The Hero Returns

"You said you'd oppose me, yet..." Vishnu scanned Shiva and the Bull Demon King. "Yet, it only amounts to... this?"

Whoosh-

SMASH-!

Vishnu's head floated up in the air. The Mixed Iron Rod smashed into his chin, causing his whole body to fly up.

"Thank you for saying 'only'."

Whoosh-

KA-BOOM-!

The Mixed Iron Rod smashed into the abdomen of Vishnu's airborne body, causing a loud explosion noise. That impact flung Vishnu's figure quite far away.

The creature that didn't budge from Hercules's punches was forced to 'move', in other words.

"Because, that means you have let your guard down."

Tap-

The Bull Demon King slung the Mixed Iron Rod over his shoulder.

He wasn't thinking that Vishnu had been dealt with just this. It seemed like a one-sided beatdown, but just like how it was with Hercules earlier, it felt more like Vishnu was allowing the hits to land rather than getting beaten up.

Crack, crackle-

And sure enough, Vishnu stood back up quickly despite the blows from the Mixed Iron Rod.

He held the back of his neck as if his muscles had cramped up, then realigned his distorted bones. It looked like his neck had been snapped backward but he recovered in the blink of an eye.

"So it seems. Your attack certainly hurt."

"That won't be the only thing to hurt you today."

Splaaaash-!

A black line was suddenly drawn on Vishnu's torso. It was from the black sword of Shiva who had appeared behind him without anyone noticing it.

Vishnu reached behind and touched his back.

Some blood stained his hand. As all humanoid-like existences such as Brahma and Shiva were based on Vishnu's form, he too possessed flesh and blood.

"I see that you also bleed like everyone else."

Although the amount was negligible, Vishnu was still bleeding. That alone was enough for Shiva to feel certain about it.

Certain that Vishnu could be killed.

"All of you resemble me, so that's obvious."

"And that means you can be killed just like everyone else, too."

"Hmm. I'm not sure about that. Can I really be killed, I wonder?"

"Let us confirm it for you, shall we?"

Kwa-wuwuwu-

From the step he took forward, the pitch-black current began flooding out.

The surface of the moon instantly decayed as Shiva charged straight towards Vishnu. But, as if he'd not stay still this time, Vishnu extended his hand towards the incoming Shiva.

"Stop."

Giii-iiiing-

Shiva's figure gradually slowed down until it completely stopped moving forward.

Not only that, his body became frozen, rigid. Shiva's brows shot up in shock just as Vishnu continued on with the next part of his command.

"And now, burn."

Rumble, fwhoooosh-

Crimson flames erupted on Shiva's figure.

These flames were easily the hottest he had ever experienced. He couldn't even move a finger on the spot while suffering from the intense heat.

Vishnu simply said a few words. He didn't even need any special preparation, either. And there was no way to dodge such an attack, too. To resist against Vishnu's 'commands', his power was simply too great.

Whooooosh-

Smaaash-!

The Mixed Iron Rod smashed into Vishnu's back.

But the attack didn't land. As if he'd no longer allow any freebies, Vishnu had reached behind him to grab the Mixed Iron Rod mid-air.

But at the same time, Shiva was able to move his arm and wipe away the flames burning on him.

Whoosh-

"Hah..."

It seemed that Vishnu's power restricting Shiva had weakened while trying to stop the Mixed Iron Rod.

Swish-

Even though the initial attack was blocked, the Bull Demon King didn't stop and continued to swing his weapon.

Bang, boom, baaaang-!

KABOOM-!

The continued barrage was blocked over and over again. Vishnu eventually evaded the incoming Mixed Iron Rod, causing the weapon to land on the ground instead.

A massive crater was instantly gouged out. The Bull Demon King's eyes chased after Vishnu only for his brows to shoot up.

"Come, descend."

Goh-ooooooh-

An absolutely massive presence could be sensed coming from above.

The Bull Demon King looked up only to discover something even bigger than expected descending towards the moon.

"...Astonishing."

It was an asteroid.

And it was also beyond massive, too. So big, in fact, that it wouldn't be strange to see the moon disintegrate during the moment of impact.

Leap-!

Right at that moment, one figure among the gods jumped up high towards the sky.

Poof, poof, poof-

Dozens of clones materialized instantly.

"Expand-"

"Expand-"

"Expand-"

Dozens of Sun Wukongs took aim with their copies of Ruyi Jingu Bang.

"Ruyi!"

Ka-blaaaam-!

Dozens of Ruyi Jingu Bangs began forcing the asteroid back. The Bull Demon King retracted his gaze from the falling rock, then began analyzing Vishnu's ability that could stop Shiva's movements, cause flames to erupt and even summon an asteroid out of nowhere.

He tutted unhappily. "Rather versatile, isn't he."

"He's capable of realizing any power he wants through his will alone," said Shiva, still remaining vigilant against Vishnu. "I don't know how much energy he needs to expand to do that, but you should assume that he can basically do whatever he wants. Using his will alone, he can easily massacre measly humans or low-ranked gods."

"Is that how he managed to paralyze you just now?"

"There are just too many variables at play for us to attack Vishnu while assuming that he's simply faster, stronger and tougher than us."

"...Is that so?"

Whoosh, whoosh...

After listening to the brief explanation, the Bull Demon King began spinning his Mixed Iron Rod. "In that case, we should take it up a notch, then."

BOOM-!

The Bull Demon King charged forward.

This charge seemed very straightforward and reckless. But this was his fighting style, the one he felt most familiar with.

Whoooosh, whoosh-

The Bull Demon King arrived next to Vishnu, then took powerful swipe with the Mixed Iron Rod at his target's head, but the attacks missed. Right afterward, the Yogoe's fist shot out toward Vishnu.

KABOOM-!

Crack, crackle, shatter-

A tough, transparent barrier stopped the Bull Demon King's punch. But this barrier soon developed cracks and shattered into pieces instantly.

But right at that moment, the Bull Demon King saw Vishnu's lips move.

"Look up."

"...?"

Ping, pipipipiping-

Countless rays of blue light beams were floating up there.

By the time he noticed them, it was already too late to dodge.

Kwa-wuwuwuwu-

The streaks of light descended and a massive explosion ensued.

Gods hurriedly fled in every direction to escape the radius of the explosion going off with the Bull Demon King in the center. However, tens of thousands of gods still got swept away after failing to flee in time.

Grab-!

"Mm...?"

Vishnu formed a puzzled expression when a hand powerfully grabbed his arm. Someone had managed to survive that explosion.

"I've caught you."

It was none other than the Bull Demon King at the center of the explosion.

"Now, throw."

And right at that moment...!

Fwhoosh-!

A spear came hurtling in, only to brush past Vishnu's head.

* * *

Grab-

Gungnir that missed its target rapidly returned to Su-hyeun's grip.

There were no traces of blood on it. The one opening created through so much hard work and sacrifice went down the drain in a single moment, just like that.

'But just how did he...?'

Su-hyeun believed he accurately hit his target.

The Bull Demon King was definitely restraining Vishnu just then. In such a situation, the Primordial God would've found it too difficult to detect the spear and evade it.

Not only that, but the spear itself came hurtling in from beyond the scope of his vision. So, to think that Vishnu still managed to dodge it despite the Bull Demon King before his eyes restraining him...

Su-hyeun faltered only for a blink, then he re-assumed the spear throwing posture and used Insight to widen his vision as much as possible.

Smash, bang, smack-!

The Bull Demon King and Vishnu were exchanging punches right next to each other.

Waft, fwhooooosh-

Shiva shifted around within the pitch-black smoke. The smoke enveloped his hand just as he slammed his palm down on the ground, causing thousands of blades and spikes to shoot up and attack Vishnu.

The three of them were moving around so fast that Su-hyeun found it challenging to predict their next movements.

'How am I supposed to hit Vishnu like this?'

Su-hyeun obviously was capable of hitting targets moving at considerable speeds, not only the stationary ones.

But the trio of Vishnu, Shiva, and the Bull Demon King were moving faster than anyone Su-hyeun had encountered so far. To make matters worse, Shiva and the Bull Demon King were fighting at close range as well, saddling Su-hyeun with another headache of needing to avoid them while still hitting Vishnu.

Unless Vishnu was restrained like how the Bull Demon King had done earlier, it'd be difficult to throw another spear.

This was bad.

Su-hyeun didn't even blink once, then eventually, fired another spear.

KA-BLAM-!

The atmosphere ripped apart as a solitary azure line arced in the empty air.

But the spear still missed. He was aiming for Vishnu's head once more, and he missed by a hair's breadth.

Grab-

Su-hyeun tutted unhappily while gripping the returned Gungnir.

'Am I getting too scared?'

He was being very cautious not to hit the Bull Demon King, and that seemed to have worsened the margin of error.

This was already the third time he had missed.

"No, this can't go on."

Fuu-hoop, whew...

Su-hyeun regulated his breathing.

He was in a rush until now. What he needed to do wasn't simply 'looking', but something beyond that.

The answer was simple enough, however.

'...Foresight.'

It was already difficult to follow the action with his naked eyes, and he needed to throw the spear while avoiding hitting the Bull Demon King, Shiva, and a few other gods that intervened every now and then to assist those two. So, he was left with only one option.

'If I can see the future...'

His eyes of clairvoyance had already 'awakened' by now. It was just that Su-hyeun didn't know how to consciously activate this ability.

It should be easier to will himself to use a power that's already awakened, rather than trying to awaken it for the first time.

Although the odds weren't that great, it wasn't hopelessly bad either, at least. Therefore, it was worth giving the idea a shot.

'I don't even need to see the distant future, either.'

Su-hyeun began staring at everything, not just Vishnu.

His vision expanded beyond what his naked eyes could see. Within this expansive range, his senses seemed to vanish and images from a moment ahead of time began appearing in his mind.

'It should be possible now.'

He would have had a difficult time trying to control Foresight if it was in the past.

However, Su-hyeun believed that his Foresight suddenly manifesting happened due to him meeting the minimum condition required to control this ability in the first place.

'My Reflex stat has broken through 110.'

The 'Reflex' stat. Even when he was Kim Sung-in, this stat was the first one to break through the three digit mark.

Once this stat breaks past 100 points, it'd go beyond the level of quicker reflexes and allow you determine the movements of your opponent about to happen a fraction of a second later.

Although its performance heavily depended on who your opponent was, Su-hyeun still wondered if this stat had anything to do with Foresight-related powers.

'...I can see.'

His vision opened up wide.

He didn't focus on the current situation but the one slightly ahead of time. He continued to picture it in his head, and the images grew more distinct until they seemed so clear and realistic to Su-hyeun's vision.

Vishnu's movements...

And also the movements of Shiva and the Bull Demon King fighting the Primordial God were all so clear in his vision.

And a moment later...!

'I saw it!'

Su-hyeun turned towards an empty space some distance away from Vishnu.

* * *

Shiva was sweating bullets at the moment.

He couldn't recall when was the last time he had to sweat this much. But with their opponent today being who it was, he had no choice but to tense up and focus like never before.

He raised his head to look up.

He discovered a huge pool of pure-white light above. All those hundreds of light beams were rapidly descending on top of Shiva's and the Bull Demon King's heads.

"Great Sage, Heaven's Equal!"

Shiva's roar prompted Sun Wukong to make another move after successfully shoving aside the incoming asteroid.

Wheeee-riririririk-

Poof, bang-!

Dozens of clone Ruyi Jingu Bangs blew apart in the air. Each light rays pierced straight through the chests of the clones, extinguishing them outright in the middle of the sky.

"Vishnu-!"

And shortly afterwards, Sun Wukong's real body rushed straight at Vishnu.

"Let's have a go, shall we!"

Shu-aaaahk-!

Sun Wukong extended his polearm and flew straight toward Vishnu. But the latter simply snatched up Ruyi Jingu Bang mid-air and began gripping hard.

Crack, distort-

Ruyi Jingu Bang began twisting ungainly. Granted, it had already become much thinner by extending in length, but even so, Vishnu was still able to twist the weapon to this degree with nothing but his grip strength, demonstrating how strong he really was.

Smirk-

But Sun Wukong didn't seem to care about what's happening to his weapon as he pounced empty-ended with a grin on his face.

Bang, boooom-!

Vishnu had to retreat a couple of steps back at this reckless charging attack. But as they exchanged several blows, he began studying Sun Wukong more closely. "You. You possess an undying body, don't you?"

Sun Wukong was suddenly overcome by this deathly chill - something he hadn't sensed in ages - and had to stop his attacks. He quickly backed off from there.

"However, such a thing means nothing before me."

This was his first time sensing something like this.

Simply looking into Vishnu's eyes from up close was enough to sap all energy out of him. It felt like all of his five senses were getting dimmer. It was as if he was going to literally disappear from this world without leaving behind a single trace.

"Time to die."

With those words, Vishnu extended his hand forward.

Death.

The word Sun Wukong had not thought about for aeons of time suddenly popped up in his mind, but then...!

Stab-!

Vishnu's arm reaching forward was impaled by a spear shaft.