The Situation

B City

A golden flash streaked past, and a monster shaped like a giant crab was instantly cleaved in two. Dark green blood flowed out like a stream.

Between the halves of its corpse stood a blond man holding a sharp sword. He stood in the pool of blood and slowly slid the blade back into its sheath.

S-Class Hero Flashy Flash listened to the urgent alarm ringing through the city. Expressionless, he took the vibrating communicator from his pocket.

He answered it. When he heard the message, a flicker passed through his otherwise impassive eyes.

"A God-level Monster? Understood. I'll head there at once!"

He ended the call and vanished.

Meanwhile, at the Hero Association headquarters.

In a sealed gravity-training room, a dark-skinned man packed with explosive muscle was struggling through one-handed handstand push-ups under ten times normal gravity. Beads of sweat rolled down his resolute face.

"One thousand and one!"

"One thousand and two!"

"One thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight!"

Just as he was about to finish his training for the day, an announcement interrupted his concentration.

"Mr. Darkshine, urgent notice! A God-level Monster unlike anything we've seen has appeared outside the southwestern outskirts of A-City. Tatsumaki has been defeated. We need you there immediately!"

Thud!

Superalloy Darkshine sprang up and landed firmly on his feet. Wisps of steam rose from his body after the intense exercise.

"What? Tatsumaki was defeated?"

Disbelief flashed through Superalloy Darkshine's eyes.

Tatsumaki ranked among the top two S-Class Heroes. He hated to admit it, but as the eleventh-ranked S-Class Hero, he knew her abilities far surpassed his own.

Suppressing his shock, Superalloy Darkshine clenched his fists.

"All right! I'll put the power I've recently mastered to the test!"

At the Hero Association's summons, every S-Class Hero immediately set aside