Chapter 96: I AM HERE!!
King walked at a steady pace across the top of the Spaceship, his footsteps landing on the metal plates below with a crisp, metallic clanging sound.
With every step, his aura surged, and by the time he stood before Boros, a sound like glass shattering echoed from within King's body.
Indeed, in the midst of this passionate battle, King had once again broken through a layer of his limiter, and his attributes became even more powerful.
He spoke, his tone carrying a hint of regret:
"A pity. You also broke through a layer of your limiter. If you could have lived after this battle, you surely would have become even stronger."
Boros gave a wretched laugh; he could sense that King's strength had grown even further.
"Honestly... the gap between us is only getting wider... No matter. I have never sought power for its own sake; power is merely my tool, my ticket, and the foundation upon which I challenge the strong."
"Ultimately, my ability to break through the limiter was entirely gained through my battle with you. A loss is a loss, and I am willing to pay with my life, for that is the fate of the defeated."
At this point, Boros's voice paused for a full second or two. He seemed completely spent, taking a few shallow breaths before barely managing to utter the next sentence:
"I am the cosmic overlord who has dominated for many years, and the leader of the Dark Matter Universe Pirates. Do not pity me; it is an insult."
As his words fell, Boros spoke no more, appearing as if he had already died, with only a faint trace of life energy still rippling within him.
King nodded and then raised his palm. Powerful Blood Qi adhered to the surface of his hand and compressed, forming a shape similar to a blade.
"Do you have anything else to say?"
"Nothing more. Please, do it quickly."
The sharp hand blade carved a chilling arc through the air, and Boros's head soared into the sky.
This time, he did not grow a new head. At the severed neck, buds of flesh attempted to reattach the head, but his life energy was so utterly depleted that it was no longer enough to do so.
Boros's headless corpse stood there atop the Dark Matter Pirates' Spaceship, standing tall and majestic, without the slightest intention of falling.
Just as he had said before he died, he was the cosmic overlord and the leader of the Dark Matter Universe Pirates; even in death, he would die standing.
"Boros, you truly were a worthy opponent."
After saying this, feeling the Spaceship tilting further beneath his feet, King turned and left.
The cosmic overlord Boros, deceased... Amidst the earth-shattering tremors, the Spaceship fell in flames, seemingly about to land on City A and level the entire city.
Tatsumaki, below, furrowed her brows. Her vast, sea-like Psychic Power erupted instantly, and the entire Spaceship suddenly shimmered with green light as its descent speed decreased significantly.
Though it appeared she had controlled the Spaceship, Tatsumaki's frown deepened, and veins began to bulge on her forehead.
She couldn't fully control it... Tatsumaki exerted all her strength, but she didn't know what Materials this Spaceship was made of; its mass was far greater than its size suggested. Even with her Psychic Power, she couldn't completely stop its fall.
Just then, a shining bald head soared into the sky, arriving beneath the Spaceship.
Seeing the falling Spaceship, Saitama wanted to see if he could hold the entire thing up by himself. He couldn't just let this thing crash down and smash the city below into a two-dimensional plane.
With that thought, Saitama pressed both hands against the bottom of the Spaceship and then kicked off the air with immense force, charging upward with powerful momentum.
"Up you go!"
In the next second, a yellow stream of light passed through the Spaceship without resistance, punching a human-shaped hole right through its layered structure.
Saitama: "..."
"Why did I punch through it again?"
Simply put, Saitama's own density and the Spaceship's were not even on the same level. If one was room-temperature soft tofu, the other was indestructible eternal divine iron; the difference in hardness was far too great.
This led to the aforementioned problem: Saitama was like a sharp iron needle flying upward, while the Spaceship was like soft tofu floating in the sky.
An iron needle can easily pierce through soft tofu, but it cannot lift the entire block of tofu.
"Hmph, I knew that stinking hard-boiled egg baldy was useless. In the end, it still depends on this Young lady."
Tatsumaki, who had initially felt a hint of expectation when she saw Saitama take action, snorted coldly upon seeing this and once again applied her Psychic Power to control the Spaceship.
On the ground, the four S-Class Heroes—Puri-Puri Prisoner, Tanktop Master, Bang, and Atomic Samurai—looked at each other.
"Oi, Old Man Bang, that super-sized Spaceship looks like it's about to fall. We'll be squashed into meat patties down here, right?"
Atomic Samurai, dangling a toothpick from his mouth, watched the Spaceship grow larger in his vision, his tone sounding a bit uneasy.
"In that case, let's run first."
Bang did not hesitate for a second, turning and running toward the area outside the Spaceship's impact zone.
Are you kidding? I'm a martial arts Grandmaster, not the God of Martial Arts. It's one thing to use the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist to parry a humanoid Monster's attack, but asking me to block a Spaceship? That's ridiculous!
Seeing the S-Class Rank 3 and Rank 4 heroes, Bang and Atomic Samurai, both making a run for it, Tanktop Master and Puri-Puri Prisoner looked at each other and also began to flee without hesitation.
Though they both had great faith in their muscles and tanktops, they weren't idiots.
Even though Tanktop Master had an almost fanatical faith in his tanktop, he didn't believe it could help him withstand the descent of a Spaceship.
Tatsumaki, floating in mid-air, had already used all her strength, but the Spaceship's descent speed had only slowed by about 60%; it was still continuing its fall.
"Damn it! Can I really not hold it?"
Just as Tatsumaki was overloading her Psychic Power, a tall figure appeared beside her:
"Don't worry"
"Why?"
"because, I AM HERE!!"
...