According to Dr. Genus of the House of Evolution,
the reason Saitama became so overwhelmingly powerful was because he had opened his Limiter.
Put simply—
Every living being has an upper limit imposed upon them.
A ceiling they can never naturally cross.
Saitama shattered that ceiling.
And in doing so, he obtained absolute power.
Of course…
such power did not come without a price.
What Saitama lost was fear, along with certain other emotions—
and all of his hair.
That was why even Ron wasn't certain whether using dragon magic or sorcery to restore Saitama's hair would cause his power to disappear as well.
For a moment,
even Saitama himself fell into deep thought.
Wasn't this power exactly what he had always wanted back when he wasn't yet a hero?
If he lost it—
How would he protect people from monsters?
How would he continue being a hero?
But…
Hair was important too!
Just as Saitama struggled with the choice,
Homelander snorted coldly from the side.
"If I were you, I'd choose power."
"Lose power, and you lose everything."
"This applies to individuals, organizations—
even nations."
"Even if your world doesn't have a god…"
"Once you possess absolute power—
you are god."
It was a choice tied to destiny.
One Saitama clearly couldn't decide on in a short time.
After a moment, he sighed.
"Let me think about it."
But suddenly—
As if remembering something crucial, he glanced at the time.
His pupils shrank.
Saitama abruptly stood up, tossed some money onto the counter, and ran toward the exit while shouting:
"Boss, I'll come drink again tomorrow!"
"There's a supermarket discount on eggs today—
if I'm late, they'll be gone!"
The entire tavern froze.
Eggs…?
Discounted eggs?
You're this strong and you still care about that?!
Everyone stared at the bald figure disappearing into the distance, suspecting they had all collectively misheard something.
Yes.
That must be it.
Homelander curled his lips in disdain.
"What a weirdo."
"So strong, yet lives so humbly."
"If it were me—
the whole world would belong to me."
This time, strangely enough, no one refuted him.
Because when an ordinary person suddenly gains immense power—
Day one:I'll protect the world!
Day two:I'm the ancestor now—this world is mine.
"Great power, great responsibility" was bullshit anyway.
That only existed in fairy tales.
Seen that way, Homelander—
as insane as he was—was still oddly restrained.
After all,
he only felt meaning in life when people admired him.
Otherwise, he wouldn't constantly obsess over approval ratings.
Just then—
The system's mechanical voice echoed in Ron's mind.
[Ding! Customer: Saitama has completed his confession.]
[Ding! Customers: The Deep, Homelander have completed their confessions.]
[Customer Saitama: Limiter, Serious Squirt Gun, Serious Table Flip… Select one ability.]
[Customer Homelander: ——]
Ron spoke calmly:
"Select Limiter, and Homelander's Super Defense, then fuse them."
"Store the ability to communicate with marine animals in the system warehouse."
[Ding! Optimizing abilities. Completing missing parameters.]
[Ding! Opening the Limiter!]
The moment the notification sounded—
It was as if a switch inside Ron had been flipped.
Power surged like a breached floodgate,
washing violently through every part of his body.
Even after fusing so many abilities,
Ron could clearly feel it—
His strength was undergoing another qualitative leap.
Wait—
Something felt wrong.
The Hōgyoku inside his body…
was evolving again!
In that instant—
Strength.
Defense.
Spiritual pressure.
Even his life level—
All skyrocketed.
Genes and cells shattered and recombined.
BOOM——!!
Terrifying spiritual pressure erupted like a geyser,
strange patterns spreading outward in every direction.
Lucoa and Tohru reacted instantly, throwing up barriers to keep the tavern from being pulverized.
Moments later—
All that pressure condensed again, flowing back into Ron's body.
The tavern fell into stunned silence.
What just happened?
Why did Ron suddenly become stronger?!
"Did the Hōgyoku evolve…?"
Aizen's eyes widened in shock.
"Yes," Ron nodded.
"It's entered its second stage."
He immediately checked himself.
Good—
no cocoon transformation.
But the question remained—
Why did the Hōgyoku suddenly evolve?
According to its nature, the Hōgyoku only evolves when its host reaches their limit—or is on the brink of death.
Could it be…
That the price of opening the Limiter, after fusing so many abilities,
was death?
And so the Hōgyoku evolved to protect him?
That explanation made sense.
After all, when Saitama broke his limiter, he was just an ordinary human.
Ron was different.
With so many fused powers, his existence had already far surpassed what a limiter was meant to handle.
Naturally, the price would be far higher.
Still—
Even without the Hōgyoku, the limiter's backlash couldn't have killed Ron.
A divine body could instantly reconstruct both body and consciousness.
"Guess that worked out," Ron muttered softly.
When he looked up—
Everyone was staring at him like he was some kind of monster.
Especially a certain man wearing black-rimmed glasses.
That gaze…
Burning.
Obsessive.
Greedy.
Like he was looking at an unrivaled beauty he wanted to possess.
Smack!
A claw slapped Aizen's head hard enough to knock his glasses crooked.
Gray Wolf frowned.
"I told you to find a hammer and a chainsaw."
"What are you spacing out for?"
Aizen adjusted his glasses, eyes blazing with excitement rather than resentment.
Without a word, he jogged off to ask Rem where the tools were.
Gray Wolf nodded approvingly.
"Good."
"This little brother is getting more obedient."
...
At the bar.
Lucoa removed the barrier and walked over gracefully.
"This power is really interesting," she said.
"It boosted your strength by an entire tier in an instant."
"If we fought now…
I honestly couldn't say who'd win."
If you mean fighting in bed, I'll win no matter what—
Ron silently complained.
Outwardly, he smiled.
"If we really went all out, we'd destroy this world."
"Let's wait."
"There'll be a chance."
Lucoa pouted slightly.
"…Alright."
Just then—
The tavern bell rang.
Ding-ling…
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on P@treon if you're interested:
patreon.com/ZoroTL442