The Hero Returns

"Anyone left?"

"No, sir."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir. There's not even a single dog. A mother and her son were the last. Everyone in C&D Tower has been evacuated."

"We need to evacuate people around the building, too. You know the safety of the civilians is the top priority, right?"

"Yes, sir!"

Zhu In busily gave orders to the members of the guild. Fortunately, the evacuation of civilians went smoothly. Thanks to the combined effort of all twelve guilds that had gathered, there was more than enough manpower.

"Something is strange," Zhu In thought.

There was something strange about this terrorist act. If it really was terrorism, it wasn't very convincing. When he had felt the magic from the top of the building for the first time, he thought the terror had begun. But soon, he realized that was not right.

"This is a fight."

It was not one person's magic. There were two different magic signatures. People might wonder how only two people could be the cause. But those two signatures were at a different level. Zhu In assumed they were S-Rank awakeners, possibly even stronger. He could feel the magic's enormous Factors reverberating through the very air.

"If not terrorism, then what could it be? Why did that note label it an act of terrorism? Who sent the message from the small dragon?"

His mind was so complicated. But there was no time to think. The evacuation of civilians was the most important thing now.

"Sir, what should we do now? The situation over there looks—"

"Wait. It's not the time to get involved yet."

"Are you saying we should just sit on our hands?"

"Don't you see? That's not a terrorist act, that's a fight between two people. Perhaps one of them…must be a member of the Dump Guild."

It was obvious that one of them had sent the note using the dragon. It seemed obvious that the sender wasn't a member of the Dump Guild. It wouldn't make sense if the Dump Guild worried about civilians. In addition…

"We can't interrupt this fight."

"What?"

"Didn't you read the note? It is said we should only evacuate civilians, nothing more. The sender was certain…" Zhu In bit his lips and continued to say, "that we would just get in the way of the fight."

"We have a lot of awakeners. We can help."

"Even if we stop that fight, what good will it do if we all die?"

"That—"

"Just wait. That is the right thing for now. No B- or C-Rank awakener could make a difference in this fight."

The Great Wall Guild was the largest, but the other eleven guilds had few high-rank awakeners amongst their ranks.

"Zhu In. People said there was no trace of Hwang Jun-peong among the evacuated."

"…What?" Zhu In opened his eyes wide at the guild master's statement. His brain began to spin quickly, quickly coming to a conclusion. "Wait… That fight is occurring in…"

He had heard that Hwang Jun-peong bought a penthouse in the C&D building. And the top floor seemed to be the site of the battle. Zhu In frowned.

"Damn it…"

"Wh-what should we do with Mr. Hwang…"

There were only two possibilities. Either Hwang Jun-peong had been a casualty of the fight or he was involved in it. Zhu In's head quickly spun. He thought he saved all the civilians but there was one still left.

"What should I do…" he thought.

Then, as he anxiously watched the top floor where the fight raged…

Rumble—

"Huh? What is that?"

"The building…"

C&D Building had been the tallest building in Guangzhou. But suddenly, some force sliced off the top and began to collapse.

"Run away!"

Act 6

Ruuumble—

Along the oblique cut line, the upper part of the building slid down. Hwang Jun-peong's wide-open eyes shook. He swept his chest with one hand in awareness.

"I almost got cut."

It was one swing. At that moment, he felt like his waist was cut. If he hadn't responded instinctively, he might have been cut.

Rumble—

Boom—!

The tilted upper part finally fell to the ground below. Vibrations echoed throughout the area. Su-hyeun and Hwang Jun-peong stared at each other, both standing in the open-air corridor.

"That is disappointing," Su-hyeun said.

Tramp, tramp—

"Well, I still have time."

"What the hell are you…?" Hwang Jun-peong asked.

Hwang Jun-peong couldn't believe the man who stood in front of him. This didn't make any sense. It had only been two years since Su-hyeun became an awakener. But Hwang Jun-peong became an awakener eight years ago. There was no way Su-hyeun should have been capable of matching his skill.

"Is it a gap in talent?" he wondered.

But he did not want to admit it to himself.

"I'll ask again—what the hell are you!"

Whoosh—

Hwang Jun-peong's magic started to twist out of a mix of blind jealousy and anger. His hands stiffened with ferocious magic. At the same time, scales began to grow all over his body.

Crunch, crunch—

Two horns sprouted out from Hwang Jun-peong's head. Wings sprouted from his back. His eyes turned reptilian. He had become some sort of an unholy cross between man and beast.

"Dragonize skill."

It was one of the ten most powerful skills in the history of awakeners. Su-hyeun had gained the strength of Imoogi with the transfiguration skill, but it was not in any way comparable to Dragonize. His transfiguration skill simply mimicked the Imoogi, but Dragonize actually transformed a human into a dragon.

"Huuu—"

A hazy breath flowed out from Hwang Jun-peong's mouth. His face looked like a mixture of human and dragon. His size had increased as well to become twice as large as he was before.

"Yes," Hwang Jun-peong said.

Flap—

Hwang Jun-peong spread his wings to their full span. "As you said, let's end this now."

He narrowed his eyes at Su-hyeun. Then suddenly, Hwang Jun-peong's body quickly disappeared.

Whiz—

Boom—!

Hwang Jun-peong's body appeared in front of Su-hyeun. He struck Su-hyeun with his open palm. Su-hyeun raised his sword and blocked it in the nick of time. The floor beneath him gave out and he began to fall. Hwang Jun-peong spread his wings and flew after Su-hyeun. But that was a mistake.

Whoosh—!

Slash, slash—!

Minor wounds were carved on the body of Hwang Jun-peong.

Slash—!

One of them was quite deep. Hwang Jun-peong recoiled from the strike and quickly flew back up.

"Where are you going?"

Crack—

Su-hyeun grabbed Hwang Jun-peong's wing from behind. Hwang Jun-peong urgently tried to shake off Su-hyeun's hand, but he couldn't.

"What the… He is too strong…"

He saw the scales on Su-hyeun's body. It looked similar to his skill, but he thought it was just an imitation. The Dragonize enabled him to truly unite with a dragon. He thought there was no awakener in existence who could match his power.

"Out you go!"

Flap, flap—

Hwang Jun-peong desperately flew up to shake off Su-hyeun. But Su-hyeun's hand maintained the firm grip on the wing.

Crack—

"…!"

Finally, Su-hyeun pulled one of Hwang Jun-peong's wings from his back.

"Argh!"

Hwang Jun-peong screamed at the loss of the wing. He turned his body and swung his arm.

Rip—

His claws tore through the air. Su-hyeun easily avoided all the attacks and fell down.

"Damn…"

The pain from the amputated wing still remained and caused Hwang Jun-peong to moan. He stared at Su-hyeun as he fell. Despite the pain, Hwang Jun-peong didn't care much about the loss of his wing.

"I can recover in a few days," he thought.

The dragons didn't actually use their wings for flight, but magic. So he could still move freely in the air. Now, it was time to focus on killing Su-hyeun.

Whoosh—!

Hwang Jun-peong rushed toward Su-hyeun as he was in freefall. His ten claws were sharp as blades. Su-hyeun did not dodge them. Instead, he channeled his magic into his sword and swung at Hwang Jun-peong.

Craaack—!

Boooom—!

Hwang Jun-peong used his massive weight to crash into Su-hyeun, slamming his body on what remained of the building.

Ruuumble—

A huge hole formed in the center of the building. Hwang Jun-peong continued to slam Su-hyeun through the building, all the way to the bottom. Once they reached the bottom, Hwang Jun-peong breathed heavily and then flew back up.

Gasp, gasp—

The eyes of the dragon flashed through the cloudy dust. Hwang Jun-peong's gaze was fixed hard on Su-hyeun.

Clack, clack—

Su-hyeun lay on the ground, then rose up again as if it was nothing.

Drip, drip, drip—

But blood freely flowed down Hwang Jun-peong's chest. It was a very deep cut. Su-hyeun's sword had sliced through the dragon's scales and skin and actually managed to cut into the flesh. The amount of bleeding was significant. The wounds from earlier still hadn't healed yet, and these only compounded the problem.

"What the hell is this guy…?" he thought.

Hwang Jun-peong thought Su-hyeun would be dead by now. But he barely had a scratch on him. Hwang Jun-peong had planned to overwhelm Su-hyeun with his Dragonize skill, but it didn't work. The battle wasn't over yet, but…

"I should admit. I can't win against that bastard," he thought.

Hwang Jun-peong had a vague understanding of this outcome ever since Su-hyeun revealed his power. But he had wanted to deny those thoughts. He had tried to fight. And this was the result.

"I should run away," he thought.

For the first time in his life, he actually had some fear that death was imminent.

Flop—

Hwang Jun-peong started to move using one wing. And at that moment, Su-hyeun's body quickly moved.

Whiz—

After a few leaps, the distance quickly narrowed down. Hwang Jun-peong could not run away.

"If that's the case…" he thought. His gaze turned to the awakeners who crowded around the building and civilians who were evacuating from afar. "I will buy myself at least a little time."

Flop—

Hwang Jun-peong moved without hesitation. He flew down toward the nearest awakeners.

"Help me!" Hwang Jun-peong shouted in an urgent voice.

Many awakeners had been taking precautions against him. Doubts were raised when they heard his human voice. At first, they thought he was a monster, but now they began whispering amongst themselves.

"H-human?"

"Is that not a monster?"

"So is he the terrorist then?"

"I have no idea what they're talking about, but I'd better come up with a good explanation…" Hwang Jun-peong thought.

"I'm Hwang Jun-peong."

"Hwang Jun-peong?"

"Oh, it's true! Look carefully!"

"Re-really?"

"Is Hwang Jun-peong an awakener?"

Fortunately for him, many people recognized his face. His figure was a little changed, but people could still notice him.

Hwang Jun-peong started to speak again with relief. "Yes. I'll explain the details later, but can you help me—"

Swish—

Clank—!

Hwang Jun-peong turned quickly and opened his hands. Su-hyeun had caught up to him and stabbed him in his back. The magic spread widely in all directions. The awakeners around them quickly retreated as far back as possible.

"What…what the?"

"Is he the real terrorist?"

It was a different level of battle. Hwang Jun-peong could not bear the power of Su-hyeun's sword and stepped back. When he was this close to Su-hyeun, the first emotion he felt was fear.

"Damn it…" he thought.

It would be difficult to run away in this situation.

Hwang Jun-peong shouted out loud, "Help me! He's the terrorist!"

There were about hundreds of awakeners from the twelve guilds. Individually, each of their ability might not be good enough. But if they combined all their power together, they might have a chance.

"This is what I call reversing the situation," Hwang Jun-peong thought.

He believed in the power of his name. In China—all over the world, in fact—the name Hwang Jun-peong was well-known. And though Su-hyeun's name was also well-known, not many people actually knew his face.

"What do I have to do…" Zhu In thought.

At the appearance of these two, Zhu In felt embarrassed. Looking at the situation, he felt like he should help Hwang Jun-peong, but it was not easy to make a decision. He had doubts Although Hwang Jun-peong had been known as a civilian before, now it turned out he was an awakener. The whole situation was incomprehensible. And then, in that moment…

Grrr—!

Miru revealed his teeth and roared at Hwang Jun-peong. Immediately after, Miru sprang out at Hwang Jun-peong.

"Miru!" Su-hyuen called.

Miru halted flapping his wings and came to a stop.

"It's dangerous, so stay away."

The dragon's reaction was all the evidence Zhu In needed to be convinced. He could at long last tell who had sent the note asking to evacuate the civilians.