The Hero Returns

Chapter 544

Craaack'!

A spear shaft was ripped apart before it was crushed.

While being shoved back, Ares furrowed his brow deeply at the stinging pain coming from his palm. He strengthened his legs just in time to cancel out the force pushing him back, only for a club to close in on him rapidly.

Whoosh'!

He bent backward to barely evade the incoming club.

Just before he could swing his short spear to counterattack...

Smack'!

"What?"

Ares's figure became airborne before getting flung backward.

Tumble, crash'!

He flew back before tumbling and rolling on the ground. Soon after landing, Ares staggered back up to his feet. Half of his face was now swollen and hurt.

"Thank you for your hard work," Hercules thanked Ares while bowing his head.

However, Ares thrust forward his short spear and replied, sounding as if his pride had been wounded, "It's not over yet."

"No, it is over," Hercules pointed with his chin, signaling Ares to look.

Only then did Ares check the state of the short spear in his grip. He couldn't tell when it happened, but the spear had been bent completely sideways, making it useless as a weapon.

Right at the same time, his barely sustained willpower finally let go, and he lost all of his strength in his body.

Plop'

His legs continued to tremble, and he couldn't rouse up any strength in his torso.

Ares couldn't understand how he was able to stand a second ago. He also couldn't believe that getting hit only once was responsible for his current state.

"Then again..."

With his head still stuck on the floor, he barely managed to scan his surroundings.

"It's the same story for everyone else."

Currently, they were below Olympus but on top of some clouds.

Countless gods had descended here at the moment. Their purpose was to act as a sparring partner for one particular individual.

The ranks of the gods included Ares, Artemis, Athena, and even Hades. Aside from them, other gods with some fame in Olympus were all lying sprawled on the floor at the moment.

This scene was the product of a single man.

"Excellent."

Clap, clap...

Someone clapping approached Hercules from behind.

The latter already knew that someone was behind him, however. Hercules turned around and offered his greeting, "You're back, father."

"Yes, I am. And it seems that your efforts are paying off rather handsomely."

"It's all thanks to you, father. Uncle and my other older siblings were of great help, too."

"Is that so?"

Zeus narrowed his eyes.

Right at that moment, Hercules raised his arm resting by his side and powerfully swung his club.

Pazzzik'

Kaaaa-boooom'!

Arcs of lightning energy exploded as Zeus's fist collided against Hercules's club. The Thunder God's arm was thrown up, exposing his unguarded chest.

Hercules held back his fist. He could've punched just now but chose not to.

The confirmation was already over, anyway.

"Truly excellent."

"Thank you, father." Hercules bowed his head before looking up to ask, "Is it about to begin?"

"Yes."

"It seems that I can finally repay your kindness, father. The reason why I was born as your son was for this upcoming battle, after all."

"I'm sorry."

For the first time in his life, Zeus bowed his head at a child carrying his bloodline.

Zeus had sired countless children in his long life, but in truth, he wanted only one type of offspring. It was none other than the perfect inheritor of his bloodline, like Hercules.

He also had a single goal, and it was to prepare for the battle against Vishnu. Ironically, Hercules was born last among his children and was also the least loved'all because he was the perfect offspring.

"It doesn't matter, father. If we fail to stop that creature, my wife and children will disappear."

"My son." Zeus called Hercules "son" for the first time. "Allow me to say this. I prayed that you weren't it."

"What do you mean?"

"If my goal were to sire the perfect offspring, I wouldn't have sought out a mortal woman."

Hercules stood wordlessly after hearing that. He remained expressionless as he turned around. "That isn't much of a consolation, I have to say."

Those words felt like cold daggers stabbing Zeus's heart. However, just as Zeus's head faltered, Hercules finished the rest of his reply. "I never really needed consolation."

"What'?"

"Let us hurry. We can't afford to be late, after all."

Hercules slung the club on his back and then put the lion's hide on his head and shoulders.

Zeus stood there in a bit of a daze. He stared at the back of Hercules, trudging away, his heart softening a little at the thought of finally receiving his son's forgiveness.

"My son."

"Yes?"

"It's this way, not over there."

Hercules made a sheepish face when he heard that and quickly turned around in the other direction.

It was time to depart.

* * *

KA-BOOM'!

Gu-gugugugugu'

The ground was gouged out. Collapsing walls of soil flooded down into the crater. Watching this spectacle from afar, Lang Mei slowly shook her head, "They are getting even more violent now..."

The sparring sessions between Sun Wukong and the Bull Demon King began when the dungeons stopped appearing, and the two of them were still at it even now.

She couldn't figure out what they were sparring for. They would occasionally stop so that the Bull Demon King could enjoy mealtimes with Lang Mei. However, Sun Wukong wouldn't touch any food whatsoever, including meat, his favorite.

He was fasting, which was rather a rare thing for him.

"Besides all that, just how many days has it been...?"

Their sparring this time has been continuing for a while.

In the Path to Reincarnation, days and nights were quite long. Yet, several nights had already passed by. Lang Mei even got tired of watching and fell asleep several times when she spectated from a distance.

Even when she woke up, she would still find the two of them fighting. That seemed unsurprising since Sun Wukong, who had an infinite magical energy supply, was battling the Bull Demon King, who was much stronger than he was.

"Still, I think he's holding up a lot better than at the beginning."

Initially, Sun Wukong couldn't even lay a hand on the Bull Demon King. Their fights looked like that of an adult toying with a child.

If the Bull Demon King wanted to extend the sparring session, he did so. If he wanted to end it quickly, he ended it quickly.

Whichever it was, though, the sparring never went past one day.

"And my husband looks a little tired, too..."

Sun Wukong's entire figure was already soaked in sweat by now. The Bull Demon King also seemed to be exerting a bit of strength as his face was covered in sweat, too.

Was there a reason they had to fight this intensely?

Just as she began questioning that...

Whooooosh'

A breeze blew past Lang Mei. This particular breeze didn't seem different from any other breezes, but she could hear a "voice" from it.

Lang Mei stopped spectating the fight and urgently got up from the spot she had been sitting on for a while. Then, she loudly yelled, "Both of you! Please come over here!"

Her voice stopped the Bull Demon King's Mixed Iron Rod and Sun Wukong's Ruyi Jingu Bang dead in their tracks.

The two men hesitated slightly before withdrawing their weapons. Sun Wukong wobbled as if he would collapse at any second, so the Bull Demon King helped him up.

"This much should be enough, Wukong."

"I still haven't won, you know? So what do you mean, enough?"

"Winning against me right now is impossible. This issue cannot be overcome simply by giving it your all, after all. How many times did I tell you not to be too impatient?"

"Urgh... More nagging..."

Sun Wukong waved his hand to signal that he didn't want to hear anymore. It felt like he would pass out at any moment now, but he endured it through sheer willpower.

The Bull Demon King chuckled slightly after finding this sight rather commendable. Seeing that rare change in the First Brother's expression brought on a more noticeable grin on Sun Wukong's face.

"Please hurry up, you two," Lang Mei urged them again, prompting the Bull Demon King to use the Earth Shrink Technique.

After arriving before Lang Mei with Sun Wukong in tow with just one step, he carefully put his Third Brother down and asked his spouse, "What happened, dear?"

"It's'" Lang Mei looked troubled, not knowing where to start but eventually, she slowly said, "Buddha, he..."

* * *

Driiip'

Hiss, sizzle...

Buddha's skin was burning up red-hot until it appeared to be cooked. Meanwhile, blood poured out from his severed wrist and ankle.

With one of his eyes gouged out, Buddha had to keep his other eye open wide so that he could continue to stare at his front and do his best to endure.

"You sure are working hard, aren't you?" Vishnu praised him.

How many months had it been?

Buddha felt that it had been simply far too short. Compared to billions of years he spent preparing to stop Vishnu, these last few months were cruelly short, indeed.

"It's still not enough, you see."

"No, you've done enough."

Enough, he said. What a tempting notion that was.

No matter how much you've become accustomed to pain, it would be impossible not to entertain the idea of stopping and taking a break from the pain itself. Of course, unless you actually enjoyed it.

"No, maybe I haven't overcome the pain yet."

Buddha realized how crafty and insidious Vishnu's statement was.

Vishnu simply said that Buddha had done enough.

However, that statement was enough to shake up Buddha's psyche. To think that Vishnu would say, "You've done enough" after inflicting such horrifying pain that even made the hellfire burning in the depths of the netherworld seem as sweet as ice cream...

Those words were so sweet that Buddha's willpower almost melted down in an instant.

"As I thought, I cannot permit you to go any further."

"What makes you persist like this? Once you disappear, none of the things before me will matter to you."

That was certainly a fundamental question that shook up the very concept of one's real purpose.

If Buddha lacked asceticism training, his resolve could've been shaken up, forcing him to give up right now.

But...

"No individual is more important than the collective, you see. I'm quite happy with where I am."

"Sacrificing yourself? How noble of you."

"I shall take that as a compliment, and I would much prefer for us to continue conversing like this. I can certainly talk for a lifetime."

This was Buddha's genuine wish.

He didn't want to fight any more if he could help it. He forbid the very act of murder his entire life, so fighting like this was never a pleasant thing for him.

One saving grace here would be that he was one-sidedly getting beaten up at the moment. This fight caused his flesh to hurt, but at least his heart didn't suffer as much.

"Getting extinguished completely is far scarier than death itself. Are you not scared?"

"My life shouldn't even have lasted a hundred years, yet I've managed to hold on to it for this long. I've enjoyed an abundant life so far already, so what meaning is there for me to keep holding on?"

Here was the reason why Buddha could throw himself away without any regrets.

"It would've been nice if this universe was filled with people like you."

"Would you have stopped yourself if that had been the case?"

"Probably. But I've already given up."

"What do you mean, given up?"

"I thought that sooner or later, a perfect universe would be created. By repeating the process dozens, hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of times, I hoped that at least once, we'd get the perfect, ideal universe."

"And you've given up on that dream?"

"Shiva has decided to destroy this universe, which indicates that this universe is also hopeless."

"Sounds like you decided that without actually seeing it for yourself."

"Making that decision isn't my role, after all. And my dream was never attainable, it seems."

Vishnu's dream was grandiose and idealistic: a perfect, ideal universe.

However, as "perfection" couldn't realistically exist, he planned for a very long time and strived to achieve it someday.

But in the end, Vishnu ran out of patience.

"Let me ask you one thing."

"Go ahead."

Whooong'

Splurt, splaaat'

The moment Vishnu replied, blood began bursting out from the wounds on Buddha's body. It seemed that Vishnu wanted to end their chat after this exchange.

"The perfection you were thinking of, just what was it?"

Buddha couldn't understand Vishnu's point of view.

Just what was the goal of Vishnu when creating the universe? What kind of a universe did he even want?

Buddha even felt a pang of pity for Vishnu, who couldn't achieve what he desired in the end.

"If I knew that, I would've created it in the first place."

"I see. I asked something unnecessary, then."

Clap'!

Buddha slammed his palms together for one last time.

[Sahasrabhuja Sahasranetra]

Thousands of hands materialized all around Buddha. The severed hand belonged to one of these many arms.

So, this was indeed his last stand.

However, he didn't feel any special impression of it.