The Hero Returns

Drip, tumble…

Su-hyeun, currently buried deep into the ground, remained lying there in a state of daze.

Everything happened so suddenly.

No matter what it was, it always came with a flow, a rhythm. A battle between two entities was no exception.

But then, for a very brief moment just now, it felt like he had lost track of the battle's flow. That was how fast Sun Wukong's attack was and how irregular it was.

"Wow, that took me by surprise."

Su-hyeun slowly rubbed his midriff, now feeling a bit stiff.

That was where Ruyi Jingu Bang had hit him at the start of this blitzkrieg. The impact force transmitted through the armor was surprisingly heavy.

"I guess I shouldn't hold back anymore, then."

Sun Wukong displayed a level of power never seen before. Meaning he was utterly serious about this fight and was giving it his all.

Su-hyeun also needed to respond in kind.

"What are you doing down there, little bro?"

Su-hyeun heard Sun Wukong's voice next. Even though he was buried fairly deep underground, he still clearly heard that voice.

"It's time to get started, right?"

It sounded as if Sun Wukong knew that Su-hyeun hadn't been serious until now.

They were gradually upping the tempo during the fight, their strengths slowly being unleashed more and more. However, Sun Wukong broke out of that tempo by releasing the seal on his golden fillet without any warning whatsoever.

And now, it was necessary to match that flow. Su-hyeun didn't want to end the fight this way, either.

"I hear you, Third Brother."

Shu-wuwuwu—

Pitch-black energy began oozing all around Su-hyeun's immediate vicinity.

This was different from Death Aura; it was a little deeper in hue yet more malleable.

"Let's do that, then."

<hr />

Sun Wukong sat on top of Ruyi Jingu Bang while resting his chin.

Some time had passed by already. However, Su-hyeun, trapped under the staff, still hadn't come out of the hole.

Spectators were growing more restless with every passing second.

"What's going on here?"

"Did he really get done in?!"

"No way, Kim Su-hyeun lost?"

"You saw that, didn't you? He got hit so fast that we couldn't even see, and since he's trapped under that thing—"

The weight of Ruyi Jingu Bang erected in the center of the arena had to be extraordinarily heavy. The way it could freely alter its size was already amazing, but then, Sun Wukong's strength or spearmanship to wield it however he wanted to was also top-notch.

No matter how hard the spectators thought about it, it seemed very unlikely for anyone to emerge unscathed after getting hit by a weapon of such caliber. That was the core reason why they thought Su-hyeun had been defeated today.

Gugugu, gugugugu…

It was right at that moment that Ruyi Jingu Bang began bucking a little.

Spectators cried out as they witnessed the gigantic staff rise bit by bit.

"There he is!"

"I knew it! No way it'd end like that!"

"That's what I'm talking about!"

Spectators cheered wildly at the fact that the match would go on for a bit longer now.

Sun Wukong, too, was making a deep grin. The power forcing his staff up from below obviously belonged to Su-hyeun.

"I'm glad that you want to come outside, but…"

Squeeze—

Sun Wukong began pushing down harder with his feet.

At first, half a ton, then five tons, and eventually, 50,000 tons of additional weight began crushing down on the staff.

"I won't let you do as you please."

Gugugugu…

Ruyi Jingu Bang trembled viciously. The power lifting the staff from below and another force pushing it down from the top collided against each other.

This contest of strength went on for a little while. However, the conclusion to this fierce contest turned out to be a bit of a letdown.

SMACK—!

"What?"

Crash, tumble, bang—!

Sun Wukong was hit in the head by a powerful strike, causing him to fly far away and roll around helplessly on the floor. He urgently slammed his hands down on the ground to stop himself from rolling and then held his aching head.

"Ouch! That freaking hurts." Sun Wukong turned his head to stare at the one responsible for smacking him in the head.

Ruyi Jingu Bang remained stuck in the ground, yet Su-hyeun was already outside without anyone noticing it.

Sun Wukong muttered, "What the heck? That's no fun."

"But we weren't trying to find out who was physically stronger, no?"

There was more than one way to escape from below Ruyi Jingu Bang that was crushing Su-hyeun into the ground.

Since Su-hyeun knew magic, several options were available to him. The simplest one would be teleportation-type magic.

"Makes sense. You do know how to do a crap ton of stuff, after all."

Su-hyeun had many different abilities. More accurately, one should say that he had many countless abilities at his disposal.

Not only did he learn the Sage Arts, but he also acquired various skills while climbing the tower too. Then, he awakened the powers of his past lives, allowing him to master the experiences and memories of all those innumerable lives.

Compared to him, Sun Wukong only knew how to fight using the Sage Arts, his naturally gifted physical prowess, and Ruyi Jingu Bang.

"And that's why I gotta think about plenty of stuff," Sun Wukong replied while narrowing his eyes glowing in golden and crimson hues.

Shu-shuuut, shu…

The black energy flowing all around Su-hyeun felt familiar. It was also something Sun Wukong had been waiting for the most.

"Did he get that power after devouring Osiris?"

Osiris was the monster responsible for tormenting Master Subhuti for the longest time and a creature so strong that not even the Five Godly Sages could defeat.

Sun Wukong wanted to have a go at that bastard at least once. It might have been ostensibly for avenging Master Subhuti, but his competitive streak played a significant role in that wish, too.

But now, in front of him was Su-hyeun, who had devoured Osiris's powers. There couldn't have been more ideal or exciting than this one for Sun Wukong.

"Alright. In that case, one more time…"

Whoooosh—

Slap—

Ruyi Jingu Bang stabbed into the center of the arena rapidly shrank back in size before flying back into Sun Wukong's grip.

"Here I come!"

Baaang—!

Fwhoooosh—!

Sun Wukong kicked the ground to fly, causing the ground to cave in. His figure that shot forward like a missile swung Ruyi Jingu Bang at Su-hyeun's midriff once more.

Smaaack—!

Crack, craaack—

The black energy current instantly created a barrier. It was almost as if the energy itself possessed a functioning ego.

The barrier cracked but didn't shatter instantly. Sun Wukong didn't get flustered. He simply chose to create some distance before wielding his staff again.

"Extend, Ruyi!"

Whoosh—

Craaaash—!

Ruyi Jingu Bang extended dozens of meters only to pound away on the space just slightly away from Su-hyeun's figure.

The staff's attacks were blocked every single time. The impact force that not even adamantium could keep out was easily repelled by the black energy circling Su-hyeun's body.

Craaaack—

However, the black energy barrier wasn't genuinely indestructible.

The number of cracks that appeared on the barrier shot up higher in the blink of an eye. Then, Sun Wukong aimed with his staff at the center of all the cracks, "Expand, Ru—?"

Before he could finish, though…

Buzz—

Whirrrr, whiiiirrrrrr—

Hundreds of magic circles floated all around Sun Wukong.

"Eh?"

KA-BOOM—!

A chain of massive explosions went off with Sun Wukong in the center. The entire arena was swept up in the blast itself, and even the dimension beyond the protective barrier was affected by the ripples.

Pazzzik, bzzzzzik—

Thousands of Thunderbolts floated in the sky at the same time, but their color was quite different this time.

"It's black, huh?"

As soon as Su-hyeun began wielding a new type of power, a change to the coloration followed right after.

Thunderbolt's attribute was "lightning," but it was still a skill based on one's magical energy. Its color changed depending on the nature of one's magical energy, so it shifted from golden-orange to azure and now, even to black.

"It's rather fitting, isn't it?" Su-hyeun muttered as his raised hand came down.

Then, thousands of Thunderbolts floating in the air instantly came crashing down.

Rumble, ka-booooom—!

The ferocity of the Thunderbolts pouring into the explosion was so incredible that even Su-hyeun got slightly concerned.

"Will he be fine?"

Even if Sun Wukong was an immortal, one had to wonder whether or not he could survive such an insane bombardment. If his entire body became charred—no—if he turned into nothing but ashes, then…

While he was worrying about stuff like that…

"Strike down…"

Flash—!

Along with Sun Wukong's voice coming from within the explosion, a crimson light suddenly shone from above the arena.

"Lightning bolt!"

RUMBLE—!

The roar of thunder came afterward.

Although it was just a bolt of single lightning, this attack was much stronger than any Thunderbolt Su-hyeun had created so far.

The black energy current around his body quickly shifted above his head while his gaze shifted into the clouds of black smoke and electrical energy down below.

Inside the thick smoke that even Insight had trouble seeing through was a pair of ominous lights coming from Sun Wukong's eyes.

"You even blocked that?" Sun Wukong chuckled hollowly as if he couldn't believe it.

The crimson lightning looked like it would break through that black energy enveloping Su-hyeun's figure but failed in the end. This was one of the new powers Su-hyeun acquired after "devouring" Osiris through Predation.

[Authority – Darkness]

Osiris was a magician and, at the same time, a sorcerer. Also, he was a god of an ancient world who became a Predator.

Among his abilities was sorcery related to controlling darkness itself. Su-hyeun became somewhat familiar with this ability during their battle.

"Consciously controlling it still a bit difficult, but…"

The thing was, he didn't have any opportunity to test out this ability ever since acquiring it. Without an opponent as exceptional as Sun Wukong, there was not much point in testing it, after all.

"Still, it's beneficial, isn't it?"

He struck gold by acquiring Osiris's authority on darkness through Predation.

Su-hyeun still hadn't mastered Predation yet. No, wait—even if he could properly control this skill, Predation didn't allow him to absorb every single power of the devoured opponent completely.

"Besides, I haven't fully absorbed it yet."

Only a few days had passed since he got to devour Osiris. It was impossible to make every ability of Osiris he absorbed as his own in such a short time.

"Isn't that too much of a cheat?" Meanwhile, Sun Wukong was scratching his head in annoyance. "Absolute defense, huh?"

A fight was only fun when the opponents constantly traded blows. At least, that was what Sun Wukong thought.

However, with things like this, he had no means to hit Su-hyeun. All those currents of darkness circling Su-hyeun's figure were swatting away Sun Wukong's attacks.

"Simple attacks are no good now."

Sun Wukong's brain went into overdrive.

He came up with various ideas, but of them seemed good enough to break through the black energy current around Su-hyeun's body. Even if he succeeded in breaking through, Su-hyeun's sword awaited him inside. There was also the matter of Su-hyeun's sturdy armor.

He had the absolute defense, indeed.

There was no better description than that. It looked like Su-hyeun was not in perfect control of the dark currents, but it should still be easy enough for him if he only wanted to defend himself.

"Hmm…" Sun Wukong continued to scratch his head during his planning process, then muttered to himself, "I guess I don't have a choice."

Through Sun Wukong's expression, Su-hyeun realized that his Third Brother had made up his mind on something just now.

Moving away from his head, Sun Wukong's hand clutched a handful of hair.

"His hair?"

Su-hyeun stared at all the white hair clutched in Sun Wukong's fist.

The latter then scattered hundreds of hair pulled out from his scalp on the ground below. Su-hyeun could only make a puzzled face at this weird turn of events.

"Why did he suddenly pull out his hair? Hmm…"

It was right at that moment that a thought suddenly popped up in his head.

Sun Wukong from the myth had to pull out his hair whenever he activated his cloning technique.

Each hair strand was supposed to morph into a clone, but Su-hyeun thought that the stories got that part wrong. Until now, Sun Wukong never pulled out his hair when he wanted to use his cloning technique, after all.

Snap—!

Su-hyeun reflexively snapped his fingers right then.

Rumble—!

At the same time, flames erupted near the hair strands, burning them down to ashes.

Hiss, sizzle—

Initially, the hair strands seemed to have burned away into nothingness by the flames. However, Su-hyeun realized that he was too late after looking at the smile plastered on Sun Wukong's face.

"Looks like I beat you to it, little bro."

Pow, popopopow, poof—!

Thick smoke filled the arena, followed by many clones appearing everywhere.

Usually, Su-hyeun wouldn't have been worried about their entrance, but things were different this time.

"I can't tell."

Su-hyeun held his forehead while thinking that things had gotten somewhat troublesome.

His eyes below the hand holding his head could see Sun Wukong's clones pointing their Ruyi Jingu Bangs in his direction.

He used Insight to scan them all, but…

"Which one is the real body?"

Every single one of these numerous Sun Wukongs was real..