Collapse and Regeneration: Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon

One punch.

Saitama stepped forward and threw his right fist.

The instant his fist collided with the carapace, the dark-green compound eyes caught an almost imperceptible crack. Then came a second, a third, spreading like a spiderweb.

Fragments of Chimera Ant carapace scattered like black rain as Tyson was sent flying backward. Three of his four arms shattered, and his chest was punched through—purple slime gushed from the wound, splashing onto the arena with a sizzling, corrosive hiss.

The spectators fell silent for a moment.

Gon was the first to cry out, "Brother Saitama!"

Killua watched the twitching remnant on the arena, his throat bobbing slightly. Hisoka's playing card stopped between his fingers. He did not lick it; he merely watched the slowly writhing mass of flesh, his breathing becoming extremely light and slow. Netero set down his teacup, its base tapping the table with a faint, crisp sound.

Saitama lowered his head and looked at his fist.

"Just one punch again..."

"In the end, it still ended in one punch!"

A little purple slime clung to his knuckles, and he flicked his hand. Just as he was about to return to the edge of the arena to check whether his plastic bag had been splashed, an electronic voice suddenly rang out in his mind again. It was not the notification that the battle had ended, but an alert of a higher level.

[Warning: Unknown genetic fragments detected within the opponent's cells.]

[Source analysis: One-Punch Man world—monster genes (from House of Evolution test subject remains) and cosmic dark matter warrior genes (from Boros's remaining cells).]

[The opponent is about to awaken into his complete form. Estimated combat level: peak Dragon level. Host, do not let your guard down.]

Before the final line vanished, Tyson stood up.

He did not crawl to his feet—he sprang up. As if some force had lifted him from within, his mangled body flipped once in midair before crashing heavily onto the arena. The scattered carapace fragments were still writhing, but regeneration had already begun—not the slow cellular reconstruction from before, but instant regeneration. Muscles, bones, carapace, all four arms, all restored within the same second. A layer of dark-gold energy armor appeared over the black carapace covering his entire body, while his dark-green compound eyes began changing from the centers of their irises—gold, pure dark gold, with exactly the same gleam as Boros's single eye.

"So that's how it is... the bloodline of that one-eyed giant had been sleeping in my genetic chain all along."

Tyson lowered his head to look at his hands covered in golden light. His voice was no longer the former hoarse growl, but a more majestic resonance that carried an echo of the cosmos.

"Gahahaha, it had never activated because I lacked an opponent capable of driving my body to its limits. The Chimera Ant carapace was pierced by one punch, and the monster's regeneration was broken by one punch—because I was shattered twice, the third layer of genes was finally released. But he doesn't know—it isn't three genes, but three worlds: the Dark Continent, the House of Evolution, cosmic dark matter. Chimera Ants, hyper-speed cellular regeneration, Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon. With the power of all three combined, I finally found the chance to activate them in you."

He raised one hand, and a dark-gold sphere of energy condensed in his palm. It was not a Nen blast—it was pure dark matter energy, identical to the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon Boros had once used. The sphere rapidly expanded, growing from fist-sized to the size of a basketball, until the entire arena was illuminated dark gold.

Tyson's arm was swallowed by the light. His chest, abdomen, four arms, his entire body—his whole form was spraying out high-density energy. The golden halo around the arena activated in response, and multiple layers of encrypted rune formations bloomed across the ground and railings at once. The automatic repair system beneath the arena sounded an overload alarm.

"Take this!"

"You can't dodge it."

"This attack—I'll aim it at the spectator stands."

Tyson raised his head, his dark-gold pupils sweeping across the highest row. Genos, Gon, Killua, Hisoka, Netero, Silva, Zeno, Boros, Chrollo.

"Be grateful that you got to witness my perfect form before you die."

"Go to hell!!!"

The spectator stands were deathly quiet. Genos put down his bowl, and thrusters sprang out from his shoulder blades, but the restriction system on his wrist lit up red—he could not use any abilities. Hisoka's playing card stopped between his fingers. He did not lick it; he only stared at the swelling dark-gold sphere, his pupils narrowing slightly. Gon gripped the railing with both hands until his knuckles turned white.

Boros's single eye stared at the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon forming on the arena—the same dark-gold radiance as his own. He fell silent for a moment, then muttered something only he could hear. "A crude imitation. He'll definitely take this attack with ease too."

Saitama watched the expanding sphere of energy. He had seen this move before—Boros had used it, and it had enough power to tear up the surface of an entire city. But this time was different. The firing angle of the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon had already been locked, its energy trajectory aimed directly at the spectator stands. Before absolute power, the protective barrier could block the shockwave, but not the destructive thermal radiation. The people in the stands had not come here to die; the system had forcibly dragged them here to watch. If he could not stop this attack, everyone would die.

He stepped forward and clenched his right fist.

This time.

"Consecutive Normal Punches."

Saitama's fists rained down on Tyson like a storm. Every punch could shatter Chimera Ant carapace; every punch could pierce a monster's regeneration. But this time, Tyson's body healed instantly even as it shattered—the carapace fragments were pulled back into place by newly formed tissue before they could hit the ground, muscle fibers reconnected at the wounds, and bones regrew along the cracks. More than a dozen consecutive punches, more than a dozen penetrating wounds, all healed completely in less than half a second.

"Useless!"

Tyson's voice echoed through the energy storm.

"Unless you erase every one of my cells at the same time with a single attack, I will resurrect endlessly! And this attack—Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon—is already complete!"

A dark-gold pillar of energy erupted from Tyson's chest. It was not fired—it exploded forth. Space across the entire arena was compressed and distorted. The seats in the front row of the spectator stands began to tremble, and someone closed their eyes. Genos's wrist was still glowing red as he stared at the incoming beam and shouted, "Teacher—!"

Saitama did not dodge.

His right fist slowly clenched, his knuckles making faint cracking sounds. The air suddenly stilled—not because it had been sucked away, but because it was being compressed, gathered, and pushed toward the center of the arena by something far greater. The beam of the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon stopped less than three meters away from him—not stopped, but blocked by an invisible field of force, its leading edge being pressed back inch by inch.

"Serious Punch."

The instant his fist collided with the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon, the arena's protective barrier was shaken into visibility—not one layer, but seven stacked sealing formations lighting up at once. The first layer shattered, the second cracked, and the third barely withstood the shockwave. The dark-gold radiance broke into countless fragments, while Tyson's body began to collapse on a cellular level beneath the force of the punch—not shattering, but vanishing. The energy of the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon, along with his torso, was swallowed by the punch's gale. A golden pillar of light exploded across the arena, illuminating the entire floor as brightly as day. After the shockwave struck the protective barrier around the spectator stands, it rebounded toward the center of the arena. The floor tiles cracked and automatically healed, over and over several times. The force of the punch passed through the energy pillar, its aftershock breaking through the arena railings before striking the protective barrier at the edge of the stands and being completely absorbed. Golden runes flashed before everyone for an instant, then slowly faded.

Everyone in the spectator stands was still alive.

Saitama stood on the arena, his right fist still held in the position of the swing. A trace of dark-gold energy residue clung to his knuckles—the final embers of the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon. He flicked his hand and looked at the purple mist still steaming above the arena. Tyson's body was gone, leaving only a fragment of carapace to prove that the attack had truly happened.

[Residual Nen from the opponent detected, condensing.]