One punch.
Saitama took a step forward and swung his right fist.
The instant his fist struck the carapace, the dark green compound eyes caught a hairline crack. Then a second, a third, spreading like a spiderweb.
Fragments of Chimera Ant carapace scattered like black rain. Tyson flew backward, three of his four arms shattered, his chest punched clean through—purple slime gushed from the wounds, splashing onto the ring with a corrosive hiss.
The spectator stands fell silent for a moment.
Gon was the first to shout, "Saitama!"
Killua watched the twitching remains in the ring and swallowed faintly. Hisoka's playing card stopped between his fingers. He did not lick it, only watched that slowly writhing mass of flesh, his breathing growing soft and slow. Netero set down his teacup, its base making a faint, crisp clink against the table.
Saitama looked down at his fist.
"One punch again..."
"In the end, it still only took one punch!"
A little purple slime clung to his knuckles, and he shook his hand. He was about to return to the edge of the ring to check whether any had splashed onto his plastic bag when the electronic voice sounded in his mind again. It was not a notification that the fight had ended, but a higher-level alert.
[Warning: unknown gene fragments detected within the opponent's cells.] [Origin analysis: One-Punch Man world—monster genes (from the remains of House of Evolution test subjects) and cosmic dark matter warrior genes (from Boros's surviving cells).] [The opponent is about to awaken into his complete form. Estimated combat tier: peak Dragon level. Host, do not let your guard down.]
Before the last line disappeared, Tyson stood up.
He did not crawl to his feet—he sprang up. As though some force were lifting him from within, his ruined body flipped once in midair before landing heavily in the ring. The scattered carapace fragments were still writhing, but regeneration had already begun anew—not the slow cellular reconstruction from before, but instantaneous regeneration. Muscles, bones, carapace, all four arms, everything recovered within the same second. A layer of dark golden energy armor covered his black carapace, and his dark green compound eyes began changing color from the centers of their irises—gold, pure dark gold, with exactly the same luster as Boros's single eye.
"So that's it... The bloodline of that one-eyed giant was sleeping in my genetic chain all along."
Tyson lowered his head to look at his hands, now covered in golden light. His voice was no longer low and hoarse, but a far more powerful resonance carrying the echoes of the cosmos.
"Kakaka! It never activated because I lacked an opponent who could push my flesh to its limits. The Chimera Ant carapace was pierced with one punch, and the monster's regeneration was punched through with another—precisely because I was broken twice, the third set of genes was finally released. But he doesn't know—it's not three sets of genes, but three worlds: the Dark Continent, the House of Evolution, and cosmic dark matter. Chimera Ant, hyperaccelerated cellular regeneration, Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon. These three powers combined have finally found their trigger in you."
He raised one hand, and a dark golden sphere of energy gathered in his palm. It was not a Nen Bullet—it was pure dark matter energy, exactly like the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon Boros had used. The sphere swelled rapidly, from the size of a fist to a basketball, until the entire ring was bathed in dark gold.
Tyson's arm vanished into the light, then his chest, abdomen, four arms, his entire body—his whole frame was spewing high-density energy. The ring's golden halo triggered in response, and multiple layers of encrypted rune arrays bloomed across the floor and railings at once. Beneath the ring, the Auto-Repair System sounded an overload alarm.
"Take this!"
"You can't dodge it."
"This strike—I'll aim it at the spectators."
Tyson raised his head, his dark golden eyes sweeping over the highest row. Genos, Gon, Killua, Hisoka, Netero, Silva, Zeno, Boros, Chrollo.
"You've seen me at the height of my power before you die. Now you can go in peace."
"Die!!!"
The stands were utterly silent. Genos set down his bowl, thrusters springing out from his shoulder blades, but the restriction system on his wrist glowed red—he could not use any abilities. Hisoka's playing card stopped between his fingers. He did not lick it, only watched the swelling dark golden sphere of energy, his pupils contracting slightly. Gon gripped the railing with both hands, his knuckles white.
Boros's single eye fixed on the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon gathering in the ring—the exact same dark golden radiance as his own. He was silent for a moment, then murmured so softly that only he could hear, "A crude imitation. He'll easily withstand this strike, too."
Saitama watched the swelling sphere of energy. He had seen this move before—Boros had used it, and its power could rip up the surface of an entire city. But this time was different. The Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon's firing angle was already locked, its trajectory aimed straight at the stands. Against absolute power, the protective barrier could stop only the shock wave, not the devastating light and heat radiation. The people in the stands had not come here to die. The system had forced them here to watch. If he could not stop this strike, everyone would die.
He took a step forward and clenched his right fist.
This time.
"Consecutive Normal Punches."
Saitama's fists rained down on Tyson. Every punch could shatter the Chimera Ant's carapace, every punch could tear through the 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 grown tissue before they could hit the floor, muscle fibers reconnected across the wounds, and bones regrew along their fractures. More than a dozen punches, more than a dozen wounds punched clean through, all healed within half a second.
"It's useless!"
Tyson's voice echoed through the energy storm.
"Unless you annihilate every one of my cells simultaneously with a single strike, I'll revive endlessly! And this strike—the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon—is already complete!"
A dark golden column of energy erupted from Tyson's chest. It was not fired—it exploded outward. Space throughout the ring warped under the pressure, and the seats in the front rows began to shake. Some people closed their eyes. Genos's wrist still glowed red as he stared at the oncoming beam and shouted, "Master—"
Saitama did not dodge.
His right fist slowly tightened, his knuckles making faint cracking sounds. The air suddenly went still—not sucked away, but compressed by some far greater force, drawn together and pushed toward the center of the ring. The Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon's energy beam stopped less than three meters from him—not stopped, but blocked by an invisible field, its leading edge being forced back inch by inch.
"Serious Punch."
The instant his fist struck the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon, the entire ring's protective barrier shook into view—not one layer, but seven overlapping sealing arrays lighting up at once. The first shattered, the second cracked, and the third barely withstood the shock wave. The dark golden radiance broke into countless fragments, and Tyson's body began disintegrating at the cellular level as the force of the punch tore through him—not shattering, but disappearing. The blast from the punch swallowed the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon's energy along with his torso, and the golden beam exploded across the ring, lighting the entire floor as brightly as day. The shock wave struck the barrier around the stands and rebounded toward the center of the ring. The floor tiles cracked and automatically healed, over and over. The force of the punch passed through the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon's energy beam, its aftershock breaking through the ring's railings before striking the protective barrier at the edge of the stands, where it was completely absorbed. Golden runes flashed before everyone for an instant, then slowly faded.
Everyone in the stands was still alive.
Saitama stood in the ring, his right fist still extended. A little dark golden energy residue clung to his knuckles—the last embers of the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon. He shook his hand and looked at the purple mist still rising from the ring. Tyson's body was gone, leaving only a fragment of carapace as proof that the strike had truly happened.
[The opponent's residual Nen has been detected coalescing.]
Before you continue