The Hero Returns

* * *

A thick dust cloud was kicked up and covered the arena.

Gordon Rohan rubbed the dust from his eyes and muttered, "Looks like it'll be impossible to fix this place."

Even though the arena was reinforced by the Ether stones, limits still existed.

The sword swung by Bak Yun-gyu just now had completely overturned the arena's floor. It might have been only a single sword strike, but the power behind it was more than enough to slice through a small hill.

The dust soon settled, and the battle's conclusion revealed itself.

While inwardly thinking, I knew it, Gordon Rohan muttered once more, "It's over."

Thud-

Shu-wuwuwu-

The Heavenly Sword King fell to the ground. Its armor fell apart, and the giant turned into a heat haze once more before scattering completely.

Bak Yun-gyu lay flat on the floor. He spoke while taking deep, heavy breaths. "It's my loss."

"Thank you for the fight."

Su-hyeun sheathed his sword after hearing his opponent's admission of defeat.

Bak Yun-gyu gingerly pushed himself up and asked, "When did you start going easy on me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I noticed it a while ago. From the get-go, it was odd to face the skills that focus one's destructive power head-on. Especially when you're so much faster than me in terms of sheer speed." Bak Yun-gyu dusted his clothing and continued to speak, "Isn't that so?"

Su-hyeun just smiled softly.

That alone was enough of an answer.

Bak Yun-gyu extended his hand toward him. "Thank you. I learned a lot today. And, from now on, we'll be in your care as well."

"Yes. Me too."

Su-hyeun shook the offered hand.

Meanwhile, the light within Gordon Rohan's eyes observing the two men sharpened considerably.

Act 3

Su-hyeun and Bak Yun-gyu left the arena together.

Gordon Rohan stood in the middle of the wrecked arena and slowly opened his mouth. "So, what did you think?"

"About?" Johnny Brad, with his hood still deeply covering his face, asked back. He knew the meaning behind the question, yet he chose to act dumb.

Gordon Rohan didn't beat around the bush and asked, "Who do you think will win?"

"Between you two?"

"That's right."

Johnny Brad pondered for a little while before answering. "Not sure."

"Is that so?"

Gordon Rohan smirked meaningfully. That reply alone made it feel like holding this Ranking Wars was worth the trouble—the competition had been threatening to turn into a bore-fest for some time.

"I'm really liking this. You know that?" Gordon Rohan chuckled, then turned around to look at Johnny Brad. "You should get going now. And don't waste your entire day following people around, either."

"I didn't follow anyone around."

"Sure. Sure thing."

Gordon Rohan shrugged and walked a bit further into the ruined arena. Meanwhile, Johnny Brad transformed into smoke and vanished on the spot.

After confirming his departure, Gordon Rohan began turning his body around. Then, while staring at specific nooks and crannies of the grandstands, he raised his voice. "Hey, you rat bastards."

Flinch. He could sense several presences jolt from the surprise. It wasn't just one or two, either. Far more than he'd initially suspected were present.

"How long are you planning to hide? There's only me now. I don't know what you want, but if you were thinking of attacking me, then do it already." Gordon Rohan reached towards the empty air and grabbed the white spear that materialized there. He continued on with a clearly-excited voice. "You see, I'm really warmed up properly right now."

Fifteen or so awakeners revealed themselves. Not one of them bothered to conceal their murderous intent.

Just a casual glance alone was enough to know that they were all S-Ranks. A handful of faces looked familiar, though.

"Mm, I don't really remember your names," said Gordon Rohan, then he pointed at one of the group. "But I do recognize you."

"This will be my first time introducing myself properly." The man pointed out by Gordon Rohan stepped forward.

A man with translucent skin and semi-curly hair said, "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Adel Castle."

"You can save your gentlemanly act, especially when you're just some cheap bastards doing cowardly things behind people's backs."

"I pray that you're gracious enough to understand the situation."

"Sure thing. I get it. I do. And you can all rest easy. There won't be any reprisal from me, nor will there be an aftermath for you to contend with."

Gordon Rohan's declaration caused the lights in the eyes of the surrounding awakeners to quake ever so faintly.

Those words weren't spoken by just anyone, but the one and only Gordon Rohan. He considered his word to be more valuable than white gold, so everything he said must be the truth.

No reprisals.

And no aftermath.

"Now, that's the most welcome news of them all," said Adel Castle as he raised his hand.

At the same time, the fourteen other awakeners quickly spread out to all corners of the arena.

"In that case, why don't we get this started?"

* * *

After seeing Bak Yun-gyu on his way, Su-hyeun returned to the Gordon Tower.

The building's first floor was completely empty, as outsiders were barred from entering the premises. As the venue wasn't open to the public yet, there was no decorative furniture anywhere.

"So, then. The uninvited guest has left," said Su-hyeun as he scanned the first floor. "Come out. Now."

"...."

Silence.

As if they were waiting for a signal.

Su-hyeun shrugged and snapped his fingers.

Rumble-

Boom-!

The moment tongues of flames popped up above his fingertips, a small explosion went off in the corner of the floor. At the same time, two figures leaped up from their hiding place. Not just them, however—several others also revealed themselves in every corner of the room.

There were ten of them, in total.

A few faces seemed familiar. The one overriding similarity between them was that they were all awakeners from European countries.

"Since when did the relationship between European awakeners get so cozy, huh?" Su-hyeun asked.

"Look at you, overflowing with confidence and everything. You're pretty relaxed, considering your current situation."

Step-

One of the ten awakeners stepped forward. He was actually a fairly well-known awakener from Switzerland, and his name was Stjepan.

"Well, there's only ten of you." Su-hyeun nodded his head, then glanced at the elevators while asking another question. "I'm guessing some of you went to Gordon Rohan as well?"

"More people went that way, sure."

"I think I figured out what you're all aiming for, so...."

It was clear why these people were targeting both him and Gordon Rohan—they were the most obvious candidates to win the competition. On top of that, every single awakener present happened to be European.

Not only that; they were all affiliated with the European Union in particular.

Awakeners working for that organization had a strong tendency to cooperate with one another.

<< They must be planning to defeat the likely candidates before the main competition. >>

To think that they would scheme up something like this behind people's backs.

It was infantile and simple-minded. But it also made some sense, in a way. Well, Gordon Rohan's personality meant that he wouldn't go around blabbing his mouth about this sort of incident, after all.

<< Is this the reason why Gordon didn't win the competition back then? >>

If more than ten people had cone after Gordon Rohan, then that meant more than twenty awakeners had participated in this scheme, when added to those that were present here.

Fighting more than 20 S-Rank awakeners was quite a feat, even for Gordan Rohan. So, he must've entered the finals heavily injured back when he fought in the Ranking Wars.

Smirk-

A smirk slowly spread over Su-hyeun's lips.

That reaction, which didn't suit the current situation at all, caused the confidence on Stjepan and his fellow European awakeners to slip.

"What's so damn funny?"

"I don't know whether you're all too stupid, or maybe I looked easier to you lot, but...."

"What was that?"

"If you were trying to beat both of us, you shouldn't have divided your group, but attacked us one at a time."

Of course, Su-hyeun could understand their mindset. They probably figured that around ten should be enough. They could've thought that, no matter how strong he was, he wouldn't be able to do much against ten S-Ranks at the same time.

Unfortunately...

"You asked me what's so funny, right?"

Hiiiss....

The silhouette of a gigantic snake suddenly rose up behind Su-hyeun. The third eye opening on his forehead scanned the ten awakeners like a predator observing its prey.

"Let's find out."

Gulp-

Stjepan stared at Su-hyeun's third eye and gulped.

The atmosphere changed in an instant.

The feeling he got was completely different from what he got while watching through the display screens. They all thought this strong of a combat force would be enough, judging from Su-hyeun's battle against Thomas, but now, it seemed that they have made the wrong decision.

"Everyone, don't let your guard down," said Stjepan.

"We know."

"Goddammit, was it a mistake to volunteer for this job instead of the other one?"

Stjepan's head was full of thoughts of picking the 'wrong address'.

Step, step-

In the meantime, Su-hyeun began closing in gradually.

* * *

Swish, swoosh-

A sharp, deadly blade and an arrow flew in from both sides. Gordon Rohan used his spear to deflect the invisible blade and grabbed the arrow with his bare hand.

Crack-

Ka-boom-!

The moment he gripped the arrow hard and broke it, a large explosion went off from the projectile.

Flap-

Gordon Rohan's figure stepped outside the thick dust. Other than his dust-covered wings looking ever so slightly scorched, there were no visible injuries on him.

The awakener responsible for firing the arrow cried out in sheer shock. "He got hit but endured it no problem?! Hurry up and trap him!!"

Pahk, pah-bahbahbahbahk-

Giiii-iiiing-

When one of the awakeners extended his hands forward, pure-white rings of light wrapped around and confined Gordon Rohan. The preparations must've been made beforehand, because the composition of the magic was quite sturdy.

Gordon Rohan staggered briefly, before grabbing the rings of light confining him with his bare hand. "How annoying..."

Wuduk, wududuk-

Thud-

The rings around his body were instantly shattered. To think that he didn't even need to use his spear, but just his bare hand was enough to cancel another's skill.

Such a thing was impossible without possessing an absolute, overwhelming might.

The awakener pouring all of his power to maintain those rings of light spat out cuss words like a scream. "Crazy son of a...!"

He couldn't believe it. He really did think that he should be able to restrict Gordon Rohan's movements, at least a little bit.

In the meantime, three other awakeners closed in on Gordon Rohan's position.

Spin-

At the same time, the spear in his hand began spinning around in circles. The weapon spun hundreds, thousands of times in an instant before abruptly changing direction to point at the incoming trio.

"If you don't want to die, dodge."

"...!"

Flash-!

The moment Gordon Rohan's spear emitted bright light...

Kwa-kwaa-booooom-!

An incredible amount of magical energy exploded from the tip of the weapon. The awakener running at the front of the pack got swept away in the storm before being torn to bloody bits and pieces.

Splaaash-!

Tumble, drop-

The other two hurriedly jumped out of the way and looked on with incredulous, disbelieving expressions.

The spear strike was strong enough to easily cross the massive arena. He didn't even use any particular skill, either. No, he just decisively wielded the magical energy gathered in the tip of his weapon, that was all.

"What are you all so surprised for?"

"Wha...."

Stab-

The awakener felt a chilling sensation and hurriedly looked back, only for Gordon Rohan's spear to stab him in the head.

"Urhk-"

"Come on now. You're making it too easy for me to kill you, looking away like that."

Splat-!

The spear was yanked out from his head. Gordon Rohan shook the blood off his white spear and glanced at his own chest. Although very small, a bloodstain was forming there. He also felt a bit of a stinging sensation, so it must've been his own.

<< When did I get cut? >>

It seemed that he had dodged something sharp without consciously realizing it. He told himself to be more careful next time and scratched his head.

"H-hey, he's much stronger than we've been told!"

"Will all of us be enough?"

Attacks raining down on Gordon Rohan lurched to a temporary halt. The attackers were beginning to think that the first one of them to jump in would certainly die. Two of their number had already been killed rather easily so far.

Adel was thinking the same thing.

<< Looks like we'll need help from the other team. >>

It was a mistake to split their combat force in two in order to fight against Su-hyeun and Gordon Rohan.

For things like this, they needed help from Stjepan and the other nine awakeners that went to deal with the South Korean.

<< Request additional support, and buy some time to.... >>

Just as Adel reached into his breast pocket...

Vrrrr, vrrrr, vrrrr-

A small stone resting in there began vibrating first.

Adel's brows shot up. It was the signal device that both teams shared, but it...

<< It can't be? >>

That incoming signal—it signified that the other group also needed support, right now.