The Hero Returns

<< But, why is he here? >>

Adel couldn't believe his eyes as he blinked repeatedly to confirm Su-hyeun's face. The South Korean ought to be still fighting upstairs against the awakeners including Stjepan. So, how...

"What do you mean, what? We, alone, can't deal with this bastard!"

That was from the conversation with Stjepan, which got unceremoniously cut off by Gordon Rohan's attack. His urgent cries were ringing in Adel's ears.

He thought that the other team must be struggling too, but as it turned out, the battle there had already come to an end.

"The number of people on this side is actually higher," said Su-hyeun.

He took a look at the awakeners surrounding the arena and nodded his head, prompting Gordon Rohan to ask him a question.

"So, did they come for you, too?"

"Yes. Ten of them showed up."

"Did you kill them all?"

"No, I let six of them live."

"Did they escape, or did you let them go?"

"I let them go. Who would stop the dungeons appearing in Europe if they were all dead?"

Su-hyeun looked completely at ease, judging from how he shrugged his shoulders. Despite fighting ten people, he wasn't even exhausted in the slightest.

It was already quite taxing on the European awakeners to fight against just Gordon Rohan alone. But what if Su-hyeun was to join the fray?

<< It's over. >>

Adel shook his head. Then he turned around towards Gordon Rohan. "Your promise. It's still in effect, yes?"

"My promise?"

"No reprisals or consequences."

"Ah, that?" Gordon Rohan rested his spear on his broad shoulder and asked, "What's wrong? Scared?"

"How can I not be? After all, you're the world's most powerful man."

"Busy kissing my ass, aren't you?"

Still, all that sucking up did work wonders. Even if that wasn't strictly the case, Gordon Rohan wasn't the type to change his mind.

"As long as you're willing to make a promise of your own, I'll keep mine."

"What will that be?"

"Don't run away tomorrow."

"...?"

"I'm talking about the finals, obviously. I hope you won't get scared by your failures today and run away with your tails between your legs tomorrow."

Gordon Rohan's provocative remark managed to wipe away the subtle grin that was always etched on Adel's face.

Upon seeing that, the American's smile grew even wider. "You've been grinning all this time, but well, now... That expression suits you better. Makes you look more manly and all."

"Well, then. I shall see you tomorrow," Adel replied, before turning around to leave.

No one there criticized him for doing so. The dissection of their failures would have to wait until later. Now was the time to escape from this place.

Gordon Rohan asked Su-hyeun, "Will you be fine with letting them go like that?"

The latter nodded his head. "As I said before, it'll be a problem if all of them died here today. After all, the shortage of S-Ranks can potentially make some dungeons impossible to raid."

"Is that your real reason?"

"What else could there be?"

"You're kinder than I thought. No, wait. Should I change that to 'righteous' instead?"

Gordon Rohan stared at Su-hyeun as if the latter was an alien.

But then again, he was quite self-centered and individualistic. Thus, from his perspective, Su-hyeun worrying about strangers in some distant lands did come across as rather bizarre.

Their opinions on letting these fools go didn't clash, which was a relief, but despite them making a broadly similar choice, their reasons were clearly different.

"Those punks, they'll come knocking again. Not just at me, but at you too," said Gordon Rohan.

"Yes, I know."

Su-hyeun recalled how the European Union's awakeners hurriedly escaped from there.

Although it was slightly puzzling to see them appear before him, he wasn't too surprised by them either. He was thinking that it was only a matter of time before he would clash against them.

<< I had no idea that they fought against Gordon Rohan at this point in history though. >>

The European Awakener Federation.

This organization had publicly announced its existence at the end of the year 2022 and had proved to be quite problematic in a variety of ways.

They were strictly profit-based, so as long as no benefits were promised, they would not make a single move regardless of what the issue at hand was.

At times, they even became sources of outbreaks by suddenly changing the schedules of the raids that were supposed to take place in some other countries - raids that they had already signed contracts for.

<< That's the problem with an organization that no one can control. It only seeks to bolster its own freedom and rights above all else. >>

The organization ballooned to a massive scale, and no one could control it. It boasted the membership of over thirty S-Ranks, plus tens of thousands of high-ranked awakeners too.

Another organization had to be created in order to keep them in check, and that inevitably led to endless conflicts and standoffs instigated by the awakeners worldwide.

<< They started discussing it around this time, is that it? >>

Su-hyeun didn't have much information regarding the events surrounding the Ranking Wars, so getting his hands on the news of the European Awakener Federation being established around this period was an unexpected windfall.

If he played his cards right, then he might be able to stamp out a budding source of future troubles.

<< When going up against many... >>

Su-hyeun clenched his fist tightly, his eyes gleaming dangerously.

<< Fight with an even greater level of one's strength. >>

The stage wasn't bad at all.

This was the Ranking Wars. The attention of the entire world should be focused on the competition. And on this very stage, he'd get to meet the various members of the European Awakener Federation, including Adel.

The backdrop wasn't so bad either.

Thanks to them making a move first, it was easier for him to make his move now. The fortress he needed to bring down with much hard work since forever began crumbling all by itself.

"What are you so engrossed about?" Gordon Rohan asked.

"I was thinking about tomorrow, and it's making me really pumped up."

"Tomorrow?" Gordon Rohan smirked. "Feeling confident, aren't you?"

It seemed that he had misinterpreted the reply as Su-hyeun looking forward to fighting him.

Since the latter didn't feel like correcting the older man, he simply nodded his head along with his answer. "Pretty much."

"Haha, hahahah!"

Gordon Rohan guffawed loudly as he held on to his tummy at that confident answer.

He continued to laugh for a while, then clapped his hands and made his much-delayed reply. "I like such confidence. I really do. Honestly, I'm also looking forward to tomorrow."

Tap, tap-

Gordon Rohan lightly patted Su-hyeun's shoulder as he walked past.

"I'll see you tomorrow then. Get a good night's rest, and be at the most optimal condition, okay?"

Having said what he wanted to say, he then stuck his hands in his pockets and strode out of the arena.

In the meantime, Su-hyeun scanned the completely ruined arena to muttered to himself.

"I hope this won't pose a problem."

Act 4

BANG-!

Crack-

Adel's fist slammed down, shattering a sturdy desk.

After returning to his room along with his group, he began grinding his teeth non-stop.

As for the expressions of his group nearby, they were all gloomy, to say the least.

Not only did the opportunity to win the Ranking Wars fly out of the window due to the failure of this mission, he even made enemies out of Su-hyeun and Gordon Rohan.

To make matters even worse, several members of the European Awakener Federation had been killed too. This issue couldn't be overlooked as a minor slip-up anymore.

Regardless, they needed to take full responsibility for this mission's failure. As their actions had not been officially sanctioned, dealing with the consequences would prove to be much harder later on.

As Adel imagined how those governments who lost their precious S-Ranks would react at the news, he thought his vision was fogging up in wane yellow color.

"Goddammit...."

Grit-

Adel gnashed his teeth as he remembered Gordon Rohan sneering at him.

"Don't run away tomorrow."

He just couldn't forget the American's facial expression when saying those words - the words that implied how certain Gordon Rohan was of Adel's plans to run away.

It felt like he got found out while trying to plan his escape, so he couldn't help but feel ashamed and deeply humiliated.

His pride was wounded, more so now than any other time.

"What should we do now?"

"I don't know. Even if Gordon Rohan kept his promise, Kim Su-hyeun might not..."

"Winning the Ranking Wars will be difficult at this rate, won't it? That will surely make the core footing of the Federation unstable. And how will the other countries' Awakener associations react, when they entrusted us with this mission?"

"More importantly, what will happen if others found out about this event?"

"In that case, it'll be the end of us. The establishment of the federation will become impossible, and--"

"All of you, shut up!"

Adel loudly yelled out at the worried, scared voices. His words contained more than enough killing intent to jolt twenty or so awakeners present.

Once the surroundings grew deathly silent, Adel carried on as his eyes gleamed in dangerous madness. "We will win. We only have to win."

Tomorrow's final stage.

Just like what Gordon Rohan said, Adel was not going to run away from that very stage.

He continued, "All we have to do is to kill him."

"Kill him?"

"Who? Kim Su-hyeun?"

"Yes," Adel powerfully nodded his head. "Forget about the regulations. We can just disguise it as an accident."

Even if it was for the sake of tying up a loose end, he was willing to deal with that level of condemnation.

Su-hyeun wouldn't immediately go out and call the reporters today to reveal the truth. After all, he didn't look like a rash person. In that case, they needed to kill him in the middle of the match somehow, just to be on the safer side.

<< Doesn't matter how.... >>

Squeeze-

Adel clenched his fists tightly and muttered out.

"We will win."

* * *

A day passed by.

The whole world seemed to be in a festive mood. It was all because the Ranking Wars' finals had arrived.

Thirty-three contestants had made it to the finals. However, one of them had to leave due to an emergency, and only 32 stepped up to the final stage.

For a stage called the 'finals,' there were quite a lot of participants, but Gordon Rohan said this during an interview earlier.

He said that this number was actually perfect.

He also didn't publicly reveal the exact rules. But he then went on to add that the rules will be fair to everyone, especially those possessing enough power - just like how it always had been.

Thousands of cameras were now filming the arena. For some reason, this place was in a complete mess.

"Did something happen yesterday?"

Hak-joon sidled up very close to Su-hyeun and whispered a question.

The latter pretended to know nothing. "Not sure."

"So... something did happen."

"Nah, not really."

"Stop lying. If nothing really happened, you wouldn't have said 'not sure' or 'not really', but you have no idea instead."

"No way."

Su-hyeun avoided Hak-joon's gaze as he replied. The latter continued to probe for answers, but the former remained firm on keeping the truth to himself.

"You all came pretty early."

Step, step-

Gordon Rohan appeared alone. This time, he didn't float down from the top of the arena, but instead, he walked in through the entrance. Johnny Brad was nowhere to be seen. He was most likely observing the participants from somewhere within the arena.

"So, the people here are more or less recognizable, aren't they?"

While saying that, Gordon Rohan glanced at Adel. Unlike yesterday, the Briton was not smiling. At all.

Gordon smirked and walked up to the front of the 32 finalists. "Okay, should I briefly explain the rules then? But before that--"

Snap-

Wuuu-ooong-

Gordon Rohan snapped his fingers, causing the arena to transform.

It soon resembled a massive Colosseum. An awakener who had climbed the Tower of Trials would've experienced such a stage at least once before.

As for the 32 finalists, they were transferred to the grandstand of the Colosseum. Gordon Rohan reappeared above the arena's sky, his arms spread out wide.

"This should be more than enough for us to fight to our hearts' content, right? The arena got wrecked yesterday while I was doing some light exercise alone, so don't sweat over it."

Su-hyeun smiled softly at those words and glanced at Adel's expression.

As expected, the Briton's face crumpled slightly from the words' light exercise'. Gordon Rohan was implying that the fight between him and the Europeans only amounted to some light warm-up exercise in his view.

"The rules are simple. Just like the main matches, it's a one-on-one fight. I mean, let's be real. Trials with complicated rules are annoying, aren't they? Such things will probably feel like daily occurrences to you guys anyway."

The reason for both the mains and the finals being so simple in the structure was the personal taste of the Ranking Wars' host, Gordon Rohan.

"Of course, the finals will be slightly different than the main matches. You see, this will be a game where the one surviving till the end is crowned the winner."

"Until the end?"

"Will it be a survival game? Or matches will be selected randomly this time, too?"

Educated guesses started coming out from here and there. Unfortunately for them, only Gordon Rohan knew the exact rules.

"The match type is 'rotation.' At the start, two hopefuls are chosen on a first-come-first-serve basis, and they will go on ahead to fight. The first one to pass out, stay on the ground for more than ten seconds, or declare their intention to surrender, will be the loser."

Gordon Rohan began explaining the rules.

"The winner will 'survive' and fight against the next challenger. The winner of that match will meet the next challenger, and eventually, the last one standing in the arena will be declared as the final winner. So, what do you all think? It's simple, right?"

"W-what was that?!"

"What kind of rubbish..."

"How is that fair to anyone?!"

Indeed, the rules were quite simple. Well, the one managing to get to the end in one piece would be declared a winner.

However, this type of rule had too many loopholes. For instance, the earlier you were to make your challenge, the harder it'd get for you to become the final winner.

"Will you listen till the end? If no additional challengers step up, then the participant can name someone he or she wants to fight. The waiting period is no more than five minutes. So, stop caring about what everyone else is doing and start challenging for the victory like the warriors you all are supposed to be."

Swiiish-

Gordon Rohan floated back down to the ground. Then, he stuck his hands in the pockets like he always did and stared at other participants with a face full of confidence.

That was the image many of them had already pictured in their heads the moment he began explaining the rules.

"So, anyone willing to challenge me, then?"

In the blink of an eye, Gordon Rohan turned every single finalist as his challenger instead. However, it didn't come across as disharmonious in the least.

No, this current scene actually suited him even better. No one here found his actions to be foolish or short-sighted at all.

And since the host of the tournament, who was also responsible for coming up with the rules, volunteered for the most disadvantageous role, there no longer exists a reason to object to his decisions.

<< Wait, we need to fight Gordon Rohan from the get-go? >>

<< Who would do something that monumentally stupid? >>

Just as the 'mind-what-other' s-are-doing' game was about to get underway...

"This isn't a challenge, but..."

Step-

Su-hyeun stood up from somewhere in the middle of the grandstand and stepped forward.

"But, let me have a go."