Above Queens, New York, the sky was torn open by a vicious purple rift. Unstable arcs of energy crackled along its jagged edges, emitting a teeth-grinding, high-pitched hum. Inside the rift was a deep, bottomless darkness, as if it connected to some corner of the universe filled with malice and hunger.
Suddenly, accompanied by a dense rustling that made your scalp crawl, countless black shadows poured out of the rift like boiling sludge. They slammed into the ground, rapidly unfolding their bodies and revealing a terrifying true form
Creatures shaped like mantises, but dozens of times larger than even the biggest African giant mantis. Standing upright, they could stare level with a double-decker bus. Their bodies were covered in dull, hardened metallic armor that reflected a cold sheen in the sunlight. Their forelimbs were bone blades like enormous scythes, their edges shimmering with the blurred halo of high-frequency vibration—easily slicing a parked car clean in half. Their razor mouthparts clicked open and shut with "ka-cha, ka-cha" sounds as they chewed through reinforced concrete like it was a tasty snack, treating the products of modern civilization as food.
Panic spread through the streets like a plague. Screams, explosions, and the thunder of collapsing buildings interwove into a doomsday symphony. People fled in terror, only to be run down by the agile insect swarm—tragedy playing out in every corner.
Amid the chaos, a red-and-blue figure was swinging between skyscrapers at blistering speed. Spider-Man, used precisely fired web lines to sling himself through the city, trying to draw the insects' attention and buy civilians more time to evacuate.
"Hey! Big guys—over here!" Peter shouted, firing a strand of webbing at one insect that was trying to climb a residential building, sticking it to the creature's back. He yanked hard, trying to fling the massive thing away, but its legs dug deep into the wall, refusing to budge. Instead, it twisted its head, then swung its scythe-like forelimb and effortlessly sliced through the tough webbing.
Peter's spider-sense screamed warnings. He flipped backward in midair just as another insect's bone blade skimmed his mask, the pressure of the swing making his cheeks sting. "Damn it! Their shells are way too hard—webs won't restrain them!" His heart sank, but he couldn't slow down for even a second. He kept dodging lunges and sprays of acid. Most of his attacks just bounced off that metallic armor, doing almost nothing—he could only barely hold them off.
Just as Spider-Man was being dragged into a bitter fight and his stamina was starting to drain, a man in an ordinary yellow jumpsuit with red gloves and a completely bald head was walking down the wrecked street, carrying a supermarket shopping bag, his face full of confusion. Saitama looked at the grotesque bugs scuttling everywhere, then up at the rift in the sky that kept "spitting out" more of them, and his brow furrowed.
"What's going on? The supermarket's having a sale today—I came all the way here to buy stuff, and it's this messy?" he muttered, carefully stepping around a puddle of sticky slime that looked like insect secretions.
"So many bugs… stepping on them would be a pain. If I'm not careful, I'll dirty the new shoes I just bought."
One of the insects spotted this bald man who looked completely harmless. It shrieked and lunged, raising its scythe forelimbs and chopping straight down with a screeching tear through the air.
Saitama seemed not to notice the deadly attack at all… or rather, he simply didn't care.
(End of Chapter)
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