Chương 78: Chapter 71: The Hero and the Illusion

The sky above Upper Mistral was a canvas of pure nightmares. A swirling vortex of Nevermores and Griffons completely blotted out the fractured moon, their piercing screeches echoing across the mountains as they rained land-bound horrors down upon the city. Down on the pristine, cobblestone streets, Adam Taurus lay curled in the fetal position. He clutched his groin, letting out a continuous, high-pitched wheeze of absolute, paralyzing agony. He was half-conscious, his eyes rolled back, entirely unable to move.

Standing a few feet away, Neopolitan tilted her parasol back, looking up at the apocalyptic swarm descending upon Haven Academy. She recognized the direction. It was exactly where they needed to go. She turned her gaze back to the man who was supposed to be helping her get there.

"Aw, man..." Saitama groaned, entirely ignoring the deafening roars of the monsters above them. He was holding the two halves of his cheap brown wig in his hands, staring at them with profound tragedy.

"It's completely sliced down the middle. Do you think I can just stick it back together? Maybe I can find some tape? Honestly, it was starting to feel really itchy anyway. I wonder if there's a costume shop open at this hour?" Neopolitan rolled her eyes so hard they nearly stuck in the back of her head. She pulled out her scroll, aggressively typing a few words before shoving the glowing screen directly into Saitama's face. [Need to hurry.] Saitama swatted the scroll away gently, crossing his arms with a comically annoyed pout.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But I can't just walk around with my head reflecting the streetlights! I need a new wig, or at least some tape." Neo opened her mouth to silently object, pointing her parasol threateningly toward the academy, but she paused. Her sharp, tactical mind began to process the reality of their situation. If people recognized the invincible bald man right now, the news would spread like wildfire. It would inevitably reach Cinder Fall.

If Cinder realized the anomaly was here in Mistral, she would undoubtedly run away, taking Neo's chance for revenge with her. Worse, if the Mistral authorities or Ozpin's Huntsmen found out he was here, they would swarm him. They would drag him right back to Vale. And knowing this dense, oblivious hero, he would probably accept whatever boring job they offered him just for a free apartment. And if she was separated from him?

The criminals of Mistral Below, especially the Spider syndicate she had shaken down for information, would hunt her down mercilessly. Neo looked at the bald man, who was currently trying to balance the two halves of the wig on his shiny head. Her and this idiot's situations were completely interlinked. She needed him far more than she wanted to admit. Neo let out a long, deeply annoyed sigh. She typed on her scroll and held it up. [Fine.] Saitama blinked, his flat, drawn-on eyes widening just a fraction in surprise.

"Oh. You actually listened to me for once. Cool." Saitama looked up and down the street. A few blocks away, the glowing neon sign of a small convenience store was flickering.

"Be right back," Saitama said, taking a step forward. Before he could leave, Neo reached out and grabbed the fabric of his yellow suit. Saitama turned back to her.

"What?" Neo simply pointed her parasol down at the groaning, incapacitated Faunus extremist writhing on the cobblestones. Saitama looked at Adam, then back to the girl.

"What about him?" Neo typed two words and showed him the screen. [Bounty.] Saitama stared at the scroll for a long, silent moment. He blinked once. Twice. Slowly, a memory surfaced. He remembered the dark alleys of Mistral Below, beating up a bunch of thugs from The Mouse and Parrot organization, and the fat stack of Lien the police had handed him for turning them in.

"Oooh..." A wide, comical, incredibly opportunistic smile spread across Saitama's face.

Ten minutes later, the apocalypse in Upper Mistral was in full swing. Civilians ran screaming through the streets as buildings burned and terrifying monsters tore through the city blocks. Walking straight down the middle of the chaos, moving at a remarkably casual, leisurely pace, were Saitama and Neopolitan. Saitama's sliced wig was now haphazardly stuck together with several thick strips of clear packing tape.

The tape was not remotely strong enough, causing the two halves of the hairpiece to continually slide down the sides of his head like sad dog ears. In his left hand, Saitama held a plastic grocery bag containing a few leftover snacks. In his right hand, he was casually dragging the unconscious body of Adam Taurus by the ankle. Adam's head bounced rhythmically against the cobblestones with every step Saitama took.

"Help! Somebody help!" Just ahead of them, a squad of Mistral Police officers were backed against a shattered storefront. Three massive Ursai and a pack of Beowolves had completely cornered them, their jaws snapping as they prepared to tear the officers apart. Saitama didn't break his stride. He walked right past the police barricade. Without even looking, he casually swung his grocery bag. The plastic bag struck the lead Ursa.

The sheer kinetic shockwave transferred through the crinkling plastic, instantly vaporizing the upper half of that monster. Saitama lazily lifted his right foot, delivering a half-hearted side-kick that obliterated the remaining Grimm in a massive spray of black ash. The police officers lowered their weapons, staring in absolute, jaw-dropping awe at the man in the yellow suit.

"T-Thank you, Huntsman!" the police captain stammered, completely failing to notice the most wanted terrorist in Anima currently being dragged by the ankle behind him.

"Don't mention it," Saitama mumbled, letting out a massive, bored yawn as he continued walking. The situation in the city was rapidly deteriorating. More Nevermores shrieked overhead, dropping massive Beringels and scuttling Creeps directly into their path. Saitama simply sighed. A Beringel charged him. Saitama casually backhanded it into dust. A Nevermore swooped down to swallow him whole. Saitama flicked his finger upward, sending a bullet of compressed air through that creature's skull, shattering it instantly.

He didn't even care what kind of Grimm was approaching. He just swatted them away like annoying mosquitoes, dragging the bouncing extremist behind him the entire time. Normally, even the most elite, battle-hardened Huntsmen and Huntresses would feel a suffocating sense of dread in this apocalyptic scenario. But Neo felt absolutely nothing of the sort. Walking beside this ridiculous man with the taped-together wig, Neo felt fine. In fact, she felt beyond safe. It was a bizarre, alien sensation.

She realized, with a quiet sense of awe, that she had never felt this secure in her entire life. Not even when she was standing beside Roman Torchwick. They walked through the warzone, leaving a trail of rapidly evaporating black ash in their wake. Stolen novel; please report. Until they turned into an empty, shadowed alleyway near the central plaza. Saitama stopped. He dropped Adam's ankle. Thud. Neo paused, tilting her head at him in confusion.

"This is all too loud," Saitama complained, scratching his ear.

"And it's taking too long. It's really annoying." Neo quickly showed him a text. [Can't be compromised. Need to stay hidden.]"I know, I know," Saitama said, tapping his chin.

"But I can just end all of this without anyone seeing me. I'll just move really fast." Neo shook her head, typing rapidly. [They will be suspicious. They will find out.] Saitama thought about it. She was right. If thousands of monsters suddenly exploded into ash simultaneously by an "invisible" force, it would be all over the news. The Huntsmen would immediately suspect the anomaly from Vale was here. Then, Saitama remembered what Neo was capable of.

Back when they first met in Mistral Below, when he was faced by fake Atlesian soldiers that was shattered into glasses when he punched them. An idea struck him. He pointed at her.

"Hey, what if you mask what I'm doing? Use your glass illusion power thingy to cover it up!" Neo crossed her arms, her expression flat. She typed on her scroll, then showed it to Saitama. [Takes too much energy.]"Oh, come on! This whole situation is so boring!" Saitama pleaded comically, dropping his shoulders.

"Besides, being a hero is my hobby! Standing around doing nothing while there's a massive monster invasion right next door makes me feel more itchy than this stupid tape on my head!" Neo shook her head stubbornly, tapping her heel against the cobblestone. Saitama narrowed his eyes.

"I'll buy you two ice creams." Neo didn't move.

"Three ice creams." Neo maintained her glare, though her internal resolve was heavily tested. Saitama let out a massive, dramatic sigh, throwing his hands up in defeat.

"Alright, alright! Five ice creams! And any kinds of snacks you want! But you can't eat them all at once! One day, one ice cream and one snack! The rest must be stored in the freezer! Deal?" Neo's eyes sparkled. A wide, triumphant smile broke across her face. She typed quickly and shoved the scroll toward him. [What kind of illusion you want?] Saitama rubbed his chin, thinking back to every manga, anime, and TV show he had ever consumed in his home universe.

"Hmm," Saitama mused.

"How about a hero with a cool cape and a giant sword? Like those isekai or RPG fantasy shows." Neo shook her head, typing rapidly. [You are already a Hero from another world.] Saitama frowned.

"Good point. Okay... how about a giant dragon?" Neo rolled her eyes. [Be realistic.]"Realistic?! Since when are dragons not realistic in a world with giant bone-birds?! Not to mention that I destroyed a literal dragon when I first arrived in this world!" Saitama complained, comically annoyed. Neo immediately showed him text from her scroll. [That was Wyvern.]"What's the difference?!" Saitama eyes twitched.

"Whatever, I'll think again." He crossed his arms, thinking harder. Then, a classic trope from his favorite Sunday morning broadcasts popped into his head.

"A giant robot," Saitama declared. Neo blinked. She thought about it for a moment. It was completely hilarious to her, but strategically... it made perfect sense for this world. Atlas was the technological superpower of Remnant. If the people of Mistral saw a mysterious super-mecha destroying the Grimm, the Mistral Council would completely overwhelm General Ironwood with public inquiries and political panic. It was the perfect way to frame Atlas and keep Saitama hidden. Neo smirked wickedly.

She and Roman have always wanted to mess with Atlas anyway. She typed on her scroll and showed it to him. [Get ready.] Saitama smirked back, slowly pulling his red glove tight over his fist.

"Whenever you are." Neopolitan closed her eyes. She drew upon every single ounce of Aura in her body, pushing her Semblance to a scale she had never even attempted before. The air around the alleyway shimmered and fractured like broken glass. Using Overactive Imagination, Neo projected a colossal, city-wide illusion directly into the sky above the central plaza of Upper Mistral, visible to every single person in the city.

A sound cut through the screaming. It wasn't a roar. It wasn't the screech of a Grimm. It was a heavy, mechanical BOOM. The sound was like thunder, echoing from the upper atmosphere. Everyone. Huntsmen, police, Faunus, and even the Grimm themselves. They are all stopped and looked up. Something massive was falling from the sky. It tore through the clouds, glowing with the intense, fiery heat of atmospheric reentry.

"What in the world is that?!" Weiss yelled, shielding her eyes from the blinding light.

"Incoming!" Jaune shouted, throwing his shield up to cover Pyrrha and Nora. With a catastrophic, earth-shaking impact, the object slammed into a massive, empty plaza in the center of Upper Mistral. A colossal shockwave of dust and displaced air swept through the city streets, knocking Beowolves off their feet and forcing the Huntsmen to brace themselves against the gale.

As the massive dust cloud slowly began to settle, the heavy, rhythmic whirring of hydraulic gears and massive mechanical servos echoed through the silent city. Standing in the center of the crater was a silhouette that defied belief. It was a giant, heavily armored mecha. It possessed a sleek, militaristic design, but its scale was completely unprecedented. It towered over the buildings of Upper Mistral, dwarfing the Atlesian Paladins by several magnitudes.

Its glowing, visor-like optic sensor burned with a bright, piercing blue light that pierced the gloom of the Grimm invasion. The Huntsmen and Huntresses were frozen in sheer, unadulterated awe. Ruby Rose's scythe slipped slightly from her grasp. Weiss Schnee's jaw dropped completely. Blake Belladonna's ears folded flat against her head in shock. Standing in the center of the plaza, towering hundreds of feet into the air, was a giant mechanical titan.

It possessed a sleek, angular design, heavily inspired by the classic super-robots of manga lore, painted in the stark, militaristic white, black, and blue colors of the Atlesian military. Its V-shaped crest gleamed in the moonlight, its massive optic sensors burning with piercing light.

"Is that... Atlas?" Qrow Branwen choked out, his eyes wide.

"I've never seen anything like that in my life!" Weiss gasped.

"What model is that?!"

"That thing is huge!" Sun Wukong yelled, pointing his staff at the sky.

"Are we sure it's on our side?!" Arslan shouted over the roars of the Grimm. The monsters didn't care what it was. A massive flock of Nevermores shrieked, diving directly toward the mechanical giant. The illusionary robot moved. It raised its massive, blocky arms. From the perspective of every Huntsman, Faunus, and civilian watching, thousands of hidden missile pods and laser batteries flipped open across the mecha's chassis.

With a deafening, synthesized sound effect, the giant robot unleashed a biblical barrage of glowing artillery directly into the sky. In reality, there were no missiles. There were no lasers. There was only Saitama. Moving at speeds that completely shattered the laws of physics, Saitama became a literal blur of sub-atomic motion. He speed-blitzed the entire city of Upper Mistral in a fraction of a second. He appeared above a Griffon, punching a hole through its chest.

A microsecond later, he was three miles away, kicking a Beringel into orbit. He ricocheted through the sky like a pinball of pure kinetic energy, obliterating Nevermores, Ursai, Creeps, and Centinels with singular, effortless strikes. To the awestruck Huntsmen and Huntresses on the ground, the illusion perfectly masked the carnage. They watched in absolute disbelief as the "Atlas Super Robot" fired its "lasers," and every single Grimm in the sky and on the streets instantly vaporized into black ash.

"It wiped them out..." Jaune Arc whispered, lowering his shield, completely stunned by the display of overwhelming power.

"In a single attack..." Pyrrha added, her green eyes wide. Oscar Pine stood beside Qrow, his mouth hanging open." Ozpin... what is that?" Inside his mind, the ancient Headmaster was entirely silent, deeply unsettled by the technological terror he believed Ironwood had secretly unleashed upon the world. The invasion was over. Not a single Grimm remained in Upper Mistral. The giant robot slowly lowered its arms.

Its thrusters ignited with a burst of illusionary blue flame, and it launched itself directly up into the atmosphere, disappearing into the clouds. The entire city of Mistral was left in a stunned, deafening silence, firmly believing that Atlas had just saved them with a weapon of mass destruction.

Back in the empty alleyway, the fractured glass of the illusion shattered entirely. Neopolitan's eyes rolled back. She collapsed forward, falling heavily onto her hands and knees. She was gasping for air, completely and utterly exhausted. Her Aura was entirely drained. As she fell, Roman's bowler hat slipped from her head, tumbling onto the cobblestones. A sudden gust of wind swept through the alley. Saitama returned, coming to a dead stop right beside her. He wasn't panting. He wasn't sweating.

He didn't look tired in the slightest. However, the sheer atmospheric friction of moving at lightspeed had completely ruined the tape on his head. The two halves of the wig were now sticking straight up in opposite directions, making him look like he had brown, fuzzy horns. Neo looked up at him, letting out a weak, exasperated sigh of absolute disbelief at his complete lack of fatigue.

"Good job, kid," Saitama smiled casually, reaching down and gently patting her on the head. Neo immediately puffed her cheeks out, offering a comical, annoyed pout at the patronizing gesture. Saitama chuckled. He leaned down, picked up Roman's bowler hat from the ground, and gently placed it back onto her pink-and-brown hair, adjusting the brim perfectly. Neo blinked. She stared up at the absurd, invincible man in the yellow suit, a genuine, warm emotion fluttering in her chest at the unexpectedly gentle act.

"Well then," Saitama said, stretching his arms above his head.

"Let's get going to your target." Saitama turned, grabbing the unconscious Adam Taurus by the ankle once more, and took a step forward. Before he could walk away, Neo reached out with a trembling hand and grabbed the fabric of his suit. Saitama stopped. He looked back down at the girl, who was still kneeling weakly on the cobblestones.

"What is it now?" Neo slowly pulled her scroll from her pocket, her fingers shaking slightly from exhaustion as she typed. She held the screen up. [Too tired.] Saitama looked comically annoyed.

"Seriously? You can't even walk?" Neo glared at him, rapidly typing a response. [Take responsibility.] Saitama stared at the scroll. He looked at the girl. He looked at the terrorist he was dragging. Saitama let out the longest, most exaggerated sigh of his entire life.

"Fine. Hop on," Saitama grumbled, bending his knees and lowering his back toward her. Neo's pout instantly vanished. She scrambled forward, wrapping her arms securely around Saitama's neck and resting her chin comfortably on his shoulder. Saitama stood back up, adjusting his grip on her legs with his left arm while firmly gripping Adam's ankle with his right hand.

"If you drool on my cape, I'm taking away the ice cream," Saitama warned lazily. Neo didn't respond. As Saitama began walking down the messed-up, ash-covered streets of Upper Mistral, heading toward Haven Academy while dragging an unconscious extremist and carrying a notorious criminal in a piggyback ride, Neo simply closed her eyes. Resting her head against the back of the strongest hero in the world, Neopolitan smiled.