King continues to suffer for our amusement. While Cuha continues lying to himself

Her slave laughed boisterously, causing some of the nearby peons to cry and scream in fear.

She cared not, letting the tool do as it pleased, for it'd served its purpose, and would be killed by King soon enough.

Still…

Watching through her slave's eyes and seeing the result of her plans come to fruition in the form of a hole in the wall and a trio of dead heroes buried within said hole…

She started laughing as well.

Finally! The bitch is gone!

"Yes! Yes! Cower before me! For I've killed your protectors!" her slave roared and gestured with an arm at the form of the scary-looking blond still up on the platform.

'Ba-dump!'

At the sound of the Hell King's Engine starting, she snorted knowing that the idiot was on a timer.

Not that she cared, for with the bug out of the way as well as the bitch, her plan to save this earth could go on unopposed, and best of all…Fubuki would be hers! In time and after some private…care, the girl would no doubt come to see the light.

"And look! Even the mighty King is frozen in fear! Cower before me!"

Yeah right. More like the man is smart and is on the lookout for another surprise attack. You? You don't even rate in his eyes. There's a reason I didn't even bother trying to path a future where a sneak attack on him would work. He's too strong, you buffoon.

'Ba-dump! Ba-dump!'

"No! I won't let you get away with this!" an unfamiliar voice said, and her slave turned to its left, just in time to catch a haymaker from the man next to the reporter.

A haymaker that failed to achieve much of anything.

"Hmf! Brave, but foolish," her slave said with a snort.

"Argh!"

Which was accompanied by a quick whip from his black head tentacle, sending the man flying and crushing into a few other peons and chairs.

"Tabula!" and causing the female with the camera to scream in fear, even as the reporter woman remained frozen, staring at her slave with trembling eyes.

"You…" he hissed. "You looked down on me before, didn't you?"

"I…I…"

"Die." He growled and raised a fist.

"Bwahaha! You fool!" A pained, if happy sounding voice made them both freeze.

And as her slave turned back towards the platform, Psykos gasped.

Impossible!

Shit! That hurts!

Doing his best to keep his grin on his face, Yuha took another step out of the crack in the wall, even if half his face hurt like a motherfucker, his right eye gone.

Still, with his right hand, or rather the ruined stump around Metal Bat's lower back, supporting the man who'd thrown his arm around Yuha's shoulders, and with his intact left holding a groaning Tatsumaki in an approximation of a bridal carry, he stepped into the light fully.

Fuck. That's the budget Buu expy. What was his name? Sperm something? He whimpered within the privacy of his mind with a tone of incredulity even as he kept his All Might smirk on. At least this one doesn't seem to have fused with that many, if any, of his clones…

For if it had, and he was wrong? They were all dead.

'Thump!'

So, he rather hoped his guess was correct.

Well, let's hope that is the case at least. Time to go all ham.

"Bwahaha!" he laughed again, ignoring the pain of his ruined right wing. "You really thought that was enough to take me out, much less a pair of S-rank heroes?"

Black Sperm snorted, fist still cocked even as he stared straight at him.

"Hmf, dunno, you seem all but dead to me already. As for those 'heroes' you speak of? They seem even worse off."

His smile threatened to dim, and the crowd whimpered.

And the worst part was that the man was right. Yuha didn't know what it was the monster used to attack them, but all he knew was that were it not for an almost instinctual urge to take the weak seeming attack seriously at the last second? He'd be pushing up daisies like Saitama.

For even if his 'parent' was Cell, in a manner of speaking, he was not quite up to the being's level yet. A simultaneous blow to the brain and the heart? At his current stage that would do it, yeah.

'Thump! Thump!'

Yuha's aura erupted into life around him, and unnoticed by him, flakes of green intermixed with the white energy.

A split second decision to push his technique all the way to stage ten and also raise his now ruined arm in front of his face, followed by him trying desperately to tilt his head as he felt his arm evaporate, was all that had saved him.

…Coupled with him being a stubborn bastard and refusing to die just because his heart was currently ruined and leaking blood through the hole in his chest, painting his shirt red.

Heh. That's what I get for mantling that name, I guess." he chanced a quick glance to the pendant gifted by the girls scarcely a few hours prior, a pendant that now had a hole in its center, a piece of silver missing. I now have a piece of still silver in my heart. The irony was almost enough to make him snort. But that wouldn't do.

He glanced at the stoic looking King.

The man gazing back at him with smoldering eyes which to anyone else would no doubt seem full of rage. But he knew better.

'Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!'

Nonetheless, he could worry about all that later. Now he had to find a way to get everyone out of this mess.

"Bwahaha!" he laughed again. "That's because you mongrel have eyes—"

"What did you call me?"

Good, the monster's attention was solely on him.

"And yet, you fail to see," he snorted and with casual indifference turned and made his way towards King. "You think The King is afraid of you?" he snorted. "Foolishness." He shook his head as he reached the man and Yuha lowered Metal Bat to the ground. "He merely has bigger things to worry about than you, namely whether or not some worthier monster is planning a sneak attack or not."

He lowered Tatsumaki next, being extra careful as he did, for in the front of the girl's dress, a patch of red was growing. The sight enough to spark rage in his heart and make his aura flare even more for a second.

"For a true Hero is always worried for the men and women around him," Yuha said and stood, turning his sole eye on the monster. "King doesn't need to deal with you, for I am here."

The creature over whose face veins had popped one after another as Yuha spoke, grinned. And in his eyes, hatred shone.

"Oh…Is that so?" he asked with a deceptive tone.

"That is so. King, sir, may I?"

The man behind him nodded.

"Go."

Good, he'd safeguarded King's reputation now to—

"Then, hero, stew in your failure!" Black Sperm roared and his fist rocketed towards the still frozen woman by his size, who screamed.

Yuha's eyes widened.

Shit! Even if I push it to stage ten, I won't make it in time!

'Thump! Thump! Thump!'

As her slave and the bug continued their banter, Psykos remained in a state of shock.

…Even if she twitched and gritted her teeth at having to agree with the pest over the fact that Black Sperm was hilariously outmatched. The moment King stopped worrying about any sort of sneak attack, her slave was paste.

But Sperm's imminent demise was of little interest.

Her mind continued to try and make sense of the continued survival of the trio.

How?! The plan was perfect! A twin piercing attack through the mutant, which would kill him and then splinter Metal Bat's weapon, the shrapnel and the kinetic force from the bug's dead body, coupled with the energy lances, killing him and the bitch!

But the creature proved more resilient than she expected. She growled and gripped her chair's armrests tight.

How?! My foresight is perfect! Only Tatsumaki or Blast could counter it, and in the bitch's case, only if she had bothered to train her own ability or was on guard for it—

Her breath caught, and her eyes widened.

Wait…Blast…

Superhuman synapses fired and even with the bigger part of her consciousness focused on the problem, she still noted the flecks of green flickering in and out of existence in the mutant's aura.

So, the rumors are true, he is indeed an esper, eh?

A lesser mind would have fixated on that, but not Psykos. For she was superior!

Interesting, but that is not the answer, for his ability is…lacking. No, the only thing that could counter future sight is either another precog actively interfering or… Blast came to mind again. Raw power. Power enough to bend reality to your will.

Power which the bug did not have.

And yet.

She raised an arm, biting her thumb.

The gathered intel indicated that prior to risking it all against Vaccine man and being saved by the bitch, he'd been nothing. A nobody. Hell, nobody had even bothered to take pictures of the man. And yet…just after…

Her mind flashed to her own, only partially successful experiments, and she growled as she considered a dreadful possibility.

For the kitten hero went from a nobody to being able to clash with the Subterraneans and now survive an attack that should have killed him and the two S-ranks both.

Being at death's door followed by a proportionally immense rise in power, one that, if she was right, would not stop…

Has he… Has he shattered his limiter?

His fist descended towards the bitch that'd dared to look down on him, and his lips stretched into a joyous smile.

She'd pay, followed by the rest of the peons here…or, at least, much as he hated to admit it, as many as he could kill before King acted.

But, until that time came—

"I don't think so."

A small shockwave burst into life at the point of impact, causing a few of the nearby sheep to trip and yelp as they fell.

But, Black Sperm cared little.

For with wide eyes and a pulsing vein he tried, and failed to drive his fist through the bug hero's hand…Judging by the green goo on said limb, the recently regrown hand.

The smirking bastard had up and appeared in his fist's path somehow, daring to smirk at him, even now looking down on him as behind the mutant the woman who looked down on him cowered.

"It's considered bad manners to hit an innocent, much less a woman, my friend," the man said with a tilt of his head, a head upon which the two leading fingers of his left arm rested. "But I can see that my words are wasted on a knave like you."

Was that how the bastard had done it, some sort of technique that perhaps—

The fingers stopped touching the bug-man's temple and—

The other three fingers stretched, and with a quick movement, the palm turned, facing Black Sperm.

"Solar Flare!"

"Argh! Not granny's ass!" he shouted, blinking spots out of his eyes and his fist unconsciously retracting, racing towards his eyes so as to clear the cursed image away.

Bastard! Well played! You simply pushed your body beyond its limits and tricked me into believing it was some sort of technique so that you could unleash…this! Once I can see I'll—

A palm slammed into his face.

You dare?!

And the mutant roared as his hand around Sperm's face turned into a vice and even without eyes, he could feel the eruption of power and the force that propelled them up and backwards.

Regina, pale-faced, heart threatening to jump out of her throat, could not stop trembling as the brave hero whose upper torso was once again bare, bulging muscles in full display, jumped through the building's doors with the monster in his grip, smashing through them and throwing the monster away from him as he stood tall with his back towards the building. Shielding them all.

Her hands trembled, and yet…

"Meg," she hissed, and upon receiving no answer, turned towards the whimpering woman kneeling by Tabula's side. "Meg!"

"W-what?"

"The camera!"

"E-eh?" the blinking woman asked, and she fought the urge to choke a bitch.

"Get. The. Camera. And follow me!"

At last, her words seemed to sink through the woman's brain.

"B-But-" Meg gazed at her husband.

"G-go," Tabula had the good sense to groan. "I'll be fine. Reg is right. This is our scoop. Quickly! Before the rest manage to find their balls."

Whimpering and pecking her beau on the cheeks, the girl picked up her camera and, throwing Reg a microphone, followed her outside where her promotion awaited!

In your face Cindy!

Meg whispered. "Going live in 3..2..1.."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we come to you live—"

Marika's tits! Why did I use Instant Transmission?

As the monster stood up from the ditch it'd made when he threw it away from him, Yuha remained immobile, arms crossed and a stoic expression on his face.

All the better to hide the pain wracking his whole body and fight the urge to whimper.

For his regrown heart was racing a hundred miles per hour, courtesy of his stunt.

After all, he lacked the Ki control to utilize the technique safely, as well as Goku's or Cell's familiarity with it, and given his lack of control…the appropriate power level.

Sure, a push to stage ten coupled with a max Roshi solved that issue, but the side-effect of the three techniques…Well, safe to say it hurt like a bitch!

Black Sperm glared at him.

"Arrogant…" he hissed and took a step towards Yuha, dark fists clenching and shaking. "How arrogant can you be?" the monster asked. "For you created a marvelous opening, I'll admit that much, and yet—"

Good, the pins and needles coupled with misfiring neurons stopped. He could move again.

"And yet you dare to just stand there and look down on me?!"

The creature roared and jumped towards him, throwing a punch towards his face.

One that Yuha hastened to deflect with a batting motion from his arm…one that left said arm smarting, making him wince even as he hastened to duck from a sweep from the monster's head tentacle, no doubt meant to take him by surprise.

Which, even as he avoided, left him to contend with the creature's rising knee aimed at his face. Something which was dealt with by a hasty Ki-blast from his right hand.

Diverting the leg and making it sail harmlessly by Yuha's head, even if the wind caused his hair to sway and seeing an opening, he fell towards the ground, his hands touching the earth and pulling his legs inwards, landing a double kick on Sperm's face.

"Gkh!"

And taking advantage of the small opening, Yuha leaned further into the handstand before pushing with his arms, exploding backwards, contorting into a spinning ball and landing a few steps away into a weary position just as his right eye finished regrowing.

Ok, he thought, rubbing his throbbing arm even as Black sperm's eyes remained fixed on him, the man rubbing his jaw with an angry glint. Good news is, that this Sperm hasn't fused with that many of its counterparts, otherwise I'd be chunky salsa about now. Bad news is…

Making a fist and finding his arm to work fine, he sunk into a new and still unfamiliar stance.

He hits like a match house truck out of hell! Best try and avoid tanking too many of those…

For his stunt with Instant Transmission had lowered his base level back to an even twenty. And with a Kaio at stage seven and a half mast Roshi… Yeah, this wasn't hopeless. Merely an uphill battle!

'Thump! Thump! Thump!'

And despite it all?

He grinned.

"So…The old fart has taken on a new apprentice, has he?"

Ignoring the whimpering barkeep, he continued to stare, paying little heed to this new reporter woman's words, his eyes instead focused on the scene of the mutant facing off against a stronger opponent in his quest to protect the people within the Association's building.

Garou couldn't help but scoff, watching the mutant attempt and botch the execution of a few of 'Water-stream-rock-smashing-fist's' katas, even if the fool did somewhat succeed in diverting the monster's attack and re-directing part of the damage back to it.

"The hell is the old man teaching him? Even that whimpering fool, Charanko can do better, at least technique wise."

Although, he had to admit, if grudgingly, live combat seemed to agree with the bugman, for the hero was slowly, if notably, improving…

He snorted. He'd seen enough.

Garou rose to his feet and stepped out of the bar.

Depending on his mood and the fight's outcome, he might pay a visit to the mutant.

A bloodthirsty grin spread over his lips.

After all, Garou, as the hero's senior, should take care of him and show him the ropes should he not?

God dammit I want/can't wait for ff16 to come out on pc!
(the fact that my pc is a potato and needs an upgrade is another matter)

Plus part 2 of ff7 remake...

And in a couple of months we'll get Elden Ring's dlc.

Plus lies of P, and Starfield... damn, we eating good this year!

In other news, my Morgan rolls were shit. But in a couple of days I get my login bonus and so... let's hope I have better luck with the strongest (ntr) lover.