The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

Not yet.

Davey knew he couldn’t let them catch Eclipse’s attention.

‘Get back! Keep Perserque out of range!’

He sent his message to Rinne using internal energy, her eyes widening in response.

“Mm-mn, let’s have more fun!!”

Eclipse didn’t even notice how Davey had changed the surroundings. Instead, she spread her hands.

The space tore apart, black flames burst out, and the entire area went through instant desertification. The surroundings became covered in sand like a desert.

‘A desert in Korea… This will be tough to restore.’ Davey thought.

But of course, Davey had more pressing things to worry about—his life. Eclipse's attacks had grown more precise and intense, far more threatening than before. They had shifted from area-of-effect moves to targeted strikes, making them incomparably stronger.

Crack!!

Davey swung Super Ribbon toward Eclipse who slightly turned her head to avoid it—missing his critical blow, he put himself in extreme jeopardy. Without hesitation, he immediately tried to distance himself, but she was faster than him. She instantly grabbed his arm, twisted and broke it at a strange angle, and then slammed her body into his abdomen.

“Gaaa!!”

The enormous shock that belied her small body spread through his own, robbing him of control of his body. She then opened her small, rosebud mouth toward him as he floated in the air.

Whoosh…

At the same time, the space behind her distorted and a huge dragon head appeared. An unimaginably scorching breath, stronger than those before, swallowed Davey up and split the sky apart.

‘Holy shit is it hard to hold on—Jesus Christ!’

***

Perserque, witnessing the disaster caused by Eclipse, looked up at the sky with a pale face.

As the overwhelmingly powerful breath engulfed Davey and came close to reaching her, Rinne flashed in front of Perserque.

[Protocol Online]

[Operate Goddess of Battle]

A mechanical voice came out from Rinne’s mouth, and her three pairs of wings instantly spread out. She also had beautiful Valkyrie armor wrapped around her body.

“Rinne highly evaluates the divine armor Brynhildr.”

Thud!!

The ring above her head transformed into a geometric shape, grew larger, and left her head to form a massive barrier in front of her.

Vwoom!!!

The aftereffects of the breath surrounded the entire area. Both Rinne and Perserque struggled to comprehend the situation, but they could tell that Davey had a plan—at least, it seemed clear that he was going to do something about the situation.

"But… that…”

Suddenly, Perserque, who saw Eclipse panting after firing her breath, noticed something strange. She saw that the girl’s shoulders and legs were covered in a red light.

“Huff, huff!!”

Davey emerged from the smoke, covered in blood. He then tried to get closer while tanking all her hits.

"Davey! You’re so sturdy!”

"I know. Now I’m going to give you a struggle.”

"Huh?"

As she looked at him with curiosity, he reached for her solar plexus and said, "Let me take you down in one try."

***

With those words, the red light on her arms, legs, and solar plexus blinked for an instant and created an enormous sigil.

“Huh?!”

“It might not have hurt before, but this time it’s definitely going to sting.”

She was strong, no doubt about it. But now, with Davey being stronger than before and having her Absolute Gem, no way she’d be as superior as a battle tank fighting simple archers..

“Cough!”

She frowned and stepped back as if her strength had suddenly been overloaded—Davey wasn’t going to miss his chance.

"Ah?”

She gasped as he lunged toward her despite being covered in wounds.

“Da…vey?”

He stretched his hand toward her, looking back at him with an innocent face.

“Please, please. I hope Hercules didn’t like her for her personality.”

[1st Grade Great Sorcery]

[Immovable Heavenly Formation]

Davey mixed the five sigils together to form a sigil that he hoped would bind and weaken her.

“This is no different from my sorcerer teacher’s secret technique.”

“Ugh?!”

The power his teacher, Sorcerer Woochi, used when dealing with the final enemy was, of course, very effective. It was even more effective because they were on Earth. Granted, he recognized the fact that she wasn't fully materialized, and while she looked fine on the outside, something had clearly gone wrong during the fight with Katshi that could have contributed to the effectiveness of the attack as well.

“Ugh... Eclipse’s body isn’t moving!”

She was taken aback, flailing and screaming, but Davey didn’t have the strength to respond. He had dragged Eclipse all the way here without caring for himself, nearly harming himself just to meet the conditions of the magic.

With this in mind, he placed his hands on her shoulders, praying that his spell would work, and released all his devil mana.

The level of demigod.

He activated the passive effect of the Transcendental Level Dark Magic, Imperfection Death Lord. All the souls were in his hands, and the caliber of the souls would change according to his will.

[The King of the Dead has returned]

[I command you in the name of the Imperfection Death Lord.]

[Open the Night of the Dead.]

In an instant, his entire body was enveloped by ghostly energy, and the world changed as if the world had turned to purple.

Boom!!!

The gate to the underworld opened, briefly disrupting the rules of the world.

It was ironic that the magic he had never succeeded in casting before, not even in the Hall of Heroes, worked now that he had ascended as a demigod. As the magic's aftereffects spread, both Perserque and his bodies collapsed as their souls escaped. Meanwhile, Eclipse's soul seemed to be thrown out for a brief moment but quickly returned to its original state.

Rinne frowned and stumbled, but didn’t fall. It seemed like she didn’t have a soul since she was an artificial life form with an ego. Even though she had transformed into a Sephiroth, she was different from the real Rinne of the past—just a replica with the same memories.

In the end, Davey and Perserque were the only ones whose souls had escaped. It was impossible to extract Eclipse's soul; the best he could do was bind it for a while. Of course, that had been the plan from the beginning, which was why he had used sorcery to hinder and weaken her power.

Now the bowl was prepared, Davey stretched out both hands in spiritual form, reaching for the spirits swirling around like they were caught in a whirlwind. He forcibly hijacked all the souls in the cycle of reincarnation, turning the entire area into something like a real underworld.

This was where Davey felt most at home. He reached out for the soul most precious to him. At the same time, a light green sphere formed into a person-shaped cluster of light and came into his arms—it was none other than Perserque’s soul.

Her spirit looked just like her usual self. This was because he had opened the door to the underworld—others wouldn’t be able to tell. Her spirit body held in his arms, she looked at him with a surprised expression.

[Davey!]

“Don’t say anything. Just trust me,” he said in his spirit form while hugging her tightly.

The heroes each peaked in one field of expertise. Davey knew he wouldn't be able to achieve that level, but unlike the other heroes, he was proud of being the only one in the Hall of Heroes who did everything he could, using any means to achieve his goal.

[One must receive something in turn after giving something. I am your Lamb and your first servant. My rank is the Trader of God.]

‘I will bring Thanatos to you. If you dare to bestow a part of your great spirit upon me, and if you remove the damn creature attached to my wife, then in return I will do one thing you ask me to do,’ Davey prayed.

He then heard a feeble voice echo.

[A poor trader who resists their fate, even though it won't change no matter how many times you try to repeat it. Even if the path ahead is full of regrets, I pity you.]

‘Ha, what’s with the negativity?’ Davey thought.

Title Effect.

[Possession]

The mighty power of a god began to flow through his body. At the same time, his hair grew long and turned pure white, his eyes becoming a striking blue. Davey's original appearance vanished; he was transformed to take the appearance of Rinne. Pure white wings of indeterminate length spread from his back, and Perserque’s soul began to tremble violently.

He couldn't understand what Goddess Freyja was up to, as it seemed like she wasn’t using all her energy. This brought to his mind the old saying: a guilty conscience needs no accuser.

Rip, rip!

A black fog began to emerge from Perserque's soul. Thanatos, exposed to the powerful spirit of Goddess Freyja, became frightened and tried to flee. If Perserque’s body had been the safest refuge for Thanatos, Davey was determined to destroy that refuge and force Thanatos to move elsewhere. He had a perfect place in mind for Thanatos to go; success was uncertain, but he knew it would definitely be effective.

Her authority and the origin of the Abyss detached from Perserque. Thanatos had completely fallen apart and was then sucked toward Eclipse, who hadn’t resisted and was watching the underworld with a frown.

“Ahh… AHHH!!!”

She let out a painful scream. Eclipse was so strong that she absorbed every soul around her, but as Goddess Freyja’s power descended in Davey, he held Perserque’s soul in place, preventing it from being sucked into Eclipse.

[No!!]

Someone let out a desperate cry.

‘What do you mean “no?” Get lost from my wife’s body already!’ Davey thought.

Then the struggling empty black fog shouted toward Davey

[In the end, nothing will change. You must know my anger. You should know my injustice. You disgusting, repugnant will of the beginning. My anger will never stop!]

Rip… RRRIP!!

The huge wings symbolizing Goddess Freyja began to fall apart. Even with Possession, it was impossible for a mere incarnation to withstand the wrath of a god who realized they had been deceived.

Swoosh… Bang!!

With the sound of a giant door closing, the surrounding environment returned to its original state, and Davey put Perserque’s soul back into her body.

Bang!

Finally, Davey turned his head as his blood-covered body started to recover. Normally, his soul would not be sucked out by opening the gate to the underworld. However, to directly interfere with Perserque’s soul, he also needed to become a spirit body, which required him to drastically reduce his resistance. This left him in an extremely weakened state.

Eclipse, who Davey believed to have absorbed the origin of Thanatos, soon began to run wild.

“Ahh… Ahhh!!”

Cold sweat ran down Davey’s body as he watched her shake and convulse. He had given divine authority to an already powerful enemy—now, there was almost no chance of him beating her. But this didn't matter since he never intended to fight Eclipse in the first place.

“Ellaim, thanks for hanging in there. Let’s finish this.”

A magic circle made of water swirled in all directions, and the floor turned into a water mirror. Eclipse's body was once again sucked into a transport rift. As Davey saw the rampaging Eclipse get pulled in, he took out a communication device from his Pocket Plane and put it over his ear.

“Kain, close the door within ten seconds.”

Davey knew he didn’t have to worry about Eclipse coming out once she was dragged into the Abyss. The authority of the Abyss he had taken out from Perserque, the origin of Thanatos, had seeped into Eclipse, who was deemed the safest place for it.

This meant that the moment the door to the Abyss closed, Eclipse would also be trapped inside.. Davey knew trapping both the most dangerous and highest-potential enemies in the Abyss and closing the door forever was the best way to end this damn war.

Of course, if it weren’t for the voice that followed.

[I can’t let you do that.]

He recognized this voice. It was Verdandi.

Davey widened his eyes when he heard Verdandi and not Kain. He quickly realized something was wrong, and was about to move, when two Princesses of the Abyss blocked his path. One was Urd, the monster-like princess who had driven him to the brink of death. The other was a small princess wearing round glasses whom he had seen when the Abyss was snatching demon races.

‘What was her name again? Was it Skuld…?’ Davey thought.

He tried to silently bypass the two Princesses of the Abyss, but the fact that he had worn out his body for this one chance remained unchanged. He had not expected this kind of betrayal at all—he now realized he should have considered the possibility.

Swoosh!!!!

Verdandi interfered with Kain’s ritual in the final stages, and Urd and Skuld blocked Davey’s path.

Davey gritted his teeth and asked, “Any reason… cough… Tell me, you fucking bitch. So you were on the side of the Abyss too?”

‘After struggling so hard to escape the Abyss? Everything was perfect. How dare you ruin it!?’ Davey thought.

She then responded to his fury with a saddened voice.

[I was on your side, but this time I just couldn’t… I couldn't follow your plan.]

"What?" Davey responded.

[Because you forced one sacrifice to prevent another.]

She replied sadly.

Davey quietly stumbled at her words. This reminded him of the voice of the goddess he hadn’t heard in a long time.

[A poor trader who resists their fate, even though it won't change no matter how many times you try to repeat it. Even if the path ahead is full of regrets, I pity you.]

Perhaps she knew things would turn out this way.

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