Chapter 232: The One Punch Man Arc Ends
[Ding! Intense negative emotions detected from God level Boros at the brink of death. Gained 1,000,000 emotion points!]
[Total Demon Power obtained: 1,500,000. Would you like to provide fifty percent feedback to the Sword Master?]
Inside the sword, Asuramaru immediately refused.
"No need."
He paused for a moment.
"Begin the final settlement."
The system responded at once.
[Ding! No feedback will be provided this time!]
[Beginning settlement for the current world.]
[Template: Demon Sword Thousand Fragments]
[Sword Masters: Mumen Rider Satoru Suzuki, Black Flash Sonic]
[Total battles: 27]
[Victories: 27]
[Defeats: 0]
[Total Monsters slain: 5,407]
[God level Monster slain: Dominator of the Universe Boros]
[Above Dragon Monsters slain: Monster King Orochi, Ninja Village Founder Empty Void]
[Other Monsters slain: Deep Sea King, Ancient King, Cutting King, Sky King, and others]
[Title obtained: What Kind of King Are You?]
[Main Mission Complete: Slay the Dominator of the Universe, Boros]
[Mission Reward: 2,000,000 emotion points]
[Main Mission concluded. The host may apply to leave this world at any time.]
The settlement ended.
Asuramaru should have been satisfied.
Instead, he felt strangely irritated.
The problem was Boros.
That man had died smiling.
There had been no despair in his final moments, no unwillingness, and almost no resentment. Boros had finally obtained the battle he had crossed the universe searching for and had died completely satisfied.
Naturally, the negative emotions generated by his death were much lower than expected.
But that did not make the loss any easier to accept.
According to the usual conversion between emotion points and Demon Power, Boros should have been worth roughly three million emotion points.
In the end, Asuramaru had received only one million.
Two thirds of the expected amount had vanished just like that.
Thinking about it made his heart ache.
"What a waste..."
Asuramaru sighed and withdrew the power he had granted Sonic.
The enormous strength coursing through Sonic rapidly receded until he returned to his natural Above Dragon level.
Outside, Sonic barely cared.
His missing arm had already regenerated.
He looked down at the restored limb, then turned his gaze toward Boros's lifeless body.
For a few moments, he said nothing.
Then he spoke quietly.
"Boros."
"I acknowledge you as my opponent."
High above City A, the enormous alien spacecraft finally lost all power.
Its engines died.
The colossal vessel began falling toward the ruined city.
Its shadow swallowed the ground beneath it as countless tons of alien metal descended from the sky.
Before it could crash, Saitama appeared beneath the ship.
He raised both hands.
The falling spacecraft stopped.
Then, with almost insulting ease, Saitama lowered the enormous vessel until it settled gently onto the ruins.
No second catastrophe came.
Sonic glanced in that direction.
He did not linger.
Turning away from the battlefield, he left only his back to the others before disappearing from sight.
Later, Sonic returned to City Z.
He entered his quiet apartment, walked straight to the bed, and collapsed onto it.
Only after lying there for several moments did something occur to him.
His eyes opened.
"Asuramaru."
No response.
Sonic sat up.
"Asuramaru, why didn't I become stronger after Boros died?"
Inside the sword, Asuramaru had already prepared an explanation.
"You did not kill him with me."
Sonic frowned.
"He died because he exhausted all of his energy."
Asuramaru continued without the slightest hesitation.
"If you did not kill him with the sword, how am I supposed to give you feedback?"
Silence.
Sonic's eyes widened.
His expression slowly changed.
If his thoughts could have been written directly across his face, there would have been only four words.
What a massive loss.
All that power.
All that fighting.
A God level opponent.
And no feedback.
Sonic sat frozen on the bed.
Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do.
He had chosen to let Boros die naturally instead of finishing him with the sword.
He could only accept the consequences.
Inside Asuramaru, the frustration from losing two thirds of Boros's potential emotion points suddenly became much easier to bear.
Seeing Sonic suffer the same pain was oddly comforting.
Meanwhile, the aftermath of the battle engulfed City A.
Nearly everyone who had witnessed Sonic's battle with Boros was still struggling to process what they had seen.
A clash at that level had gone far beyond anything most heroes understood.
The Hero Association reacted as quickly as possible.
Every available rescue team was dispatched.
The injured S Class Heroes were transported to the nearest hospitals.
Emergency crews spread throughout the devastated city, searching through collapsed buildings for survivors.
Ordinary civilians trapped beneath the ruins were pulled free one after another.
Despite the destruction, the rescue operation gradually fell into order.
Amid all that activity, Satoru Suzuki remained standing quietly.
Both hands gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist.
He pulled.
Nothing happened.
Satoru frowned and tried again.
The sword refused to move.
No matter how much strength he used, he could not draw it from its sheath.
Eventually, his hands loosened.
He understood.
Asuramaru was truly gone from him.
The strength Satoru had obtained over the years remained.
None of it had been taken away.
He still possessed power at the Above Dragon level.
But the presence that had accompanied him throughout so much of his journey was no longer there.
For all his composure, Satoru could not help feeling a little empty.
Once the disaster had been dealt with and the situation gradually stabilized, the Hero Association revised its rankings again.
Bang retired from active hero work.
With his departure, Sonic rose to the very top.
S Class Rank 1.
The Hero Association granted him the corresponding status and rewards.
Then life continued.
Days became months.
Months became years.
Before anyone truly noticed, ten years had passed.
During those ten years, Sonic finally reached God level through his own strength.
Naturally, one of the first things he did afterward was challenge Saitama again.
The result was exactly what anyone familiar with their history could have predicted.
His vulnerable spot was struck once more.
Sonic lost.
Again.
Elsewhere, the organizations that had once operated from the shadows gradually disappeared.
The Machine God Organization was destroyed.
Tsukuyomi followed.
Anyone Sonic considered worth killing had, for the most part, already been killed.
The effect on the remaining Monsters was dramatic.
Wild Monsters stopped entering cities.
Eventually, even Monsters already living in urban areas began fleeing into remote mountains and forests.
They were terrified that Sonic might discover them.
Only Black Sperm escaped this miserable fate.
With Saitama protecting him, even Sonic left him alone.
Suiryu also followed through on the decision he had made years earlier.
He became a hero.
He joined Bang's dojo and became Satoru Suzuki's junior disciple.
In time, Satoru married Suiryu's younger sister, Suiko.
Garou, meanwhile, remained Garou.
He escaped prison again.
And again.
Every time he appeared, Satoru went after him.
Again and again, Garou's restless urge to cause trouble was beaten down.
The years rolled onward.
Inside the sword, Asuramaru gradually became bored beyond belief.
There were barely any Monsters left to hunt.
The few survivors had hidden themselves deep in remote mountains, making them irritatingly difficult to locate.
With nothing worthwhile to kill, Asuramaru eventually began studying.
Science.
Technology.
Whatever knowledge he could get his hands on within the mental world.
At some point, he even put on a pair of glasses.
If anyone had seen him then, they might have mistaken the infamous Asuramaru for someone whose greatest passion in life was academic research.
For a while, it was actually interesting.
Eventually, even that became dull.
His growth in this world had slowed nearly to a halt.
There was little reason to remain.
One day, Asuramaru finally made his decision.
"System."
"Prepare for world crossing."
The response came immediately.
[Ding! World crossing will begin in seven days!]
Seven days passed quickly.
On the final night, Asuramaru drew both Sonic and Satoru Suzuki into the mental world.
Once again, they stood at the boundary between endless sea and endless sky.
Sonic looked around with obvious confusion.
Satoru reacted very differently.
His eyes widened the moment he saw Asuramaru.
It had been far too long since the two had stood face to face.
Asuramaru looked at his two Sword Masters.
He did not bother with unnecessary suspense.
"I'm leaving this world."
Sonic blinked.
Then his expression changed.
"What happened?"
He stared at Asuramaru.
"Are you dying?"
Asuramaru's eyebrow twitched.
"You're the one who's dying!"
He glared at Sonic.
"Do you even know how to speak?"
Sonic frowned.
"I was asking a question."
"Ask better questions."
Watching the familiar argument begin almost immediately, Satoru hurried forward.
"Asuramaru."
His expression became serious.
"What do you mean when you say you're leaving this world?"
Asuramaru looked toward him.
He had no intention of explaining the system or the nature of world crossing in detail.
"Exactly what I said."
"I'm going somewhere else."
He glanced between the two of them.
"I brought you here because I wanted to say goodbye."
They had been together for many years.
Even Sonic fell silent.
For once, the arrogant ninja had no immediate comeback.
A trace of reluctance appeared in his eyes before he quickly buried it beneath his usual expression.
"If you want to leave, then leave."
Sonic crossed his arms.
"It's not like I'm going to stop you."
Satoru, on the other hand, released a long breath.
Then he smiled.
"So that's all it is."
"I'm relieved."
He looked at Asuramaru warmly.
"I don't think there's anything I can do to help you."
"So all I can do is wish you a safe journey."
Asuramaru looked at the two of them one last time.
A rare smile appeared on his face.
"Then I'll accept your blessing."
His gaze deliberately shifted toward Sonic.
"Unlike a certain someone who cannot even manage a single word of thanks."
Sonic immediately looked away.
Silence lingered for several seconds.
Then, in a voice much quieter than usual, he spoke.
"For everything along the way..."
He paused.
"Thank you."
Asuramaru's smile deepened slightly.
He did not tease him again.
Instead, he turned and raised one hand in farewell.
"Until we meet again."
"Sonic."
"Satoru."
The system notification sounded in his mind.
[Ding! Seven days have elapsed.]
[Host, prepare yourself.]
[World crossing will now begin!]
Under Sonic and Satoru's gaze, Asuramaru's figure gradually became transparent.
His outline blurred.
The sky and sea seemed to pass through him.
Then he vanished completely.
Once more, Asuramaru felt that strange sensation.
The bonds connecting him to the world loosened.
Space receded.
Everything familiar slipped away.
And his journey toward another world began.
....
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