Then, after reaching a certain peak, it reversed direction—crashing down toward the fully operating magic array below with a world-crushing momentum! If that strike landed, not only would the formation collapse instantly, everyone around it would be reduced to ash!
"Not good!" Doctor Strange shouted. But he was maintaining the guidance process and couldn't spare even a fraction of focus to defend.
At that life-and-death moment, Saitama made the simplest—and bravest—choice.
No hesitation. His legs erupted with full power, blasting a crater into the ground as he shot upward like a red meteor surging against the current, charging straight above the magic array—right into the falling path of that black energy pillar!
He crossed his arms in front of his body, using himself as the final shield!
Boom!!!
A heaven-shaking explosion rang out. The black energy torrent slammed into Saitama head-on. The unimaginable impact instantly smashed him down from midair—his feet plunged into the earth up to his knees, and it kept pressing him lower! The ground around him collapsed in layered rings, shattering into dust as smoke and dark energy surged into the sky.
Saitama let out a muffled grunt. It felt like he was holding up a falling star. But he clenched his teeth, back ramrod straight, and that ordinary-looking body burst with an absurd capacity to endure—actually stopping a city-destroying impact cold, not letting it drop even an inch!
It was only one or two seconds of deadlock.
But that was enough.
Doctor Strange seized the courage-bought opening in an instant. A fierce glint flashed through his eyes. Ignoring the risk of magical backlash, he poured every last ounce of power into the array without holding anything back!
"By the name of Hoggoth—energy transfer, now!" he roared.
The formation's light instantly became blinding. The preset containment mechanism kicked into overdrive. The dark torrent Saitama had stalled—now slightly slowed—finally got redirected, changing course like rivers returning to the sea as it surged wildly into the magic array.
As the massive dark energy was extracted, transferred, and sealed at a frantic pace, the dark breach—deprived of its support—began to destabilize violently. It twisted, flickered, and contracted, like a punctured air sac. Its rotation slowed more and more, and its size shrank smaller and smaller.
In the end, after an ear-splitting tear of energy, it suddenly collapsed inward into a tiny black dot—then with a muffled boom, it vanished completely.
The sky returned to its original color. That heart-stopping suction and the droning hum of energy disappeared in an instant, leaving only the wreckage on the ground as proof of how close it had been.
"Is… it over?" Spider-Man panted, asking uncertainly.
Everyone looked exhausted, but they all let out a breath, relief spreading across their faces. Iron Man landed beside Saitama and reached down, hauling him out of the crater where he was nearly buried halfway.
"Nice work, baldy. You just tanked a mountain."
But before any celebration could truly begin, Spider-Man—sharp-eyed as ever—pointed at where the breach had been and shouted, "Hey! What's that?"
In the empty air where the breach had disappeared, a crystal about the size of a fist hovered silently. Pitch-black, its surface seemed to reflect no light at all. It radiated a faint—yet still deeply unsettling—aura.
(End of Chapter)
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