Chapter 3

Hope Is What Makes A Hero.

"That'll be 28,349 Yen, Mr. One Punch Man." The store clerk maintained his calm face, though he was struggling very hard… just a week ago, he witness this man.. Saitama, the 'One Punch Man' kill a giant, humanoid octopus that came out of the water near City J… as this is City J, after all.

The 'Meteor Incident' had captured the attention of most all media outlets around a month prior to this, and in the time between then and now… there have been multiple videos being taken by pedestrians lucky enough to witness his feats, obliterating tiger, demon and the two other dragon level threats he's ever faced… with no more than a single punch.

But, officially, 'One Punch Man' is not his hero name. No, his title at the HA is 'Saitama' as per his request to shut down the public poll. The people merely brought the new name about as they saw his feats.

And, the man in question, held a blank face. He's been getting called that everywhere he goes now, and it seems his home is the only place safe from hearing it… but, even while it's fulfilling his desire to at least be known, being too well known was something he didn't think about. Essentially he's become a celebrity even though he didn't want to be one.

At least, he's being paid for what he does now.

"Alright. Let's see…" Digging into his hoodie's pocket, he pulled out three ten thousand yen notes, and placed them on the counter. While such a large purchase would be unthinkable, with the past two weeks he's finally noticed it… he's loaded. The HA has quite a good payout for eliminating monsters, considering they're essentially another branch of the government.. the 'donations' they receive from the populace is used almost the same way that tax dollars are in real government. On lavishly inefficient things that are essentially situational at best.

And paying out bounties to heroes that do the work that the association should be focusing on.

So it would be that, killing a threat capable of taking down a city or two, sometimes more, with ease? Pays out millions worth in Yen in no time flat. That octopus dude… who claimed he was a messenger, got him a check for 1,000,000. That's ten thousand USD, kind of. And the thing was destroying property and could have killed people. Actually, thinking on it, paying a hero to kill monsters is far cheaper than fixing the damages they cause… and it's still more than enough incentive to get heroes to do it quickly!

So, of course a measly 30,000 yen is nothing to Saitama now. He's essentially gone from nearly flat broke to millionaire. That, and he already has a massive Hero discount courtesy of the Association.

Quick to give him the change, he watched as the bald hero carried out ten bags in each hand… going off to his City Z Home.

"You are one of the seafolk, correct?" Genos asked, his arms locking him into the hole that the Sea King put through the evacuation shelter roof. Rain coated him as his orange and white eyes glared at the threat, of which has defeated Puri Puri Prisoner, Lightning Max, Stinger and Snek. There were the others as well… but this creature has warranted his utmost caution.

"And what if I am? Eh… you must be another soldier…" The hulking creature turned, replying to him. Undoubtedly…. Only taking a look at it's face, it's body, would immediately be a warning… you're outclassed.

"I'm here to eliminate you." Genos stated, while charging his weapons for firing… taking his master's words into consideration, he would try his best to focus, use the thing's weaknesses against it…

And then he blasted off, full force put into his arm as he flew forward at speeds rivalling that of railguns in a quarter of the time to actually fire one. And just as his fist contacts the face of the creature, he fires an incineration blast laced with an extreme amount of electricity… to say the least, it was beautiful.

From outside, the Sea King was blasted straight through the evacuation center's walls, a powerful torrent of plasma and seemingly liquid electricity forcing him forward and engulfing his entirety, the plasma drying him up and the electricity freezing him, truly the thing could not have expected such a thing from a being made of metal… Perhaps the fire, but the electricity… not so much.

Inside, the people were speechless. They just witnessed the beating that thing gave to the other heroes… and then saw this, they were all shocked, but soon erupted into cheers.

However… Genos wasn't powering down. They failed to notice that he even lowered his stance, his gaze never leaving the place he blasted the monster to. And when he saw it… he sharpened his gaze at it. "HRRRAAAHG!" The creature barreled forward, his body shriveled but nonetheless showing immense power and speed to be reckoned with, and it swung it's fist to the side to hit him.

Yet he ducked, and then fisted straight into the thing's gut, shooting them outside and into a nearby office building, obliterating the side of it as they shoot through it even, as he follows in with machine gun blows…

And as they were starting to slow, he finished it by flipping twice and Landing a magnetically assisted hammer fist right on the Sea King's skull, shooting him right down to earth.

Only then did he fall down to earth himself, gently landing with a crashing thud nearby the crater of his enemy. It only bothered him that there was a life signature still there…

"You definitely like combo moves, don't you?" The rain started hitting the ground hard, and lightning stuck by. Genos stood there with steam bellowing off of his metal frame as he watched the Sea King, albeit with a mangled face and multiple broken bones, climb out if the crater. "I felt that, quite a lot, however…" He flexed, his face contorting into pristine condition, his eyes going bright white and his pupils as sharp as the cyborg's own discolored irises.

He snapped his arm straight and then patted his other arm with it, as if it were a test. "It's nothing to me if it's already completely healed, is it?" He asked, bringing his face right in front if the cyborg, a massive smile on it. "Hit me." The monster said, pointing right to his chin.

'I need master Saitama for this.' as he thought that he was already calling his master via his body's connection to most every electrical service, and was sending an SOS to the association. He could not win this fight.

So, he took the monster up on the offer. 'He's two cities away… I can buy that much time.'

The Sea King went sailing through building after building, that single punch laced with as much power that he could force through his arm at once incinerated, liquified and dissolved every single building in a wide arc at least four blocks, leaving a large, long crater at least ten meters deep… it proved to definitely take a chunk out of his reserves, luckily enough he has quite the… potent, reactor.

And he wasted no time in following after, punching the dazed creature in the side of the head before he could fully recover, but in return it elbowed the cyborg straight to the side and through a building, to which… he now found himself in the square just outside the evacuation center, on the side where he blasted the Sea King away initially…

'!' The monster seemingly teleported behind him and had his fist on the cyborg's back, pushing forward and up until going downwards, acting as a piston as it shoved him deep into the dirt. Worse enough, he can't get out quick enough before the next fist strikes into his back, and then another… and another…

"INCINERATE!" He screams, opening all of the exhaust ports on his body and then expunges everything he has in a violent torrent of plasma, engulfing half the entire square and many hundreds of meters into the air with the orange and white, hot as the sun substance.

"You think drying me out will save you? Don't make me laugh!" It roars back, it's body now shriveled to the point it was at when facing Lightning Max.

But, he used the pool of literal magma he resided in as a chance to get away, and utilized his ability to act much like a Railgun to his advantage, shooting straight up into the air with bits of magma falling off of him. Still, the Sea King was not having it. He followed suit, launching into the air with a devilish smile as he caught up to the cyborg with general ease, his body losing the surface cracks as it absorbs more water.

But before the Sea King could punch him, Genos blasted around him and then towards his back… his arms sharpened, as he railed right into the Sea King full force, with one thing in mind. Latch on, and give him every ounce of electricity left.

And that, is what he did.

Electricity in the high megawatt, low terawatt range pulsed from the entire surface of the cyborg's body into the thing's back, and his head with Genos's right hand, causing a black looking smoke cloud to emanate from the monster, who's completely frozen by the electricity.

This goes on for six seconds… until Genos falls back, his eyes gone black from the total discharge of his reserves. And so… the people down below, their hearts seemingly stopped by what seemed to be a last ditch effort to stop the monster, as the hero they prayed for moments ago.. fell to earth as black as death itself.

His humanlike features burned to a crisp, metallic smelling smoke filling the air and a small pool of his lesser heat and electricity resistant parts being formed around himself… all that he is now, is a skeleton.

The Sea King fell to earth as well, landing close by as his body remained motionless, smoke still lightly emanating from him as the rain began to fall once again.

"Is… is it over? Did the Demon Cyborg win?" A man asked, stepping ever so closer to the edge of the crater. "I… I don't know! But, he needs help!" A woman said, but looking down to the drop… not that many would survive the distance. But what soon erupted.. were cheers.

"Chua.. ha.. ha.. ha, ha, hahahahaaha!" At first, the monster's body jerked, it's heart restarting a moment later. If it were for that annoying noise, perhaps his soul would have found peace after such a shock. And now realizing that he is still alive… he started laughing. Maniacally.

They all went silent as the Sea King slowly rose again, a shadow cast over his entire body. Death emanated from him, as he looked to the humans he so utterly despised. "Your own inability to stay quiet for a short time is the reason why I rose again. Understand that… your deaths, are at your own hands."

"Justice Crash!"

The bicycle hit its mark, the back of the was entirely ineffective, but did catch his attention.. "Eh?" Looking back annoyed, he looked to see the one who dared interrupt him.

"The bicyclist of Justice, Murmen Rider is here!" he said.

The people back at the shelter were fully understanding of this… that, they were dead. Murmen Rider..

He ran forward with his fist held back, going to strike the beast that towers over him like as if he were an insect. Yet, the monster simply wrapped his hand around Murmen's entire arm, and started to play with him in a bored fashion… up, down, up, down… slamming the man into the pavement slowly enough that he didn't die, until his armor's elastic ripped at the elbow. Murment was sent flying up and behind the monster, and landed with a thud.

Bloodied, Murmen quickly run back to the monster as it inspects the dead Genos, "Justice Tackle!" Murmen yelled, and tried his best to do what he could… essentially hugging the beast in an aggressive manner.

Its face scrunched, it's annoyance apparent. "Nobody expects much…" and then it grabbed Murmen, and chucked him to the side with a great force. He hit the ground, yet didn't let up. "...From me." He continues, and slowly manages to get to his knees... "They think a C class hero like me won't be much help." He says, dropping a bit once again, the pain he was feeling nearly getting the best of him. "I know that better than anyone! I'm not good enough for class B." He continues.

Finally getting off his hands from his near fetal position, he looks up as the rain continues to soak his battered form. "I'm weak, I know that much. No one has to tell me I have no chance of beating you. I already… know that!" He yells.

The people back in the shelter could hear it… his words...if there were a true hero in their midst, even if he's weak.. Murmen Rider would be the only hero on Earth.

"What are you babbling about? Begging for your life?" The Sea King retorts, while he heard clearly what he said… it was just weak nonsense to him. And… he turned to the hero, now looking quite back to his 'full' and powerful self.

"And yet I must try." He says, getting to his feet. "It's not about winning or losing! It's about me taking you in, right here, right now!" He shouts, raising his fists as he prepares to fight the monster, even if it costs him his life.

"Enough of your rambling. It's time to finish you off." The creature said, and stepped forward..

Yet, stopped at the sound of a shrill voice from the Peanut Gallery. "Murmen Rider, you can do it!" "... You're the cyclist for Justice! Beat that weird monster, beat him! You can do it!" A single boy in his mother's arms yelled as loud as his lungs could allow, crying as the intense mix of emotions he's just experience finally forced themselves out… crying, he yelled those words, for the Hero to reign victorious in such a hopeless situation.

The crowd followed soon after.

"UUUUURRRRAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Mumen Rider yelled as he reeled back, and running forward to punch the beast… his arm went forward, and with it, a rush of air so powerful that, it parted the rain for miles on end.

There now was a hole half the size of the beast's chest blown right through it.

The crowd was silent. The Cyborg gained consciousness just as the event occurred… and Murmen Rider, fell to his knees and yelled with all his might. It was over.

Cheering erupted from the shelter, and with it, the clouds started to part.

"Thank you… Sensei…"

A/N: Well this got waaaay more popular than I ever expected it to, hell a few of the stories that got recently posted I thought were more appealing than mine? Well it just proves I don't really know people that well... Thanks though, I like the email notifications! If you do figure out what happened here at the end, don't spoil it... It'll be in the next chapter. Ciao!