C1AMA: CYA: What Defines A Hero

by lumpeistbark3

Coming off the cusp of a disastrous battle at UA, a wish Granted By God Takes Deku along with his classmates away from the world they once knew to someplace new but familiar, possessing heroes themselves but they soon come to realize that operate at a different code of ethics than what they are use to, they will need to brave this new world in hopes of retuning Home.

46. Month 5: Week 1: The Final Battle Part V

Notes: Welcome back guys to the final month of the path! This three-chapter month will be rapid fire one chapter a week so the 8th and 15th will be the last chapter until the new year.

The current vote will end on that day as well and a new one will take its place until the new year.

Results so far:

AOT S3: 5

One piece: 1

Digimon: 1

Overlord vol. 11-16: 1

Month 5: Week 1: The Final Battle V

A Battle Of Gods: Saitama, Garou, ?

Several massive explosions exploded in the debris field that had originally been Io's moon. The two occupants inside it moved so fast that the pieces that would have normally scattered over the entire solar system had barely left the orbiting body, and rocks continued to get obliterated after each punch was thrown by the two individuals in the debris field. However, the intense match only appeared to be evenly matched between the two of them as one struggled to come to grips with the situation at hand. To Garou, it didn't make sense; he was countering the bald man with just as much power, but every time the man hit him back, the attack would be even stronger than the last; he wasn't able to keep up. He managed to land a hard punch to the man's gut, but all this did was merely make him buckle, if at all the slightest bit, as in return he was struck with a vicious uppercut, and from that punch, he realized that he was getting left in the dust from the exchanges. The fighting continued, and Garou could feel it in each punch he took. His attacks were starting to miss all over again, and the man's punch would not only land but it would get stronger each time. At the rate they were increasing, it would be a matter of time before one of the punches managed to kill him.

Even now, Saitama is continuing to grow. His rate of growth, which had grown unnoticed by anyone since there was nobody remotely on par with his strength, suddenly began to soar exponentially, due to a surge of emotion like none he had ever experienced. And now the only one on a level to observe Saitama's growth was getting completely left behind. and then there was no longer anybody left... to measure what level Saitama's growth had reached... or was there?

Saitama and Garou clashed almost dozens of times over, but for Saitama, it was simply getting boring. He looked down at himself and lamented the fact that his clothes had been blown off. He was able to sense the other guy coming at him and held up a single attack to catch the blow casually, but before he could punch him away again, something caught in his nose. Maybe it was dust or debris from what was around them, and it forced him to let out a sneeze, forgetting his strength for just a moment as he let it.

A super serious sneeze

Garou could just barely see something dangerous coming as he dodged his head out of the way of a large pressure wave, and he could only watch in absolute spectacle as the entirety of Jupiter had been blown away. or at least it would have been but instead something weird happened the entire planet along with Io itself had seemingly came back together again, the blast wave of the sneeze had launched them far and away but his excellent vision still allowed him to see the planet and moon come together again almost like new, although Io was smaller or at least he thinks it was as the two of them continued to fly backwards he didn't know what caused that btu he did know that whatever he was fighting was clearly not a human and that it definitely shouldn't be allowed to exist but he smirked when he thought that the same could be said for himself but that smirk immediately vanished when he felt something coming and judging by the bald guy's action he could tell as well, although he was still clutching his hand while flying backwards his head was faced the other way and the next thing he knew were the both of them had been sent flying backwards surrounded by a purple aura landing down exactly where they had been originally which was the now remade Io it was indeed somewhat smaller than before but he had no time to think about that when he was roughly shoved out of the way just in time as a large slash went through it and Io, the slash however did not cut anything that it passed through but he could tell that it was powerful and the individual that caused it was coming straight for them. When the individual landed, however, he had no idea who it was. It looked to be like some monster of some kind; it held a mix of different features that seemingly did not go together. The monster had dark-reddish pink skin, completely black voidless eyes, a long tail that had spikes going down it, a slightly misshapen head with four horns along its skull, one of which was slighted more elevated than before, draped with long hair that went down the creature's back that seemed to have everyone's color under the sun: red, white, black, brown, yellow, blue, gray, and even green were spread along it in mismatched patches, and along its back seemed to be struts or vents coming out of them around six of them.

Its body was mostly human or at least humanoid the body was covered in a thick body armor with large shoulder pauldrons, along with large arm gauntlets, its hands were large for its body but he guessed it was so that it could fit the large gauntlet along its arms, the thing had a chest piece that sort of reminded him of blast however it had seemed to meld with the being very skin instead of being a costume, the same color of its very skin, the armor which were mostly covered also in the thick armor wasn't just flesh however but had a more fur, the creatures legs were more robotic then flesh and had a darker coloration than the rest of its body, the monster was covered in a thick purple aura and each of its hands it held a blade of unknown origin however he could feel the power radiating off of them almost in perfect harmony however the song they made were different almost in perfect in their very nature like they were not their.

The creature's face was not a mix of features; at least for the most part, its eyes, mouth, and nose were distinctly someone's, and he swore he had seen it before, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Where did you come from? Are you an alien?" Saitama asked

"[No, I'm earth's vengeance against this idiot.]" The creature remarked as it held its blade up once more and sliced it downwards. This time the slice left an impression on the planet itself along with Jupiter. No, just Jupiter, the slash continued forward, cutting everything in its path. He followed it for a long time as it moved stars and even a black hole. It didn't matter. The thing continued to cut and cut to the point where he couldn't even see it anymore, making him focus even more on the individual. It wasn't something to be underestimated. The voice it created almost seemed like a blender of different people. Garou could point out nearly all of them, but some were a complete mystery.

"[You must be another of God's pawns, huh? Well, I doubt you would be able to beat this guy if I couldn't]."Garou asked with

"[I am not here for him but for you, Garou;]" the creature remarked.

"[I didn't kill anyone?"] Garou remarked

"[Are you that dense, or are you just an idiot? You think your radiation polluted the earth and millions of people died before you even left. Their days are numbered, but I will ensure that you die before theirs, that's for sure.]" the creature remarked before sending another sword slash, but this was much faster than before. Garou could barely perceive it in time to dodge, but he didn't have to as he was shoved out of the way from the attack by Saitama. He was shocked by the reaction, really given that he was pummeling him this entire time.

"[W-what the big idea, why did you help me?]" Garou asked

"[That's what I want to know? Do I need to remind you that he killed your pal Genos? Or do you not care about him like you don't care about anyone else?] "The monster remarked

In that next instant, Garou was completely stunned by the sheer speed the man let off as he charged at the monster to deliver a punch, but he was even more shocked when the new monster blocked the strike, catching it with its hand, but there was a clear line of struggle there as a blockback shockwave started to move the entire moon that they were own before it was covered in that dark purple glow once more, completely halting the process before they crashed down into the gas giant.

"[You're angry now? You realize that you could have prevented all of this from happening! What's good is all that power if you don't use it when it's needed!"The being yelled as Garou saw that they had been encapsulated by the same dark aura onto Saitama before the creature's large arms gauntlet a light, and out of the opening emerged a large energy sphere that had sent the man spiraling backwards straight into the jupiter, where there was a resounding crash that had emerged from the surface, which could be seen from even regular human eyes, but that was completely dwarfed by the next explosion on the planet, which came from the man himself as he landed back on the moon, the dust of the gas giant washing off of him as he landed back down hard, the moon shifted, but the monster had kept the moon still.

"You don't have to rub it in; I know I messed up... I think I realized I'm just not cut out for this. For being a hero, I mean... but since I am a hero, I won't kill him, not to mention Bang's last request was for me to stop him without killing him.."Saitama remarked.

"[Is that really all? Are you serious? Here, put this on. You being naked is throwing me everything off."The being remarked before, out of its very body, popped out none other than the guy's hero costume once more.

"Thanks," Saitama remarked as he caught the one piece and suit.

"Now like I was saying, are you seriously going to say that you're not going to kill him because you're a hero? Heroes in this universe kill all the time with no shame or regret against monsters, and now you hesitate? And as for Bang, well, I'll let the man speak for himself," the monster stated before he started to morph once more. Both of them were stuck in shock when the man's facial features and hair had completely turned into something else, something familiar.

"[Garou…. I would have hoped that, and I would have been able to stop you. I thought that by telling you to follow your heart, you would eventually find the error in your ways. I could feel what you wanted to achieve in our battle. I believed that your goal was a noble one, so I did not wish you killed for the foolish way you went about executing it, but the things you've done are far too much for me to forgive, for any of us to forgive... I know this wasn't your doing; you would not have wanted this; it's this being. I will simply free you from its clutches through death]" the being remarked before changing back into its normal face and hair.

"[Like I'll believe that was the real Bang.]" Garou remarked before standing up.

"Yeah, I don't know about that either. You're something else now, clearly not the original Bang, so I'll stand by his words." Saitama remarked as he got ready.

"[Fine have it your way; others will keep you busy while I finish this guy off.]" The monster remarked

"[Do you honestly think you can hold him off? Good luck battling him for a while now; it won't be that easy.]."Garou remarked in half compliment.

"[I'm not you. I'm much stronger than you; a half-baked God's hand is nothing compared to the full thing.]" The monster remarked as it split into two separate entities. This new entity also possessed long pinkish hair with dark pink skin; it held two dark purple lines under its eyes and held a long scarf around its neck. The second monster was muscular but slimmer than the original it departed from and had more form-fitting armor on its arms, shins, and legs. The being had an even larger eye on its forehead that seemingly pulsed with energy, and the creature's mouth had seemingly just formed as it spoke, the skin still coming apart as if it were stretched.

"[Saitama we will beat you...now that we can see your true fangs,]" the being remarked before it thrust its hand outwards, and from there it seemed to ingest 40 pills before a burst of light purple aura flared from the being as it thrust both of them into himself before his body flared with a dark pink aura before dashing off and striking Saitama directly in the face. Even while the man was on guard, he was surprised by the attack and completely flew off. They had completely crashed through Jupiter and completely destroyed it. Even to Garou's senses, the planet simply vanished from sight along with the bald man.

"[they get the chance they never would have on their own aren't I such a charitable person now that just leaves you?" the creatures remarked before raising two of its swords again, this time Garou was on guard using his latest mode: Saitama to copy the exact heights the bald man had just reached and from that he could finally see the attacks coming but they were fast but he still managed to avoid them all or at least partially he did one of the cuts had managed to land across his upper shoulder but again there was no wound, he briefly glanced behind him to find a tear their it was similar to his hyperspace gates but not quite it was like a ripple in time and space just as he turned around to face the enemy once more he was completely blindsided when the monster dashed at him and punched him in the face through it. He recoiled heavily, which came as a shock to him. If he were in his previous state, then his head definitely would have been scrambled. He realized that this thing wasn't playing for keeps; the tear that the creature opened brought them somewhere; it was a desolate wasteland. The creature stepped out of the tear in reality and onto the field.

"[Take a look around "absolute evil." Look at what your evil brought to the world; everyone is either dead or dying.]" The monster spoke, and Garou took a gander; he could see his sight was almost absolute; even in the darkness, he could see four thousand miles, even into the neighboring town, and true to the creature's words, people were lying on the ground, having bled out profusely.

"[Good this is the world that I wanted to create. Those that can survive in this hell will hate each other..]" Garou remarked, but the monster could feel that the statement held conflict inside of Garou; he could feel it.

"[Hmph, you're still kidding yourself? Heh, well, maybe you don't care about any of those randoms, and hell, maybe not even your own master, but what about this?]" The monster remarked before snapping a finger, and suddenly another creature materialized from out of the shadows. Something else emerged from it, a large creature that seemed to emerge from the monster's shadow. It traveled past him; it only took a moment, but it came back, and he heard the wet squelch of something being dropped down by his feet. When he looked down, he had to take several steps back from it.

"[I'm sure you would care about that wouldn't you, I don't know what your relationship to the kid was but you even risked your own life to protect him and from reports he hung out with you when you were attacked by the A-class heroes a couple months ago.]" the monster remarked, Garou didn't have a face so the sheer number of emotions he had gone through at that moment in time went unnoticed. He wanted tareo to be the first one to see the new world he created by becoming the absolute evil…now he was just.

"[You ... .you would go so far as to kill a child? And dare to blame me for it!]" Garou remarked in anger and the monster laughed.

"[haha, that was all you buddy.]" the monster remarked

"[you lie! If you are inflicted with that thing's power then the same radiation that comes from me also radiates off of you.]" Garou accused.

"[I haven't used any large-scale attacks yet dumbass, unlike you I can control myself and not blow up the earth. But if you want to hear from the kid himself then sure I'll let you.]" the monster remarked as it was about to shoot out its shadow monster once more but Garou was faster this time launching off with his back foot ready to deliver a serious series: serious punch Garou was simply seeing red at that point as he charged forth.

"[you've done more than enough.]" Garou remarked as he threw his punch only to be suddenly somewhere else at the moment tumbling through space he had moved so fast that he quickly entered into a planet's atmosphere and just the impact of his fist hitting the surface completely obliterated the thing nothing remained as he sat there floating in space, he turned around to spot the monster once more coming in through his tear in space where it floated along directly to him.

"[where the hell are we?]" Garou asked

"[in the Virgo cluster of galaxies might as well take this far away from Earth, 53 million light years, to be exact... Unlike you, I care about the people that remain. so feel free to cut loose because I sure am, before I kill you I'm going to beat you to within an inch of your life.]" the monster spoke out.

"[I still don't know who the hell you are?]" Garou remarked

"[and your not going to mister copy cat, just know that I'm "absolute vengeance" and that's all there's to it, just make it interesting for me!]" the monster replied as it pulled both of it's arms backwards just like before he saw that the monsters gauntlets power up with a large energy and they fired out what Garou was not prepared for however was just how massive the wave that had emerged from the two of them had come out completely swallowing even the planets themselves in the brilliant light including himself dodging was impossible so the only thing he could do was dodge out of the wayusing the gates however he could was to use the hyperspace gates to dodge out of the way of the large scale attack jumping from planet to planet until he could finally see an edge that the attack didn't cover opening up a gate to finally escape the wide area attack or he thought he was as when he was just about to go through he was met with the monster right his in his face, he lashed out with a punch but not only was the punch blocked but it was deflected not only that the style was immediately recognizable to him instantly the water stream rock smashing fist which made the monster next attack hit hard with the perfect counter doubleing it's own power along with adding to the force of it's own , he was shocked again as he was set floating through the space and he could only huddle up as the large blast completely consumed him.

The blast washed over him and he felt the heat and pain flush through his arms and body which again was impressive given his body should have been at least somewhat keeping up with that bald monster he was fighting previously. What the hell was this thing? Was this really what would happen if he fully accepted God's gift? Could he have beaten the baldy with that? Well it didn't matter now he needed to stop this thing he didn't know what God goal was but he knew judging from blast it wasn't going to be something good as he recovered from the being sent away from the blast he was tumbling along deep space before he reorganized himself and continued face off against the creature once more as it charged at him, out of it's back emerged a constant stream of energy that bursted from his back out of the vents from them he charged forwards himself dashing into another hyperspace gate and dashing inside before creating multiple hyperspace gate surrounding the individuals and attacking from all sides of it, serious serious: omnidirectional serious punch moving at such extreme speed that he appeared nearly everywhere he charged forth at the being in the center ready to clobber him just how he was but he was shocked when each and everyone one of his attacks had been parried and reflected by the monster in the middle it almost seems like it was waiting for him but more than that he felt something else, as he lashed out he felt like he was going slower with each connection he made with the monster body his body felt sluggish gear shift + energy absorption = speed steal

Garou had slowed down to a trickle before finally attempting to back off creating a gate a dozen light minutes away from the target to create distance and see what was happening to him but the monster was again already there the creature surprised him again when suddenly out of it's back arrived multiple different arms each and everyone of them had multiple vent like protrusions on the back of them each firing off a large stream it almost reminded him of genos however engine + dupli arms = Nitro blows, the barrage of quick fire punches came at him his sluggishness completely fallen away but he was not going to be able to dodge in time so he took the attack head on serious series: consecutive serious punches the the thousands of blows clashed against each other Garou fast hand continued to clash against the man's however this clash wasn't at all like his versus Saitama when he was fighting him on earth, his multitude of hands gave him a definitive edge in the clash but even more than that any punches of his that managed to get through the monsters defense it could literally create even more hands to deflect his attack away from hismself, his body was completely getting pummpled with blows and the monster lambested him in Bang's voice about how he wasn't even using the water stream rock smashing fist anymore and how far he's fallen.

This only angered Garou even more and for a split moment he had forgone his mode Saitama and had started to use his normal state, he could better optimize his body this was using the multitude of martial arts that his body has honed to perfection as he use his nuclear fission and gravity knuckle along with the water stream during the clash of fist this didn't really improve his chances the monster simply had to many fist and was equally as skilled as him in the water stream but he collide the two together to create a large implosion of energy that allowed him to separate from the sporadic number of hands and give him time to think at least for a fraction of a second as the next thing that hit him was a mixture of purple and blue flames, he channeled the power of a black hole to absorb the attack this time around before opening a warp gate and sending the black hole through directly into the monsters chest sending it flying backwards he watched in some satisfaction as it watched as several of its limbs were torn from it's body however the monster had suddenly summoned those swords once more and simply cut the black hole in half destroyign the effect completely.

He jumped back as he started to ponder what else could he use against this beast as he swapped again back into his Saitama mode, he knew how he was going to beat this adversary he was going to ride on the coattails of that bald idiot he knew from fighting him that the guy was limitless he just needed to continuing to copy that power make a part of himself and then drop the mode to allow him to use his other techniques and abilities this monster was tough but it wasn't unbeatable it had to have had a limit god likely couldn't create a being that was limitless like that bald bastard which was why he wanted someone to end Saitama before he got to strong and became a threat to him, this thing whoever it was could may accomplish that as he swapped once more into his mode: Saitama and dashed forwards at a blinding pace which even seemed to surprise the creature and launched off with a hard serious punch the punch landed squarely against the monster chest completely scattering it's body to the void but even more than that the excess power of the blow had completely devastated everything the wind pressure had completely pulverized the planets and stars in their path for entrier light years back creating another gapping whole in the void similar to that form from his initial clash with Saitama this was unprecedented he thought the bald man had gotten even stronger than before he considered as he looked down at his fist.

He was completely caught off guard when suddenly in the dark void he found himself in, a large bright light emerged the light seemed to light up the entire star system that he was in, and before his eyes could adjust to what it was he was suddenly hit hard in the gut that sent him spiraling backward far several lights passed him by that he now realized were stars themselves, he eventually came to a stop inside of one for a moment he marveled at his newfound power in how he could barely feel the heat of the star's core on his body but it was also a reminder of how powerful that creatures blast was that he was burning from the heat at least previously.

As he exited his thoughts the very star around him which he could guess was a red dwarf had begun to shift and move almost like it was being absorbed as the large celestial body had seemingly been shored down into a steady stream and by the time he could see it had appeared like the monster was back drinking the very star like it was a smoothie or shake, Garou was for a moment completely caught back but he was more surprised on how the creature was still even a life after that punch he saw that punch had completely pulverized its body nothing remained from it not even the creatures blood.

"[A clone?]" Garou asked

"[Resurrection.]" the monster replied simply, Garou paused for a moment

"[how? From nothing?! How the hell do I kill you then!?]" Garou remarked a bit rattled

"[that's the thing you can't… I'm the perfect hand You are nothing but an incomplete vessel…copy that idiot power all you like, every time you kill me it will only make me stronger.]" the monster remarked before the thing sprouted several more pill-like shapes and dumped them into its mouth. It was 50 of them this time and its body reacted getting larger as its muscles bulged in it's and that dark purple aura flared Garou could sense the dark power and his worry increased speaking of the idiot he wondered what he was doing at this point, didn't he say he wasn't going to let him die as the geezer final request? Well, he better hurry up and get here if he was serious Garou thought before he prepared to fight once more.

---

Saitama vs Sonros

When Saitama was attacked by the individual he was fairly shocked by the creatures strength, he didn't think anyone would have been able to stand up to his power he had nearly given up all hope once Garou had started to underwhelm him but he was someone else technically two additional people had managed to do so, but he knew he didn't really have much time to enjoy it as he finally recovered from the punch landing on some planet he didn't even know where he was anymore as he looked around the planet was fairly dark even with the sun being out and about but he had no time to really think about that as the being came down straight at him, he launched out with a serious punch and the monster countered with another punch of his own and the clash completely scattered the planet he was standing on and not only that the shockwave from that punch had rung out through the very solar system destroying all the planets and move in the system and even had destabilized it's star causing it to supernova the blast washed over the two of them and had actually been absorbed by the monster before it's aura flared once more in the darkness of that void only it represented a light.

"So what's your deal with me? Do I know you?" Saitama, as he floated mostly in space, flapped his arms around, attempting to keep himself steady. The man's smile and skin color reminded him of someone, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"[Of course you do not remember me; if this were your power, it would be like an elephant... No, not an elephant; it would be like if a planet killed a singular ant upon its surface]" the being spoke.

"I fought you before? If you were this strong, I probably would have remembered you, maybe even lost against you, and I haven't lost since becoming a hero." Saitama remarked as he went to rub his chin.

"[It's me, Saitama, your one true rival, and me, the dominator of the universe. Although that title now belongs to you, I want it back. Speed o' sound sonic! And Boros!]" the creature remarked as the combined voices started to separate from each other when saying their names before coming back together once more.

"Huh? You've been working out or something? How did you get this strong? And you guys fused together, how? What would that make you bonic? Roic? Ooh, maybe Sonros!" Saitama stated.

"[No more time for talking; I'm here to finally beat you!]" the monster remarked before charging at him.

Saitama was partially surprised when suddenly, from behind the creature, an entire large planet, even bigger than Jupiter, appeared behind the monster and slammed directly into him. Things had changed, and he quickly shook off the attack, rising from out of the plant's core on the other side to the monster sitting there waiting for him to arrive. The monster remarked that this planet would be a good staging ground for their fight given that he couldn't fight very well in outer space given that he couldn't properly propel himself, so a planet would be better for them. The monster even went on to say that he would reinforce the planet with his power so that they could enjoy their battle to the fullest. Before charging at Saitama, Saitama quickly lifted his hand to block the strike, but he was too slow to block the follow-up, with the other hand getting punched directly in the chin, forcing him backward. He let out a grunt from the blow before flipping straight, while in mid-air, he stared at the approaching monster with a bit of fire in his eyes as he reeled his one arm backward and shot it forwards at crazy speeds consecutive serious series: serious punches! The single-arm barrage was met by an interesting defensive move, an infinite shadow burial.

The single monster had seemingly separated into countless of itself, and as the attacks collided, Saitama was again surprised when none of his punches had connected against any of the targets he had managed to hit. A flash of light brought his attention to something behind him, and he crossed his arms across his chest as a leg strike came at him, but the move had altered its path, hitting him squarely in the gut, forcing him backward and down into the planet, creating a large divot.

Saitama recovered quickly and smiled this opponent had been showing potential he thought before he used his serious series: side hops to mirror the opponent's own afterimages, the two attacks collided the entire planet's surfaces were covered with clones of each opponent as they struck and combated the other, Saitama had actually been losing out in the clashes his blows had inadvertently been either blocked of deflected leaving him open for a counter attack, one of the last counter attack was an overhead smash that had ended with an overhead smash that sent him straight through the plant itself before the monster had flew around the plant before smashing him again on the side of the head, sending skitting along the ground once more, Saitama got up once more panting as he stood up in the divot he created. He used his one hand to wipe along his chin; he was fairly surprised; his jaw actually ached from that blow as he wiped along it, before glancing down at his glove and being shocked to see that he had some blood along it, just a drop, but it's been such a long time since he's been in such a circumstance that even Garou didn't make him work this hard. He got up with a serious smile on his face as the flames in his eye grew even brighter and his clutch on the genos core tightened.

"[judging by your expression, you're still not getting, how things are... Of course, you would be clueless. Maybe if we get rid of that object in your hand, you will start taking things a bit more seriously.]" Sonros remarked as he lifted a hand. Saitama didn't know what was happening, but something was coming, and he instinctively dodged out of the way.

"[Oh? You could feel the psychic waves and dodge out of the way of them. Unfortunately for you... I was just a bit faster.]" Sonros remarked before the being continued with his arm lifting it up, and along with that, the orb that Saitama held in his hands also started to rise, but Saitama kept it firmly within his grasp to go up along with it.

"Yo, this isn't funny. Stop it." Saitama remarked seriously as he withdrew his arm back and shot it forward. This time, a large, concentrated airwave had hit the monsters faster than they could react, and the air wave had completely cut off the monster's hand. However, the core did not stop glowing; in fact, it glowed even brighter than before.

"[Nice try, but it's already over; once it's in my clutches, just a single thought and this little trinket of yours is gone.]" The monster remarked before, with a simple jerk of his head upwards, that the ball had slowly been erased right in front of Saitama's eyes like dust brushing down his hand into the ground below. He did nothing but stare down at it for a moment in time. His thoughts and memories all had spiraled down into all his moments with Genos. He at first thought he was annoying, but as he grew to know him, he grew on him. He became a much-needed spice in his boring life and offered a lot of comedy. Now he had almost nothing to remember him by, and given his lack of home, it would be like he never even existed. With King gone as well, he was all alone again.

"[Do you understand now? This isn't some friendly fight or battle anymore; you're fighting for the sake of your very universe. Now come at me, my eternal rival!] " Sonros spoke out in a taunting manner.

Sonros didn't see what had happened next but he could definitely feel it, previously he could feel no end to his power but in his current state he could however that changed when he destroyed that orb he felt that overwhelming power like before as his power continued to rise up higher and higher, he laughed at the display but in that very next moment he felt nothing as Saitama had came at him so fast that he could not even process what had happened to him as he was completely gone in that next instant, he resurrected a moment later, on the other side of the planet only to be killed again, this occurred over 20 more times before the planet itself had been destroyed even with his power reinforcing it during the confusion of the large blast wave nothing remained of the planet except the thing he had been standing on, of course after each death he had continued to grow in strength and power but it never seemed like enough until now he finally was able to survive a punch although half his body was obliterated from the effort and continued on spawning a sword and slashing a dimensional portal away from the angered bald man leaving a clone in his path to take the strike for him in the midst of a smoke screen.

Saitama blasted through the smoke with the monster impaled on his fist, they had gone for some time but he didn't care about that as he slammed a fist into the creature's face completely blowing off the upper portion of the monster while also stopping his flight and sending him flying in the other direction, the monster had seemingly was about to regenerate but he stops that cold as he lifted the monsters upper half up and delivered a number of punches that completely eviscerated its body, while the creature was dead he still felt unsatisfied but he had no time to really set in stone that anger he spotted some further away a large light source completely and he remembered that the creature he was currently facing was only a part of the original creature, he better gets over their quick, he's already failed his apprentice he doesn't want to fail his promise to the old man now either as he quickly started threw a punch backward directly at the epicenter of the flash of light.

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Garou vs. ?

His new enhanced strength from mode Saitama was a god it meant the man was still alive but also that he could still somewhat keep up with this monster of a person true to the creature's words it had only gotten stronger with each of its deaths however so they would only be locked in a stalemate possibility until the end of time or at least until the creature had stopped trying to "play" with him as it continued to remarked that it was, Garou had taken sheltered behind a large planet only to have it completely slashed in half along with his arm, he was able to quickly regenerate however that didn't mean much as he was punched in the face directly into another planet which shattered upon his landing the punch did more damage than the planet explosion but it took a moment for him to recover as he wiped the blood coming out of his nose, the being had once again summoned those two blades of his, it never used it during all the fighting he was curious why? Especially given how deadly it seemed to be and the monster wanting to kill him, that didn't seem to matter much as he dodged out of the way of several different numbers of sword slashes; those he couldn't dodge, he countered with flames slashes of his own.

Another thing he couldn't understand about this monster was its powers he should be able to copy anything in the universe but it couldn't copy whatever power to buff itself whatever those pills it was eating were it had to be a key to something like it, he thought as he launched off plasma from his feet and charge directly at the monster shooting out a plasma blade with one hand and then summoning a shield of a neutron star in the other he clashed against the monster blades and blocked a strike with the other with his shield the two powers collide letting off a shockwave of power letting off several slashed that dices up the surrounding celestial bodies, but in the next moment several of those same celestial bodies had been completely evaporated from sight Garou was too busy during the clash to notice, nor did he notice that the monster had switched positions. Prophecy + danger sense = future sight. The next thing that happened was that Garou felt an extreme sense of pain as something had ripped right through the monster and struck him hard in the gut, sending him and the person that he realized was now Saitama, the bald man, to stop them from flying too far before he held on to him to stay upright.

"[I was wondering what was taking you so long]." Garou remarked as he recovered from that punch.

"[I lost track of what was important, but I'm done doing that.]" Saitama remarked simply in a stoic voice. Garou took note of that sudden shift and could tell, as the core was absent in his hands, what had transpired to get him so strong, but since the other one wasn't there, it also proved that this thing could be killed.

"[So how did you get rid of the other one? This thing can resurrect from nothing, and it gets stronger afterward as well.]" Garou remarked, chuckling a thumb at the monster, but Saitama shook his head.

"It's not resurrecting from nothing; it resurrects like a flower budding. Have you not seen the large light? It's like a clear giveaway... Mr. Ultimate Martial Arts."Saitama taunted, and Garou immediately slipped his hand away from the bald man and started to spin in place in the void of space.

"[I'm not dumb enough to enter inside of it and potentially get killed... So it resurrected from some sort of flower thing; that's why you blew up all the planets in the vicinity. A smart play coming from someone like you] " Garou taunted back.

"Well, what does that make someone like you who hadn't thought about it?" Saitama remarked casually in retort, making Garou growl in anger.

"[I will kill you.]" Garou threatened.

"You failed at that before... but that does bring up something else weird here; I've never had a monster go easy on me before. Hey stranger, don't you think you're going a little too soft?" Saitama argued at the monster, who had been completely torn in half by his punch; however, two threads connected the creature's body and slowly came back together, making the monster whole once more as it turned to look at him stretching its back for a moment.

"[Soft? Nah, it's not like that. I'm just enjoying this being the strongest in this universe; it's so great! And you are the only two I can flex this power on, but you are right, this is dragging on, and the stronger we become, the more damage we can do to the universe. We may end up destroying the whole thing at this rate. ]" The monster remarked simply before it put both arms to its sides and its powers flared once more.

"[You idiot, now look at what you did; do you want to die that badly?]" Garou yelled.

"To be honest, I simply don't care, but something tells me that it won't kill us... The monster seems nice." Saitama commented

"[Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it. that the powers it's gaining are nuts, I hope you can still grow even stronger than you are now]" he commented as he got into a position before glancing over at the still spinning Saitama and rolling his eye before stabilizing him upright. Full cowling 100% and meteoric burst, energy absorption + anivoice + sonic screech + feedback = power steal. The monster let out a beatsial yell that sent a large vibration shockwave crashing through everything in its path in the dark void but extended even further outwards towards different solar systems around them, both Garou and Saitama upon hearing the sound both felt a wave of fatigue hit them but Saitama's natural affinity had corrected that and completely nullified the effect making him grow even more and inversely so did Garou but that power still came towards the monster as the large aura flared once more the two blades came to its hands however this time it wasn't generated by the being but seemingly another tear had opened up in space and the swords were handed to him.

Garou was immediately on guard from these weapons unlike before their tune and sounds were perfect and in harmony he didn't know exactly what these meant but it likely meant that the other ones it had been using were replica's of these original ones , he told Saitama to be ready as he grabbed a hold of him but the monster had moved with insane speed as soon as his hand went into motion the two sword slashes had screamed towards him, he didn't even realize when the blade had moved but as the slashes washed over them he thought it would be game over but instead he was surprised to see that instead they passed the two of them by and created a large rift behind him but this wasn't just some fancy hyperspace gate, it felt stranger than that, this cut felt like it was something else entirely, his exmaintion of the portal was cutt off by Saitama who told him that the monster had been coming but by the time Garou could turn back around he along with Saitama had already been clotheslined directly into the portal forcing them through time and space.

Saitama recovered first from the clotheslines hitting the monster in the stomach striking him and forcing him back, the bald man had actually managed to catch the monsters blades with his hand but Garou had again stuck in shock when he saw blood drip down his palms he couldn't believe it, he was right to fear those blades but he quickly got his head in the game and continued with an attack of his own, and enhanced gravity knuckle combined with the power of a solar flare focusing the power around his fist before striking out and hitting the monster directly in the face but his punch had actually phased through the creature hitting nothing, the monster backed up before he letting off another slash that had passed them by before they had found themselves in the atmosphere above a planet, Garou was immediately confused about everything that's happening right at that moment but as it seemed like they had gone back to earth or a planet that had looked like it as there had been no supercontinent but multiple continents which seemed strange but he had no time to think about that as he had to recover Saitama from tumbling off, he kept an eye on the monster who had stopped attacking them and stared down at the planet before seemignyl splitting an identical clone of itself and sending it down towards the planet.

He was about to question what had the plan of the creature was to do but before he could he quickly found himself back in the previous dimension once more, the monster wasn't just teleporting them across the universe he could tell but also across different universes, his breif stint in that world had told him all he needed to know the energies of that world was completely different than what he was feeling and during their next exit that same energy persisted but with no information he couldn't test it out upon, three of them clashed once more upon exiting out another dimension into another universe this Garou could feel was familiar if not the same one from before he could feel it in his very core. Saitama and Garou had started to work together in combating the monster; the bald man would be the muscle, and he would continuously copy Garou, which conversely allowed Garou to be more skilled in his mode. Saitama fed off each other in a constant loop of power and skill gain that would match the monster's wide range of abilities and skill sets. Eventually, during the last intermission in the blankless void, the duo managed to get bullrush past the monster's countless appendages to strike it to its very core however the creature had managed to come back from its mess of a transformation this time as if it was from thin air making both of them question what the hell really would take to kill the monster and at that moment Garou had gotten an idea.

He would use an even more destructive attack something that could encompass the entire space would obliterate everything in this blank void of a space, he collapsed his hands together before summoning the power of the Big Bang, Saitama rushed forward to keep the monster's attention in the meanwhile he contained the large expansion within his grasp before using a warpgate to teleport to the monster shoving the expanding mass into the creature chest shoving it far away before tackling Saitama and using his hand which had now perfectly mimic the signature of the monsters two blades to slash open another tear in the dimension homing into his own universe but more importantly his own world just as the explosion of matter erupted they had just went through the slash or more like pushed through as the two of them went about hastily closing the rupture to stop the excess of energy from pouring through.

Once that was done, Garou took a moment and simply fell down directly on his ass, breathing heavily. He looked around the baron wasteland before his eyes spotted the downed child once more as he balled his fist into the dirt. Was it really him who did that? Or was it the monster? Did it matter either way? He used his vision to see everything he could see. With his great vision, he could see everything that wasn't over the curvature of the earth; he could see the countless dead bodies that littered the streets and likely countless more that had been in the buildings.

"It's still strange… That monster was still holding back until the very end. I wonder why."Saitama remarked simply as he kept a lookout on the breech.

"[How can you tell that it was holding back?]" Garou asked

"Those pills it was taking, it continued to take more of them after every time we killed it, but... it seemed deliberate on the exact number it took; Soros took about 40 of them, but that final time it only had taken 60 of them at the end there, I saw it take 80 before I got to you" Saitama

"[There could be a limit of some kind; who knows? It doesn't matter now that it's dead; if it held back, then it simply played with its food too much.] " Garou replied simply.

"Maybe… So what are you going to do now?" Saitama questioned.

"[...I….huff….we need to go back… stop all this from ever happening." Garou remarked

"Wait, how do we do that?" Saitama asked, genuinely intrigued for the first time in quite a while now.

"[Yeah, it's the ultimate technique of my fist; as I envisioned it, I couldn't use it before because that creature would have probably cut me down within a split second if I tried, but essentially we'll be going back in time.] " Garou remarked

"Woah, that's pretty cool... Martial arts let you do all that." Saitama remarked

"Hmph, I can only do it since I took God's hand. I doubt for anyone else this would be possible, no matter how hard they train, but for a monster like you? I'm sure you can do it just fine; it's fitting for a person like you, so watch…" Garou's sentence was cut off as a massive flash of light emerged from behind him. Garou's mind went into overdrive and attempted to go alone. It would suck that he would forgo Saitama, but it seemed to have to be that way. However, both of his arms had been cut to pieces in that next instant, and two swords stabbed him right through the chest, hoisting him up into the air.

"I told you that you can't beat me; even if I was destroyed by that attack, I could grow a part of myself onto one of the two of you instead. The only way to kill me is to first kill me, then yourselves, don't you get it? I will always win. I am the strongest, and now, as I promised, you will die, but I won't be disrespectful. You wanted to know my name, right? Call me.]"

Ascended Legion Bakugo

"[and you are now one of us]" Bakugo yelled as he started to absorb Garou the teen melting into him, Saitama could do nothing but ball his fist as he watched Garou become a part of the monster the colorful nature of its chest becoming deep dark black and it's hair becoming that of the stars in the sky. Just as the last bit of Garou had been absorbed by Bakugo, this left only two people remaining staring at each other.

"Bakugo so it was you this entire time? Thought those gauntlets looked familiar…..so you turned into the monster from what? Radiation or something?" Saitama asked

["This far different from monsterization, God offered me his gift, given I was on the verge of dying, how the hell could I refuse? If only someone did something before getting to that point."] Bakugo remarked, Saitama took another moment of silence contemplating, staring at his hands for a moment reminiscing of Genos's core that was now gone.

"I'm sorry about that but you just stopped our only chance to get back to normal, everyone is still dead now," Saitama remarked with a stoic expression and he was slightly angered when the monster laughed.

"[Hah! That idiot's special move was only running away from the problems he created, I would never allow that! That's not my idea of victory we're going to be doing this differently this time around.]" Bakugo remarked simply.

"So now what? Are you going to try and kill me next? Because honestly, I don't care anymore…Everyone I know is gone…. I could destroy this planet and it would mean nothing…even if I kill you it won't matter, so come on…this time no holding back…on either of our parts ... After I beat you then I'll kill this "god" or whatever " Saitama remarked, holding up a fist.

"[hmph, that's the spirit however, you're going to have to skip the first step, however. Just play your role Mr. World's strongest, I'll bring everyone back, a complete victory with no losses that's how a real hero operates]" Bakugo remarked, and before Saitama could ask what the guy meant an ominous voice rang out in what seemed to be every facet of the universe.

The Deal Has Been Completed

The monster in front of Saitama had started to morph in sort facial features the monster had completely left its body and replaced by something else entirely something that looked like a muscle, the same went for most of the other humans like features like clothes and hair which started to bend and shape around the creature becoming more like human muscles haphazardly placed around its body and joints, the new creatures still were jet black but it's a new resin-like face pulses and shimmered with movement, the world around them had started to shake and vibrate, those strange clouds from before had suddenly appeared once more lighting emerged from them constantly but Saitama could feel that it was something different, this time around now that he was more serious about things.

"I finally meet you—the abnormality that proved to be a hindrance to my plans, the fist that turned against me." The being spoke, or "god," Saitama guessed, but as he said before, he did not care, and that extended towards talking as well. He didn't care if this thing was "god" or whatever he would kill it, it was the cause of it; everything. That happened because Garou didn't kill people, and those teens didn't kill people, so this thing twisted them to do so, and it took from him the only way that he could possibly get back to normal, so the least he could do was get revenge for everyone, and after that, he doesn't know, maybe he would just end it all himself, the planet, as well as his own life.

Saitama charged forward, increasing his strength to even greater heights than before, but now he controlled that growth, channeling it and focusing it, like he'd seen Garou do when he manipulated the universe. This punch will be his last. The very earth crumbled as he left it with a step and leaped at the large target; it had grown to around 30 feet tall, but he was at its head in an instant, and his punch rocketed forward.

Killer Series: The End Punch

Saitama felt his fist connect and crack open his targets, and from that, a massive wave of light completely consumed him.

Saitama woke up with a massive headache in the middle of being picked up by paramedics he was utterly confused about where he was and especially who he was as he rubbed the back of his head and was shocked to find that he had hair. He was confused about so much as he was helped up by paramedics who attempted to check if he was ok, shining a bright light into his eye and asking him questions eventually he had managed to ward them off and ask about the scene in front of him and the police had told him that his "heroics" was while nobel was foolish as he was utterly defeated by the monster the personification of a light pulled cord and that another hero had to come to rescue him this being the hero the new A-class hero stinger, before going into a many rant about how he should not attempt to fight monster anymore given how weak he was or at least choose his battles more careful as tiger level threats were to much for him to fight against, the paramedics gave him a bit more of a once over before finally allowing him to leave given that his injuries weren't severe enough to be taken to the hospital over although he was missing a tooth and they had recovered it and gave him a citation to a dentist which could help fix it for him so he wouldn't have to walk around the street with a gap in them.

He started forward and started to walk away to his home, confusion still evident on his face as he started to think about what was happening. Was he simply dreaming that entire time? He was suddenly halted in his tracks by a very familiar person that, and if the first thing the man said out of his mouth was also a dead giveaway,

"Please take me as your disciple!" the man remarked simply with a sharp bow.

"G-Genos?" Saitama asked, somewhat skeptical, and at that, the man sharply raised his head and gasped out loud.

"Oh my, you even remembered my name! You truly are a great benefit to this community, even without being an official hero.'' Genos remarked very energetically. Saitama was taken aback by the teen in the fact that he wasn't a cyborg but just an average everyday person with normal eyes, but he still had golden pupils, which he guessed were rare. Was everything he just thought was a dream after all? But if that were the case, then why?

"Why do you want to be my apprentice? You saw the fight I just had, right? I'm pretty weak as far as heroics go; I couldn't even beat that tiger monster." Saitama remarked

"Not at all! You took a gnarly hit and still managed to get up with just a broken tooth. Sure, tiger-level threats may be too much for you, but those are reserved for the top-level heroes of the A-class. No one could blame you for failing to beat it, but you still tried, and that's what I admire about your heart—to still protect others despite your weakness." Genos replied passionately, and Saitama had to pause for another moment, parsing through that information for a moment.

"ugh… I don't-"

"I have money! Please, I beg of you!" Genos interrupted, pulling out three stacks worth 400,000 yen.

"Yes! ...wait no… You don't need to pay me anything; I'll be glad to teach you a thing or whatever I know." Saitama remarked, rubbing the back of his head for a moment.

"Yes! Thank you… Here is my information. We can talk and figure out a free day for the two of us to start practicing; maybe we can even enter the hero exam together as well. I hope my family approves." Genos remarked simply with the same energy as before.

"Yeah, I guess I'll see you later then." Saitama replied with a wave before he started to walk off. The two shook hands, and Genos even wanted a picture with him before walking away and heading off. Saitama did the same, his head utterly confused about everything that had been happening so far.

As he traveled home, he was surprised to find the entire thing had been just fine, like he never left it in the first place; actually, it seemed even better than before given the lack of scuff and refitted textures from battles that happened around his house that Genos would have to rebuild. He at first thought that he managed to somehow copy the Garou technique in the first place and managed to go back in time, but just too far back. But that didn't explain who was clearly a human now and not a machine; was it really just all in his head? Wait, he wasn't a hero, which meant he was still working dead-end jobs? That was honestly the greatest blow to him, the realization that his dream had not come true after all; he never broke his limits and was just knocked out instead, but if his dream was anything to go by, it may not be so bad after all. If anything, it was a positive thing; he no longer could beat all his opponents with a single punch, and Genos... Genos was still with him, and while he was physically different from his dream counterpart, he still seemed relatively the same. If anything, he was a bit stoked for the coming venture, but the first thing he had to do was figure out if he had work tomorrow and where. He didn't want to get fired for daydreaming, did he?

Over the next few days, Saitama continued his normal life, as a good samaritan looking out over his city, with his buddy genos despite the young teen being 6 years younger than him he had actually picked up on his training very easily in fact he would end up doing more than him most of the time and even doing more in some circumstances although he remained stronger than his apprentice for a good portion of the time, what else happened in the coming days were that the establishment of the S-class had come to pass extraordinary fighters that could come and fight a monster that was even stronger than that of tigers and Saitama had strangely knew of or at least seen most of them before, he was curious on his dream once more, was it more than just a dream? It could have been like a pseudo-prophecy of sorts, and if that was the case, then he could maybe help people in the future! He thought spectacularly! The only thing he wished he could remember were any lottery numbers. Banging his head in frustration at not being able to do so, he would settle for helping people out, but it probably couldn't be done here, and now he would just seem like a madman or doomsday sayer; he could make himself out to be some sort of prophet or maybe convince people that he was a time traveler from a distant future or something. That explodo dude did tell him something like the technique was something more like running away instead of going back in time.

Tragedy or more like great misfortune struck when he was at his job and for some reason, this little girl had completely flung him into the wall really hard breaking his bones in the process ad leaving him concussed in the middle of a haunted mansion, his thoughts were fairly murky after that he had to spin a couple of days in the hospital healing up which was unfortunate since the hero exams were coming up soon and he wanted to get some extra training in to really have the best chance of making it, however, he did use the time to focus upon reading he remembered the test had a written element that he totally flunked out on as he wasn't expecting it but now that he could he would make the most of it. He told Genos to continue on with his training without him; his disciple followed his instructions almost to the letter, just like he did in his dreams. Something strange occurred when the nurse gave him a gift, but not by Genos but by someone else. He couldn't read the prompt very well as it was in some strange language he couldn't understand, but other than his name. When he opened the gift, he was utterly shocked to see what had appeared inside of it. It was none other than something he saw in his dream; it was Geno's core, or at least something that looked extremely close to it. He fumbled it within his hands for some time, seeing what it would actually be in the real world, but hadn't found much luck in that regard, so he left it off to the side for now.

After he was finally freed from the hospital he had actually been invited over to Geno's house to celebrate with his family and a long-time acquaintance of theirs dr. Kuseno was their small town chief engineer and worked defending the place in the absence of heroes from monsters, they had told him about his most harrowing plight where of some mad cyborg that would have destroyed the place if it weren't for blast there to save the day, genos remarked that it was then he started his first thoughts on becoming a hero came to his head but he thought that he was not good enough to be one but when he saw Saitama risk his life despite not being special or having any special powers he felt in power to do so and at least try to attempt the journey, genos family all supported him and even offered to foot the bill for the two of them in the hero entry exam which Saitama was still eager to take and they all sat around and enjoyed a hot pot together before Saitama return home.

It was now the day of the exams, and things went more or less the same as they did in his dream, although he wasn't breaking records or anything like that. In fact, Genos was also here instead of being separated off and was often outperforming him in most of the tests. He guessed the guy was already strong and just needed the motivation to push forward, he thought, but he wouldn't let him show him up completely, so the two had a mini-competition between themselves, and despite losing, he had fun and eagerly awaited his results.

They both got their results, and while better than last time, he still only got into C-class in the upper double digits, in fact, but Genos flat-out scored in B-class pretty far down in the triple digits, but it was an entire class up in comparison to himself, which he figured had to be due to him still being injured from his hospital visit and not being able to live up to his true potential. They went through the normal routine of becoming new heroes and which came to the introductions and initiation portion from none other than Snek, Saitama knew what could happen so he placated the man a bit more in hopes of avoiding a fight elsewhere however it turned out that seemed to be inevitable when on his and genos stroll back home they had run into a monster of some kind, this monster has multiple arms webbed together and could spawn them around itself almost like flowers he didn't know why the monster seemed familiar to him but it seemed to purposefully target him out, it spoke about how none of what was happening was real and how he should wake up but anything more from the monster had been destroyed when genos had used his hand to fire a large blast of fire from an arm attachment that dr. Kuseno gave him for troubling times the monster was immediately dead and after a moment Genos assured him on forwards to celebrating their first monster kill as heroes.

They continued to fight monsters and crime together all although people around would refer to him as genos sidekick when in actuality it was the opposite. Multiple incidents he knew flew by that matched his dreams almost perfectly to the point where it had to have been some kind of prophecy but what was the point of it all when he lacked the strength or character to change much of anything, he could only stop and stare like everyone else as the meteor came rocketing down towards the ground, the only reason they were saved was due to the efforts of King. The man was an absolute legend, completely obliterating the meteor from sight and saving the day. He was one of the lucky few close enough to get the man's autograph. However, once all the excitement drew clear and he finally saw what it said, it was something much more. The message on the hero flier simply read, "This was your job." Saitama didn't know what the man meant by that, and he couldn't find the man after to explain. He asked Genos for any possible clues on what the message could mean, and he hypothesized that it was probably just King showing tough love to fellow heroes, and while he possesses unrivaled strength, the other heroes shouldn't be complacent and work to get to his level so he doesn't have to pick up their slack.

Saitama wondered about that. In his dream, King was a fake riding on his power, but he guessed that in reality, he was the true champion of the earth. Maybe he just wanted to feel what that was like. He continued on and he continued to attempted to tell the association about future dangerous events but he could tell that they weren't really listening to him, that was until the J-city massacre, despite his best efforts in working with the other heroes couldn't stop the monster from killing at least half of the civilians inside of the bunker before another S-class hero could arrive in the building to finish it off, it was none other than atomic samurai who dice the monster to shreds, the man looked over at him from the carnage of the murdered civilians he couldn't hear very well his body ached with pain and he probably had several broken bones if his micro spasms were anything to go by, but from reading his lips he could see that the man told him that the incident was somehow his fault? Why? How? He tried his best, but he wasn't as strong as he was in his dreams, which he wished he was, but that just wasn't reality before his consciousness started to fade once more.

His stay in the hospital was also uneventful; he was more worried about Genos, and if he was doing alright, it was the first time he was really injured, and maybe that could be a wakeup call. Speaking of wake-up calls, if his dreams or visions were mostly correct, barring a few intricate details here and there with just him as the center, could that mean the accident that causes Genos to get a mechanical body hasn't happened yet? Was he indirectly leading him into that situation? Maybe he should talk to him about it. He managed to avoid anything happening to him by advising the guy to go visit Fubuki since he was in B-class so that he could avoid some noob-crushing scenario, but he couldn't protect him if something was just too dangerous. Another mysterious person had shown up at the hospital. This person was some green-haired teen a little younger than Genos. The teen seemed to be in a hurry and told him again to "wake up" before having to flee from the room. He didn't know what to make of it; he had guessed that he was just in the wrong room, found his mistake, and quickly left. The next moment, Genos came charging into his room, asking if someone had entered inside.

Saitama nodded his head and told his apprentice that it was just a lost guest or something before turning the topic back to whether he was okay. Both of his arms were in slings, and his entire torso and neck were wrapped in bandages and braces. Despite that, the man remarked that he was okay and that he was still willing to do hero work. Saitama guessed that the burning sense of justice was a real thing, but he was still hesitant about it. He offered to have a dinner over at his place to discuss their next steps later. The remainder of the hospital stay took over a week, and he was recommended a few extra days of suspended hero activity, although it was up to his discretion. Upon exiting the hospital, however, he bumped into someone else, a hero; in fact, it was a large woman in a silver ninja garb. She didn't say anything, only handing him an envelope and walking off. He looked down at the envelope and opened it almost immediately on his way home. The message again was a strange one that only remarked, "Do not trust Geno... Wake up. You are strong." He didn't know what to make of it or who that girl was, so he elected to ignore it, at least for now, as he threw the letter away and hurried home.

At his home, he decided to just sleep the rest of the day away. He cradled the orb thing in his hands from his gift from the last time in the hospital. He had tried to find out what it actually was; he thought it was some sort of disco ball of some sort, but he couldn't find anything that looked like it online. Every time he held it, he felt saddened, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to throw it away. Maybe he was just being sentimental about his dream world and how it was his dream come true, at least initially before he wanted to beat everything with one punch, but now? Now he didn't know what his dream hero was; he didn't just want to be in it for the combat; after what he saw that day, he wanted to be for something more, maybe to protect others who couldn't protect themselves, but he wasn't that noble of a person. He knew that, but it did beat his previous goal if that was how it was going to be.

Another few days go by and another set of strange occurrences happen, telling him to wake up or that he is stronger than he is now, especially when he runs into Bang, or more like Bang had saved him from a monster and offered him a chance to practice at his dojo. The man's dojo had been bustling; he had about two dozen students even just for that class and remarked that he had 100 or so of them in total, which Saitama found impressive. The old man remarked that he even had someone who would take over the dojo for him, which was Garou. Immediately upon hearing that name, his vision almost seemed to flicker, and he saw nothing but a dark void for a moment. When he glanced upon the teen himself, a voice rang in his head.

"[What are you doing?] Get up! Idiot!]"

Saitama shook his head from the thoughts, searching around for that disembodied voice. His mind must have been playing tricks on him, he guessed. Genos offered to take him away given that he wasn't feeling well; he didn't know why, but he felt that he still wanted to stay. He heard that voice a bit longer, but Genos was adamant about them leaving, and after some mild argument, he agreed to do so. Today was the day he wanted to talk to Genos about being heroes, and he saved up just enough to get some expensive beef steak for the occasion. He dipped into his funds for a bit, but he thought that it would be worth it in the end, or at least he hoped so. The night came and Genos came over. He wasn't very good at fixing up his house to compliment guests, so he basically just left it as it was and seemed to just get some fancy-looking clothes to place under his silverware. The night was pleasant, almost like how it was in its dream. Instead of what he was about to say, he told Genos what he experienced in his dream while he was knocked unconscious, how those same events were playing out, and his fears for what would happen to him in the future and how he should maybe stop being a hero. As expected, the teen thought he was just being ridiculous and superstitious, but his mood changed once he showed him the core, but it wasn't what he expected it to be.

It seemed the teen was more angry than surprised. He questioned where he got such a device from, and Saitama responded that someone had given it to him. Genos remarked that the device could be a reason that he has been feeling off lately and should probably get rid of it, even offering to do it for him. When the teen reached out to grab the orb, however, both of their hands touched the device. Saitama's vision again changed, this time for a longer time. He could see nothing but an empty void, but what shocked him the most was that, whatever it actually was, his face was nothing like before; it was something completely different. Lines streamed down his face, and it held no human features like it was replaced by spaghetti. Before his vision returned to normal, as Genos wrestled the orb from his hand, another voice came in through what seemed like the very room, shaking so violently that his ceiling started to collapse.

"[what the hell did I tell you, world's strongest!? It's time for you to play your role stop your daydreaming already and come back!]" The person spoke he couldn't see the person's face as the dust and debris completely shadowed it, but the guy seemed completely unhinged with glowing red eyes in the smoke but that completely vanished when a large amount of flames completely blew through the smoke and out the shadows chest in the dust….

As the dust cleared it only left him and Genos there in his room the being that had been there seemed to have vanished like a ghost or apparition, Saitama had spotted the core and picked it up before looking at Genos once more, he attempted to tell him that whoever gave him that must have been trying to give him a curse or something that they should destroy it with great haste. The core had been talking to him the voice from before no not just that one several of them telling him to break out, free himself, destroy the link and how none of it was real….he clutched the core in his hands as he moved forwards and feigned agreeing with genos before he used it to clock him upside the head with it, his vision flicked for the moment of contact showing the brief being disguising himself as his best friend even though his pained voiced he slammed it over top of his head again and again..he blocked out the voice, the cry of sensei, Sensei, SENSEI!

After every hit the world around them had started to shake and fracture almost like it was coming undone and shifting apart, he continued to hammer away until finally the voices stopped and the world around him faded into nothingness, when he opened his eyes neck he was in the middle of a dark voice nothing seemed to even exist anymore, all except the thing that he stood on which he realized was the moon? But if that was the moon then where was the earth? His head was fuzzy and he stood up on shaky legs before he could finally hear voices from behind above him.

"[you're finally awake huh idiot? Hurry up and touch just one of us and undo all this mess.]" the same voice remarked from what clearly was a thunderous battle happening above him, he couldn't see it clearly given the sheer darkness but he could see several things floating up in the sky he guessed, several beings or monsters it looked like going by their weirds shaped but each of them bore a striking resemblance to that of the S-class heroes, they had been fighting against the large monster from before but also something else entirely he couldn't see as they were attacking empty space instead.

{Saitama you're almost there, one more punch and I'll be free, don't you wish for what you saw to be reality? I can make it so…everyone can live their dream, even yourself. Didn't you wish to kill me? Well, you can't do that without freeing me first.} another more sinister voice spoke in the completely dark void devoid of everything. He couldn't see anything but the fighting above seemed pretty intense. He took a glance down to the thing below him. At first, he thought that it had just been the moon but something just inside of it seemed like a person. Clutched in the fetal position but locked in place, the moon had been shattered to pieces scattered about in the void, he stood on the last remaining section that held the large being at bay.

"[don't listen to it Saitama, it's too strong, just come into contact with one of us and we can go back, rewind everything and stop this all from happening in the first place!]" Bakugo's voice yelled out in response, Saitama took a look around at the empty void and the creature trapped in the moon before making his choice. It was a simple one, if there was a chance to save everyone he would take it. He put power into his legs and jumped forward the world around him seemed to scream at him once more calling him a coward he didn't know why but he felt that his life was honestly in danger for the very first time, he couldn't see what was coming but his feeling led his body through as he threw a punch coming at an invisible object and he was utterly shocked to see that his arms was completely destroyed. The pain had come and gone the instant it remained as he proceeded upwards into the void of darkness towards the fighting above, the number of bodies of the S-class heroes along with the mutants came down towards him, and as they approached he could feel something was coming following them, all of them seemed to take evasive maneuvers coming and set up a defensive perimeter for him to move, while one of them the green haired boy kept telling him on when to dodge to avoid his invisible attacker that managed to slip through them, the distance between them had seeming continual increased no matter how high he climbed in the darkness of the void it all seemed like he was standing still the only way he could tell that he made distance at all was that the part of the moon that he had been on had disappeared from his sight.

The world seemed to vibrate and shake once more as the battle raged above, 37 beings fighting the ghost of something really powerful the void shook with each massive impact and the light from attacks seemed to illuminate the void for but nanoseconds before that light completely disappeared into darkness once more. The being continued to retreat down towards him fighting all the while this invisible enemy that he couldn't see, but he never minded that as he started to accelerate himself using his one good arm combined with his legs to push himself upwards at incredible speed but the distance seemed minimize but a fractions despite the increase were they simply that high in the void or was their something else to it? The fighting had eventually started to sour as more and more of the things bodies turned towards him to reach him, several of the bodies that were about to reach him had simply evaporated into nothing before they could be taken by some invisible entity far off into the distance unable to see.

Despite the losses they continued to attempt to reach him any of them, they only needed a single touch but that touch seemed incredibly fall off from happening, his senses flared once more telling him something was coming towards him this time directly for his chest and the person that protected him was none other than genos himself along with drive knight , he could clearly see the cyborgs had seemed to grab ahold of something and that danger he slowed and missed it's mark soon enough all of the rest of the beings above started to mirror them and help them in grabbing and holding the creature back instead of just fighting it head on, leaving only one of the being this one being Bakugo coming down towards him, however the one being that he could see had finally made a move bursting free from it's seemingly suspended animation and striking at the boy cold, stabbing him through the chest but the teen had actually just smiled and called "god" an idiot, before he grabbed a hold of the creatures large wrist as it going through his chest, before he yelled out for someone else named "aoyama" suddenly from behind him a tear in space opened up and another being had came out from the tear int eh hole in space, Saitama immediately started to make his way towards it as the monster had been kept busy by Bakugo, a resounding "NO!" shook the universal dark void once more and Saitama could feel for another moment something was coming at him however it was too late he managed to meet up with the being that came out of the tear and touched it what proceeded next was a incredibly weird feeling the being started to melt inside of him and became one with him, he felt tingly all over but he knew what he had to do.

In the very next moment however pain ruptured through his body once more, he looked down and could finally see what was happening a large tentacle-like appendage had stabbed him completely through his stomach, he turned around to look at the monster now being able to see what the others had been fighting for so long, all of them being were gone now he could see the last of them seemingly being absorbed into the monster itself. They all stared at him as they were but none of them showed signs of fear or concern, he locked eyes with genos who was smiling as he was also absorbed, his voice was silenced by the monster but his lips told him that he believed in him before they were all absorbed into…something, now that he could see his enemy he would have that he would be able to tell what it was but it wasn't something he could really put into words there was a giant swirling darknesses portal that had seemed to open from a different dimension he there had been six other portals similar to it that had the creatures arms and foot sticking out of it while the main large one possessed its head that looked more like a planet than a face.

The monster that had been wrestling with Bakugo had come up in front of the large portal and floated in front of it all.

{All your allies are dead, submit to me and I can rewrite this world}

"[why don't you do it yourself? You seem pretty strong yourself ]"Saitama questioned as he tore the tentacle out of his stomach.

{I cannot, only an outside entity can destroy my prison} the monster remarked

"[that must suck for you]" Saitama remarked simply with a shrug.

{you have nothing left, allow me to rebuild everything, I can even fulfill all of your friend's wishes, King will be strong and genos will have his family.. Or will you take your ignorance to the grave? You destroyed everything in this world just as I predicted you would given your open defiance against me.} the monster spoke.

"[huh? What did I ever do to you?]" Saitama questioned

{you broke your limiter, interfering with my plans for humanity}

"[Good…your plans are to kill humanity right? So I guess I was doing a good job then and I'll continue to do so….. Because I'm a hero.]"Saitama replied.

With a surprising shift in tone, Saitama dashed forward towards the monster before it could continue to speak and he returned the attack that he received from it striking right through the creature's large chest but that wasn't all he started to absorb the energy of the creature and directed that energy into himself but more importantly to a specific new ability rewind, immediately a horn shot up and out of the top of his forehead stretching high into the dark void completely so far that he could not even tell where it ended, the monster could see what he was trying to do and attempted to stop it however it was to late as light energy started to expunge from his very body not only lighting him up but the entire universe.

Saitama watched with surprise as everything started to play around him almost like it was in reverse he had no clue what power the thing had given him but he knew that he needed to use it, the universe had seemingly winked back into existence as a shockwave played in reverse creating everything again ad fixing it, the stars in the sky started to wink in existence bit by bit coming even the large hole that had formed was also completely back into its normal place when Saitama first saw the earth he knew his target as he began to fall downwards towards the place heating up in the atmosphere as it reformed around it, everything had started to rewind and go backward as he began to fall even his very own body. His bloody arm had completely healed itself, and the hole in his stomach that he forgot was even there and closed up like it was brand new.

As he fell down into the upper atmosphere of the earth and passed the moon, which had started to reform itself as well, coming over the large huddle man within its center, the monster that he was currently punching through continued to degrade him, calling him an abomination, abnormality, and betrayer, but Saitama ignored him as he first started to crash down. Flames lick at the edges of its being as they start to enter the terminal velocity of the upper atmosphere and go further and further until Saitama can see the continent and even some of the dead that lay in the street rise once more and begin to walk in reverse back to their original positions. As he crashed down in the ruins of Z-city, he wished that he had enough in the tank to bring back his home, but a glance at his horn told him that it wouldn't be possible. Well, he guessed that would be his consequence for letting this stuff happen in the first place.

He looked down at the monster, he was preventing it from reversing like everything else around him and the reason was simple he had one thing and one thing he wanted to say to god, it was the same promise as before but this time he added an additional clause to it, he would get stronger and he would defeat the entity with ONE PUNCH, before the throwing the monster skywards into the air and punching it high into the sky, the monster had actually laughed at his threat and remarked that he would eagerly await their final showdown before disappearing its body had started to come undone and mutate even more before it started to split apart multiple bodies started to erupt from it like a pinata, several of them he recognized but others he didn't at all, the mutants and S-class heroes had all slammed down behind him and Garou stood in front of everyone on top of a large hill, it was at that point the power had started to feign and wind down completely.

"It's time to conduct, hmm? Oh, you back so soon? Are you finally willing to fight me seriously?"Garou asked as he took a single step down from the hill.

"Yeah, sure," was Saitama's simple reply as he stepped forward, fist balding.

"Saitama, please don't ki-"

"Don't worry, Bang, I didn't forget about your deal. I hope you remember the cappa lettuce this time, but I do have a few words for your apprentice here, and then I'll turn him over to you." Saitama quipped back before he continued forward towards Garou.

"[Words? And what would those words be?"Garou asked as he allowed the man to step up to him, but the man suddenly appeared in front of him way faster than he expected. Under the hero's harsh gaze, he felt incredibly small, like he was being looked down upon like he was nothing more than an ant. He could barely perceive when the man's fist had drawn backward worse yet when the fist drew near his face massively quicker than he had before, all his senses told him that it was also massively stronger. This fist that drew close to his face was the only thing he could see or tell from the power behind it.

DEATH

He attempted to switch modes quickly, but it was too late; the punch had already met his face, and his thoughts completely blacked out as he heard the hero's words.

"Don't ever mess with my disciple," Saitama remarked as the punch landed squarely in the teen's face, completely disrupting his own facial features that showed up in the center, which were completely pulverized. Along with Garou's current costume, likely given to him by that creature, was completely gone, blowing away into the wind as the shockwave from the punch. Garou himself might have also gone flying away, likely into space as well, but Saitama anchored him down to keep that from happening. The sheer force of the blow did not only part the clouds in the sky as the dawn of a new day started to shine down upon them it had quickly changed back to the evening, and then night all over again this rotation continued for about 10 entire times before finally settling down, ironically enough back to where it began in the first place, Saitama looked up not at the changing sky like everyone else but at the shards of Garou costume as it floated away in the brief moment of night time he could see it take shape of that god monster from before it's silhouette still in the shape of the creature laughing before drifting off into the atmosphere Saitama balled his fist once more he didn't know if he was more angry or excited to learn of whatever this creature was but that was for another time he guessed as looked back down at the others.

Saitama silently breathed a sigh of relief as luck was on his side as the planet came from the rapid spin he put it in and slowed down to just about the same time where he left it. Daybreak was coming over the horizon and the battle was over. The heroes below him had looks of utter shock all over their faces at the events of the sky before they came rushing back down at him. Saitama Bridal carried an unconscious Garou in his hands, and Bang quickly rushed over to come collect him from Sasam's grasp just in case he dropped an ear to the boy's unconscious form. He checked for his heartbeats and was relieved when he heard them before patting Saitama on his back, thanking him, and taking the unconscious teen from his grasp to hold instead. Just as Bang stepped away, Saitama was surprised to find Genos rocketing towards him, but the spontaneous tackle with open arms, while his legs were completely destroyed, his arms were fine, and he embraced Saitama, and Saitama did the same to him.

"I'm good to have you back... genos… I'm sorry for not being there for you when I needed to." Saitama remarked to no response; the cyborg likely didn't know what he was talking about, but he expected the cyborg to say that he was speaking nonsense and that he always made it on time, which was definitely not true, especially at this moment.

"Tha-..it's ok sensei, you made everything better just like I know you would have; the enemy seemed to have been a bit more out of the ordinary this time around, even though you did not get out of it unharmed," Genos remarked. The Saitama quickly peeled Genos from around him and looked him dead in the eyes.

"Wait ..Yo-You? Remember?" Saitama asked

"Yes, sensei, due to you holding my core, I can remember the effects of what happened, at least up until the point of its destruction. After that, I do not know what happened, but you say that day, you defied the laws of time and space to ensure that everyone was safe. Even if I'm the only one who knows the truth, I'll be sure to tell those who need to hear it." genos remarked.

"No, it's fine, Genos. You know, by now I'm not one to boast about my accomplishments; however, I can't say that I did it entirely on my own; Bakugo and his friends helped me out as well.'' Saitama replied before turning around and taking a glance towards the explosive blonde and his friends' direction. The boy was looking at him as well with a light grin on his face before it turned to something else as he was distracted—something or more like someone had kissed him on the cheek and whispered something into his ear, causing him to rapidly turn around—but by the time he looked, the person was gone. That person was actually the girl he met from before. Part of him maybe thought he should chase her down and ask for answers regarding what happened, especially if she proved to be trouble later on, but something told him it wouldn't be a problem.

"Bang, where do you think you're going with the human monster? For his crimes, the decision is not optional; his execution must be carried out." The threatening voice of Sweet Mask spoke out as he was carrying the unconscious teen away towards his brother.

"Understand your anger, sweet mask; however, killing him simply won't be enough. If he's hurting people, he should make it up ten times, no hundred times over, by saving others." Bang argued

"What's the big deal, man? He's already unconscious. Are you really going to kill him in his sleep?" Metal Bat defended, getting in the stars' way.

"That definitely seems like right up his alley of 'justice," Iaian remarked as he stood against the man as well.

"Do we need to remind you that you owe your current life to a monster, right?" Ojiro commented, and for a moment, Sweet Mask turned to him and was completely angered by the assertion. He tried to remember anything of the sort, but his thoughts were mostly scrambled and lost. Part of him recognized something like that occurring, but he wasn't the one lying on the ground, or was he? His thoughts were scrambled; it almost seemed like he could actually see himself in his own memories on the ground where the monster was located.

"That was nothing more than a deal of convenience; we have no more reason to honor such a thing with a monster who has no rights." His sweet mask was cut off as a sword was drawn on him from none other than Atomic Samurai.

"Hey, if I'm thinking right, then I remember that I gave my word; as long as the monster lives up to the end of its protection by me and the council of swords, I'll take full responsibility in the event it does betray that trust," the atomic samurai replied, only making more and more of a sweet mask anger flex in rage as he looked around towards the other S-class heroes.

"King, someone like you must understand the severity of letting someone like that live; he has already done irreparable harm to heroes and people alike." Sweet Mask attempted one last time, and this time all attention was focused on King. The King's engine immediately started to roar in fear and anxiety, although no one else knew that. He looked around at the other S-class heroes waiting on his judgment and then looked towards Saitama.

"I think the person who defeated Garou should be the one that gets the final say in what we do with him," the king replied, simply passing off the intense stares to the one and only Saitama.

"Well, I don't agree with killing him either, and Bang wanted him alive, so I went with that. Besides, despite wanting to be absolute evil, he was really good at saving people more than I ever was." Saitama stated, murmuring the last bit mostly to himself and Genos.

"I also want him alive, but mostly just for information; there was a cadre, I think? or a human that had power and claimed to receive it from God. The power Garou just showed was more than a simple monsterization." zombieman remarked

"Speaking of which, how did you defeat Garou? What was that?" Flash asked, looking at the bald man that Saitama had to stop. He never really had to answer that question as he looked over all of them, his eyes locked with the king for a moment before the man himself glanced down at the purple boy below him before he looked back at him.

"Saitama, it is time; can I do it?" King asked the man, and while he didn't like taking credit for Saitama, from his interaction with the man, he wouldn't take too much more kindly to the attention that he got, but as he saw the bald man nod, he went on to say what he was going to say.

"Everyone, I'm retiring as a hero." This garnered shock looks from everyone present; however, he reeled in pain when the small boy hit him in the knee for not telling the whole truth. It was presumptuous of the teen to think that he wouldn't continue on and tell them why he was retiring (even though he wasn't going to really). He continued nonetheless.

"What I'm really trying to say is that... I'm... I'm a fake. All the things people credited me with weren't my own. It was all his, Saitama, the true strongest man on earth." King said with a calm, serious, unwavering tone that left no room for argument or debate. The shocks from before this time were met with gasps and even yells of shock from all of the S-class present. No one said anything for several moments, just taking the time to process that information.

"K-King, are you sure you're not feeling well? Look, all of our heads are a bit screwed up from the day's events. Maybe we should all just go home and think things over before we jump the gun on things, alright?" child emperor commented.

"The child is right; this is no time for jokes if that was supposed to relieve the mood or simply get me to forget about Garou and the other monster. It shall not work," sweet Mask remarked as he cast a glance over at the four monsters that still stood alongside them.

"Well, I think you should take the child's advice and take a chill pill until later." A disembodied voice rang out, and at this sweet mask, he instantly knew who it was. He turned his attention to where the voice came from, and in the hands of the drive knight belonged the orb of none other than the energizer. This monster, if his memories aren't learning him astray, knew his secret. How many people did it tell? And why did he transform into a monster in the first place? His memories were only confusing him, and he now had to work out how to exit the conversation, as his silence drew on, more and more people found it curious. He couldn't just back out, as that would lead to suspicion, but he couldn't very well continue fighting unless the monster revealed that it had a secret against him.

Luckily for Sweet Mask, his waiting had proven very fruitful as the whirling of machinery had came in from under the ground; it was none other than Metal Knight, not only did he come with a ground machine, but there were numerous drones in the sky scanning and spraying something into the air. All attention was focused on the tank, like a drilled metal night drone on the ground.

"One of the ships on the coast I designed detected a nuclear blast. Readings indicate that the fallout has been somewhat reversed. I'll launch an analytical investigation of the attack. Most of you have also been infected with minute levels of radiation poisoning. There will be mandatory testing and decontamination procedures at the lab for everyone. If the monsters are to live, then they will submit to having a tracker either implanted in them or on their person in some shape or form to prevent them from escaping and causing more havoc." The drone remarked as it scanned around and looked towards the monster behind the mutants.

"I'm cool with that, but could it be like a necklace or something?" Jackie asked

"It matters not to me," Aki remarked simply with a shrug of the shoulders.

"I expected nothing less from the start." Phoenix Man spoke simply.

"I will handle energizer tracking." Drive Knight spoke up as he held the large metal orb in his hands. There was a pause.

"Energizer?...are you sure? Given the creature's capabilities, it could be hazardous to keep in your care." the metal night drone.

"'I'll be fine, Bofoi; as long as he doesn't push me, there won't be any problems." the ball remarked.

"It's your choice, drive knight; if your gamble pays off, you could die; I handle it solely with machines for a reason." The drone remarked

"I will have to thoroughly prepare for its betrayal if it ever occurs," Drive Knight remarked simply.

During the whole hustle and bustle of the arrival of Metal Knight and his drones, Saitama used the opportunity to take his leave, along with Genos, and walk off into the sunset.

"Master, what the King said, is it really true? He has been stealing your credit the entire time. Genos asked as he was held like a backpack by Saitama.

"Yup, it's just like he said." Saitama mentioned it casually.

"Why did you allow such a thing, sensei, not to mention letting the man into your home? Does your modesty truly know no bounds?" Genos remarked energetically.

"I don't know about modesty, but I guess it was because maybe I just liked being around the guy. He seems pretty cool, and besides, it wasn't my secret to air out; only he could do it; it would help him grow. I'm pretty sure he likes that all that responsibility will finally be off his back." Saitama replied after a brief moment of thought.

"Now you will be forced to shoulder that burden, wouldn't you master? Although it was always one you should bear in the first place." genos remarked

"Yes, maybe …I should stop treating this as a hobby and get more serious," Saitama replied with a heavy sigh as he looked at the sun coming up over the horizon.

"Master-"

"For now, genos, let's have Dr. Kuseno, fix up your legs. Then we can start looking for what's left of our apartment, in this pile of rubble. I would like to meet him." Saitama remarked, cutting his apprentice off.

"Yes, Master! I'll lead you there!" Genos replied with enthusiasm as he started to guide Saitama toward his master's secret base.

---

3 days later

Prison-holding center 25

Bang continued forwards walking towards the holding cells the hero association had proven more sly than he expected so much had occurred over the last few days, the mutations that had manifested in all of the S-class hero heroes revealed during their medical screening were quite surprising one to be sure, his memories were a bit of a mess thinking back on the prior days and he was sure it was not due to his old age he wasn't losing the edge that badly or at least he hoped not but he sure it wasn't that because the memories he has of the events he was confident he took no part in, he never encountered the large dog creature underground or at all and to cement that fact he was sure that he never tanned his skin so the han he was seeing could not have been his but that just left more questions than answers.

The association had apprehended Garou and locked him down shortly after his decontamination was completed. They had all been separated, so he could not have been there to object, but he was happy just to know that the boy had survived and he was now finally able to visit him. As he was guided through the lower levels of the association by a couple of the guards, he was allowed to take Garou out of his prison cell for a couple of days as long as he was under his constant supervision. He thanked the guard as he opened up the cell before allowing him to enter and quickly closing it behind him. Bang saw Garou lying on the bed. He had risen quickly to the sound of the door opening but laid back down once he saw him and said nothing. Bang took that as a good sign before he took one chair in the room and pulled it up beside his bedside.

"What do you want, old man?" Garou remarked

"I'm here to take you on probation, of course; I'm sure they have already told you you will apologize to all the people you wronged on your hunts," Bang replied

"Tch…whatever, fine... I was getting bored in here anyway. Garou replied, still lying down with his eyes closed.

"Tell me, Garou, what were you trying to achieve by your hunts? What was your goal? I can remember something about "absolute evil," but why?" Bang asked sincerely.

" I…. I wanted peace as plain as that. But I realized heroes don't allow that to exist; their sense of "justice" is biased, but what the world needs is unbiased, absolute evil. True peace is achieved through unbiased fear that heroes can't achieve; the half-assed peace that heroes make only serves to make people complacent in their hearts, and that complacency leads to evil deeds. On top of that, humans aren't always punished for their evil deeds. That's the crucial difference between them and monsters. An imperfect fake brand of peace that turns humans evil a place where you can't even make things right for a single ugly little brat getting picked on in the corner of the park... I knew since figuring that out what I had to do. I would renounce that kind of peace. I'd get stronger than everyone else and become the absolute monster! That no justice could ever take down... that was the plan anyway until he came in... Despite all that power, he still beat me with one punch when he got serious. You completely knocked me out, so that dream will never come to fruition." Garou remarked simply

"I… I see. Have you never heard that the greatest pain and suffering come from those with the noblest of intentions? I can understand where you were going, and I can't fully disagree that certain humans contain privileges that allow them to allude to punishment; however, in the world, you were trying to create, one ruled by fear, those issues will only exacerbate themselves. The world you sought to achieve would only devolve into people sheltering away from each other; it would not bring them together. You could see the results in isolated monsters attacking people. Humans are selfish creatures; they will protect the ones closest to them and ignore the rest. You know this to be true." Bang remarked that there was a sharp silence for several seconds, which stretched on to one and then two minutes before Bang continued.

"Garou I will not lie to you for your crimes; you will be here for a long time. However, I have made some deals that have the possibility of reducing your sentence if you do not get rid of it entirely." Bang said that Garou actually sat up on his bed to look at his old master.

"What? type of deals, don't tell me I have to do community service or something dumb like that." Garou remarked.

"Eh, something in that regard. I'll explain it to you at a later time after we finish righting your wrongs." Bang spoke as he stood up and made his way to the doorway, proceeding forward and receiving an item—an ankle monitor—and Garou grimaced at the device but placed it on anyways before proceeding out of his cell with Bang.

---

Z-City Rubble Town

Both Genos and Saitama had been scouring the rubble-filled everything that was the previous ghost town things had been poor everything seemed to be grounded up to little chunky bits, genos was the first one to him that the person who caused such destruction was none other than tatsumaki and that he would write a complaint and recite for everything that was lost or broken that she would have to payback in full, Saitama mostly just chuckled at the thought but waved his apprentice down, he didn;t care to much about all the stuff at least what was his he was more concerned about king's game console which he took again without permission, he could just but a new one but that meant all his save process would be completely reset on all the games he plays and despite his power he definitely would take forever to get that back to him, he couldn't believe a man had 100% completed over 20 games on a portable device now that was dedication that match even his own he thought with a chuckle as he continued to search the rubble filled streets before he and genos both hear screams from a couple meters away.

The final black sperm had finally emerged from his hiding spot, determined to make his escape. He couldn't believe that the monster association would have been defeated or how powerful some of the heroes were; it seemed like they didn't even have a chance to start with. He would need to replenish his cell stock, but then what? And more specifically, how much would he even need to overcome those monstrous heroes? If trillions of him struggled a bit with flashy flash, then against someone like Tatsumaki, it would maybe take quadrillions or hell, maybe even quintillions of himself to beat that woman, and that wasn't even all there was still blast, king, and that bald guy there just was no way... unless he simply waits them out? They were humans, so that meant they would kick the bucket simply because of old age; way before he did, it would be the only choice.

"That's where you were." A voice suddenly sounded from behind him, and his nerves immediately spiked. He turned around and immediately cooled off.

"God, Silver Chains don't scare me like that, so what are you going to do now that the monster association is dead? You got some sort of secret ninja hideout that we can use to lay low?" black sperm asked as he proceeded toward her.

"Indeed, I do know of a location where they will not be able to find you." Silver Chain commented simply.

"Well where is it?" black sperms remarked as he got closer to her looking around to ensure that no one was around him, that was until he felt two had quickly wrapped around him.

"Hey! What are you doing? Stop! Wait!" Black Sperm yelled before he was literally torn in half. Silver Chain's jaw dislodged as it spread open to eat the small monster, throwing it up and cutting it into small pieces that fell directly into her mouth, which she properly snapped shut.

Silver Chain hurriedly dodged out of the way of an incoming fire blast a moment later as she turned to look at the two people approaching her. It was Saitama and Genos.

"Woah dude, calm down. It's just a girl," Saitama remarked to his sidekick.

"No, master, she sided with the monsters; her silhouette matched completely with the monster that attacked me before the invasion started." genos remarked

"Oh? Yeah, she was the one that also sent me to that hotel. Hmm, silvy, was it?" Saitama asked

"Silver Chain... and sorry for the deception I caused you, but I do not work with the monster association any longer," Silver Chain replied.

"No longer?" Genos threatened as he kept his palms igniting and facing her direction until Saitama put a hand over them, signaling that it was okay to drop it.

"Yeah, yeah, that's cool and all, but you still broke your promise," Saitama remarked simply, but the girl shook her head.

"I always fulfill my promises; follow me." Silver Chain remarked as she made her way forward, dashing off, Saitama was about to follow but was slowed by Geno's reluctance. However, the bald man remarked that he should trust him, and together they followed after the girl until she eclipsed the very edge of the Z-city ghost town, and there it was, comically, Saitama's house had been there, uprooted almost entirely intact from its original position.

"Haha, well, thanks. I guess you sure did keep up your end of the deal." Saitama laughed a bit before complimenting and heading past the girl towards his home, but Genos wanted the girl to go first just in case of booby traps, and she gladly took the lead, going up the stairs, which was followed quickly by the other two. She opened his door and proceeded inside, and there she waited as Genos inspected every nook and cranny before allowing Saitama to enter.

"You may leave now," Genos orders the intruder.

"Wait, actually, I wanted to talk to her," Saitama added on as she was about to leave, making Geno's head snap to his master before looking down at his wrist to see the time.

"But sensei, I will need to be somewhere soon; are you sure that you will be alright with this shady monster?" genos remarked

"Yes, it's alright; she saved my house after all. I think I can trust her for now, and besides, she knows how strong I am; she wouldn't want to fight." Saitama remarked

"Correct." Silver Chain said with a bow of her head.

"I see. Will I transfer your things back over to this home, Saitama?" genos remarked

"Nah, this place may be fine, but there is no power or water, so there is no point in moving back in," Saitama stated, and Genos nodded before taking his leave. The silence broke in the room for several seconds as he left.

"So what do you wish to talk about?" Silver Chain asked

"Well, other than this about my house, I guess I wanted to know why you were working with the monsters in the first place, but given what we just witnessed out there, even I could guess why," Saitama stated

"Indeed, I am a monster now." Silver Chain stated

"Now? As in, you weren't before? So why did you decide to change?" Saitama asked

"I decided to change to kill flash." Silver Chain remarked somewhat angrily.

"What for?" Saitama asked

"For revenge." Silver Chain replied simply.

"Ah…did you succeed?" Saitama asked bluntly.

"In a manner of speaking, yes, before you rewind everything." Silver Chain stated.

"Ah, so you remember as well, huh? Are you satisfied?" Saitama asked

"If you're asking if I will attack Flash again, then no." Silver Chain stated simply

"Well, that's nice to know, but I was just curious if you were happy when you finally got him," Saitama remarked, his thoughts dwelling on his apprentice. There was another brief moment of silence.

"At first, it was an exhilarating, joyous event, but the moment faded as quickly as it came. I doomed the world for the sake of my own ambition; I betrayed my clan. I would have taken my own life there, but... I was stopped." Silver Chain remarked that her tone was mostly flat, but it slowly whittled downward in pitch as she spoke.

"Your boyfriend stopped you, right? Bakugo." Saitama answered that he had a bunch of memories and thoughts from before, and some weren't his; he definitely doesn't have blonde hair.

"Right although he isn't my boyfriend." Silver Chain replied that could have fooled him, he guessed, but he was never someone who got the whole romance thing, so he would leave that topic where it lies.

"So what will you do now? Since you're not out for revenge anymore?" Saitama remarked

"I don't know; I still don't know if I should continue living anymore. I lack purpose now without my goal or my clan." silver remarked.

"So what were you doing out here?" Saitama asked

"Killing one of the last cadres, black sperm." Silver Chain remarked

"Oh, I see. Well, good. I couldn't have that causing trouble somewhere else. Well, that's all I really wanted to talk about. You're free to go. I'm just going to get some of my things and transfer them over to my new place. I know I started to feel the same way before. about lacking purpose, but I'm sure you can find it... Maybe your boyfriend could have some ideas; have you talked to him since a couple of days ago?"

"No… I have not... Maybe I'll take your advice, and I'll bid you farewell." Silver Chain remarked as she did another bow and left the place. She didn't know if she would actually go and visit Katsuki or not; she definitely wasn't going to until the resolution with her clan was settled, but she wondered how he and the rest of them were doing. They had all mutated from the events of the days prior, but in what shape did that mean for them and their quirks?

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End note: Alright we are finally done with the Monster raid! At least it didn't take as long as the manga lol. Not everything is just like normal because just as Blast said once touched by god it's almost impossible to return to normal! What are these mutations that everyone got and how will they deal with them? Find out next time in the next two parts of the story!