BOOOM!!
As the whole building shook under their feet, everyone in the meeting room changed expression at the same time.
The president's eyes went wide from shock.
He shouted, turning nervously toward the staff near the control panels:
"What happened?! What caused that explosion?"
One of the technicians, face pale and hands shaking over the console, answered:
"M–Mr. President, the situation is really bad… The spaceship has already descended above City A, and just a moment ago it launched an unknown attack on the city… Almost the entire urban area has been destroyed."
He swallowed and continued with a strained voice:
"99% of the area… Only the Association's main headquarters building survived. Even so, the damage to this building is very serious… If we take another attack like that, I'm afraid—"
The president's face froze, then turned completely pale.
"99%…? That's… almost all of City A, isn't it? The whole city destroyed in an instant? Why…? Why did they attack this fast?!"
His eyes trembled with real fear, very different from the calm expression he usually showed in front of cameras and press conferences.
In the room, some heroes started talking quickly, asking if the building could withstand another hit, or if it would collapse…
Then Louis's voice cut through the noise.
He spoke calmly, but with a firm tone:
"In short… sitting here won't solve anything. We have to go out and face the enemy now."
A short silence followed, as if his words reminded them what their real job was.
After a moment, the president suddenly bowed deeply in front of the heroes:
"Please, everyone!! You are humanity's last hope now."
No one answered with words, but they all started to leave the conference room one after another, heading toward the stairs and elevators.
Their destination: the rooftop.
*** *** ***
When they reached the roof of the main headquarters building, the sight in front of them was enough to steal the breath of any normal person.
The huge spaceship filled the sky above them, a strange metal body with twisted edges, looking more like a living creature than a machine.
It almost seemed to cover the whole sky.
And under it, the once-bustling City A…
Had turned into almost complete ruins.
Endless rubble, collapsed buildings, broken streets, and columns of smoke rising from dozens of spots at the same time.
One of the heroes muttered with a dry voice:
"W-What… is this destructive power?"
"Did City A really get destroyed with just one attack?" another whispered.
"How are we supposed to fight… that thing floating in the sky?" a third asked, full of worry.
Their eyes moved between the massive spaceship, then to each other, then unconsciously toward Louis.
Tatsumaki, who was floating in the air near them, stared at the spaceship for a moment, then turned her eyes to Louis and asked directly:
"So… what's your plan?"
Louis slowly turned his head, first looking down at the remains of the ruined city, then answered in a calm but heavy voice:
"There are still people alive down there. Their lives are our first priority. We can't just stand here and watch."
Then he continued in a practical tone:
"Some of us need to go down and help them on the ground. As for the spaceship… it's too high, and it's difficult for everyone to attack it directly."
He turned toward Saitama:
"Saitama… let's bring it down a bit."
Saitama tilted his head:
"Oh? And how do we do that?"
Louis gave a small smile:
"It's simple. Just one normal punch from you will be enough… Just try to hold back your strength as much as you can, so you don't hurt the people below."
"Hmm… okay!!" Saitama replied without thinking too much.
The other heroes listened to their conversation in a strange silence.
"A normal punch?"
"Hold back his strength?"
For a few moments, it felt like they didn't really understand what the two of them were talking about.
Tatsumaki opened her mouth to ask another question, but before she could—
Louis reached out, grabbed Saitama by the arm…
And both of them disappeared from where they were in an instant.
"Again?!!" Tatsumaki shouted angrily, her green hair shaking.
The others looked around, confused:
"Where…? Where did Mr. Emperor and that hero called Saitama go?"
"Did he use that strange ability again?"
Before they could think any further, the answer came from the sky itself.
Two explosions echoed from the direction of the spaceship above them.
"BOOOM!!"
"DOOOM!!"
The body of the spaceship shook, and it slowly began to drop toward the ground, as if something had struck it right in its core.
However, it didn't fall completely.
Something inside it—some mechanism or defense system—was still working, fighting to keep it afloat and stopping it from crashing all the way down.
Atomic Samurai stared at the ship and said:
"Hmm… at this height, everyone has a chance to sneak inside."
Bang, the old martial artist with the serious face, nodded:
"Alright, let's do as the Emperor said. I'll go down to the city with some others to help the people there… The rest of you head for the spaceship."
*** *** ***
In the sky, right above the ship's surface…
After Louis used his teleportation skill to bring himself and Saitama to the top, he took out the Power Stone, clenched it in his fist, and threw a focused punch at the center of the ship's structure.
At almost the same moment, Saitama followed with what he considered a "normal" punch.
The combined impact was enough to shake the whole ship violently and blow open a huge hole in its surface, while its main structure barely stayed together, avoiding a complete crash to the ground.
Louis and Saitama used the opening they created and slipped inside the ship.
Saitama stopped for a moment and looked up at the sky through the hole:
"Hmm… the ship went down a bit, but it didn't fall… Should I have used a stronger punch?"
Louis answered as he walked forward through the strange metal corridor:
"No, this is exactly what we wanted. We don't want to hurt the civilians below."
Then he turned to Saitama, his eyes shining with a hint of challenge:
"You said before that you wanted to fight aliens yourself, right?"
Saitama's face brightened a little, his voice gaining some excitement:
"Yeah, that's right."
Louis said:
"Good then… this is your chance."
Saitama paused, his fist relaxing, then tightening again:
"Alright… let's do this."