Chương 107: Chapter 100 [Special]: The Greatest Fight

The rhythmic, muffled hum of the Atlesian Manta airship's engines provided a steady, vibrating lullaby as the vessel sliced through the freezing, high-altitude clouds. Inside the pressurized passenger cabin, the atmosphere was incredibly subdued, thick with the heavy, lingering exhaustion of a vanguard that had just survived the end of the world. The adrenaline of the Argus coastline had completely evaporated, leaving the Huntsmen and Huntresses to quietly nurse their bruises in the dim, red-tinted cabin lighting.

Ruby Rose lay flat across a row of cushioned seats in the middle of the transport. The young leader was completely unconscious, her breathing shallow but steady. The sheer, unprecedented toll of awakening the Silver Eyes and petrifying a Leviathan-class Grimm had entirely drained her nervous system. Sitting directly across from her, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, was Oscar Pine.

The farm boy's hazel eyes were wide with lingering worry, watching the gentle rise and fall of Ruby's chest, silently praying for her swift recovery. Scattered throughout the rest of the cabin, the remaining members of Team RWBY and Team JNPR were slumped in various states of utter fatigue. Blake Belladonna rested her head against the frost-rimmed window, her feline ears drooping limply. Weiss Schnee had her arms crossed tightly, her eyes closed as she tried to meditate through the soreness in her Aura.

Yang Xiao Long was slouched low in her seat, her arm resting heavily on her knee. While Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren huddled in the back rows, too tired to even speak. At the very front of the ship, Maria Calavera sat in the pilot's seat, her cybernetic goggles locked onto the navigational instruments, expertly guiding the stolen Manta through the treacherous northern winds. Qrow Branwen sat on the co-pilot seat, leaning against the co-pilot console.

Meanwhile, nestled into a plush velvet seat near the rear exit, Saitama was deeply, comically asleep. He was still impeccably dressed in his tailored black suit and the pristine white trench coat, though the illusion of a dangerous mob-boss was entirely ruined by the large, translucent snot-bubble rhythmically expanding and deflating from his left nostril with every booming, rattling snore. Sitting directly beside him, entirely unfazed by the noise, was Neopolitan.

She had dropped her mundane disguise, her vibrant pink-and-brown hair returning. She looked a bit pale, her Overactive Imagination Semblance having pushed her Aura to an unprecedented, continent-spanning limit in Argus. She held a small, brightly colored juice box in both of her gloved hands, taking slow, exhausted sips from the tiny plastic straw to regain her energy.

"Wake up, kids," Qrow's raspy voice suddenly echoed through the cabin, cutting through the low hum of the engines.

"We're arriving." Oscar looked down at Ruby one last time to ensure she was resting peacefully before pushing himself up from his seat. Yang, Weiss, Blake, and Team JNPR groaned, stretching their aching limbs and shuffling toward the front of the cabin. They crowded behind the cockpit, peering out the massive windshield. In the back row, Neo lowered her juice box. She reached over, aggressively poking Saitama in the ribs with her index finger. POP. The snot-bubble burst. Saitama's dotted eyes fluttered open.

He let out a massive, jaw-cracking yawn, stretching his arms high above his head. Neo silently pointed her parasol toward the front window, indicating their arrival. Saitama sighed, lazily getting up from his seat and walking down the aisle alongside her to join the rest of the group. As the Manta airship broke through the final layer of dense, freezing storm clouds, the view before them cleared. A collective, breathless gasp filled the cabin.

Hovering majestically above the frozen, desolate crater of Mantle was the Kingdom of Atlas. It was a sprawling, gleaming metropolis of pristine white towers, glittering spires, and massive hard-light shields, a technological marvel suspended impossibly in the sky. The situation looked entirely normal, serene against the twilight sky.

"It's beautiful," Pyrrha whispered, her green eyes reflecting the shimmering city lights.

"I can't believe we actually made it," Jaune breathed, a weary but victorious smile touching his lips. Saitama just raised his eyebrows, looking at the floating rock. Suddenly, the tranquil silence of the sky was violently, catastrophically shattered. BOOOM!!! A blinding, apocalyptic flash of orange light erupted from the very center of the floating city.

"AAAAH!!" The students shrieked, stumbling backward as a deafening shockwave slammed into the Manta airship. Through the viewport, they watched in absolute, paralyzing horror. A sequence of massive, catastrophic explosions ripped across the underbelly of Atlas, detonating consecutively like a string of firecrackers. The colossal Gravity Dust stabilizers, the very engines keeping the kingdom afloat, violently blew out in a chain reaction of fire and molten steel.

With a horrifying, grinding groan of tearing metal and shattering bedrock, the entire floating city of Atlas tilted. The majestic metropolis plummeted from the sky. It crashed downward with an earth-shattering, extinction-level impact, directly crushing the sprawling city of Mantle beneath millions of tons of falling rock and steel. A massive, suffocating cloud of dust and fire mushroomed into the stratosphere. Both cities were instantly, utterly eradicated.

"No..." Oscar whimpered, dropping to his knees.

"ATLAS!!" Qrow roared, his crimson eyes wide with disbelief. The entire group was gripped by sheer, unadulterated terror. They stared at the fiery graveyard of two cities, their minds failing to comprehend the instantaneous apocalypse. Before anyone could even process the destruction, the thick black smoke billowing from the ruined continent suddenly parted. Two massive, blindingly bright, cosmic beams of purple energy erupted from the dust cloud.

They moved at speeds far exceeding anything from Remnant, appearing right in front of the Manta airship.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Maria screamed. The twin beams blasted straight at them, slamming directly into the windshield. The entire world turned blinding, absolute white.

Saitama slowly brought a red-gloved hand up, aggressively rubbing his eyes. When he opened them again, his vision was entirely blurred. The low hum of the airship engines was gone, replaced by the crackling, hungry roar of raging fires and a sharp, howling wind. As his vision snapped back into focus, Saitama found himself standing on a completely unknown, desolate horizon. The sky above was a bruised, swirling vortex of violet and black.

The earth beneath his boots was scorched, cracked, and totally engulfed in flames. He looked around, his dotted eyes blinking in mild surprise. In the far distance, towering amidst an endless sea of fire, he could see the shattered remnants of the world he had come to know. To his left, the broken, melted peak of the Beacon CCT tower jutted from the ash. To his right, the crushed, golden pavilions of Haven Academy burned brightly. And directly ahead lay the smoking, pulverized wreckage of Atlas.

Saitama looked down. His eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated horror. His pristine, incredibly expensive white trench coat was completely shredded. The immaculate black dress suit Neo had picked out for him was singed, covered in soot, and torn to ribbons.

"NO!" Saitama shrieked, his voice pitching into a comical, high-frequency whine of pure panic. He frantically pulled at the ruined lapels of his suit.

"My clothes! The dry-cleaning bill was massive! The scary crop-lady is going to absolutely murder me!" He spun around, intending to ask the others if they had any sewing kits. The words died in his throat. Lying scattered across the scorched earth, just a few yards behind him, was the burning, twisted wreckage of the Manta airship. And strewn across the dirt, completely motionless, were his companions. Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Oscar, Maria, Qrow, and Neo.

They were covered in ash, their weapons shattered, their bodies entirely still. Saitama stared at the fallen teenagers and Huntsmen. He didn't feel a surge of vengeful rage or heartbreaking sorrow. Instead, a profound wave of deep, baffling confusion washed over him. He tilted his head, his face a perfect, flat oval.

"What the--" Saitama's words were violently cut off. A massive, concentrated beam of spatial energy erupted from the blind spot behind him. It struck him squarely in the center of his back with catastrophic, world-ending force. Saitama was launched forward like a cannonball.

"GAAAAAHHHH!" Saitama screamed. But it wasn't a comical yell of surprise. It was a raw, visceral scream of genuine pain. He actually felt it. The sheer kinetic and cosmic force of the blast tore through his invulnerable skin. He hit the scorched earth, violently tumbling and rolling across the jagged, burning rocks. He skidded to a halt, digging his red-gloved fingers into the dirt to stop his momentum. Saitama slowly pushed himself up onto one knee.

He was panting heavily, his chest heaving as a hot, searing ache radiated up his spine. His ruined black suit jacket slid off his shoulders, and his white dress shirt was torn open, exposing his bruised chest. He reached a trembling hand up to his bald head, his fingers coming away wet. He looked at his glove. It was stained with his own blood. Saitama's dotted eyes expanded, a profound, alien sensation of physical vulnerability creeping into his mind. A heavy, echoing footstep shook the earth in front of him.

Saitama slowly raised his head, his expression hardening into a sharp, incredibly serious glare. Looming over him, blocking out the burning sky, was a towering, chitinous horror. Its colossal body was a terrifying tapestry of shifting, obsidian plates that seemed to absorb the very light around it. It possessed four burning eyes that radiated a cold, cosmic brilliance, and from its back trailed massive, tendril-like appendages that actively crackled with violent spatial distortion.

It was the exact same extradimensional being Saitama had punched in Z-City. The progenitor of the void outbreak. The very creature that had accidentally launched him across dimensions and into the world of Remnant. Saitama narrowed his eyes, staring at the beast. He recognized the silhouette, though the creature's aura was vastly, terrifyingly more oppressive than before. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"I finally found you..." The creature spoke, its voice a telepathic echo that vibrated the cracked earth beneath Saitama's boots. Saitama slowly stood up to his full height, his fists clenching tightly at his sides.

"I remember you," Saitama said, his voice dropping into a low, serious, and dangerously calm register. He pointed a finger at the towering beast.

"You're the one who isekai'd me into this weird world. Uh... what was your name again? Space Bug? Threshold guy?" The cosmic eyes of the beast narrowed in absolute, ancient fury.

"Void-Gorgon." The extradimensional being reminded him, its voice dripping with cosmic malice. Saitama wiped the blood from his chin, a sudden, confident smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.

"Oh, right. That," Saitama chuckled softly, rolling his sore shoulders.

"It seems that you've got a lot stronger now."

"No..." The creature rumbled, its massive tendrils whipping through the fiery air, tearing small rifts in space itself.

"I am no longer Void-Gorgon. The sheer, anomalous impact of your fist did not destroy me. It catalyzed my biology. It forced me to transcend the boundaries of dimensions. I am not a mere consumer of thresholds anymore." The obsidian plates on its chest shifted and expanded, glowing with a terrifying, blinding purple light.

"I am now... VOID-HYDRA!" As the creature declared its new, evolved title, the scorched earth surrounding Saitama began to bubble and tear. Massive portals of dark, swirling energy ripped open across the burning horizon. Pouring out from the rifts were thousands of multi-limbed, extradimensional nightmares. They were the exact same horrific spawns that had laid siege to Saitama's home universe, the army of horrors that the S-Class heroes had fought desperately to contain.

While they were smaller than Void-Hydra, they still towered over Saitama, their biomechanical carapaces clicking rhythmically. There were thousands of them. A literal ocean of cosmic horrors completely encircling him, their collective auras radiating a murderous, suffocating intent that far eclipsed their original forms. Saitama stood perfectly still in the center of the ring, his tattered clothes blowing in the hot wind.

He widened his stance, dropping his center of gravity as he brought his fists up into a flawless, ready guard.

"You are an obstacle, a singularity that defies the natural consumption of the Omniverse." Void-Hydra boomed, its four eyes burning with absolute hatred.

"I want you to be perished from existence!" Saitama's eyes sharpened into intense, focused lines.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Saitama declared, his voice ringing with pure, unwavering heroic resolve.

"But bring it on!" With a deafening screech, one of the massive void spawns launched itself from the pack. It crossed the distance in a microsecond, bringing a massive, bladed limb down directly at Saitama's head. Saitama raised both of his arms in a cross-guard to block the strike. KRA-KOOM! The impact was staggering. Saitama's eyes widened in sheer shock as the immense kinetic force of the monster's blow entirely overwhelmed his guard.

He was violently knocked backward, his red boots scraping deep, long trenches into the scorched earth as he struggled desperately to maintain his footing. Before he could even recover his balance, a second monster dashed forward, swinging a heavy, chitinous fist. Saitama gritted his teeth, pivoting his hips. He launched a devastating right hook, aiming directly for the center of the creature's mass. His fist connected with a thunderous CRACK.

The monster was launched backward, flying through the air and crashing violently into the ruined stone archway of a fallen kingdom. Saitama lowered his fist, panting slightly. But to his absolute, mind-boggling surprise, the dust settled, and the monster slowly pulled itself out of the rubble. The creature screeched, shaking off the blow, and actually got back up. It survived his punch.

"What?!" Saitama gasped, his eyes widening. He didn't have time to process it. Sensing his momentary confusion, six monsters leaped into the air simultaneously, descending upon him in a coordinated, lethal strike. Heavy, spiked limbs battered against his defense. A massive fist slammed into his ribs, followed by a sweeping kick that caught him squarely in the chest.

"GAAAAH!" Saitama screamed in raw agony. He was violently thrown through the air like a ragdoll. He crashed brutally into the dirt, tumbling end-over-end before coming to a painful halt. He lay on his side, groaning, his body completely battered, his muscles aching with a fiery, unfamiliar pain. Standing amidst its vast army, Void-Hydra stared down at the fallen hero. A cruel, deeply satisfying purr vibrated from the progenitor's chest.

It raised a massive tendril, commanding the thousands of multi-limbed horrors to advance and finish the job.

"Now... Prepare to meet your doom." The army closed in, their jagged blades raised for the kill. Suddenly, a sound echoed from the dirt.

"Ha ha..." It was low at first. A soft, rhythmic vibration. It was a chuckle. The advancing monsters halted, tilting their horrific heads in absolute confusion. Saitama slowly pushed himself up from the ground. His black suit pants were torn at the knees. His white shirt was completely shredded, hanging off his bruised, bleeding, bare chest. But as he looked down at his own scraped, bleeding hands, the chuckle bubbled up from his chest, growing louder, and louder, until he threw his head back and laughed out loud.

"Hahahaha..." It wasn't a laugh of madness, or despair. It was a laugh of pure, unadulterated, overwhelming amusement. Saitama wiped the blood from his mouth. He looked up at the endless army of cosmic horrors, and a smile broke across his face. It was a fierce, passionate, breathtakingly serious smile. The smile of a man who had finally, truly awakened from a lifelong slumber.

"Thank you." Saitama whispered, his voice trembling slightly with pure, emotional adrenaline. He clenched his fists, feeling the beautiful, agonizing sting in his knuckles.

"Thank you... for coming to me." He looked directly at Void-Hydra, his dark eyes burning with an intense, unyielding fire.

"You don't know how long I have been waiting for this. I have been longing for a great fight. To feel the risk. To feel the stakes. I am so, so grateful to you for giving me what I want." Saitama dropped back into his fighting stance. The muscles in his legs coiled like industrial springs. His entire body radiated a blinding, suffocating wave of pure, absolute fighting spirit.

"Now I can finally go all out!" Saitama roared, a battle cry that shook the very atmosphere of the dead world.

"COME ON!!!" Void-Hydra growled, an infuriated, cosmic rumble that shattered the ground. It pointed a massive tendril forward, commanding its entire army to attack all at once.

"DESTROY HIM!" The sea of monsters surged forward like a tidal wave of obsidian blades. Saitama didn't wait for them. He launched himself directly into the heart of the swarm. The first monster lunged. Saitama planted his foot, twisting his torso with flawless martial perfection, and drove a punch forward with absolutely everything he had. BOOM! The sheer, unrestrained velocity of the strike connected. This time, the creature didn't fly backward.

It violently, spectacularly exploded into a shower of purple cosmic blood and shattered chitin. A second monster slashed at his blind spot. Saitama ducked the blade, the razor-sharp edge leaving a long, bleeding gash across his shoulder. Saitama smiled wildly through the pain. He pivoted on his heel, delivering a devastating, high-speed roundhouse kick that tore the monster completely in half, causing it to detonate instantly. The battle erupted into a cataclysmic, world-shaking symphony of violence.

Saitama was a blur of yellow, red, and blood. He fought like a demon unchained. He bobbed, weaved, and countered, taking heavy, agonizing hits from the beasts, only to return the favor with punches that cracked the sky. He was thrown violently backward, crashing entirely through the massive, ruined clock face of the Beacon CCT tower. He didn't even pause.

Using the falling rubble as stepping stones, Saitama launched himself back into the fray, catching two monsters by their limbs and smashing their heads together until they exploded. A massive, four-armed beast slammed a heavy club into Saitama's back, driving him brutally into the steel plating of the crushed Atlesian military base.

Saitama spat a mouthful of blood, grinning like a madman, before grabbing the beast by the throat and headbutting it with such catastrophic force that the monster's skull caved in, exploding into mist. He was bleeding. He was panting heavily. His muscles burned with exertion, and his body was covered in deep, painful gashes. But Saitama was winning. He was fighting thousands of extradimensional, god-level nightmares, and he was systematically, joyously tearing them apart.

The monsters were impossibly fast, but Saitama was faster, and his speed was multiplying exponentially with every passing second. As he fought, ducking under a lethal swipe and driving an uppercut through a monster's jaw, a brilliant, euphoric realization flooded his mind. This feeling... Saitama thought, his heart hammering a violent, rapid rhythm against his ribs. He caught a blade with his bare hands, the friction tearing his gloves, and delivered a knee strike that shattered a creature's torso.

This wild throbbing in my heart... He leaped high into the air, dodging a barrage of spatial energy blasts, the heat searing his bare skin. The thrill... He came crashing down like a meteor, his fists a blurring barrage of strikes that systematically obliterated fifty monsters in a single, devastating radius. The rush... Saitama wiped the sweat and blood from his eyes, a manic, beautiful grin permanently plastered across his bruised face. All this sensation...

Six massive monsters threw themselves simultaneously at Saitama, seeking to pin him to the earth. It's been so long! Saitama didn't brace himself. He roared, drawing his right fist back, pouring every ounce of his soul, his excitement, and his absolute strength into his knuckles.

"HAH!" He unleashed a single, titanic punch. The shockwave of the blow ripped through the air, creating a massive, devastating canyon through the center of the army. The six monsters, and hundreds behind them, were caught in the blast radius, annihilated instantly in a blinding flash of kinetic energy. It's all coming back to me! Saitama thought, his entire being alight with fiery, unadulterated passion. THE EXHILARATION OF A REAL FIGHT!!! The battle raged on for what felt like hours.

Saitama fought through the pain, matching the impossible speed and strength of the void army, growing faster, stronger, and more lethal with every passing second. Every single extradimensional nightmare that dared to cross his path was met with a fist that shattered their reality, exploding into cosmic dust. Eventually, the roaring ceased. The sounds of clashing chitin faded. Saitama threw one final, devastating punch, completely obliterating the last remaining spawn. He stood entirely alone.

The ruined landscape of Vale, Mistral, and Atlas had been completely leveled by the shockwaves of their battle. The earth was a flat, endless expanse of scorched dirt stretching toward a beautiful, starry horizon.

"Hah... hah..." Saitama stood bare-chested, his yellow pants torn and covered in soot. He was heavily bruised, bleeding from a dozen cuts. He leaned forward, panting heavily, both of his bare fists smoking visibly in the cool night air. He looked down at his trembling, bloodied hands. A profound, incredibly peaceful smile graced his features.

"I've never felt so alive..." Saitama whispered to the starry sky, closing his eyes to savor the pounding of his own heart.

"This is the very feeling I've been looking for!" A heavy, oppressive shadow fell over him. Saitama slowly turned around. Standing amidst the cosmic dust of its fallen army was Void-Hydra. The towering progenitor glared down at the lone, bleeding human, its four eyes burning with a mixture of hatred and reluctant, cosmic respect.

"You have taken care of all my spawns." Void-Hydra rumbled, its massive tendrils curling and snapping in the air.

"You are a worthy opponent." Saitama smiles, cracking his knuckles as he squared his shoulders, dropping back into his fighting stance. The creature itself lowered its center of gravity, preparing for the final clash.

"This will be a worthy battle before I take the Omniverse!" Void-Hydra declared, its obsidian plates glowing with unstable, world-ending energy. Saitama's eyes burned with unyielding, heroic fire.

"I will not lose," Saitama promised, his voice echoing across the empty horizon.

"Because the Omniverse... is under my protection!" The tension peaked. The air crackled with anticipation. Saitama yelled, throwing himself forward to deliver the ultimate strike.

"Let's go--" SCRAP. Suddenly, Saitama's epic battle cry was violently cut off. A stray, fluttering piece of paper, carried by the cosmic wind, flew directly across the battlefield and plastered itself flatly against the side of Saitama's face. Saitama stopped dead in his tracks. His serious, intense, battle-hardened expression instantly shattered into a look of profound, bewildered confusion. He reached up, peeling the piece of paper off his cheek. He blinked his dotted eyes, staring down at it.

His eyes widened to the absolute limits of human physiology.

"N-No way..." Saitama whispered, his voice trembling as his hands began to shake violently.

"This is..."

"Ha ha ha..." Void-Hydra let out a low, rumbling chuckle.

"HAHAHAHA!" The chuckle quickly morphed into a booming, deafening, undeniably evil laugh that echoed across the stars.

"You fool..." Void-Hydra mocked, its tendrils whipping in victorious glee.

"You have fallen right into my trap! All that thrill, all that glorious battle... it made you forget the most important thing of your life!" As Void-Hydra laughed, Saitama stared at the piece of paper in absolute, paralyzed horror.

"This can't be...!" Saitama gasped, heavy, comical sweat pouring down his bald head as he read the bold, glittering text.

"Today is..." The paper in his hands was a brightly colored promotional flyer. Supermarket Mega Sale - 95% off all Groceries. Today Only!

"TODAY IS A BARGAIN DAY!!!" The ear-piercing, hysterical scream shattered the quiet, dim interior of the Manta airship.

"Gah!" Yang Xiao Long yelped, jolting upright in her seat and nearly deploying Ember Celica.

"What?! Who's attacking?!" Qrow Branwen shouted, spinning around from the cockpit and practically ripping Harbinger from his back. Weiss, Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, and Oscar all jumped violently in their seats, their hands flying to their weapons as they frantically scanned the cabin for an ambush. Sitting in the back row, Neopolitan violently flinched. She nearly crushed her juice box in her grip.

With a deeply annoyed, furious scowl, she turned and delivered a sharp, resounding smack directly to Saitama's shoulder. Ruby Rose, on the other hand, remained completely motionless across the aisle, still soundly asleep and entirely unresponsive to the sudden chaos, her exhaustion anchoring her deep in slumber. Saitama was sitting bolt upright in his plush velvet seat. He was comically panting, his chest heaving as if he had just run a marathon. There was no blood. There were no bruises. He was perfectly fine.

He was still wearing his impeccably tailored, pristine black suit and his heavy white trench coat. Roman Torchwick's bowler hat sat safely on his lap. He blinked his dotted eyes, looking frantically around the red-lit cabin of the airship, staring at the bewildered, heavily armed teenagers pointing their weapons at him. Saitama slowly let out a massive, shuddering sigh, slumping heavily back against the headrest.

"Phew..." Saitama mumbled, wiping a bead of sweat from his perfectly smooth forehead.

"I just had a nightmare." The Huntsmen and Huntresses slowly lowered their weapons, exchanging highly confused, deeply exhausted glances.

"Seriously, Saitama? You scared the hell out of us!" Yang sighed in annoyance, rubbing her head.

"A nightmare?" Jaune whispered, his heart still hammering against his ribs.

"Yeah," Saitama said, his voice returning to its flat, incredibly dull drone.

"It was a really good dream at first, honestly. But then it escalated quickly. Turned into a total disaster." Saitama's expression became perfectly flat again. He reached into the plastic grocery bag resting by his feet, pulled out a small, colorful juice box, and effortlessly pierced the foil with the tiny plastic straw. Qrow dragged a calloused hand down his face, groaning as he leaned back against the cockpit door.

"Let me guess," Qrow muttered dryly, staring at the invincible hero.

"It was about a supermarket." Saitama took a slow, casual sip from his juice box. He looked out the window at the freezing, snowy clouds of Atlas passing by.

"I missed a massive discount for a great fight," Saitama sighed, his voice dripping with mild, mundane tragedy.

"Welp, I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too." Saitama continued to lazily drink his juice box, leaving Weiss, Blake, Yang, Team JNPR, Oscar, Qrow, Maria, and Neo staring at him in a state of absolute, completely speechless bafflement.