Supreme Hero Arc

Twentieth in the series and fifth within the Neo Heroes Saga, this chapter tracks the shifting balance between the old Hero Association and its ambitious rival. Suiryu infiltrates the Neo Heroes, the leadership of the new organization comes into focus, and Sweet Mask's long-hidden transformation into a Mysterious Being finally spills into public view, accelerating the Association's decline.

Freshly released from the hospital, Suiryu crushes the rampaging Great Giant Anteater on his way out and then watches Wavygyaza put down the Emperor Giant Anteater. Impressed and suspicious, he applies to the Neo Heroes to scope out what he takes for a rival to the Hero Association. During the entrance exam he wrecks a battle suit and is bound to work off the debt, after which the organization's top figures, the Neo Leaders, are introduced with Suiryu among them.

A number of S-Class heroes have defected to the Neo Heroes for their own reasons. Raiden spars with Superalloy Darkshine but withdraws on sensing his unease, while Mars Leo and Kokou, bitter at being passed over as leaders, confront the Neo Leaders and are swiftly put down by Suiryu before Destro and Elimin escort them out. The gathering ends with the revelation that Blue, a leading member, is the son of Blast.

Saitama meets a badly damaged Genos near the ruins of A-City, where the cyborg explains he clashed with a Demon-level monster and asks for another spar, mentioning that Dr. Kuseno wants data on Saitama's body. Their talk about bargain shopping is cut short by Sweet Mask, who invites Saitama alone to tea the next day. At the cafe Sweet Mask needles him by swapping his cola for ginger ale, then over lunch tries to lecture him on being a proper hero.

Seeking privacy, Sweet Mask leads Saitama to a Ferris wheel and confesses his history: born unsightly, he clung to strict morals to offset his looks, and his loathing eventually warped him into a monster with a beautiful face. He names Saitama the one person fit to inherit his ideal of heroism, but Saitama declines and leaps from the cabin. A disturbance below draws Sweet Mask to the clown monster Pesky Clown, and the two begin to fight.

Sweet Mask dominates at first, but the clown feeds on the crowd's attention to transform and overpower him, forcing Sweet Mask to unleash his own monster form. As news broadcasts expose him as a Mysterious Being, he finishes the clown with a single crushing punch, only to keep savagely pummeling the corpse and send the crowd fleeing in terror. Blue Fire arrives but hesitates, wary of Sweet Mask's state. Saitama then appears, catches a rock thrown at Sweet Mask, and, alone among the onlookers, tells him he is genuinely cool.

Begging to be killed so his death might birth the ideal hero, Sweet Mask lashes out and seizes Saitama's head, but Saitama simply leaps away carrying him off. Word of Sweet Mask's monstrous appearance spreads fast, and the public's trust in him, and by extension the Hero Association, collapses. At the Neo Heroes headquarters, Metal Bat and Sekingar observe that the era is turning, the Association's grip on opinion is slipping, and support for the Neo Heroes keeps swelling.

Blue is confirmed as Blast's son, deepening the mystery around the Neo Heroes' leadership. Sweet Mask bares his past to Saitama and is then exposed to the world as a Mysterious Being, a scandal that forces him out of hero work and is remembered as the opening blow in the Hero Association's downfall.