Chapter 782: The Price of Power! With This Punch, Saitama Will Die! Energy Release, Collapsing Star Roar
[Kiana: "So, what was the exact price he paid to become that strong?"]
[Esdeath: "I'm also very curious. Power of that caliber usually demands a heavy toll."]
[Ren: "Can't you tell?"]
[Ren: "Image"]
Ren uploaded a photo to the chat. It displayed Saitama's iconic, expressionless face, complete with those vacant, dead-fish eyes staring blankly into the camera.
[Misaka Mikoto: "This... why?"]
[Erza: "Besides the fact that he seems a bit empty inside, I didn't find anything physically wrong with him."]
[Ren: "Don't you think his head is a bit too shiny and bald? By the way, he's only in his twenties."]
[March 7th: "Eh??? C-could it be..."]
[Exusiai: "Is the price... baldness?!"]
[Ren: "Exactly. It's baldness."]
[Seitenshi: "W-what a strange price to pay..."]
[Shiroyasha: "Hahaha! How interesting!"]
[Tushan Honghong: "What a terrifying demonic art! I absolutely must not try it!"]
Since the group consisted entirely of women, a collective chill swept through them. Naturally, not a single one of them wanted their beautiful hair to fall out.
[Ais: "..."]
Ais, who had initially harbored thoughts of trying this training method, reached up to touch her long, flowing golden hair. Deep hesitation flickered in her golden eyes. She realized that perhaps she wasn't willing to do absolutely anything for revenge after all. Her hesitation was the ultimate proof.
But Ren's next message completely shattered whatever lingering temptation she had left.
[Ren: "Of course, losing your hair is just one of the prices. The most critical issue is that his emotions will become increasingly detached. That's the emptiness Erza noticed."]
[Tingyun: "This gentleman's eyes do seem to be completely hollow, but right now, in the heat of battle, his will has become quite spirited."]
[Ren: "That's because he finally met a formidable opponent and can exert his full strength for once."]
[March 7th: "Oh right, what is that one-eyed person anyway? He looks super strange but really powerful."]
[Ren: "He's an alien from this universe, a space pirate known as the Dominator of the Universe."]
[Bronya: "Dominator of the Universe?! Then isn't he incredibly strong?!"]
[Ren: "That title is heavily exaggerated. At most, he's just defeated a lot of life forms across the cosmos. His battleship could drift through the stars until the end of time and still not explore everything."]
The exaggeration was beyond ordinary. Of course, in this specific universe, apart from the special nature of Earth, there truly wasn't any other life form that could defeat Boros.
Tatsumaki hovered nearby, her emerald aura crackling faintly. "You... how do you know everything?"
Ren turned and smiled at her. "Is there a problem with me knowing?"
Tatsumaki opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. She crossed her arms tightly, her gaze darting away. The bitter taste of defeat washed over her; the realization that an outsider understood the deepest secrets of her own world better than she did gnawed at her pride. Worse yet, the enemy currently fighting below was far beyond anything the Hero Association could handle.
Vivi, standing ready with her weapon drawn, kept her eyes locked on the distant clash. "Ren, should we wait for them to finish?"
"It's about to end," Ren replied, his gaze piercing through the dust clouds.
In his eyes, Saitama's defeat was already set in stone.
Boros was no longer the same being from the original timeline. After being bathed in the Light of Annihilation, his current state wasn't even a warm-up.
Yet, Saitama had truly pushed himself to his absolute current limits.
"Serious Series..." Saitama's voice echoed, his fist pulling back as the atmosphere warped around him. "Serious Consecutive Punches!!!"
Saitama unleashed his strongest power. A barrage of world-ending fists tore through the air. But this immense force was heavily restricted by the Earth beneath his feet. He deliberately held back the shockwaves, desperate to prevent his own attack from shattering the planet.
Boros hovered in the sky, his single eye narrowing with utter boredom.
"If this is all you are, then... you can die."
For the first time since the battle began, Boros became slightly serious.
He vanished.
His instantaneous speed was so terrifyingly fast that Saitama couldn't predict it. The bald hero didn't even have time to react before the alien was right in front of him.
It was a simple, straightforward punching motion.
However, facing this incoming fist, Saitama felt an overwhelming vision wash over him. He saw all things perishing, crumbling to dust. He realized, with absolute certainty, that he... would die?
Saitama felt this sensation for the very first time in his life.
After a brief flash of strangeness and shock, an incredibly calm acceptance settled over his mind.
'Ah, I'm going to die. So be it.'
It was as if he didn't care at all.
Just at that exact millisecond.
A single finger sliced into the space between them from the side. It gently pressed against Boros's fist. In an instant, it effortlessly erased the apocalyptic kinetic energy that was meant to obliterate Saitama.
Following that punch, there was no shattered planet. There wasn't even a gentle breeze or a ripple in the air. Absolute, dead silence.
Boros's single eye widened, a flash of genuine surprise breaking through his apathy.
Ren stood there, his posture completely relaxed. "I'll give you a chance to unleash your full power," he said calmly. "I hope you can seize it."
As his voice fell, the fabric of reality warped.
Everything around them instantly shifted. The dilapidated ruins of A-City vanished, replaced by the boundless, freezing vacuum of the starry sky.
Boros paid no attention to the sudden change in scenery. Instead, his single eye locked intensely onto Ren.
"You... are strong."
He had originally believed Saitama was the opponent prophesied to give him a glorious battle. But due to an unexpected accident, Boros had become far too powerful. His prophesied rival couldn't even scratch him. He had already grown completely bored with the fight.
He never expected another entity to appear, someone capable of casually blocking his fatal strike.
Unfortunately for the alien warlord, the situation was completely reversed. It wasn't that Boros looked down on Ren; it was that Ren looked down on him.
"Your opponent is her."
Ren's figure flickered, instantly returning to Tatsumaki's side in the distance.
Catching his glance, Vivi shot forward, her aura flaring as she took his place.
"I will be your opponent," Vivi declared, her voice ringing out across the void.
Boros remained silent, but a terrifying surge of anger began to boil within him. That dismissive attitude, treating him as if he were part of some trivial pet show, deeply stimulated his pride.
"Very well. I will kill her, and them, and finally... I will kill you!"
Boros's rage erupted like a supernova.
Blinding lightning and vibrant auroras bloomed across the dark expanse of space. Endless, suffocating energy burst forth from Boros's body.
His originally pure white form began to mutate, his entire body filling with jagged, pitch-black patterns that pulsed with dark light.
When he opened his eye, the void trembled.
As he clenched his fist, the gravitational pull of a nearby star shifted, its massive trajectory violently altering as it moved toward him.
"This is my new power," Boros grinned, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth.
He threw a punch.
Under his absolute control, an entire planet was ripped from its orbit, rushing toward Vivi with devastating momentum.
This was merely a fraction of his power as he adapted to his ultimate state: Collapsing Star Roar.
His species possessed a unique biological trait, Energy Release. All the immense latent power within his body was forcibly expelled to trigger an extreme sublimation of his physical form. His absolute strongest state was the Collapsing Star Roar. It transformed his internal energy into pure propulsion, granting him explosive speed and strength that shattered biological limits, multiplying his destructive capabilities exponentially.
But at this moment, corrupted and enhanced by the Light of Ruin, his power had undergone a terrifying, qualitative mutation.
With a single thought, he could stir the sea of stars.
A single planet was just an appetizer.
Boros stretched out his arms, his dark energy acting like a cosmic tether.
Several massive stars from entirely different planetary systems were violently torn from their original positions, all converging in one single direction.
Toward Boros.
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]