IMPORTANT! I no longer have a Beta Reader, so if there are any mistakes in the chapter, feel free to point them out!

Z-City, neighborhood around Saitama's home.

The day had finally come.

After several years of waiting, it was time to challenge the strongest hero in the world, and find out whether he was actually able to measure up to my expectations… or my hopes, rather.

As I walked towards Saitama's home, I clenched my fists, old instincts rising up at the thought of a hard battle before me.

Using weapons in this fight was pointless, as no weapon could hope to survive Saitama's punches. Maybe if I connected said weapon directly to my soul, and even then, I doubted it.

Too much risk that Saitama's bullshit would out-bullshit my own.

That forced me to push back some of my plans for creating a weapon, but to be fair, I was planning on waiting some more before doing that.

At least until I reached the center of all things. The secrets that would open themselves to me then might be of immense use, in the worst case scenario where I had to fight off the Eldritch Pantheon.

Still, I was far from helpless. I had my fists, and my powers. That would have to be enough. If nothing else, all my training in martial arts lately really put me in the right mindset for a CQC fight like the one coming up.

I glanced around. Like in canon, this part of the city was abandoned, with nearly no one living there… well, except for Saitama himself.

The most human traffic seen around here were actually very subtle trustworthy teams that Agoni sent to regularly check on Saitama and his growth in power.

And with his first encounter with Genos coming up soon, I was as certain as I could be that he was ready for a fight against me as I could get without cheating through Omniscience… Something I had already decided not to do.

Not in this case.

I went up the stairs of the building, a strong feeling of anticipation coursing through me.

After all this time waiting, it was finally time to test Humanity's strongest hero.

Would divinity prove itself greater than Man?

Or would Man, once again, triumph over Divinity?

I stopped before Saitama's door, staring at it for a moment, before turning back and looking out at the city and world beyond it.

I stared at the bright, brilliant sun in the sky. Normally I did this at nighttime, but oh well.

I gently took out the flower which, to this day, remained strong and healthy in my Inventory, taking a long moment to take in its scent, before raising it to the heavens above.

"Watch over me, my love. This fight means so much to me." I muttered.

A familiar mixed scent of warm blood and flowers filled my nose, and I closed my eyes, a smile upon my lips, as I felt warm arms hug me from behind, Oedon's presence surrounding me with loving warmth and encouragement.

For a moment, I lingered like this, taking strength from her presence and support, before I took a deep breath and opened my eyes, shining brightly with the might of the Cosmos.

I put the flower back in my Inventory, my expression hardening into one eerily resembling those I had in Yharnam.

There would be no plan B, here, considering the plan was to keep escalating until either Saitama or me fell first.

I wasn't going to go all-out from the start, I wanted to take things slow, and give Saitama a chance to grow stronger as we fought. This was about potential, after all, whether Human potential or divine one.

No, I did not seek a quick victory, instead I sought out to reach the limits of what both I and Saitama could do when pushed to the brink.

I turned and knocked at the door, hearing the man inside pause, then begin to walk towards the door.

And when it opened, I finally saw him face-to-face, Saitama, the One Punch Man himself.

"Yes? Can I help you with something?" he asked, looking at me with visible confusion, which only grew when he saw my eyes… my very inhuman eyes.

I smiled. "Perhaps. My name is Aeon, the Good Hunter- I'm one of the Gods who watch over Humanity, you might have heard of us?"

He blinked. "Wait, really?" He opened the door a bit more, looking me up and down. "Huh. Well, nice to meet you, I guess?" he paused, then frowned. "Wait, if you are here to start preaching-"

"Not at all." I interrupted him. "I'm actually here to ask you for a spar, Saitama."

He blinked in shock. "Wait, seriously? Why?"

I chuckled. "Well, as far as I know you are the strongest man in the world, and I'm the strongest god. Isn't it normal to be curious about who is stronger between us? And besides…"

My grin turned mischievous. "How long has it been since you last had a good fight?"

Saitama stiffened, and I kept going, knowing that I had him. "You're too strong, right? No one and nothing can challenge you, can even come close to you. No monsters or man can even begin to equal you. But, here's the thing… I'm neither a monster or a human. I'm a god."

Saitama stared at me for a long moment, before he spoke again, a measure of dawning understanding and sympathy on his face… along with just the slightest hint of eagerness.

"You're too strong too, huh?" he muttered, his expression sharpening slightly.

"Perhaps. Care to find out which one of us is too strong for the other?" I challenged, smirking, and extending my right hand towards him. "Try and squeeze, and let's see if we both got what it takes to try and challenge each other."

Saitama stared at me for a moment, his expression flickering with a storm of emotions, but the strongest one was clear: Hope.

Slowly, almost fearfully, he reached out and took my hand, his emotions flickering with the kind of feelings one can expect of someone bracing himself for disappointment… and yet daring to hope just a bit.

And then he squeezed.

Surprisingly gently at first, then harder and harder as I still showed no signs of reacting.

His eyes widened, his emotions growing ever more chaotic as hope warred with fear of disappointment, before he paused, gave me a long look…

And then he squeezed.

I didn't even blink, even when enough pressure to shatter an entire continent of this world fell upon my hand.

"Well, that's promising. My turn?" I questioned with a smirk, Saitama staring at me with open shock, before a wide grin spread on his face, his expression sharpening completely and a hint of fire appearing in his eyes.

"Give me your best." he challenged eagerly.

I smirked. "I'd rather not, I prefer this universe not obliterated. But…"

I squeezed.

His eyes widened, not from pain, but at the fact he felt more pressure now than in a long, long time.

"Hmm… Even planet buster strength doesn't make you flinch, huh?" I mused with a smirk. "Well then…"

I pulled my hand back, a flicker of disappointment going through Saitama, before I opened a portal next to us.

"Here. This will lead us to a lifeless universe where we can fight all-out without fear of harming anyone or anything important." I declared.

I turned, walking through the portal before looking back at Saitama. "Unless you don't think you're strong enough?" I challenged with a smug smirk.

Saitama immediately smirked back, the hint of fire in his eyes turning into a bright ember.

"You're on."

My smirk widened, before I looked at his clothes. "You might want to change into something good for a fight, though."

Saitama blinked, looked down at his "Oppai" hoodie, and nodded.

"Give me a second."

In a literal blink of an eye he disappeared back inside his home and returned exactly where he was, casually adjusting one of his red gloves from his hero outfit before smashing his fists together with a bright grin. "Alright, let's go."

"Let's." I agreed, eyes shining bright with power enough to annihilate universes.

-

We both stood on the ground of a sand-covered world, bright suns shining in the sky upon the two of us currently facing each other.

Our expressions were hard and focused, both of us having it clear by now that the other was at least strong enough to make us work for it a little if we wanted to win.

"I've never fought a god before." admitted Saitama, visible eagerness in his eyes. "I have to admit, I don't know much about this whole religion of yours, I was never interested in that kind of thing, but if you're strong enough to give me a good fight, maybe you are the real deal."

"Only one way to find out, right?" I replied with a smirk, one swiftly returned.

"Agreed."

For a moment, neither of us moved… and then we charged, right fists flying forth and meeting in the middle-

*KA-BOOOOOOOM!*

-and then both of us flew back at supersonic speed, a giant mushroom cloud spreading from where our fists met from the sheer shockwave of the explosion.

Despite that, our eyes never left each other, and less than a blink later we charged again, fists clashing in thunderous explosions across the landscape.

The entire area turned riddled with gigantic craters as we fought, though so far it was more of a warm-up than anything else.

Just the two of us clashing fist against fist, our eyes remaining fixed on each other, searching for the slightest hint of pain or hesitation-

And finding none.

We smirked at the same time, silently agreeing that we should escalate.

We both hit the ground, uncaring of the dust and wind kicked up by our fight spreading across the entire local continent, our right fist cocked back-

"Serious Series: Serious Punch!" Saitama shouted, expression hardening.

-and then we flew forward, my smirk firmly in place as we came closer and closer-

And then our fists met.

An explosion of force rippled in slow motion to my eyes, born from two unstoppable forces meeting each other, but this time, neither of us flew back.

Instead our feet dug into the ground which instantly cratered, our arms remaining extended as an explosion stronger than countless nukes washed over us and spread across this world, obliterating a good chunk of the surface.

And still, we both sought the same thing in each other: a moment of weakness, the slightest tremble of our opponent's limb, the smallest hint of exertion showing.

There was none to be found in either of us.

Our eyes met, and the message was clear.

More. We needed more power!

*KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

Our fists flew once more, each of them capable of obliterating a good chunk of a planet, and only growing stronger the more we threw at each other. The planet beneath our feet shuddered, trembled, and cracked, and still we kept going.

The atmosphere of the planet outright ceased to exist, the stars above shining bright in all their glory upon us both, and still we fought.

Volcanoes erupted from the shattering of the planet, explosions and lava flying everywhere, but we didn't care, didn't even slow down, both of us not even blinking as the lava fell upon our bodies to do absolutely nothing to either of us.

Finally I jumped back, coaching my right fist for an obvious strong punch, and Saitama grinned widely as he did the same.

We moved, a shockwave beginning just to explode around each of us at the sudden movements before our fists met, and an even stronger shockwave bloomed into existence…

And that's when the planet broke.

Shattering and then exploding into a massive fireball, a wave of heat washed us over as the core of the planet finally reached a critical point, its content spewing forth into space.

Neither of us slowed even slightly. We kept moving, jumping from broken fragments of the planet to broken fragments, moving through waves of heat stronger than anything normally found upon a world like the fire and lava wasn't even there.

Somehow, Saitama's jumpsuit didn't burn into a crisp instantly. That honestly was the most shocking part of all of this.

Moving faster and faster, blazing a literal trail of light through the flying debris of the broken planet, creating to the human eye a maze of pure light visible from other worlds, we kept clashing, over and over again, our speed and strength growing more and more as we saw that the other side still didn't even flinch or blink at the escalating amount of power thrown around.

Finally, I decided to properly escalate, cocking an obvious punch back once more, Saitama's lips spreading into a manic grin at the sight as he did the same.

"Killer moves, serious series: Consecutive serious punches!"

Our fists impacted each other, an explosion echoing among the stars as the entire solar system we were in disintegrated into cosmic dust instantly.

And then we threw a second similar punch less than a blink of an eye later.

And then again.

And then again, and again, and again. Each of them growing in power as we called upon more and more power, the very stars around us becoming nothing more than leaves in the wind as explosions more and more resembling full-blown supernovae bloomed among the dark void of space.

And still, our arms did not tremble. Our gazes did not waver. Our determination did not shake.

The Space-Time Continuum around us began to shudder under the weight of our power, a part of the local galaxy shining with the brilliant lights of the explosions born from our clashes, and still we kept going, kept fighting, using more and more speed and power to keep trying to overpower each other.

After yet another punch, we both fell back slightly, staring at each other with equal manic grins on our faces, before we visibly decided to keep escalating some more.

"Killer moves, strong series: Strong punch!"

Our fists hit.

And a good chunk of the universe trembled as entire galaxies Superclusters ceased to exist instantly.

We flew back, moving at speed so high above the speed of light that light itself seemed all but frozen, before I charged right back against Saitama, who did the same by kicking the atoms making up reality underneath him hard and fast enough to somehow use them as a platform to run on.

This time, I wasn't interested in using just my fists. As we came closer to each other, I bent time and Space to send the shockwaves of his next punch away from me, while focusing mine straight upon him.

Saitama flew back, a look of surprise at the weirdness of our latest exchange clear on his face.

I teleported straight to him, and punched him hard enough to send him flying across the universe, before we both punched each other at the same time, though this time I used the powers of Ex Nihilo to entirely disintegrate the energy of his punch once it left his fist, effectively negating his strength entirely.

Once again Saitama flew backwards, or would have if I hadn't caught him and began punching him repeatedly, using my Divine Authority of Negation and Destruction to repeatedly erase the velocity of his body, ensuring he was effectively stuck unmoving, as each time he tried to move I conceptually killed the very concept of movements from around him.

I could see the confusion and frustration build up inside of him, but at this point I had decided to stop holding back as much. At the rate we were going, he was going to send universe-buster punches sooner rather than later.

So I kept going, punching and freezing him in place, infusing the concepts associated with Ex Nihilo into my fists to ensure that every hit would begin to eat away at his very existence-

And then Saitama twitched.

My eyes widened, and I decided to call upon another Divine Authority, Supreme Logos, to begin to turn back time on Saitama's body, trying to weaken him back forcibly turning him back to his older human body, his hair visibly growing back, the hero blinking and staring at himself for a moment-

"Aha! It's just like Tetris, I just have to go fast enough!"

I blinked. What the hell was he-

Saitama moved.

Somehow, from one moment to the next, the man moved so fast that he utterly shattered the entire universe' Space-Time continuum, outrunning Time itself, before punching me in the face.

Hard enough to create a new Big Bang on the spot.

Concepts like up and down, left and right ceased to exist at this point, but I still did the equivalent of flying back, blinking in shock at what just happened.

The universe-buster punch wasn't even the most shocking, it was the fact that Saitama quite literally turned himself back to his proper age byrunning hard enough.

What the hell?!

My eyes narrowed, as we both "stood" in the realm beyond universes, the great Void harming neither of us. Me because of Ex Nihilo granting me Dominion over the realm anyway, and him…

I had no idea. A part of me wanted to finally stop holding back my Insight and learn what exactly Saitama did to himself to grow this strong, but no.

Not yet!

I wanted to keep finding out what his limits were the hard way for now!

Come on, Saitama! Show me how long you can keep going, now that I could finally stop playing around at below universe level!

I grinned madly, and called upon all of my skill in CQC, unleashing a barrage of punches containing conceptual weights infused into them. Destruction to try and break the bounds between the atoms making up his body, Death to outright strike at his lifeforce, the Void to try and annihilate the very matter making up his body, and more.

I was only half-surprised when his suit was the only thing that seemed to actually take any damage from my punches. I could tell he definitely felt my blows, but he didn't seem to actually feel pain… certainly not to the point he would show it.

I raised my right hand, calling upon Verse Weaver, creating the energy of a dozen Big Bang instantly and forming them into spears, before sending them "flying" at Saitama.

The Hero, grinning maniacally by this point out of sheer glee, punched the spears into clouds of energy before jumping at me, fist raised.

"Fine then." I growled, a smirk upon my own lips. "You want it, you'll have it."

My form glowed, before it changed.

For the first time, I called not upon my mortal form, not on my lesser incarnation of divinity, but upon my full Divine Avatar.

Creation quivered violently, the Void itself shuddering under the weight of the presence suddenly gathering within it, the hero before me actually falling back with wide eyes as he stared at my new form, but I felt no fear within him.

If anything, I felt only the kind of glee that comes from someone having the time of his life… suddenly finding out it can still get better.

And then he outright laughed, before charging at me with raised fists.

"Killer moves: Strong Omni-directional punches!"

Countless punches strong enough to shatter multiverses filled even my 360° vision, but I merely mentally smiled.

What were some mere multiverses compared to me?

I raised my hands- and caught every single punch without so much as a tiny flinch.

Saitama blinked in shock, but I did not let him recover.

Taking the equivalent of a deep breath, I focused.

With one hand, I called upon Infinity.

With the other, I called upon the Void.

The countless stars and Black holes within my cosmic form glowed, in light or darkness.

"My turn."

And then I punched him in the face.

Reality shattered.

Concepts stopped having meaning.

The Great Dream broke open, the Void between multiverses shattering and opening to an existence far more impossible: that which laid beyond the Great Dream of the Nuclear Chaos.

And then I gave Saitama exactly what he asked for.

I gave him my best.

First, Nous Omnibus, to once more press down upon him with the power of my mind. The combined might of a mind capable of staring at the Infinity of the entire Omniverse in the eye and not blink slammed upon him, making him freeze.

Then Verse Weaver, creating countless conceptual and memetic curses and viruses to infect body, mind and soul with. I could rewrite countless multiverses into my image at will with this, force the highest of gods into panic, terror and horror with a fraction of this power as I would rewrite their very existence from the ground up in a mere blink of an eye- if not instantly.

I added countless illusions so real that reality itself would be hard-pressed to conceptually prove itself the real deal over them, in order to further press upon his mind and drown his will into nothingness. Dreams and nightmares so real and powerful that they could kill or damn the souls of pantheons of gods were born instantly, in enough numbers that I could make countless multiverses kneel and beg for my mercy with them.

I then used Prime Megistus, using my Divine Authority over magic to further bind him. Seals so complex that lesser deities, mere omniscient gods of singular multiverse would take one look at them and throw their hands in the air in despair over the very thought of trying to understand them, much less break them, were born and synergized with one another by the quintillions.

I hesitated, then using Supreme Logos and Grand Opus I slammed down the Law and my Conceptual authority over Fate and Destiny upon him, declaring him to be defeated, bound and forced to submit. The unyielding might of the inescapable Will of one who could turn entire multiverses into nothing but puppet shows activated, declaring that the Hero before me could not defy me.

And finally, almost as an afterthought, I used Ex Nihilo to conceptually erase his power, his will, his dreams and hopes, seeking nothing else but to utterly dominate and destroy him.

I stared at the glowing cocoons of magic and Divine Authority before me, floating in a hole beyond the Great Dream and nodded once in satisfaction.

That might have been overkill, but honestly a part of me had not dared hope he would even reach the multiverse-burster level. The fact he did was damn impressive in its own right.

Few humans could claim to be able to create a Big Bang with ease, to say nothing of a punch capable of wiping out or creating an entire multiverse, but Saitama was apparently one of them.

So yes, I went all out… Well, not really, I had so much raw power left in me it wasn't funny, but at least I used my greatest Divine Authorities to-

To-

I stared.

I could feel him.

I could feel him struggling.

I could feel him fighting.

I could feel him, still putting up a fight even now.

That was…

How?!

A fraction of what I used would make multiversal deities beg for mercy, how the fuck-

I couldn't resist any longer, so I used (Insight) on him.

And then I froze.

And kept staring.

Saitama broke through Nous Omnibus, and I kept staring.

He shattered his way through the creations of Verse Weaver, and I kept staring.

He broke all of Prime Megistus' work, and I kept staring.

He challenged Supreme Logos and Grand Opus, and I kept staring.

He overcame Ex Nihilo, and I kept staring.

He came out of the glowing cocoons of Divine Authority I used against him and punched me hard enough in the face that the ensuing explosion outshone a quintillion Multiverses, and I kept staring, even as he stood within the hole I opened within the Great Dream- which shouldn't even be possible for so many reasons I would be hard-pressed to begin naming them all.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

And then I laughed.

I laughed, almost folding myself in half from laughing so hard, tears gathering in my eyes from the force of my laughter as reality shuddered under the weight of my power as I stopped holding back.

The Omniverse trembled, and I didn't care.

The Great Dream shuddered as I flexed to my fullest, and I kept laughing.

Every star in my cosmic form shone like never before, every Black Holes turned an unnatural black, and I felt Oedon herself strain to keep my power from actually interacting with and shattering other Multiverses like so many ants beneath a boot, but right here, right now, I had eyes only for Saitama.

Because I finally understood what the glorious bastard had done.

I finally understood how the hell he was fighting back like this.

I finally understood… That I had not a snowball's chance in hell of actually winning that fight.

The utter madman had, through nothing but pure, sheer willpower, turned himself into a being eerily resembling me.

A being entirely above conceptual laws.

A dreamer that no longer needed the Dream to exist.

A living concept- and that concept was that of [Saitama].

When I had ascended to Godhood, I had become more than a mere mortal.

I was still fundamentally [Aeon], but I had gained more on top of that.

I had gained Divine Names, Authorities, raw power, and more.

All of which became part of that which made up [Aeon].

But there were also specific parts of what made me "me"- my dreams, my hopes, my beliefs, and more.

And Saitama… or should I say, [Saitama], was the same.

At the core of his new existence was all that made up him: Dreams, hopes, and more, tightly intertwined with his sheer willpower.

And that was that willpower that changed him, made him more.

Saitama was not the smartest, or the wisest.

He had, however, one thing he was utterly unmatched in- well, almost unmatched.

His willpower.

His conceptually endless willpower.

Somehow, Saitama used that willpower to challenge all of Reality- and reality blinked first.

I could see what made him up. There were the fundamental parts of his existence, but on top of that was his dream of being a hero… specifically, a hero capable of defeating any opponents in one punch.

And those merged with his willpower, combined with the unique metaphysics of his home reality where those with enough will can break through their "limiters"...

The results were as such: he became [Saitama], a being who had challenged all of reality to a test of wills, and who upon winning that contest unknowingly rewrote himself such that he would be able to always, always overcome any challenges "in one punch."

He had no limits. Anything capable of challenging him would inevitably fail and be defeated sooner rather than later, because all that could be used against him, he was conceptually superior to them. Or rather, he was conceptually assured to rise above them.

Magic? As long as he had the will to fight to overcome it, he would- his concepts making up [Saitama] would ensure that.

Fate? Destiny? Even Time? He was above the laws of Reality, so what were mere fractions of its might?

A punch strong enough to shatter multiverses? What was mere energy and force to one who overcame Reality itself?

As a conceptual being backed by his willpower, the only way to harm him was to have something overpower his own willpower.

But that was the thing- his willpower was conceptually endless… or rather, conceptually near-infinite, and coming ever closer to true infinity the more he was challenged.

If most people's willpower was closer to 0 than 1, then Saitama was conceptually assured to always come closer to 1 whenever he met an actual challenge.

And that was why I couldn't defeat him… and he couldn't defeat me.

Because we were too alike.

We both were beings that would grow at near-infinite rate when presented by a challenge.

Every time we clashed, our overall power would go ever closer to "1" at the same rate, ensuring that we could never actually win against one another.

Ironically, I might have been able to win the fight if I had gone all-out from the very start. If I had not deliberately given him the time to escalate as a way to test his potential, I might have been able to overpower him… at least one time.

But I didn't, and now it was forever too late- his power level had the time it needed to reflect mine, after all.

But I didn't mind. Very, very far from it.

I was in fact utterly delighted.

For one, I now had my answer: In the end, neither Gods nor men have greater overall potential from one another. Even with what Saitama had become, he was still fundamentally human, not god.

Just… a human conceptually infinite in potential.

While I, on the other hand, was a god conceptually infinite in potential.

That meant that I no longer had to worry about the fact that I had become a being so mighty as to render mortals almost irrelevant, doomed forever to be lesser than me- the very man in front of me gave me proof that my own Ascension to such heights wasn't a one-off fluke.

I could actually focus on being a protector and guide, more than a ruler, because ultimately, as long as I did my best to ensure the continuous prosperity of mortal kind, one day, others would inevitably rise to my level, or at least close to it.

I did not need to shoulder the burden of Reality upon my sole shoulders, not when Time itself would guarantee that others would naturally rise high enough to no longer need my protection and guidance, others who might instead be able to help me bear the weight of reality as a whole.

And just as importantly, Saitama was my equal. Not just at this very instant, but forever.

And that meant that we could both grow stronger from each other.

After all, when we fight together, our similar natures ensure we would continually increase in power at near-infinite rates in order to keep up with one another.

Shounen heroes got nothing on us both- they had random power-ups, we had conceptual synergy for near-infinite growth rate in power every time we trained.

It was so utterly absurd that it was utterly glorious… and my equal was a hero.

Of all beings who could have pulled off that glorious bullshit, it had to be a hero.

Someone I could trust to always stand by my side against any evil strong enough to have even me call for help.

I laughed at my sheer luck, and then I grinned widely, meeting Saitama's eyes, full of a burning inferno that I knew could never, ever be extinguished, and then I charged with a shout of utter glee and power, a shout matched by the one Saitama gave when he charged right back at me.

Our fists met, an explosion brighter than a quintillion multiverses shone above the Omniverse, and we kept going.

More and more speed, power, and will.

Let Infinity be our guide, as we walk towards Eternity.

Both rightfully belonged to us, not by birthright, but by the simple fact that we earned this through our sheer unyielding wills.

We earned this, because where all others submitted to the laws of Reality, we alone had the strength to challenge it- and win!

And one day, I fully intended to ensure others would join us on the long road still ahead of us.

But for now, for now at least…

We could enjoy the beginning of a beautiful friendship whose strength could oppose Reality itself.

Even if that friendship began by punching each other in the face.

-

Sherry smiled as she entered the Hunter's Dream, eager to tell her parents that she would finally be able to properly visit that new world of heroes and monsters that they had reached a few years ago. Setting things up for it had taken a lot of time, but the day had finally come.

The moment she arrived however, she couldn't help but blink. The general "feeling" one had when they first entered the Dream was something she had become deeply familiar with, and it had never, ever changed during her entire life.

But this time, it had.

A part of her tensed, countless training moments with her dad flashing before her eyes and letting her know that anything suspect was worth being careful of, but the rest of her only relaxed further.

The general atmosphere of the Hunter's Dream felt even more peaceful than usual, the dream-like quality of it stronger than she had ever felt it. It called to her, radiating peace and tranquility, feeling almost like her parents gently asking her to stop and relax, letting all concerns fall away for but a moment. The Hunters' Dream was naturally peaceful, but this was so much more than usual…

Slowly, her feet took her not towards the house, but to the side, towards the great tree that had been there since always, the field in front of it often being used by her dad to train and challenge her and his Hunters to sparring sessions.

Somehow, her instincts told her that she would find both her parents there, though it confused her, as she could tell that there was no fight going on… indeed, the very thought of fighting right now felt deeply wrong, though she couldn't put her finger on why she felt that way.

She walked slowly, taking in the shining Lunar Tears along the path, the healthy trees and grass, the latter partially hidden by a slowly rolling fog, a soft music almost echoing in her ears, singing of peace and tranquility.

Reaching the open doors towards the field in front of the great tree, she slowly walked forward, before blinking at the sight that awaited her.

There, in front of the Great Tree were her mom and dad, with her dad laying on the ground, his hands folded over his belly, his head laying on the lap of the kneeling Oedon, who gently passed her fingers through his hair, humming softly to herself with a gentle, loving smile on her face.

Despite the sheer gentleness in her mom's expression, it was her dad's face that caught her gaze and left her frozen, as he was visibly sleeping, the most relaxed look she had ever seen upon his features, almost radiating peace and contentment, her eyes blinking rapidly as she felt herself grow drowsy just looking at him, as if his own sense of peace was lulling her to sleep as well.

"Mom?" she questioned, her voice coming as a whisper without even really thinking about it.

Her mom looked up, her gentle smile and soft green eyes radiating her own peace and contentment.

"Sherry. Try to not make too much noise, your father is resting."

Her green eyes looked back at her dad, a fond, happy smile upon her lips.

"It's the first time I see him like this. He never let himself relax like this before…"

Sherry blinked. "What do you mean? Dad sleeps every night."

Her mom shook her head. "His avatar does, but not his true self. He does not need sleep, and saw no point to do so when his concerns about unexpected events trumped all other considerations. Even as strong as your father is, he can't keep an eye on all of reality, and he didn't want to risk anything going wrong while he wasted time resting. But this time…"

Oedon's smile and her gentle green eyes radiated joy as she kept gently passing her fingers through her dad's short hair.

"This time, your father let go. Even if for just the once, all of him is resting right now. Every part of him."

Sherry opened her mouth, closed it, and then spoke up. "Why? Why now?"

Her mom looked up, a delighted grin on her face.

"Because your dad finally found someone he could trust to share the burden of watching over reality alongside him. He found a hero even your father could believe in."

Sherry gaped at her for a moment. "But… What about you?"

Her mom shook her head with a smile. "Your dad would never just let me handle everything, he would feel it was wrong to do so. Watching over Reality, ensuring its prosperity, aiding the mortals and more… this is his Dream, his purpose, not mine. Even if I told him it would be fine, his own sense of responsibility would stop him from accepting. But in this case, he found someone with the power, will, and similar enough beliefs that he felt it was fine to let himself relax, just once, and let another willingly shoulder the weight of Reality."

She looked back at her dad, gentle smile as strong as ever. "As I said, your dad found a hero even he could believe in. Honestly, I hadn't expected this outcome… But I should've known better. Things never quite end as I expect them to when your father gets involved in anything."

She chuckled.

"A lesson I had thought I had learned far in the past, but it appeared I needed the reminder."

She looked at Sherry with an amused look. "It is not a bad thing, to have a husband capable of surprising you in new and fascinating ways."

Sherry stayed silent, merely looking at her father's sleeping form, thinking deeply over everything she had been told.

Her entire life, she had seen her father moving, working, in motion. The idea of workaholism had nothing on her dad, who always had dozens of plans and projects going at the same time, with dozens more just waiting for the others to be done before starting.

If he wasn't working to protect others, he was working to build up civilization. Always, he had more work to do. That wasn't to say he didn't have fun, or spent time with others, far from it… but her dad was never one to just… do nothing.

And yet, here he was, looking more at peace than she had ever seen, as if a great burden had been lifted off his shoulders, and he could finally stop and breathe freely for once.

Sherry looked at her mom, eyes determined.

"What happened, really? What… What let him rest?"

Her mom smiled.

And then she told her about her dad's concerns about his own power and inhumanity… and his challenge to the strongest human hero.

And the surprising end of the fight.

Of all things, both fighters didn't stop because they were getting exhausted, or wounded, or because one side overpowered the other.

The fight ended because the hero asked for a break since he was getting hungry, and her dad had laughed and agreed that a meal was a fine idea.

And that was how the greatest fight that reality might have ever seen ended, with both men laughing and loudly proclaiming that "Next time for sure, I'll win!" while eagerly stuffing their faces.

It was one of the most ridiculous things that Sherry had ever heard of.

It was also something she could totally see her dad do.

A hero strong enough for even her dad to believe in… she thought, biting her lips as she hesitated.

Then she looked at her mom.

"I originally came here to tell you both that I'm finally free to properly visit that new world that you've been focused on lately." she declared, her mom's eyes widening before smiling brightly at the news. "However, now I have a question for you, mom: do you know where that hero lives?"

Sherry smiles. "I'd like to get to know him, because anyone who can make dad react like this is definitely someone I want to know better."

Her mom blinked… before she smiled, green eyes twinkling.

"Of course, Sherry."

-

After waking up and having breakfast, Saitama sat down, taking a manga while keeping the tv on, hopeful that he might hear about a monster attack that he could go punch, as had become his habits.

And who knows, maybe that monster would be strong enough to-

To-

He froze.

The previous day flashed through his mind, specifically the visit from that guy, Aeon was it?

The god.

The god who challenged him.

The god who didn't lose in one punch.

The god who took one of his serious punches and kept going.

The god he went all-out against and who-

He stood up, letting his manga fall at his feet.

The god who fought him to a draw.

His eyes found his hero suit, and he grinned widely.

"No time for manga!"

In the blink of an eye, he was ready.

For a moment he paused, then he took a deep breath, exhaled, and smiled, his eyes burning bright with renewed passion.

"Time to get back to training!"

Finally, after so long, he felt it again burning brightly within him.

The exhilaration of a good fight.

The uncertainty of victory against a challenging opponent.

The burning desire to grow stronger, to train, to challenge himself in order to overcome impossible odds.

As he opened the door to his apartment and took in the world outside, Saitama took a long look at the city before him, exhaled, and saw the world through new eyes.

He had not been wrong. His goal of being the strongest hero had not been wrong!

There really were beings out there capable of challenging him!

Even as strong as he had been, even as strong as he now was, he still wasn't the strongest!

Even now, he could still become more!

His right hand turned into a fist, his lips pulled into a wide smirk as he looked out at the world, knowing that somewhere out there, Aeon was waiting, waiting for the day they would have their rematch.

And Saitama had no intention of being found wanting. No, next time, next time Saitama would win!

He would win-

He froze as his mind suddenly let him remember the day.

"Shit! It's friday! This is the day where the big sale is happening!"

Saitama ran back into his apartment, cursing all the while.

Training would have to wait a bit, first he needed to get to the supermarket!

-

Oedon smiled while sipping her tea, her blood-red eyes staring at the countless avatars of Aeon training themselves across equally numerous dimensional layers of the Hunter's Dream.

The fight between him and the Human hero had been thoroughly unexpected in its sheer scale, as Oedon had not used her own powers to try and look into Saitama before Aeon did, out of respect for her husband's personal interests in the man, and had thus been quite shocked by how far things had escalated to.

As it stood, she had to use more power than ever before in order to ensure the mere shockwaves of the clash of titans didn't result in spectacular consequences for all nearby multiverses, and it had pushed her to grow stronger than she had ever been in order to be able to keep up with the sheer humongous amount of raw power being thrown around in that fight.

Truly, Humanity kept on surprising her. First Aeon managed to reach realms of power greater than anything she had once thought capable of existing, and now she had seen a human, without any inhuman blood or ancestry, prove himself capable of matching her husband blow for blow.

Oh, there certainly were massive differences between them. Her husband was not constrained by the limitations of a human body, forced to fight with only brute force on his side.

But she was forced to admit that, at a certain point, enough brute-force could accomplish anything… including fighting her husband to a draw.

Though she knew that Saitama had more than brute strength on his side. Some of the abilities he had demonstrated, particularly when her dear Aeon had used his Divine Authorities in the hopes of winning the fight, had required more than mere physical abilities to overcome.

To overcome such challenges required a will strong enough to break through the various manifestations of her husband's divinity, to the point that such willpower became a form of outright reality manipulation in its own right, and while it hadn't quite been a full-on Willpower against Willpower fight, it had been a close thing.

And still, Saitama had overcome it all.

The sheer determination required to achieve such a feat as to break through every individual Divine Authorities of her husband with nothing but one's willpower would humble every Great Ones she knew of.

She smiled as she took another sip of her tea. No matter how impressive the human hero had been however, it wasn't the most important part for her. What was, was the consequences the fight had on her husband.

Her dear Aeon had never lacked in will, or determination. But Godhood and ultimate power had dulled his edge, leaving little to challenge him, to force him to show off the inner conqueror of men and gods sleeping within him.

Only the potential threat of the beings at the center of Reality had given him focus, a goal to overcome and prepare for. Even then, the lack of active conflicts had given him time to think, to question himself and feel doubt.

He might have been to hide it for the most part from others, but not from her. His place in reality, his role in it, and his future as a whole had been nebulous, lacking in the clear path forward that had been with him in Yharnam.

But now… now the dulled blade had found purpose again. Strengthened through battle, hardened by certainty, sharpened by determination.

His doubts were gone. His purpose was made clear. His future, no longer uncertain.

Heroes. Those who incarnate the potential of a species. The Great Ones of Humanity.

Great Ones did not have heroes. How could they, when they were power made manifest?

And yet, Oedon wondered if that had been a mistake. Great Ones were powerful, but she knew now that, for all their powers, they were not the greatest. Nor were they all-knowing.

There existed beings beyond them, realms of existence beyond even the Great Ones.

But none of them had ever sought them out, indeed none of them had ever sought to become more.

To want to become more, to seek Greatness was something purely human. Born from mortality, from frailty, from the desire to take what they had and make it greater.

Great Ones had no need for such desires, and yet…

Perhaps they should have. Perhaps, they too, should have let the flame of ambition guide them.

Two humans had claimed Greatness beyond all others. One through Ascension, the other through sheer Willpower.

They had both become more, and instead of letting themselves be content, they still sought out more.

They, who knew the true meaning of weakness, of living short lives, burned with Dreams greater than that of any Gods.

Oedon sighed. For all that she would always support her dear Aeon, it pained her that she hadn't been able to answer the questions and concerns which festered within him for far too long.

And yet, she was pleased, all the same. The same fire that had drawn her attention when she first met him all these years ago burned brightly once more, and perhaps there was something fitting in that a human would be the one to rekindle that fire.

In meeting and interacting with Great Ones, her dear Aeon found the path to power.

In meeting and fighting a Human Hero, he had remembered the ever-burning flame of ambition and passion so characteristic of mortals.

With both power and passion on his side, what miracles will he be able to achieve now?

Even now, her dear husband was training. A near infinite numbers of avatars of him, all of them with faces hardened by determination, and eyes shining brightly with passionate desire for more power.

A rematch was inevitable. If Oedon had been part of the reason for her husband to claim greatness, then the human hero would serve as the perfect catalyst to keep him focused on becoming ever greater.

An eternal challenger, to forevermore drive him to greater heights.

An eternal rival, to push him to ever greater might.

And, more importantly, a contrast that could help him keep himself true to his chosen path.

Her dear Aeon had always refused to see himself as a hero. His downright biased view of heroism made him view heroes as beings fundamentally "better" than himself, especially when it came to morals. His experiences as a Hunter only made things worse.

The fact that her dear Aeon was willing to sacrifice morality for the sake of victory, if the need was high enough, was something that had always bothered him.

But Saitama had no need to sacrifice morality. Indeed, he was powerful and righteous enough that he could be the light to Aeon's shadows.

A living example that Aeon could be better, without having to sacrifice victory on the altar of morality.

Aeon has seen countless horrors in the path. He knew of hard choices born out of necessity. He knew of ruthless decisions taken for the greater good.

But good men doing the right thing and winning? Morality and victory going hand in hand? That is something he sadly saw far too little of…

Until now.

Until a hero, without sacrificing his morals, his very humanity, managed to fight him to a draw.

Until he saw for himself that one could protect Reality without sacrifices.

A true victory. A perfect victory.

A heroic victory, for all that it was technically a draw.

Oh yes, that lit a fire under her husband's ass alright, to use a human expression.

After all, the Great Ones were sympathetic beings by nature.

So how could Aeon remain unmoved, in front of the very heroism he had always hoped existed somewhere in existence?

How could a God of Humanity remain unchanged… after meeting the very best of it?

For their own sake, Oedon hoped that the beings at the center of reality were peaceful. Recents events had given even more evidence towards it, but if that was not the case, well…

Aeon might just defeat them all just to prove a point to Saitama, after this.

It would be just like her husband to defeat the greatest beings in all of existence just so that he could show off and be smug towards his new friend, after all.

-

The Void, Throne of Azathoth, when the fight was escalating.

Azathoth, God-queen of the Omniverse, Creator-deity of all things, was for the most part a very hand-off ruler.

She had no real desire to rule. Indeed, her creation, her Great Dream, had been a surprise for her most of all. But created it she had, even if it had not been deliberate, and she had come to love it all the same, flaws and all.

In general, she focused mostly on keeping a good status quo going. As long as reality was thriving, that no evil or force of destruction threatened her creation, the people living within her Great Dream could do whatever they wanted.

She had even pushed for the creation of organizations like the Versal Council and all the gods within it to better set down the Conceptual Laws of her Dream, to ensure the fundamental stability of existence.

She'd really rather not remember the incredibly frustrating first days of her Creation. Trying to focus on anything smaller than a galaxy had been a challenge, and the very existence of planets was something that she had only been able to know through the tales of others, far smaller beings than her.

There were reasons that the Crawling Chaos was born. There was nothing as frustrating as accidentally wiping out entire galaxies because she just wanted to look at a single part of one and the mere weight of her gaze broke the local reality to pieces.

And no, Lovecraft, it wasn't because she was a blind idiot god! Hmph!

Thankfully, those days were far behind her. These days, she could even go around on planets like any mortal and not cause anything to break down!

Mostly!

Of course, that didn't mean that there weren't days when she had to act. It was rare, but sometimes gods could go mad, Evil could triumph over Good to the point that it would require her personal intervention to safeguard parts of her Creation, and in those moments even she had to go and remind everyone that just because she was hand-off, did not mean that she was weak or unwilling to act.

Unfortunately, it seemed that today was going to be one such day.

She felt reality distort near her throne as a human-looking woman with black hair and purple eyes, wearing a white human Navy uniform and holding a japanese katana, stepped forth from a portal, an outwardly calm look on her face betrayed by the concern clear in her eyes, and the slight frown upon her brow.

"Yog-Sothoth." she greeted, glancing at the new arrival. "You felt it too, then?"

The Gate and the Key nodded grimly.

"There's a fight going on in a part of reality where our influence is small. A fight which is steadily increasing in scale and raw power, and if it keeps going like this…"

Yog-Sothoth trailed off, but Azathoth understood.

For now, she suspected only her and the Goddess of Time could feel the shockwaves of that fight, though maybe the God in Heaven could as well- that one was always hard to pin down when he wanted to play at being mysterious.

But if it kept going and escalated, there would be repercussions throughout Reality. And if the Versal Council were to find out about the fight, she could all too well imagine that they would not be pleased at the thought of such powers existing without anyone knowing about it until now. A formal investigation would be launched, and who knows what the people sent off for it might find waiting for them.

And to be fair, Azathoth was rather concerned as well, because the raw power being thrown around was still increasing, and had long ago reached Outer God level and was now firmly into the kind of power she could expect of beings within her Inner Court.

If it kept going like this, it might even reach the level of power of Yog herself, which-

Which-

By the Void!

She froze, and Yog inhaled sharply, a look of actual shock, awe and a hint of fear in her eyes at what they just felt.

"Aza-"

"I know." she interrupted, standing up, voice hard and expression grim. "I'm going."

It said something about what they just felt that Yog didn't even blink. It had been eons since Azathoth had to deal with a potential issue in person like this, eons since the last time she had to go and fight, but this…

This couldn't wait any longer.

Not when something, or rather someone, just tore a hole into her Great Dream.

The numbers of beings capable of doing that were very, very few.

Doing it safely? Without catastrophic consequences for all multiverses around that hole? Even fewer.

And yet, both of them could feel that the hole itself remained perfectly contained.

She wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not. On the one hand, it showed a level of mastery and knowledge to go along with the raw power that sent shivers down even her body.

On the other hand, it would imply that whoever did that was concerned about safeguarding reality even as they fought their foe. That was a very good thing.

"Should I inform the others?" asked Yog, her human hand squeezing her katana much harder than any mortal could out of rising anxiety.

"No. Not yet. We don't know anything about what is going on, I'd rather avoid a panic. If we Outer Gods look like we're preparing for trouble, everybody is going to freak out." she replied grimly.

Yog pursed her lips, but nodded. That was the problem with being the strongest. If it started looking like they were readying themselves for a fight, then the rest of reality was going to panic over the who and what of it.

Who were the ones capable of making even the Daemon Sultana go to battle?

And what powers did they possess, to achieve such a feat?

"Keep an eye on things. In the worst case scenario, be ready to act fast." grimly ordered the god-queen of Creation, before she moved.

Sending her consciousness across countless multiverses, she closed in on the ever-escalating battle within her Dream. Her feelings grew ever more grim the closer she got of the fight, as she could feel the raw power being thrown around rising ever higher.

As far as she could tell, there were only two different beings fighting, and yet each of them had enough raw power to outshine any other God she knew of except for Azathoth herself.

At the way they were going, they would soon release more power than even Yog-Sothoth could bring to bear, and keep going without so much as a hint of slowing down. If anything, it felt to her as if both sides were growing stronger by the second… much stronger.

Being careful to not harm any of the multiverses she came close to while heading towards the fight, Azathoth felt a moment of surprise as she suddenly felt a third presence, focused completely on keeping the fight as contained as it could get, that presence's raw power rising just as high as the two fighting in order to try and keep up with the increasing power being thrown around.

Moreover, the hole that had forced her to move suddenly closed, and was closed so competently that even Azathoth was unsure she could have patched it up as well as the one who did manage to do so.

For all her growth in controlling her cosmic might, Azathoth still struggled with being precise. She did her best work on the macro scale, not the micro.

In her defense, it was hard to train when the slightest mistake on her part could eradicate entire galaxies like so much space dust.

As she came closer, the fight suddenly ceased, though as far as she could tell it wasn't because of her. More confusing, it did not feel like either of the two fighting had been defeated.

It was almost like they just… decided to stop fighting all of a sudden.

Azathoth's confusion only grew when she felt all three presences retreat to a nearby multiverse, any hint of the previous all-out battle just… ceasing entirely.

And by the feel of it, it was like the two combatants were just… Wait. Were they radiating joy and contentment?

Both of them?!

What in the name of all the multiverses in her creation was going on?!

Azathoth paused to inspect the area where the hole had been open, her power poking and probing for any weakness in the patch-up job and finding none.

Turning back towards the multiverse in question, she could feel two of the presences cautiously staring at her, before one of them reached out-

She mentally blinked.

Did… did it politely ask her for a meeting at a later date?

What?

By now thoroughly bewildered, she inquired if there was any risk of the fight restarting, and was quickly answered that if she wanted, they could send a message of warning in advance for next time, and… was he apologizing for any disturbances they might have caused?!

And what the Hell did he mean, it was just a spar?!

Azathoth had no idea if she could spontaneously develop headaches, but she was certain she had never been more confused in her eternal life.

Deciding to just… not think too hard about any of this, she very firmly asked that no more holes were to be opened in her creation, thank you very much, and that she was willing to accept a meeting at a neutral ground at a later date.

She was slightly surprised that Earth was chosen for it, but accepted it all the same.

And something about a… restaurant?

What?

… Well, if those gods wanted to come closer to the center of her power, far from her to disagree.

After the details were agreed upon, Azathoth left, returning to the center of reality where a still tense-looking Yog-Sothoth awaited, though the obvious lack of fighting had visibly relaxed her a bit.

"So, what was that all about?" she immediately inquired.

Azathoth sat on her throne, opened her mouth-

And then paused.

Rolled around what exactly she had just agreed upon in her mind.

Then she blinked slowly.

"I think I just got asked out on a date and said yes?" she replied, sounding as thoroughly bewildered as she felt.

Yog-Sothoth stared at her.

Azathoth looked down at herself. "You think I should put on a dress, or…?"

"... You know what? Call me back when everything starts making sense again."

Yog-Sothoth opened a portal and left, muttering that there wasn't enough Sake in the local multiverse to deal with this.

Azathoth blinked.

"... So, should I ask Nyarlathotep instead? I mean, all else aside, she's pretty good at what she does-" she paused, then shuddered. "No, wait, that's a horrible idea. I'll just ask Shub-Niggurath instead, that sounds much better…"

-

A.N: Alright! Here is the next chapter in which we continue the One Punch Man Arc!
Interestingly, I think this has the longest one-on-one fight of the entire story so far, as even the Aeon vs Gerhman fight didn't break the 2k word length.
This one, if we count the entire scene from the moment they are in the lifeless universe, reaches 4k.
Note that there are a lot of other abilities and skills that Aeon could have used against Saitama, but overall, I'm pretty happy with the "flow" of the fight.
Speaking of Saitama, a few things to explain this chapter: It's canon that Saitama has essentially no upper limits to his power, and that he grows in power the stronger his opponent is. It's also in interesting limit of the Living God CYOA that any being capable of matching/surpassing the main character will see their powers not work as well against them, at least until such time as the main character can grow strong enough to overpower them… but what happen when both sides have the same insane rate of growth?

Also, I like the idea that, since reality is a Dream, someone with sufficient willpower can just break reality to benefit them in all kinds of ways. Normally, there would be limits to that, but since Saitama's entire character is all about being limitless…
Also, from a narrative point of view, it let me have Aeon grow as a character. With this, he just got the hard evidence he needed that valuing his remaining Humanity was actually a good thing, and that just because other people do not follow the same path as he does, does not mean that their path is any less correct. Aeon needed the reminder that for all of his power, all of his knowledge, he is not perfect, and he is still only one person.
And of course, that heroes really do exist. That alone is a revelation that helps a lot, because it touches on the inner part of him that still struggles to be an idealist in the face of all he has seen and done.

As for the last part, a fight like this was never not going to get picked on by Azathoth, and Yog-Sothoth would feel the ripples as well. Of course, Azathoth expected a great many things when she went to investigate… And then Aeon used "Confusion" on her.
It was Super Effective. So effective that he got a date out of it before Azathoth could get her bearings back.
Note that at this point, Azathoth has yet to get a good look at Aeon. They did the equivalent of having a phone call, not a face to face meeting.
Needless to say, her reaction when she does see him in full is going to be a lot more dramatic.
Still, with all that being said, I hope you all enjoyed this update! Next time, we continue OPM, and we finally enter the canon timeline…