Boros kicked one of the Black S clones so hard that the shockwave generated disintegrated several hundred others.
Amid the sea of multiplying bodies, Fuhrer Ugly and Gums tried to close in on Boros.
Further away, Homeless Emperor finished charging his attack. The sphere of energy he had created illuminated the entire area in a blinding white light, resembling a miniature sun that blocked out the actual sun.
"Take this! All the power given to me by God!" Homeless Emperor screamed as he lowered his hands, releasing the gigantic energy bomb onto Boros, the army of Black S, and even Gums and Fuhrer Ugly.
"Boom!" The energy sphere detonated, obliterating everything in a radius of several kilometers.
The city surrounding the battlefield was completely vaporized, leaving only Homeless Emperor, the downed Rover, Elder Centipede, and a few surviving Black S clones in the aftermath.
"Haaaaaa, are you dumb?" Black S shouted angrily at Homeless Emperor, furious that most of his army had been destroyed in the explosion.
The man shrugged nonchalantly. "You were the perfect distraction to keep that alien in one place," he replied. "I simply used the opportunity you gave me to get rid of that parasite."
"Get rid of who?" A rumbling sound came from the center of the explosion. Suddenly, the ground burst open, and Boros stood up, unscathed.
Dusting himself off, he smirked. "That was a nice one. I actually felt a slight sting."
His smirk faded into disappointment. "Still, nowhere near enough to be satisfactory. It seems I got my hopes up too soon."
"Orochi, and now all of you... None of the monsters in this association can give me a challenge," Boros thought, a tinge of regret in his expression. "Saitama remains the only living thing on this planet who could make me break a sweat."
The alien suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, and by the way," he said, pointing a finger at Homeless Emperor. "You there with the energy spheres. You mentioned God before. I'd like to have a word with you about that after I'm done with the others."
Homeless Emperor stared at Boros in shock. "He survived my strongest blast... and he wants to know about God too?"
"Why? How does he even know about God's existence?"
Boros began walking toward him.
"No! Stay away!" Homeless Emperor screamed, firing hundreds of blasts in a desperate attempt to keep Boros at a distance.
Unfazed, Boros calmly walked through the barrage of explosions, tanking every shot without so much as a scratch.
"Please," Boros said, his voice tinged with amusement. "Your strongest attack did nothing to me. What makes you think this will be any different?"
Emerging from the smoke, Boros appeared directly in front of Homeless Emperor. He pulled back his fist and punched the man in the face, blowing his body apart instantly and killing him on the spot.
Boros' eye widened in surprise.
"What? I could have sworn I held back enough to keep him alive."
Knowing how powerful the energy spheres were, Boros had calculated his strength to incapacitate Homeless Emperor without killing him. However, he hadn't realized that beneath his light powers, Homeless Emperor was just an ordinary human.
Meanwhile, Black S was seething.
"Can't give you a challenge?" Black S growled. "Huh, don't look down on me!"
"If it's a challenge you want, then that's what you'll get!" Black S began multiplying rapidly.
Within moments, the entire area was submerged in a sea of Black S clones, but he didn't stop there. Half of the city was soon plunged into darkness as the multiplying mass continued to grow.
What followed was a massacre. Boros powered up slightly and unleashed a barrage of punches so intense that each strike generated shockwaves, wiping out tens of thousands of Black S clones in an instant.
His attacks were so fast that millions of clones were destroyed within seconds. Yet, the army kept multiplying.
............….
Hero Association Headquarters
"Why are you telling me to wait?" Tatsumaki demanded.
"I already told you," replied Sitch, the association's strategist. "We need to wait for the other heroes to arrive so we can form a proper team to assess the situation."
"If there's a monster capable of causing tectonic movements, then I'm the only one who can face it," Tatsumaki retorted. "Anyone else would just get in the way."
"Besides, we don't know how long we have before this creature moves to more populated areas."
Sitch sighed, admitting to himself that Tatsumaki was right.
If there really was a monster in City Z emitting the kind of energy detected earlier, very few heroes could hope to stop it. Blast might be one of them, but there was no telling if he would show up. King hadn't responded to any calls, so his status was unknown.
That left Tatsumaki as their best option.
"All right, you can go," Sitch said reluctantly. "Not that I could stop you anyway. Just... please, be careful."
Tatsumaki pouted. "Have you forgotten who you're talking to? I don't need nanny warnings from you."
.................
Back at the Battlefield
Boros punched away a few more thousand Black S clones. Though the seemingly endless army of dummies to destroy had been entertaining at first, the novelty was wearing off fast.
Without warning, Boros stopped fighting, confusing Black S.
"I'm done."
"Huh? What?" Black S exclaimed in disbelief.
"I'm done fighting you," Boros repeated.
Black S smirked. "Oh, I see. You're running out of stamina, aren't you? Was all that talk about going for weeks just a bluff? Too bad, because I'm not done with you yet!"
Boros sighed. "I'm bored. You're boring me."
"I had fun at first, punching thousands of you out of existence, but now it's just repetitive. You're no challenge to me."
He glanced at the horde of clones. "If I wanted to, I could wipe out this entire area with a single blast and eradicate every last one of you. It doesn't matter how much you multiply—if there's nothing left to multiply, you're finished."
Boros turned his back. "Let the heroes deal with you. I'm sure they're already on their way."
Black S' face contorted with rage. "You little...!"
His entire body shook as he snarled. "I'll kill you!"
Suddenly, all the Black S clones began merging into one.
Boros watched with curiosity as the clones fused. "Whatever you're doing, bring it on."
Black S grinned darkly. "So far, you've killed one hundred and seventy-three million of me. But now, I've fused into a single entity made up of sixty-three trillion of myself."
The ground began to quake as a brilliant light engulfed the battlefield.
"Let's rise beyond golden," Black S declared. "I'll show you my ultimate form!"
Boros smirked, excitement sparking in his eye. "Fusion, huh? Let's see what you've got." Crossing his arms, he waited eagerly for his foe to take shape.