In an instant, the world around him shattered. The street, the lights, Raku — all vanished like dust. Saiki's body seemed to be dragged into a raging current, falling into something far deeper than mere memory.
When he opened his eyes again, he was standing in a place not unfamiliar, yet far from normal.
Outer space.
Endless darkness stretched as far as the eye could see. No ground, no horizon. Only cold stars flickering in the distance, their light dim piercing through the void. Saiki stood there in the vacuum, yet strangely he could still breathe.
He turned to the left, then to the right. His expression remained flat though there was a slight furrow on his forehead. "...It seems I've been dragged into someone's life memory. But this… is different."
A heavy weight pressed on his mind. Unlike ordinary psychometry that only showed fragments, this felt real. The air, the silence, even the darkness felt… real.
Then suddenly he felt something.
Not one, not dozens, but thousands.
As if thousands of beings — or existences — were directing unseen gazes at him. The pressure made the void tremble, the stars seemed dim, as if their light was afraid to shine.
Saiki let out a long sigh, trying to stay calm despite the overwhelming pressure. "Where is this? Why does it feel… not just a memory? This feels like a real world… or maybe a consciousness space connected to other beings."
From afar, he saw two people and one entity.
The first: a black-haired man, standing tall, his face vague.
The second: a bald man, simple, with a face Saiki recognized from manga.
Saiki's eyes widened.
"...That—Saitama!? Don't tell me… this isn't just a memory. Am I really seeing him?"
But in front of them stood a giant entity, its body like the silhouette of a human, but inside it were only swirling galaxies. Cosmic light flowed within its body, and its existence made Saiki's heart feel as if it had stopped.
His brain raced, and only one name fit.
"...G.O.D."
Saiki's body stiffened. The face of the black-haired man was vague, unclear, but there was something strange—his instinct said that figure… was connected to Raku.
But he had no time to ponder.
Because before his eyes, Saitama and G.O.D stepped forward.
Saiki's body trembled.
"No way… they're going to…"
BOOOM.
Two fists, two powers that could not be explained by logic, collided. Saiki immediately released the limiter in his head, wrapping his body with layer upon layer of psychic shields.
But even before those fists actually made contact—
KRANG!
His psychic shields shattered layer by layer. One by one, leaving nothing.
Saiki's eyes widened.
"Damn!! Even before the impact happened… all protection shattered? This is insane! This is beyond any logic!"
Space and time tore apart.
Dimensional layers warped.
The cosmic sky in the distance split open.
There was no sound, only a massive light as if the Big Bang had repeated itself.
Amidst that destruction, hundreds of Avatars of The Watcher appeared. Humanoid figures of white light, holding staffs of time. They did not move, only stood—watching.
They locked thousands of worldlines, holding the multiverse together so it would not collapse from the effect of that punch.
Saiki's lungs felt like they were burning. His body trembled.
"...Hhh… hh… I can't… My psychic power… useless… it even feels like an ant before all of them…"
Then a voice echoed.
"I am the beginning and the end. I control Cause and Effect. Who are you that dare defy it?"
The voice of G.O.D pierced directly into Saiki's soul. Every cell of his body screamed, as if erasure would be the end.
Saiki closed his eyes.
"...My worst day. I don't want to get involved in others' business… again."
But before he could retreat, from the darkness something approached. A voice not unfamiliar to cosmic horror.
"Oh? Looks like there's an uninvited guest."
A being with a thousand forms, black, layered with shifting faces and bodies. A mute chant echoed around it.
"Hello, little psychic with the aching head. Welcome… to a memory you shouldn't even be able to touch."
Saiki flinched.
"Who are you…?"
That dark laughter echoed.
"Hahaha. Don't be afraid, little psychic. I'm just a wanderer. My name is… Nyarlathotep."
Saiki felt his blood freeze.
"...Outer God!?"
Nyarlathotep smiled crookedly.
"Fufu~ don't be so stiff. I'm not as cruel as the others."
Some Avatars of The Watcher turned, gazing at Saiki for the first time. Their voices in unison, cold.
"...You should not be here. This is not your memory. Return to your world."
Before Saiki's body could be pulled out, someone appeared with orange-golden light. Gray-haired, a face full of irony.
Zelretch.
"Heh… even a psychic can get dragged into this vortex. Interesting."
He looked at Saiki with a thin smile.
"You saw it yourself, didn't you? The multiverse is not merely an illusion. What you call 'fiction' is only a mirror. All of it is real out there. And that boy…"
Saiki's eyes widened.
"Boy…?"
Zelretch continued, calm.
"...seems to still exist."
Saiki's heart pounded. His memory of Raku—the amnesia, the soul wounds, all the anomalies around him—suddenly felt logical.
His consciousness began to be pulled back. But before it vanished, Zelretch's voice whispered again.
"Do not forget this, Saiki Kusuo. You have opened your eyes to what you should not."
Darkness.
Saiki fell back into his body in the real world. He gasped, holding his head.
But that vague memory did not end.
Nyarlathotep turned to Zelretch, laughing.
"Old man… seems like he hasn't disappeared. I want to go to that psychic world."
Zelretch let out a heavy sigh.
"Don't destroy that world, Nyarlathotep. That boy is still amnesiac… and if they find out, the multiverse will stir again. The world won't be the same."
Nyarlathotep grinned crookedly.
"Wouldn't that be… interesting?"