Tatsumaki's face looked cold, her eyes conveying anger.
At this moment, she recalled when she was still small and encountered a monster. If the S-Class hero Blast hadn't intervened then, she might have already died, and there wouldn't be the Tatsumaki of today.
A major reason why Tatsumaki became a hero now was because of Blast's influence. Meanwhile, what Metal Knight was doing now was challenging a hero's responsibility, and that had ignited the fire of anger in her heart.
Amid the billowing dust, Metal Knight pushed aside the rubble and walked out. His armor was now covered with cracks; clearly Tatsumaki had truly attacked him with full fury earlier.
Metal Knight's eyes clearly showed slight fear toward Tatsumaki.
Tatsumaki's power was widely acknowledged even within the Hero Association internally. When Blast and Saitama weren't around, Tatsumaki was the "ceiling" of the Hero Association's combat power.
Of course, there was also King. The original King might be just bluster, but the current King not only merged with Ichibi (Shukaku), but also awakened mental system esper power no less than Tatsumaki's. His power was in the front ranks of S-Class heroes.
"You want to kill me?" Metal Knight's voice sounded hoarse, carrying a tone of disbelief.
"No." Tatsumaki shook her head. "I don't kill humans, especially since you're a colleague. I just want to beat you to your senses."
"Beat me to my senses?" Metal Knight laughed bitterly. "You also think I'm wrong?"
Tatsumaki said calmly: "In matters like this, there's no right or wrong. Fear of power is every living being's instinct, not excluding strong heroes. Your mistake is you shouldn't have thoughts of betraying and leaving the Hero Association."
Metal Knight said in a heavy voice: "I'm not betraying, I just want to leave. Even without the Hero Association, I can still kill monsters."
"Yes." Tatsumaki nodded. "The Hero Association is just an organization. Human society doesn't lack civilian heroes. But it can't be denied that joining the Hero Association is the most appropriate choice. If a super power user loses restraint, then certain desires will swell drastically, like the House of Evolution before. You should understand this."
While speaking, Tatsumaki's gaze shifted toward Genos who was beside them.
Genos nodded in agreement. Among all the heroes, he had the most contact with the House of Evolution. He had seen many people who, because of obtaining power, became arbitrary in the human world until finally their hearts and minds were controlled by evil.
They weren't monsters but were worse than monsters, until finally swallowed by darkness. The House of Evolution headquarters itself was destroyed by Genos's hands.
Metal Knight fell silent, then said slowly: "I won't become like that."
"Are you sure?" Tatsumaki asked back. "I don't want to someday receive a mission to kill a former colleague who once fought side by side with me!"
Metal Knight was stuck for words.
Tatsumaki landed slowly and said in a casual tone: "What I need to say I've said. If you insist on leaving, I won't stop you. After all, the strongest person and the one with most say in the Hero Association now isn't me, but that baldy. If you really want to leave the association, go ahead, submit an application to that baldy. Explain the cause and effect. I think he's a reasonable person."
Hearing this sentence, the corner of Metal Knight's eye twitched heavily.
The other heroes also showed strange expressions.
Submit an application to that person? What if he's in a bad mood then gives you one punch with the reason of "eliminating danger from the start"? Who could withstand that baldy's fist?!
"I..." Metal Knight hesitated for quite a while, then finally muttered: "I'm not leaving!"
All the heroes breathed a sigh of relief. Metal Knight leaving the association was indeed something no one wanted to see. If someday he was incited by the Monster Association and became an enemy, that would truly be headache-inducing. Although Saitama wasn't here, his prestige was still very much felt.
"See, that's right! No need to go that far!" The bespectacled man felt relieved. If Metal Knight really left, he probably wouldn't be able to avoid responsibility; at least his current position would definitely be lost.
"Where did that baldy go?" Tatsumaki asked with furrowed brow. "In a situation like this, why can he still be taking it easy?"
Everyone broke out in cold sweat.
Perhaps among all the heroes here, only this girl dared to call Saitama by the moniker "baldy". Of course, she only dared call him that behind his back; in front of him directly, even Tatsumaki wouldn't dare.
Genos answered: "Sensei already left word when he returned; if there's nothing very urgent, don't disturb him. He wants to do meditation and intense training."
"Intense training?" Tatsumaki's eyebrow raised. "Don't joke around. At a time like this he's doing that instead? Is he planning something? Was he triggered by that crazy woman?"
Genos fell silent without words. In the previous battle against Kaguya, although Saitama had absolute power, he nearly died together because of Kaguya's strange techniques. That indeed awakened him to his shortcomings.
In the face of absolute power, any technique was indeed just a joke. However, when the power difference between both sides wasn't large enough to totally dominate, then techniques and means became very important.
Moreover, many of Kaguya's techniques already touched the Law of the World; otherwise, it would be impossible for her to use the Evil God ritual to forcibly impose a curse on Saitama.
Even Saitama's terrifying body almost couldn't withstand it.
Bang said with slight resignation: "Not just him, he also took Imu along."
Tatsumaki found it strange: "Why did he take Imu?"
Bang showed a strange face: "After all, Imu was formerly the supreme ruler of the One Piece World Government. The secrets in his body aren't just what we've obtained so far. I think Saitama might want to dig out more secrets and techniques from him to strengthen himself."
"Techniques?" Everyone looked puzzled.
Atomic Samurai cleared his throat and said: "That... if I remember correctly, Saitama doesn't seem to know any techniques other than punching, right?"
Everyone nodded in unison.
All this time, what they saw in Saitama was just fists. Not many monsters could withstand one of his punches. If one wasn't enough, then two!
Until now, what Saitama showed was just very strong physical power.
"That person..." Tatsumaki was slightly at a loss for words.
It seemed this baldy was truly triggered by Kaguya.
Initially Saitama thought besides the first and second places on the Golden List there wouldn't be anyone else who could match him, but suddenly Kaguya appeared and nearly dragged him to the grave.
"Forget it, let's not talk about him anymore." Tatsumaki waved her hand, then removed a pendant necklace from her neck and tossed it to the bespectacled man.
"This world seems about to undergo changes again, and this has something to do with that First Place on the Golden List. This is a recording I took earlier, take a look for yourselves."
Everyone felt suspicious.
Wasn't the monster from earlier already dealt with?
Why did Tatsumaki's expression look like something was wrong!