The Hero Returns

* * *

Millie calmed his pounding heart.

Finally, the day had come for him. He had been chosen.

"Lord Brahma has finally selected me."

Brahma—he was the god of freedom and entertainment, and he commanded countless believers under his wings.

Millie, as one of Brahma's believers, pursued a life of freedom and fun throughout his entire life. He believed that doing so was the right way for Brahma's believers to live their lives.

And right at this moment, Millie had no doubt that his life so far had not been in vain.

"Whoa," Millie stepped through the entrance and entered the Altar, and the first thing he did was to let out an exclamation.

The ceiling and the stone walls were so tall that it was hard to grasp just where they ended, while the land below was crimson in hue. Only the chosen ones could enter the Altar, and no one was allowed to leave. That was why no one knew what the inside looked like past its doorway.

"Where is Lord Brahma, though?" Millie scanned his surroundings.

Just as countless Pangaea residents had done before him, he had been thinking that Brahma would be waiting for them the moment they stepped inside the Altar. However, Brahma was nowhere to be seen. Instead, only the first batch of tens of millions of people chosen as offerings could be seen still entering the structure.

"Aha! Our lord will appear only after everyone's inside."

His faith that Brahma would definitely appear hadn't changed at all. Even at this very moment, Millie was reveling in his happiness.

"There sure are a lot of people here."

It was also at that moment that Millie heard a familiar voice.

"Huh? Uncle?"

"Hey, you. I said I'm a 'big brother,' not an 'uncle.'"

It was none other than Su-hyeun.

Millie smirked deeply when Su-hyeun tussled his hair and then asked the older man, "What's this? You've been saying some weird stuff like being an atheist and all that, but in the end, you were also a believer in the Brahma Order?"

"I told you, I'm not."

"But how can you be a chosen, then? This guy, really now." Millie must have thought that Su-hyeun was lying because the boy began playfully elbowing the latter with a smirk on his face.

Of course, Su-hyeun wasn't really interested in what Millie was saying.

Only one thing interested him at this moment.

He asked the boy, "Do you know how many Altars there are for Brahma?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious."

"Ten Altars. From what I heard, other gods also have 10 Altars each."

"Even Kali?"

"Yes. By the way, big brother, you shouldn't refer to the gods so disrespectfully, you know. I mean, you've been chosen as an offering and all, so..."

Su-hyeun couldn't really hear the rest after that. To be more precise, he did hear the rest but promptly ignored it. He didn't hear anything useful, anyway.

"So, then, there are a total of 100 Altars. Around 50 million people are herded inside here, so that's about five billion lives being sacrificed in one go. Which means..." he thought.

An event like this was happening 10 times every year in a hundred different locations.

"Maybe..."

"Sorry?"

"Stay still for a bit, okay?"

"Big brother? What are you—?" Millie squeezed his eyes shut when Su-hyeun reached out to him.

Su-hyeun placed his hand on the boy's head. It was at this moment that he detected something within Millie's skull—a faint little trace of thread-like magical energy.

"I knew it," Su-hyeun quietly muttered to himself.

He had been thinking that something was off with this whole setup.

Any living creature would harbor the instinctive fear of one's death regardless of whether they knew about the existence of the gods. The desire to survive was deeply engraved into one's primal instincts. It was the most basic and strongest desire one had, even.

And as far as Su-hyeun knew, no belief system out there could suppress that instinct to this degree. However, these people didn't seem to be brainwashed nor under some kind of an illusion magic spell either, so he found this whole thing just too weird to behold—until now.

As it turned out, both of his guesses were wrong. His assumption was off by miles.

"Their desire to survive has been sealed away?"

These people didn't fear their impending death.

To a human who lost the desire to survive, their "death" was no longer something to fear. In its place, they ended up believing these fake gods and started fearing not being able to reach the sides of their gods instead.

Rather ironically, though, that seal was gradually getting weaker. It was right after they stepped inside the Altar, no less.

"By the way, if we stay here, we'll die, right?" Cold sweat drops trickled down Millie's forehead.

Su-hyeun glanced at the entrance to the Altar.

THUD—

Once everyone was inside, the doorway was firmly closed shut, and right away...

"H—hey, I'm kind of getting nervous here."

"Yeah, I'm a bit scared, too..."

"Y—you too? W—well, we're about to die, after all..."

"Are you scared of dying?"

"Honestly...a little bit. You?"

"Y—yeah, me too..."

The expressions on the people's faces gradually transformed.

Up until a short while ago, they all resembled a bunch of innocent villagers about to enjoy a festival, but now, negative emotions like fear and anxiety began clouding their faces.

"So, then, the role of these Altars is to undo the sealing placed on these people since their birth," the corners of Su-hyeun's lips distorted into a smile. It wasn't one of amusement but of rage.

"What a stinking hobby this is."

Soon after that, the Altar began quaking ominously.

Ruuuumble—

The Altar that began shaking from its interior unleashed a large quantity of magical energy.

Not long after that...

[The first trial of the Altar will now commence.]

[You must murder at least one person.]

[Those who fail to satisfy this condition in the next one hour will automatically die.]

[Only the one surviving until the end will receive salvation.]

[We pray for Brahma's grace to be with you all.]

"W—what is the meaning of this?!"

"Murder...?"

"Only one person can receive salvation...?"

"What nonsense is this?!"

Many in the confused crowd began muttering among themselves in panic.

Some among them were now saying things that would have been construed as sacrilegious even by their own standards. They were questioning how something this nonsensical could even take place on the Altar of a god they absolutely worshiped, while some others began pleading to be let outside.

The seal suppressing their fear of death had fully come undone at this stage.

On top of this, their hearts were filled with the crazed desire to receive their god's salvation. Rather unsurprisingly, one by one, they chose to do something about it.

"Everyone, stop."

[Predator]

Giiii-iiiing—

Right at that moment, a voice deeply dug into their ear canals and restricted their bodies.

Just two simple words were enough to halt the movements of people who were about to approach each other. Even before their heads had a chance to think, their bodies simply froze up in place.

The same thing happened to Millie. The boy, frightened nearly out of his wits, was planning to escape from here somehow, but the moment he heard Su-hyeun's voice, his body began shivering uncontrollably. His feet didn't want to leave the ground, too.

"B—b—big brother?"

That voice just now? It definitely belonged to Su-hyeun.

He then saw Su-hyeun unsheathed his sword.

Shu-rung—

Su-hyeun was the only one still fully armed among the people inside the Altar. These people had no real reason to bring their weapon in here, after all.

Then, without saying a word, Su-hyeun pointed the tip of his sword up. And then...

[One Sword Cutting Through Everything - Sky Splitter]

Sliiiice—

Split—!

Su-hyeun's blade suddenly shot up and cleanly sliced open the Altar's ceiling.

This ceiling was large enough to blanket the massive land that could house tens of millions of people, yet such a ceiling was oh-so easily split apart like some blocks of tofu.

The chopped-up debris fell, and just as they were about to hit the crowd below...

"Nezha."

Shu-wuwu—

Prince Nezha rose from beneath Su-hyeun's shadow.

Claaack—!

Kiii-iiing—

[Yogoe Capturing Rope]

Six "marble" spread out over a wide area and unfurled a massive barrier. This barrier then ably stopped the debris from falling on top of the people below.

In the meantime, Su-hyeun's sword began pointing in a different direction.

[One Sword Cutting Through Everything - Great Mountain Splitter]

[Palm Leaf]

Split—!

Ka-booooom—!

The large gateway of the Altar was chopped apart, and a humongous storm rushed outside. The doors themselves couldn't withstand the storm winds and got blown outside as well.

"Huh...?"

"T—the exit…it's..."

An exit suddenly presented itself to all these people who had been trapped in here until then.

"W—what should we do now?"

"I, uh, I don't..."

"It feels like something has gone wrong here, so how about we exit first and see?"

"Yeah. That might be a good idea, right?"

Their uncertain murmuring didn't last for long. One's survival instinct was strong enough to override one's reasoning, after all, so the people trapped in here didn't argue for long and began to rush outside the Altar.

"Hey, kid? You should get going, too," Su-hyeun lightly patted Millie's back.

Millie then began walking toward the Altar's exit with an uncertain expression on his face.

After confirming Millie's distancing figure, Su-hyeun shifted his gaze elsewhere.

In the middle of the fleeing crowd was a man who didn't even bother to move, his facial expression completely at odds with everyone else.

Su-hyeun asked, "So, you're the one masquerading as Brahma?"

"And you're yet another Hound, I see."

This creature, which took on the appearance of a man, boasted bronze skin and black hair. Unlike everyone else, it was grinning widely as if it was fully enjoying the current situation or some such.

However, just like all the other Predators, it mistook Su-hyeun as yet another Apostle.

The Predator spoke up, "Do you have any idea what kind of this place this is?"

"Oh? Why don't you tell me?"

"This is where the Goddess of Fighting, Kali, resides, and she was planning to start her favorite pastime, war, quite soon, too."

This pretend Brahma referred to the Predator it served, Kali, as the Goddess of Fighting.

Did that mean they really saw themselves as genuine gods?

When Su-hyeun thought about it, he did hear that the common desire of all the Predators was to become a genuine god.

However, he wasn't interested either way. Whether they called themselves gods or not, he simply thought of them as pitiful, that's all.

"Sure, I already know that and still came here, anyway."

Step—

Su-hyeun stepped past the fleeing crowd and approached Brahma. "Since that's the case, how about we chat like a pair of civilized people? I have a few things to ask you about Kali, you see."

"Chat? What rubbish are you even—?!"

Grab—!

The Predator couldn't finish its sentence, its eyes opening up wide in shock when it sensed a powerful hand grab its throat.

"There are still too many people here, so..."

BANG—!

"Why don't we go somewhere else, then?"

Su-hyeun then leaped from the spot.

Their two figures flew up toward the Altar's ceiling. Su-hyeun continued to activate Leap and rose as high as possible in the sky.

Once he broke past the cloud cover, he scanned the surroundings briefly. He then located a wide-open empty plain where not a single person could be found.

"One, two..." While gripping the Predator's throat, Su-hyeun bent his back and cocked his arm. "Three."

KA-BOOM—!

Fwhoooooosh—

Brahma's body became a single continuous line as it flew down to the ground. It soon struck the middle of the empty plain, spectacularly overturning the ground and creating a deep crater.

KA-BOOOOOM—!

Ruuuumble—

The ground powerfully quaked, as if an earthquake broke out just then.

After throwing Brahma down, Su-hyeun activated Leap again to fly toward the landing zone. The ground was still faintly trembling when he got there, while Brahma, buried deep underground, hadn't extricated itself out from there yet.

"Wait, are you already dead?"

Break—

The moment he said that, a hand broke through the surface at the bottom of the crater. This hand, trembling pathetically, barely pulled the rest of itself out from there. Brahma, its whole body covered in dirt and wounds, wheezed and coughed painfully.

Cough, cough!

"I knew it. If you died from only that much, now that would've been too much of a waste."

It seemed that this Predator's defensive capability was a bit better than that of Tyrant. On the other hand, its regenerative powers seemed much weaker than that of Tyrant. Whatever the case might have been, if it died from a simple attack like that, then the rank of the One Hundred Evils was wasted on this guy.

Brahma barely forced itself to stand back up, its irises powerfully trembling. Underestimating Su-hyeun as another Apostle must have been the source of its troubles because its mind was in complete disarray right now.

It wiped off the smile from earlier and asked Su-hyeun, "You...Just what are you?"

"What do you mean, what am I?"

There could be only one suitable answer for that.

Su-hyeun pointed to the sky and replied, "I'm a god, obviously."