The scene shifts back to slightly earlier.
Deep within a spacious residence 1,500 meters underground, Psykos was locked in a fierce battle with Fubuki. Stones flew as one used psychokinesis to hurl massive rocks, while the other manipulated powerful gales to parry and strike. Both were drenched in sweat, neither willing to yield an inch.
In Aomori's eyes, however, the spectacle was rather underwhelming. Their telekinetic techniques left much to be desired; compared to the current him or Tatsumaki, both were significantly weaker.
Generally, Psykos possessed a higher level of mastery over psychokinesis than Fubuki. It was only thanks to the Azure Rider set that Fubuki was able to hold her own. Fortunately, Aomori had served as her teacher, providing intensive "tutoring" sessions. Without that guidance, Fubuki would have been defeated long ago rather than fighting Psykos to a standstill.
Fubuki's rapid progress shocked Psykos, fueling her resentment. "Why? I sacrificed everything to reach this level! Why do you, someone who lives such a blessed, comfortable life, possess the same power?!"
"Don't look down on me. I've endured plenty of pain myself," Fubuki replied. She shuddered as she recalled the days of training while wearing that heavy iron tank over her head; she honestly wasn't sure how she had survived it.
"Your 'pain' isn't even worth mentioning!" Enraged, Psykos unleashed her ultimate move: "100x Gravity!"
"Oh, here we go." Aomori's interest finally piqued. He straightened up to observe how Psykos manipulated gravity.
He was quickly disappointed.
A massive glob of telekinetic energy condensed into a solid mass, slamming down on Fubuki like a mountain. Fubuki grit her teeth, pouring every ounce of her will into resisting the crushing force.
"So that's what you call gravity? It's just blunt force trauma using raw energy. I could do that ages ago." Aomori shook his head. He had overestimated Psykos. It seemed Fubuki could defeat her fairly and squarely without him lifting a finger.
"How does it feel? Unbearable?" Psykos laughed triumphantly. Seeing Fubuki still standing, she increased the pressure: "Taste 200x Gravity!"
"Taste it yourself!" Fubuki caused her telekinetic energy to spiral rapidly around her body. The powerful centrifugal force caught the energy Psykos was exerting and hurled it right back at her.
"Psychic Whirlwind!"
"What?!" Psykos lost control of her own power. She watched in horror as the psychic wave, laden with heavy debris, slammed into her.
Her psychic shield shattered instantly. Her body was sent flying, crashing through wall after wall. Agonizing pain flared through her, as if her internal organs had ruptured. She coughed up a mouthful of blood, and a gash on her forehead sent a crimson trail down her cheek. Her hair was a matted mess of blood and dust, a far cry from her previous sultry appearance.
But the blow to her ego hurt far more than the physical injuries. Psykos could not accept being defeated by Fubuki. Slumping against a wall before sliding to the floor, she screamed hysterically, "Impossible! This is impossible!"
"Nothing is impossible." Fubuki walked up to her and extended a hand. "While you were improving, I wasn't exactly standing still. Besides, I developed this technique specifically to counter my sister. I've simulated this fight in my head countless times. Your loss was inevitable."
"No, I won't accept this!" Psykos slapped Fubuki's hand away. "I haven't lost yet! I still have Orochi! He is the masterpiece I created! He will destroy all of you!"
"Oh, really?" Aomori walked over with a smile. "Then let's go check on this 'masterpiece' you've placed so much hope in. If we wait any longer, there might not be anything left to see."
Without waiting for her reply, Aomori grabbed both women by the shoulders and vanished, reappearing in a gargantuan underground chamber filled with molten lava.
Here, the battle between Tatsumaki and Orochi was in full swing.
Orochi's state was pitiful. His tentacles were severed, and his entire body was suspended in mid-air by Tatsumaki's power, unable to move. It was a complete one-sided beatdown.
"This... this can't be!" Psykos turned pale. This was even more shocking than her own defeat. She knew exactly how strong Orochi was, especially after being modified by No. 17, which had more than doubled his power. How could that Orochi be toyed with like a ragdoll?
Psykos realized she had catastrophically underestimated the Hero Association's strength.
"Onee-chan!" Fubuki called out upon seeing Tatsumaki, who was maintaining a cold, focused grip on the monster.
The moment Aomori and Fubuki appeared, Tatsumaki sensed them. She glanced over her shoulder and huffed, "What are you doing here? Don't get in my way."
"We finished up on our end, so we came to see if you needed a hand." Aomori studied the struggling Orochi and rubbed his chin. "You still haven't finished him off? Are you actually having trouble?"
"Are you questioning me? Who would ever need your help?!" Seeing Aomori's playful smirk, Tatsumaki's temper flared. Her output doubled instantly, and the psychic bonds around Orochi tightened.
The sheer pressure caused Orochi's armored body to groan and crack.
"Nasty pest. Your shell is surprisingly tough. Let's see how you like being torn to pieces!" Tatsumaki sneered. She clenched her fists and twisted them in opposite directions, like wringing out a wet towel.
"ARGH!" Orochi let out a guttural howl as his hardened body was twisted into a grotesque braid. Blood sprayed from the ruptures but was contained by Tatsumaki's psychic field, not a single drop falling to the ground.
"Die!" Tatsumaki jerked her hands apart, and Orochi was ripped in two.
"Hehe. Your regenerative abilities were quite impressive earlier; your tentacles grew back so fast. This shouldn't be enough to kill you, right?" Tatsumaki wasn't done. Like a mischievous, sadistic child, she wore a twisted smile as she proceeded to butcher Orochi's remains piece by piece.
"You're a demon! You're a monster! What kind of hero are you?!" Psykos, deeply shaken, pointed a trembling finger at Tatsumaki.
"Onee-chan is being a bit excessive..." Fubuki looked away, unable to watch the carnage.
Aomori, however, nodded in approval. "Not bad. You've finally learned the importance of the finishing blow."
Tatsumaki pressed her palms together and began a grinding motion, literally mincing Orochi's remains into unidentifiable pulp before releasing her grip, allowing the gore to fall into the boiling magma below.
"Hmph. Done." Tatsumaki dusted off her hands and looked at Aomori triumphantly. "Well? The leader of the Monster Association is dead. We can start wrapping this up now."
"Are you sure he's 'dead-dead'?" Aomori raised an eyebrow and looked down.
In his perception, the flesh soaking in the magma wasn't melting; it was beginning to coalesce.
Following Aomori's hint, Tatsumaki realized something was wrong. She stomped her foot in frustration. "This guy's life force is persistent! Why won't he just stay dead?!"
She crooked her fingers, intending to haul the meat out for another round of grinding. She refused to believe he could survive if she turned him into dust.
However, this time, she met significant resistance.
"Wait, where did this unfamiliar psychic power come from?" Tatsumaki was slightly surprised to find the energy radiating from Orochi's mangled head. "Since when could this thing use psychokinesis?"
During the fight, Orochi hadn't shown any psychic capabilities, which was why she had been able to dominate him so easily. Furthermore, the newly grown flesh seemed to have developed a "resistance" to psychic energy.
"Hahahaha!" Psykos stood up and laughed heartily. "Orochi possesses the power of infinite evolution! Whether it's martial arts or other skills, he can learn them effortlessly. Thanks to your 'help,' he has mastered psychokinesis. I told you, Orochi is an invincible existence!"
"Infinite evolution? Learning an opponent's skills mid-battle... is that really possible?" Fubuki asked, her mouth slightly agape in shock.
"Sure. I do it too," Aomori remarked. He loved nothing more than deciphering an opponent's abilities mid-fight, refining them, and using them himself.
"..." Fubuki looked at Aomori with the pure adoration of a failing student looking at a valedictorian.
"It's not the same!" Psykos muttered under her breath before shouting, "Regardless, Orochi is peerless!"
"Is he?" Tatsumaki let out a dismissive laugh and extended both hands, cranking up her psychic output.
Much of the resisting flesh was yanked out of the magma. Sensing a mortal threat, the remaining parts accelerated their growth. Instead of just merging horizontally, they began extending downward like tree roots, burrowing deep into the earth.
"You think a few seconds of practice can match my power? In your dreams!" Tatsumaki raised one arm, compressing the captured flesh into a tiny, dense sphere. She pointed her other hand downward to pull the rest out.
"Wretched human!" Orochi's head surfaced from the lava, his new body partially formed.
He had abandoned his previously bloated form for something resembling an octopus, a bulbous mass of flesh encasing his head, supported by tens of thousands of tentacles anchored deep into the ground.
"Eww, how ugly," Fubuki said with disgust.
"So what? Strength is all that matters!" Psykos's forced expression betrayed her true feelings.
"This Orochi is actually quite clever; his response is perfect," Aomori critiqued. "If he hadn't run into Tatsumaki, he would have been quite the showstopper."
Excluding Aomori, Blast, Tatsumaki, and Saitama, the combined force of the Hero Association might not have been a match for Orochi. Unfortunately, Aomori knew his strength and wasn't about to give him a chance to shine.
"Trash. Still trying to resist?" Tatsumaki looked down coldly at the newborn Orochi.
"I, Orochi, am destined to be the Lord of the World! You cannot kill me!" Orochi's voice boomed. "My next evolution is at hand! When it arrives, you will all bow before me!"
"Your mouth is a lot bigger than your strength." Tatsumaki released a massive amount of psychic energy, like a giant's hand gripping the monster. "I'm going to pull you out by the roots!"
"Never!" Orochi roared. Through his tentacles, he began siphoning core energy from deep within the planet, converting it into his own power. His head bloomed like a flower, focusing all the siphoned energy into a massive sphere.
"Perish! Gaia Cannon!"
A devastating beam of energy formed in a flash, blasting toward Tatsumaki with blinding light.
"Onee-chan, watch out!" Fubuki cried out. Aomori pulled her behind him, projecting a psychic shield to protect Fubuki and Psykos.
Tatsumaki's eyes widened in surprise for the first time. She moved quickly, shoving the compressed ball of flesh in front of her as a buffer while layering psychic shields in rapid succession.
The energy beam hissed through the air. The ball of flesh was vaporized instantly as the beam slammed into Tatsumaki's shields. Grit and sweat appeared as she fought the pressure, pushing her output to the limit. "Get lost!"
She deflected the continuous beam, tilting the angle so it blasted into the ceiling above. The fragile earth was no match for the force, shattering to create a wide upward path. The energy beam traveled hundreds of meters, exiting the ground and shooting into the sky like a reverse meteor.
"What was that?" On the surface, Genos and the others, along with the Black Sperm clones, stopped their fighting to stare at the terrifying beam of light in shock.
"The only one capable of an attack like that is our dear leader. It seems the fight underground is even more intense than I thought," Black Sperm noted, a hint of wariness in his eyes.
…
Deep underground, the residual light and heat dissipated. The shockwaves hit the surrounding walls, causing a tremor akin to a massive earthquake.
Fubuki and Psykos, protected by Aomori, were unharmed. As the aftershocks faded, Fubuki regained her composure and asked worriedly, "Is my sister okay?"
"She's fine; she's got plenty of energy left," Aomori replied with a grin. "In fact, she's absolutely furious."
Indeed, she was. In front of Aomori and her sister, she had failed to take down her opponent after all this time and had been left looking quite disheveled. To Tatsumaki, this was an embarrassment.
"I'm angry now." Tatsumaki took a few breaths, her eyes brimming with murderous intent. "You like burrowing into holes? I'll take you up into the sky and see how you burrow then!"
She clenched her fists, releasing her psychic power without restraint. Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently once more. This time it was different, the entire earth seemed to be shifting.
"Now what?" Everyone still underground wondered.
"Your sister is losing it. She's moving the entire base to the surface," Aomori said.
"Huh?" Fubuki tilted her head, thinking she had misheard.
"That's impossible!" Psykos stated flatly. "I know the scale of the Monster Association better than anyone. It's nearly half the size of Z-City! No single person could lift it!"
No sooner had the words left her mouth than she fell to the ground, pinned by a sudden sensation of extreme G-force. They were ascending at incredible speed.
"See? Told you so," Aomori said, spreading his hands.
Psykos fell silent, exchanging a stunned look with Fubuki.
Even more annoyed was No. 17, as his hiding spot was also within the range of the upheaval.
"This Tatsumaki... always ruining my plans! Once this mission is over, she's the first one I'm dealing with!"