It wasn't that she was worried about the safety of Tatsumaki and Fubuki—it was that she herself was currently inside Bofoi's underground base. If the explosion was too powerful and she got caught in it, then what?
"No need to worry. All the warheads I launched are designed specifically to kill living organisms. Even if they can't take down those two S-Class heroes, I'd like to see how that little B-Class plans to survive!"
Dr. Bofoi sneered. Hiding in his secret base didn't mean he'd been idle. During this time, he had not only tracked all of Kizaru's movements since his appearance, but had also uncovered the full details of his relationship with Fubuki.
At first, he hadn't wanted to make things irreparably hostile with Kizaru—but since Kizaru had come knocking, he had no choice but to go all in.
Upon hearing this, Lady Perus sighed in relief, then found herself sharing the same thought as Dr. Bofoi.
If they couldn't kill Swift Flash, they could at least make him suffer.
But at that moment, high in the sky, Kizaru calmly raised his palm, unleashing an overwhelming surge of Armament Haki that formed a massive protective barrier.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM…
A sky full of missiles rained down onto the shield, detonating first with a wave of poisonous gas and corrosive toxic liquid warheads.
According to Dr. Bofoi's calculations, not even demon-level monsters could survive such a concentrated dose of toxins.
But against Kizaru's Armament Haki, these tricks were utterly meaningless.
Next came a barrage of ultrasonic, infrasonic, and plasma bombs. Refusing to give up, Dr. Bofoi even launched an extremely dangerous biochemical missile, hoping to use a virus to wound Kizaru and his companions.
But the invisible Haki barrier stood firm—an impenetrable wall that not even Bofoi's relentless bombardment could so much as dent.
"…Looks like your missiles are useless against them. Now tell me—where's the escape tunnel out of here?"
Lady Perus felt her chest tighten. She hadn't expected Metal Knight to be able to defeat Swift Flash, but she had at least hoped he could threaten the people around him. The fact that he couldn't even do that left her deeply disappointed.
"Relax. My base is solid enough, and the entrance is filled with death traps. It won't be easy for them to break in!"
Dr. Bofoi still wasn't willing to back down. He planned to use the underground base he had built with such care to battle it out with Kizaru.
And his confidence wasn't without reason—this was the strongest and most fortified of all his secret bases. Not only was it buried more than a hundred meters underground, its entire structure was made from the toughest alloy he could manufacture.
If the enemy wanted to get in, they'd either have to survive over two hundred deadly traps, or go head-to-head with dozens of meters of bedrock and a steel shell several meters thick.
Even if he truly couldn't defeat Kizaru, Dr. Bofoi was certain he had enough time to make his escape through a pre-planned route.
"Then I'll just wait and see how deadly your traps really are…"
Hearing that, Lady Perus relaxed a little. She understood her partner—when it came to fearing death, Dr. Bofoi was even more paranoid than she was.
If things really got dangerous, she wouldn't have to remind him—he'd be the first one out the door.
"Heh… Don't worry, they absolutely—tsk, still not giving up, huh?"
Before Dr. Bofoi could finish speaking, the base shook again. But this time, both of them were mentally prepared and didn't panic.
Tatsumaki's psychic powers were indeed strong—but trying to dig up a fortress-like base from over a hundred meters underground was pure wishful thinking.
"How long do you estimate they'll need to break in?"
Staring at the monitor, Lady Perus asked the question as if it were casual. She wasn't worried about Bofoi's escape—but she was worried about being used as a decoy.
"At least three hours. Even if—AAAGH!!"
Dr. Bofoi started to answer instinctively, but before he could finish, a blinding flash of light filled everything in sight. The sudden brilliance nearly burned out his eyes.
The intense pain and overwhelming panic tore a scream from his throat—only to be drowned out by Mrs. Pelos' shrill shrieking.
It was a while before Dr. Bofoi's vision began to return. At first, he could only make out a few blurry figures, but soon enough, their shapes became clear.
"Oh? You're awake?"
Kizaru looked down at the doctor with interest, watching him trapped inside a telekinetic cage. This balding man with buck teeth was none other than Metal Knight, the S-Class Rank 6 hero—and the rat who'd been secretly scheming against him.
"S-.. Swift Flash?!"
Bofoi shivered in fear the moment he recognized Kizaru, but what truly stunned him speechless was the unbelievable sight around him.
His supposedly impregnable secret base had been punched through from above—layers of solid rock dozens of meters thick, multiple meters of reinforced steel shell, and several floors of internal structure—all pierced clean through.
Looking up from the deepest part of the base, the hole Kizaru had blasted open looked like a massive vertical tunnel. Everything that had once filled that space—earth, stone, steel—had been utterly annihilated by the blinding white light.
"Let me ask you this! Back then, when you locked me and Fubuki in that research facility—was that your doing or not?!"
Before Kizaru could speak, a furious Tatsumaki stepped forward and lifted Bofoi into the air with her psychic powers, voice trembling with rage.
Without his carefully engineered weapons and tech, the so-called Metal Knight was just a feeble old man.
And Bofoi, who always looked down on self-modification and refused to exercise, had a body even weaker than your average elderly man.
Now that Tatsumaki had him floating mid-air, he couldn't even breathe properly—let alone fight back.
"I have no idea what you're talking about!"
Bofoi shouted in anger. He was a genius among geniuses, and though he normally refused to waste mental energy on meaningless things, if he wanted to, he could easily be an award-winning actor.
Even now, caught off guard, he still managed to pull off a convincingly furious outburst. Tatsumaki and Fubuki couldn't see through a single crack in his performance.
Even Kizaru had to admit—the guy's acting was impressive.
Too bad he was up against someone who could cheat.
"He's lying. Not only did he participate—he was the one who proposed the 'Esper Research Program.' He was its main architect and lead researcher."
Kizaru exposed the lie with ease. Unless Bofoi could completely rid himself of all hostile intent toward Kizaru, his lies—no matter how convincing—were completely transparent to him.
"You bastard!"
Tatsumaki, overcome with rage, almost instinctively clenched her hands, ready to crush Bofoi into pulp with her telekinesis.
But at that moment, Kizaru gently caught her hand, pulling the seething Tatsumaki into his arms.
"No need. He's not worth it. Just save him for the aliens later…"
Kizaru spoke softly, calming her down.
If it had been Esdeath, or Hancock, or even Gion—anyone hellbent on killing their enemies—he wouldn't have stopped them. He might've even handed them a weapon himself.
But Tatsumaki was different. Aside from eradicating monsters, she'd never truly killed a human being before. Kizaru didn't want her to start now, not with blood on her hands for the first time.
Every world had its own rules. In the worlds of Akame ga Kill or One Piece, refusing to kill often meant ending up like Zephyr.
But in the One Punch Man world, while still dangerous, people survived by sticking together. And unless it was absolutely necessary, it was better not to kill with your own hands.
"It's all in the past now, Sis…"
This time, it was Fubuki who stepped forward to comfort her sister. Compared to Tatsumaki, who was five years older, Fubuki had been much younger during their time in the research facility. Her memories of the ordeal were already starting to fade.
Though those events had once haunted her nightmares, with Kizaru now by her side and a sense of safety in her heart, she had been able to let go.
Ironically, it was Tatsumaki—the one desperate for revenge—who had never truly moved on.
"This can't be… How do you know that?!"
Dr. Bofoi stared at Kizaru in disbelief. Quite a few people knew he had been involved in the "Esper Research Program"—but how did this man see through everything?
After all, in order to secure more funding, he had once shown parts of his résumé to a few partners and investors—including the fact that he'd participated in the "Esper Research Program."
However, fewer than five people alive in the world knew he had actually been the chief architect behind that program—and all of them had been participants. One of them was currently lying in the cage nearby: Madame Perus.
As for those who knew he was the originator of the project? The last one had died of illness years ago.
Even Madame Perus, his primary investor, didn't know he had proposed the project—so how the hell did Swift Flash know?!
°°°
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