The Hero Returns

"K-Kim Su-hyeun??"

"Gordon Rohan will fight Kim Su-hyeun? In the very first match?"

"This match-up... Isn't this like watching the real final match?"

The other participants in the audience chambers were getting stirred up.

A handful of people were seen as potential victors of the competition—Gordon Rohan, first, then Su-hyeun, Thomas, and, finally, Adel.

Of them, Thomas was expected to end up in a match against Su-hyeun, but not advance to the finals. As for Adel, many believed his skills to be inferior to either Gordon Rohan or the South Korean awakener.

Therefore, the majority had speculated that, in the end, the Ranking Wars' would be won by one of two men—Gordan Rohan or Su-hyeun.

But even though Su-hyeun was the second favorite to win, nine out of ten people thought that Gordon would walk away as the winner.

But all those predictions were falling apart right now.

<< If those two fight now and exhaust their stamina... >>

Every participant was thinking the same thing:

<< Maybe I too stand a chance? >>

If Su-hyeun had avoided fighting Gordon Rohan and waited right until the end, the story would be much different.

Even the great Gordon Rohan himself couldn't emerge unscathed after going through 30 consecutive battles. One couldn't dismiss the problem of depleted stamina. That one factor could change everything.

Of course, it wasn't as if Gordon Rohan and Su-hyeun didn't know that either.

But, that meant...

<< He's that confident in himself? >>

Everyone present had the same thought. Both men were confidently taking a huge step that could lose them the whole competition. Why?

For Gordon Rohan, in particular, he wished to prove himself to be the very best in the world through the Ranking Wars, so it was no surprise that he wanted to win the overall victory. He had even volunteered to go first. Perhaps, this was just evidence of his overflowing confidence.

Step, step.

Su-hyeun walked down to the arena and looked straight at Gordon Rohan.

He spoke first, "The stage you prepared is truly amazing. It's the perfect stage, so no one can ever doubt you to be the world's best..."

Stepping into the finals and overpowering everyone all by himself. If Gordon Rohan emerged victorious from such a stage, then indeed, no one could ever deny that he was the best awakener in the world. He had set the stage magnificently.

"...That is, as long as you win."

And that all worked in Su-hyeun's favor as well, which was why he found the stage Gordon Rohan had prepared to be very much to his liking.

It was a stage that was fair to all and would be able to determine the individual that possessed power stronger than anyone else out there. If he one, no one could deny his strength.

"I knew you'd be the first challenger."

Zing!

A pure-white spear appeared in Gordon Rohan's hand.

"I would have been so disappointed if it wasn't you."

"I did wonder about it for a little while there. Maybe it might have been more interesting to fight last on a stage like this."

"Why didn't you step up last then?"

"If I did that, people might accuse me of defeating an exhausted Gordon Rohan instead."

"You think I'll exhaust all of my stamina fighting that small fry? No freaking way."

"You won't, but all I'm saying is that others might think that. In the end—"

Ca-ching!

Su-hyeun unsheathed his sword and, at the same time, opened his third eye.

"This stage will mean something only by defeating you first."

"You sure do know how to say the things I like to hear."

Clang!

Thump! Pow! Clang!

The two men roused their magical energy simultaneously while finishing their preparations to rush right into each other the moment the starting signal was given.

Crack, split!

The arena's floor cracked and split apart by their rising magical energies.

Right at the moment when their rising energy level hit the peak...

[The competition will commence.]

...Johnny Brad's signal was sent out.

Buzz, buzz.

Swish! CLANG!

Immediately after the two men's silhouettes disappeared from view, a loud metallic clang resounded out from the middle of the arena.

Swish!

Gusts of wind reached the grandstands. The colliding magical energy tore into shreds and spread out to all corners of the arena.

Boom, clang, CLANG!

Crack, splatter!

The spear and the sword clashed.

The spear had a slightly longer reach. Gordon Rohan leaped up high, and the ends of the spear split apart into dozens upon dozens.

Pow! Slash! Slash!

The spear light thrust into various parts of Su-hyeun's body, his throat, shoulders, and waist, and then proceeded to stab him several times in a row.

[Doppelganger.]

Zap!

Su-hyeun disappeared from the spot. What Gordon Rohan had just stabbed was just a doppelganger that looked exactly the same as his target.

Rumble...

It was right then that he felt scorching heat coming from behind. He spread his wings wide and quickly crouched.

Ka-boom!

A massive burst of navy-blue colored flames swept Gordon Rohan up.

Su-hyeun, as he counted in his mind, took a shot forward next. Just before he could swing his sword down toward the searing heat, he sensed something was off and quickly leaped up.

Slash!

A spear swing containing pure-white light sliced the "Divine Flame" apart. Gordon Rohan lifted the wings covering his entire body and looked up at Su-hyeun above, smirking meaningfully.

"That was pretty hot, wasn't it?"

Swish, swoosh.

The atmosphere around Gordon Rohan changed. His pure-white wings spread wide and the irises disappeared from his eyes, leaving them pure white as well.

Su-hyeun knew very well what that was.

[Trait- Archangel.]

It was a trait that rivaled "dragonification" - no, maybe rated even higher than that.

Gordon Rohan had acquired the traits of an angel, getting his hands on overwhelming power and magical prowess. Most notably, the resistance against magic-related skills his trait had endowed him with was far, far greater than any other traits out there.

<< Meaning, the "Divine Flame" won't work. >>

The "Divine Flame" was a skill that enjoyed a pronounced effect against monsters possessing a dark attribute. Against a trait of an angelic race that already possessed a high resistance against magic, on top of the same light-type attribute, the "Divine Flame" wouldn't be very effective at all.

Su-hyeun's "Divine Flames" was a skill that Gordon Rohan would feel perfectly at home with.

<< In that case.... >>

Sizzle, rumble.

Pitch-black scales began sprouting all over Su-hyeun's body. The third eye in his forehead opened up completely, causing his senses to sharpen, and his body to gain strength.

His sudden transformation caused Gordon Rohan to pause for a moment. The American narrowed his eyes into slits and began spinning the spear in his hand.

"That's right. Let's have a proper go this time."

Swish!

Swoosh!

The spear spun so fast that it couldn't be seen by the naked eye. And then Gordon Rohan powerfully swung that spinning spear in Su-hyeun's direction.

It was the same attack as yesterday, the one that utterly wrecked the arena.

Sizzle. ZAP!

Su-hyeun pointed his sword at the approaching spear energy. And, right when the attack arrived, he swung the weapon firmly held in both of his hands.

Split!

Zoom! ZAP! CLANG!

The immense power behind the incoming spear light shattered and scattered in all directions.

The floor was scoured and torn asunder. But Su-hyeun didn't pay it any mind and dashed forward toward Gordon Rohan.

Swish, swoosh!

As if he was waiting for this, Gordon Rohan stopped spinning his spear and stabbed forward with it.

Pow!

Yap!

Su-hyeun grabbed the American's swung spear with his bare hand.

<< He actually caught it?! >>

For the first time ever, Gordon Rohan's eyes trembled.

It could be blocked with a sword, sure. But he had never imagined that his opponent would go and catch his spear with his bare hand.

It would have been normal to see the hand to either explode or at least tear into bits in such a case.

However...

[Indomitable body.]

Squish.

Although his hand ached, Su-hyeun thought it was still bearable. The "Indomitable Body" had reached the highest limit in proficiency, and it helped him to catch Gordon Rohan's spear using nothing but his bare hand.

It also allowed him an opportunity to land a crucial attack.

Zoom, clang!

Su-hyeun's sword was raised up toward the ceiling.

It was obvious what kind of attack would come next, judging from how the sword was raised.

<< He's going to slash down. >>

Swish!

A massive amount of magical energy condensed on the sword in an instant. This wasn't an ordinary downward slash anymore.

<< Could it be...? >>

[One Sword Cutting Through Everything- Splitting the Great Mountain]

Slam!

The moment Su-hyeun's sword slammed down on top of Gordon Rohan's head.

KA-BOOM!

The arena's floor was completely shattered and turned upside down. Debris shot into the air.

* * *

Clang!

Rumble, drop, thud!

Participants stared at the devastated arena, a shocked expression on each of their faces.

No one here imagined that the arena, reinforced by Ether stones and capable of absorbing most impacts quite easily, would be damaged to such an extent.

Hak-joon was shocked, too. Especially so, since he had fought in the same arena now torn up before his eyes just days earlier.

<< I thought I had managed to close the gap just a little... >>

This was his first time witnessing Su-hyeun use this much power.

Even when Su-hyeun was betrayed by his teammates during the preliminaries or when he was facing off against Thomas, he didn't use so much power.

That was why Hak-joon had felt that ever since stepping into the S-Rank, his skills were almost close enough to touch Su-hyeun's, unlike when they met for the first time.

It felt like he could reach the same level as Su-hyeun's if he put in just a little more hard work.

But he was mistaken. Completely and utterly mistaken. The gap between them hadn't narrowed at all. No, it had grown even wider instead.

<< Just how much more do I need to do.... >>

Grip.

The comparative triviality.

He suddenly thought that he had been too laid-back and conceited lately. He thought he had it made. Reaching the finals of the Ranking Wars had only made it worse. He was on top of the world.

He was wrong.

He still had a long way to go.

Compared to those two men, he was far too weak.

"I didn't quite catch it just now, but... This thing, it was because of Kim Su-hyeun swinging his sword, wasn't it?"

"Is he even alive after that?"

"Even for Gordon Rohan, this..."

Could Gordon Rohan survive after getting struck by such a ferocious attack head-on?

The participants watched through screens that were currently fogged up by the dust clouds and stared directly at the distant arena. Their clamor gradually quieted down.

It was because the silhouettes of both Su-hyeun and Gordon Rohan began revealing themselves.

Thud!

Gordon Rohan stabbed the spear onto the floor to support himself.

His legs teetered, and blood leaked out from the corners of his mouth, clear evidence of his poor condition. There was a deep wound across his chest.

"That's one sturdy armor," said Su-hyeun as he stared at his blade, which had lost much of its edge.

A thin armor could be seen beneath Gordon Rohan's clean-cut expensive brand clothing. Su-hyeun was well aware of what that pure-white armor was.

<< That's the Heavenly Soldier's Armor. He already had it? >>

It was a super rare item, only five of them had ever been found, even decades into the future.

The so-called armor of the soldiers of the sky—a set of armor that possessed a truly unimaginable level of toughness.

<< Even then... >>

"Cough, cough!"

Gordon Rohan coughed up lumps of blood.

<< It was still effective. >>

Normally, that single strike would have rendered the target unable to continue fighting, but the overall damage was cut down by more than half by the defensive capabilities of the Heavenly Soldier's Armor.

That's how Gordon Rohan was still standing upright and still possessed some amount of reserve combat strength.

He asked first, "Just now, that thing... it's the same thing as what I saw yesterday, wasn't it?"

"You mean, 'One Sword Cutting Through Everything'?"

"Is that the name of the skill? What a grandiose title."

"It does have one hell of a destructive power. But my proficiency with it is much lower than Mister Bak Yun-gyu's version of the same skill."

The skill, "One Sword Cutting Through Everything" wasn't that difficult to acquire. You could easily purchase it in any of the shops found inside the Tower of Trials with sufficient points for payment.

But it was a little expensive. And, although its destructive power was amazing, there was one caveat. It could only be applied to downward attacks, so the skill itself wasn't used very often.

But both Bak Yun-gyu and Su-hyeun had raised their proficiency with the skill to a high degree.

Especially Bak Yun-gyu, who had been practicing "One Sword Cutting Through Everything" for a very long time, his proficiency easily exceeded Su-hyeun's.

"But why is your version so much stronger?" Gordon Rohan asked.

"Because I'm stronger than him."

The reply sounded quite matter-of-factly.

But Gordon Rohan had nothing to say to that. It was indeed true that, even if the skill was the same, power could vary greatly, like heaven and earth, depending on who was utilizing it.

"Dammit... Is this how others feel when they look at me? I'm seriously not liking this."

Gordon Rohan groaned in pain and shook his head. He touched the wound on his chest, and his hand came away red.

The bleeding had been staunched by his magical energy, but, as expected, it would be tough to continue fighting as if nothing had happened.

"You know, I wanted to fight up close like a man if that was possible, but...," Gordon Rohan raised his head and chucked the spear high in the air. "...But, it looks like that's not going to happen now."

Su-hyeun's gaze followed the spear the American had thrown into the air.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Suddenly, thousands, no, tens of thousands of spears appeared in the sky. The spear Gordon Rohan threw up disappeared in the crowded skies.

Flap!

Immediately, another pair of wings flapped majestically behind the American's back.

Initially, he was thinking of other challengers that would step up after he defeated Su-hyeun, but now, he decided not to worry about what would happen later.

[The Archangel- Divine Punishment.]

A short while later.

Zoom, zoom!

The divine punishment created by Gordon Rohan descended to earth, and...

"Huh?"

And not long after that, the whole world witnessed a result no one would have ever predicted.