His suit was already in tatters, the yellow fabric ripped open to reveal lean, corded muscle beneath.
This guy… took a full-force blast from the Reality Stone head-on—and came out unscathed?
Thanos couldn't help but draw a cold breath. That physique… even he, the Titan king famed for his indomitable body, might not match it.
"Then… it's my turn."
A spark of excitement flashed in those dead-fish eyes. Saitama stepped through the void, pale lightning flickering under his soles as he strode toward Thanos.
Both Hands Consecutive Normal Punches!
A storm of blows, several times denser than his one-handed flurry, crashed down like a tidal wave. Thanos's face darkened to the extreme.
Five fingers splayed, the Infinity Gauntlet flared. Power from the Reality Stone surged, forming a crimson, spherical barrier around him.
Boom—boom—boom—
Saitama's fists hammered the scarlet shell, ripples spreading like water rings.
"Pointless. This is the might of the Infinity Stones—the six primal stones of the cosmos. Unless you can destroy the world itself, then—"
Thanos sneered. In all the known Marvel cosmos, there were only six such stones. Their power stood above even the Skyfather tier; even he could not shatter a stone-forged bulwark head-on—
Crack—
The smile froze on his face. His eyes widened as, under the furious rain of Both-Hands Consecutive Normal Punches, a fissure snaked across the barrier.
Craaaack—crack—
Hair-raising fracture sounds followed in a chain. The "indestructible" stone wall webbed with cracks… and then exploded.
Thud!
A red-suited fist slammed into Thanos's chest. The cosmic tyrant's body bowed like a drawn bow, pain twisting his features. The force blew open the plating on his back; he shot away like a shell, smashing through several colossal asteroids before finally skidding to a halt.
Golden armor shattered, wounds scoring his body, Thanos rose from the asteroid wreckage.
"He… broke an Infinity Stone barrier…?"
He stared in disbelief at the Reality Stone set in his Gauntlet, its glow now dim. This might be the greatest humiliation the Infinity Stones had suffered since their birth—its defensive field blasted apart, its energy nearly drained. For a moment he even doubted whether the gem might… fracture.
But how could the Titan warlord stop there?
"Raaah!"
With a guttural roar, the wounds across his body knit at a speed visible to the naked eye. His endurance was peerless; this level of damage only stoked his rage.
A furious Titan king!
Muscles knotted and iron-hard, veins bulged like coiling worms. He drove a colossal fist straight into Saitama.
Saitama shot backward, pulverizing a string of asteroids along his path before finally arresting his flight a thousand meters out.
"Taste the Titan Heavy Fist!"
Thanos's snarl rumbled.
From the distant ruins, a lone figure rose and drifted up, higher and higher.
Thanos's pupils contracted as he glared skyward at Saitama. His punch… hadn't inflicted a mortal wound? It had only left a few shallow cuts?
Impossible!
If only he knew—he was the only being in the entire Marvel universe who had ever managed to injure Saitama at all.
And even then… it was nothing but a light wound.
Saitama took a deep breath. "You're strong. I'll have to get serious."
Only one glove remained on his hands, yet when his fist clenched, a terrifying pressure surged out—as if a slumbering behemoth of the star-sea slowly bared its fangs.
"Serious Punch."
He twisted his hips, drew back his elbow, fist locking on its target—Thanos.
The instant those dead-fish eyes fixed on him, a sense of doom crawled up Thanos's spine. An unprecedented crisis howled from the depths of his heart; every hair on his body stood on end.
"I'll… die?!"
He stared, aghast. How could such crushing might dwell in a mere human from Earth? He couldn't comprehend it—nor had he any time left to try.
The punch was already upon him.
Pale and azure arcs of lightning braided together, racing outward on the gale of Saitama's fist. Space fractured inch by inch, exposing lightless void.
Thanos roared. The Gauntlet clenched. The dimmed Reality Stone flared one last, desperate time.
A scarlet bastion blossomed—and met the onrushing cataclysm head-on.
Serious Punch vs. the Infinity Stone!
KRAK—KOOOOOM—
A world-erasing shock front howled forth. Layer upon layer, space shattered; in an instant the Reality Stone's shield was engulfed and devoured.
A few seconds passed—stretching into an eternity.
When the gale finally ebbed, the universe lay scrubbed clean. Asteroids, wreckage—everything had been erased without a trace.
As the whirlwind thinned, the scene within came into view.
A scarlet shell still sheathed Thanos, drifting in the quiet.
Crack—
That flawless shell shattered again, fragmenting to dust and then to nothing.
Inside, Thanos lifted his head, horror and disbelief warring in his eyes. The Infinity Gauntlet itself had begun to rupture—especially the Reality Stone set within.
A sharp ping—
The Reality Stone splintered to shards. Along with it, Thanos's left hand—inside the Gauntlet—crumbled inch by inch. The Gauntlet shared the same fate.
Saitama's strike had exceeded the Gauntlet's limit—and the Reality Stone's limit as well.
Damage. Ruin. Collapse.
Even the entire left half of Thanos's body began to disintegrate.
"Impossible… A monster like you cannot exist in this universe. Your existence defies the very definition of life!"
Finding his voice, Thanos bellowed, a storm raging in his chest as he stared at Saitama.
The mighty Titan overlord—before Saitama—was no match even with an Infinity Stone in hand. That powerless, despairing sense was beyond words.
"It's over, Thanos. From the moment you chose to erase half the universe, your failure was sealed. Even the weak… have the right to live."
Saitama murmured, stepping up to him. He raised his fist, a faint trace of respect in his eyes.
A formidable foe.
A pity.
They stood on opposite sides of what a hero is. He could only put Thanos down.
"No! I cannot fail! I am Thanos! I fight for the balance of the universe!!"
He howled, hysterical. Victory had been within reach—how could it end here?
"I haven't lost! Saitama—I know how to defeat you!!"
Suddenly, a mad grin split his face. He snatched the green Time Stone drifting nearby. Terrifying power flooded through his palm, drawing a pained roar from the Titan—
—and the world around Saitama began to twist.
Shattered asteroids re-formed, fusing back together; even Titan itself reappeared.
Time… reversed.
And it was rewinding to a terrifying extent.
(End of Chapter)
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