To prove Loki's words, the sky outside the palace suddenly began to darken at a speed visible to the naked eye!
It wasn't clouds blotting out the sun—rather, it was as if the light itself was being dragged down and stripped away by some force. A soul-deep, bone-chilling cold spread over all of Asgard.
"He's here." Loki shot to his feet, his expression turning grave. "Looks like the leaked energy was just bait. His real target is Asgard's energy core!"
Everyone rushed out of the palace. Above Asgard's central plaza, the light warped, and a gigantic face—formed entirely from countless writhing shadows—slowly emerged.
It was the Shadow Domain Lord's avatar!
It released a soundless roar, and the entire palace realm trembled.
"Foolish creatures of light… welcome the eternal darkness!" The massive shadow avatar split into countless pitch-black tendrils, clawing at Asgard's buildings and the panicked citizens below. Asgardian soldiers struck with weapons and magic, but their attacks did little—if anything, the shadows swallowed and assimilated the power.
"We have to find his core!" Doctor Strange flew up, the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak whipping around the shadow mass, only to be eroded continuously. "His form is intangible—conventional attacks won't work!"
Saitama stood in the plaza, looking up at the giant face made of shadows and the tendrils thrashing everywhere. His eyes swept rapidly, as if searching for something.
Shadows surged toward him, yet they couldn't come within even an inch of his body, as though an invisible force was keeping them out.
Then Saitama's gaze locked onto a spot slightly to the right of the giant face's brow.
There, the flow of shadow seemed to have an incredibly faint—almost imperceptible—point of stagnation. All the shadow energy converged there… and flowed out from there.
"Found it."
Saitama bent his knees slightly, then kicked off the ground!
Boom!
The hard plaza floor cracked in a spiderweb pattern beneath his foot. His body shot into the sky, ignoring the tendrils trying to block him—each tendril that touched him simply collapsed on its own. He charged straight toward the core point he'd sensed!
The Shadow Domain Lord seemed to realize the threat and let out a furious, voiceless roar. More shadows condensed in front of him, forming an impossibly thick shield—
Saitama's punch, as always, was simple and direct. It landed in the exact center of the shadow shield.
There was no explosion. No stalemate.
The shield—along with the massive shadow face behind it—collapsed and dissipated from the point of impact, like ice tossed into a blazing steel furnace.
The core hidden deep within the "ten-thousand-shadows" form was shattered completely by that one punch!
"No—!!!"
The Shadow Domain Lord released a piercing shriek filled with unwillingness and agony, the sound dissolving almost as soon as it formed.
The enormous shadow face in the sky disintegrated. Every extended shadow tendril snapped and vanished as if it had lost its source. The stolen light rushed back, and Asgard returned to warmth and brightness—leaving only drifting black dust as proof of the crisis that had just taken place.
High in the sky, at a point almost impossible to see, a thin rift was slowly shrinking and sealing shut.
Loki watched Saitama descend, his expression complicated—until it finally turned into a quiet chuckle.
"Looks like I owe Midgard another favor."
Doctor Strange and Fury finally let out their breath as well.
After returning to Earth through a portal and saying goodbye to Fury and Doctor Strange, Saitama finally made it back to the familiar streets of City Z.
After the undersea kingdom, the alien space, and the adventure in Asgard, the noisy, ordinary—even slightly run-down—streets in front of him felt strangely comforting.
(End of Chapter)
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