"…Wait—0.01 seconds?!"
The reaction was immediate.
Even out near Jupiter, inside Blast's protective field, the crowd erupted in disbelief.
Blast frowned.
Boros blinked.
Several S-Class heroes exchanged looks, clearly unsure whether they'd heard that correctly.
All eyes turned to Child Emperor.
He nodded, arms crossed, expression serious. "That's what Noah told me. The fight's only going to last 0.01 seconds."
A pause.
Then he added, "He said he's leaving this system in about nine minutes. Some kind of off-world business. So before he goes, he wants one last fight with Saitama."
The crowd went quiet.
"…That still doesn't explain why the time limit is that short," Blast said.
"Yeah," someone else added. "What can you even do in 0.01 seconds?"
Tatsumaki folded her arms, clearly annoyed by the confusion. "He said if they don't limit it, the fight won't end. That's why."
She tilted her chin slightly.
"Call it… giving Earth a chance."
That only made things worse.
Everyone looked even more confused.
They're already billions of kilometers away.
What does Earth have to do with anything?
Child Emperor sighed. "That's why I built the camera. Even light-speed motion should be visible now."
On Jupiter—
Noah Vale and Saitama stood facing each other.
The stopwatch ticked down in Saitama's hand.
"You got the rules?" Noah asked.
Saitama nodded, tapping his fist lightly into his palm. "Yeah. When it hits zero, I go all out and try to knock you out as fast as possible."
Noah exhaled, rubbing his forehead. "Close enough."
He lowered his hand.
"But don't hold back. Treat this like you're trying to kill me. Otherwise, there's no point."
Saitama's expression sharpened.
For once, there was no casual indifference.
"Don't worry," he said quietly. "I've been waiting for this too."
Noah expanded his field.
Gravity warped around them, compressing space itself. The area for thousands of kilometers became dense, like they were standing inside solid pressure.
Saitama flexed his fingers, testing the environment.
"…This is nice," he said. "No need to worry about footing."
Noah smiled faintly.
"Get ready."
Far above—
The audience leaned forward, eyes locked on the screen.
Time ticked down.
Five minutes.
Three.
One.
The tension built, thick and suffocating.
Then—
00:00
It began.
No sound.
No warning.
Just motion.
Noah moved first.
His fist slammed forward with everything he had.
Faster than sound.
Faster than thought.
At that level, only light itself bore witness.
His arm—massive, reinforced, driven by unimaginable force—struck Saitama with full power.
What could 0.01 seconds accomplish?
For an ordinary person?
Nothing.
Not even enough time to process a thought.
For a master martial artist?
Perhaps a single perfected strike.
For Boros at full strength?
Maybe a hundred blows.
For Noah Vale?
It was an eternity.
Within that sliver of time—
He crossed tens of kilometers.
Struck thousands of times.
Every movement refined.
Every attack lethal.
Saitama's body launched backward—
But before he could even move a meter—
Noah was already there again.
A knee slammed into him from behind, reversing his momentum.
Then—
A storm.
Punches. Kicks. Elbows. Impacts from every direction.
Each strike carried enough force to tear continents apart.
If released on Earth, the shockwaves alone would have erased entire ecosystems.
But here—
Everything was contained.
Compressed within Noah's field.
Then—
Saitama moved.
His head snapped up.
A spark lit in his eyes.
So this is it.
His fist came forward.
Simple.
Direct.
Unavoidable.
Their punches collided.
For Noah—
Pain.
Raw. Immediate. Absolute.
The force traveled through his arm, through his body, into every cell.
It wasn't just impact.
It was destruction.
A power that could have shattered half his body—
Now distributed evenly across his entire form by his own field.
There was nowhere for it to escape.
Nowhere to redirect.
He took it all.
For a fraction of a fraction of a second—
He felt himself breaking.
Then—
Something changed.
The damage peaked.
And instead of collapsing—
His body adapted.
Pushed past its limit.
Noah's form stabilized.
His eyes sharpened.
A grin spread across his face.
In the next instant—
He reappeared at Saitama's side.
His fist crashed into Saitama's jaw, snapping his head sideways.
Saitama blinked, momentarily surprised.
Noah laughed.
Not out loud—
But through the field itself.
"You're stronger than me," he said. "By a lot."
His voice carried clearly.
"Got it."
His stance shifted.
Energy surged again.
"Let's run it back."
The countdown continued.
0.008 seconds remaining.