The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

Chapter 837

Boom!

A blinding flash erupted the moment she radiated malevolent aura from her body. Rinne, with a blank expression, dove straight toward her beyond the barrier and viciously swung her crowbar.

“Rinne detects emotional circuits turning cold. Rinne determines this sensation to be discomfort.”

Bang!!

Rinne powerfully struck at the girl—but it never reached her body. The aura surrounding her acted as if it were alive, shielding her completely. For a brief moment, the unexpected defense made Rinne widen her eyes in surprise.

Boom!

An invisible force instantly slammed into Rinne, flinging her backward without mercy.

Crash!!

She skidded across the ground, leaving cracks and craters in her wake. As she came to a halt, she locked her eyes onto her opponent.”

“Invisible force. Detects special energy. Rinne evaluates it as unknown.”

“Hehe...”

The girl tilted her head and Rinne materialized a lightsaber in her hand. It elongated like a whip, and she lashed it out several times at blinding speed with expert control.

The undead that followed the girl—unlike the original undead—were swept away in an instant by Rinne, but she paid them no attention.

Boom! Boom!

Despite not going through Sephirothization, Rinne, still strong nonetheless, was slowly being pushed back by the girl. An aura, so subtle that even the dark mages had failed to notice it, coiled around her like a living mist. It moved of its own accord, shielding her from attacks and striking back in retaliation.

She barely moved as the aura guarded and fought for her.

Clang!! Thud!! Boom!!

After several clashes, Rinne was once again the one knocked back. She landed flat on the ground, but then calmly lifted her upper body as if nothing had happened. Rising to her feet, she began drawing in light.

Sephirothization.

Six wings unfurled from her back as she wielded the Spear that Can Melt the Balance of the World in her hand. The power of Sephiroth Rinne, once the leader of a race, surged through her body.

“Adjusting target. Rinne evaluates annihilation highly.”

The atmosphere shifted completely. The geometric halo that had materialized above her head began rotating in different directions, pouring forth enormous energy.

Then—

Bang!! Boom!!

Rinne and the girl known as the upcoming Tower Master clashed again.

Clang!! Thud!!

Unlike previously, Rinne managed to push the girl back several steps. For the first time, it seemed like her blows were having an actual effect.

“Why... are you getting in my way...?” the girl asked as she waved her hand.

The dark aura spread out like a fog, relentlessly pressing in on Rinne. The mysterious ability, indistinguishable from magic, attacked her.

The two clashed fiercely, their battle further affecting their surroundings.

Watching the fight unfold, Davey swiftly commanded his skeleton minions to mop up the remaining undead—the Dead that were the undead but not quite, resembling the living as well.

“How... How did the upcoming Tower Master...?”

“Did you know this was going to happen?”

“I had heard bits and pieces at the beginning of the whole situation. She was wild and aggressive, sure... but even the Tower Master of the Ruby Tower used to praise her all the time...”

He then fixed his gaze on Davey.

“Do you think... She's one of the Dead?”

“No. She’s not one of them.”

Bang! Bang!

‘Even so... I was expecting her to hold her ground against Rinne in Sephiroth form.’

But Davey didn’t care what had driven her to this point. What mattered was—

“Rinne. Stand down.”

Clang!!!

After colliding with the upcoming Tower Master, Rho Sauran, Rinne skidded across the ground, widening the distance between them. As she fluttered her six wings, she looked at Davey with eyes burning with determination.

“Master Davey. Rinne determines she can defeat this enemy—”

“No. It’s not that I don’t trust you... This is just something I have to do myself,” Davey said calmly.

He then stepped forward, signaling Rinne to pull back.

“Body... Body!” the girl muttered.

“Well then... Let’s see what she’s made of.”

Thud!!

In the blink of an eye, Davey hurled a fist toward her. Her aura’s black mist shielded her again, but the impact was still strong enough to make her stagger. The mist swirled around her, propping her up from a falling position. Then the remaining mist took the form of a giant and coalesced a massive fist, swinging it toward Davey.

Thud!! Crack!!

Davey blocked the blow and distanced himself from her. He stomped the ground, making shards of broken debris fly into the air. He then kicked one like a soccer ball, hurtling it forward.

Though his kick seemed casual, the power behind it was far from ordinary. Infused with mana, the shard cut through the mist shielding the girl, dispersing it. The shockwave impact sent her body flying backward.

“This is... insane...”

The idea of a mage displaying such overwhelming physical prowess was absurd. There was a good reason people mocked mages with derisive names such as weaklings. But here Davey was, defying that long-standing fait-accompli.

“Agh... It hurts...”

The girl frowned, her sleeves torn and blood dripping from her wounds. Meanwhile, Davey glanced down at his hand, lost in thought.

‘So this is what it means to attain divinity... Shifting the flow (fate) without even realizing it...’

He now knew what had happened to her, but the confirmation of his assumption left Davey with a bitter taste.

Her name was Rho Sauran. And yes, her name sounded similar to someone else’s.

The title Rho was only bestowed upon those with extraordinary achievements. Originally, the title’s earliest bearer had been erased from this world, making her the first recognized case of its use.

But regardless of titles or legacy, no one seemed more fitting of the name than the black-haired girl who stood before him.

The aura protecting her. The reason he thought she was familiar. The resemblance she bore to her.

She seemed to have some connection with Rho Aias.

Davey had never heard of Rho Aias having any children. He wasn’t even sure if she had gotten married in the first place.

But none of that mattered; what mattered was how the girl had gotten her hands on the artifact of the Death Lord, along with the fact that the overwhelming aura—part of the Death Lord's power—was protecting her. The aura was acting as if it was pleading to others not to harm her.

But Davey knew the mist could only do so much when she was already severely injured.

After their first clash, Davey began to grasp her flow. Ever since attaining divinity, he’d sometimes noticed patterns in people. He figured this worked on everyone he faced.

When someone with immense power became unstable, the consequences were always similarly immense. It was only natural for it to be that way.

The girl standing before him—Rho Sauran, the upcoming Tower Master of the Ruby Tower in Peslisa—was one such case.

Her immense talent was apparent from the moment she was brought to the Ruby Tower by the former Tower Master. Even at the earliest stages of her training, she surpassed her instructors with ease—naturally, much to the delight of the Tower Master.

Her magic was destructive, deeper than any dark magic, and more commanding than any other necromancer.

She possessed an unparalleled gift, and her only flaw was lacking some common sense. But that didn’t matter—not at the Ruby Tower where strength was valued above all else.

As time went on, she continued growing stronger. Her devil mana strengthened as if it was following her on its own. Slowly but steadily, she began learning some semblance of common sense—until everything went awry after the death of the former Tower Master.

During an investigation of rifts with the former Tower Master, she had been exposed to the immense energy pouring from the rifts. That, and her own incomplete power, overwhelmed and eventually twisted her.

After losing the Tower Master, perhaps the closest to a parent she had ever known, her mind shattered and was only left with her raw instincts. Then for reasons unknown, she became fixated on obtaining Davey’s body.

The sheer power she wielded proved ever more dangerous for her to handle. Currently, she was a part of the incomplete Death Lord devil mana—she was in fact a monster fused with her aura and vitality.

Others exposed to ordinary devil mana became mysterious beings, Fallen Ones, or mutants. But in her case, she was corrupted by mana on the level of a Death Lord. Normally, it was impossible for such high-level devil mana to spiral out of control, but she was woefully unstable.

The instability had twisted her into what she had become.

“Sigh...”

Davey knew asking her for answers would be pointless. Even if he did get his answers, it wouldn’t change anything.

He then wondered how it could even be possible for her to be one of Rho Aias’s children, since she had passed away so long ago.

Her case wasn’t like Evanov’s situation. To begin with, the only known surviving descendents of heroes were the Pallan family, having persisted due to help from Caldeiras.

“...”

Davey clenched and released his fists as he quietly pondered. The girl then staggered toward him, reaching out her arms.

Suddenly, black aura coiled around his limbs.

“It hurts... I want it... I need it... I’ll make it mine...”

She stumbled forward, her presence heavy with crushing pressure as if her aura were trying to tear his body apart.

Manifested aura.

Davey exhaled deeply as he noticed what was happening.

“D-Davey!” someone shouted in alarm.

Ignoring the cries, Davey focused on the girl approaching him. He flexed his fingers, brushing off the black mist constricting his wrists.

Shing...

He materialized Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon.

She was twisted by her own overwhelming power. She possessed immense power, but because it wasn’t completely hers, she was also consumed by it. The power had taken her over to the point that she wasn’t even aware of what she was doing. She had become the greatest victim of the corrupted rift plaguing this land.

Davey met her eyes and spoke to her.

“I can’t save you.”

“...”

“Consider yourself fortunate. I’ll at least make sure you disappear quickly and cleanly.”

Sling...

Davey fused Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon together, forming the thin longsword Super Ribbon that began to glow with a crimson-blue aura. He then released his Death Lord-level mana.

Though his was slightly different from Rho Aias’s mana, it was still on a comparable level, far better than it used to be when he could barely make a move against her.

“Give... Give it to me...” she whimpered.

Massive amounts of aura gathered around her, forming the shape of a giant. The aura that had spread across the battlefield then surged back toward her. It went to the living undead she had created.

She wasn’t manifesting some sophisticated magic or anything else; it was just loads of raw power drawn from the Death Lord's artifact.

“I won’t ask how you got your hands on a Death Lord’s artifact,” Davey said.

‘Since what you have is different from the ones the Illuminati hold... Maybe you really are connected to Rho Aias somehow.’

But that didn’t change what he had to do.

The blade of Super Ribbon crackled with lightning and burned with flames. Davey fired up the same swordsmanship of Sword God Ares that he used against the King of Balrog, God of War Sauron, who refused to abandon his beliefs in the Demon World.

The flames blackened and the blue lightning enveloped the blade.

The air trembled under the weight of Davey’s divine power as he prepared to unleash his sword strike.

[Longsword]

[Masterpiece]

[Unnamed King]

Crack!!

Davey swung his sword precisely upward from the lower left to upper right, creating a sonic boom heading toward the black aura hurling a fist toward him. Following through his right hand, the blade sliced through the earth.

Slash!!

The ground was split apart with a deafening impact.

The sky split as well, and for a brief moment, the moon—visible even in daylight—appeared distorted as the strike created an optical illusion.

The silence that followed was brief.

Shing!!

Davey retrieved the two swords, Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon, and approached Rho Sauran.

She no longer moved. The aura that once protected her had dissipated, and the last traces of vitality began to escape her body. He had struck down what might’ve been Rho Aias’s legacy with his own hands.

He couldn’t help but feel bitter.

“...”

Even if he couldn’t save her, he knew it was only right that he had been the one to lay her to rest.

But then—

“Gaaa... Ugh!!”

The Tower Master, who had been watching from a distance, collapsed in agony. He wasn’t the only one—most of the survivors across the area began to fall to the ground, clutching their chests in pain.

“Davey.”

“A rampage... Huh...”

An overwhelming amount of vitality began to spiral out of control. The earth that had already split due to the aftermath of Unnamed King began to twist and shake.

“I guess there’s no other choice.”

Though Davey had anticipated some aftermath from her death, it was happening much faster than he had expected. Having no other choice, he launched himself into the sky. He then used devil mana and divinity to inscribe a massive magic circle over the land.

The circle spanned dozens—no, hundreds of kilometers. Following his will, the surrounding devil mana weaved together into a single magic circle.

He hadn’t expected to test his prototype so soon.

“To the primordial will, Goddess Freyja, I beseech your mercy to bring peace to all things.”

As he recited a prayer, vast amounts of devil energy flowed from his body, nearly overwhelming him. He felt relieved that he only had to control the vast vitality of this continent alone, becoming manageable.

[Guide your servant along this dark path. May their steps never falter, and may no thorn pierce their flesh.]

Combining divinity with devil mana and the grace of Goddess Freyja, the enormous magic circle began to shift. The earth quaked as the pattern emerged, lifting into the sky. Massive chunks of earth coalesced into a sphere and gathered closer to Davey.

[I pray that you bless me to guide me along the easy way.]

[If salvation is what you desire, then pour every blessing you have into me.]

‘Try, try!’

Crack!!

The massive rock, shedding huge fragments as it rose, soon took the shape of a giant sphere. On the surface of the sphere, intricate channels of unimaginable complexity were etched all over.

An overwhelming surge of vitality ran rampant. While it was possible to absorb the excess vitality, Dvey knew that doing so would deplete the vitality of the land.

And so—

While Davey would still take some of it as a hard-earned reward, he decided to circulate the necessary vitality to restore this dimension to its original state. He used his card imbued with the divinity of Thanatos to devour the rampaging divinity before inscribing the remaining energy into the massive moon he had created.

The vitality began spinning rapidly, absorbed and released in a controlled cyclical flow.

The colossal spherical magic circle was something he had created by folding it in on itself multiple times—he knew it’d be too dangerous to leave it on the ground. It was far too crucial to risk destruction. He used a large amount of divinity at his disposal to launch the entire construct beyond the orbit of the dimension because he knew that, once it began to drift into place, it would continue its orbit naturally from thereon.

Thus, the densely packed sphere gave birth to a new small moon that had hitherto never existed in that dimension.

Those lying on the ground gawked at the small moon Davey had created with wide eyes, overwhelmed with astonishment and disbelief. He knew they’d likely see it as something beyond the realm of mere miracles.

“Cough...”

Breaking stars was easy, but creating even a small moon seemed to take its toll on him. Davey slowly closed his eyes as he saw the vitality of the continent of Peslisa stabilize. He then reached out toward Rinne.

She flew toward him, supporting him with her arms. He then said—

“Let’s go home.”

Those who have already changed were beyond saving, but he knew at the very least that the children in the future would be human as a result of his hard work.

This was everything Davey could do for them.

The walls of the dimension were torn open, and Rinne and Davey vanished from the sky.

Davey later realized that he should’ve known back then—being the main character of a myth-like story, one so cringeworthy it makes people wince or scrunch their noses just hearing it, isn’t very complicated to achieve.