Chapter 77: Yeruashi: This is the True Ending |
Boom!!!
In the upper reaches of the atmosphere, air was almost non-existent, but the collision between Pain and Saitama was so intense that even the few remaining molecules were enough to carry a terrifying, thunderous roar to every corner of the planet.
Pain and Saitama froze momentarily in the void of space.
In the next instant...
Crash!!!
Pain's body was sent hurtling backward.
Pain was indeed powerful enough to withstand Saitama's Serious Punch, but that was his limit. The moment Saitama drew upon even greater power, their clash became reminiscent of a match between boxers of entirely different weight classes. Such a gap in raw strength was difficult to overcome with mere skill or tricks, yet the blow was not fatal.
Pain plummeted from one side of the Earth to the other, his flesh visibly distorting under the pressure, but ultimately, he did not explode.
Saitama did not possess absolute superiority in raw power over the current Pain, which perfectly aligned with Yeruashi's original assessment.
With a flick of Pain's wrist, an Evolution Search Ball materialized in his palm and immediately reshaped itself into a blade.
Whoosh!
Pain gripped the hilt tightly and stepped forward, vanishing into a newly formed black spatial rift. An instant later, he reappeared directly in front of Saitama.
Swish! Swish! Swish!!
Following Pain's emergence, a torrential storm of giant energy slashes converged on Saitama from every conceivable angle.
The attack of a Great Sword Master!!
"..."
Saitama, who had finally recovered from the irritation and anger caused by his involuntary trip to Mars, took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes at the rapidly approaching slashes.
A split second later...
An equal number of massive fists surged forward to meet the onslaught.
Serious Series: Two-Handed Consecutive Serious Punches!
The force behind each of these strikes from both Saitama and Pain was enough to shatter or cleave the entire Earth!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
As these devastating attacks collided, powerful shockwaves rippled through the vacuum near the planet, instantly pulverizing every asteroid within a radius of several hundred thousand kilometers from the epicenter.
Simultaneously, the atmosphere enveloping the globe buckled and warped incessantly, looking like a fragile soap bubble about to burst.
'Just as I suspected,'
Pain whispered, his blade never faltering as he traded blows with Saitama's barrage of fists.
Throughout this clash, the power of his cells continued to climb, his slashes growing increasingly potent—but the same was happening to Saitama's punches!!
Yeruashi had suspected something like this might happen ever since his first encounter with Saitama.
Saitama hadn't just surpassed his limits once through evolution; he had utterly shattered all restrictions, gaining the potential for infinite growth. It was as if a normal cell had transformed into a cancer cell, possessing an unrestricted capacity for division and expansion.
This unlimited evolution was the source of Saitama's absolute invincibility.
He was stronger today than he was yesterday, every single day!
Pain's newly acquired power of evolution was clearly not as absurd.
Before long, Pain's cells reached the peak of their potential and ceased their advancement, while Saitama continued to steadily ramp up his power.
Ultimately...
Saitama's overwhelming barrage of fists shattered the giant slashes and slammed into Pain's body, launching him toward the Earth like a literal cannonball.
Boom!!!
Pain, wreathed in atmospheric friction and flames, streaked across the sky and crashed back into the desolate wasteland of City Z, kicking up a colossal shroud of dust.
Tatsumaki took a deep breath and waved her small hand, using her psychokinetic power to sweep away the rising dust clouds.
Soon, her gaze fell upon a massive crater, at the bottom of which lay Pain's figure.
At that exact moment...
Boom!!!
Saitama landed heavily nearby, yet he remained perfectly steady on his feet and leaped out of the resulting pit without a second thought.
'...It's over.'
Tatsumaki sighed, watching Saitama's approaching figure. 'It seems the baldy—no... Saitama is stronger than the One-Eyed God.'
After these thoughts, Tatsumaki looked at Yeruashi, who was hovering in the sky nearby, wondering how she had never been able to sense his true limit. 'Just how... how strong are you compared to them?'
Yeruashi smiled. "In terms of pure strength, I am slightly superior to the weak one and slightly inferior to the strong one, but such an assessment isn't quite right."
"Why?" Tatsumaki asked.
Yeruashi spoke slowly, his pupils shimmering with a faint golden light as he looked at Saitama and Pain. "Because the one who is slightly weaker... does not exist."
Tatsumaki asked, clearly puzzled, "Does not exist? What does that mean..."
"You will understand soon enough."
Yeruashi gave the bewildered Tatsumaki a knowing smile. In the depths of his eyes, countless variations of the future flickered by until he settled on the right one.
Then...
Yeruashi's figure vanished instantly.
"Yeruashi?"
Tatsumaki looked around in shock, then scanned the ground below, where she saw Yeruashi had appeared without her even noticing.
Pain, who had been lying at the bottom of the crater, stood up and walked toward Yeruashi.
"Father has finally gained the power of evolution,"
Lilith appeared in the air near Tatsumaki and spoke cheerfully, looking down at Yeruashi and Pain.
In response to Lilith's sudden appearance, Tatsumaki subconsciously flared her psychokinetic shield, but she froze at the girl's words.
Below...
Pain climbed out of the deep crater and stood shoulder to shoulder with Yeruashi.
"...Oh?"
Saitama, who had been walking toward Yeruashi, stopped and looked at Pain in confusion.
Yeruashi smiled at Saitama, reaching out his left hand toward Pain's shoulder. "Great performances often have unexpected finales, don't they?"
Splash!!
Pain's figure dissolved into a formless white liquid, which rapidly surged into Yeruashi's outstretched hand.
"This is the true ending."
Yeruashi withdrew his hand and slowly clenched it into a fist.
With that motion, a blinding radiance erupted from Yeruashi's body, first enveloping his own figure and then washing over the entire world.