The purple flame lizard seemed to sense the gaze from above. It suddenly twisted its massive body around, its huge maw full of fangs turning toward the jet as purple light gathered deep in its throat!
At the critical moment, a yellow figure flashed into existence between it and the aircraft like a bolt of lightning!
It was Saitama.
There was nothing flashy about his entrance. He simply dropped out of the sky and landed steadily on the street less than ten meters in front of the monster. The asphalt beneath his boots cracked into a web of fine lines from the force of the high-speed descent.
He tilted his head back slightly, looking up at the purple monster that towered several times over him. His face remained the same slightly bored expression as always.
"Hey, you're the one starting fires and wrecking stuff here, messing up the supermarket discounts, right? Wrap it up already, I'm in a hurry."
The monster seemed infuriated by Saitama's tiny frame and "provocative" words. It gave up on the idea of attacking the jet, and in that instant, its target locked onto this human who clearly didn't know how small he was supposed to be.
With a low growl, its massive body exploded into motion with an agility completely at odds with its bulk. Its right claw, wrapped in thick, viscous purple flame, slashed down toward Saitama with enough force to tear the air itself.
Even before the claws arrived, the terrifying heat had already caused the edges of Saitama's red suit and yellow gloves to curl ever so slightly.
"Saitama-san!"
Up in the jet, Natasha couldn't help but let out a low cry.
Hawkeye instinctively set an arrow to the string, but Fury's voice cut sharply through the comms at once.
"Clint! Stand down!"
In the middle of the street, facing that monstrous claw that could tear apart and incinerate an armored vehicle, Saitama simply raised his right fist.
No charge-up, no shout.
He just, very simply, punched forward.
Vmm—
The instant his fist shot out, the air in front of him was violently compressed, forming a visible white shockwave, like an invisible giant cannon.
Crack!
The mass of purple flame hot enough to melt metal was torn apart the moment it met the shockwave. It shrieked like a candle flame engulfed by a storm wind, scattered and snuffed out by the raging blast of compressed air. The shockwave didn't slow at all as it slammed straight into the monster's descending forearm.
Boom!!
A muffled, yet piercingly loud impact echoed down the street.
The claw that could split stone and crush cars was smashed back upward, and the beast's hulking, hill-like body let out a howl of pain. It staggered back three or four steps before it barely managed to steady itself, each step leaving behind a melted footprint and a cracked crater in the ground.
In its eyes, burning with purple fire, there appeared for the first time a look of utter disbelief.
It stared, unblinking, at the small, bald man whose fist was terrifyingly, impossibly hard.
"...Unbelievable," Clint rasped, his voice slightly hoarse.
"He… just one punch, and he blew apart that fire?"
Natasha stared at Saitama's back on the shared display, then glanced down at the momentary spike on the jet's energy detector.
The monster's shock only lasted half a second before it was drowned beneath an even more violent rage.
It had confirmed the enormous threat posed by the bald man before it.
Roaring, it drove its hind legs into the ground. The entire street seemed to shudder.
Abandoning all ranged attacks, it charged like a runaway heavy tank, bringing with it a tide of destruction that looked ready to crush everything in its path as it barreled toward Saitama once more. Purple flames roared along its route, leaving a blazing trail in its wake.
The buildings on both sides of the street groaned under the aftershocks of the clash between the giant beast and the bald hero. Chunks of masonry rained down like a stone storm, walls split with long cracks, and old shop signs were shaken loose and sent crashing to the ground. Shards of glass littered the pavement.
The civilians who had scattered in terror when the monster first appeared were now huddled behind cover — shivering, or daring to peek out — their eyes locked, without exception, on the center of the battlefield.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For 20+ Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!]
[[email protected]/Draumel]
[Thank You For Your Support!]