The clouds parted visibly under an unseen punch, revealing the deep expanse of space behind them.
Sunlight once again penetrated the gloom cast by the spaceship without obstruction, showering down on the devastated A-City.
Aboard the spaceship, the former throne no longer existed.
Saitama slowly retracted his fist, his face still that simple, vacant expression, as if a child's casual doodle.
He felt the strong winds of ten thousand meters high brush against his bald head, but his heart was a dead calm.
The battle was over.
There was no exhilarating, satisfying fight as he had imagined, no evenly matched life-or-death struggle, not even a single second where his heart rate slightly accelerated.
Undeniably, this opponent named Boros was indeed the strongest he had encountered since becoming a hero.
His "Meteoric Burst" form and the world-destroying "Star Roaring Cannon" both displayed the majesty befitting his title as "Lord Boros, the Dominator of the Universe".
But it wasn't enough, far from enough.
The long-awaited battle that could make him go all out ultimately remained a fleeting illusion.
Endless emptiness and loneliness once again enveloped him like a tide.
"Sigh…"
A soft sigh dispersed into the wind ten thousand meters high.
He shook his head, trying to cast these chaotic emotions aside.
Becoming strong was his own choice, and he had long grown accustomed to this life.
He scratched his shiny bald head, looked around, and then remembered another person.
"Speaking of which, where's that guy King?"
Saitama scratched his bald head; he hadn't seen him since he started fighting Boros.
Meanwhile, Lin Mo, hero name "King," hailed by the world as "strongest man on earth (title/epithet)," was currently staring wide-eyed at a virtual interface only he could see.
"Detected Lord Boros, the Dominator of the Universe, in his final battle, felt the absolute disparity in power, his unwillingness, shock, and finally, strong residual will…"
"Energy is being converted…"
"Conversion successful! Congratulations, Host, you have gained +100,000 Energy Points!"
A hundred thousand! A full hundred thousand points!
Fortune favors the bold; the ancients truly didn't deceive me! This was a huge profit!
Just as he was immersed in the immense joy of his harvest, a shadow fell over him.
"Hey, King, are you alright?"
Saitama's calm voice reached him, and Lin Mo stiffened, slowly raising his head.
Seeing Saitama's familiar vacant face, his heart, which had almost leaped out of his throat, finally settled down slightly.
Lin Mo slowly stood up, patted the dust off his body, and said, "Ah… it's over. By the way, how was it? That Dominator of the Universe."
It was better that Lin Mo hadn't mentioned it, but once he did, it instantly touched that nerve of "loneliness" in Saitama's heart again.
Saitama's gaze instantly changed; he didn't answer Lin Mo's question, but his originally vacant, dead-fish eyes now gleamed with a long-lost fighting spirit.
He stared intently at Lin Mo, as if he had discovered a new continent.
"Hey, King."
"Hmm?" A premonition of ill omen arose in Lin Mo's heart.
"You're very strong, aren't you? Everyone says so, strongest man on earth (title/epithet)."
Saitama took a step forward, and an invisible pressure instantly pushed Lin Mo's "Emperor Engine" to its limit. "Come fight me!"
Lin Mo looked at the bald man's eager expression, as if he was about to make a move the next second, and his heart skipped a beat in fright.
But he quickly calmed down, stroking his chin in feigned contemplation, his three distinctive scars looking particularly cool in the sunlight.
After a moment, he spoke in a deep tone, full of a sense of the bigger picture:
"No, Saitama, now is not the time."
"Why?" Saitama frowned.
"Don't you feel it?" Lin Mo's eyes deepened.
"The frequency of monster appearances has been increasing lately, and the disaster levels are getting stronger. This cosmic invasion might just be the beginning. In my opinion, a bigger storm is brewing."
He turned around, his back to Saitama, leaving him with a solitary, aloof figure.
"Before we thoroughly resolve these potential crises threatening Earth, we cannot engage in meaningless internal strife."
"You and I, as the last line of defense for humanity, our power should be used in more important places."
Having said that, without waiting for Saitama's reply, he started walking towards the edge of the spaceship, his voice drifting back:
"However, I promise you. When the world truly achieves peace, I will have a proper fight with you. Without holding anything back."
He walked quickly, afraid that Saitama might change his mind or see through the flaws in his words.
"But this isn't a lie…" Lin Mo thought to himself as he walked, looking at the energy points in the system interface.
"Just you wait, Saitama. Sooner or later, I'll be able to exchange for power enough to fight you. Between us, there will eventually be a true battle."
— — — — — —
On the ground below.
When the world-destroying "Star Roaring Cannon" was split in half by an invisible force, all the S-Class Heroes fell into a prolonged daze.
Groribas had also completely lost his breath of life; until his death, he couldn't comprehend what kind of being could defeat his invincible Lord Boros.
"Just… what was that… just now…"
Metal Bat's voice was a bit dry, and his hand gripping the bat was slightly white from gripping too hard.
His proud "fighting spirit" seemed a bit ridiculous in the face of that world-destroying attack.
"I don't know…" Atomic Samurai's eyes were also filled with confusion.
For the first time, he doubted his swordsmanship of "cutting through everything."
"Is it over?"
Sexy Prisoner asked with lingering fear; he had almost been forced to his knees by the residual energy of that power.
"No, not yet!"
Bang's sharp gaze was fixed on the sky, his voice full of solemnity.
"Look up!"
Everyone looked up again at his words.
They saw the massive spaceship, split in two, lose all power after a brief pause.
The colossal wreckage began to accelerate its descent towards the ruins of A-City below, pulled by gravity!
Watching a disaster no less than a meteor impact about to unfold in the city, the heroes' hearts once again leaped into their throats.
Just then, a green light streaked across the sky.
"Hmph, a bunch of useless people, can't even handle such scraps, I have to do it myself."
A cold and arrogant female voice sounded above their heads.
Everyone looked up and saw a green-haired girl in a black, high-slit dress hovering in mid-air.
She was surrounded by a visible emerald green energy aura, none other than the S-Class Hero ranked 2nd, Terrible Tornado.
Terrible Tornado slowly raised one hand, and her immense psychokinetic power instantly enveloped the entire sky.
"Stop… for me!"
With her delicate shout, the tens of thousands of accelerating spaceship debris pieces all stopped simultaneously in mid-air!
The heroes on the ground gasped in unison.
They knew Terrible Tornado was strong, but they never imagined her psychokinetic power had become so incredibly formidable.
Fine beads of sweat appeared on Terrible Tornado's forehead; clearly, controlling such a massive quantity and mass of objects simultaneously was not easy for her either.
Her eyes narrowed, and she suddenly waved her arm.
"All of you, go over there!"
The countless debris pieces in the sky seemed to receive a unified command, flying towards the uninhabited mountainous area far from A-City.
Finally, amidst a deafening roar, all the spaceship debris was neatly placed by her into a valley.
The crisis was completely averted.