The battlefield was a storm of explosions and rapid blows as Genos and Garou clashed in a whirlwind of fire and fury.
"Machine Gun Blows!" Genos roared, unleashing a barrage of precise, high-speed mechanical punches.
Garou sneered, weaving through the strikes with inhuman agility. A few punches landed, striking his chest, and he gritted his teeth in pain before countering with a brutal kick.
Genos' eyes flared as he fired blast after blast at Garou, tearing apart the ground. The battlefield was soon littered with molten debris as he rocketed forward with another attack.
"Jet Dive Arrow!"
Genos dove toward Garou with a flaming kick, but Garou sidestepped, narrowly avoiding the strike. The ground beneath him erupted in golden flames.
"You missed," Garou taunted.
Then, with blinding speed, he countered.
"Fist of Flowing Water: Crushing Rock!"
Garou's blows crashed into Genos, sending shockwaves through the air. He followed up with a knee strike to Genos' head, slamming the cyborg into the ground.
"RAAAH!" Garou bellowed, raising his foot to finish the fight with a decisive stomp—
But before his foot could land, the ground beneath him detonated. The explosion hurled him backward.
Genos flipped mid-air, stabilizing himself with his boosters before landing in a crouch, his eyes glowing fiercely.
"I see," Genos analyzed, his mind processing Garou's movements. "He overpowered me with Fist of Flowing Water: Crushing Rock... But if I memorize his patterns, I can counter him."
Garou, now back on his feet, studied Genos.
"I'm too weak... But if I adapt, I can defeat him," Garou thought to himself, lowering into a beast-like stance.
Then, he lunged forward—on all fours.
Genos' sensors flared in alarm. "He's moving like an animal!"
Before he could react, Garou was beside him, his claws tearing through metal.
With a vicious grin, Garou ripped off Genos' left arm and sprinted away.
"Tsk. You see, I've always had a thing for breaking machinery," Garou mocked, holding the severed arm. "Too bad for you!"
But then—
The detached arm moved.
Garou's eyes widened in shock as the mechanical limb shot forward, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him into a nearby tree.
"GAAH!" Garou grunted, coughing from the impact.
Genos advanced, his right palm glowing with lethal energy.
"There are rumors of an Evil Association forming," Genos said coldly. "Heroes must stand together against that threat. We don't have time to waste on insignificant nobodies like you."
Garou's expression darkened.
"A nobody?" He let out a bitter chuckle before glaring at Genos with burning fury. "Listen up, Demon Cyborg—I will become Absolute Evil! And the world will fear me!"
He barely ducked as Genos fired a devastating blast, vaporizing the tree behind him.
Garou rolled to his feet, panting, his eyes gleaming wildly.
"A monster stands before you, stronger than anyone!" Garou roared, his hair flashing red with bloodlust.
"There's no such monster," Genos countered, raising his palm for a finishing blast.
"Inciner—!"
But before he could fire, something struck Garou from above.
A blur of motion—then a devastating kick.
Garou slammed into the ground, coughing up blood.
Genos' eyes flicked up in surprise. "Bang?"
Standing over Garou was an elderly martial artist, his cold gaze locked onto his fallen student.
"Genos, let me handle this," Bang said calmly before stepping forward.
Garou groaned, lifting his head.
"I know that voice... So the old geezer finally made it, huh?" He gritted his teeth as a red haze clouded his vision. "Fine. I'll show you—this time, the monster wins!"
With a guttural snarl, he lunged.
"Fist of Flowing Water: Crushing Rock!"
Bang retaliated instantly, his strikes a blur of speed and precision.
Garou howled as he was pummeled. Desperate, he grabbed Bang's wrist and twisted.
"You die today, old man!" Garou bellowed, their muscles straining in a deadly struggle.
Bang exhaled sharply. "I'm afraid I can't let that happen."
With a sudden burst of force, he drove his knee into Garou's chin, then followed up with a crushing punch to the face.
Garou was sent tumbling across the battlefield, his body battered and bloodied.
"AAAAUGH!" he howled, thrashing wildly as Bang pursued, striking without mercy.
Pain overwhelmed Garou as fist after fist crashed into him. His vision blurred.
"I'm going to black out... I'm going to die..."
Then—instinct kicked in.
With a final burst of energy, he used Watchdog Man's technique, bouncing off nearby trees to escape Bang's relentless assault.
Bang watched him with narrowed eyes. "He moves like a damn animal..."
Garou's gaze darted around desperately.
Then—he spotted Death Gatling's unconscious body.
"If I can just grab him as a shield—"
But before he could move, another figure stepped into view.
An older man.
"Not today," the man said.
Before Garou could react, a knee struck his face, sending him crashing into a puddle of mutilated monsters.
Bang's eyes widened. "Bomb! You're here!"
Bomb nodded. "I took care of the remaining monsters. Now, let's finish this."
Garou groaned, forcing himself up—only to be met with a twin assault.
Bang and Bomb struck from both sides, a relentless barrage of strikes overwhelming him.
Garou barely had time to defend himself as he was rocked by the storm of punches and kicks.
"They're going to kill me," Garou realized, his thoughts clouded with pain.
Bang's eyes burned with fury. "You're going to pay for every ounce of pain you inflicted on Charanko!"
The blows intensified.
"They're not stopping... I can't end here! Absolute Evil cannot fall!"
Garou let out a guttural snarl, his eyes burning.
"IT'S NOT OVER UNTIL I SAY IT'S OVER!"
With a final burst of power, he slammed his fists into the ground, knocking both martial artists back.
Bang and Bomb recovered instantly, ready to attack again—
When suddenly, a hooded figure appeared in front of Garou.
"Confringo!"
A ball of fire exploded, sending Bang, Bomb, and Genos sprawling.
Garou coughed, looking up at the man who had just saved him.
"Who—"" he started, but before he could finish, the figure grabbed him.
Then—vanished.
Bang gritted his teeth as he stood up.
"Who was that?!" Bang yelled, recovering from the explosion.
"I've never seen that man before, but Garou is a monster now! We need to inform the Hero Association immediately!" Genos exclaimed, his voice tinged with urgency.
Bang, the elderly martial artist, nodded grimly. "Agreed. These are dark times for the Association," he muttered, his eyes scanning the horizon, already anticipating the chaos ahead.
Before they could even start making their way back, a deafening sound erupted from the ground beneath them. The earth trembled as a massive armored form shot out from the dirt—Elder Centipede.
Without hesitation, Genos sprang into action, positioning himself between the two elderly martial artists and the oncoming threat. His body glowed with power as his cannons fired in unison, unleashing a concentrated energy beam directly at the monstrous centipede.
The beam impacted with a burst of light, but the creature barely flinched. "It did no harm to it…" Genos gasped, just before Elder Centipede slammed into him, its massive body crashing against his frame and sending him skidding backward across the ground.
"We'll handle this," Bang and Bomb said in unison, stepping forward with unwavering resolve.
In an instant, Bang's legs coiled like springs, his stance tightening as he prepared to unleash his devastating technique.
"Fist of Flowing Water: Crushing Rock!" he roared, his fist cutting through the air with such speed that it left a shockwave behind.
Next to him, Bomb followed suit. "Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist!" His voice was like thunder as his punch collided with Elder Centipede's hide, the sheer force of the blow causing cracks to form across its exoskeleton. The two martial artists' combined assault was fierce, and they tore through the creature's thick flesh, exposing the rigid, sharp exoskeleton beneath.
But as the last vestiges of the creature's outer layer crumbled away, the two martial artists stood, panting, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Did we do it?" Bang thought to himself, his heart pounding in his chest. His relief, however, was short-lived.
Elder Centipede let out a deafening, ground-shaking roar. To their horror, the creature's torn flesh began to regenerate at a rapid pace, and soon, it was as if the assault had never happened at all.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Bang thought in frustration, but the battle wasn't over. The monster's enormous pincers snapped violently at them, its rage palpable.
Before the pincers could find their mark, Genos reacted in an instant, pulling the two martial artists back to safety. They landed with a thud, far enough away to breathe but not without concern.
"I'll eliminate this threat," Genos said, his voice resolute.
With that, he rocketed into the sky, his jet thrusters blazing as he ascended, looking like a harbinger of death against the backdrop of the darkened sky.
Genos unsheathed his newly upgraded arm blades—sleek and deadly—gleaming under the light. He then dove downward with terrifying speed, aiming straight for the monster's vulnerable eyes.
Elder Centipede roared in pain as Genos' blades sank deep into its eyes, causing green blood to pour out in torrents. The creature snapped its jaws in a frenzied attempt to catch him, but Genos was too fast, twisting and evading with precision.
"This bastard!" Elder Centipede cursed mentally, fury growing with every passing second. The blood from its eyes leaked onto the ground, staining the earth as it flailed its enormous body.
"I need more power!" Genos thought, his focus laser-sharp. His sensors locked onto Elder Centipede's next move, but just as the beast lunged, its massive pincer barely missed him, slicing the air by an inch.
In response, Genos fired a volley of powerful blasts from his chest cannon, each one ripping through the air with explosive force—but to his dismay, the monster appeared unscathed, its body regenerating faster than he could damage it.
"I've got you now," Elder Centipede sneered to itself, the words vibrating through the air as it lunged at Genos. With terrifying speed, it grabbed him in its pincers, crushing his body with a sickening crunch.
Genos' body was torn in two. His upper half and lower half hung limply in the air for a brief moment, the remains of his mechanical form still sparking and flickering.
In that split second, Genos' mind raced.
"Should I self-destruct? End it now and take him to hell with me?" Genos pondered, the option tempting. But then his thoughts hardened, and he made a decision.
"No, not just yet."
In a stunning display of willpower, Genos' two halves reconnected in mid-air with a mechanical click, his body reassembling itself in the blink of an eye.
Elder Centipede's eyes widened in shock. The hero... was still alive.
"Jet Dive Arrow!" Genos shouted with determination, shooting down like a falling star. He propelled himself into the beast's massive, gaping mouth, his arm blades extended, prepared to strike deep.
The creature paused for a moment, its monstrous intelligence sneering inwardly. "The fool," it thought. "You'll regret this."
But as Genos entered the beast's stomach, he gritted his teeth, feeling the crushing pressure of its organs around him.
"Spiral Incineration Cannon!" Genos shouted, firing a concentrated blue beam of destructive energy from his core, aimed directly at the monster's insides.
The blast detonated inside, and Elder Centipede let out a guttural scream of agony. A torrent of flame erupted from its mouth, and with a violent force, it expelled Genos from its body, sending him flying through the air.
"It wasn't enough," Genos thought bitterly, watching as the creature charged once more, its rage undeterred.
Then, just as Elder Centipede prepared to strike, a new figure appeared in front of Genos.
"Saitama-sensei!" Genos cried out, his voice a mixture of shock and relief.
Elder Centipede, its eyes narrowing in confusion, had no time to react. Saitama, with a bored expression, pulled back his fist.
"Huh?" Elder Centipede thought, just before Saitama's fist slammed forward with incredible force.
"Serious Series: Serious Punch!"
Boom!
A massive explosion of energy erupted as Saitama's fist collided with the creature. Elder Centipede didn't even have time to roar before it was completely obliterated, its body disintegrating into nothingness in a single, devastating blow.
Genos, still floating in the air, stared in awe at his master's casual display of power.
"Thanks, Sensei! You are truly the best!" Genos said, his voice filled with gratitude.
Saitama shrugged, turning away with his usual indifferent air.
"Yeah, yeah, Genos. It wasn't much of a big deal," he said dismissively, as if he hadn't just erased a giant monster with a single punch.