"Wake up, Genos." Saitama patted Genos's face with his hand.
"Saitama-sensei..." Genos woke up dazed, but his expression quickly turned serious as he asked, "Saitama-sensei, what happened to that monster? And where is Mr. Lexon?"
"It's handled," Saitama replied. "As for Lexon..."
"Over here," Lexon's voice rang out from behind Genos.
Genos turned around and immediately saw Lexon, with torrents of chakra radiating from between his fingers.
"Mr. Lexon... what are you doing?"
"What does it look like? I'm treating everyone who passed out," Lexon said. "You were just hit by the shockwave of his aura, and since you're relatively strong, you woke up first."
"I see... I understand, Mr. Lexon," Genos realized. Then he asked, "Do you need any help, Mr. Lexon?"
"No need," Lexon replied.
Having been turned down, Genos obediently stood to the side, waiting along with Saitama and Watchdog Man.
Lexon's healing didn't last long.
Although the aura's impact spanned over a dozen cities and affected a massive number of people—and the S-Class heroes had their energy drained so heavily by the Blade Demon that they needed at least some replenishment to move again—
it clearly wasn't a simple task to wake everyone up and mitigate the effects. But for Lexon, such a feat was a trivial matter.
Gradually, the unconscious heroes began to wake.
The first thing they did upon waking was ask about the situation.
However, Genos didn't know the details, and Lexon and Saitama were too lazy to explain, so they had to ask Watchdog Man.
But Watchdog Man clearly had little desire to communicate either. After saying, "The monster has been eliminated," he sat next to Saitama like a canine statue.
I have to say, seeing those two identical egg-like faces in the same frame was truly a ridiculous sight.
The heroes could only feel helpless.
"Alright, finished," said Lexon, who had already awakened the citizens in the other cities as well.
"Time to head back, then," Saitama said, stretching his arms.
"Fubuki, Mumen, Genos... let's go," Lexon called out to them.
"Right," they responded eagerly.
"Sister... I'm leaving now," Fubuki said to Tornado. She had stayed by Tornado's side out of concern before passing out and waking up again.
"Fubuki," Tornado spoke just as Fubuki turned to walk away.
Fubuki instinctively froze.
"Is something wrong, Sister?" Fubuki turned around to face Tornado.
Her tone was firm now; she no longer showed the timidity she used to display in front of her sister.
Tornado didn't respond, simply staring quietly at Fubuki.
As the silence stretched on, even Fubuki's newfound resolve began to waver slightly.
Involuntarily, she looked away.
"Just go do what you want to do, Fubuki."
A moment later, Fubuki heard words that caught her completely off guard.
Her sister... actually said that...
Fubuki snapped her gaze back toward Tornado.
But all she saw was her sister's retreating back as she walked away into the distance.
[SIDE QUEST COMPLETED]
On Lexon's end, a cold mechanical voice echoed in his mind.
'Is it done?'
Since it was finished, Lexon put it out of his mind and stopped worrying about it.
He then called over his companions, preparing to return.
He planned to fly back.
After all, with most people having been unconscious and the destruction caused by the battle between Lexon and the Blade Demon, City A's transportation system would be paralyzed for a while. They couldn't go back the same way they came.
As for Mumen and Saitama, who couldn't fly...
Lexon used chakra to mold a pair of wings on their backs, allowing them to flap and fly along with him.
It was a good chance for Saitama to experience what flying felt like.
"Wait... Mr. Mist Swordsman!" As Lexon was about to leave, a somewhat youthful voice called out from behind him.
It was Child Emperor from the S-Class.
"What is it?" Lexon asked.
"Could you..." Child Emperor acted a bit bashful.
?
Lexon looked at him, confused by his behavior.
"Could you... give me an autograph!" The boy pulled a piece of paper and a pen from his backpack.
"..."
Lexon looked at the boy standing before him with his head bowed in anticipation, unsure of what to say.
'I thought it was something serious...'
Lexon scribbled his hero name on the paper and prepared to leave again.
"Wait!" another voice called out to stop him.
This time it was Atomic Samurai.
He jogged up to Lexon and said with a serious expression, "Mist Swordsman, I misjudged you before. You are a truly powerful individual!"
His previous dismissive attitude had completely vanished.
"Oh? Is that so?" Lexon said softly, not taking it to heart.
He didn't need praise or validation.
"So... would you consider joining the Council of Swordmasters! Without you, the Council is unworthy of its name!" Atomic Samurai said enthusiastically.
"No," Lexon refused flatly.
"I truly ask—"
"I still need to learn a thing or two from your disciple. I'm clearly not qualified to join some 'Council of Swordmasters.'"
Lexon interrupted him before he could finish, speaking with a smile.
"Uh..." Atomic Samurai's expression froze as his own self-important words were thrown back at him.
"I apologize. I realize now that my previous remarks were indeed irrational..." Atomic Samurai said with great sincerity, seemingly trying to salvage his image and correct his mistake.
It was understandable.
First, there was the matter of his own previous comments.
Furthermore, he had previously believed he had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship and that further progress would be difficult.
But today, Atomic Samurai had witnessed a realm of swordsmanship far beyond his own. Naturally, he didn't want to be on bad terms with such a person.
After all, if he wanted to glimpse the next stage of the sword, he would certainly need to seek guidance from him.
'I should apologize while I can... and try to turn this impression around.'
Such were Atomic Samurai's thoughts.
"I won't ask you to join the Council of Swordmasters again, but..." Atomic Samurai paused. "Could you please give me an autograph as well?"
'Another autograph seeker,' Lexon noted internally.
After scribbling his hero name once more, Lexon again prepared to depart.
"Wai—"
Yet another voice was about to speak.
However, Lexon couldn't be bothered to listen. He took to the air with Saitama and the others, flying back toward home.
"Sitch, what were you going to say?" Bang asked, looking at Sweet Mask, who had also been cut off.
"It's about his hero ranking," Sweet Mask said. "With his power, he shouldn't be in B-Class. He should be the standard for the S-Class, serving as a deterrent to monsters and bringing peace of mind to the public."
"Indeed... a B-Class rank is far too low," Puri-Puri Prisoner added.
"The Association will discuss this with the Mist Swordsman," said Sitch, a high-ranking official from the Association headquarters, as he joined the conversation.
...
A certain mountain.
A massive chasm appeared on the mountainside.
It looked as if the earth had been plowed.
At the end of the chasm lay a humanoid creature. His body flickered with violent energy, and he looked quite battered.
"Well, if it isn't Boros?" Suddenly, a figure with a slightly wicked face stood before the humanoid and mocked him.
"Who are you? How do you know me?" Boros asked, struggling to suppress the rampaging energy within him.
"No need for so many questions." The figure pulled out a strange, pulsating organ-like object and reached out toward Boros. His voice carried an inexplicable malice as he asked, "Do you... want to become stronger?"
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]