"Was it that bald guy from before?"
They had met at Hero Association Headquarters. As a mere B-Class, he had sat arrogantly at the head of the long conference table, so Flashy Flash did remember him somewhat.
Where had this guy come from? Flashy Flash had not noticed him at all.
Yet when facing an S-Class Hero, Saitama was the one who asked first. "Who are you? You look kind of familiar?"
"Meow meow meow..." Yimi had already recognized Flashy Flash. She spread all four limbs, ready to spring.
Saitama pointed at her. "Her fur's already standing on end."
Flashy Flash aimed his sword at the bald man in front of him. "So you're actually not on the heroes' side?"
Saitama crouched down and poked Yimi on the head. "I am a hero. A B-Class one, though."
"B-Class... I was already wondering why you showed up at an S-Class meeting before. Why are you here now, in the middle of the decisive battle with the Monster Association?"
"Because my house is right above us. More importantly, who are you? Why are you abusing a cat under my house? Did you destroy my home?"
Flashy Flash lowered his sword slightly and aimed it at Yimi. "If you're just some bystander who isn't strong enough to be involved, you'd better stay away from that cat. Anyone who hasn't cut themselves off from society should know about the 'Hero Hunter.' Standing beside it—are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"My TV only gets the free channels." Saitama had only recently found out that the Hero Association, which had existed for three years, even existed.
He poked Yimi on the head again. "Do you know this Hero Hunter he's talking about?"
Yimi shook her kitty head. "No. He's a cat abuser."
Saitama looked at Flashy Flash again. "See? She said so herself."
"Are you an idiot? What ordinary cat can talk?!"
"That does make sense..."
No, there was absolutely no reason to explain this much to a B-Class. If the man could not read the situation, that was his own problem. If he got unlucky in circumstances like this, he would only have himself to blame.
Flashy Flash moved just like his title suggested, turning into a streak of light. In less than a second, he closed the distance, drew his sword, violently shoved Saitama aside, and swung at the cat.
But the sequence went wrong halfway through, because Saitama caught the hand pushing toward him.
Flashy Flash froze.
A coincidence?
How could a B-Class possibly catch him while he was moving at full speed?
Flashy Flash glanced at Saitama in astonishment.
Was it really a coincidence? Should he try swinging his sword at him and see?
That would be a bad idea. He was still a human B-Class hero, after all. Flashy Flash might not take this small fry seriously at all, but attacking an ally first in front of the Hero Hunter was obviously unwise.
Yet while he was thinking that, his sword had already swung toward Saitama. Geniuses and strong people always carried a certain pride that made them want to prove their power.
But Saitama simply caught his sword with one hand.
"I'll punch you."
Flashy Flash looked off to the side. "My hand just slipped. At a time like this, I should—"
Before he could finish speaking, Yimi's hind leg kicked toward him. The fact that they had spent so long talking did not mean the kitten was forbidden from attacking. There was no need to be polite to someone who attacked first.
Even though Flashy Flash reacted instantly and brought his blade across his body to block, the enormous force concentrated into the tiny area of a cat's leg still sent him flying backward. The part of the blade struck by her paw split from the middle and broke away, spinning twice in the air before stabbing into the ground.
"Oh, you went flying. You okay?"
This B-Class was even making snide remarks like he had nothing to do with it! Flashkill had snapped because Saitama distracted him!
"You're not the strongest."
Yimi disappointedly licked her paw. Compared with Boros, this man was still far behind.
Then she turned her gaze toward Saitama. "Are you Blast?"
There was no such person among the S-Class Heroes, while Yimi had basically ignored everyone below S-Class.
But the speed with which this bald man had caught Flashy Flash's sword just now seemed almost faster than Boros. Meanwhile, there was no information at all about Blast, and many people even doubted whether he truly existed.
"No. More importantly, that guy stabbed you just now and you weren't hurt at all. Was he using one of those retractable swords?" Saitama casually picked Yimi up and looked at her stomach.
Yimi jumped out of his hands and inspected him from head to toe. He did not look strong at all. Even those dull, lifeless eyes of his had hardly changed from beginning to end.
She gave him a warning first. "Can I hit you?"
Saitama looked down at himself. "Did I do something to deserve getting hit?"
"I'm looking for the strongest person in this world. Then I'm going to beat them."
"I see. And after you beat them? Once you've defeated the strongest, you'll be the strongest in this world, right?"
"Then I can leave this world."
"Huh..." The completely unexpected answer seemed to make a row of black lines appear over Saitama.
So this cat was one of those oddballs on a completely different wavelength?
"Are you the strongest?" Yimi asked.
"Dunno. But ever since all my hair fell out, I don't think I've met anyone who could beat me." Saitama answered with complete indifference.
Both of them spoke with remarkable straightforwardness, but to Flashy Flash watching from the side, they were clearly two strange people carrying on as if no one else were there, talking about things nobody else could understand—and somehow getting along quite well.
"Then I'm going to hit you. I'm attacking now!" Keeping her Self-Adaptation at the SAO world's level, Yimi shot toward Saitama's face at a speed difficult for the naked eye to follow.
"You even warn me politely first?"
Saitama did not move. He let Yimi's paw smack him across the face, and his feet slid sideways across the ground for a considerable distance.
The kitty was shocked. Even Boros would have bled after taking that blow, yet this man was completely unharmed!
"I suddenly feel kind of annoyed with you. Are you thinking something rude?" Saitama casually threw a punch.
Immediately afterward, the dead-fish expression he had maintained all this time finally showed a trace of surprise.
The punch landed on Love Train, so naturally it had no effect either. Far away in City C, a criminal suddenly flew out of a bank in front of his dumbfounded accomplices and crashed onto the roof of a police car.
* * *
On the battlefield above, things were going exactly as Fubuki had expected. Psykos possessed power on a completely different scale from her own, enough to briefly contend with her sister, but her technique was far inferior.
The technique of using a small force to redirect a much greater one, which had been completely useless against her sister, worked almost absurdly well on Psykos.
It was baffling in the same way as certain cartoon elephants. No matter how unwilling Psykos was to accept it, she had now been completely controlled by Fubuki despite being vastly stronger.
Fubuki might forcibly recruit members into the Fubuki Group, but she would not seal an old friend's psychic abilities simply out of jealousy.
Back then, while developing her psychic powers, Psykos had seen something unknown. Her personality suddenly changed completely, and she started spouting declarations about destruction. Combined with the speed at which her psychokinesis was growing, Fubuki sensed that something was wrong and sealed her abilities.
"You people are seriously useless. Did you deliberately come here just to drag me down? King and that Good Samaritan who came out of nowhere are about the only ones who were any use!"
Having successfully broken free, Tatsumaki saw almost everyone else being countered by Black Sperm and immediately felt irritated.
Garou: "..."
That Good Samaritan had better not mean him.
His original plan had been to let both sides tear each other apart and then reap the benefits. Instead, the moment he showed himself, the heroes suddenly began turning everything around in a one-sided counterattack.
He might be reckless, but he was not stupid. If he attacked now, he would absolutely die here.
"Psykos, what exactly did you see back then? And where did you lock that child away?!" Fubuki demanded sharply.
"You think this is over just because you've gotten this far?" Psykos raised her head and sneered at her.
"Was it God that you saw, Gyoro-Gyoro?"
The one who answered Fubuki was instead Homeless Emperor, whose head had been smashed bloody after Garou pinned him down.
The only reason an ordinary human like him survived a hit from Garou was that Garou had held back after realizing he was ordinary. In Garou's own mind, if he killed everyone, he would have no way to establish absolute fear in other people's hearts.
Even so, the fact that Homeless Emperor had not lost consciousness was something of a miracle.
Not long ago, Homeless Emperor had merely been an ordinary office worker. Then, at a company welcome party for new employees, he danced naked and was fired as a pervert.
After losing his job, he wandered around until one day he happened to look up at the sky. It was as if he suddenly experienced the vast world from a different angle. Humanity had selfishly broken away from the ecosystem formed by Mother Earth and flourished under its own rules with itself at the center. How foolish humans were.
Even his hatred for his former boss suddenly stopped mattering, and then he was granted the power he now possessed.
"Um..."
[Shut up.]
"?"
Just as Homeless Emperor was about to say something, the surrounding ruins seemed to cease existing. He found himself in a different, empty place—or more precisely, between the legs of a gigantic, muscle-bound god.
Its indescribable face, seemingly wrapped in layer after layer of blood vessels, stared directly at him.
[I will take back your power, and—]
[your life.]
Homeless Emperor's eyes bulged in terror as his life force was ripped away. At the instant before he turned into white bones, the giant god glanced in another direction, and everything Homeless Emperor could see shattered apart.
Something underground seemed to be bouncing back and forth, making the ruins on the surface unstable. Several cracks spread upward in every direction, causing vast numbers of Black Sperm bodies to sink into them.
The high-speed movements of Yimi and Saitama formed one white and one yellow curve that lingered in the air, continuously closing in on the surface.
What was wrong with these two?
Flashy Flash, now missing his blade, stubbornly followed beside them. But the two of them seemed to treat him like an intruder who had barged into their fight, ignoring him completely. They even still had room to accelerate again.
This was B-Class??
Even now, Yimi had not managed to land an effective blow on Saitama. This bald man was truly stronger than Boros by an unimaginable amount.
"You really are strong. Out of everyone I've ever met, you're probably the strongest." Surprisingly, Saitama was the one who said it, his expression shifting into a smile.
Finally, one swipe of Yimi's paw sent Saitama blasting up through the surface. He perfectly adjusted his posture in midair, and the man and cat landed on the ground together.
"Ah, we're outside again."
"Saitama-shi!"
Only after seeing him did King finally breathe a sigh of relief. No matter how terrifying the situation in front of him was, having this bald man around gave him endless peace of mind.
But what was going on with the cat?
He looked at Yimi in confusion.
"Hero Hunter! King-san, didn't you finish her off back then?" Child Emperor asked him.
"Why aren't you... fighting back anymore?" Yimi looked at the bald man in confusion.
"Because fighting back doesn't do anything. And why aren't you using your claws anymore?" Saitama looked down at his clothes.
They were still perfectly intact. If the cat used her claws, his clothes would probably get ripped, right?