The Hero Returns

"Huh?"

"What just happened...?"

Ares and Apollo stared agog at the chopped-off finger of Uranus and then eventually discovered Su-hyeun.

"But how...did he get here?"

"Well, he did arrive right on time."

Ares was stunned to see Su-hyeun here since the latter should still have been fighting against Gyges. As for Apollo, he was sighing with mixed emotions on his face.

Their reactions were a bit different from each other's, but they also shared something in common: a sense of relief.

Whatever the case might be, there was no doubting that Su-hyeun had prevented the total annihilation of Olympus and all the gods residing in it.

Hercules shifted his gaze and stared at Su-hyeun, who had pushed Uranus's palm back along with him. Although the Son of Zeus was utterly covered in layers of sweat, he didn't feel too bad right now.

"You're a bit late, friend," Hercules said.

"So that's him, isn't he? The one called Uranus."

"I'm sure you can tell just by looking, no?"

"Well...I have to say, that's one hell of a huge body."

The first impression Su-hyeun got after laying his eyes on one of the Three Destroyers wasn't all that complicated.

Uranus possessed an impossibly gargantuan physique. Just his head alone was as large as a planet. Most regular people would simply die on the spot out of sheer fear from taking in the sheer size of Uranus.

Which was unsurprising, really. For instance, when regular humans ran into a tiger, their heartbeat would quicken rapidly, and their legs would start trembling out of fear. But that humongous creature was not some tiger-like predator but an indescribably gargantuan monster, so how could any normal person withstand the level of fear they felt by instinct?

This was no longer the issue of how brave one was.

"That bastard is also in tatters, as you can see. However, our problem is," Ares turned his head toward Zeus, who was still holding onto a Thunderbolt some distance away. "Father is also in a similar state right now," he continued.

FLASH—!

KA-BOOM—!

The fired Thunderbolt pounded on the chest of Uranus, causing the Giant to falter for a moment there due to the flash of light. He visibly shuddered afterward.

"Indeed, his overall power has weakened considerably. And after he used the Thunder Dragon, for a moment there, he seemed to have discharged too much of his strength, too..."

"Wait, are you saying that's Zeus in the weakened state?" Su-hyeun asked back in disbelief.

That Thunderbolt was powerful enough to shake around a gargantuan monster. Su-hyeun would have to pour all of his energy just to create one such lightning spear, yet Zeus didn't need all that much time or effort to create one.

Chucking around such Thunderbolts as if it was nothing? And when you were in a fatigued state too?

Su-hyeun shook his head, reminding himself that the important thing right now wasn't figuring out how strong Zeus actually was.

"In any case, it's still true that both Uranus and Lord Zeus have weakened compared to before, yes?"

"Correct. But it's the same story for us, too," Hercules raised his arm, his complexion pale.

Even though all Hercules could do was buy only a little bit of time, both of his arms were trembling unsteadily from simply defending against Uranus's slap just now.

"You must be exhausted from your battle against Gyges—"

"No, I'm fine."

"It's better to be upfront in situations like this one. There's no way you are still...Hmm?" Hercules scanned Su-hyeun's expression and asked again, "You were serious?"

"Of course."

That reply was just too composed, but at the very least, he looked outwardly fine for real. Su-hyeun was not grimacing, he wasn't sweating, and he wasn't even panting breathlessly, either.

So much so that it was hard to imagine that he had concluded his fight against Gyges not too long ago.

While observing Su-hyeun's current state, Hercules's facial expression became even graver than before, "Friend, did something happen to you?"

"I'm not really sure."

Pazzik, pazzzzzik—!

Su-hyeun created a Thunderbolt of his own and said, "I'm curious about it myself, actually."

He then threw the lightning spear at Uranus with a ton of power. His target was the Giant's hand extending toward Zeus.

KA-BOOOOM—!

Uranus's hand was pushed back, rising and falling slightly in the process. Zeus had been in the middle of rousing his strength to deflect Uranus's hand himself, so when he discovered a Thunderbolt that wasn't his own, he turned his head to look at the one responsible for firing it.

[Are you able to fight on, benefactor?]

That voice belonged to Zeus.

Su-hyeun nodded in silence. Zeus must've seen that small head gesture despite the great distance because his next words arrived with some urgency.

[Can you buy me some time? All I need is just a few moments. Nothing more.]

"A few moments?"

Su-hyeun wasn't sure for how long he could hold up. Still, he thought it was totally doable.

Whether or not Uranus knew about the conversation between Su-hyeun and Zeus, Uranus turned his head in the direction of the one who threw that Thunderbolt just now. He discovered Su-hyeun in the distance, and then, with a crumpled expression, he spoke in an annoyed voice, "The outsider who doesn't know anything better step aside. This issue concerns Olympus and us Giants."

"I don't care about stuff like that," Su-hyeun retorted while moving his sword to his left hand.

Pazzik, pazzzzzzik—!

[Zeus's Thunder Glove - Thunder Sword]

"But I'd like you to keep me company for a little while."

"Keep you company?" Uranus's eyes gleamed sharply. Its right hand, which was now missing a finger, reached down toward Su-hyeun next. The movement itself was comparatively slow, but thanks to how gargantuan he was, that hand seemed to be closing in very quickly.

"The Flash of the Berserk Dragon," Su-hyeun quietly muttered as he maintained the Thunder Sword.

Right at that moment, his figure seemed to lean forward, and then...

Paaaht—

Splaaaaash—!

Uranus's palm was inflicted with dozens upon dozens of sword wounds, and his blood gushed out uncontrollably. He hurriedly pulled his hand back and confirmed the damage to his palm.

That sword strike contained electrical currents that stung quite harshly. Uranus had no idea how that attack had unfolded. Still, whatever the case might be, its range was wide enough to hurt his entire palm, and its power was strong enough to leave behind deep wounds.

But that wasn't all.

"If I step here, like so..." Su-hyeun's feet were already stepping on Uranus's forearm by then.

Crunch, crunch—!

They were in outer space, where the influence of gravity was minimal, yet gravity was generated out of nowhere. Uranus's forearm was visibly crushed, and the arm rising up lowered on its own.

Meanwhile, Su-hyeun traveled up Uranus's falling arm. With every step he took, his figure flickered in and out of view like an afterimage.

[Heavenly Demon's March of Sovereign]

[Earth Shrink Technique]

Before anyone could notice, Su-hyeun was already standing on top of Uranus's shoulder.

The light in Ares's eyes sharpened as he witnessed this scene, "Was that Earth Shrink? Wait, something like that was possible in the first place?"

However, it wasn't just the Earth Shrink Technique; Su-hyeun, a god now, used the "martial art techniques" developed by mortals living in some worlds.

Even if the used technique was the same, its power would differ like heaven and earth depending on who used it. Also, even if the amount of energy available was the same, its utility would change depending on who was using which technique.

On that point, the current Su-hyeun had managed to harmonize both the technique and energy quite perfectly.

Pazzzik, pazzzzzik—!

And so, after reaching Uranus's shoulder without any hindrance, Su-hyeun gripped the Thunder Sword with both of his hands and then raised it vertically.

"Shattering the Sky, Absolute Destruction."

At that command, a massive amount of energy that combined magical energy, prana, and even the power of the World Tree began focusing on his blade.

All the energy Su-hyeun possessed concentrated in the weapon in an instant. Despite being made of adamantium, the blade began harshly vibrating and resonated as if it would shatter at any moment.

And at the next second...

[I shall bet everything on you, benefactor.]

Kkyaaaaah—!

A thunderous screech rocked space. But even before that happened, a blinding light poured down first. Su-hyeun looked up and discovered a gargantuan "dragon" emitting a golden-amber light opening its maw wide.

The lightning dragon, the size of Uranus's torso, screeched before descending onto Su-hyeun's raised blade as if it was a lightning rod.

Rumble! Kwa-zzzzzik—!

Paaazik, bzzzzzzzz—

Su-hyeun's arms were trembling hard from the massive voltage. Zeus's lightning current acted just like the flames created by Apollo or Su-hyeun. It didn't affect those who were not their original targets. Still, such a thing would only be true up to a certain level.

"Heavy...!" Su-hyeun sensed his whole body wanting to freeze stiff but still held the sword even higher up.

This was the lightning charge created by Zeus, one of the Five Godly Sages, and this technique was basically Zeus's most powerful attack.

Now, such an attack was contained in Su-hyeun's sword, so it wasn't surprising that not just the physical weight but even the psychological burden Su-hyeun felt was incredibly heavy right now.

Finally, he managed to raise his sword high enough. Every muscle in his arms was bulging greatly.

"Fuu-huu-euph—!"

FLASH—!

An image of a gigantic dragon was superimposed over the raised sword. It was none other than Zeus's lightning dragon that was now contained within the blade.

And that very blade permeating with the lightning dragon was thrust down below.

Crrrrruuuuush—!

[Thunder Dragon Sword]

[Shattering the Sky, Absolute Destruction]

CRAAASH—

RUMBLE, KWA-RURURURU—

And for a long, long time afterward, the roars and rumbles of thunderclaps didn't want to cease.

* * *

The thunderclaps went on without a break, and the golden-amber light dyeing the world almost pure-white only disappeared after several hours later.

All sounds of thunder ceased as if there hadn't been any in the first place, but that wasn't all. Even the color of the world that had been robbed away by the intense light storm finally began returning to their rightful places.

Ares's firmly shut lips began to part slowly as he took in the spectacle now visible to his eyes, "He's..."

Massive bits of torn flesh floated around.

"Dead!?"

Those massive pieces of fleshy debris definitely belonged to Uranus's corpse.

Just how many pieces did he get ripped apart into? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of millions?

And during that relatively short period, just how vast and ridiculously expansive was that sword strike?

After thinking about it for a moment, Ares began shaking his head involuntarily. Even with a sword containing Zeus's Thunder Dragon, this spectacle didn't seem possible to replicate.

Yet, the reality was right before his eyes. That gargantuan Uranus, one of the feared Three Destroyers, had lost its life.

"It was...all true," Apollo muttered softly. His shock was different from what Ares felt, however.

"What do you mean, all true? Wait, Apollo, did you foresee this outcome?"

"I saw countless futures. I can't be certain how many there were, but it must've been well over tens of thousands."

"Could it be that one of those was—?"

"It was this type of future...where that guy felled Uranus," Apollo replied while locking his gaze on Su-hyeun currently collapsed among the floating debris of Uranus.

Hercules quickly approached the unmoving Su-hyeun to offer his assistance. The latter must be unconscious, as his eyes were closed and his figure was slumping without energy.

That wasn't surprising at all, however; it wouldn't have been strange to see his whole body turned to powder after the collision of the enormous powers not too long ago.

Ares asked again, "Why didn't you say something earlier then? Was it because you were worried about the future changing again? If I only knew in advance, I'd have volunteered to fight Gyges and send that guy over here from the get-go."

"It was something like that, but also," Apollo contemplated something for a little while before continuing, "I wanted to see for myself as well. I just couldn't believe it."

Ares tilted his head at what Apollo said.

Couldn't believe it, he said.

It was true that unexpected events that seem hardly believable were bound to occur regardless of your opinion during your life. Apollo should know this fact better than anyone since he was the God of Prophecies, yet he said what now?

"Why do you say that? Isn't it possible that things could happen this way? As you've already alluded to, the future involving one of the Three Destroyers will be one of many, many possibilities, no? Doesn't matter what kind of future it is, isn't there always the possibility of it coming true regardless of its odds?"

The future involving a Predator from the tier of the Three Destroyers could never be perfectly predicted, even by someone like Apollo, who boasted excellent Insight.

As such, he ended up checking out countless futures that could potentially happen, and one of those countless eventualities happened to become the current reality.

However...

"One of those countless futures was it," Apollo shook his head. "It wasn't like that."

"Not like that? What do you mean?"

"Although the process was slightly different, the outcome always remained the same. Even in all those countless futures that I saw, and all those millions, billions of possible futures that I hadn't had the chance to see properly," Apollo explained as he stared at Su-hyeun being helped up by Hercules in the distance, "The one who always felled Uranus was that man."

"Say what?!" Ares's head instantly turned in that direction.

A fluke among all those innumerable chances, that was what he initially thought of this event, but now, his thoughts had to change after listening to Apollo.

All of the potential futures were headed toward the outcome of Su-hyeun killing Uranus as if that was the destination this universe had to reach no matter what.

Ares wondered, "Just...what is that guy?"