As Gaio severed the existence of "God" with his Enma blade, the monsters birthed from the "God Seed" by Psykos let out anguished wails.
Above Y City, Saitama's fist collided with Orochi's tendrils, sending visible shockwaves rippling through the air.
They'd fought from the underground of Z City to the surface, leaving the entire rock layer along their battle path obliterated.
"Awesome!" Saitama laughed, his fist suddenly speeding up.
A ten-meter-wide hole exploded in Orochi's chest, but the tendrils regenerated instantly.
Hundreds of tendrils shot out from its back, each tip crackling with energy beams capable of vaporizing steel.
BOOM!
The moment before Saitama was engulfed by the beams, he drew back his right fist to its limit. "Serious Punch—"
Orochi froze. Its tendrils spasmed violently, the energy beams misfiring into a sky full of scattered light.
It let out an unearthly shriek, clutching its head and curling into a ball, plummeting from a hundred meters up!
"Hey, what?" Saitama stopped his punch, dumbfounded.
As Orochi crashed into the ground, its massive body shrank at a terrifying rate.
Thick tendrils retracted, and its exoskeleton peeled away layer by layer.
When the dust settled, only a two-meter-tall, emaciated humanoid remained in the crater—pale skin, a lingering fist mark on its chest.
"Monster King?" Saitama squatted at the crater's edge, poking at it.
The creature looked up, trembling, its eyes no longer filled with destructive rage but animalistic fear.
From a distance, a chain reaction of wails echoed.
The surviving Monster Association members collapsed, some dissolving into pus, others regressing into frail forms like Orochi.
Psykos knelt in the ruins, blood streaming from her eyes, nose, and mouth, oozing a tar-like liquid.
Her nails clawed into the ground. Suddenly, all sound vanished—the wind itself froze in a three-meter radius around her.
"How pathetic."
The sound of boots crunching glass drew closer.
Gaio crouched in front of her, Enma blade resting across his knees.
He grabbed her chin, forcing her to lift her tar-streaked face. "With a face like that, you could've scammed funding from the Hero Association."
Psykos made a gurgling sound, her broken vocal cords struggling to form words. "You… don't… understand…"
"Yeah, I don't. Just feels like a waste. You're kind of a beauty, after all." Gaio released her chin.
Psykos collapsed from his grip.
"Let Fubuki deal with you."
"Fubuki?!" Psykos's body convulsed, tar-like liquid spraying from her face.
She slammed her head into the ground, making dull thuds. "Shut up! Don't mention that traitor!"
Gaio raised an eyebrow. "Stronger reaction than I expected."
Memory fragments cut into Psykos's mind like blades—
Sunlight streamed through a clubroom window. A seventeen-year-old Fubuki scribbled Ten Ways to Surpass Tornado on a chalkboard.
Psykos snickered, sticking a "Beat Big Sis" note on her back. They tussled, knocking over a pyramid of soda cans.
"We promised…" Blood-tinged tears streamed from Psykos's eyes. "To reach the top together…"
"But! Do you know?!" Psykos screamed hoarsely. "The future is doomed! It's like—"
She opened her mouth to speak of the future she'd seen, but realized she had no idea what to say.
"It's like…" Psykos repeated, unable to continue.
Gaio knew what she meant—her visions of the future were tied to the "God" he'd severed.
But he didn't remind her. He just watched quietly.
Until Psykos broke down, tears and snot streaming.
"I can't remember… Why? The future I saw…"
"Obsessing over the future? Focus on the present. Only by valuing now can you change what's coming."
Gaio spoke suddenly.
Psykos snapped her head up, staring at him blankly.
The roar of propellers cut through the air as a Hero Association hovercraft tore through the clouds.
Before the hatch fully opened, Fubuki leaped out.
Her telekinetic glow slammed into the ground, cratering the ruins.
"Psykos!" Her shout stopped short as she froze.
She brushed back her wind-tousled black hair, chin lifting slightly. "Former vice-president, you look pathetic."
Psykos, curled in the rubble, slowly turned her head.
Dried tar crusted her face, blood and snot clinging to her skin.
Her cracked lips parted, fresh blood beading.
Fubuki's pupils shrank.
She stepped forward quickly, her dark green dress sweeping over broken rebar, pulling a handkerchief from an inner pocket as she knelt.
"You…" The handkerchief hovered between them, Fubuki's voice catching.
Seeing Psykos's wretched state, the words she'd planned to say stuck in her throat.
Psykos stared at the handkerchief, tears welling in her dry, cracked eyelids.
Mingled with blood, the tears carved winding trails through the tar crust.
"Fubuki…" A faint gasp escaped her throat as she pitched forward.
Gaio crossed his arms, watching the reunion of the two "besties."
He saw Fubuki instinctively catch Psykos, saw the ever-elegant B-Class Rank 1 hero's dress stained with blood and grime, saw them both kneel in the ruins.
Psykos's cries were like a wounded kitten's. Fubuki's hand hovered over her back, never quite touching.
"Done dealing with her?" Gaio tapped the ground with his boot.
Fubuki's head snapped up, her eyes betraying a flicker of panic.
Gaio chuckled at her reaction. "It's over now."
Fubuki blinked, glancing around—the collapsed Monster Association headquarters, the degenerated monster remains, the distant searchlights from helicopters.
Her tense shoulders relaxed slightly. "Yeah… time to wrap this up."
But Psykos's pupils contracted.
She stared at her trembling hands, the tar crust flaking off to reveal fresh skin.
A vast emptiness gripped her heart, as if a chunk of her memory had been carved out.
"The future… was rewritten?" she murmured, unable to recall the future she was meant to see.
The prophetic visions that once drove her mad were now just static.
Psykos grabbed Gaio's shoe. "What did you do?!"
He lifted her chin with his scabbard. "Just snipped some loose threads."
Fubuki frowned, stepping forward. "What threads? What are you—"
"Not important." Gaio turned, pointing his scabbard at the descending Association troops. "Take her. The medical team's here."
Psykos suddenly laughed.
She staggered to her feet, tar flakes falling from her skirt. "I get it… you can even cut 'causality'…"
Her laughter stopped as she collapsed into Fubuki's arms.
As Fubuki caught her, she felt a fading bulge at Psykos's neck—the scar of the God Seed implant.
She looked up to ask, but Gaio was already walking away, his black coat fluttering, stirring the wind over the crystallized monster remains.
The night breeze scattered the last wisps of black mist. Psykos weakly watched Gaio's retreating figure as Fubuki's hand finally rested on her, gently brushing dust from her hair.
"Fubuki, I found a new goal—a way for you to completely surpass your sister."
"Huh? Why bring that up now?"
Fubuki didn't get it, but Psykos's eyes flicked toward Gaio's fading silhouette.
"Combine with his genes. Your kid would be way stronger than your sister!"
Fubuki's face flushed crimson, even her ears turning pink.
She dropped Psykos's arm. "What kind of joke is that?!"
Psykos leaned weakly against the rubble, a teasing smirk curling her lips. "His cell activity's leagues beyond Tornado's, with stable genetic traits…"
She counted off on bloodstained fingers, her tar-blackened nails glinting in the moonlight.
"Shut up!" Fubuki grabbed Psykos's collar, her dark green pupils shrinking.
She suddenly recalled Psykos's far cruder remarks back in the underground base.
Psykos let herself be shaken, leaning close to Fubuki's ear. "It's a great idea, isn't it? A perfect plan."
Fubuki recoiled as if burned, shoving her away. "Let the medical team take you!"
Psykos grunted as she hit the rubble, laughing even harder.
Looking at Fubuki's rigid back, she added, "He's handsome, powerful—your kid would outshine Tornado by miles."
The sound of the medical team's running footsteps approached.
Fubuki stormed off without looking back, but Psykos noticed her discreetly touch her flushed cheek.
P.S.: I skipped detailing Saitama and Orochi's fight since it's already in the manga. Writing more wouldn't add much and might get called filler by some readers, so I kept it brief.