Royal Knights Arena - Waiting Hallway
Status: Complete Anarchy
"My money."
Saitama stood in the middle of the corridor. Walls were crumbling. Magic blasts were flying everywhere. People were screaming.
But Saitama was staring at the scoreboard which had just been crushed by a falling pillar. The scoreboard that displayed: PRIZE POOL: 50,000,000 YULS.
"The hot tub," Saitama whispered. "The massage chair. The high-quality cabbage."
"Master," Genos said, shielding Saitama from a stray crystal shard. "The prize is likely nullified due to the violent coup. Our financial gain is currently zero."
Saitama's head slowly turned toward the source of the chaos.
Luck Voltia—possessed by the elf Rufel—was currently treating Magna Swing like a pinball.
ZAP. BAM. ZAP.
Magna flew into a wall, blood coughing from his mouth. "Luck! Quit playin' around! It's me! Your rival!"
Rufel laughed. His voice was melodic and cold. "Rival? A human peasant? Don't make me laugh. I am of the chosen! You are nothing but targets!"
Thunder armor crackled around him. He moved faster than he ever had before. A streak of golden death.
"I'll start with the weak!" Rufel aimed a lightning spear at Magna's heart.
GGRRRKKK.
Saitama walked through the wall.
Literally. He didn't use the door. He just walked through the brickwork next to it because he was staring at Luck and missed the door frame.
"Hey," Saitama said.
Rufel paused, hovering mid-air. "The bald human? The one with no mana? Good. You'll die first."
Saitama pointed a red glove at Rufel.
"You're that lightning kid, right? Listen. I don't care if you're going through a rebellious phase or listening to weird ghost music. You ruined my payday."
Rufel smirked. "I am Rufel. Luck is gone. His soul sleeps in the abyss while I reclaim this body!"
"Sleeps?" Saitama scratched his chin. "So he's napping? In the middle of a fight? That's irresponsible."
"DIE!"
Rufel turned into a lightning bolt. Thunder God's Armor: Divine Velocity.
He aimed for Saitama's throat.
Speed. Pure, unfiltered speed. In the Clover Kingdom, maybe only Julius was faster.
ZIIIP.
He reached Saitama's neck in a microsecond.
Saitama didn't dodge.
He raised his hand. Two fingers.
Snatch.
Saitama caught the lightning bolt.
Or rather, he pinched Rufel's ear.
"Ow?" Rufel gasped, materializing out of his lightning form. He hung there, suspended by his ear from Saitama's fingers. "What? My speed... caught?!"
"My alarm clock buzzes like that," Saitama lectured. "It's annoying. Stop buzzing."
"LET GO! FILTHY HUMAN!" Rufel kicked. He blasted gigawatts of electricity into Saitama's arm.
Saitama's arm didn't even twitch. His sleeve got a little singed.
"Genos," Saitama called out. "How do you fix a computer that's acting weird?"
Genos walked over, arm cannon revving down. "Standard IT protocol dictates a Percussive Maintenance Reboot. Essentially: Hit it until it works."
"Right." Saitama looked at the thrashing elf-child. "Sorry, Luck. This might sting."
Saitama curled his free hand into a fist. Not a Serious Punch. Just a "disciplinary knuckle sandwich."
Bonk.
He rapped his knuckles on top of Rufel's head.
The sound was like a heavy dictionary hitting a table.
THWACK.
Rufel's eyes crossed. The electricity shorted out. The elf marks on his face flickered.
"Reboo... ting..." Rufel mumbled.
He went limp.
Saitama dropped him. Magna caught his friend before he hit the ground.
"You... you one-shotted him?" Magna stammered, checking Luck's pulse. "He was moving at lightning speed!"
"He's not dead," Saitama said. "Just sleeping. Or napping. Whatever."
He looked around. The castle was lighting up with explosions.
"We need to find the guy in charge," Saitama said. "The Wizard King. If I fix this mess, maybe I can still get the cash."
Royal Palace - East Wing
Yami Sukehiro was having a bad day.
He stood in a garden filled with briars. Blue briars. Roses that smelled like cold mornings.
Facing him was Charlotte Roselei. But her eyes were different. Cold. Hateful. And the mana pouring off her wasn't just Briar Magic. It was ancient and vast.
Charla (the Elf inside Charlotte) raised a whip of thorns.
"Human male," Charla spoke, disgusted. "This body... it remembers you. It has affection for you. Disgusting."
"Yeah?" Yami lit a cigarette, but his hand was tighter on his katana than usual. "Tell prickle-queen to wake up. We have a drink scheduled for Friday."
"She is gone." Charla attacked.
The briars surged like a tidal wave. Yami sliced them—Dark Magic: Black Cocoon—but they grew back instantly. The Elf mana boost was insane.
"Trouble?"
Yami glanced up.
Saitama jumped over the garden wall, followed by Genos.
"Oh, great," Charla sneered. "More insects."
"Yami," Saitama landed on a rose bush, crushing it. "Is this another ghost? Why are there so many angry people today?"
"Possession," Yami explained, deflecting a thorn aimed at his eye. "Elves taking over bodies. Don't kill her, Baldy. That's a Captain."
"Don't kill. Got it." Saitama looked at Charla. "Hey, rose lady. Can you calm down?"
Charla looked at the bald man. She sensed... danger.
"You..." She shifted her vines. "You are the anomaly. The one with the heavy fate."
She didn't attack physically. She knew better (elves had a hive-mind awareness starting to spread). She attacked magically.
"Briar Magic: Odor of the Withered Soul."
Pollen exploded from the roses. It wasn't poison. It was a hallucinogen meant to trap the mind in memories of loss.
Yami held his breath. "Toxic gas! Genos!"
Genos scanned. "Toxin detected. Chemical filter active. But Master Saitama has no filters!"
Saitama stood in the red pollen cloud.
He sniffed.
"Smells like potpourri," Saitama said. "My grandma's bathroom smells like this."
Charla froze. "My illusions... the weight of centuries of sorrow... failed?"
"I don't really have sorrow," Saitama said, stepping out of the cloud. "I have boredom. It's kinda similar, but less crying."
Saitama vanished.
He appeared behind Charla.
Charla whipped around, thorns ready to impale.
Saitama didn't hit her. He knew Yami liked this one (Genos had shown him a chart of "Inter-Squad Dynamics" on the walk over).
Instead, Saitama grabbed the back of her dress collar.
"Killer Move," Saitama whispered. "Serious Spin."
He spun her.
Like a top.
He rotated her so fast she became a blue tornado. The centrifugal force scrambled her inner ear, confused her mana sense, and made the Elf soul inside incredibly dizzy.
"WWAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" The cool, collected Elf Queen screamed as she hit 5,000 RPM.
Saitama let go.
Charla went flying into a soft hedge, eyes swirling. She tried to stand up, stumbled, and vomited glitter (mana-residue).
"Ugh..." Charla groaned. "The... world... is spinning..."
"That should buy time," Saitama dusted his hands. "She's too dizzy to fight."
Yami stared at his rival/crush lying in a bush, defeated by spinning.
"You have a unique style, Baldy. I'll give you that."
The Floating Island - A Crisis
Above the city, near the remains of the arena, Julius Novachrono was confronting Patry (disguised as Licht).
It was a battle of Time vs. Light.
And it ended.
Patry had targeted the entire kingdom with the arrows of judgment. Julius had used all his stored time to reverse it. And Patry had stabbed him.
Saitama and Genos, running across rooftops to find the boss, saw it happen.
The giant time-sphere over the city shattered.
Julius fell.
"WIZARD KING!" Yami screamed from the ground, darkness enveloping him as he launched himself upward.
But Saitama was closer.
He jumped. One massive bound from the garden to the sky.
He caught Julius in mid-air, moments before he hit the pavement.
Saitama landed on a roof, cradling the small body of the man who had promised him 50 million Yuls.
Julius was fading. The giant clock tower behind him had stopped.
"Oh," Julius whispered, blood trickling from his mouth. He looked up at Saitama's round face. "You... caught me."
"Hey," Saitama said, his voice unusually soft. "You owe me money. Don't die on a debt."
Julius chuckled, a weak, rasping sound. "The future... I couldn't see you in it... because you change it just by being here."
"Genos!" Saitama yelled. "Fix him! Use the witch glue stuff!"
Genos landed hard, cracking the tiles. "Master! Scanning vitals... Critical failure. Heart rate decreasing. Biological restoration beyond my scope!"
Saitama looked at the chest wound. It was light magic. Cauterized. Fatal.
Patry floated above them, tears streaming down his face. "The final obstacle is gone. Now, humanity will pay."
Patry raised his hand to finish them off.
Saitama didn't look up. He gently placed Julius down.
He stood up.
The "Bored Face" was gone.
The shadows covered his eyes. The art style shifted. Every line on his face became sharp, etched in granite. The air around him turned cold.
"Genos," Saitama said.
"Yes, Master."
"Keep him alive. Use the CPR. Use the electric shocks. Just keep the old man breathing."
"I will try, Master."
Saitama looked up at Patry.
Patry flinched. The Elf leader felt it immediately. It wasn't mana. It wasn't killing intent.
It was Death.
Saitama bent his knees. The building under him vaporized just from the preparation of the jump.
"You killed the guy who owed me lunch," Saitama said.
BOOM.
He vanished.
He appeared in front of Patry in the stratosphere.
"Now I'm pissed."
Serious Series.
He pulled his fist back.
Patry panicked. He had beaten Julius because Julius held back to save the kingdom.
Saitama didn't hold back for the kingdom. He held back because he didn't want to destroy the Earth. But right now? The margin was thinner.
"LIGHT MAGIC: DIVINE JUDGMEN—"
"Serious Punch."
Saitama threw the punch.
He aimed slightly upwards, so the shockwave wouldn't hit the city.
The fist connected with Patry's light sword—and then Patry's face.
Patry didn't just fly away.
He was raptured.
The force carried him out of the atmosphere. Past the moon.
The clouds over the entire continent split apart, revealing the darkness of space in broad daylight. The shockwave circled the globe twice.
Patry was effectively removed from the battlefield, the solar system, and possibly the narrative for the next three chapters.
Saitama fell back down, landing next to Genos.
"Status?" Saitama asked, cooling down instantly.
Genos was administering CPR at machine-gun speeds. "I have established a rhythmic compression! Yami is arriving with Mimosa Vermillion! There is a chance!"
Yami landed, panting, face twisted in grief. He saw Saitama standing over the fallen King.
"Did you get him?" Yami asked, voice shaking.
Saitama pointed at the sky, where a new star was twinkling.
"I punched the light guy," Saitama said. "He won't be back for a while."
Yami knelt by Julius. Mimosa began healing.
"You idiot," Yami whispered to Julius. Then he looked at Saitama. "Thanks, Baldy. For being the cleanup crew."
Saitama looked at his hand. He hadn't saved the guy from being stabbed. He was too slow.
"Being strong sucks," Saitama mumbled to himself. "I still missed."