn't overwhelming, not at all, but it was still there nonetheless; he hadn't felt this strength from an attack before, even against Boros. A dual-flow of emotions were filling up Saitama: on one hand, there was the pain in his stomach, but that was utterly, overwhelmingly eclipsed by the glimmer of hope dawning in Saitama's sullied heart. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, an enemy was able to deal a blow that didn't feel like a joke of a love tap.
"Damn Frieza!" Saitama instantaneously recovered from the blow and smirked at Frieza, "Your power-up wasn't just for show! I felt that kick!"
"It is a pretty grandiose power-up, isn't it? And I still have ample room to grow!" Low-pitched chuckles came out of Frieza's mouth. "Oh-hoh-hoh... You'll pay for your impertinent attitude against me in the worst possible way. All of the damage will be repaid 10 fold. No, 100 fold!" His smile disappeared, and all of the rage building up in him bubbled to the surface once more. Then, the Space Emperor disappeared from sight. He momentarily reappeared, then disappeared instantly. The speed and rate at which Frieza was popping in and out of sight made it appear as if he was teleporting. Well, that's what it looked like to all of the spectators, but to Saitama's eyes, Frieza was simply moving fast. Saitama quickly followed suit, and before they knew it, both fighters were out of sight.
None of the spectators had even the slightest grasp of the battle taking place; the speed of both fighters was so amazing, not even a blur of their bodies was visible. All they saw were invisible bursts of air from the points of contact, except the rate at which they could see and hear these blows was worlds beyond anything they had witnessed before. Saitama threw a string of punches at Frieza, but Frieza was able to dodge them with much more ease than before. With the next punch, Frieza took hold of Saitama's wrist and brought him in close. Frieza followed up with a series of very hard headbutts. With these headbutts, the repeated strikes actually began to sting Saitama's forehead.
"Get off of me!"
"All you had to do was ask." Frieza released his grip from Saitama, catching him off guard with this bizarre move, but Saitama should have known better after fighting against Frieza for so long. Frieza, being the dirty fighter he was, whipped Saitama with his spiked tail up his chin. He then twirled around and struck Saitama with a right spin kick. Saitama blocked it with his elbow, but the power in Frieza's kick was still powerful enough to send him sailing a few hundred feet across the sky, crashing into a rock formation. Frieza held his right hand out, and fired a red ball of energy. When the ball was released, it began to grow as it soared through the air. The red energy ball exploded upon contact, sending all the rocks up in the air and vaporizing a great portion of them in the process. For a second, the ground was motionless, but then, Saitama jumped out unharmed, looking a bit peeved however.
"God, you and your fancy little energy attacks!" shouted Saitama, "You think you're so cool! Well you're not the only one who can pull tricks up your non-existent sleeve!" The bald hero bent his knees and curled his hands into fists. "Try this on for size."
Saitama dug his fingers into the ground and took a great heave. The ground began to shake; cracks began to form in the ground, spanning several hundred feet. Frieza's eyebrows raised up, his eyes cautiously observing the fissures forming on the ground below. Despite this, the lizard's composure would not be tested so easily, especially with this new power-up. The heroes nervously eyed each other, all of them unsure what Saitama was intending to do, and all of them shocked that Saitama could create such fissures by merely pulling on the ground. Shortly after, an absolutely monstrous chunk of the Earth was ripped out of the ground. It was hard to determine the exact size, but it was around the size of the boulder Frieza had hurled at Saitama not too long ago, perhaps a little bigger, maybe 30% larger. With a hefty tug, Saitama finished tearing it out of the ground and put the rock over his head. Saitama was inhaling and exhaling deeply, remaining calm despite the gargantuan rock he had above his head. Truth be told, he never tried to lift something this big, but he could handle it.
"Yea, it's not so bad...
"NOW WE'LL SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT!" With a deep breath and a hefty shout, the bald hero threw the massive boulder right at Frieza. The spectators were at a loss for words, all of them too baffled at not only the size of the boulder, but that Saitama could throw something like that, and at such high speeds no less.
Even with this fortifying display of physical prowess, Frieza's composure was not being tested. No, even as the massive island was hurtling straight toward him, he knew that this newfound power would protect him, give him the strength he needed to win this fight. In fact, Frieza decided to try something a little different out, to flash his strength right in everyone's faces.
"YYYYAAAHHHHH!" Frieza held his hand out in front of the gargantuan boulder, and as it was about to pummel him into oblivion, Frieza did something nobody was expecting: Frieza actually caught it with his bare hands. But wait! Instead of stopping it midair, he actually went with the momentum of the boulder; he proceeded to change its direction, twirling it around him like an athlete would in a shot put competition. After spinning the boulder around him about 2 dozen times, the speed had practically doubled from before. Even Frieza was impressed by this.
"I LIKE IT THIS MUCH!" With a hefty throw and a boisterous shout, the Space Emperor chucked the boulder right back at Saitama. Genos and the rest of the fighters gasped, their eyes wide with terror for Saitama.
"Master! Get out of there!" shouted Genos.
The bald hero was, in fact, disappointed. Disappointed in Genos for doubting his master. I mean, Genos saw Saitama destroy a meteor; how was this any different? Saitama braced himself, hardened his face and, with only a single punch, shattered the boulder into millions of tiny pieces. On the sidelines, the Saiyan General chuckled in amusement; he could see that Saitama was beginning to enjoy himself, just a little bit. Perhaps he was wrong in what he sensed in Frieza; maybe Saitama really had this one in the bag.
Suddenly, the millions of separate rocks in the air began to hover. Next, they were trimmed down until they were millions of daggers all pointed at Saitama. Frieza's hands were raised up in the air, the confident smirk plastered on the lizard's face. He flicked his fingers, and like that, the millions of stone daggers all went speeding straight at Saitama.
"This again?" muttered Saitama, "You really are an idiot." The bald hero calmly prepared himself and shattered all of the stone daggers that came his way. On the sidelines, the homosexual hero gave a quizzical look. "Are all of Frieza's daggers missing?" he asked.
Garou shook his head. "No, Saitama is just punching all of them down at a hyper-speed that our eyes can't perceive."
Once Puri-Puri-Prisoner wrapped his head around the concept, he let out a small gasp of amazement. "Wow..."
While all the other spectators were paying attention to Saitama, Tatsumaki's attention was directed to Frieza. While the others may not have realized this, Frieza's psychic powers had amplified significantly. She could sense the power of other espers, and with what she was sensing now, his psychic powers could actually rival her own, perhaps even exceed it, as much as she hated to admit it. "This isn't good..." Tatsumaki silently muttered this to herself, so nobody else was able to catch this. "If his psychic powers have increased by this much," thought Tatsumaki," There's no telling how much more powerful he's become in terms of strength and energy projection."
"God, baldy, I hope you know what you're doing."
Back on the battlefield, Saitama was able to pick up on the increased speed of his psychic abilities just like Tatsumaki had, but unlike Tatsumaki, this didn't worry him. On the contrary, it only served to excite him even more. Saitama was still playing around with Frieza; he hadn't even begun to test his new speed or strength yet, so if Frieza had more to show, he was all-ears.
About 10 seconds later, Frieza had run out of daggers to throw at Saitama, and the ground was now littered with tiny pebbles. In an unexpected move, Frieza began applauding his opponent, earning the confusion of everyone watching the fight. "Bravo, my friend! It seems you were able to handle my onslaught of daggers just as easily as before!"
"Yea well, I think I managed to break a sweat!" shouted Saitama.
"Oh, you'll be breaking a little more than a sweat after I'm done with you... For you see, that was just a warm up. In truth, I'm only just getting started?"
"Well whatddya know? Then I guess we should stop with the play time and move on up to the big leagues?"
"Indeed, we should."
On the other side of the globe, the confrontation between the House of Evolution and the Frieza Force was just beginning to dawn. Karmath and Zombieman continues to stare each other down, allowing for the tense atmosphere to further heighten.
"Take this!" Karmath sped up toward Zombieman. Instantaneously, Zombieman pulled the trigger on his Desert Eagle and fired three rounds before Karmath reached him. The Frieza soldier launched a left uppercut that Zombieman narrowly avoided, countering with a right jab to Karmath's chest. Alas, Karmath grabbed Zombieman's fist and twisted it very hard.
"AHHHH!" yelled Zombieman in pain. The undead hero reached inside his trench coat and grabbed his sharp curved katana. With a smooth slice, he swung his katana across Karmath's armor, carving through it and soliciting a yelp of pain.
"LET'S GET'EM!" shouted one of the Frieza soldiers.
"YYYAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The foot-soldiers all marched onward in an adrenaline-filled swarm.
Dr. Genus turned his head and stared at Armored Gorilla. The cybernetic primate realized the scientist's gaze upon him and looked down to meet his stare.
"Attack," said Dr. Genus blatantly, "But remember to not get carried away."
Armored Gorilla nodded. "As you wish, Doctor. Make sure to find a safe place to hide so these aliens don't get a hold of you."
"Very well." Dr. Genus hurried back into his shop, leaving his two creations to fight alone.
The primate grabbed his white sweatshirt and ripped it off his body, revealing his armored exoskeleton. From the suit, a helmet formed and covered his face, thus completing his suit of armor.
"FOR THE HOUSE OF EVOLUTION!" The gorilla sprinted to face the army of soldiers, facing them head-on like a gorilla would do in the wild. The first dozen foot-soldiers that came into Armored Gorilla's proximity were launched several feet into the air with a single swipe of his arm. The next dozen came to a screeching halt, the adrenaline fueling them quickly being replaced by fear.
"Fire your blasters!" shouted Karmath, still in battle with Zombieman. The foot-soldiers did as he said and prepped their blasters. But before they could fire them, Armored Gorilla smashed the ground and tossed dozens of large rocks at the soldiers, knocking the first wave off the ground. The mighty primate jumped into the air and prepared to smash the entire army away, but he was met with an onslaught of red energy blasts from the soldiers who were still standing.
A smaller group of the soldiers was running to aid Karmath in the battle. Zombieman saw them charging toward him and fired his Desert Eagle at the soldiers. To his surprise, the soldiers were unaffected by the bullets, which merely crumpled up against their armor.
"It appears projectiles have no effect on them," muttered Zombieman, " I suppose I'll have to rely on my melee weapons."
"I'm taking you down!" screamed one of the soldiers. He jumped up to kick Zombieman, but the hero easily dodged his attack and, with a single slice, severed the soldier into two. A group of five soldiers all charged Zombieman at once, punching and kicking him simultaneously in an attempt to overwhelm him. The hero was unfazed, however, and easily dodged their attacks, countering them with his blade and landing several deep cuts on the soldiers.
Meanwhile, the multitudinous number of blasts caused the gorilla to quickly stop his midair attack and made him fall to the ground. Armored Gorilla put his elbows up to defend himself from the energy blasts. He advanced step-by-step, his upped defense allowing him to take the force of the attacks without considerable damage.
"Your attacks have minimal effect," said Armored Gorilla, "You cannot win!" The cybernetic gorilla pushed his arms out and nullified all of the energy blasts, leaving the soldiers dumb-struck. The demon-level monster pummeled at least 6 soldiers with a right hook; he then grabbed two soldiers by the face, and began spinning around rapidly. Armored Gorilla was mowing down the horde of soldiers, sending them crashing into stone walls and glass windows. Once he felt he'd done enough, he banged the heads of the soldiers he had in his hands together, and dropped them on the ground with a silent thud.
"Jesus Christ..." whispered Orlen, "This guy brings a whole new meaning to "Going Ape Shit". We're gonna have to bring in some help, or else Lord Frieza's gonna have to take a trip to Space Mexico."
With that witty exchange of insults out of the way, the two warriors disappeared from sight yet again. For a few moments, the two of them were invisible, but this time, they reappeared more quickly, exchanging a pair of fast-paced punches. The punches were so fast, all they could see was a giant blur of black and red in between them. After a brief moment of this, Frieza then kneed him in the stomach and sent him back flying several hundred feet. The Space Emperor jumped horizontally, flying through the air at crazy speeds, so fast, in fact, that Saitama barely had time to block Frieza's fist with his own. As a result, they were now locked in a battle of fists, both of them trying to gain dominance over the other, yet neither of them gaining a decisive advantage. The friction was enormous; lightning began to splint out from the fighters, and cobbles rose to the ground as they did before. Frieza's obsidian ki was glowing even brighter, expanding outwards.
Immediately after, Saitama began to lose ground, his fist being pushed back by Frieza's. "What the..." Was Frieza actually overwhelming him? This was a first.
"GRAH!" Saitama yelled angrily and increased the force in his fist, managing to even the playing field again. The spark of fury shone in Saitama's eyes, catching the attention of Frieza. This was the first time he had ever seen Saitama show any signs of aggravation, which meant he was doing something right.
"It seems I managed to get a rise out of you! The invincible One Punch Man actually struggling?!" mocked Frieza.
"Nah, I'm just trying to give you a false sense of confidence so you don't start bawling once I kick your ass!" replied Saitama.
"Oh-hoh..." Saitama noticed the veins on Frieza's head throbbing, the energy surrounding him distorting and amplifying. "YOU BALD BASTARD!"
Red energy pumped up from his elbow, with a bright surge of this energy glowing on his hand, giving it even more strength. The sheer power now vesseled in the fist was too much for Saitama to handle, and in less than a second, the energy from his hand exploded. Saitama was blown back several hundred feet, tossed around like a rag doll, until he slowed down enough to a gentle slide across the rock ground.
"Master!" Genos yelled out in concern. Never, once, had he ever seen his master knocked back by an opponent. Such a thing was unprecedented for him. Likewise, a wave of mild panic ran through the other fighters, and they shifted nervously in their places.
Frieza let out a hearty laugh, all-the-while slowly pacing toward his opponent, who was pushing himself off the ground. "My my! An unexpected turn of events! What is the hero to do? Accept defeat and bow to his master? A move that has sadly long expired."
"Damn right it has!" The faint sound of drops filled his ears. He looked down, and realized that there were drops of blood on the ground. He touched his forehead, and slightly gasped when he saw the red staining his fingers. This all seemed very familiar to him: being knocked back, blood being drawn for the first time, and his bulky, empowered opponent standing above him just after he knocked Saitama back.
Yes! The memory came back to him. His serious expression disappeared, and the bald hero managed to let out a chuckle of amusement. Frieza's right eyebrow raised up. "What's so funny? Did that last attack knock the sense out of you?"
"No." Saitama looked up at Frieza and smirked, "You see, I had a dream a few months back where an army of Subterranean people invaded the surface, and I had to kill them all single-handedly. Ironically, not only was that the only time in 3 years I ever fought seriously, but this moment right now is almost exactly the same as that memory, and if the history of my memory serves as any guide, I'm gonna end the fight with THIS!" Saitama pulled his right arm back and, with a loud yell, punched Frieza with a hard right jab, identical to how he first attacked in his dream. Though this time, instead of guts spilling out of his opponent's back, the mighty lizard took the full brunt of the blow, showing no signs of strain. Saitama's eyes widened, having trouble believing what he just witnessed. "What the hell? You're still alive?"
An amused chuckle came out of Frieza's mouth. "Quite impressive, isn't it?"
"It is," replied Saitama, "It means I can do this!"
"Two Handed Consecutive Normal Punches!" Saitama launched a speedy-quick volley of punches from both of his hands instead of his typical right hand. In response, Frieza blocked every single of the punches, with only two fingers for the matter. The force from Saitama's punches created gusts of wind that reached all of the spectators, as well as creating more cracks in the ground. Then, Saitama lifted his leg and struck Frieza with the heel of his right boot. Frieza caught his foot midair and spun it around, causing Saitama to twirl around at amazing speeds and making it appear as if he was a yellow spinning log. As a follow up, Frieza slammed Saitama downward and grabbed his neck with his tail, lifting him up about half a foot off the ground.
"How about another neck massage? The only thing you're gonna have to pay me with this time is your life, but it's not like it's worth that much, so hey! You got yourself a steal!" Saitama attempted to break free from Frieza's grip, but he couldn't. The pressure of Frieza's tail wrapped around his neck was crazy strong, worlds stronger than his grip before.
"Kidney Punch!" Taking this moment to exact a small portion of revenge, Frieza punched Saitama in the kidney, causing him to grunt in agony, spitting out saliva in the process.
"Kidney punch! Kidney Punch! Kidney Punch, and pause!" Frieza momentarily stopped his cruel jabs, and immediately resumed them. "Kidney Punch!"
"Alright, that's it!" Saitama, having had enough of this abuse, stretched his arms behind his back in preparation for one of his more powerful moves.
"Killer Move, Serious Series: Serious Clap!" Saitama clapped his hands as hard as he could; the effect was instantaneous. An unrelenting surge of wind came forth from Saitama's hands, and the strength of the wind was strong enough for Frieza to release his grip on Saitama. "Now you've done it!" Saitama lunged for Frieza, the speed at which he traveled being fast enough to lift the debris up from the ground, and punched Frieza, being too angry to say the name of his attack beforehand. Saitama's fists were a big blur of red, and Saitama's expressionless face was now filled with annoyance and frustration. Saitama stopped his flurry of punches and swept Frieza's feet from under him. Frieza stuck his hand out to the ground and spun his body like a spinning top. With this rotating motion, he knocked Saitama off his feet and, while he was still falling, nailed him hard in his stomach. Saitama's eyes bulged out, and his hands immediately went to his gut.
"Emperor's Death Beam!" From his fingertip, Frieza fired a red energy beam that hit Saitama's forehead. Then, a flurry of Death Beams were released from his fingertip and targeted Saitama. Saitama lunged up to Frieza before the Death Beams had the chance to reach him and landed a right hook on his left cheek. Frieza was momentarily stunned by the blow, but he countered by gripping both his hands together and slamming down on Saitama's head. Saitama lifted his elbows up to block the attack; the force of the attacks sunk the two down several meters. Saitama clenched his teeth and swept Frieza from under him. The fiery-hot willpower burned in Saitama's eyes, and with a loud shout, he punched Frieza in the center of his chest. While Frieza was still flying in the air, Saitama jumped up to continue his attack. The Space Emperor met his attack, however, and another quick exchange of punches occurred midair.
"It's coming..." The blood in his cold, lifeless heart was starting to pump intensely. The wild throbbing in his heart... Yes! It was happening again! The feeling of euphoria was coursing through his veins; the rush was blessing him with life anew! The heat of the battle, the sensation of fighting such a worthy opponent, all of these these were overflowing within him, setting his soul on fire. His dream was a dream no more: the reality of his dispiriting existential crisis was finally solved! This was just like his battle with the Subterraneans. No, this was even better!
"I've finally got it!" screamed Saitama, "I'M FINALLY BACK!" With his bubbling joy, Saitama ended the exchange of punches by elbowing Frieza square in his nose, sending him crashing back into the ground. Saitama rotated his body and punched the air, creating a wind current that send him blowing down to Frieza's position. He then rotated back and punched the ground just gently enough to slow his descent and let him land with a gentle thud.
"How'd you like that!" shouted Saitama, who was standing over Frieza with his arms crossed and his chin held high. The Space Emperor placed both his palms on the ground and pushed himself up and getting himself back on his feet.
"Hold on..." Something was wrong. Saitama couldn't quite pin it, but he felt Frieza was having a little too much fun. Even after getting serious and beginning to showcase his true power, Frieza was still acting calm, despite taking all those blows from Saitama. Hell, Frieza wasn't even frowning; his lips were forming a small smile. And then, to make matters even worse, he started slow clapping. "Uh-oh," thought Saitama.
"Congratulations! You graduated from pull-ups! Maybe I'll give you a juice box and a little sticker with a turtle saying, "Slow and steady all the way!" as a little present!"
"Cute," replied Saitama.
"But as enjoyable as it's been being tossed around like a used condom, I think the time has come to end this battle, I'm afraid.
"Oh really? Well let's say I disagree."
"But my dear friend, it is. Thanks to your oh-so-generous patience and stupidity, I can hardly feel your attacks. They're about as strong as your doppelganger's."
"Is that so," said Saitama, "Sound's like you're full of shit!"
"It's been fun." Frieza held out his hands and placed his right foot forward, performing the same pose as he did earlier. "You've given me a very bracing workout. Part of me might even shed a tear." Immediately, Frieza's dark energy began to seep out of him like smoke from a fire. Saitama unfolded his arms and took a defensive stance. Saitama's senses were sending him danger signals as Frieza stood there. It was as if Frieza were somehow making himself even stronger. It was enough to make his skin crawl.
"Alright, maybe this won't be so easy..." Suddenly, Frieza dropped his hands to his sides. He stared right into Saitama's eyes; then, as if mocking him, he widened them and let out a little hum of curiosity, as if saying, "Are you ready for this?"
With lightning speed, Frieza appeared in front of Saitama and kicked him in the face. The bald hero yelled out in pain, and he was barely able to keep his footing as he staggered backwards from the blow. He shook his head and looked back up at Frieza; then, Saitama felt a small trace of blood coming out of his nose. "That speed was insane!" thought Saitama, "He shouldn't be that fast!"
Frieza beamed in delight when he saw the shock in Saitama's eyes. How good it felt to see that bald bastard in pain! Now he knew exactly how he felt before when Saitama toyed with him at 70% power. What daunting, unforgivable humiliation that was! Well, as he said before, Frieza intended to pay back Saitama in-full.
"SLIMY LIZARD!" Saitama charged Frieza, but before he could reach him, he just disappeared. He looked to his left and could only stand still as he was hit in his stomach. The bald hero tried to counter, but Frieza had already vanished and attacked him from another spot. "GHHAHHH!" Saitama started to move rapidly throughout the empty space, attempting to use his speed to evade the terrible lizard, but in less than a second, Frieza had already found him and struck his face with his tail. Before he could even open his eyes again, Frieza clamped his hands together and slammed him downward, and just before he made it to the ground, he kneed Saitama in the back, and finally, he hit Saitama with his tail again and put him in the ground.
"TWO-HANDED CONSECUTIVE NORMAL PUNCHES!" Saitama jumped up off the ground and attacked with his two-handed punching technique. But no! Frieza met Saitama's string of punches with his own, and in just seconds, Saitama was overwhelmed in the exchange of blows and became intimate with the ground.
"You really need to come up with better names for your attacks!" Saitama aggressively got back up again and snarled at Frieza. "Stick it up your ass!" shouted Saitama, "You only caught me off guard, that's all!"
"Oh is that so?" Frieza chuckled amusingly at the way in which Saitama responded, "That sounded a little aggravated! Now don't tell me that the most powerful hero on this mudball is getting worried!"
"Of course not!" yelled Saitama "The only thing that I'm worried about is how far up I'm gonna be able to stick my arm your ass!"
"Woah! Alright, alright..." Frieza put out his arms like a policeman would to a criminal to calm them down. "Since I seemed to have hit a soft spot there, and I'm in a generous mood, I'm gonna give you one free shot. But I must warn you, if you waste it-"
"KILLER MOVE, SERIOUS SERIES: SERIOUS PUNCH!" Before Frieza even finished his sentence, Saitama already went ahead and accepted Frieza's proposal. Saitama's Serious Punch made a direct hit on Frieza's right cheek. The shockwaves created from the attack were unbelievable; all of the spectators were knocked off of their feet, and in the sky, the clouds were parted, split in half. Saitama smirked; the power put into that punch should have been able to take care of 10 Friezas. This battle was already over.
"Heh heh heh..." The smirk on Saitama's face shambled when he heard this low-toned chuckle. Saitama observed Frieza's face, and realized there was a small trail of blood running down his mouth, but other than that, he seemed totally unharmed. Frieza wiped the blood off of his face, and with the lowest, darkest, most malevolent tone he'd ever used, said, "You're gonna regret it."
Saitama was stunned speechless. This couldn't be right. Frieza just took his Serious Punch head-on, and it didn't even faze him. At the very least it should have knocked him to the ground, left him disoriented for a few seconds. Before, his serious punch was able to make easy work of Frieza's most powerful attack, and back then he was mostly winging it. But he'd actually been serious when he punched Frieza, and this was all it did? It was completely insane.
The spectating space pirates were awestruck at their master's immense durability, amazed at how much progress Frieza made with this single transformation.
"Lord Frieza's got him on the ropes now!" said Guldo.
"Recoome can't wait to watch the fireworks!" exclaimed Recoome.
"I never had a doubt," stated Captain Ginyu.
"Saitama's practically finished," added Zarbon. Without warning, static from one of the scouters blared. It took a moment for the Space Pirates to realize the noise was coming from Zarbon's scouter.
"-Zar-Zarbon! Are you receiving me?" An unknown voice spoke into the scouter, but from what Zarbon could tell, he was panicked. His breathing was labored, and in the background, they could all hear the yelling of soldiers in the heat of most likely a battle.
"What's going on down there?" said Zarbon, "Is the situation under control?"
"We need assistance! One of the soldiers contacted the rest of us, telling us there was something important for Lord Frieza we needed to help him with. We found ourselves with three inhabitants; we thought we could take them, but they're proving to be too much for us! Zarbon, please come to our coordinates before we're all massacred!"
"Alright, alright! Just send me the coordinates and I'll be on my way!"
"Of course!"
Zarbon let out a perturbed groan. "I swear, these foot soldiers are the worst; they can never handle anything by themselves." Zarbon rotated himself in the direction the coordinates were showing, and he began to increase his energy. "I trust nothing will arise while I'm gone," said Zarbon.
"Not a problem," said Captain Ginyu, "Just make sure you're back in time to see Lord Frieza land the finishing blow."
Zarbon nodded. "Will do." So with that, the handsome space pirate flew off into the sky, leaving the Ginyu's behind to continue watching the battle of the century.
On the battlefield, Saitama was yelling angrily and attacking Frieza with strings of very fast and powerful punches. Despite the increase in ferocity, Frieza was able to dodge and counter all of Saitama's moves with minimal effort.
The lines of worry were etching deeper in the skin of the heroes watching this unfortunate turn of events.
"This is bad, the gap between their strength is widening," said Atomic Samurai.
"Frieza's just toying with him," exclaimed Garou, "He's enraging Saitama, playing with his emotions."
"Not only that," said Bang, interrupting Garou, "But Saitama's movements have become more erratic, more disorganized."
"What are you talking about?" demanded Genos, "Are you questioning my master's abilities?"
Garou somberly nodded, with Bomb following suit. "His technique was already that of a complete amateur; he just had his immense power to make up for it, but now that he's facing an opponent of equal, no greater power, this weakness is coming back to haunt him. He's not even defending himself properly! Look!"
The heroes looked to see what he was talking about, and while observing in detail, they realized Garou was onto something: Saitama was barely defending himself from Frieza, and his movements were very sluggish. He was forgetting to put his elbows up in defense, and his stance was completely wide and unfocused. His face was scrunched in fury, and his teeth were bared with frightening vice. Every time he was hit, his reaction time was delayed, and before he even had the chance to counter, Frieza was already gone and striking him in a different area.
"Damn it Saitama..." Just like the expert martial artists, Nappa could very clearly see what was going on. The Saiyan General felt like he was looking in a mirror: this was exactly what happened to him against Sonic. Saitama was too focused on anger; it was limiting his speed and reaction time, and it was only leaving himself even more open to attack. If he could, he'd try and shout to Saitama to calm him down, but Frieza would probably eradicate him, so the best he could do was watch and hope Saitama would come to his senses.
"Can't you see Genos?" said Flashy Flash, "They're right; Saitama's technique has become sloppy, even sloppier than it already was. He needs to hone his skills and reflexes, or he'll be completely helpless against opponents like this!"
The teenage cyborg prepared an angry retort, but he stopped himself at the last minute. "Could they be right..." though Genos, "Is this the price of a lack of refinement? Could Saitama be this inexperienced in fighting?"
In the sky, a brilliant idea popped in Frieza's demented brain. "Hey Saitama!" shouted Frieza, cupping his hands around his mouth as he did, "Get ready for my favorite game: PAINBALL! ROUND 2!"
Nappa's heart turn to stone. "No..."
"Round 2?" Saitama didn't understand what Frieza meant and didn't have time to understand what it meant; from both of his fingers, Frieza fired a massive barrage of blood-red Death Beams. Unlike before, Frieza was constantly moving, changing his position as to make it more difficult to predict or avoid his attacks. This, combined with his surplus of speed, made it appear that there were multiple copies of Frieza firing from everywhere at once, even though it was just him. This was the new level of power Frieza had reached, and boy-o-boy, did it feel awesome.
The Death Beams ripped through his yellow jumpsuit and pierced his skin, drawing small pricks of blood. Saitama's blood began to boil: he was able to survive a trip to the moon without so much as a scratch, but these tiny little energy beams were able to make him bleed? "Goddamn it!"
Saitama bent his knees and dug his fingers into the air. Frieza knew what this was; it was all-too-familiar.
"Killer Move, Serious Series: Serious Table Flip!" Saitama flipped the ground on the air to stop Frieza's relentless Death Beams, but before the terrain could go even 10 meters up into the air, their movement was instantly halted. The bald hero couldn't understand: he did exactly the same movements as before, but something was keeping them from soaring any higher.
"Yo. Up here." Saitama looked up and gasped: Frieza's left hand was lifted up and there was a faint glow around his hand and the rocks. It didn't take a genius to put two-and-two together.
The esper watching on the sidelines was just as shocked. "How was he able to react so quickly to stop all those rocks? It took me years to attain that level of reflex, and even now I'm not able to stop objects moving that fast in such a short amount of time. This shouldn't be possible!"
"You really just can't respect my property, can you?" Frieza dropped his hand, and all of the terrain fell back to the ground. "Well then let's see how you like it when your shit gets flipped!" Frieza flew down to Saitama and pummeled him with a barrage of speedy punches. Like Saitama's punches, the force of the Space Emperor's punches created major gusts of winds and fractured the ground below them, as broken as it already was. Try as he might, Saitama was just too overwhelmed by Frieza's multitudinous punches. The combo of punches continued until Saitama crashed into a gorge about 2 miles long; the gorge instantly crumbled as Saitama's body cut its way through the large rock formation.
Frieza hovered a few meters above the air, crossing his arms and coldly staring at the ruins below him. Snapping out of the damage he took, Saitama pushed all the rocks out of his way and looked up at Frieza. "This isn't good..." muttered Saitama under his breath. He wasn't sure how much longer things could go on like this.
"You know, as entertaining a punching bag as you make, I find there is no more joy to be found here. So how about this? As a reward for helping me achieve an unprecedented level of strength, I'll finish you with this!" In the palm of Frieza's hand, a bright orange ball of energy burst to life. As the seconds passed, the ball began to grow to the size of a small sun, although this one was twice as large as his first one.
"This is a little taste of the scorching heat you're going to be suffering for the rest of eternity! NOW BURN IN HELL!" Frieza threw his hand down, and the fiery ball descended downward, preparing to vaporize Saitama into dust and forgotten memories.
On the ground, Saitama's willpower was burning intensely in his eyes. There was no way in hell he would ever back down from this!
"YOU THINK I'M AFRAID OF THIS?!" screamed Saitama, "I'VE HANDLED IT ONCE, I CAN HANDLE IT AGAIN! JUST WATCH!" Even in the face of this horrendous scenario, even though he had been beaten to a bloody pulp, even though he'd been toyed with like a child's plaything, he still found joy in this situation. As disgusting as it might be, the rush of the battle was still present. It was still giving him fuel for his strength; it was like a drug addict getting his first hit after a year of abstinence. And like all drug addicts, the rush could kill him. But for a man like Saitama? He'd never let that happen.
The Death Ball was rapidly honing in on its target. 50 meters. 40 meters. 30 meters. 20 meters. 10 meters.
"Bring it on!"
"GRRAAAHHHHH!" The instant Saitama's fist touched the Death Ball, there were powerful side effects. Huge lightning bolts shot out of the Death Ball, carving into the land, melting all the rock it touched and turning it into lava. Within a second of punching the Death Ball, Saitama's red glove was vaporized, not that it was needed.
The struggle was absolutely petrifying: all the veins on Saitama's head were bulging. His muscles were tighter than steel as he poured every ounce of power into holding back the Death Ball. His eyes were somehow both wild and focused, and more serious than they'd ever been before.
But as admirable and impressive as Saitama's indomitable will was, Frieza's Death Ball began to overwhelm the bald hero. "DAMN IT!" screamed Saitama as he felt himself being pushed back. Never before had any opponent challenged him to this degree of intensity. Even with his anger and will fueling him, he was still losing the battle.
"HAHAHAHAH! THAT FEELING OF HELPLESSNESS SHOULD BE SETTLING IN QUITE NICELY!" yelled Frieza, "LET'S SEE HOW LONG IT TAKES BEFORE YOUR BONES ARE VAPORIZED!"
"DAMN... YOU!" screamed Saitama, "I'M... NOT... GIVING... IN!" While he spoke these words with every drop of passion and fury in his heart, his seemingly invulnerable and unstoppable body was still being broken down.
"You're putting up quite the resistance," said Frieza, "BUT IT'S OVER!" Frieza thrust his hand outward, increasing the energy of his Death Ball. In less than a second, Saitama felt the Death Ball growing stronger, expanding in size.
"YYYYYYYAHHHHHHHHHHH!" The Death Ball exploded in a bright flash, disintegrating everything in its path until there was nothing but a heaping pile of ash.
Across the battlefield, Genos gasped in absolute horror, while the other heroes looked on with worry. His master put everything he had into stopping that Death Ball, yet he failed all-the-same. It couldn't be true!
"No, master..."
"Wait!" said Bang, "Look!" The aged martial artist pointed down to the ruins of the battlefield, and beneath the charred ashes of the landscape, a figure popped out. The teenage cyborg let out an immense sigh of relief; thank god his master was alright. Well, "alright" wouldn't be exactly accurate: Saitama's face was covered in dirt and blood. The entire upper part of his jumpsuit from his neck to his waist had been vaporized, leaving his chiseled chest exposed to the world. His right boot had been torn, revealing three of Saitama's toes, and Saitama's left glove was nearly gone, save for the pinky hole and the lower part covering his wrist. His arms were drooping at his sides, and his breathing was very labored.
"That thing really did a number on me..." said Saitama, wincing in pain in the process, "I haven't felt this bad since the first year of training. That Frieza's really got some hot moves." Somehow, Saitama was able to crack a joke despite his serious bruises.
"You're still alive?" Frieza's tail whipped in the air, and his arms were laying at his sides in a neutral manner. He was neither angry nor happy, just surprised. "Your endurance truly is exceptional. Any other opponent would have been utterly obliterated, yet here you are, standing and ready to press on." Frieza's feet lightly touched the ground, and with only a few steps, he was standing in front of Saitama.
Frieza's first action was slugging Saitama across the face, sending him into the ground. Before Saitama could get himself up, Frieza's foot aggressively pushed Saitama's head to the ground, his right cheek scrapping up against the cold rock.
"Ah, you're in your rightful place: beneath me, groveling at my feet. Perhaps now you finally understand what I am: I am your master, your Emperor, and your teacher to the most important lesson of all: never defy me!" Frieza increased the force on his leg, causing Saitama to yell out in agony.
"Oh, what's wrong?" mocked Frieza, "No clever comeback? No hateful insult? Come on, say something! Speak! Your master demands it!"
"You... are not... MY MASTER!"
Frieza hummed out in surprise. Without warning, the bald hero squeezed Frieza's leg and threw him off of him. Saitama jumped up to his feet and punched Frieza with lightning fast punches, pouring his heart out and giving everything he had in every punch. Frieza was caught off guard by the increased speed and strength, and was helplessly beaten like a punching bag.
GRAH!" Saitama stopped his flurry of punches and struck Frieza with one, very hard punch. The force of this single punch created multiple shockwaves and sent Frieza through at least 10 layers of rock.
"IT'S TIME I FINISHED WHAT I STARTED, FRIEZA!" Saitama bent down and, being careful not to go out of Earth's atmosphere, jumped several hundred meters into the sky.
"What is Saitama doing," said King.
"I think he's going to finish it with one final attack," replied Garou. "It's his last-ditch effort to end this battle." All the spectators turned their attention to the Hero Hunter. "He's realized the dangerous strength Frieza possesses, and knows if he doesn't end it now, Frieza will reign victorious, so he's channeling all his energy into one single punch."
"Is that right?" said Superalloy Darkshine. The muscular hero looked to the skies, and shouted up to the bald hero, " You can do it, champ! Finish that wimpy lizard off with your godly muscles!"
"Yea!" Metal Bat followed Superalloy Darkshine's lead and yelled out to Saitama. "Send that creep packing!"
"End that wretched lizard's life!" screamed Genos, cupping his hands to increase the range of his shout. "It is your destiny! I know it is!"
Up in the sky, Saitama couldn't help but feel somewhat touched by his disciples words. Even after he screwed the pooch and let Frieza finish his final transformation, he still cheered him on. He still had faith that he was the best and strongest hero in existence. It made him feel a little fuzzy.
"This one's for you, Genos." Saitama's speed decreased until he was stationary, leaving him floating in the air, like a cloud in the bright blue sky.
"Gotta increase my speed," said Saitama, so what he did was turn the opposite direction, and clapped. The simple clap sent him flying downward at dozens of meters per second, and it only increased as gravity took its toll.
"GET READY FOR EVERYTHING I'VE GOT!" screamed Saitama.
On the ground, Frieza had just gotten up and dusted himself off. He looked around, and realized Saitama had vanished. He was just about to ask himself where he went, when he heard Saitama's shouting. Frieza looked up and saw Saitama skyrocketing downward straight toward him.
"So he's finally coming at me with everything. Well in that case..." Frieza's dark aura erupted in a brilliant burst around him, his muscles swelling as the power coursed through him. "I'LL MEET IT HEAD-ON! I HOPE YOU'LL MAKE IT ENTERTAINING!" Frieza flew up to meet Saitama. This was it. The ultimate battle between the two most powerful warriors on the planet, perhaps the universe, was about to reach its thrilling climax. Both warriors were on fire, their willpower's burning like suns. Only this would determine whose sun would glow brighter. When the two warriors finally met each other in the sky, both fighters screamed simultaneously, "
"KILLER MOVE, KILLER SERIES: ULTIMATE PLANET-BUSTING FULL-FORCE PUNCH!"
"SUPREME EMPEROR NOVA STRIKE!"
The two moves clashed together in an electrifying, petrifying, absolutely glorious fashion. Upon contact, all the rock formations below them shattered, and the ledge upon which the heroes were standing fell apart, causing the heroes to be buried in rocks. Dozens of lightning bolts shot out, scorching the barren land, and the shockwaves were fanning out halfway across the globe. The dark aura around Frieza grew brighter, while Saitama's face only grew more angry and intense.
"YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The pair of fighters screamed as loud as they humanely could, and then, the sky lit up in a magnificent flash. The shockwaves created tremors so powerful, the very Earth was shaking in fear. On the opposite side of the globe, humans were knocked off their feet, small buildings toppled, and wild animals whimpered, panicking at what they were sensing.
It took about 10 seconds for the quaking to die down and the planet to stabilize. At the epicenter of the quaking, there was nothing but ruin. The once lush and vibrant landscape was all but decimated, replaced by rock, ash and sorrow. The heroes were slow to get up, with the force of the explosion knocking their senses loose.
"Is everyone alright?" said Puri-Puri-Prisoner through stifled groans.
"I guess..." said Metal Bat.
"I'll be alright when I see that ugly lizard's lifeless corpse," said Sweet Mask.
"Wait," said Genos, his eyes widening in fear. "Where is Master Saitama?"
The spectators surveyed the land around them, yet were unable to see anything clearly due to the thick smoke from the explosion. Pray that Saitama was alright!
"I see something!" shouted Garou, pointing to the target. Everyone looked, and saw a humanoid figure with no hair walking towards them.
"Could it be..." The smoke gradually cleared, revealing a battered, limping, yet still moving Saitama. The cyborg's face lit up in happiness and relief. It was as if the weight and shame of losing to Frieza had been lifted off of him. His master did it! He had slain the God-level monster, just as he said he would. Likewise, the other heroes breathed sighs of relief, overjoyed to know that this fight was over.
Nappa let out a hearty laugh, the first genuine laugh he'd done in years. Saitama had succeeded where he had failed. While he still would have wanted to deal the final blow himself, at least he knew Frieza was on his long, slow journey to hell. At last, his people were avenged, and King Vegeta could finally rest in peace.
As he was walking, Saitama lifted his arms in triumph and stopped in his place to bask in the glory of his victory. The heroes applauded him, walking towards him with smiles on all their faces to congratulate him, when...
"No..." Just when they thought there'd be no more surprises, Saitama abruptly dropped his arms. His knees lost all their power, his mind blacking out as he fell to the ground, revealing Frieza standing right behind him, smiling in pure ecstasy.
"No no no no no no no no..." Genos couldn't accept what he was seeing. It just wasn't possible: it had to be some sort of illusion cast by Frieza. Ever since he'd become Saitama's disciple, he'd come to understand that there were no beings stronger than Saitama. His master was the ultimate symbol of strength and hope that made all monsters cower in terror, the representation of everything Genos aspired to be. There was no one stronger than Saitama. There COULD'NT be someone stronger than Saitama. If his master was truly defeated, then all was lost.
"Saitama, you can't be defeated," said King, who was in a trance just as Genos and frankly the rest of the heroes were. This trance prevented them from hearing the uproarious Ginyu members cheering in delight as they watched Saitama's body fall to the ground and their master stand victorious.
"The looks on your faces..." said Frieza, bathing in the steaming bath of his victory, "it is truly a sight to behold. But what did you expect? I told you all you would experience a nightmare beyond the horrors of hell. Since your knight in shining armor has moved on to the next world..." Frieza lifted his finger, causing all the heroes to jump back in fear.
"I suppose you'll have to tell him what he missed."
The teenage cyborg was not ready to give up, however. Using his quick thinking, he rushed Frieza to distract him with a new move Dr. Kuseno has given him.
"Lightning Core!"
From his core, Genos produced a blinding flash of light to incapacitate Frieza. The Space Emperor yelled out in pain and grabbed at his eyes. Using the previous time he had, Genos scooped up Saitama and yelled to the others, "We have to run! Now!"
King grabbed Superalloy Darkshine's shoulder. "Could you-" King didn't even finish his sentence before the black hero grabbed King and sling him around his shoulders.
"I've got Blast!" Not having forgotten about the top-ranked hero in the Hero Association, Tatsumaki levitated Blast off of the ground and flew into the air with his unconscious body trailing a crew feet behind her. The rest of the heroes sprinted as fast as they possibly could, which wasn't very fast. Garou, the Hero Hunter, honestly had no idea what to do, and acting before he thought, decided to run up alongside the heroes.
The Saiyan General panicked. He stood no chance against Frieza with Saitama out of commission. But where could he go? "I guess I'll head back to meet up with the speedy prick." Nappa powered up and soared into the sky
"Stop!" screamed Captain Ginyu, "You're not going-" Ginyu was interrupted by an incineration blast that captured him, as well as Recoome and Guldo, in its flames.
"Wretched, insignificant..." Frieza muttered vehemently as he waited for the effects of the flash to wear off. It took about 15 seconds before his sight returned to normal. As soon as it did, he flew up inti the sky to find out where the heroes went. "Ah-hah!" Frieza spotted them running toward the populated city, although their pace was sluggish due to their previous injuries.
Frieza cackled. "Fools..." Frieza held his finger out and prepared a Death Beam.
"No one shall escape my wrath."
"Wha-wh-wh-wh-What? Saitama... lost? But he can't lose! He's not supposed to lose! He's One Punch Man! What kind of idiot are you, dick?!"
I can only imagine the faces of people reading the end of this chapter. This is most likely the reaction going through most of your minds, and I'm definitely going to get like 10-15 very long reviews talking about Saitama and what a f-ing idiot I am. For those who are saying, "Meh-meh-meh-meh He has infinite power Meh-meh-meh-meh he's a joke character, he's not supposed to be taken seriously!" Well you know what? The joke is getting old, and it's time for a new act.
I'm also probably gonna get backlash over the reason of Frieza's massive power-up, but I think given everything we've seen in the OPM universe and all of the crazy transformations people have undergone, this would make sense. And let me clear this up: Saitama doesn't have infinite power. There's no way to suppress infinity, and if he did have infinite power, he would have killed every enemy in a single punch. I will admit, I don't know Saitama's exact power. For all we know, he could be at the level of Goku in the Saiyan saga, or he could rival the gods of destruction, but to make things more interesting, this is where I'm putting Saitama. DEAL WITH IT!
And lets face it: Saitama has had almost no character development whatsoever. He's helped other characters develop, but he himself hasn't had any epiphany of any kind. The only notable advancement is his concern for Genos, as seen when he was worried over his possible death in the Deep Sea King arc, but he completely rejected Suiryu, not taking into account all the good he has done for Genos and mainly worried about the hassle of having another disciple. Some might argue he has enough on his plate or something, but if he had truly developed, I think he would have accepted Suiryu as a disciple. He didn't even break it nicely, he just said "Absolutely not."
Also, I feel that the only person who should have the honor of taking down the protagonist of One Punch Man should be arguably the main villain of DBZ and the most popular villain. Well, to me at least and probably a great deal of dbz fans. Besides, this just makes you wonder what's going to happen next to the heroes and Nappa, and what the future of Earth might be. It opens up whole new possibilities, whereas Saitama winning would have a lot less room to grow and develop the characters. Well, be sure to stay tuned for Chapter 27 of the Space Emperor's Besiege!