**Z-Valhalla. Residential District. Saitama's Apartment.**
**Sunday. 12:00 PM.**
The air smells of saffron and financial desperation.
Satan (Mr. Red) stands before a tripod. A smartphone is clamped onto it.
He straightens his tie. He adjusts his apron.
"We are live," Genos announces from the corner. "Stream Title: *Cooking with The Adversary: Budget Curry Edition.*"
"Greetings, mortals," Satan speaks to the camera. His voice carries the gravitas of eternal damnation. "Today, we learn to cut onions without weeping. The trick is to have no soul."
Saitama sits on the couch, counting coins.
"70 viewers," Saitama mutters. "Is that good?"
"It is insufficient for ad revenue," King replies, not looking up from his game. "You need a scandal. Or a cat."
Saitama looks at Rover (who is currently chewing on a divine slipper).
"Does a dog who shoots fireballs count?"
"Only if he dances."
**The Disturbance.**
Down on the street, the pavement changes.
Usually, concrete is grey. Cold.
Now, wherever a specific pair of bare feet touch, flowers bloom.
But these are not roses. They are lilies made of ash. Grey, brittle, and leaking smoke.
**Adam.** The Father.
He walks naked, save for a leaf-like censorship blur created by localized light refraction (courtesy of Zeus's old PR team, now corrupted). His eyes are voids filled with spinning spirals. His knuckleduster, usually gold, is now jagged obsidian.
He stops in front of a hero patrolling the street.
**Tanktop Vegetarian.**
"Halt!" The hero flexes. "You're violating public decency laws! Put on a shirt!"
Adam stops. He tilts his head.
**"My child,"** Adam whispers. His voice sounds like a lullaby played backward on a broken record. **"Why do you wear the cloth of shame? Why do you hide the form I gave you?"**
"Uh, because it's the law?" Tanktop Vegetarian steps back. He feels a primal terror. The instinct of a son facing a father with a belt.
Adam reaches out.
**"Let me prune you."**
He taps the hero's forehead.
*TOUCH.*
Tanktop Vegetarian doesn't die. He turns into a pillar of salt.
The salt crumbles, leaving only the Tanktop on the ground.
**"Imperfection removed,"** Adam smiles. It is a loving, horrific smile. **"Next."**
**The Encounter.**
Adam walks.
Behind him, a trail of salt pillars and dead flowers marks his path.
Civilians flee. They don't scream. They are too afraid. It is a quiet panic.
A figure drops from a streetlight.
**Garou.**
He is healing. He is eating an apple.
He spits the seeds at Adam's feet.
"Hey," Garou says. His aura flares. "You look strong. You have the 'Final Boss' smell."
Adam looks at Garou.
His spiral eyes spin.
**[Target Analysis: Martial Artist. Mimicry Style. Hubris.]**
**"A wayward son,"** Adam says softly. **"You try to be a monster. But you are just a boy wearing a wolf mask."**
Garou's eye twitches. "Don't patronize me, nudist."
Garou moves.
*Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist.*
He closes the distance instantly. A blue trail of kinetic energy aims for Adam's throat.
Adam doesn't dodge.
His eyes flash.
**Divine Reflection: Void Mode.**
Adam raises his hand.
He mirrors Garou's stance perfectly.
But faster.
**Flowing Void Soul Crushing Fist.**
*Impact.*
Garou's strike is parried. Not just physically.
Adam's parry hits the *intent* of the attack.
Garou feels his own technique reflect back into his body.
*CRACK.*
Garou's wrist snaps. His ribcage implodes.
He flies backward, crashing through a bus stop and embedding into a brick wall.
"Gah!" Garou slides down the wall, coughing blood. "He... copied... me?"
Adam stands over him.
**"I am the Blueprint,"** Adam states. **"Everything you do, I did first. I love you, son. That is why I must erase you."**
Adam raises his obsidian knuckleduster.
He aims for Garou's head.
**Move: True Father's Discipline.**
**The Intervention.**
*ZJJJTT.*
A beam of magical fire cuts the air.
**Incineration Cannon: Asgardian Overload.**
Adam slaps the beam away.
It burns a hole in a nearby skyscraper.
Genos lands between Adam and Garou. His thrusters scorch the asphalt.
"Target identified," Genos announces. "Entity designated: Adam. Status: Corrupted. Threat Level: Dragon-Plus."
Satan (Mr. Red) steps out from the alleyway. He is holding a spatula. He looks furious.
"We were livestreaming!" Satan roars. "Your salt-magic disrupted the signal! We lost 40 subscribers!"
Adam looks at Satan.
**"The Snake,"** Adam whispers. **"The Adversary."**
The spirals in Adam's eyes spin faster.
**"You tempted my wife. You broke the garden."**
Satan blinks. "I did no such thing! I have never met your wife! I am single!"
**"Lies."**
Adam vanishes.
He appears in front of Satan.
**Move: Serpent Skinner.**
He grabs Satan by the horns.
He rips.
"AAAAHH!" Satan screams. Not in pain, but in indignity.
Adam throws Satan. The Devil spins like a frisbee, crashing through the second story of Saitama's apartment building.
Genos engages.
"Machine Gun Blow!"
Adam catches every fist. He doesn't just catch them; he holds hands with them.
**"Cold metal,"** Adam says. **"No warmth. A failed creation."**
He squeezes.
*CRUNCH.*
Genos's arms crumble. The divine alloy twists like tin foil.
Adam kicks Genos.
The cyborg becomes a projectile. He flies upward, smashing into the balcony where Saitama stands.
**The Main Event.**
Genos lands at Saitama's feet. Sparks fly from his neck.
"Master..." Genos statics. "Target... utilizes... perfect... counter... capabilities..."
Saitama looks down at his broken cyborg disciple.
He looks at the hole in the wall where Satan is groaning.
He looks at the phone on the tripod.
**Status: OFFLINE.**
**Comments: "LMAO stream died," "Chef got wrecked," "Unsubbed."**
Saitama puts the phone in his pocket.
He walks to the edge of the balcony.
He looks down.
Adam stands in the street, surrounded by dead lilies.
He looks up.
The spirals lock onto Saitama.
**"The Anomaly,"** Adam says. **"The one who stands outside the Garden."**
Saitama jumps down.
He lands on the pavement. No crater. Just a soft *tap*.
He stands five feet from the First Man.
"You broke my door," Saitama says. "You broke my friend. And you ruined the stream. We needed that money for rent."
Adam smiles.
**"Money is a shackle. I free you from it. Come, my child. Let me embrace you back into the void."**
Adam opens his arms.
His eyes are scanning Saitama.
**Divine Reflection: Activate.**
He prepares to copy the stats. To copy the technique. To copy the strength.
The spiral eyes spin so fast they blur.
Adam looks into Saitama's soul to find the ceiling of his power.
He looks.
And looks.
And looks.
Sweat begins to bead on Adam's forehead.
He sees nothing.
Not emptiness.
He sees an ocean that has no shore. He sees a mountain that has no peak.
He tries to copy "Infinity."
His brain—even a divine, corrupted brain—begins to overheat.
**[WARNING: DATABASE OVERFLOW.]**
**[WARNING: VALUE TOO HIGH.]**
"Are we hugging?" Saitama asks. "Or are we fighting? Because I have to sweep up the salt you made."
Adam grins. A broken, manic grin.
**"I will copy YOU!"** Adam screams.
Adam winds up a punch.
He mimics Saitama's posture.
He mimics the lack of technique.
He channels the Void to fill the gap in power.
**Move: Serious Series Copy: The Father's Punch.**
Saitama sighs.
"You can't copy me."
Saitama winds up a normal punch.
Casual. Lazy.
"Because I'm not doing a move."
They strike.
Fist meets Fist.
*CLICK.*
The universe takes a screenshot.
For a microsecond, the fists touch.
Adam's "Copy" tries to reflect the force.
But you cannot reflect a force that exists in absolute reality against a force that mimics it.
The mimicry is a drawing. The reality is the eraser.
*CRACK.*
Adam's arm shatters.
Not just the bone.
The obsidian knuckleduster vaporizes.
The shockwave travels up his shoulder, blowing his "Leaf Blur" away (revealing Barbie-doll anatomy, thankfully).
Adam flies back.
He hits the asphalt. He bounces.
He rolls to a stop at the feet of the Tanktop he turned to salt.
**"Impossible..."** Adam stares at his missing arm. **"I reflected... the void... why?"**
Saitama walks over.
He blocks out the sun.
"You're looking for a technique," Saitama says. "I'm just hitting you."
Adam looks up. The spirals in his eyes shatter. The corruption breaks under the blunt force trauma of being physically overwhelmed.
The Void Entity flees his body, screaming into the ether.
Adam's eyes turn clear.
He looks around. Confused. Like a man waking up from a nightmare.
"Where..." Adam whispers. "Where is Eve?"
Saitama offers a hand.
"Dunno who Eve is. But you're paying for the balcony repair."
Adam looks at the hand.
The hand that broke the Void.
Adam takes it.
He stands up.
"I..." Adam weeps. "I have no money. I am naked."
Saitama freezes.
The color drains from the world.
"No money?"
**Epilogue.**
**Valhalla Reconstruction Site.**
Thor and Brunhilde watch the monitor.
"He subdued the Corrupted Father," Brunhilde notes, writing in her ledger. "One punch. Minimal city damage (except the balcony)."
"And now?" Thor asks.
The screen shows Saitama handing Adam a mop.
"You work for me now," Saitama is saying. "You generated the salt. You clean it up. We sell the salt to the supermarket. That is your debt plan."
Adam nods obediently, sweeping up the remains of Tanktop Vegetarian (who will need to be rehydrated).
Thor smiles.
"He conquers not with death... but with employment."