One Punch Man: Heroics Start with Dual Kamui

Boom!

The energy blast Melzargard had fired struck its own body, blowing a massive hole in its chest as blood sprayed out. However, it seemed largely unfazed. All five of its heads spoke in turn.

"Injured by its own attack."

"What happened?"

"No idea."

"I like it~"

"Don't... get careless... stay alert..."

In the blink of an eye, Melzargard's body regenerated. Not only that, its form began to change, splitting apart into five humanoid monsters, each corresponding to one of its heads.

Iaian was now drenched in cold sweat as he looked at the figure who had suddenly appeared before him. He felt fear like never before, like death itself had respawned before him. If not for that person's intervention, he might already be missing a piece of himself.

"You are..."

He had only seen the stranger's back and was about to ask their name when a flash of a blade instantly cut all five of Melzargard's newly split bodies clean in half.

"Iaian, are you alright?"

It was Atomic Samurai, who had just arrived. "And Kamui... was it you who just protected my disciple?"

Shinji did not respond to Atomic Samurai, since what was standing there was only a wooden clone. The clone could speak, heck even dance, but he simply chose not to. Too much of a drag.

Shinji's real body? He was already inside the alien ship.

"Master, be careful! Blades have little effect on this thing!" Iaian quickly warned his sensei.

Atomic Samurai, however, didn't seem concerned. Facing the five-headed monster charging at him again, he drew his sword and unleashed a single slash.

That strike shredded the creature into countless tiny pieces. Confident in his work, Atomic Samurai didn't even glance back.

Seeing this, Iaian assumed the enemy was defeated. But just as he relaxed, he noticed the fragments behind his master merging back together.

"What the!!"

Before his eyes, the remains of the five humanoid bodies fused into a single massive form, one head, but five pairs of eyes.

Atomic Samurai, sensing something, turned and stared at Melzargard in surprise.

"Kekekeke...! So this planet does have lifeforms capable of standing against me!" Melzargard let out a chilling laugh. "Good! Come and play with us!"

At that moment, Bang and Metal Bat also arrived.

"Atomic Samurai, we're here to help," Bang said, hands clasped behind his back. Despite the grim look on his face, his demeanor was that of an old man taking a leisurely stroll.

Meanwhile, Puri-Puri Prisoner circled around to get behind Melzargard.

"?!"

Sensing danger, Melzargard turned its head, only to be met by Puri-Puri Prisoner's incoming fist.

At that moment, Puri-Puri Prisoner recalled what the Deep Sea King had once told him, that each punch must be full of killing intent, every strike aimed to crush.

In that instant, like a disciple finally grasping his master's teaching, he sprouted a pair of dark angel wings.

Dark Angel Impact!

…

Aside from the S-class heroes fighting Melzargard, several others had followed the massive hole Saitama had smashed through, reaching the rooftop of the Hero Association headquarters.

Tatsumaki, Child Emperor, Genos, Superalloy Darkshine, and the just-arrived King had gathered there.

The rest of the S-class heroes had either withdrawn for now or outright fled.

"Silver Fang and the others are dealing with the enemies on the ground. I think they can handle it, but the real problem is that huge spaceship floating in the sky. How are we supposed to deal with that…?" Child Emperor said, gazing at the massive vessel with a helpless expression.

"King, as the strongest man on the surface, do you have any ideas?" Superalloy Darkshine asked, looking toward King, who had just struggled his way out of the hole.

Genos also turned to him, clearly interested in this so-called "strongest man on the surface," as if the other S-class heroes all admired him.

King had barely managed to steady himself when he found everyone's eyes on him.

On the outside, he appeared calm and composed, but inside he was panicking hard.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The strange sound of his "King Engine" was nothing more than his pounding heartbeat from sheer nervousness, though everyone else had always mistaken it as the sign he had entered combat mode.

"I don't have any means to attack an enemy floating in the air, so I can't help," King said, forcing himself to appear calm even though his heart was about to leap out of his chest. "While that unidentified flying object hasn't made a move yet, we should hurry and find Metal Knight."

"Huh? What a disgrace! And you call yourself the strongest man?" Tatsumaki snapped, showing no intention of sparing his pride.

"Calm down, little Tatsumaki. If you make King angry, he'll kill you," Superalloy Darkshine quickly tried to smooth things over.

"Forget it! You're all useless anyway. I'll handle them myself," Tatsumaki said sharply.

"I'll go too. I can try attacking from the ground to see if it works," Genos offered.

Tatsumaki turned and shot him a cold glare. "Did you not hear me just now? I said I don't need you."

Genos fell silent, eyes twitching from sheer annoyance. This little fuc…

"Genos, I get how you feel, but if you provoke her, you'll get killed," Darkshine murmured again, playing the peacemaker.

Respecting the dark fighter, this time, Genos held his temper.

At that moment, a figure suddenly appeared beside him.

"Master? You're back? I thought you had already infiltrated the inside of that ship," Genos said in surprise.

Tatsumaki also turned toward Shinji, immediately taunting him. "What's wrong? Scared, so you're hiding here? Well, fine, I guess I'll just have to protect you."

She clearly still held a grudge over what happened with the Ten-Tails earlier.

Shinji ignored her, replying instead to Genos. "This is just one of my clones. My real body has already entered the ship."

Although he could leave the ground battle to Tatsumaki, he kept a clone here just in case. After all, the biggest threat was Boros's Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon.

"You're ignoring me again?!" Tatsumaki burst out, flying straight to Shinji. "Where's your real body? I'll go in and take out their leader right now! That would end this whole thing, wouldn't it?"