As he watched this new monstrosity appear atop the Monster Association base, Shunshi, almost involuntarily, asked, "What... the Hell... is that thing?"

"Unknown. However, it is likely connected to the Monster Association in some way... Figuratively and literally," Genos answered.

Steeling his nerves, Shunshi clenched his fists and asked, "Should we find a way up there to take out that thing?"

"Mmm... Although Tornado Of Terror is up there, it is probably better to be safe and lend our aid. You do actually possess the ability to reach that height, correct?"

Scratching the back of his head, Shunshi smirked awkwardly and answered, "Heh. You probably have a faster way to do it, but I'll catch up soon enough."

Nodding, Genos replied, "Understood. Do not keep me waiting."

Suddenly, Genos rocketed upwards, aiming for Tornado's direction.

"Of course, Senpai..." Glancing back at King and Tareo, Shunshi requested, "King. Can I ask you to protect Tareo and get him out of here? Once you do, you can come back and annihilate the enemy if we haven't finished them off by then."

King looked at Shunshi with concern on his face for a moment. However, soon after, he took a deep breath, recomposed himself, and put on a confident smile.

"You can count on me, Shunshi-bro! Come along, young Tareo!"

And as King took the little boy's hand and started sprinting off with him, he thought, This is the perfect chance to run for it!

Turning his head around, Tareo shouted once more, "Please! Save Uncle!"

Just as Shunshi was about to start jumping up the Monster Association tower, he froze for just a moment at Tareo's words. To say that being asked to save his biggest personal enemy rubbed Shunshi the wrong way would have been an understatement. However, Shunshi understood he had work to do.

Clenching his fists and taking in a sharp inhale, Monster Mask recomposed himself. He then crouched and jumped with all his might, going a full tenth of the way up the structure, to join Genos and Tornado in battle. As he began his ascent, though, Shunshi could see the blob monster at the top of the tower start to morph into a more defined, humanoid, somewhat effeminate form.


While Tornado readied herself, she cocked an eyebrow as Psyrochi's body folded in on itself and erupted like a seed. From it came a giant, ghostly-white figure with numerous tendrils coming off it that resembled a nude version of Psykos, without any of her indecent bits materializing, though.

"You really put on a show. You broke the Earth's crust to pull up the hideout. Are you trying to put on a show because you can sense how much more powerful I am than you? So what's next?" Psyrochi questioned while making a show of stretching out.

Examining her changed opponent, Tornado noticed that Psyrochi's body was actually growing by the second, and pondered internally, "Is she getting bigger...?" Shifting her focus to the blob-base of Psyrochi's body, Tornado noticed the tendrils coming from it that went down the Monster Association tower, before continuing her thoughts, "Is she absorbing power from those roots? Good thing they're exposed."

Focusing her power on the head of the tower, Tornado started breaking it off while exclaiming, "I just need to sever them to cut off your power!"

Realizing what Tornado was up to, Psyrochi stated, "Heh. How predictable. However, you don't seem to understand... I'm already more powerful than you!"

The fused monster then extended its hands, forming a triangle with its fingers. The next instant, a blinding wave of light shot out from Psyrochi's hands, aimed in Tornado's direction.


As Saitama's apprentices climbed the tower, they were both stunned for a moment by a sudden blinding light that filled the entire sky. The intensity of the brightness was enough to even overwhelm Genos' cybernetic eyes.

"The Hell's that?!" Shunshi exclaimed.

"Energy level unreadable! What is that monster doing?!" Genos shouted.


If one could view this battle from the Earth's orbit, they would have seen a truly horrifying sight.

A gargantuan, though even that did not do its size justice, wave of energy traveled along the horizons of the planet, until it eventually collided with the Earth's curvature. This collision resulted in the energy wave shaving off a section of the Earth's crust, hundreds of miles in circumference.

The shaved-off section was hit with enough force that it was nearly knocked loose of the planet's orbit. However, fortunately, or perhaps, unfortunately, the continent-sized section of the planet came crashing back into the ocean. This collision caused a tsunami to spread out in all directions, the likes of which had never been seen for as long as life had been sustained on Earth.


Once the energy wave was gone, Tornado was still there, albeit slightly worse for wear.

Her passive psychic barrier had given her enough time to pull herself out of the blast's immediate path, but she had still taken some damage. On the lesser side of things, she had lost a shoe, but on the serious side, she lost her right sleeve, up to her shoulder, and had slight burns along where her dress had been damaged.

Ignoring the slight pain she was in, Tornado noticed as a tsunami was heading in the direction of the shoreline.

She couldn't focus on that for too long either, as Psyrochi began to laugh, "Wahahaha! What a rush! So this is what my new powers are capable of!"

Processing the situation, Tornado wondered internally, "What's going on? A fusion of those two shouldn't have resulted in power like this! Where's her power even coming from?"

As Tornado thought this, the moon had started to appear in the sky.

"Hahaha! So that thing was real!"

Bewildered by what Psyrochi was saying, Tornado demanded, "What are you talking about? What thing?"

Clenching its fists, Psyrochi replied, "My new power has even you bewildered. Curious where it comes from? You have no chance of winning! A great force has chosen me and granted power that far surpasses yours!"

"Hm?!"

Gazing up at the moon, Psyrochi noticed a strangely large crater on it.

Ignoring that sight, it went on, "In my mind, I saw an entity that resembled brain cells, or outer space, or perhaps the surface of Jupiter. Its grandeur was akin to God's, and as it stopped time, its gaze fell upon me. I was afraid at first, but as power filled me, I awakened to my destiny!"

Tilting her head, Tornado questioned, "Destiny?"

Smirking, Psyrochi went on, "With my roots, I will absorb all living things and combine their souls into a single entity...! Me! I will become the ultimate life form! The very planet itself!"

Unable to contain herself, The Tornado Of Terror started laughing, "Haha! What?! Become the planet?!"

"Is that beyond your comprehension?"

Folding her arms, Tornado replied, "Using your immense strength to devour everyone until you're alone in the universe... That just sounds moronic."

Furrowing its brow slightly, Psykos shot back, "You're the moron! This is the end goal toward which all intelligent life has been heading since the beginning! I am the chosen one for this task! You have the world's greatest innate psychic powers, and yet it was I and not you who was picked! Why do you think that is?! You and your sisters never considered the future of what your abilities could achieve! Instead, you ignored my warnings and became ridiculous Heroes!"

Warnings? Tornado wondered.

"So now you shall suffer defeat! Consider it divine punishment!"

Putting her hands to her hips, Tornado stated, "This really is moronic. Don't you know people just use psychics for their own end goals? Whatever gave you your power just turned you into its pawn. The only reason that thing chose you is because you're so helpless that you had to beg your pet for help. You should never assume someone's gonna come save you when you're in trouble."

"HELPLESS!? You've seen my power firsthand, yet you too deny my strength...!? FINE! THEN LET'S BATTLE! FEEL THE WRATH OF THE EARTH, Tornado!"

As Psyrochi screamed all this, numerous of Orochi's dragon heads erupted from the tower, except even larger than before. In addition, the blob that Psyrochi came out of took on a solid form of its own, creating a torso with two arms holding swords connected to a serpent-like lower half.

While all of the heads started firing laser breaths at Tornado, Psyrochi shot off another wave from its hands, except significantly smaller than the first one.

Despite this barrage of blasts, Tornado was managing to dodge all of them.


Thanks to Genos' cyborg parts and Shunshi's enhanced healing, both their eyesights had returned to them.

Taking in their surroundings, the two witnessed the battle taking place above them.

The feminine monster was firing a barrage of energy beams at Tornado, who evaded them all seemingly with ease.

Aside from the battle, though, the young Heroes took notice of something of equal concern. That being the tsunami closing in on land.

"Good lord! That's gonna kill everyone! Genos, I know I'm asking a lot, but can you do anything about that?!"

In response to Shunshi's question, Genos narrowed his eyes and answered, "If I use my full power to create a blast and combine it with the same attack you used against Elder Centipede, that should be enough to minimize the collateral-."

Before Genos could finish, a mile out from the shoreline, the water began to bulge upwards. Suddenly, dozens of skyscraper-sized boulders were torn out from the ocean by green psychic energy. This created a chasm so long and wide that it sucked in the incoming tsunami wave.

"Wu... Wow," was all Shunshi could say.

"Hrm... Indeed."

Just as fast as they'd been pulled from the Earth, the mountains were thrown toward the tower, specifically at the monster atop it. Before they could reach it, though, the monster shot all but one of them to dust with its lasers.

The single mountain that made it through the blasts collided dead on with the monster, splitting down the middle as its momentum crashed against the feminine creature. Afterward, Tornado lifted various pieces of debris of similar size and smashed them into the monster on all sides, clearly in an attempt to crush it to a pulp.

However, just as soon, the monster burst free from its tomb with a burst of its own psychic energy.

Not willing to let up, though, Tornado started pelting the monster with a volley of psychic strikes, which it returned in kind with its own psychic attacks and more laser blasts. This clash of the psychics ultimately ended up creating a literal Storm of power swirling around the head of the tower.


A few miles from the scene of the battle, a particular group was watching the spectacle unfold while simultaneously working to rescue any civilians who had been trapped by the damage Tornado caused when she cracked the crust. This group was composed of all the Heroes who had been sent to the hospital by the Monster Association and Hero Hunter.

The reason they were all here was that they had left the hospital in mass, following the lead of Metal Bat, Tanktop Master, and Licenseless Rider, to come help in any way they could.

All logic would have said their injuries should have kept most of them bed-ridden, yet here they were. And while these Heroes were the kind of men and women who would ignore pain to help the defenseless, none of them had to worry about their wounds in this situation thanks to one additional man who came with them. That man being a particular orange-haired martial artist.

As Charanko saw the swirling storm of destructive power in the sky, he thought nervously, I know I ran here with the Heroes to cause I thought Garou'd be here... But I think Bang-Sensei would understand if I stayed away from whatever that is.

"Hey! We found another person over here! Charanko, we need your help!" Lightning Max yelled out as he helped up an injured woman while Heavy Kong lifted rubble to free her.

"Oh... Uh, okay, coming," Charanko answered hesitantly.

As he jogged over to Lightning Max's side, Bang's star pupil complained internally, This is exhausting. I don't know how many more times I can do this before I need a nap and some food. It took me days to go around to all of you Heroes for a reason.

Once Charanko was standing over the Hero and the injured woman, he crouched down and told her, "Alright, just hold still. This doesn't work as well if you move too much."

Extending his hands and folding them into a cup, Charanko summoned a small ball of red-orange flames. However, despite how brief it was, the process of conjuring this orb of flames exhausted Charanko to the point that he felt as if he'd just run a mile.

Through sweating and catching his breath, Charanko curtly restated his instructions, "Now, seriously, stay still. I promise this won't hurt."

"Ah... Alright?"

As the woman looked at Charanko with blatant uncertainty, he uncurled his fingers and started blowing on the flames. Soon after, once he was sustaining a steady stream of air from his lips, Charanko's fireball shot forward as a thin stream of flames.

Although the woman panicked slightly once the gust of flames touched her torso, Lightning Max held her still and comforted her, "Just stay calm. This actually helps a lot."

Within seconds, the woman's body was encased in flames, and she let out a shrill screech, "It hurts, it hurts! Help! I'm being burned!"

Sighing, Charanko stated, "For the love of- No you're not. That's just your brain playing tricks on you. Just calm down and focus on your actual wounds. The pain'll be gone soon from them."

As she had no way to escape the A-Class Hero's grip, the woman did as she was told. Taking a number of breaths, first shallow and then deep, the woman soon realized that the pain from being buried in rubble was slowly fading.

"What... What's happening?! I feel so much better."

Making no attempt to hide his grumbling, Charanko replied, "Ugh, I'm sick and tired of explaining this... It's a power that speeds up how fast you heal. You'll be good to walk on your own in about an hour, but you'll still need a few days to make a full recovery... I think."

Honestly, I'm just guessing from how fast all the Heroes healed.

As Charanko pondered the nature of the self-taught healing trick he'd used to speed up the recovery of himself and all the Heroes, a stray energy blast erupted from the storm in the sky and destroyed a building on the other side of the road from him.

Once the smoke cleared and his ears stopped ringing, Charanko muttered, "Yeah... I'm definitely staying away from whatever that is..."


Flying through a barrage of psychic blasts and levitating boulders, Tornado maneuvered her way around every attack Psyrochi threw at her. After evading a twin laser blast, Tornado flew behind a series of boulders in close proximity to one another, seemingly in an attempt to conceal her presece.

"You think you can hide behind the rocks!?" Psyrochi bellowed.

I can just sense your powers and track you wherever you go! Soon enough, Psyrochi was able to see the silhouette of energy surrounding Tornado's diminutive body.

Without hesitating, Psyrochi shot two more beams targetted at where it had located Tornado. To the monster woman's absolute delight, her attacks finally landed on target as Tornado started falling out of the sky.

"I hit her!" Psyrochi exclaimed in glee. However, its good mood vanished as quickly as it came when it noticed that the target it fried was just a series of rocks psychically assembled into the rough shape of a small Human.

To think you'd fall for such a simple trick. Tsk tsk.

Frantically, Psyrochi searched around itself for the one who sent that telepathic message. Before it could find Tornado, though, two hand prints started stretching out from within the monster woman's cleavage.

"Your insides are actually pretty hollow. Weird."

Putting a hand to the breast that Tornado's voice rang out from, Psyrochi shrieked with embarrassment, "What the-?!"

Suddenly, Psyrochi's lips were forced open as Tornado popped out of its mouth.

Lifting a glowing finger, Tornado calmly stated, "See ya, Ms. Paper Mâché Doll."

Suddenly, the entire tower Psyrochi sat upon was being wrung as of it were a wet towel. And just like a wet towel, liquids came gushing out as the tower was twisted up. But instead of water, it was rivers of monster blood that rained down on what remained of the city streets.


At the same time, as they hung onto the rotating structure for deer life, Genos and Shunshi watched as Tornado suddenly flew out of Psyrochi's mouth and started pointing her glowing hands in various directions.

"What the Hell is she doing?!" Shouted Shunshi as he used his Burn Whips to cling to the crumbling infrastructure.

Digging his claws into the rock, Genos narrowed his eyes and stated, "Based on the fact that the other S-Class Heroes are floating out of the tower in green bubbles of energy, I would assume she is attempting to drag out the S-Class before ending that monster."

"Huh?!" Shunshi had been focusing entirely on the battle up until this point, but when he turned his attention to the terrain below, he saw exactly what Genos described. Nearly all of the S-Class were being carried in psychic barriers that had punched their way out of the tower.

"You should learn to pay closer attention to your surroundings. It is a lesson I myself have had to learn that lesson the hard way a number of times."

"It's not my fault. I've been distracted. For some reason my muscles have been aching like crazy ever since we started climbing this tower," Shunshi complained.

Paying Shunshi's remark about muscle pains no mind, Genos told him, "Regardless, if you do not think you can keep moving, I will go on without you. However, I expect you to follow behind me soon."

Without waiting for a reply, Genos released his grip and allowed himself to be flung clear of the tower. Before he could begin descending, though, the Demon Cyborg activated the jets in his arms and legs and launched himself back at the tower. With refocused posture and agility, Genos then began ascending the tower again, leaving Shunshi behind to watch in shame.

Dammit! I don't care if I'm hurting! I have to help! Now do what I say, body!

Pulling back one of his Burn Whips as he resolved himself, Shunshi immediately realized that he would be sent flying if he unwrapped the other one. The mysterious sudden funk his body was in was throwing him off his game too much to pull his strength together properly.

"How the Hell am I supposed to help fight the monster at the top of the tower if I can't move from down here...!?"

Just then, Shunshi hit himself with a revelation and used his free hand to begin charging a Light Ball.


As Genos sped up the tower, he watched as Tornado was crushing the effeminate body of the monster with the rubble that would've otherwise been sent hurtling away from the crumbling structure.

However, just as the Tornado Of Terror lifted her left hand for one final move, one of the blades that the serpentine lower half of the monster was holding extended and punctured her palm. Despite the immense pain this caused her, Tornado was able to ignore it and extended her right hand to counterattack. Unfortunately, the serpent's second blade ran her other hand through before producing psychic rings to bind and embolize her arms. And just as it seemed that the pain couldn't get worse, the serpent's blades suddenly generated a massive current of electricity that began cooking Tornado's insides as she screamed in agony.

Unfortunately, this attack also meant that Tatsumaki couldn't focus on transporting her fellow Heroes anymore. As such, all their barriers evaporated and each one of them was dropped to the earth below.

While Tornado was in a state of suffering, Psyrochi's upper body came bursting out from the stones, covered in blood.

"You shrewd little mouse! It was sneaky of you to travel through my veins for a surprise attack, but it wasn't enough! To think you'd let your guard down after seeing just a little blood splatter!"

Suddenly, Psyrochi's feminine upper body split open, revealing a core of energy inside it, before the monster's voice continued to roar out, "It's time to go to Hell! But you won't be lonely! I'll be sending your sister to meet you in no time! Now taste the flames of my rage!"

Recognizing the bind that Tornado was in, Genos thought solemnly, It is time.

Suddenly, every engine on his body began erupting with lightning as he suddenly fired a blue incineration beam twice the size of the Neo White Heart Cannon.

With the speed at which Genos' attack traveled, it squeezed between Psyrochi and Tornado just as Psyrochi shot off one more energy blast. The resulting collision caused Psyrochi's attack to be sent hurtling into the sky alongside Genos', with both beams exploding in the Earth's atmosphere in a light show of blue and crimson that completely filled the sky for a brief instant.

At the same time, Psyrochi was forced to recoil back and pull its blades away from Tornado.

Fortunately, the Tornado Of Terror still had enough power left in her diminutive form to keep herself from falling.

While Psyrochi tried to comprehend what had happened, Genos began rushing up the now stationary tower as electricity enveloped his body. As he dashed upwards, the massive trail of lightning the cyborg left behind almost resembled a large tail.

Then, as he used the jets on his back to hover beneath Tornado, Genos pressed his arms together and aimed his palms at Psyrochi while charging up power.

"Demon Cyborg?" Tornado asked.

"What!?" Psyrochi demanded.

Once his energy was gathered, Genos' whole body began to erupt with blue electricity. Due to his clawed hands being pressed together at the wrist, the electricity erupting from his claws took on a shape similar to that of a dragon's head.

Combined with the electric tail, it appeared to all of the onlookers as if a large dragon made of blue lightning had suddenly materialized in the sky.

Firing his ray of lightning, giving the illusion of the dragon charging at the monster, Genos intended on blasting Psyrochi to pieces.

However, as Genos shouted, "Thunder Drill Cannon!" Psyrochi countered with another beam of its own.

After the two blasts struggled for an instant, Psyrochi's attack managed to push through Genos' beam, with just enough residual energy to knock him away.

"She pushed me back?!"

While Genos voiced his disbelief, numerous more of Orochi's dragon heads erupted from the tower and shot laser breath at the cyber Hero. To counterattack, the Demon Cyborg fired a barrage of lightning rays from his torso and arms.

As the S-Class Cyborg and the chimera monster clashed energy attacks, Tornado shouted at Genos, even as blood poured from her hands, "Hey! Excuse me, Demon Cyborg, but King left this monster to me! Don't get in the way! Do you want me to plant you in a wall again?!"

Despite the heavy burden of counter-attacking Psyrochi's death beams, Genos was able to shout back, "King is just leaving it to you until Master Saitama gets here! But it is my duty as a disciple to help with my Master's work! I will handle the energy beams, so you hurry and clean up this monster, Tornado!"

Refocusing on the task of diverting Psyrochi's attacks, Genos thought, Such power... It is taking my all just to deflect it away! It has barely been five minutes since I arrived, and I have already been forced to use my last-resort weapon capable of destroying a giant meteorite in one shot...! If Shunshi would hurry and get up here already, I would be able to combine our attacks once again and possibly even overpower this monster!"

"Listen, Genos. Full power only lasts for ten seconds," Dr. Stench's words rang in Genos' mind.

I promise that will be enough! We will make it!

Grimacing as the Demon Cyborg kept Psyrochi busy, Tornado thought, Fine. Everyone else, get out here.

Channeling her psychic powers once more, Tornado began to tear free the few remaining Heroes still inside the Monster Association tower.

However, as Tornado did this, Psyrochi let out an inhuman scream, "You fools! You think to defy me?! I am the ultimate lifeform and final form of Human evolution! I will show you the power of my supreme intelligence!"

Suddenly, Psyrochi fired a gargantuan swirling blast of energy from its multiple maws and aimed it directly at Tornado Of Terror while Demon Cyborg was countering a few more stray energy beams.

Even with her immense power, Tornado felt her heart skip a beat when she saw this attack coming for her.

Fortunately, though, Genos was able to maneuver around the blasts that had been aimed at him and jetted himself in between Tornado and the energy beam. Once he was in position, Genos opened his chest as his energy core glowed with the intensity of a star before firing off his own swirling energy ray.

"True Spiral Incineration Cannon!"

As the beams clashed, pushing back against each other, Psyrochi roared, "Ha! As if you stand a chance in a full-frontal clash!"

In response, Genos let out a battlecry, "Gaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Suddenly, Genos' core lit up with the intensity of a star, as his beam rotated faster and began drilling through Psyrochi's.

"While I push through this, hurry up and rescue the rest, Tatsumaki!"

Without hesitating, Tornado pulled on her psychic tendrils. Suddenly, nearly all the remaining Heroes still in the Monster Association tower came crashing out in psychic bubbles. The only ones still missing were Pig God, Zombieman, and Iaian,

If Genos or Shunshi were still watching the Heroes as they flew out, then they'd have seen Fubuki, Bang, and Bomb amongst those saved.

"They're out!" Tornado exclaimed.

Suddenly, the middle portion of the Monster Association tower was blown to pieces in a blinding, white-hot explosion. Rocketing out from the blast into the air above even Tornado and Demon Cyborg was Monster Mask, hollering gleefully.

"Hahahaha! Take that you ugly, freak!" Shunshi exclaimed.

Although the blast had caused little actual harm to the monster veins in the tower, the fact that the middle section itself was gone knocked Psyrochi off balance. And as Psyrochi fell backward, its laser dissipated slightly.

Capitalizing on this opening, Genos drew out as much of his power as he could and blasted through to Psyrochi. The resulting blast not only forced Psyrochi to fall even faster but also nearly burned a hole in the center of the monster's body.

With his power spent, Genos then fell backward as well. Fortunately, though, Tornado managed to catch him right away.

"Great shot, Senpai!" Shunshi exclaimed, just as he began descending.

However, before Psyrochi could fall very far, its newly exposed veins suddenly flexed themselves and lifted Psyrochi back to its prior height.

And as Psyrochi's face twisted into a more mangled and monstrous form, it roared, "You worms! Did you seriously think that was enough to beat me?! It's time to end this with the true power of the ultimate life form!"

Then, Psyrochi fired another breath attack, just as big as the last one, aimed directly at the two S-Class.

"You gotta be kidding me..." Shunshi muttered as he fell towards Genos and Tatsumaki.

Before the blast could hit them, though, it suddenly came to a complete stop when Tatsumaki extended her arms out from under Genos' armpits.

"I can finally concentrate on you now," Tornado chided as her hands glowed with green psychic power.

At that moment, Monster Mask fell past Tornado and Demon Cyborg. Just before he was out of reach, though, he managed to extend his hand and cling onto Demon Cyborg's ankle.

While making sure to keep his gaze pointed down, Shunshi congratulated the Tornado Of Terror, "Wow. Your powers really are incredible, Ms. Tornado."

There's some nobody from the Support Squad still wandering around the battlefield? Just great. He should have left with the other and stayed out of our way. Ugh, just him being here is giving me a headache.

As Tornado seemingly ignored Monster Mask, she told the young S-Class in her arms, "Well done Demon Cyborg."

Also appearing to ignore Shunshi, Genos told Tatsumaki, "Phew... It was not as if I did it for your sake."

Geez. I'd say I'm getting a cold shoulder, er, ankle... But my hand is almost burning right now actually... Guh! Now my body's aching even more! What the Hell?! It wasn't from my own blast, was it? Shunshi attempted to deduce.

Glancing down at Monster Mask, Tornado told him, "You managed to get up here on your own, so you should be able to handle getting yourself and Demon Cyborg down too."

Snapping out of thought, Shunshi mentally measured the distance to the ground, before he replied, "Ummm... I don't- Aaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Before he could finish, Tornado released her hold on Demon Cyborg, in turn dropping Monster Mask as well. While Shunshi let out an involuntary scream at this predicament, Genos remained calm.

"Stop screaming. You should be able to withstand a fall from this height without issue, my junior," Genos told Shunshi.

Once the two students of the Caped Baldy were out of earshot, Tornado suddenly broke apart Psyrochi's energy beam before clinching a fist at the monster itself.

As Psyrochi's body suddenly froze up, the monster panicked internally, The Hell?! I can't move a muscle!

With an almost inhuman smile, Tornado stared at Psyrochi with bloodshot eyes while asking, "So, tell me. What did you say you were going to do to me and my sister?"

"You still haven't been serious!? You damned monster!" Psyrochi screamed.

Tatsumaki then moved her hands, mimicking a wringing motion.

Suddenly, the entirety of City-Z began moving. Buildings, streets, and the very ground quaked and crumbled as they were pulled in on themselves.

If someone were to watch Tornado's display of power from orbit, then it would appear as if City-Z had turned into a country-spanning land-based whirlpool.

In the center of the earthpool sat Psyrochi, the monster's entire body being twisted and compressed like a massive piece of swirled gum.

And as Psyrochi felt its veins being torn from the Earth, it shrieked, "GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! MY RROOOOOOOTS!"

In the next second, the entirety of City-Z's ground began erupting with black, ichorous fluid.

"MY- MY BLOOD!"

Pleased with her handy work, Tornado commented, "All these rags were absolutely soaking. I have to wring them out really good."


On the ground below, the S-Class Heroes were getting the monster blood of Psyrochi poured onto them like a crimson rainstorm.

"Pttoo! Pttoo! Gah! What's with all this blood?!" Atomic Samurai demanded.

After getting his bearings, though, Atomic noticed Bushidrill and Okamaitachi laying unconscious on the rubble nearby.

"Kama! Drill!" The sword master exclaimed as he ran over to check on his students.

Once he was sure they were alive, Atomic Samurai scanned his surroundings and wondered, Iaian?

Meanwhile, as Superalloy Darkshine was sat in a fetal position and Sweet Mask was heaving in the dirt while recovering from a panic attack, Child Emperor had pulled out his communicator.

"Mr. Zombieman, please respond! Mr. Zombieman!" Child Emperor shouted into his device.

However, when Child Emperor heard his own voice, albeit filtered through static, coming from a piece of cloth nearby, he rushed over to pick it up.

Lifting the brown fabric, Child Emperor caught Zombieman's communicator in his palm as it fell from the scrap of clothing.

"Oh no..."

Suddenly, Pig God came erupting from the earth behind Child Emperor.

Just as Child Emperor was about to exclaim his fellow Hero's name, Pig God jumped over to shield the kid Hero with his own body. The reason for this became evident right away as falling debris came crashing down on Pig God's back, before harmlessly bouncing off him.

Before Child Emperor could thank Pig God for the last second save, all the Heroes felt the ground beneath them shake even more violently than it already was. The increased quaking then resulted in greater geysers of blood to spew from the Earth.


"You sure amassed a lot of gunk. What a disgusting fountain," Tornado remarked. "I guess I just need to shut down the main pump!"

However, as the moon began to appear in the sky and Tornado was just about to finish squeezing the life out of Psyrochi, she felt a sudden pang in her head. The next second, the small Hero began to violently spew blood from her eyes and mouth.

Looking up as he and Shunshi were still falling, Genos asked, "What has happened to Tatsumaki?!"

Having readied himself to hit the ground, Shunshi replied, "I don't know, but it doesn't look good..."

But my muscle pains suddenly went away... Wait, was it because of that? Shunshi postulated.


Standing by the Blizzard Of Hell alongside his brother as she was on her knees, Bang noticed as the psychic barrier around them dissipated.

"It seems the shield your sister made for you vanished. I guess we have to deal with this blood rain after all," Silver Fang sarcastically moaned.

Turning to look up at the sky, Blizzard internally questioned, The psychic fluctuations changed? Sister? What's happening?


As Tornado could hear her own heart pounding and blood poured from her face, she asked herself, What?! At a time like this? Did I use too much power at once?

While Tatsumaki tried to understand what caused such a violent feedback, Psyrochi thought, Her grip loosened! Yes!

Suddenly, a humongous burst of blood mist blew out from the remains of Psyrochi's mangled body. This move effectively acted as a blinding smoke screen as a clump of flesh, relatively small compared to the rest of the body, broke off from the top of Psyrochi's remains.

In less than a second, this ball of flesh warped and morphed itself into a new form, one that closely resembled a fighter jet. That is if a fighter jet was made of the bodily remains of a monster king.

Not only did this form possess the aesthetics of a jet plane, but it also shared its functionality to boot, as Psyrochi suddenly rocketed away.

If I can consume all the blood and flesh of the Humans in the city, then I can regain the power to kill Tatsumaki.

With a couple of coughs, Tornado grunted, "Ack! I can't see anything. Got to find her presence..."

However, when Tornado attempted to psychically locate her foe, she realized that she was sensing multiple instances of Psyrochi traveling in various directions.

She's scattered her presence?!

As Psyrochi flew away while using its telekinesis to fling masses of stone in several directions, it thought, I managed to learn a thing or two from you, Tatsumaki! Thanks!

Picking up speed, Psyrochi was aiming to exit the remains of the City-Z Ghost Town for more populated areas. However, just as Psyrochi was about to reach the Ghost Town limits, it and its rock copies all crashed into an invisible barrier.

While the Monster Queen skidded down the side of this barrier, it looked up and noticed that a colossal dome of invisible psychic energy had been formed around the entirety of the Ghost Town. The only reason Psyrochi could see the dome at all was thanks to its own esper senses.

"What?! How could she still have the power to put up such an enormous barrier?!"

While Psyrochi tried to comprehend the fathomless depths "Did you really think getting away from me would be that easy?! This is a special double-layered barrier with inverted directions of force that you'll never be able to break through!"

Glaring at the bloody smokescreen that it had left behind, Psyrochi homed in on Tornado's presence and thought, The fool! Maintaining a barrier of this size must be using up all of her concentration. And so long as she's in the barrier too...

Out of the side of Psyrochi's jet body, a laser beam suddenly fired off as the Monster Queen concluded, All I have to do is pierce her heart and this will all be over!

The beam was aimed directly at where Psyrochi detected Tatsumaki's presence. However, after its laser pierced the blood mist, Psyrochi was horrified to see that it had only managed to hit another of Tornado's rock decoys as the real Tornado smiled at it.

"Found you!" Tornado chirped with bloodlust drenching her words.

Before Tornado could go back on the offensive, though, two new beams shot out from behind her.

Fortunately, neither one of the blasts was aimed at Tatsumaki, as they shot past her and went toward Psyrochi.

For the Monster Queen's part, it was able to dodge and fly around these attacks.

"What now!?" Psyrochi shouted.

Zooming past the Tornado Of Terror, was a bulky black jet with a mono-eyed metal head that had black hair sticking out of where the pilot would sit.

As he gave pursuit to the now fleeing Psyrochi, Drive Knight stated, "Target acquired: Amorphous creature of unidentified type. Commencing suppression and sample collection."


While Drive Knight engaged in an aerial dog fight with Psyrochi, the ground-bound Heroes watched in awe.

"Is that Mr. Drive Knight...?" Child Emperor asked.

With a grin, Atomic Samurai exclaimed, "That son of a bitch is alive!"

At the same time, Genos and Shunshi finally landed.

As their collision cracked the stones beneath their feet, Shunshi exclaimed, "Gaah...! Oh, wow. You were right, Senpai. The fall just shook me up a bit."

But Genos didn't respond, instead remaining silent for a moment as his frame sparked with electricity. It almost seemed as if he were trying to flex his body, despite the complete lack of muscles in his metal body.

My ten seconds are up, but if I reroute my internal power systems, I can temporarily transfer the energy that would otherwise cause self-destruction to continue powering my last resort.

Once Genos had stopped sparking, Atomic Samurai exclaimed, "Demon Cyborg?! You came as well! Oh, and it looks like Monster Mask is still kicking around with us too."

"Thanks for noticing, heh..."

As Monster Mask replied to Atomic, Child Emperor glanced at Demon Cyborg with anxiety.

Ignoring the panicked eyes, Genos, "I will give you the full details later. Tornado has trapped the boss of the Monster Association in a huge barrier. Additionally, it appears that Drive Knight has engaged in combat as well."

When Genos brought up Drive Knight, Shunshi couldn't help but glance up and ponder, You were out of power a few minutes ago, but now you're doing all this...? Eugh, I don't have time for suspicion. The monsters takes priority right now... Actually, on the topic of suspicious stuff, my muscle cramps keep worsening whenever I look at Tornado or that monster woman. And... I always assumed it was because I didn't like her, but I felt similar to this whenever I was around Blizzard. But it was only really uncomfortable when she used her powers around me... Was I right about assuming Kie is somehow an opposite ESP? If so, is that monster woman also an esper?

In the half-second it took Shunshi to think all of that, Genos went on, "However, Tornado is approaching her limit. Shunshi and I are going to head back in for support. I ask that you all do the same."

Placing a hand on Genos' still scorching hot shoulder, Shunshi told him, "About that, Senpai. I have an idea. If you'll trust me that is."

"What is it?" Genos asked with just a hint of doubt.

"I saw you flying up there. Can you still fly if I'm on your back?"

Although he wanted to pause to process this question, Genos knew he hadn't the time, and answered quickly, "Of course."

Suddenly, jumping onto a somewhat startled Cyborg's back, Shunshi exclaimed, "Alright! Get me as close you can, and then throw me right at that bitch!"

With a trickle of his annoyance for his Junior coming back, Genos told him, "This had better be a good idea."

Then, as the two young Heroes flew away, Atomic Samurai drew his sword and dashed away while saying, "Tsk. This isn't the time to be standing around flustered! That thing's out of range, so I guess I'll try my air blade."

Just then, Pig God's stomach suddenly started to rumble before he violently vomited out Zombieman, Iaian, and several people in suits of black high-tech armor.

Although he was shocked initially, Child Emperor smiled with relief as he exclaimed, "Mr. Pig God! You took everyone into your stomach and rescued them...! Gyaaaa!"

It was only after a moment of examining the unconscious bodies did Child Emperor realize that Zombieman was covered in horrid wounds as if he had been melted or burned.

"Pig-! Mr. Pig God! You actually started digesting Mr. Zombieman!"

Raising his one regrown arm, Zombieman interjected, "Nah. These are wounds from battle, actually."

Admits all the screaming, Iaian managed to shoot awake despite the damage to his body and armor.

Jolting to his knees, Iaian stammered, "This- Where are we?!"

Smiling down at the young man, Pig God explained, "I heard the message you sent over the communicators. Thanks to that, I was able to find everyone gathered together and save you all. Good work, Iaian. And you're fellow swordsmen are safe too."

Turning to look at his unconscious allies nearby, Iaian muttered, "Is that so...? I see." He then bowed to Pig God and told him, "I'm in your debt. I hope I can repay you someday."

Then collapsing on his rear end as sweat, blood, and stomach juices rolled down his face, Iaian stated, "Phew... I guess I'm still not ready for S-Class."

Even after beating that hair monster on my own...

As Iaian contemplated his accomplishments and failures, he snapped out of it when he heard Atomic Samurai exclaim, "Damn, like I thought. It's out of range for my air blade. Gotta think of something else."

Spinning around on the ground, Iaian saw Atomic looking to the sky.

"Ma..." Iaian tried to get out.

His sharp ears picking up on his student's voice, Atomic Samurai turned, saw his top pupil, and asked, "Iaian?"

With tears of joy welling in his eyes, Iaian bowed and exclaimed, "Master...! It seems I managed to stay alive."

Pulling the stray hay from his mouth, Atomic smiled earnestly and reached a hand to his pupil as he picked his head up.

"Heh... You did well!"

Accepting his master's hand, Iaian climbed back to his feet.

However, the young swordsman's attention was pulled away when he noticed the light show in the sky caused by Psyrochi trading attacks with Tornado, Drive Knight, Demon Cyborg, and Monster Mask.

"So, if I may ask... What exactly is happening now, Master?"

Before giving an answer, Atomic Samurai watched the four S-Class combatants engaging with this jet-like monster and wondered, Are they... Are they actually working together?


As Genos ascended the tower with Shunshi on his back, the two were both making sure to fire Incineration Blasts powered up with Light Balls. The goal behind these combo attacks was less about causing damage and more intended to serve as distractions to help Tornado and Drive Knight.

Following Psyrochi's movements with his tracking systems, Genos was doing his best to set himself up with a perfect shot for Shunshi.

Once they were within ten feet of their previous height, Genos told his junior, "Based on my analysis, the Monster Association boss will be in position for you in three seconds. You had better be ready to do whatever it is you want to do."

As Genos cupped his hands together, Shunshi flipped over his shoulders, planted his feet in Genos' palms, and told him, "Ready as I'll ever be, Senpai!"

Just then, as Psyrochi was a second from crossing their path, Genos used as much strength as he could and threw Shunshi. Additionally, the young curbing fired off his lightning incinerators with as little power as he could manage with the intention of increasing Shunshi's velocity just that much more. While this maneuver did succeed, it, unfortunately, came with the cost of burning the bottoms of his junior's unarmored feet.

At the same time, Shunshi added his own jumping strength to the throw as he ignited his Kie. This combination of power resulted in Shunshi's body moving through the air like a blazing missile propelled by lightning traveling over a dozen times the speed of sound.

With a sound-shattering thud, Shunshi successfully managed to land on target. The impact even knocked Psyrochi off-balance, jutting the monster and nearly ruining its flight path.

As two more blasts from Drive Knight were just narrowly evaded by Psyrochi, Shunshi spread out his limbs like a predator and dug his fingers and toes into Psyrochi's haul.

"Oh, and NOW what!?" Psyrochi exclaimed.

Looking at the maddened burning man clinging to its body, Psyrochi had a sudden realization, Huh? Hold on, that's that one Hero from the surface with muscle aura. If... If his affects me the same way Garou's did, then I need to shake him now!

"Get your disgusting mitts off me and die, you dust mite!" As Psyrochi made its disgust vocal, it performed an aerial technique that combined an aileron roll with a barrel roll.

The elaborate movements of this technique not only helped to evade all the blasts from the surrounding Heroes but was seconds away from tossing Monster Mask back to the ground.

As he felt his fingers slipping, Shunshi thought, Come on! Come on! Blizzard knocked both our powers out of wack when she grabbed me with her telekinesis! There's gotta be some way to do that back! I know my explosions don't do that, but maybe if I had some way to spread my Kie out, then I could do this...! Wait, is that what Lin does when she's setting monsters on fire with a touch? Could I do something like that too...? Gah! I have to try at least!

Focusing his ragging Kie into his palms as much as he possibly could, Shunshi began his last-ditch attempt to be useful. Within the last couple of seconds Shunshi had before he knew his grip would slip, he saw as Psyrochi's entire body suddenly started burning with a white raging inferno.

Realizing his impromptu technique was at least partially working, Shunshi shouted, "Burn, monster bitch!"

In the next second, Psyrochi's flight pattern combined with its now blazing body created a sideways twister of flames in the sky that could have been mistaken for an act of some raging fire god.

"Agh-AAAAAAAAAAGGGH!" Psyrochi shrieked as Monster Mask felt his muscles begin to spasm.

As Shunshi let go, no longer able to keep his grip, Psyrochi panicked internally, I knew it! It's not just the burning! I could handle that by itself! This is the same mind-melting sensation from when I grabbed Garou! If I can't figure out a way to power through this, then I'll-! GET OUT OF ME...! Huh?! What was-?! GET OUT OF ME, YOU WITCH!

Suddenly, Psyrochi felt even more horrible, as the sensation of its body melting spread throughout the Monster Queen.

Before she knew it, Psychos' Human body was free-falling out of the Psyrochi body as blood drained from her eyes and nose. Additionally, Psykos' white gown was gone, likely having been melted away. Now, the only thing keeping her decent was the monster flesh and blood that still clung to her skin.

A Human woman?! What...?! Well, that was unexpected, Shunshi managed to think despite the pain he was in.

Managing to glance upward as she fell, Psykos saw as the jet form she had assumed morphed into a different yet familiar shape.

The form somewhat resembled Orochi, but with a number of noticeable differences. First of all, Orochi was less than half its usual size. Next, a pair of jet wings were on its back and keeping it airborne. In addition, it had sprouted several arachnid legs on its lower half as the dragon heads of its upper body were mostly unfurled, only leaving Orochi's two main arms fully intact. Finally, the Monster King's stone-like face was completely gone. Now, only a vaguely circular ball of shadows, surrounded by dragon tendrils, and with two glowing yellow orbs in its center.

Releasing a bellowing unearthly roar, Orochi countered another couple of beams from Drive Knight with laser breath from several of its dragon heads.

And as Orochi rushed to confront Drive Knight head-on, the Monster King postulated, I might have been stronger with Psykos in control, but she isn't the same kind of expert fighter I am. Not to mention that horrible psychic agony from that bastard with the flames left me no choice but to expel Psykos... Then again, without that technique weakening Psykos, I doubt I could have gotten control back so soon.

Moving with greater agility than Psyrochi had, Orochi closed in on Drive Knight.

The S-Class cyborg attempted to counter with more energy rays, but Orochi managed to evade once more by completely unfurling the sections of its body that would have been hit.

Once the beast had closed in, Orochi used its right arm to strike Drive Knight, while at the same time blasting him with breath lasers from the dragons that composed his limb. The combined force was enough to smash Drive Knight into the Monster Association tower in a fireball explosion.

However, instead of being instantly destroyed as Orochi had anticipated, Drive Knight instead came riding out of the explosion in a motorcycle form, moving fast enough to vertically drive up the tower.

Hrm. It seems like my strength dropped even more than I'd anticipated. That blow should have atomized him. I'm not up to the level I was while fighting that bald bastard.

However, when Drive Knight opened fire on Orochi once more, the beams managed to graze their mark despite the Monster King's best efforts to fly out of the way. The damage dealt wasn't massive, but it was still enough to scorch Orochi.

"GRRRAAAAAAAAAWWW!" As Orochi erupted with rage, another realization hit it.

My durability is down too! I need to find more flesh to consume if I want to restore my power... But I'll have to take care of the cyborg opponents first if I want to get to the psychic brat and bring down this barrier.


While Drive Knight continued keeping the Monster King busy, Genos had arrived at the top of the Monster Association tower, finding Tornado on her knees while still keeping her hands up to maintain the psychic barrier.

When he arrived by Tornado's side, though, Genos noticed a complete lack of life in her eyes and asked, "Tatsumaki...? Did she pass out?"


While Tornado, Drive Knight, Demon Cyborg, and Monster Mask were doing whatever they could to defeat Psyrochi, and before Orochi had reclaimed its body, Charanko and the Heroes that had left the hospital were gathered around the one S-Class in their ranks, Tanktop Master.

As Tanktop Master lifted a car-sized slab of cement that several A-Class were struggling to move, saving several trapped civilians, Charanko noticed a rescue chopper in the distance.

Feeling relieved since his stamina had been completely spent on healing, he took off his karate gi and started waving it as a flag while exclaiming, "Look, you guys! A chopper! Hey! We're down here!"

While the chopper closed in on their position, License-Less Rider told Tanktop Master, "I'm really glad you came, Master."

With a smirk, Tanktop Master replied, "Hey, I just followed your lead."

At the same time as the Heroes started to relax a bit, Drive Knight fired a beam at Psyrochi, which missed and hit the psychic barrier Tornado had erected. This caused a massive blast that made the rescue chopper aware of the barrier, allowing it to turn back just as it would have otherwise collided with it.

"Ah... That was close," Lightning Max remarked.

"Does this mean they can't get to us...? What is that anyway?" Charanko whined.

Speaking up, Tanktop Master stated, "It looks like a psychic barrier... Is Tornado fighting...? For her to go this far, it must be quite the battle. Hmm."

Taking a moment to watch the other Heroes work to save civilians, Tanktop Master took a deep, contemplative breath before asking Lightning Max, "Lightning Max. You said you saw Tornado on that tower with your telescope earlier, right?"

"Huh? Ah, yeah!"

"Okay. License-Less Rider! I'm heading over there to give Tornado support. You stay here and continue the rescue operations."

The S-Class Hero then walked over to a partially collapsed electrical tower, grabbed onto one of its legs, and tore the entire structure out of the ground. Naturally, such a feat of strength left the onlooking Heroes stunned with awe.

As he turned the tower onto its side and steadied it with his massive hands, Tanktop Master gave another instruction, "Find a way to transport the injured to hospital as soon as possible. Charanko looks like he's running on fumes."

With a pang of guilt hitting his gut, Charanko weakly said, "I mean... I'm sure I can keep going for a bit longer..."

"That's the spirit, kid!" Heavy Kong said while slapping Charanko on the back, knocking him over in the process.

While the Heroes looked at the exhausted Charanko with pitty as he laid on the ground, License-Less Rider told Tanktop Master, "Got it. Please take care as well, Master!"

"You too!"

With that final declaration, Tanktop Master hurled the electrical tower as if it were a javelin and with enough force to carry it for miles. He then grabbed onto one of the severed wires before they traveled out of his reach and allowed the tower to carry him through the air.

Once more, the Heroes were awe-struck, with Charanko and a few C-Class Heroes remarking, "I... Maybe I should wear a tanktop too."

The only one to keep his composure was License-Less Rider, as he turned around with a smile and told the heroic gathering, "Well then! Let's get back to the rescue mission!"


While Tanktop Master traveled to the battle sight, all of the high-ranked Heroes that were present there had gathered together.

At the moment, they were gathered around Superalloy Darkshine. He had informed them all of how Garou defeated him, how it made him feel weak and helpless, and that he no longer felt like he was a real Hero due to how easily he grew to fear the Hero Hunter. As such, Sweet Mask and Puri-Puri Prisoner were working to bring the S-Class wall of muscle back to his senses.

After pummeling Darkshine with a flurry of kicks, none of which even really phased the man, Sweet Mask yelled at him, "Doesn't your weak mind piss you off?!"

As Atomic Samurai was about to interject, Zombieman, with an understanding smile, put a hand to his chest and gave a look to keep quiet.

Leaning down to the cowering Darkshine, Puri-Puri Prisoner told him, "See? That barrage of attacks from Sweet-Boy didn't even put a scratch on you. Even if you lost, your strength hasn't vanished! Your muscles are as powerful as ever! Garou tore through me like paper, but he and the Monster Association Cadres could all still be alive. We absolutely need your strength to beat them, Dark-Chan!"

Standing up, Puri went on as his voice became far more serious, "I'm not some selfless Hero either. I'm fighting to protect my boyfriends waiting for me in prison. You must also have someone you're looking to protect, Dark-Chan."

Burying his head in his huge arms, Darkshine replied, "I don't really have anyone..."

"No. There is someone you fight to protect. And that's yourself, Dark-Chan. You have been nurturing and protecting your muscles for years now. Improving your precious self simply for the sake of bettering yourself. I don't think I could ever do something so admirable! But if you back down now, you'll lose that drive for the rest of your life! Do you want that?!"

As Superalloy Darkshine began coming out of his curled-up ball, looking at his trembling hands, Puri-Puri told him, "Look at your body! Look at that shaking! That is your muscles crying! They're asking if you trained them so hard just to sit down and cry, or to push them to their limits and keep growing!"

Weighing in again, Sweet Mask stated, "Those muscles are proof of your ability to overcome yourself. Never allow yourself to be weak, Darkshine. You see, I'm just like you. No matter how many times I get frustrated, no matter how many times I disappoint myself, I stand up and move forward. That's called being a Hero."

Putting his hands on his hips, Sweet Mask asked one last question, "Well then, Superalloy Darkshine. What is your ride telling you? What are your muscles begging you to do?!"

For a moment, Darkshine sat there and trembled for another moment as he clenched his teeth. That is, until Puri-Puri whispered to him, "If you don't get up, I'll French-kiss you."

Jumping to his feet with a roar of determination, Darkshine exclaimed, "NO WAY I'M GOING DOWN LIKE THIS!"

Grinning, Sweet Mask said, "That's more like it."

Cutting in, Atomic Samurai pointed at the sky and stated, "Okay then! So... We're going to have to cooperate if we want to take down that monster in the sky."

Shocked, Zombieman and Child Emperor asked, "What?! Cooperate?!"

Pulling out a piece of bread from his pocket to snack on, Pig God told him, "Are you really the same self-centered Atomic Samurai? Did you eat something bad? Eating food that fell on the ground is no good for you."

As Atomic Samurai growled with frustration, Iaian approached him and said wholeheartedly, "Master! What a change of heart!"

"Tsk. It's just for today! I'm only teaming up because I acknowledged they're stro-."

Cutting Atomic Samurai off mid-sentence, everyone recoiled as they heard a sonic boom coming from overhead. Looking into the sky, after a few seconds, the S-Class saw as a horizontal tornado of white flames appeared where the Monster Association leader had been flying.

Then, the flame tornado disappeared as quickly as it arrived, with the Monster Association leader erupting from it in a brand new form.

"The Hell is happening up there?" Atomic Samurai asked.

Before anyone could answer, Tanktop Master's electrical tower impaled itself into the Monster Association tower, with Tanktop Master leaping down from it to greet the other S-Class Heroes.

"I came here to help out. Tornado is up there, right?"

"Mr. Tanktop Master!" Child Emperor exclaimed.

"How is the situation holding up?"

Smiling, Zombieman answered, "Fine now that you're here!"

"Yeah! Thank you for coming!" Atomic Samurai added.

"Huh?" That was all the master of tanktops could say in response.


Simultaneously, as Genos had arrived at Tornado's side and the S-Class began formulating a plan, Shunshi was handling a woman on his own end of things.

As he fell out of the air, Shunshi thought, Alright. I already know I can survive this fall with no issue. But what about that blue-haired woman? Who is she anyway...? Argh! No time for that! I need to focus on saving her! Come on, body! I know this hurts, but we've been through this once already! You can move! Do it!

Despite feeling as if he might be tearing his muscles, Shunshi found the strength to kick his feet together with superhuman force. The kinetic waves this made slowed his fall and altered his trajectory enough to put him directly into this woman's path. Because of this, Shunshi was positioned perfectly to catch her as she collided into him.

While the blue-haired and rather well-endowed woman stared at Shunshi with confusion, he smiled awkwardly and told her, "Sorry about grabbing you while you're going all-natural. But I didn't have any other way to save you."

"What?!" She asked.

Before Shunshi could give an answer, he once more landed feet first on the destroyed terrain, but this time with a gorgeous woman in his arms.

Having landed near the other Heroes, Shunshi smiled to them and exclaimed, "Everyone! I think we might have another hostage to save!"

Turning to face him, Child Emperor exclaimed, "Monster Mask! Good, you're back! So it was you who changed the monster leader's form! Hopefully, you weakened it... Wait. Who is this now?"

However, about the same instant that Shunshi noticed Bang, Bomb, and Blizzard with the group, his muscle spasms caught up with him. In an instant, he collapsed onto his butt, with the woman landing on his lap.

"Are you alright, Monster Mask?!" Iaian asked.

Taking in a deep breath, Shunshi explained, "Yeah. I just had to cripple my ability to use Kie for a bit to pull this woman out of the Monster Association leader up there. I heal a lot faster than I used to, so it'll come back in a few minutes... I think."

Seeing this, Bomb critiqued, "Messing around with even more women now? You should be ashamed, Shunshi."

Ignoring Bomb, Shunshi explained, "I don't know for sure, but I think the monster leader was using this woman as some kind of power source... Am I right, Ms?"

Before the woman, who seemed utterly horrified, could give an answer, Fubuki suddenly shouted, "Psykos?!"

Cocking an eyebrow, Shunshi asked, "You know her, Chill- Blizzard?"

Readying a psychic attack, surprising some of those around her, Blizzard explained, "We were... part of the same club in high school. But we went out separate ways when Psykos suddenly started talking about destroying Humanity."

"Destroying Humanity?!" Shunshi and a few others shouted as they now gave Psykos cautious glares.

"If Psykos is here, then she's on the Monster Association's side. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she's leading them somehow."

When Blizzard finished her explanation, Shunshi remarked, "Now that I get a better look at you... You do look a lot like the monster leader's female body."

Immediately, Psykos jumped to her shaky feet and started trying to run.

"Um, I'm in too much pain right now! Can someone else grab her?!" Shunshi exclaimed.

At his request, the first to reach Psykos was Tanktop Master, whom Shunshi only now took notice of.

Huh? When did Tanktop Master get here...? Whatever. The more Heroes, the merrier.

While Tanktop Master kept Psykos' shoulder gripped in his massive hand, which was more than enough to restrain her, Child Emperor told Shunshi, "Alright, please listen, Monster Mask. We have an attack strategy planned for how to bring that monster in the sky crashing down to Earth."

As Child Emperor told Shunshi what the plan was, Blizzard glared at Pskos and thought, Should I kill her now before the others can stop me...? No, maybe once the battle is over. If she isn't a threat right now, I'll preserve my power.

Looking up the tower that she could sense her sibling atop, Blizzard telepathically exclaimed, Big sis! Big sis, can you hear me?! Just hold on! We're coming to save you!


While Genos was keeping an eye on her, Tornado's subconscious was repeating one phrase over and over again to her.

When the time comes, don't go expecting someone to save you.

At that same moment, though, some life returned to the tiny esper's eyes when she heard a psychic message, Big sis! Big sis, can you hear me?! Just hold on! We're coming to save you!

A smile forming on her face, Tornado muttered playfully, "Don't underestimate me, little sis."

Climbing back to her feet, surprising Genos, Tornado let out a blood-curdling screech before unleashing another reservoir of psychic power.


While Tornado got her next move ready, Drive Knight was fighting tooth and nail to survive against the enraged Orochi. But despite his best efforts, the Monster King had him pinned against the tower as it unleash a flurry of punches, claws, and laser blasts.

Drive Knight had grown into a massively taller, bulkier, and chrome form that was managing to absorb most of the damage that Orochi was unleashing. However, evident by his cracking armor, Drive Knight's defense wouldn't hold up forever.

Dammit! Orochi's power levels have dropped, but its techniques and fluidity have improved drastically. I can't counter any of its moves at this range. If I could assume Gold form I could mount a better offense. Or if I could switch back to Flying Chariot, I could evade more easily and attack from a distance. But if I leave Bishop mode, I do not know if I could take another one of Orochi's blows. What are the other Heroes doing right now? I could use a second or so of relief!

Just as Drive Knight finished his internal complaints, the wall he was pinned against suddenly broke apart and shot into Orochi like massive, nearly fluid spears. And as more green psychic energy enveloped the tower, more of it was ripped free to smash and pierce into the Monster King.

This gave Drive Knight exactly the space he needed to break free from Orochi's onslaught, switch back to his jet form, and fly upwards.

Shooting past him, though, was the Demon Cyborg, who came flying down firing a lightning ray into Orochi, disorienting the monster even more.

However, the onslaught simply wasn't enough, as Orochi erupted from the rubble encasing it and fired three simultaneous beams at Genos.

Flying in front of the blasts while switching back to his Bishop mode, Drive Knight tanked the hits for Genos and exclaimed, "Demon Cyborg! Perfect! Lend me a hand! I am low on energy, but if we combine our power cores it could maximize our power output. It's a gamble, but it could end this. Are you game?"

As his arms and chest began to overheat, and he felt as if his last resort could blow at any moment, Genos told Drive Knight, "Do it!"

Unfolding his chest, revealing an energy core with an uncanny similarity to Genos', Drive Knight suddenly wrapped Genos up his body. Drive Knight's parts then began morphing and positioning themselves around the Demon Cyborg.

Unwilling to let its opponents accumulate strength while it was in a weakened state, Orochi was about to blast Drive Knight and Genos out of the air.

Before the Monster King could finish its attack, though, one of its additional heads noticed a massive slab of concrete flying through the air toward it. Turning its attention to the airborne sidewalk, Orochi used its breath lasers to atomize it.

Following the slab's trajectory, Orochi located its source and saw Tanktop Master, with Blizzard Of Hell by his side as she channeled psychic energy into him. At the same time, the beefy S-Class began hurling more large chunks of debris with an efficiency that would put a pitching machine to shame.

"These things are so easy to throw now! That ability of yours is making my tanktop super comfortable! Nice work, Blizzard Of Hell!" Tanktop Master exclaimed while continuing to work.

"Er, no problem..."

As she said that, though, Blizzard had a different reaction in her mind, I'm reinforcing your muscles with psychic power. I didn't do anything to your tanktop.

However, as the hail of boulders came toward the Monster King, Orochi blasted them all out of the air as it exclaimed, "MEAT AND BONES! BLOOD! FLESH! TIME TO EAT!"

Demolishing its way through Tanktop Master's assault, Orochi went flying down toward the S and B-Class Heroes. And as the Monster King's intent to eat them became obvious, Blizzard recoiled slightly while Tanktop Master steeled his resolve.

During those precious few seconds that Tanktop Master bought them, though, the cyborg Heroes finished their fusion into a new form a little over half Orochi's current size.

Drive Knight and Demon Cyborg's merged body was made from black, bulky plates of metal that made it resemble an oversized mechanical knight, complemented with an oversized greatsword. The fusion had the base of jet wings on its shoulders that erupted with such a volume of flames that the flames themselves appeared to be synthetic wings. Finally, resting inside the raised shoulders of the body was Genos' comparatively small head.

"Tactical Transformation: Dragon King!" Genos and Drive Knight's voices declared in unison.

Rushing down with unimaginable speed, Dragon King intercepted Orochi with his massive blade. The blade strike both cut into and sent Orochi flying back into the sky.

We only have a few moments before my core erupts, Drive Knight! Be ready to separate the moment I give you the signal!

"YOU WORTHLESS SCRAP METAL!" Orochi roared as it halted its ascent with its wings and prepared to counterattack.

However, before Orochi could make its move, Dragon King opened its chest to reveal Drive Knight and Demon Cyborg's energy cores.

"COMBO-CORE ULTRA HELIX INCINERATION CANNON!"

As the next massive ray of energy flew out from Dragon King, Orochi stopped in place. As fast as the Monster King could, it opened every mouth on its body and shot back its own vortex of lasers.

While Orochi was held in place by the beam clash, Blizzard told Tanktop Master, "It stopped moving! Do it now!"

"OAAAH!"

Utilizing the full strength of his outstanding muscles, Tanktop Master lifted and threw the remains of a six-story office building straight at the Monster King.

But even as it seemed that Orochi was completely preoccupied, the Monster King thought, Do the morsels really believe that a bigger projectile will help?

Suddenly, one of the glowing orbs within the darkness that was Orochi's face slinked out, connected to a thick, scaly tendril. Then, the orb's luminosity magnified before releasing a massive wave of energy. Once the charge of power had been spent, though, the eye Orochi used and the tendril it was attached to slumped down the side of the Monster King's face.

That attack should have been capable of leveling a whole city... Damn that bald son of a bitch! Orochi lamented as the Monster King watched what it considered to be pitiful results.

The energy wave was enough to push Dragon King back, disrupting the beam struggle by dissipating both attacks. In addition, the wave should have atomized the building. However, it seemed as if an invisible umbrella shielded the structure instead.

Before anyone could question if Tornado was pushing herself even further, Atomic Samurai leaped from the building's roof after he had cut it to pieces. Instead of the esper witch, it had been the master swordsman who had redirected the energy wave by using an uncountable number of sword swings in under a second.

Following directly behind Atomic Samurai, Puri-Puri Prisoner and Super Alloy Darkshine jumped from the building as well.

"The victory is ours," Dragon King stated as Genos' face smirked.

The first to attack was Atomic Samurai, as he somehow combined thousands of slashes into a single arch of blades.

"Atomic Beeline Slash!"

However, as Atomic Samurai's blade came down, Orochi's arachnid legs suddenly snaked up and intercepted it. The Monster King's legs seemed to be bladed as well, but when they went to counter Atomic Samurai, nearly all of them were cut cleanly through. However, once Atomic Samurai's blade was halfway through Orochi's final leg, the samurai's attack had lost its momentum and was, at least for a moment, stuck in the Monster King's limb.

Taking advantage of the brief moment that Atomic Samurai was stuck in place, Orochi lashed out with a flurry of its maws to consume him.

Coming in at the last moment, though, Puri-Puri Prisoner unleashed a flurry of rapid strikes as he exclaimed, "Vibrating Dark Angel Rush!"

Surprisingly, each of the Prisoner's attacks was delivered with enough force to smash apart each of Orochi's heads that had gotten near Atomic. However, the Monster King was quick to counterattack, combining a number of its appendages into fists that moved with the precision, speed, and skill of an expert martial artist.

As King Orochi and Puri-Puri Prisoner's fists clashed, several of the Monster King's hands stuck to Prisoner's arms. Before Puri-Puri could remove them, he was violently pulled toward Orochi as it opened a massive, tooth-filled jaw in its torso to cut apart and swallow the S-Class.

Fortunately, a last-second save came just in time once more. As just before Puri-Puri could be pulled into certain doom, Dragon King flew through and severed all of Orochi's extended limbs with his sword, freeing Atomic Samurai and the Prisoner.

"RRRAAAAAAARRGH!"

As Orochi recoiled with rage and pain from the cyborgs interrupting its meal again, Superalloy Darkshine appeared from behind Dragon King as the fused cyborgs flew up.

Throwing out a kick into Orochi's torso with the force of a giant from ancient legends, Superalloy Darkshine exclaimed, "Superalloy Missile!"

The overwhelming physical and kinetic force of this kick was so great that Orochi didn't even have a chance to grip onto the S-Class Hero's flesh before it was sent crashing toward the Earth at sound-breaking speeds.

No no no no! Dammit! If I still had my full power, if I had never met that ridiculous-looking bastard, if that bitch hadn't taken control, I'd still have my full strength! I would kill them all in seconds! This isn't fair! Not after everything I've suffered through to reach this point!

While Orochi wailed internally, its tantrum distracted it from the two elderly masters of martial arts that had leaped to intercept the falling creature.

Positioning themselves on opposite sides of the Monster King, Bang and Bomb readied their respective techniques.

Unleashing a flurry of Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist combined with Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist, Bang and Bomb declared, "Cross Fang Dragon Slayer Fist!"

In an instant, Orochi's already heavily damaged body was smashed and cut down even more, before plopping lifelessly to the ground.

"That was amazing!" Shunshi's voice cheered out from where he and the other Heroes had stayed behind.

"Yes! We did it!" Blizzard cheered as well.

Not yet.

As Blizzard recoiled from her sister's psychic message, she looked into the sky and saw Tornado's psychic glow increase by magnitudes.

Once again, everyone felt the ground beneath them start to violently rumble.

As almost everyone lost their balance, the Heroes watched as everything that was left of the Monster Association base was ripped from the Earth. This left behind a seemingly bottomless pit as the structure was pulled into the air above the Tornado Of Terror.

She then forcefully twisted and molded the city-sized debris into a lance-like construct. Once she pointed down at the remnants of Orochi's body, Tornado began infusing the mass of rubble with her psychic energy, causing the whole thing to radiate an intense green light.

Watching her sister work, Blizzard involuntarily blurted out, "A spear of light..."

While the remnants of Orochi stared up at this light spear as it illuminated the moon, Tornado smiled and said, "See ya."

Then, as the colossal light lance began rotating like a drill, it crashed into the ground with the force of a nuclear blast. But that wasn't the end. Once it made contact with the Earth again, Tornado's light spear drilled miles into the crust, tearing apart every atom in Orochi's body as it went.


At the same time as Orochi was being demolished, Child Emperor, Zombieman, Sweet Mask, Monster Mask, and a bound and gagged Psykos watched in awe at Tornado's work.

How... How the fuck does she still have that much power left in reserve?! Psykos lamented.

"Is that really Tornado's work?" Sweet Mask asked.

"Incredible..." Zombieman remarked.

"No kidding, but did you guys see Silver Fang-Sensei's awesome moves...?! Eh, regardless, I'm almost glad my Kie's not working right now or else I'd be having serious muscle aches."

As Shunshi said this, he also thought, I really gotta figure out a way to deal with that.

While Child Emperor trembled at what he saw, Sweet Mask went on, "She must be trying to ensure that they're finished. Phew. Looks like this is finally over."

Frowning, Shunshi lamented, My work's not quite done. I still need to see if Garou's alive somewhere in all this rubble for his nephew's sake.

Tightening his grip on some loose rocks, Child Emperor suddenly said, "You were right, Monster Mask. It's my fault we struggled so much."

"What?" Shunshi asked while snapping back to reality.

"Hm?" Zombieman added.

"Silver Fang and Demon Cyborg are valuable allies, but I left them off the team because of my paranoia. I didn't even want to bring you along, Monster Mask, but if it wasn't for you, we couldn't have weakened the Monster Association boss enough to beat him."

Scratching his cheek, Shunshi remarked, "I think you're overselling me. I'm sure you guys could've won without me. You're the S-Class, after all. I mean, I couldn't even help out with this attack."

"You don't know that!" Child Emperor snapped with anxiety before turning to face Zombieman. "Mr. Zombieman! Would you please act as the leader in my place? You're much more thoughtful and a better judge of character! I always thought you were more suited for the position!"

With sympathy in his eyes, Zombieman replied, "Emperor..."

However, Sweet Mask, while keeping his eyes on the light spear, cut into the discussion before an answer could be given, "Life's not that sweet. Do you really think a pseudo-monster could lead a team of Heroes? No. Our leader would have to be an ideal Human."

As Child Emperor shot Sweet Mask a hateful glare, Shunshi clenched a fist, took a breath, and spat back, "You know, Sweet Mask. Someone as cold and ruthless as you shouldn't go around calling other people monsters. Glass houses, stones, and all that."

Snapping his head around to glare at Monster Mask, Sweet Mask exclaimed, "And someone who spares evil so readily shouldn't be letting his mouth run! The only reason that evil harlot over there is still alive is because of your insistence I don't kill her! I can't believe the higher-ups want a disappointment like you in the S-Class!"

"I already told you, she's still Human, so we can't just kill her! And she must know a lot about monsters too! We need to at least interrogate her later!"

Cutting back in, Child Emperor shouted, "Quiet, Sweet Mask! Mr. Zombieman isn't a monster!"

Putting a hand on Child Emperor's shoulder, Zombieman told him, "Hey. It's alright. I don't think I should be leader either. Heck, there are a lot more amazing mediators on the team than I think you realize. You should be asking them instead of me."

"Huh?" Child Emperor asked.

Crouching down to Child Emperor's eye level while ruffling the boy's hair, Zombieman smiled and told him, "For now, you've made a huge step in the right direction. Simply acknowledging that you need to improve your judge of character is a great sign of growth as a leader. Making an effort to understand others is the most important part, after all. I mean, we're all Human in the end, right?"

Zombieman's words seemingly calmed the atmosphere of the whole conversation as Sweet Mask turned away with a sigh, and Monster Mask scratched his scalp in embarrassment.

Just as Shunshi felt that he should apologize for how he'd spoken to A-Class' number 1, he, Sweet Mask, and Zombieman noticed orbs of light flying at them from a distance. However, at the speed they were moving, the orbs would reach them in seconds.

As Shunshi tried and failed to create Light Balls to counter these orbs, and Sweet Mask leaped away, Zombieman threw Child Emperor as far as he could while shouting, "Look out!"

To Monster and Sweet Mask's surprise, all the orbs avoided them and went directly for Zombieman. Once they made contact, they blew his body in half down to the waistline, causing his organs to spill out on the ground.

In addition, the explosion managed to send Shunshi flying in the opposite direction of Sweet Mask. Fortunately, he was able to land by his own power. Unfortunately, the blast also knocked Psykos away, not that anyone noticed at the moment.

"Zombieman!" Child Emperor, Sweet Mask, and Monster Mask shouted in unison.

Stepping out from a cloud of smoke in the distance while the three Heroes got their bearing, Homeless Emperor asked with a grin, "What part of you is Human exactly?"

As Zombieman began squirting fountains of blood, Homeless Emperor conjured more of his orbs and remarked smugly, "Hmph. It seems that Orochi and Gyoro Gyoro were done in. As I expected, neither one was capable of expanding their minds to the bigger picture. The Heavens ally only with the chosen. Those such as I."

Pouncing through the smoke Homeless Emperor's attack had made, Sweet Mask reached to tear off the Cadre's head while seething, "Don't act so smug, evil-doer!"

Just as Sweet Mask was a few feet from Homeless Emperor, a black mass of arms covered in white faces erupted from the ground and grabbed tightly to the A-Class idol.

Once it had a hold of him, Black Sperm's voice came from the faces, "I guess the cliché is true about bullies spitting out things they wouldn't want to hear said to them. Isn't that right, pretty boy Hero that got ahead of himself?"

The next instant, the face of a huge and hideous man dressed in a school uniform erupted from the ground in front of Sweet Mask and shouted, "Boo!"

Immediately, Sweet Mask's composure was gone as he let out a wailing shriek at the sight of Fuerher Ugly, the Cadre that had confronted and beaten him bloody during the raid.

Realizing the immediate danger that Sweet Mask was in, Monster Mask made an attempt at leaping to his side. However, the moment he put too much strain on his left leg, he felt as if almost every muscle in it had torn. The effects of mixing his Kie with Psykos' psychic energy still hadn't worn off.

Ah shit! For fuck's sake, body, cooperate!

"Completely helpless after just a little jumpscare. What a worthless piece of trash," Fuerher Ugly sneered with a voice as unpleasant to listen to as its face was to look at.

"AAHH! DON'T GET ANY CLOSER!" Sweet Mask screamed in absolute horror.

As veins popped all over its face, Fuerher Ugly told the captured Hero, "Quit squealing." Then, without a moment's hesitation, the Cadre through a punch into Sweet Mask's face that was so strong that it caved in everything above his jawline.

With perverse delight overcoming its horrid visage, Fuerher Ugly exclaimed, "Gyahaha! What an ugly face!"

"Looks painful. But that's what being obsessed with external beauty gets you," Homeless Emperor remarked.

Without a word, Black Sperm handed Sweet Mask's body over to Fuerher Ugly, allowing Ugly to shake the corpse around by its leg.

"You're like a scarecrow with these stupid long legs. How 'bout I make 'em longer for ya? Ragh!" Grabbing hold of both legs, Fuerher Ugly horrified Shunshi and Child Emperor as it split Sweet Mask's body from the groin to his stomach.

Unable to hold back his disgust and hatred, Shunshi shouted, "NOOOO!"

Seemingly ignoring Monster Mask, the hideous Cadre tossed the corpse aside and proclaimed, "I can't get enough of this! Beating this pompous pretty boy piece of shit to a pulp is like Heaven! Hey, from here on, let's make this an all-out free-for-all! The one with the most S-Class kills gets to be the new leader!"

"Oh, I like the sound of that." "Do you really think you can beat us in that sort of challenge?" Two of the Black Sperms asked.

Knowing he could potentially heal, Child Emperor rushed to Zombieman and began dragging him away while making a communication to the other S-Class, "This is Child Emperor. Multiple enemy Cadres have emerged from underground. Please be on guard. I repeat-."

Before he could finish that sentence, the three Cadres turned in the direction that the youthful voice was coming from.

Recognizing what these monsters were going to do, Shunshi forced himself back to his feet and started jogging, his top speed at the moment, as he yelled, "Hey, you bastards! You freaks want a fight?! Get over here!"

As Monster Mask made his challenge, though, several copies of Black Sperm jumped and grabbed him by his arms and neck, with one telling him, "And miss out on killing a kid in front of you? Not a chance, ya weak loser. Even if he is an S-Class Hero, this is too good to pass up, moron. We'll get to you afterward."

In his half-dead state, Zombieman was about to tell Child Emperor to run but couldn't before the foot of Fuehrer Ugly came crashing down to crush what remained of his torso.

"MR. ZOMBIEMAN! NO!"

Leaning down to put his massive face in front of Child Emperor as the boy recoiled with fear, Fuerher Ugly asked, "So you're Child Emperor, huh? Must be nice being a spoiled little brat with smarts and a future... But I can get so strong that you'll grovel at my feet! From here on out, you can call me the monster king. I'll show you a whole different form of terror from Gyoro Gyoro's psychic power. It's a combat art that pulls out the greatest amounts of terror and agony with my boundless cruelty created from my inferiority complex. I call it... the Extreme Terror Fist!"

However, just as Fuerher Ugly pulled back for a punch, it stopped when it heard Homeless Emperor call out, "Get outta the way, Ugly!"

Turning around, the Fuerher say as Homeless Emperor instantly formed a huge energy orb over his head. The orb was at least the same size as one of Monster Mask's Miniature White Suns, and yet it still had numerous other orbs orbiting around it.

Realizing what its fellow Cadre was doing, Fuerher Ugly jumped away just in time to avoid the orb of light as came crashing into Child Emperor, disintegrating the boy on the spot. The orb then traveled out of sight, carving a large crevice into the ground as it skated along the surface.

"The Hell are you doin'?! Trying to pick a fight with me?!" Fuerher Ugly yelled as it got back up.

"I thought this was a contest of survival of the fittest. I'm simply following God's path of natural selection," Homeless Emperor said in return.

As the Cadres bickered, the Black Sperms that were holding Shunshi down laughed at and mocked him while all the hope seemed to drain out of his face.

"Hahaha! That's what we love to see! Such despair! Such hopelessness! Such...! Huh? Wait a second."

Once the Black Sperms took a closer look at Monster Mask's face, they realized that it wasn't just hope that was gone. All of his emotions had seemingly been washed away. It was because of this oddity that the Black Sperms failed to immediately notice when Monster Mask's body began heating up.

As he felt his mind go blank with rage, a sudden realization hit Shunshi, Oh. I get it now... I need to actually be there to see it happen. That's how I can get angry enough for Spirit Rage to work.

Suddenly, the Black Sperms that had been holding Shunshi down let out brief but powerful screams of agony as they were completely engulfed by a pillar of flames. At the same time, Shunshi's long hair began to flail wildly as his ends turned white.

Standing up on his now healed leg as the three Cadres glanced at him with intrigue, Monster Mask reined in his power to use Fist Of The Impenetrable Fire Spirit. Despite the agony this technique put him in while Spirit Rage was on, Monster Mask knew he'd need this move to stand a chance.

Wait... no. If I really want to slaughter them, then this isn't enough either.

While Monster Mask had his epiphany, Fuerher Ugly exclaimed, "The fuck was that?! Ha! Just some one-time cheap trick to try and scare us?! I don't know who this puke is, but guys who try to look so cool really piss me off!"

Although Fuerher Ugly misunderstood the situation, the main Black Sperm understood things a bit better.

No... There's more to it than that. What the Hell is going on here?! First, Homeless Emperor starts hurling around levels of power I didn't know about without using up any stamina, and now this no-name comes out of nowhere with crazy new powers?!

Fuerher Ugly then took a running step toward Shunshi, eager to flatten him and rip apart whatever remained. But the moment the monster moved, Monster Mask let out a breath of steam from his lungs.

In less than a heartbeat, Monster Mask rushed forward to meet Fuerher Ugly head-on. The Cadre's Dragon-Level reflexes allowed it to see Monster Mask for the most part, although he was a bit blurred.

A few copies of Black Sperm had been in Monster Mask's path as he ran, but the moment he made even the slightest brush against one of them, they were blown to smithereens.

Trying to fight back, Fuerher Ugly readied a punch as it called out, "Body Shattering Punch!"

Before the Cadre could finish its attack, though, Monster Mask leaped at it, appearing like a dart of light as he clawed into the Cadre's chest. Shunshi's martial art then cut into Fuerher Ugly's torso and blasted apart its shirt as it went flying out of sight from its supposed allies.

"First you, then the bum, then the freak with the white face!" Monster Mask roared as he pounced after Fuerher Ugly, leaving Black Sperm and Homeless Emperor in the dust.

Catching up to his target in no time, Monster Mask crossed his arms as he materialized several Burn Whips on his shoulders and shouted, "Cross Burn Dragon Shredder Fist!"

First, his Burn Whips reached out, one wrapping around Fuerher Ugly's oversized neck while the others lashed and pummeled the restrained Cadre. And when Fuerher Ugly began throwing out desperate punches and flailing kicks to try and fight back, Monster Mask's actual body reached the monster, jumping up to its fat face.

While Monster Mask let out a flurry of precise yet explosive claw strikes, Fuerher Ugly was only kept from being knocked away once more by the Burn Whip around its neck.

"GET OFF ME! BODY SPLATTING CLAP!" Fuerher Ugly managed to scream out through the burns, lacerations, and explosions in its face. However, when the Cadre tried to slam its palms together to crush Monster Mask, it was a fraction too late.

With Abandonment and Spirit Rage bolstering his speed and reflexes, Monster Mask saw through Fuerher Ugly's attack before it'd even made it. As a counter, Monster Mask shot out his finishing move even faster than Fuerher Ugly could use its own.

Digging his fingers into the arch of Fuerher Ugly's nose, Monster Mask pulled as hard as he could while forcing his Kie into the monster's skull. In an instant, Fuerher Ugly felt as its head was lit aflame, blown apart, and torn in half. And right after, the rest of its body followed suit, splitting the Cadre right down the middle.

"YOU LIKE HOW THAT FEELS, YOU BASTARD!? YOU LIKE BEING RIPPED APA-?!" Shunshi started to roar. Unfortunately, by then, his heart finished a beat.

All at once, Shunshi felt his Spirit Rage fade away as his lungs crumpled in on themselves, and his heart felt like it was trapped in an inferno but not one of his own making.

Crumbling to the ground, Shunshi wailed internally, No! It wasn't this short before! I needed more time! I still have to kill the others!

However, even as the young Hero spasmed in agony, he still had enough sense about him to feel it when the Earth started shaking once again.

What? What's happening n...? What is Tornado doing now?


Simultaneously, while Shunshi's body turned against him, Homeless Emperor and Black Sperm were looking in the direction Fuerher Ugly had been dragged off in.

"Think we should go lend a hand?" Homeless Emperor asked halfheartedly.

Backed up by a cacophony of chortles, one of the Black Sperms retorted, "Are you kidding us? It was his idea to claim S-Class heads for leadership. If he can't handle some flashy rando, then there's no use for him."

"That's fair. Well, while he's dealing with that, let's go get the killing starte-. What the?!" Before Homeless Emperor could finish its sentence, it felt the ground shake violently.

Just as Black Sperm was going to ask if this was the Tornado Of Terror's doing, or if more monsters were clawing their way to freedom, it saw something in the distance.


In an eruption of debris and stone, everyone on the battlefield saw as what looked like a gray sun came erupting out from the ground. To the more perceptive combatants, they saw a glowing figure come flying out of the hole made by the gray sun as it flew off into the heavens.

Finally, if any of the monsters and Heroes present had telescopic vision, they would have been able to see Garou. As he rose from the Earth, it was evident that the Hero Hunter's form had changed yet again. He had two additional flesh wings on his back, was covered in gray Kie, and had a scarf around his neck as a gray halo shined behind his back.

As he used his wings to levitate, Garou took in a deep breath of non-submerged air before he looked over the battlefield and stated, "Alright. Time to get back to hunting "


Hello, everyone. Batty1377 here. Sorry for how long this chapter took to write. Unfortunately, a number of factors slowed me down. Aside from just writer's block, I started publishing two new fanfics, I've been working on writing my own original novels, and I went through to edit this whole story to improve its overall quality as well as change all the thought quotes into italics for ease of reading.

Those familiar with the manga will know that I am getting closer to catching up with it. Unless my future chapters take a similar length of time for me to write, the next chapter or two will be the last ones until the manga finishes the Monster Association/Hero Hunter saga.

If I do end up catching up with the manga completely, would you guys be alright with me switching over to the original webcomic's continuity for future chapters? As much as can work between the two continuities anyways.

Until next time, thank you all for reading, and I want you all to know that hearing your thoughts and opinions on this story, whether negative or positive, is what helps to keep me going more than anything else. I appreciate you all so very much.