Chapter 171: Squared

Wielding stolen divine might, Garou tears through the heroes around him, and Blast steps out of a portal to talk him down. His warnings go nowhere, and by the time Saitama returns, Genos and most of the fighters are dead, with Blast the only one left upright.

Devastated and blaming himself for arriving too late, Saitama swings a Serious Punch at the Hero Hunter, who counters with one of his own. Reading the staggering energy loaded into both fists, Blast fears that the impact will destroy the planet.

Child Emperor and Waganma bleed from the nose and drop, and Zombieman spots hair falling from the boy's scalp as he and Sekingar move to help. Bang confronts Garou over the evil inside him, but Garou insists he acts freely, until Blast bursts through a portal to reveal that God controls him and that any strike could end all life on Earth.

Cosmic radiation pouring off Garou drops nearly every hero present, and he crowns himself the Ominous Future, a Disaster Level of God. Manako tries to escape, collapses, and glimpses the unconscious Tareo. Genos charges with his last strength, and Blast answers with Dimension Cannon and Gravity Knuckle, chaining portals to seal Garou in a pocket dimension.

Garou copies the portal ability, breaks loose, and retaliates with Nuclear Fission: Gravity Knuckle, forcing Blast to divert it upward. Dismissing Blast because Saitama will return, Garou impales the helpless Genos through the chest. Saitama reappears amid black rain, catches the depleted core thrown at him, and launches a Serious Punch, which Garou meets through Mode: Saitama as Blast braces for catastrophe.

The chapter released June 23, 2022, under the title Squared, printed by Viz Media as Power Squared. It belongs to the Monster Association Arc, fills Volume 33, and adapts parts of webcomic chapters 77 and 82. Its cover displays the Horsehead Nebula, an equine-shaped cloud from Orion, across Garou's body.