Chapter 323: I Have Kept My Promise
Every battle for the world forced Deus to return. Those Chaos aberrations manipulated destiny at their whim, playing with him and the world.
Deus could no longer fight for his creation; its fate was on the verge of destruction.
With no other choice, Deus sought help. There were beings capable of slaying these Chaos aberrations, but they were rare and constantly on the move, never staying in a single world.
Champions, as bearers of the light of order, roamed, saving worlds and destroying these aberrations. Finding a Champion in the multiverse, with thousands and millions of worlds, was nearly impossible.
Deus knew this but did not give up. He utilized his powers to the fullest, searching for these beings. His godly friends joined him in the quest to prevent their creation from being destroyed.
Until one day, he found one of them...
"Hmm, I'll help."
The Champion almost immediately accepted his request, seeing Deus desperate and wounded. There were no doubts or regrets in his gaze.
This surprised Deus. The Champion was a bald human in a yellow suit with red gloves. His appearance was not terrifying, quite the opposite. Deus had encountered monsters scarier than this man. However, the crown on his head proved his existence. Moreover, Deus felt a terrifying power in his human body, surpassing even his own, a God.
"Don't judge a book by its cover."
Deus had heard that Champions were peculiar beings, each unique. Some were so arrogant that unless the world faced an incredible setback, they wouldn't act. Others were villains themselves, willing to end all life to save the world. Some prioritized gains, aiming for maximum efficiency in their work. After all, in these world-spanning battles, many Champions had fallen.
Deus was prepared to wager everything, yet this Champion accepted his request calmly, showing no interest in his identity, the strength of the Overlord, or whether there were more than one and what rank the world held.
For the bald man, none of this seemed to matter.
"Oh? But first, I must deal with this other problem."
However, the Champion already had a goal; another dying world needed his help, and given its state, the bald man couldn't neglect it.
"But..."
Deus panicked and was ready to offer several of his treasures.
"It's okay. Hold on until then. I'll take care of this quickly, I promise... By the way, my name is Saitama. What's yours?"
Yet, none of this interested the bald man. Nothing could move his avarice. He couldn't go to another world until he had saved the first one.
This world had no protection, and if he didn't act, it would be destroyed. Unlike Deus's world, which had him to delay its fate, so he smiled to reassure him.
"Deus Ex Machina."
With the Calvo's promise, Deus had no choice but to return to his agonizing world and endure everything he could, along with his helpers and fellow gods.
However, something terrible happened. After days and days, the Champion didn't show up.
"Could he have deceived me?"
Deus wasn't sure, but he refused to believe that the Champion didn't want to help. The mother of all was dying. They were supposed to fight only for the world; it was impossible for him not to help.
Yet, the Champion still didn't appear until they couldn't take it anymore. A ray of hope shone in the boundless chaos.
A broken crown made its way through the destruction, enveloping the world, protecting it from infinite darkness.
"Saitama!"
This excited Deus and the other gods. The Champion hadn't deceived him.
With the Champion in the world, the balance tilted in their favor. Simultaneously, a huge red fist materialized in the world, covering it entirely, tearing through space and pressing with its mighty aura of death.
"Mortal Servera Series, Mortal Blow."
*BOOM
With a single blow, the Chaos aberrations were eliminated. This surprised Deus and the gods.
This Champion was so powerful that one blow was more than enough to kill them. Despite all their efforts, they couldn't save the world, while this man only needed one blow.
With the world safe, the gods celebrated while Deus flew towards the man who saved his creation, wanting to thank and reward him for all his help.
"I have kept my promise, Deus..."
However, before Deus could speak, the bald man smiled at him.
His clothes were in tatters, and his body flickered like a broken camera image.
"Sorry, but the rest depends on you..."
With those last words, the bald man disappeared into thousands of light particles, and the crown protecting the world shattered.
Only now did Deus understand what was happening. Due to the rapid events, Deus hadn't been able to understand, but now everything was clear. He understood why the Champion took too long to appear.
The Champion had died...
Or rather, his last will was fulfilled...
After all, Saitama had died in the other agonizing world that sought help.
Saitama was powerful, the Champion with the strongest physique, the one who used his fists to overcome challenges, crushing everything with power. However, in that world, he faced a terrifying being, one that forced him to sacrifice himself to save the mother of all.
A more terrible aberration than an Overlord, beyond expectations, a being too powerful, a being that only he and the Empress were capable of defeating.
Yet, due to his unyielding will, the promise he made with Deus caused his Crown not to collapse and endure after his death.
His Crown persisted through the will of his master, much like a soul unable to enter the afterlife due to lingering regrets.
Using his power, the Crown traveled through space and created a copy of his master's will as a final purpose.
And using everything in that promise, the Crown protected Deus's world and used the little power it had left to create that terrifying blow. With his promise fulfilled, Saitama's will disappeared, and the Crown broke.
But there was a problem; the Crown no longer had the power to heal the world. Its Order energy was as small as a faint flame in a storm about to vanish. It had borne the burden of a Level 4 world, as well as the battle on a Level 4 Stellar scale.
Its power had been used to heal that other world.
There was no longer enough energy to heal this Level 1 world. Not to mention, his master had fallen in a different world, so the guardian beast was born in another world and couldn't help this one.
The Level 1 world had been corroded by chaos, and its destruction was inevitable. The Champion had done everything he could by sending his last will.
This saddened Deus and the gods. They had done too much to save the world, but in the end, the world would be destroyed.
However, before the Crown collapsed, Deus did something that, to this day, the gods called taboo.
His love for his creation was so great that Deus merged with the world itself and bore the burden of the world by carrying the Champion's Crown.
The Champion's Crown, only those who have saved a world can bear it.
And a God is unable to bear one; their divine energy prevents such a thing from happening. They are not 'pure', not to mention that it's a crown that doesn't belong to them. Attempting it is impossible; the Crown will reject them and, in extreme cases, destroy them.
However, it's uncertain whether it was due to Saitama's will or if the Crown was too damaged, but Deus managed to bear it. This prevented the world from being destroyed and consumed by darkness.
Yet, it came at a terrible price. Deus was used as a battery to sustain the Crown, the source of Order energy. His immortality was denied, and the world stopped growing, forever remaining a Level 1 world. Incapable of living without its creator, forever a child dependent on its parents. The broken Crown began to change and was labeled as 'False.' It wasn't an absolute shield, only a feeble protection against darkness, preventing the world from collapsing.
Muru Muru witnessed all of this and knew that at this rate, Deus would die. Enduring the pain of the mother of all is something a God cannot do.
Yet, Deus stood firm for thousands of years, waiting for the day the true Savior would arrive in the world to release him from this misery and fulfill the last will of this 'False' Crown.
Fortunately, Yuki arrived in the world. With the Champion in the world, Deus no longer worried and died. Likewise, Saitama's Broken Crown was destroyed and accompanied its true master into eternal rest.
"Deus, I hope you are satisfied with this, and you rest as well, just like that Champion."
A Champion who, even in death, sent his Crown across the cosmos to save the world.
Representing an unbreakable will and tenacity.
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TN: I work part time to polish saitama's head so can confirm it was him