The Hero Returns

Drip, drip...

Blood dripped from the tip of Gungnir.

As for Osiris, he was in such an awful shape that it was pretty hard to look at him without wincing. He now resembled an ancient dried-up mummy that might scatter into bits if a moderately strong wind blew.

Su-hyeun couldn't bear to keep looking, so he turned his head away.

He felt confused about whether their connection was a good one or a bad one. They used to be the closest of close friends, only to become irreconcilable enemies, and now, they have come to understand each other's positions better than anyone else out there.

Even so, Su-hyeun still killed Osiris with his own hands, and then, the latter became a part of him.

"Is it over now?"

Su-hyeun looked up after hearing that question.

Lying on top of a cloud resembling a comfy bed, Sun Wukong floated closer to the ground.

Su-hyeun replied, "Yes. Most likely."

"In that case, let's go home and get some chow."

"What about your end, Third Brother?"

"Me? It's done already."

"Already?"

Now that was quicker than expected.

Sure, Su-hyeun's battle against Osiris did take some time to finish. Even then, Sun Wukong's opponents this time were countless Predators pouring out from one thousand hells.

No matter how specialized Sun Wukong was in one versus many battles, no one would have anticipated for him to sweep away all those enemies by himself.

"I guess Third Brother has also changed a great deal," Su-hyeun inwardly said.

Sun Wukong received training from Buddha. He also received the final lesson from Master Subhuti.

Thanks to their teachings, Sun Wukong's Sage Arts had reached a far higher realm than ever before. However, that didn't seem to be everything.

"There's another power at play here."

After acquiring the Fiery Golden Eyes, something about Sun Wukong had changed.

It looked like the person himself was not aware of this change yet, but Su-hyeun's eyes could almost make it out.

Even so, he couldn't be 100% sure. Until he either fought Sun Wukong directly or watched the latter go all out in a fight, he would not be sure of his own findings.

"What are you staring at me like that for?"

"Nah, it's nothing important," Su-hyeun quickly replied and turned his head.

Rumble, boom'”!

Ku-gugugu'”

The roars of thunder were still going off within the thick gloomy clouds in the skies some distance away.

Azure lightning bolts rocked the skies as effects of several different magic spells could be sensed from there.

Sun Wukong seemed to remember something abruptly and explained what was happening, "He told me that it's a fight between brothers, so we shouldn't butt in."

"A fight between brothers, you say?"

"Yeah, something about being a little brother or something. It's a bit, you know, uncool to get involved, so what will you do?"

Sun Wukong was usually crazy about having a good fight, but even someone like him was sensitive about this nature.

Su-hyeun knew Sun Wukong's backstory well enough, which helped him figure out what the latter was thinking about here. However, there was this one thing getting on his nerves at the moment, preventing him from letting this one go.

"I'll be right back, Third Brother."

"Eh? How come?"

Paht'”!

Instead of offering an answer, Su-hyeun just vanished from the spot.

Sun Wukong stared at the empty spot for a while before roughly scratching his head. He then laid down on the cloud again and muttered to no one in particular, "Hey, he's old enough to know what he's doing."

* * *

Ka-boom'”!

Pazzzik, bzzzzz'”

Mjölnir hammered down to cause ripples of electricity to slam into the surroundings, but it stopped mid-air.

A staff as slender as a single branch had countered Mjölnir.

Loki retorted, "Brother, watch your breathing. It's gotten heavier."

"No, I still have plenty more left in the tank!"

"Brother, you've always been pretending to be someone strong. Even though you've been under our father's shadow, you always loved to stand before the others like the blazing sun."

Pazzzik'”!

A comparatively darker electrical storm began gushing out from Loki's staff. "And that's what I don't like about you, brother."

KWA-AAAAH'”!

The electrical storm pouring out from the staff instantly swallowed up Thor. Loki quickly created some distance from his older brother and watched Thor's figure as it got scorched black.

Thor staggered for a little while as if he would crash to the ground but regained his equilibrium soon enough. His stamina must've hit rock bottom by now, yet his mental toughness remained commendably strong.

"Why... why did you betray Asgard, Loki?"

"Brother, while you are the sun, we all know that I wasn't even good enough to be the moon."

He was the younger brother that the older sibling overshadowed.

To make matters worse, he was just a "halfling" who didn't even inherit Odin's bloodline.

"If my original destiny was to become a firefly to your sun, then I choose to block out that very sun with my own two hands."

This was why Loki was stained by the darkness, and the one he sought out for more power wasn't Odin but Osiris.

"And so, look at me, brother. I've become strong enough to block your sun."

"Loki, you can still become a sun yourself! I beg of you, do not lose yourself to darkness and let the light in you disapp'”"

"Hang on, are you still saying those embarrassing things even now?"

Someone's voice suddenly came from the side, causing the heads of both Thor and Loki to snap in that direction.

Su-hyeun was there, wielding a familiar-looking golden spear. He stood on a small cloud, his eyes locked on Loki, "Hey, you, it's been a while, hasn't it?"

"You? But how?" Loki's eyes widened considerably as he urgently scanned his surroundings.

He had been concentrating so much on the fight against Thor that he neglected to notice the situation until now.

"Where's Lord Osiris?! What happened to him?"

"I'm standing here, aren't I? That should be a good enough answer, don't you agree?"

Indeed, Su-hyeun was right. That was more than enough for an answer.

Loki shook his head in pure disbelief, "T'”that's not possible. It's'”"

"Save your denial for another time. I still have a score to settle with you, after all." Su-hyeun then called out to Loki using another name, "I'm sure you also agree with me on that one, Johnny Brad."

Silence'”

Johnny Brad was the awakener renowned for his illusion skills and friendship with Gordon Rohan.

In front of Su-hyeun's eyes, Loki had taken on the identity of Johnny Brad and lived among humans for a long time'”over ten years, as a matter of fact.

To someone who could live for an eternity, a decade like that would have been just a drop in the ocean. More importantly, though, it wasn't that hard to figure out why he even bothered to live on Earth with the fake identity of Johnny Brad.

"Did Osiris put you up to it? To keep an eye on me?"

"T'”that..." Finally realizing that something had gone wrong here, Loki hurriedly scanned his surroundings.

His fingers were twitching as if he was searching for a way to escape.

But right at that moment...!

KA-BOOM'”!

"Keo-hurk!"

Su-hyeun's fist rammed into Loki's abdomen just then. The impact force spreading all over his bones and muscles caused Loki to shudder and twitch before he went completely limp.

Shu-ruk...

"I don't know all the details, but well, it doesn't feel that nice to be lied to, you see," Su-hyeun grunted unhappily while catching Loki's limp body with one hand. He then handed him over to Thor, "I heard he's your little brother. You take care of him, in that case. My apologies for butting in, though."

Thor received Loki and slung the latter on his shoulder. He alternated his gaze between his little brother and Su-hyeun while looking a bit puzzled, "Friend, I sense that you have changed quite a lot."

"You think so?" Su-hyeun shrugged his shoulders with a little more refreshed look on his face. "I guess you're right."

* * *

Thor chose to remain in Asgard.

As for Loki, he was imprisoned in the deepest part of Asgard's underground. In the end, Thor couldn't bring himself to kill his only remaining family member and chose Loki's imprisonment instead.

He then brought together the surviving warriors and citizens of Asgard to prepare for a new beginning.

As for Sun Wukong...

"Well, Second Brother hardly stops by these days, and it gets mighty boring at home, you know."

He chose to follow Su-hyeun to Earth, but there was no reason to talk him out of it.

"Third Brother, please promise me that you won't cause a problem for us."

"Of course. No need to sweat it," Sun Wukong replied too casually, which caused alarm bells to go off in Su-hyeun's head.

Still, what could go wrong, anyway?

When the duo returned to Earth, they were welcomed home by Lee Ju-ho and Gordon Rohan.

"Oh, Su-hyeun. You came back just in time."

"At least you know you're late, then."

"What?"

Su-hyeun stared at Gordon Rohan and made a puzzled face. The latter bothered to come to South Korea?

He was acknowledged as probably the world's busiest man, yet he came this far. Su-hyeun was getting curious as to why. "Did something weird happen somewhere?" Su-hyeun asked.

"It'll be this year's Ranking Wars soon," Gordon Rohan promptly answered him.

Su-hyeun glanced at the calendar on the wall to confirm, and sure enough, there were about five days left before the start of the Ranking Wars. "Wow, you're right."

"Your current ranking has dropped to 27th. Although it's not exactly low, your ranking has been dropping steadily after you stopped participating in last year's battles," said Lee Ju-ho.

Su-hyeun nodded in disinterest while settling down on the couch. However, Sun Wukong's curiosity was piqued, and he hurriedly asked Su-hyeun about what the Ranking Wars could even be.

At that moment, Gordon Rohan finally became interested in Sun Wukong, who had shown up along with Su-hyeun. "By the way, who is this guy?"

"Oh, he's my older brother. His name is, uh, Sun Wukong."

"Sun Wukong? That's a unique name, for sure."

From the sound of it, Gordon Rohan didn't seem to think that this Sun Wukong was the "real" Sun Wukong. Su-hyeun didn't feel the need to explain in detail, so they ended the introductions there.

"He's your real brother? Is he also an awakener?"

"Not blood-related but still a brother, yes. And he also happens to be incredibly strong."

The words "he's strong" actually left Su-hyeun's lips just now.

Gordon Rohan's eyes narrowed to slits at this event. If this "Sun Wukong" was strong enough to earn Su-hyeun's acknowledgment, then he should be at least an S-Rank, and Gordon Rohan should have been aware of such an individual by now.

"Now this is getting interesting," Rohan thought.

He suddenly became quite interested.

According to Su-hyeun's evaluation, this man should be stronger than most average S-Ranks. A more detailed examination was required to be sure, but Gordon Rohan was certain of an amusing result.

He then asked Sun Wukong, "In that case, why don't you participate, too?"

"Eh? Me too?"

Since Sun Wukong received the system's assistance, he instantly understood what Gordon Rohan was saying. He still didn't know anything about this Ranking Wars or whatever, but his ears were already perking up.

"I guess something fun is about to go down. Am I right?"

Gordon Rohan asked in slight disbelief, "You don't know about the Ranking Wars?"

"Nope, no clue. What is it?"

"It's a tournament to decide the world's strongest individual. But it's not like this is our first time holding it, so for you to be unaware'”Ah, it seems you're not from Earth, after all."

As expected of Gordon Rohan, his wits remained quick.

Just from the fact that he had never heard of an S-Rank awakener named Sun Wukong until now, and also with how the latter didn't seem to recognize the Ranking Wars or know who Gordon Rohan was, he was able to deduce the truth on the spot.

"Wait, when you say you're Sun Wukong, could you be the actual Sun Wukong? The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal from the Journey to the West?"

"Eh? You know about me?"

"Not knowing about you would be even weirder," Gordon Rohan nodded in satisfaction. "In any case, if you're interested, why don't you participate in the tournament? Also, Su-hyeun, it'd be good for you to regain your ranking, too."

"You know I'm not interested in the ranking."

A higher ranking would help better evaluate one's worth, not to mention their face and name becoming more recognized, but none of that applied to Su-hyeun.

Not participating in the tournament caused his ranking to fall, but in all honesty, everyone living on this planet already knew that Su-hyeun was the strongest in the world. He had already saved this world several times by now, after all. As a matter of fact, people stopped referring to him as an awakener but a hero these days.

"I'm not thinking of forcing you. If you have another urgent business or require a break, then take care of that first. Still, do consider how sincere I am with this thing since I came all this way despite my busy schedule," Gordon Rohan said before standing up from the couch. "Well then, I'm heading back now. Too many matters related to the Ranking Wars still require my attention, you see. I hope we see each other again in the near future."

Creak'”

Now that he was finished with what he wanted to say, Gordon Rohan promptly left the office.

Even though he flew all the way to South Korea to speak to Su-hyeun personally, he had to go back to America right away after delivering the message. That showed how busy he was with work even now.

"What should we do?" Sun Wukong suddenly asked Su-hyeun.

A tournament meant to decide the world's strongest individual? Unsurprisingly, Sun Wukong was very much interested in such a thing.

Su-hyeun sneaked a glance to his side and noticed Sun Wukong's eyes sparkling as brightly as the Milky Way.

"Urgh! Yes, yes, you can participate, Third Brother."

"Alright!"

Sun Wukong jumped up and down in joy after getting Su-hyeun's permission. Lee Ju-ho, worried about the furniture breaking into pieces, hurriedly tried to dissuade the Monkey King, but calming the latter down was not going to be an easy task.

Su-hyeun suddenly felt like he got suckered into doing something annoying just now.

Sun Wukong's participation in the Ranking Wars was basically set in stone the moment Gordon Rohan learned about him.

Not to forget, Gordon Rohan was a businessman.

To him, the annual Ranking Wars was the greatest tournament imaginable to raise the profile'”and the stock price'”of his Gordon Company. For the sake of the tournament's success, he definitely needed the talents of someone on the level of Su-hyeun.

"The Ranking Wars, hmm...." Su-hyeun glanced at Sun Wukong, who had finally calmed down after Lee Ju-ho's hard work, and muttered to himself, "I guess it won't be as boring this time around."