Many people online had seen the video of the Deep Sea King incident. Upon hearing No.17 state the reason, they first felt shame, but that shame quickly transformed into raging fury.
'It was all because of that loud-mouthed bastard! His damn words had brought upon us a crisis of annihilation!'
In an apartment somewhere in the city, a man in a checkered shirt with greasy hair, sitting in front of his computer screen, was sweating profusely.
He was the one who had vehemently mocked the defeated Heroes last time.
He had no doubt that he would soon be doxxed, cyber-bullied… no, cyber-bullying would be the least of it.
He would definitely be hunted down in real life! Torn to shreds by an angry mob!
"No... it wasn't me... I..." The man stammered, wanting to turn off the live stream, but found he couldn't even move his fingers.
Fear had completely consumed him.
Around the arena, reporters looked at each other with complex expressions.
Of course, they also loathed that loud-mouthed bastard. It was because of that bastard that they were now in this crisis.
But for now, resolving the crisis was the top priority.
A slightly older reporter took a deep breath and bravely shouted: "B-but that was just one person's mistake. At the time, in the video, people around him tried to stop him!"
"Stop him?" No.17 sneered. "Did they really stop him?"
"Aside from one person who wanted to resort to violence, everyone else was convinced by his few words. It wasn't until the Hero who defeated Deep Sea King voluntarily shared his credit with the other Heroes that they acknowledged the sacrifices of those Heroes."
"But that very action confirms that man's point: you don't value the Heroes' efforts, only their achievements."
"Facing someone who risked their life to protect you, yet you harshly criticize them just because they failed. Is such a world truly right?"
The reporters opened their mouths to refute but found themselves speechless.
In fact, ever since the Hero Association started ranking Heroes, the concept of 'Hero' was no longer pure.
"Enough." No.17 closed his eyes again, as if losing interest in further conversation. "Remember what I said."
"If you cannot defeat me, you have only one year left to live."
Silence fell across the internet, followed by even more frantic panic and despair.
"One year? Only one year?"
"This madman! He really is going to destroy Earth!"
"Where are the Heroes? The S-Class Heroes? Stop him!"
Just as the world descended into hysterical frenzy-
A brilliant emerald light, like a burning comet, streaked across the sky at incredible speed and crashed down in front of the arena.
"It's Tatsumaki-sama!"
"S-Class Rank 2, Tornado of Terror!"
"Tatsumaki-sama is here! Earth is saved!"
The watching crowd erupted into frenzied cheers, as if witnessing the arrival of a savior.
Tatsumaki hovered in mid-air, the terrifying psychic waves emanating from her causing rubble within hundreds of meters to levitate, distorting the very air.
"You wanted a strong person to defeat you, right? I'm here," Tatsumaki said coldly.
No.17 replied calmly, "You're not up to it."
"Hmph, then open your eyes wide and see my true power!" She thrust both hands forward.
Indescribably terrifying psychic power erupted in an instant.
The ground of the entire A-City ruins was ripped up like a carpet. Hundreds of millions of tons of reinforced concrete wreckage, snapped steel bars, shattered glass...
All matter, under Tatsumaki's psychic control, transformed into a destructive torrent, crashing down upon No.17 in the center of the arena.
The force of this attack was enough to completely erase a medium-sized city from the map.
"Tatsumaki-sama! Take him down!"
"Kill him! Show him the power of an S-Class Hero!"
The crowd screamed manically, hope rekindling in their eyes.
However, No.17 on the arena remained with his hands in his pockets, not even moving his feet.
He simply watched calmly as the psychic torrent, capable of destroying a city, surged towards him.
The psychic torrent, carrying endless debris, rushed forward but stopped one meter above No.17's head.
Like an inverted pyramid, it froze in mid-air.
No.17 commented casually, "Combat power of ten thousand. For an ordinary human, your strength isn't bad."
Tatsumaki couldn't believe it. Her full-powered attack hadn't even been enough to make the man lift his hand.
Before the global live broadcast, there was deathly silence.
The crowd that had been cheering wildly moments ago now stood like ducks with their necks wrung, mouths agape, unable to utter a sound.
An attack that could be described as world-ending had been stopped so easily.
No.17 casually waved his hand, and the pyramid of rubble above him simply vanished. "This level of psychic power is far too weak."
Then, No.17 pointed his finger, a beam of light shot out, instantly piercing Tatsumaki's chest.
He said calmly, "What about your other S-Class Heroes? Honestly, I don't mind how you defeat me. If you think individual strength isn't enough, all the Heroes are welcome to challenge me together."
Tatsumaki coughed up blood, clenching her fist, feeling an unprecedented humiliation.
But at the same time, she could sense the immense confidence in his tone, as if S-Class Heroes were just numbers to him.
"Since you've said that, we might as well join forces."
"Your strength is truly overwhelming. I suppose we'll have to resort to an inglorious group attack."
As the voice spoke, four figures appeared around the arena.
They were Rank 4Atomic Samurai, Rank 9 Drive Knight, Rank 11 Superalloy Darkshine, and Rank 13 Flashy Flash.
No.17 smiled slightly, "I told you, you can use any means necessary."
"Although it's still meaningless, it's at least a little smarter than coming to die alone."
The four exchanged glances and attacked simultaneously.
"Atomic Slash!"
Atomic Samurai's blade light turned into countless fine silver threads, each capable of slicing the hardest alloy into molecular-thin sheets, slashing at No.17 from all directions.
"Drive: Resonance Crush!"
Drive Knight's arms vibrated at an impossibly high frequency, an attack capable of shattering matter at the molecular level.
"Superalloy Bazooka!"
Superalloy Darkshine roared, his already burly physique expanding another size as he charged at No.17 like a cannonball.
"Flash: Instant Kill Formation!"
Flashy Flash struck at No.17's vital points from various impossible angles like a raging storm.
Facing the combined attack of four S-Class Heroes, No.17 simply let out a gentle breath.
An invisible, boundless, star-like terrifying energy rippled gently outward from No.17.
Atomic Samurai's silver blade net, capable of cutting atoms, instantly dissipated.
Drive Knight's high-frequency vibrating arms suddenly stopped.
Fine cracks appeared on Superalloy Darkshine's obsidian-like muscles.
Flashy Flash felt as if he had crashed into a swamp, frozen stiffly in mid-air.
The combined assault of the four S-Class Heroes was silently nullified.
The next moment, No.17's fingers lightly clenched.
The four felt an overwhelming, invisible force pressing in on them from all directions.
The four S-Class Heroes, like dolls clutched by an invisible giant hand, instantly lost all ability to resist, blood spraying from their mouths.
Like four stones hurled from a catapult, they flew backwards in four different directions at alarming speed.
Whether at the scene or online, there was deathly silence.
He was too strong. Even ordinary people with no understanding of combat could see that the gap between the S-Class Heroes and this enemy was vast beyond measure.