The Hero Returns

Act 4

Step—

The Bull Demon King took a step toward the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King.

His step was very slow, yet the latter felt an incredible threat to his life, the likes of which he had never experienced before in his life.

"It's my fault."

The Bull Demon King blamed himself.

Seeing Sun Wukong in the far-off distance fighting against Su-hyeun like that caused the set of emotions he didn't want to feel again to raise their ugly heads and utterly flip his insides.

He felt truly sorry.

"Indeed, it's all my fault."

It felt as if this whole affair came about because of his incorrect belief. Maybe he should have told the truth to Sun Wukong back then even at the cost of breaking his sworn little brother's heart even further.

He should have revealed the truth that the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King was the murderer of the monkeys that lived on the Mountain of Flower and Fruit.

If he did that, then maybe Sun Wukong wouldn't be like this right now.

Meanwhile, the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King's eyes were urgently darting around this way and that, while his attention remained locked on the Bull Demon King who was slowly approaching him. He was desperately trying to find a way to escape from here and keep on living somehow.

"Big brother is weak against affection," he thought.

He knew the personality of the Bull Demon King better than anyone since he used to be a sworn brother to not only this powerful Yogoe but also Sun Wukong and the Roc Demon King.

He needed to use that fact to his advantage.

"Once I spot an opening, I'll escape." He believed that his plan would work.

"Big brother, please hear me out fir—"

The Snub-nosed Money Spirit King raised his hand and spoke slowly, but he had to stop talking right away.

Splash—

Because he saw droplets of blood flying.

"Uh…?"

His eyes which were searching for an escape route looked down next. And at that very moment, his body began tilting to one side.

Splatter—!

Aaaahk! Ahk!

"Alright. Do speak then," said the Bull Demon King as he looked down on the Monkey Spirit King who was currently screaming on the ground after both of his legs were severed. "I shall listen to you."

"B—big brother! Please spare me!"

"Is that all you have to say to me?"

"I—if you kill me, you won't become a god! Isn't that what you wished for? Big brother, I thought you longed to become a god?!"

The Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King quickly realized his plea for mercy wouldn't work and came up with a different tactic.

The Bull Demon King's long-held dream—it was the sole weakness of an otherwise near-perfect existence.

"Y—you think you can become a god while carrying a heart full of thoughts of revenge against me and the desire to murder? Please discard your emotions, big brother!"

The Monkey Spirit King's highly agitated voice failed to elicit any visible changes in the Bull Demon King's expression. Meaning, he wasn't paying attention to what the legless Monkey Spirit King had said.

"Since you are finished, it's my turn to speak now."

The Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King felt his heart tumble to the pit of his stomach after hearing that.

The Bull Demon King wasn't thinking of letting him live. The one who was infinitely close to becoming a god had indeed decided to take his life today.

"Why did you do it?"

"…"

"Why aren't you answering me? Why did you…go and break our young Wukong's heart like that? Why did you even go so far as to murder your own family?"

Heuh-euh—

A crazed cackled escaped from the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King's mouth. Without saying anything, the Bull Demon King waited for his reply.

The Monkey Spirit King cackled like a madman for a little while before looking up at his former sworn big brother to ask a question. "You're not thinking of letting me go, are you brother?"

"I'm willing to let you die without any pain."

"Doesn't matter how," he chuckled. "I'll be dead either way, I guess."

As if he had given up, the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King shook his head. Then, he glanced at Sun Wukong who was still fighting against Su-hyeun in the distance.

"Family? What a joke."

"…"

"You said those measly monkeys were my family? Stop making me laugh, will you? Big brother, do you have any idea how the world perceives us as?"

"No, I do not."

"Stupid and lowly Yogoes who oppose the gods. We're seen as bosses of those stupid Yogoes. And finally…" The Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King stared at his long, fur-covered arm before continuing on. "Horrifying-looking monsters."

"…"

"Since I was a little kid, I wished to become a god. It didn't matter to me even if it wasn't a real god like you, brother. I'd have been truly satisfied if I became something like the Heavenly World's gods."

"The Jade Emperor, he managed to entice you back then."

"He told me to kill all the Yogoes in the Mountain of Flower and Fruit and then join his side. He even said that as long as I earn enough achievements, he will bestow the title of the God of War to me. He said that he would help me become a god, to shed this disgusting appearance of mine." A twisted grin formed on the Monkey Spirit King's lips. "That's why I killed them. Although I have to say, I didn't expect that idiot Sun Wukong to still call me his big brother. I also didn't expect you to coddle that kid to this extent, big brother."

"Alright, then. I have heard your story now."

Crunch—

"…!"

The Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King's long arm was suddenly ripped out. Somewhat strangely, though, there was no blood, but the pain transmitted to his body was unimaginable.

Kkuwa-aaaaaah—!

His screams reverberated throughout the heavens above.

Erlang Shen couldn't dare to even butt in. The moment he tried to do that, he felt that his entire being would be erased from existence with a mere flick of the Bull Demon King's hand.

"Indeed, it is as you say. Sun Wukong is still young. That's why he can't do this. Even if he was betrayed and had a hole punctured in his belly, he would never be able to do these things to you. Because he's a far kinder creature than I ever was."

Riiiip—

The Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King's other arm was ripped away next. With that, he had lost all four of his limbs.

Kkeu, kuwaaaaahk—!

"And that's why I'm doing this."

Grab—

As if he wouldn't allow any screaming, the Bull Demon King covered the Monkey Spirit King's mouth with his hand and continued to speak, "I urge you not to die too soon. I've waited to kill you for the past 10,000 years, after all."

* * *

Kwa-jajajak—

CLANG—!

Sun Wukong's claws collided against Su-hyeun's sword. The latter's body floated up in the air from the impact.

"His strength has increased," Su-hyeun thought to himself.

The golden headband's seal acted to restrict Sun Wukong's primal instincts and his urges born out of pure bloodlust.

Now that the seal had gotten weaker, his strength naturally saw a great increase as compared to before. Not just his energy and physical strength, but also his in-battle characteristics had changed from the ones Su-hyeun was familiar with.

"Thankfully, he's not wielding the Ruyi Jingu Bang."

However, that didn't mean Sun Wukong had become much "stronger."

His battle sense had become so much worse—it must have been the price to pay for the increase in his strength. His attacks were too straightforward and even disorderly. Rather than aiming for an opening, he just mindlessly swung his claws at the visible target, and that was all.

"I can see him."

Sun Wukong's attacks had indeed become a lot faster, but Su-hyeun could see them even more clearly when compared to their previous sparring session.

To Su-hyeun's eyes, it seemed that Sun Wukong's claws swung in slow motion. He could even see the latter's expression distort ever so slightly when he raised his sword to redirect those claws away from him.

Grab—

Fwhoooosh—, Ka-boom—!

Su-hyeun proceeded to trip Sun Wukong right there and then, grabbed the latter's head, and then slammed it hard on the ground below.

Crack—

Kkyahk—!

Was it because of the golden headband around his head? Sun Wukong yelped from the impact transmitted to his head. However, his overall condition must have not been affected because strength still hadn't left his body.

Spin—

Crunchhhh—

With his head still shoved down to the ground, Sun Wukong spun his body around and lashed out with his arms.

Chwa-ruruk—

His energy that was shooting up high into the sky tore apart Su-hyeun's figure and the clouds into pieces. Sun Wukong's lips distorted slightly to form a grin, perhaps after thinking that an annoying opponent had been finally dealt with.

Shu-ru-ruk—

Ruuuumble—!

Kkii-aaahk!

Sun Wukong flinched nastily in surprise and quickly pulled himself away.

The figure of the man who used to be fighting him until now, the very figure that he thought he managed to tear apart with his claws, suddenly morphed into an indigo-colored flame.

Just as Sun Wukong faltered from the intense heat, Su-hyeun's real body appeared right behind him.

Smash—

Whoooosh, ka-boooom—!

Su-hyeun's sword smacked hard into Sun Wukong's unguarded back, causing the latter to fly for dozens of meters before crashing and tumbling ungainly on the ground.

Indeed, it was a powerful smack. However, the sharp blade failed to even cut into Sun Wukong's body and only managed to inflict a shallow nick on his skin.

It seemed that he didn't just become faster and stronger, but his defenses had also received a boost when his overall stats were enhanced greatly.

"That's one seriously tough skin."

Su-hyeun frowned deeply from the sensation transmitted through the sword.

Despite Sun Wukong being a true immortal, Su-hyeun couldn't bring himself to cut his sworn brother in half. He had no idea how tough Sun Wukong's body was when he held back with his slash, however.

And here he was, thinking of inflicting a heavy-enough wound and suppress Sun Wukong in that manner for the time being.

"He must be the second individual ever besides the first brother whose Gyeol I can't see at all."

It didn't matter whether the target was a living being or not, the "Gyeol" was supposed to exist in every single thing found in this world.

And for the past half a year, Su-hyeun was training and mastering that Gyeol so that he could aim for it whenever he wanted to and exert far less energy to subdue his opponent.

However, he couldn't see any Gyeol on Sun Wukong's undying body. Therefore, all he could do for now was to use brute force and physically beat the Monkey King down.

"The first brother is over there."

Su-hyeun already knew that the Bull Demon King had joined the battlefield some time ago.

Since there was that massive presence big enough to completely fill up the Heavenly World and then some coming from the distance, he couldn't not know about the entrance of his sworn brother.

Thanks to that, he didn't have to worry about his back anymore. He could tell the current condition of the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King from the screams clearly audible even from here.

"Erlang Shen isn't displaying any willingness to butt in either…"

Su-hyeun stared at the growling Sun Wukong who was getting up from the ground and quickly analyzed the situation.

"Will it be fine to simply subdue him? Shouldn't I somehow help him regain his sanity?"

It happened while he was thinking to himself.

"That idiot, he's ended up in that state again."

That voice sounded somewhat familiar.

As a matter of fact, the voice sounded pretty weird since it was so dry and lacked any discernible changes in its pitch. Also, it was a voice that was rather hard to forget since it was just too lacking in any distinct characteristics.

"Somersault cloud?" he thought.

Su-hyeun constantly tried to talk to it but didn't get a single reply until now. However, for some reason, the Somersault cloud chose to speak to him first in the middle of his battle against Sun Wukong.

"Do you know what's going on here?"

Su-hyeun had absolutely no idea about Sun Wukong's current state. Why did that golden headband suddenly appear on his head? Why did he end up in that state in the first place?

All Su-hyeun could think about right now was suppressing Sun Wukong and somehow calming him down.

"The golden headband. It's the sealing device that suppresses Sun Wukong's primal instincts of a Yogoe. A human who raised Sun Wukong a long time ago created it."

"A human did?"

"When Sun Wukong left the Mountain of Flower and Fruit, a human took him in and looked after the fool for about 100 years. That human then managed to place a seal that suppressed Sun Wukong's other side, the one that allowed his Yogoe primal instincts to run rampant."

"A human…looked after the third brother?"

This was the first time Su-hyeun heard about this story. However, one thing did pop up in his mind just then: Sun Wukong's love for humanity, a trait somewhat uncommon for a Yogoe, must have been related to the human who looked after him.

"But how is that related to the third brother's current state?"

"There is an emotional scar hiding in Sun Wukong's heart. The one who inflicted that stab wound just now is Sun Wukong's brother who vanished 10,000 years ago."

That reply caused Su-hyeun's expression to crumple immediately.

Sun Wukong's "brother" who had vanished a long time ago stabbed him in his chest. Just that fact alone was enough to give him a rough idea of what transpired here.

He could more or less sense what Sun Wukong must have felt at that moment.

The sense of betrayal.

Sun Wukong's joy, his happiness, at meeting his brother after a lengthy absence of 10,000 years must have been indescribably great, so consequently, the betrayal he felt would have been equally devastating.

"Okay, do you know how to return the third brother to how he was?"

"Use me. And then…"

The Somersault cloud continued to speak. At the same time, white clouds began enveloping Su-hyeun's surroundings.

Shu-wuwuwu—

It was the physical form of the Somersault cloud.

[The Somersault cloud's application rate has been greatly increased temporarily.]

The system's message always remained straightforward.

The moment that message floated up, Su-hyeun instinctively understood how he could control the Somersault cloud.

Up until now, he had to resort to the Sage Arts and controlled it consciously. And it became one of his trusted trump cards.

But in this very moment at least, the Somersault cloud was lending its powers to him out of its own volition.

Kkiii-aaahk!

Sun Wukong regained his posture, as well as his wits, and then pounced on Su-hyeun right away.

"Strike down—"

And while watching this scene play out, Su-hyeun opened his mouth.

"Somersault cloud."

FLASH—!