The Hero Returns

Bang—

Rumble, ka-boom—!

Sun Wukong's figure went up in flames after a punch landed on him. Behind the burning figure was a different clone of Sun Wukong throwing a punch in Su-hyeun's direction.

Rumble—

Su-hyeun's body transformed into flames and vanished from the spot. What happened was that he used Transformation to dodge the attack and reappear above the head of the clone.

Su-hyeun thew a punch one more time.

KA-BOOM—!

Fwhoooosh—!

The clone was enveloped in deadly flames. Having dealt with two more Sun Wukong clones, Su-hyeun took a brief time composing himself and scanning his vicinity.

"Ten left."

Only 10 clones remained now, but the problem wasn't with their number.

"The real one must be among them."

Only by locating the real Sun Wukong would this fight end. However, Su-hyeun hadn't found him until now.

"Wait, the real body…?"

Only then did Su-hyeun realize that something was weird here.

Out of the initial hundreds, only 10 remained.

Despite this, he still hadn't discovered the real Sun Wukong yet. It could be down to the weird quirk of the percentages, but that explanation didn't quite feel right.

For instance, if the real Sun Wukong only acted passively to avoid Su-hyeun's attention, then that would've made it easier to find him a long time ago. Besides, Sun Wukong was definitely not that type of person to begin with.

"Meaning he was never among them in the first place."

The moment Su-hyeun realized this fact…

"Expand."

Whoosh—

Plough—!

The ground rumbled, and then, the spot Su-hyeun stood on suddenly caved in.

"Ruyi!"

KA-BOOM—!

Ruyi Jingu Bang exploded out of the ground just then.

However, as the staff began shooting up, Su-hyeun punched down right on top of it.

[Thunder Dragon – Miru]

[Crimson Phantom Fist]

KA-BOOM—!

The collision stung his fist, proving that this Ruyi Jingu Bang was the real deal.

"I thought we were fighting without weapons?" Su-hyeun asked Sun Wukong as the latter emerged from the ground after retracting his staff.

His eyes, now completely transformed into golden irises, still burned with fierce fighting spirit despite how long it had been since the start of the fight.

"Well, it's the second round, you see."

"Is that so?"

Ka-ga-gak—!

Su-hyeun unsheathed his sword.

"Second round, hmm…."

They now aimed their staff and sword at each other.

The 10 Sun Wukong clones took some distance and spread out. It seemed that they were planning to assist in the real body's fight.

"Even though he said that…"

Sun Wukong might have said that, but he should've instinctively realized it by now—this joyous battle he had been waiting for so long was entering its closing stages.

In other words, the battle was nearing climax.

Paht—!

The two's figures vanished from the spot.

CLAAANG—

A sword and a staff collided in the center of the arena. However, the collision noises didn't stop and continued as if it was one sound.

"Huh…?"

"What's this? I can't see a damn thing!"

"Are they even fighting right now?"

This was too different from watching a battle where Ruyi Jingu Bang suddenly enlarged, lightning bolts and firestorms raged on, fists went flying, and one was fighting against hundreds of enemies.

Not a single person among the spectators could "watch" this part of the fight between the two men. That was because it was unfolding at a speed that transcended this world's norm and reached a whole new realm—perhaps, even a different time flow, too.

After the two exchanged hundreds of blows, Su-hyeun's sword came slamming down on top of Ruyi Jingu Bang.

[One Sword Cutting Through Everything – Great Mountain Splitter]

Spliiit—!

Gu-gugugugu—

A truly incredible sense of weight caused Sun Wukong to stumble for a moment. However, that brief opening was all Su-hyeun needed.

"Come!"

In the air above the arena, dense, gloomy clouds had gathered before anyone had noticed them. Within the darkness of the clouds, dragons emitting golden-orange and azure lights writhed ominously.

[Rain of Thunder Dragons]

For a very brief moment just then, a blindingly gorgeous spectacle unfolded in the air above the arena. And then…

"Descend!"

"Expand—"

The moment Su-hyeun issued his command, innumerable dragons began descending on top of Sun Wukong's head.

"Ruyi—!"

<hr />

Shatter—

The sound of something breaking could be heard.

Although it became a faint little noise amid the deafening roars of the thunderclaps, Su-hyeun still clearly heard it.

The burst of light was so blinding, and it didn't dissipate for a long while. It was the same story for the hot electrical currents utterly filling up the arena.

The 10 remaining Sun Wukong clones were extinguished, returning to their original form of hair strands.

It proved challenging to sense the flow of time when you were blinded by the burst of light, preventing you from seeing anything.

Even so, the light grew weaker with every passing second.

The whole arena was charred black. Su-hyeun hurriedly searched for Sun Wukong within this devastation.

Finding him wasn't that hard, however. After all, a burnt body next to the broken Ruyi Jingu Bang was easy to spot.

Su-hyeun used Earth Shrink to reach the side of Sun Wukong quickly. Even if the latter possessed the Godhood of Immortality, Su-hyeun still couldn't help but worry.

"Third Brother," Su-hyeun gently shook Sun Wukong's still figure.

However, the Monkey King didn't respond.

"Third Brother?"

Su-hyeun, feeling a bit more anxious, strengthened his hand shaking Sun Wukong.

But then…

"Got ya!"

No reaction.

"What the heck. You aren't even surprised?" Sun Wukong shouted while opening his eyes.

It seemed that he wanted to pull a prank, but Su-hyeun was visibly unmoved. While Sun Wukong looked disappointed by this flat reaction, Su-hyeun sighed in relief, "I thought something had happened to you just now, Third Brother."

"I told you this before, though? I can't be killed."

"Even so, there's always that off chance, isn't there?"

"If there really is something like that, then I would have died a long, long time ago, little bro." While saying that, Sun Wukong moved his aching body with some difficulty and laid down spread-eagle on the ground.

Maybe lying face down wasn't as comfortable for him.

"Argh, I lost!"

"Are you unhappy?"

"Nah, not really. It's like, you'd feel unhappy if you can think of a way to win in the first place," Sun Wukong began complaining with a pout.

The impressions Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong got during their fierce battle were remarkably different from each other. While Su-hyeun always successfully defended himself and never allowed any fatal attacks to land, Sun Wukong couldn't find a way to defeat Su-hyeun no matter what he tried.

"It's my complete loss."

"You've become a lot stronger yourself, Third Brother. You are stronger than First Brother when I fought him before his ascension."

"Is that so? Hey, are you really saying I'm stronger than First Brother now?" Sun Wukong's expression brightened from Su-hyeun's assessment, only for it to become gloomy again, "Urgh… I want to see First Brother again."

After muttering that, Sun Wukong's eyes slowly closed as if he ran out of energy. He slipped into a restful slumber while loudly snoring away.

With that, the crazy event was over.

[The Ranking Wars' event match has concluded.]

"Well, hmm," Su-hyeun looked around the arena, then muttered in a slightly concerned voice, "Can the tournament even continue like this, I wonder?"

<hr />

[Ranking Wars halted, arena under repair after event match]

[Potential venue change for the Ranking Wars? Gordon Company's actions?]

[Kim Su-hyeun's warning: What is the ‘war' he speaks about?]

[Who is Sun Wukong? He's the real Great Sage, Heaven's Equal?!]

Although the Ranking Wars had to be stopped, people's excitement levels continued to soar through the roof.

The spectators went home and began talking about everything they saw. That battle was truly unprecedented in the history of the Ranking Wars.

As for the tournament itself, it was postponed indefinitely.

However, of the spectators expressed dissatisfaction; the event match happened in the middle of the Ranking Wars, after all. They were already treated to a truly mesmerizing spectacle.

Currently, inside the hospital operated by the Gordon Company located in San Francisco, not just Sun Wukong, but other contestants of the Ranking Wars were admitted.

"What is this sharp thing?" Sun Wukong asked while staring at the IV needle stabbed in his arm.

When he tried to pull it out, Su-hyeun hurriedly stopped him, "It's there to help you, Third Brother.'

"What, this little thing is?"

"Yes. That's why I beg you. Please stay still. Doesn't it still hurt when you try to move around?"

"Hey, dude, I'm alright already. Everything is in tip-top sha—"

Sun Wukong tried to spin his right arm around only to stop mid-sentence and frown deeply. All the burn wounds on his body hadn't healed fully yet.

Su-hyeun sighed again with an expression that said, "See?" then continued, "You've been unconscious for five days straight, you know. It goes without saying that an ordinary individual would have died from all those injuries, Third Brother. That's why you need to rest for a few days more."

"But it's boring here."

"I'll bring you lots of snacks in that case. If you're really bored, then why not watch the videos of the Ranking Wars?"

"Videos? What's that?"

Sun Wukong tilted his head, wondering what "videos" even were. Su-hyeun handed over a tablet PC to him.

It contained the video clips of his fight against Sun Wukong during the Ranking Wars. The Monkey King's eyes bulged out of his sockets as he stared at the tablet's screen. "Ohhhh? What's this?"

"It's the video clips of our fight, Third Brother. Not only that but there are more videos of other people's fights, too. I think this is a good way for you to relax for a bit longer, don't you agree?"

"Hey, this isn't so bad, is it?"

Sun Wukong seemed genuinely intrigued. It was probably his first time watching the clips of his own fight.

Excluding his fights with the Bull Demon King, the battle against Su-hyeun should be Sun Wukong's first real loss. Sure, he did lose in the war against the Heavenly World and got imprisoned in the eight-way trigram Crucible, but that didn't count since it wasn't a one-on-one fight.

What he needed now was to look back on the defeat, starting from the beginning. However, instead of remembering the battle in his head, seeing it through the video clips should be far more helpful to him.

"Besides all that, though, what's gonna happen to the tournament?" Sun Wukong asked while staring at the arena displayed on the tablet PC.

The arena where he collapsed was so badly destroyed that it had basically deeply caved in underground. The floor was burned and scorched, pockmarked by dozens of craters so deep that you couldn't even see where the bottom was.

It wouldn't be strange to see it crumble altogether at this point.

"It's on hold for now for obvious reasons, Third Brother. Until a new avenue can be found, it's being postponed indefinitely."

"Didn't you say you need to go somewhere as soon as this thing is over? What, are you planning to wait?"

"I've already finished what I wanted to do, anyway. I was thinking of withdrawing."

If those spectators still waiting for the Ranking Wars to resume heard him now, they would've keeled over in shock. However, Su-hyeun's goal was never about winning the tournament in the first place, so nothing was stopping him from quitting now.

"Little bro, what you said back then—it's because of ‘that thing,' isn't it?" Sun Wukong began. "I could've fought you at any time, even without the excuse of a tournament, after all. Well, it's true that I got a bit carried away by the atmosphere, but still."

Su-hyeun nodded slowly, "Yes, I did want to warm them all. I also wanted to confirm the levels of the other contestants admitted to this hospital."

"So? What's your verdict, then?"

"There are just way too many problems. Still, it's not too late to start their improvements from here onward."

"Hmm… Should I leave a clone behind here, just in case?"

When Sun Wukong suggested that, Su-hyeun's brows shot up, "Can you really do that, Third Brother?"

"In the past, maybe not, but I think I can do it now. A clone made from my hair can act independently, you see. Even if I'm far away, I think it'll maintain itself somehow."

Sun Wukong shrugged his shoulders before continuing, "Sure, the power of my cloning technique will deteriorate the longer it's been left activated, but it'll still be a hundred times better than the small fries of this planet."

"In that case, please. I'll leave it to you."

From Su-hyeun's perspective, he had nothing to lose by accepting this offer.

Besides, Sun Wukong was capable of creating hundreds of clones at once. Missing one among that many shouldn't lead to a big problem.

On the other hand, just one Sun Wukong clone staying in this world would serve as a massive reassurance. After all, every contestant of the Ranking Wars would need to work together to barely defeat just one clone.

"Alright, so, since you're withdrawing from the tournament, what will you do now? Get going right away?"

"That was my original intention, but I now have somewhere else to go… With you, Third Brother."

"With me? Where?"

Sun Wukong tilted his head again, wondering what was up. His gaze might be locked on the tablet's screen, but his ears were still paying attention.

He couldn't see it, but Su-hyeun was smiling. It was much brighter than any smile he had put on recently, too.

"Didn't you say you wanted to see First Brother again?"

Sun Wukong's eyes that were fixed on the tablet PC quickly sought Su-hyeun's when he heard that.

Su-hyeun continued, "Let's go find him.."