At the same time, as the battles of the twenty-second Super Fight took place, Garou and many others had been watching Watchdog Man rip apart the monsters that had invaded Watchdog Plaza.

Now that his fight was over, the canine Hero was resting atop the fresh pile of monster bodies as civilians took pictures of his victory.

Whilst the people around him celebrated, Garou thought, So, that's what the furry can do. He's got insane strength and speed, but his moves have no technique. I'd call him a brawler, but I don't even think he qualifies as that. Hehehe. This'll be too easy. Prepare to be hunted, Watchdog Man! Right Here, in front of everyone, I'm gonna destroy you!

Within the next tenth of a second, Garou had pounced at Watchdog Man with such speed and power that he left a crater behind him. Just as quickly as the Human Monster rushed him, the S-Class got out of the way. The two landed next to the pile of monster corpses, with Garou grinning like a madman despite his arms' bandaged state.

"Fist Of Flowing Water Crushing Rock!" Cried Garou as he unleashed a maelstrom of martial strikes.

To the Hero Hunter's shock and frustration, Watchdog Man effortlessly pranced around on all fours as he evaded the attacks. Only driving home the annoyance further, the fur-suit Hero slipped in several maneuvers where he placed his hand atop Garou's, like a dog giving its master its paw.

"Who the Hell told you to shake!?"

Suddenly, Watchdog Man attempted to strike Garou's face with a clawed swipe. Shockingly, the Hero Hunter actually managed to counter this with a knife-hand jab of his own. This exchange heavily cut up the Human Monster's arm but otherwise deflected the attack. Before Garou could even get a second to breathe, though, he was overwhelmed by what came next.

The canine Hero vanished with incredible speed, taking up Garou's entire field of vision with a white blur. The Human Monster then began to get pelted with an onslaught of animalistic attacks that he could scarcely even defend himself from. Eventually, Garou was able to track the movements ever so slightly.

In a combination of desperation and calculation, Garou threw out a double palm strike. To his immense relief, the attack hit Watchdog Man dead-on in the Hero's solar plexus and smashed him through a nearby wall. However, just as Garou started to believe he was turning the fight around, Watchdog Man got up.

The canine cosplayer's facial expression had gone unchanged throughout the invasion of his plaza and continued like that even after taking that hit. Despite no visible change to his attitude, the S-Class Hero suddenly started moving even faster.

Before Garou could realize what would happen, he was hit by a strike of some kind that nearly dislocated his jaw.

Garou was now the one sent flying, crashing through the pile of monster corpses and the building standing opposite to the one he'd sent Watchdog Man through. Before he could even get back up, Watchdog Man had rushed into the building and was on top of Garou once more.

The furry Hero was pummeling the Hero Hunter with countless animalistic strikes, as Garou thought in desperation. First, I had run from Monster Mask, then Metal Bat chased me off, and now this furry is ripping me to shreds?! Damn it all! I need to run again! Fuck you, Monster Mask! If you hadn't hit me with that fire breath, I'd be so much stronger now, and this wouldn't keep happening!


As Garou was about to attempt an escape, Shunshi was getting ready for his fight with Suiryu. The blue-eyed martial artist was in the middle of shadow-boxing in Saitama's waiting room when he suddenly broke out in a sneezing fit.

Looking up from the sports magazine she was reading, Lin Lin joked, "Looks like someone must be thinking about you."

As he wiped his nose, Shunshi groaned, "Ah, geez. Well, I hope they stop thinking about me in time for me to crush Suiryu."

When Saitama heard this, he pulled his head up from napping on the table and commented with a mild level of concern, "Hey, man. I don't think I've ever heard you talk that way unless you're going up against a monster. What'd this guy say to tick you off?"

"Nothing you need to worry about, Se- Charanko. He was bad-mouthing Heroes, but I'll make him eat his words," Shunshi confidently assured.

Sitting up slightly more, Saitama went on, "Uh, no. What I'm saying is... If you wanna prove how awesome Heroes are, then you shouldn't need to prove that by beating him up."

At that, Lin Lin looked over at Charanko and explained to him, "I can tell Shunshi's shown us both just how incredible Heroes really are. Unfortunately, in the world of martial arts, proving your point through combat's the only way that really works."

Looking pained at arguing his Master's point, Shunshi winced out, "We are competing in a tournament right now... So... a fight seems like the best way to make my point at the moment."

Not looking entirely convinced, but giving way to their reasoning, Saitama replied, "Okay, just don't lose sight of yourself, dude... Now, follow up question. Why're you guys hanging out in my waiting room?" Just as the incognito Hero asked this, Sour Face walked in, having returned from the bathroom.

"How're the mental preparations going for your matches, guys?" Bang's former student asked.

"Seriously, what the heck?" Saitama wined.

Shaking her head, Lin Lin commented, "Not good. Shunshi's doing his best, but Charanko was dozing on the table. You've already lucked out enough to make it to the semifinals. You can't count on stuff like that happening again."

Burying his face in his arms, Saitama complained, "Trying to kill time is a pain as is. Don't lecture me on how to do it."

At that, Sour Face folded his arms and added, "Now listen up. You may have bulked up a bit since you met Shunshi, but it really is nothing short of a miracle that you've made it this far. If I hadn't slipped during our match, then it'd be me in the semifinals right now... Uh, Shunshi, are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" He exclaimed as he bit his lip to hold back the urge to defend his Master's abilities.

"Would our semi-finalists please make their way to the arena? The matches will be starting soon," the Announcer's voice rang through the speakers.

"Finally! I get to watch one of your matches, Shunshi. Let's get going," Lin Lin exclaimed as she grabbed her partner's hand and rushed out of the room with him.

There was an awkward moment of silence after those two left.

Sour Face noticed that Charanko wasn't in any rush, so he asked, "Don't you wanna go watch Shunshi fight? Your fight's right after his."

Stopping himself as he was reaching for a magazine, Saitama begrudgingly agreed, "I guess you're right..."


A couple of minutes later, out at the arena, everyone was waiting with bated breath. At the same time, Suiryu and Shunshi were anticipating their fight from their respective athletes gates.

With everyone ready, the voice of the Announcer began to introduce the fighters, "Ladies and gentlemen. For our first semifinal match, we have two titans of strength going at it! First off, the white-hot scorching powerhouse of the Hero Association's A-Class, Monster Mask!"

With his introduction done, Shunshi marched into the arena. He was getting plenty of cheers, but the friendly and excited look he had up until now was gone. His face was all business, his focus directed solely on the disrespectful man who'd stirred his anger.


Up in the audience seating, Ishisu was recording her brother on her phone.

"Alright, let's see what you've got, baby bro. Kick that jerk's butt. Maybe you'll even impress your cyborg buddy with this show," she whispered eagerly.


"And stepping in from the north athlete's gate, this year's favored competitor and champion of four Super Fights' past, Suiryu!"

As Suiryu strolled into the arena, he seemed a bit surprised or perhaps disappointed when he saw the look on Shunshi's face. He let out an exasperated sigh before chuckling and walking forward.

When the champion martial artist walked up to Shunshi, the Hero flinched for a half-second. Shunshi had never been ignorant of how tall he is, so he was genuinely taken off guard when he realized how much Suiryu towered over him. The height difference was around three to four inches, and Suiryu's discomforting, open-mouth grin didn't help the offsetting mood. However, Shunshi didn't want to let his foe hold this power for too long, so he quickly doubled up the intensity of the glare he'd worn in the previous second.

Now adding gritted teeth to his grin, Suiryu commented, "Ooo, intense. You looked good in your other fights, so I'm looking forward to this. Why don't you show me if third place is really any better than nineteenth or dead last."

Clenching his fist, Shunshi quietly shot back, "Who cares what rank they are or how strong they are? They're Heroes. Men like them'll always tower above worthless punks like you."

Surprisingly, that last verbal jab actually seemed to hit Suiryu with adequate force.

"Worthless...?" Suiryu asked with a hint of confusion on his face.

The fact that his words genuinely seemed to have some form of effect on Suiryu surprised Shunshi.

However, before they could continue talking, the Announcer yelled, "Alright! It's time tooooo... BEGIN!"

While Shunshi was still trying to process why what he said managed to offend his foe, Suiryu shot his foot up to hit Shunshi in his chin. Fortunately, the Hero managed to jerk his body backward just in time, taking a couple of steps back in the process. However, Suiryu shifted forward and unleashed a flurry of kicks with the same leg as before. Fortunately, Shunshi was quick enough to dodge or deflect each of these kicks as they came. Eventually, he began to utilize Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist to go on the offensive and managed to get Suiryu's leg in a lock. In the same second that he'd grabbed the leg, Shunshi pulled Suiryu, lifted him over his head, and attempted to smash him into the ground.

However, Suiryu saved himself by breaking his fall with his other leg. It was a level of flexibility that Shunshi almost hadn't considered possible. There was no time to think about that, though, as Suiryu suddenly spun like a twister, throwing Shunshi off of him.

Before Shunshi could travel more than a few feet, he utilized some acrobatics to kill his momentum and land just a dozen feet from Suiryu.


As Ishisu was recording this display of superhuman abilities, she thought out loud, "I... I don't think my phone's camera's gonna cut it for this."


"Was that Water Stream I saw? You got a bigger toolset than I expected. So, what'd you think of my warm-up? Care to explain how that's worthless?" Suiryu smugly asked as he raised his fists.

Shunshi was the one with a puzzled look now, finding himself pausing for a few seconds before asking back, "What...? Do you mean how fast you were moving? What about that has any worth? What you can do just shows what you've got in your arsenal. It's what you do with those skills that actually matters. Max and Sneck aren't as strong and fast as you, but they've both saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives! What've you done?"

Suiryu was starting to look a bit annoyed at his opponent's opinion of him, so he rushed Shunshi and began to attack him with more kicks.

As he unleashed another assault, the star martial artist asked, "So what? How does that make them worth more than me? I live free and do what I want. All this lofty idealism of yours just gets in the way of success and fun. I have the kind of life all people want. If I can achieve that without any of your Heroics, then what value is there in being a Hero?"

When Suiryu finished talking, he had a smile on his face once more. However, that smile vanished when he saw the look on Shunshi's face. It was one of raw fury, not the kind of prideful anger that Bitting Fist Sneck had in the previous match. The type of rage Suiryu was looking at was a selfless one, the kind of madness you'd see in a parent at the sight of their child being attacked. It was almost enough to frighten Suiryu, even as he continued attacking.


While Suiryu pushed on with his half-hearted offensive on Shunshi, Lin Lin was watching in awe. All of a sudden, Sour Face and Saitama walked up from behind her.

"Okay, seriously. How did you manage to get us that lost? It took us five times as long to get here as it should-."

Before Sour Face could finish, Lin Lin shot her finger at his mouth and went, "Shush! I'm trying to watch. I wanna see how strong I'm gonna become."

Looking at the arena, Saitama saw what was happening and thought, "Oh. Guess I missed the start of the fight... Not looking all that great for Shunshi so far... Well, that sucks."

Suddenly, everyone who was watching got taken off guard when Shunshi went on the offensive once more. He was utilizing techniques that looked similar to Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist to push through Suiryu's kicks. However, Shunshi had curled in his fingers as if they were claws, and the trails his digits left behind were not those of flowing water but straight streaks of flame cutting through the air.

"He's started using it. The real Fist Of The Impenetrable Fire Spirit," Lin Lin whispered eagerly.


Quickly, Shunshi had taken the offensive, while Suiryu had to abandon his kicks in favor of parries and blocks. Eventually, Shunshi managed to get a swipe in at Suiryu, cutting him along his chest, ripping the martial artist's shirt, and drawing blood in the process.

As Shunshi continued his assault, he gave his counter-argument to Suiryu's remarks that had set him off like this, "Because there are so many people now who're all still alive because of Heroes like them! Other people who could be making the world a better place right now! Other Human beings who have the right to fucking live! Heroes choose to act and make the world around them safer! Do you have any idea how many people must be dead now because you've decided not to help anyone!?"

Seriously. What does this guy keep saying to Shunshi? Saitama pondered about Suiryu.

Just as Shunshi was about to land another hit, Suiryu deflected the attack with enough force to cause a hairline fracture in Shunshi's arm. He then hit the Hero with powerful strikes to his cheek, ribs, and shoulder, pushing Shunshi back and nearly knocking him over.

As he forced himself back to composure, Shunshi could feel that each of these hits left him with more hairline fractures. They'd all be healed within the next ten minutes, but that wouldn't help him in the here and now. Especially because Shunshi could tell Suiryu hadn't even put his all into those attacks.

As he made a show of dusting himself off, Suiryu argued back in a demeaning tone, "Now that's not true. I've saved plenty of the girls I've gone out with from muggers. I even took care of a couple of monsters once. That's gotta count for something, right?"


With this exchange, the intensity at which the audience was watching these two superhumans grew ten-fold. Their display of incredible power and moral debate was keeping them all gripped to the edges of their seat as everyone kept flopping back and forth on who they were rooting for.

At the same time, at the athlete's gate on the parallel side of the arena from where Saitama stood were Sneck and Max. They were both fixed up with neck-braces as they watched their fellow A-Class fighting the man who'd put them in their condition.

When he saw Monster Mask get knocked back, Max commented, "At least he gave up on trying to take us all out with just kicks."

"No, I could tell those punches had no soul behind them. He's still just playing around. That jackass!" Sneck pointed out vehemently.


"Hey, Hero! Shut up, you dumbass! We didn't come here to get preached at! We came here to see some martial arts!" Someone in the audience shouted. Once this opinion was voiced, many other comments of similar nature began getting hurled at Shunshi.

However, this sparked an equal number of voices in support of Shunshi's stance in this fight. After only a few more seconds of arguing, a handful of brawls broke out in the audience.

"Please calm down, ladies and gentlemen! All those who continue fighting and are not participants will have to be removed," the Announcer stated. This warning helped to calm things down, but only so much that civilians weren't physically assaulting each other anymore.


Having gotten a chuckle out of the audience disturbance, Suiryu smugly explained to Shunshi, "Sorry, but those words of yours don't mean squat in this arena, Monster Mask. So why don't you use that cool-looking fire stuff you were doing before? That's you at your full potential, right? I can already tell that you can't beat me the way you are now. You'll get a few more decent hits in, but you just won't win. So let's see what a Hero can really do and see if a Hero's help is even actually worth anything."

Without any hesitation, Shunshi shot back, "My Kie techniques are for killing monsters and fighting super-criminals. I'd risk killing you with them." This earned Shunshi some more booing from his decenters, but he did his best to shut them out.

Raising his arms to his sides, Suiryu chuckled and explained, "Is that what's holding you back? That's so dumb. Look, if it lets you fight at full strength, then just think of me like I'm some big bad supervillain!"

At these words, the black-haired Hero placed a hand on one of his broken bones and realized that if he'd had his Kie activated, then they wouldn't have been broken in the first place. This frustrated him to no end, but he was forced to accept the reality of the situation with a bemoaned sigh.

Shunshi stared down at his grinning opponent before confirming with him, "You want me to fight you like I'd fight a super-criminal...? Fine. Your fight with the martial artist named Shunshi is over. Now you face the Hero known as Monster Mask. Just know that I won't enjoy what I'm about to do to you."

Taking in a deep breath, Shunshi slowly took up an open-claw fighting stance. Suddenly, Monster Mask erupted with an aura of white flames, with even his eyes pouring out a steady stream into the inferno. This managed to get an enthusiastic response from his fellow A-Class onlookers, while Sour Face looked on with fear, Saitama with indifference, and Lin Lin with confusion.

Just as Suiryu began to grow excited, Shunshi exhaled his breath, causing his aura of flames to shrink down to only an inch off his body. Even his eyes went from producing their own fires to having nothing more than a faint glow of white. However, looking closely at Shunshi, one might've noticed the light vibrations that were occurring across his entire body.

When Lin Lin saw this development, while others looked at Monster Mask with confusion, she had a content expression on her face.

Unable to contain a laugh, Suiryu rhetorically asked, "Ha. What's wrong? Running low on gas or something?"

Narrowing his glare at Suiryu's words, Monster Mask wordlessly rushed him.

In the half-second, before Monster Mask reached him, Suiryu thought, Well, he's not any faster. And I can take a few burns. Looks like this'll be just as easy as before.

Once Monster Mask was close enough, he attempted an open-palm strike. Suiryu was easily able to dance around this and hit Shunshi with a full-force uppercut to his ribs. The attack was meant to send the Hero flying into the air, but the power behind the strike got cut short when an explosion erupted from where Suiryu's fist made contact with Monster Mask's skin. The blast left the martial artist's hand scorched, his sleeve torn, knocked him off his feet, planted his elbow into the ground, and completely baffled him.

Before Suiryu could recover, Monster Mask planted a knee strike into his face. Aside from the superhuman force of Monster Mask's legs, this strike produced yet another explosion. These two factors combined knocked off Suiryu's hair-tie and sent him flying away with a scorch mark on his face. He only managed not to get rung out by planting his arm into the arena as he flew backward. Although, this maneuver still took a half-second of tearing through stone for his momentum to stop.


Shaking in his metaphorical boots, Sour Face asked, "What the Hell was that?!"

"He named it Fist Of The Impenetrable Fire Spirit for a reason. Shunshi's Kie already doubles up how much of a beating he can take, and now he's got a barrier of explosions on top of that," Lin Lin proclaimed with a smile.

At the same time, Saitama raised his eyebrows as he thought, Oh. That looked kinda neat.


Standing up as he shook off the scorch marks and let his long hair flutter, Suiryu asked in frustration, "What exactly did you just do?!"

"One of Fist Of The Impenetrable Fire Spirit's baseline techniques. It's like my body is covered in a consistent Explosive Light Flurry. Aside from a bunch of boulders, you're gonna be the first one to experience this, Suiryu, " Shunshi spoke without tone to his voice.

Baffled, Suiryu asked himself, Explosive Light Flurry? What's he going on about...? Whatever! I just gotta brace myself for the blasts and break through his defense.

Smiling in a mixture of anger and excitement, Suiryu proclaimed, "Okay, Monster Mask. I guess it's time for the real battle of the strong to begin."

Almost dropping his guard at that comment, Monster Mask asked, "Wait... You think this is strong...? Sorry, but in the world of Heroes, strength like ours is still small potatoes."

"What was that?!" Suiryu couldn't help but shout back.

Fixing his form, Monster Mask clarified, "If you're so insistent on measuring a person's value in strength, then I'm afraid you and I are nothing special."

At that, Suiryu rushed Monster Mask, readied a punch, and shouted, "You think so!?"

Before Suiryu actually hit Monster Mask, he rotated in place over and over again at incredible speeds. In the quarter-second it took the martial artist to spin like this, a whirlwind of air formed around him as he punched at the Hero's face. The blow managed to connect with its target, knocking Shunshi to the side and causing an explosion to erupt from his cheek. If said explosion hadn't gone off, Suiryu's fist might have had enough force behind it to send Shunshi flying, but now he had only been knocked back a few steps as Suiryu was pushed back slightly as a result of the blast.

Even with his second sleeve getting destroyed, fully revealing the metal bands around his biceps, Suiryu didn't want to let up his assault. However, just as he took a couple of steps forward, the martial artist noticed too late a glowing ball of light that was half-buried in the ground where Monster Mask had been standing. Once his foot came down on the Light Ball, the resulting blast tore apart a small chunk of the arena, as well as his pant leg, and sent him flying into the air.

Seeing that his trap had worked, Monster Mask leaped after Suiryu and began attacking with a flurry of claw strikes. He managed to land two attacks that ripped through more of Suiryu's shirt and caused two more blasts that sent the champion fighter further into the air, propelling Suiryu out of Monster Mask's reach. To close the gap between them once more, Monster Mask formed a Light Ball, dropped it, and stepped on it as it fell. The kinetic force of the explosion pushed the A-Class above his foe and into position for another attack.

I hope I can do this right, Monster Mask thought as he reminisced on the first time he saw his Sensei fight Speed-O-Sound Sonic.

"Burning Buzz-Saw!" the Hero yelled as he emulated the ninja's Wind Blade Kick. Despite Monster Mask's copy of the technique lacking the same speed and sharpness as Sonic's, it moved with a streak of white flames that made up the difference.

However, Suiryu had recovered enough by now to raise his arms in defense against the kick. While this protected his face from the attack, the martial artist's forearms still had to withstand yet another explosion. The force sent the fighter torpedoing to the ground, but he managed to land well enough that only his feet got buried into the arena.

In order to keep following Suiryu, Monster Mask turned himself upside down in the air, tossed a Light Ball up above himself, and kicked it. Once again, he used his explosions to move and shot himself down at Suiryu, readying another claw strike as he approached.

Furious at getting tossed around, Suiryu ripped his feet out of the ground before stomping them back down, fracturing the whole arena as he yelled, "Void Shivering Tiger Fist!" Suiryu then rotated his arm fast enough to form a whirlwind around it as he threw a punch up at Monster Mask.

The second after that, the two fighters collided with each other. Monster Mask managed to land an open-claw strike on Suiryu's face, as Suiryu's longer reach connected with the Hero's collar bone. The twin explosions from Monster Mask's collarbone and hand sent Suiryu tumbling backward along the ground. At the same time, the strike Monster Mask took pushed him back into the air and had him crashing down near the edge of the arena.

To his surprise, Suiryu found himself struggling to get back up. Despite the confidence he had that he'd be able to withstand the blasts, Suiryu began to feel hairline fractures forming in his arms.

What am I gonna do? I usually just pummel whoever I fight with a barrage of blows, but every hit I land on this guy hits back and cancels out my momentum. As soon as Suiryu thought this, he saw that the flaming Hero was getting back up as well.

What the Hell?! That should've broken his collar! He should be in shock right now, Suiryu mentally vented.

Wincing slightly at the pain near his shoulder, Monster Mask thought calmly, Yep, broken. Well, that's gonna take ten, maybe twenty minutes to heal. Good thing I know how to handle pain so well. This would've had a younger me rolling on the ground.

Shifting back into his open-claw stance, Monster Mask asked, "You ready to give up yet, Suiryu? I promise I can keep going longer than you can. Anything you do to me, I'll heal from. I can't promise you'll heal from what I can do to you. This is only gonna end badly for you."

Gritting his teeth as his eyes reddened, Suiryu only grew more inraged at the causal way Monster Mask stated this would end.

Suddenly though, Suiryu took a deep breath, smiled, and asked, "So you'll be fine no matter what I do? Thanks for the heads up."

As soon as he said this, the champ lifted his leg up and stomped it into the ground with enough force to split the arena down the middle. He then quickly slid his foot onto the half of the ring Monster Mask stood on and pressed down with enough force to flip that slab of stone onto its side.

The A-Class thought Suiryu was trying to launch him out of bounds, so he dug his hand into the ground-turned wall to keep himself from getting catapulted. However, Suiryu surprised Monster Mask with his real strategy.

Jumping at him, Suiryu began to unleash a volley of strikes and was met with an equal number of explosions. However, instead of getting knocked away by these blasts, Suiryu's attacks were thrown at such an angle that he was using their kinetic energy to make him spin in place.

"Void Sky Dragon Fist!" Suiryu yelled at the top of his lungs as his body became engulfed in a literal whirlwind of violent motion.

As Monster Mask continued to get pummeled with an endless onslaught of fists, he thought to himself, What the Hell's going on? He should be getting blown away. What kinda technique is this? Even if he's using the blasts to his advantage, Suiryu should still be getting hurt by them.

At that moment, Monster Mask noticed as speckles of blood began to fly off from Suiryu's vortex.

Looking as close as he could as fists filled his vision, the Hero saw the skin and flesh getting torn away from Suiryu's hands. At the same time, he began to take notice of the way Suiryu was moving and how he was taking advantage of the Kie blasts' power to keep himself aloft and continue his assault. This gave the Hero of white flames an idea.

"Dammit! I'm not just gonna hang here and take this! Fire Spirit Burning Claws!" Monster Mask yelled as he came up with an improvised technique.

Suddenly, the Hero let go of the stone he'd been holding onto and began retaliating with his own flurry of clawed Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist techniques. Not only were they clawed, but the fingernails were coated with more intense flames than the rest of his body. Despite having let go of the make-shift wall, Monster Mask didn't fall and continued his exchange of blows with Suiryu.


With the smallest hint of interest, Saitama asked, "Are Shunshi and that guy flying?

Not having expected this, Lin Lin stumbled with her words, "No, I... I think they're... They're using each other's momentum and the explosions to keep themselves in the air! I never saw Shunshi do something like this when we were training. I always knew Shunshi was holding back with me, but I didn't realize what his full strength was actually like. Is this something he learned with you, Charanko?"

Forgetting who he was supposed to be for a second, Saitama took an awkward moment to answer, "Uh... Huh? Oh, right. Nah, this is new to me too. Looks neat, though."

"Does... does that mean this is something Shunshi just figured out this moment?" Sour Face asked.


As the tradeoff of gravity-defying blows continued, Suiryu began to take notice of something. Each of the Hero's counter-strike not only had a discharge behind them, but their fluid and clawed motions were cutting into his arms with each touch. This bombardment of detonations and burning lacerations started to eat away at Suiryu's assault, gradually slowing and reducing the power of his attacks with each blow. With all this piled against him, what Suiryu noticed was that he was losing this exchange of techniques.

Before Suiryu could try to change up his approach, Monster Mask managed to gain the upper hand. His strikes were now hitting Suiryu's face and body and immediately began to push the young martial artist downward.

As build-up for what he had next, Monster Mask hit Suiryu with a second knee strike. The resulting shockwaves from the combination of explosions and superhuman strength slammed the upended half of the arena back down to the ground.

While Suiryu was being knocked away, Monster Mask set off one more Light Ball behind himself and closed the gap between them. The nano-second that Shunshi reached his foe, he hit Suiryu with a double-clawed strike to his muscular torso. This caused Suiryu to crash into the ring, smashing up the arena as he ricocheted onto the ground next to it.

For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Even the Announcer didn't say anything at first. However, once the realization that the fight had been won sunk in, the Announcer made the call.

"And... And with that, we have a ring out from Monster Mask! A-Class' bronze medal has won the match and claimed vengeance for the fall of his fellow Heroes! What an upset, ladies and gentlemen!" The Announcer, who'd been left speechless, managed to call out.

Dropping her phone to her feet, Ishisu muttered out, "I really doubt my phone picked up most of that..."

At the same time, Shunshi landed on the ground, dropped the Fist Of The Impenetrable Fire Spirit field, and began gasping for breath. That is until he noticed Suiryu climbing to his feet, covered in cuts and burns.

With victory in hand, Shunshi hopped out of the arena, walked up to Suiryu, and spoke something that had been sitting in the back of his mind all day, "I'm going to be the one to show my Master what martial arts truly are. You don't deserve that honor, Suiryu."

"You... You aren't fair," Suiryu weakly proclaimed.

Shunshi paused at that. With all the times he'd been beaten within an inch of his life, he never expected that someone else would consider him to be unfairly powerful.

After quickly recovering from that surprise, Shunshi explained back, "No. You're stronger and faster than me. But I can take a hit better and have better techniques. That's what happens when you laze around for three years."

Shaking his head, Suiryu insisted, "Your powers... You couldn't have beaten me without those stupid powers."

Glaring now, Shunshi reminded Suiryu, "I didn't want to use my Kie. But someone insisted I fight them like they're a supervillain. Besides, this power is a technique. Anyone can learn how to use it. You just need to have the heart of a Hero... Well, you also need to do a ton of meditation, but having a selfless soul is what's most important. If you think this is something you'd want, then get your act together, Suiryu."

With that last reprimand, Shunshi walked away as the crowd was exploding with cheers. For some reason, though, the female cheers were the loudest of all.

As Monster Mask walked off, Suiryu thought, I... I gotta... I gotta make sure to avoid meeting guys like that for the rest of my life.

When Shunshi returned to the athlete's gate that his companions were under, Lin Lin quickly rushed him for a hug.

"Owch. Lots of fractures," Shunshi dead-panned with honesty as his girlfriend clung to him.

Letting go of him, Lin Lin took a step back and spoke, "Oh, sorry. But, seriously, congratulations! You actually defeated Suiryu... By the way," suddenly, Lin Lin poked Shunshi in his bare chest. "Did you let him pummel you like that for so long just to give me something to look at?"

Feeling at his torso, Shunshi noticed that there was nothing there. It was at that moment the young Hero realized that Suiryu's final barrage had been so vicious that it had left his gi's top shredded. In essence, the young Hero had been going topless for a few minutes now.

Chuckling, he responded sarcastically, "Oh, of course. That was obviously my top priority back there."

"Well, obviously. Why else would you have let him fight you for so long?" Lin Lin joked back.

At that moment, Saitama and Sour Face approached Shunshi as well. It took all of Shunshi's remaining senses not to instinctively bow at his Sensei's approach.

Instead, the young man asked, "Hey, uh, guys. What'd ya think of how I did back there?"

"Looks like you really fought hard for that one. Congrats, I guess," Saitama said with his best attempt at honest praise.

Sour Face found himself instinctively standing behind Charanko, only just managing to squeak out, "You, uh... You did good... You, um... Looks like you have a decent grasp on Master Bang's techniques."

Looking a bit excited at Sour Face's remark, Shunshi asked, "You think so? Really?! I still think I'm pretty green with them, but I guess I can take pride in how well I use what I know for my own style."

"Despite the damage that's been done to the arena, it's time for the next match! Will Charanko and Choze please step up!" The Announcer's voice rang out.

Upon hearing that, Shunshi grabbed his collarbone and commented, "Well. I hope you guys don't mind, but I'm gonna go rest in my room for a bit before the final round.

As Shunshi walked off, Saitama looked at him with the smallest hint of concern.

Hmm... Shunshi's looking a little roughed up. Maybe I should let my next guy wail on me for a bit to give him time to catch his breath.


Everyone had to wait a couple more minutes before the next match could start, as Suiryu needed to be escorted to the infirmary. Once that was taken care of, Saitama slowly walked into the arena, seeing Choze waiting for him with a sadistic smile.

"It's now time for our second semifinal match. Choze, who has left all of his opponents in critical condition, versus Charanko, who's ended all of his fights in one hit!"

Scoffing at the Announcer's words, Choze commented, "Who cares? Anyone can finish their opponent with one hit. I execute my opponents at a leisurely pace to showcase my infinite superiority. My infallible genes have been passed down to me by the hard work of the countless generations of my bloodline. I am their culmination! A genetic masterpiece! I exist as a superior being beyond mere homo sapiens! Here, I declare my dominance for all the world to see, but ultimately, this world is mine to rule!"

Oh, good. This guy's a chatterbox. That'll make this a bit easier, Saitama thought with a dumb-looking smile.


A few minutes of avoiding and ignoring Choze later, Saitama one-punched him out of the arena once his boredom got the best of him.

"My goodness! After spending the last few minutes doing nothing but defending his head, Charanko turned the tide of the battle and sent Choze flying with yet another lucky hit!" The Announcer misunderstood.

Looking disappointed, Saitama pondered, All that guy did was go for my eyes, neck, and stomach. Was that really martial arts? I still don't think I get it.

"With that, we have our finalists. We'll give our competitors fifteen minutes to rest before their last match. If you're looking to get something to eat or drink, now's your time, ladies and gentlemen!"

As the Announcer advertised the stadium's overpriced snack food, Saitama walked out of the arena. At the same time, Shunshi had been sleeping on his waiting room's table.

While Sour Face watched Charanko walk past him, he wanted to say something to him but chose to hold his words back.

The finalists will be two of Bang-Sensei's pupils. At least I can be proud of my juniors for representing our master, Sour Face thought stoically.

Simultaneously, Lin Lin watched Charanko's undefended strut and thought, It's a shame Shunshi's already had his toughest fight. Now he's just gonna sweep through Mister Lucky here.


As the minutes ticked away, Shunshi woke up from his power nap, with his bones and bruises healed up enough for him to function. Sitting up to look at his surroundings, Shunshi saw Lin Lin sitting next to him.

"Oh, good. You woke up just in time. Your match starts in three minutes, Shunshi," Lin Lin told him.

Rubbing his eyes, Shunshi groggily asked, "Wha... huh? Really?! Oh, shoot! Okay, gotta get up." Jumping to his feet, Monster Mask quickly stretched out and cracked his back, jolting himself awake.

As Shunshi slapped his face's cheeks, he began trying to psych himself up, "Alright, alright. I can do this. It's time to show Sa- Charanko what martial arts are really all about."

"That's the spirit! I mean, your friend seems nice enough, but he's clearly a total novice," Lin Lin said in support.

Pausing at her comment, Shunshi had to take a second to realize what she was talking about.

"Huh...? Oh! Uh, yeah," he replied.

Giving him a funny look, Lin Lin poked Shunshi's arm and told him, "Come on, man. You can't lose your game that easily. Don't let the finals worry you. This'll seem like a cakewalk compared to your fight with Suiryu."

Forcing himself to hold back some nervous laughter, Shunshi responded, "Yeah, I guess so. Thanks, Lin. Let's head out."


A few minutes later, the two Heroes had entered Super Fight's damaged arena and were met with thunderous applause. Unfortunately, due to the haste of the event, Shunshi was still left without a shirt, although you wouldn't hear any of the female onlookers complaining. Also, all of the fighters who were still conscious had been given front-row seats next to the arena as a sort of consolation prize.

Suiryu, with bandages on his face, chest, and arms, was sitting crosslegged with a gaze that seemed both intrigued and frustrated. The other fighters left the seats next to him unfilled. After having witnessed the full extent of Suiryu's power, the other martial artists subconsciously felt as if there was a barrier of might around him that they needed to avoid if they valued their safety.

"Ladies and gentlemen! We've finally come to the last match of this year's Super Fight! To our left, we have one of the Hero Association's greatest champions, Monster Mask of the Fist Of The Impenetrable Fire Spirit!"

When he heard the Announcer's introduction for him, Shunshi internally critiqued, Greatest champions? Didn't anyone listen to what I was saying when I fought Suiryu?

"And to our right, we have the one-hit-wonder who took this year's Super Fight by storm, Charanko of the Water Polo Carbonated Fist!"

With a blank stare, Saitama thought, So, looks like I'm really going up against Shunshi again. If Genos were here too, I'd call this a repeat of last month... He sure looks excited.

By now, Shunshi had taken up the same open-clawed stance he'd used against Suiryu. What was odd, however, was the child-like smile on the younger Hero's face.

I'm really getting another chance to show Saitama-Sensei what I can do. And I'll be the one to help him improve his own techniques! I don't know if I've ever felt this excited in my whole life; Shunshi celebrated internally.

"Without further ado, it's time for our final round tooo... BEGIN!" The Announcer declared.

Having gotten used to the routine of defending his wig from his game of tag with Choze, Saitama immediately assumed his head-guard position.

Closing the gap between them in a split-second, Shunshi tried to go for an open-claw strike barrage. Surprisingly, Saitama decided to avoid Shunshi's attacks as opposed to tanking them as he typically would with most foes. It was an odd sight for the audience. After witnessing so many clashes of expert techniques, they were now watching such amateurish movements used to avoid those same attacks.

As he hopped around his student's impassioned techniques, Saitama thought in concern, How should I handle this? I mean... He fought really hard in his last match. How long should I watch his moves until I throw a punch? I mean, he must've worked real hard to make his moves look so cool... Should I throw a punch at all?

Very quickly, Shunshi realized that Saitama didn't seem to be too invested in his student's assault. Out of instinctual frustration, Monster Mask tried to uppercut the Caped Baldy.

When he noticed the explosive attack Shunshi was going for, Saitama jumped back from him. Out of desperation, Shunshi began hurling Light Balls at his Master, even with Fist Of The Impenetrable Spirit weakening his other Kie abilities, only for Saitama to dodge them as easily as anything else his disciple threw at him.

This pattern continued for a bit longer. Shunshi would attempt to use his Light Balls to disrupt Saitama's movements, while the world's strongest Hero easily avoided everything. Eventually, Saitama began moving so fast that Monster Mask found difficulty keeping track of him at all. The end result of all this exchange was that the top layer arena was reduced to complete rubble.


As the severity of Shunshi's struggle was becoming more apparent, the other fighters began to take notice.

"What's happening? The arena's not gonna last much longer. Why can't Shunshi hit him?" Lin Lin asked.

Quivering in excitement, Sour Face attempted an explanation, "I guess Shunshi wasn't kidding about how much training Charanko's done. He's dodging so well..."

Chiming into the conversation, Lightning Max, with a recently removed neck brace, commented, "I know firsthand how fast and precise Monster Mask is. He's quicker than I thought any person could be. How fast must this Charanko guy be moving?"

Sneck, whose neck brace had also been taken off, added, "Huh... If you look closely, his moves are quick but uncoordinated. Most skilled martial artists will have some idea of what their opponent is going to do before they do it, even if it's just a few fractions of a second ahead of them. The way Charanko is moving, though, he's responding after the fact, but the lapses in time are almost too small to see... There's something familiar about that Charanko guy, though... Or is it just me?"


Up in the audience stands, Ishisu asked in disbelief, "What's going on, little bro? You're so powerful now, but you haven't even touched that guy yet... Is your teacher really that far ahead of you?"


Back down with the fighters, Suiryu had gritted his teeth and begun tapping his foot impatiently.

After a few more seconds of watching the man who'd beaten him ineffectively chase this amateur around, Suiryu knocked his chair over as he stood up and yelled, "What the fuck is going on with you, Monster Mask?! You didn't lose to me, so you can't lose to anyone else here!"

When Suiryu made that scene, all the other fighters and a good portion of the audience had their attention drawn to him. The only one who kept a calm and intimidating look as he stared at the former champ was Bakuzan, despite the bandages over his nose.


Realizing how poorly this was going for him, Shunshi thought in a depressed tone, I knew I was gonna lose to Master, but am I... Am I really making any progress? Am I ever gonna be able to catch up to you, Sensei...?! There has to be a way! There has to be a way for me to reach out and claim the power to protect everyone! I have to reach for it!

Suddenly, as Shunshi attempted to throw another Light Ball, the explosive orb failed to fly from his hand. Instead, the ball of energy seemed to cling to his palm and began to extend in length. Before anyone could understand what was happening, the Light Ball shot out in the form of a tendril as it remained attached to Shunshi's hands.

The speed at which this tendril shot forward would normally be as much of a challenge for Saitama to avoid as anything else. However, the shock of this unexpected development stopped the Caped Baldy for a small fraction of a second. During this time, the rope of energy nearly wrapped itself around Saitama's head. Quickly snapping back to his senses, though, Saitama ducked out of the way of the attack. However, the rope was just close enough to grip and pull off Saitama's wig as he crouched away.

Shunshi, just as confused as everyone else, looked on as this rope of light coming from his hand burned away Saitama's wig, slumped to the ground, and began to, very slowly, melt through the arena ruble.

Deciding to lift and look at his other palm, Shunshi formed another Light Ball and began focusing on the emotions he'd felt seconds earlier. Suddenly, his Light Ball took the form of another tendril of light that started to flail around wildly.

While Shunshi began panicking and trying to get this odd ability under control, the Announcer exclaimed, "Oh my God! Charnko, he... he... He just got all of his hair burned off!"

As the audience mumbled over this odd development, Saitama made a show of looking as if he was bubbling up with anger.

"WHAT?! I can't believe you destroyed my disguise wig! I'll clobber you good for that!" Saitama yelled as loud as he could. As he talked, the baldy took exaggerated marches towards Shunshi, shaking one fist at him while gesturing with the other for his student to bring it on.

"Saitama?! What's he doing here?!" Sneck exclaimed.

"You know this guy?" Max asked.

"What's that? A disguise?! Does that mean that this man isn't really Charanko?! That's a blatant violation of the rules! Does this mean he'll have to be expelled from Super Fight?!" The Announcer asked.

For a moment, Shunshi quivered in place as he looked at the ropes of Kie extending from his hand. Their random movements had died down and were now lifelessly slinking down from Shunshi's palms.

As he held back tears of appreciation with all his might, Shunshi thought in glee, I... I can't believe it... Master Saitama, is this... Is this the real reason you came here? I never thought Kie could do this. But you did, didn't you? You knew I was gonna be here and saw this was the perfect opportunity to teach me. You knew how much more room I have to improve. And that's why you went through all this, right? I thought I'd be the one helping you here, but it was still you who helped me to grow once again! I'm truly unworthy of your training, Sensei!

Seeing the pained look on Shunshi's face, Saitama gave as close to a comforting smile as he could and thought, I don't know what's going on, but you actually wanted to be here. I'm just here cause I'm bored and looking for cash. I'll let you take this one, dude.

Recognizing what his teacher was telling him, Shunshi acted back, "A disguise, huh? Well, you cheater, take this! Light...! Uh, Burning...? Burn Whips!"

Getting his new attack under some level of control, Monster Mask crossed his arms and lashed his Burn Whips out in order to perform a long-distance cross-chop at Saitama. The attack hit dead center with more than twice the attack power Shunshi had intended, smashing Saitama through the nearest wall. In the process, the attack set his Master's karate gi on fire. Quickly throwing it off, Saitama revealed the jacked torso normally hidden by his baggy clothes.

The sight of their target's apparent bulky physique gave the tournament security a nervous pause before they began chasing him.

Noticing the group of angry staff running at him, Saitama quickly commented, "Oop. Time to go," before lazily running away.

After a bit of laughter, followed by a short silence from the audience, the Announcer proclaimed, "Well, with that... taken care of, it seems we have our winner, folks! Give it up for Monster Mask, champion of the twenty-second Super Fight!"

With that, the loudest cheer yet given went off, with Ishisu being the loudest of them all.

I think I'll forget to send Genos that last video, Ishisu thought as she cheered for her brother.

Despite not truly feeling like he'd won anything, Shunshi decided that waving to the audience would be the sportsmanly thing to do. Unfortunately, his Burn Whips, still attached to his hands, began to whip at his surroundings, nearly hitting a few of the fighters around the arena.

Throwing his hands down to his sides, Shunshi awkwardly asked aloud, "How the heck do I turn these off?"

After a few attempts at different ways of removing them, including trying to use his feet to pull them off, Shunshi finally found success. By simply clasping his hands together, the whips extinguished themselves.


A few minutes later, all of the conscious fighters had gathered on what remained of the tournament arena. Soon after, Shunshi was rewarded with a trophy that easily stood a foot taller than him and a massive check for three-million yen. The people who handed these to him were two beautiful and large-breasted women wearing nothing but sling-bras as a top. The two clung to his sides as he held his rewards, annoying Lin Lin to no end.

Shunshi, however, paid these two no mind, focusing on the new abilities and techniques he'd learned today and excitedly thinking about how he could use them to beat Garou.

The pleased smile on the champion's face did nothing to help his case with his partner, with it leading her to believe he was enjoying the attention. At the same time, Suiryu looked enviously at the Hero. Envious of the money under his arm and the women at his side.

As cheers went on, the Announcer addressed the tournament's winner, "Well, that was quite the interesting development there at the end, but it seems like you managed to win your last battle unscathed. Congratulations, Monster Mask. Now, we have a surprise for you, Monster Mask. She asked us to keep this a secret when she got here, but your sister was able to take time off from medical school to come and watch you fight today. Ms. Kenkyonahi, would you care to come out and join us?"

Escorted out by one of the tournament staff, Ishisu excitedly trotted out toward the arena.

Having mostly ignored them up until now, Shunshi unknowingly pushed those scantily-clad girls off of him as he stepped forward and yelled happily, "Ishisu?! What are you doing here?" This action earned him a pleased chuckle from Lin Lin.

Quickly running up to her brother and hugging him, Ishisu answered cheerfully, "You think I'd miss my baby brother's big day of proving he can stand up for himself? Not a chance. 'Sides, this way, I can meet your girlfriend!"

With an expression that somehow combined amusement, annoyance, and embarrassment, Shunshi retorted, "Well, you haven't changed in the last year, have you?"

Before this familial reunion could continue, the Announcer spoke up, "Now, there is an important announcement we need to make. There is a massive monster alert going on right now. We ask you all to stay in your seats until the alert is ended. With all the martial artists and Heroes here, we'll all be-."

Before the Announcer could finish, Shunshi had tossed his trophy and check on the ground by Ishisu and ran right up to Super Fight's spokesman.

"There's a monster attack going on?! For how long?! Why didn't you mention this earlier?! Lightning Max, Bitting Fist Sneck! We need to get going, guys!" Shunshi yelled in a concerned panic.

Max and Sneck were stunned for a few seconds by Shunshi's sudden attitude shift until Max looked to Sneck and pointed out, "Well, he's not wrong."

Nodding, Sneck replied, "Yeah, you're right. Let's grab our gear and-." Just as Sneck was about to finish talking, the cawing of giant monsters could be heard from overhead.

Touching down next to all the fighters was a group of three giant, bipedal crow creatures with human limbs. Two of them held the unconscious fighters, Rosie and Dave.

Seeing this, Ishisu burst out, "What?! There are monsters stupid enough to actually come here?!"

Speaking up, the Announcer added, "And they're holding the contestants we had to send to the hospital!"

Not even a second after that, Benpatsu turned away from the crow monsters, ran, and yelled, "I- I'm outta here! You guys can deal with the monsters!"

As he ran past Shunshi, the young Hero looked somewhat befuddled and thought, Okay. What's a guy like that even doing here?

Speaking up while placing a hand on Lin Lin's shoulder, Lightning Max commented, "I can tell what you're thinking, Monster Mask, but it's for the best that civilians stay out of this. On that note, can we trust you to keep all the weaker fighters here from getting mixed up in this?" Max's question had been directed toward Lin Lin as he turned and gave her a look of respect.

She initially seemed surprised, but her expression quickly shifted to determination as she answered, "Of course!"

Before Shunshi had the time to appreciate his girlfriend's bravery, everyone heard an audible crunching noise, followed by Benpatsu getting launched back at the arena. Turning to see what had attacked him, everyone saw a giant that easily stood over thirty feet tall with light gray skin. It had extraordinarily black, spikey hair, jagged spikes on its joints, claws on its fingers and toes, fanged and tusked teeth, and four blood-red eyes with glowing purple pupils. On top of all this, it was dressed in a size-appropriate, sleeveless, black karate gi.

When the giant took steps towards the arena, Shunshi grabbed his sister and pulled her behind him, as Sneck and Max stepped up to his sides.

"Are these all the contestants? What small fries. How the world of martial arts has fallen... Well, so be it. Listen up. You're all going to become monsters!" The giant declared.