The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1296

Abel interfered with the time barrier Tronte set up, twisting the time difference between the inside and the outside. He suffered massive internal injuries as a result, ending up in a state where it wouldn't be surprising if he died at any moment.

Frankly, his interference shouldn’t have been a possibility from the beginning. He had lost his authority, so tampering with time should’ve been impossible. The only explanation was that the world’s laws themselves lent him strength.

Abel wore a confused expression, as if he couldn't understand what he had done himself.

The severe internal damage had clearly left him in a bad condition.

“Ugh.”

The last remaining zenoen in the fight, Tronte, staggered back as if he couldn't withstand the shift in time any longer.

At that moment, the time barrier shattered and scattered like dust. The barrier had been a space Tronte created. As such, once he underwent demonization and lost both his zenoen power and his original authority, he no longer had the strength to maintain the time barrier.

In truth, whatever the reason was, nothing else really mattered.

Abel and Evangeline’s brave yet reckless plan had consumed their enemies’ time, successfully isolating the space from the outside world and turning the tables in their fight. Abel's life-risking gamble, using the knowledge he had of the authority of time, paid off, buying them a window of time. In that brief moment, Davey and Parthenon had succeeded in reigniting Thanatos’s demonic transformation.

The one being the zenoen wished they’d never faced, the one with divinity, now stood before them. It was none other than Davey O’Rowane.

“F-Father,” Abel croaked in a weak voice.

Davey looked at him, his expression complicated. “Abel, you damn fool.”

“Haha. Still, I think it all worked out somehow.” After saying that, Abel took a deep breath. “You always told me not to push myself too hard just to protect others. Nonetheless, I succeeded, didn’t I?”

“Abel, don’t talk,” Davey told him. “Right now, you're—”

“Can I... rest for a bit now?” Abel laughed bitterly as he lowered his head. The eyes of Evangeline, who lay tired and slumped on the ground, opened wide in surprise.

“Abel? Hey. What’s wrong?!” she called out frantically.

Abel just slowly collapsed into unconsciousness while maintaining a faint smile.

“Abel!!!” Realizing something was going wrong, Evangeline hurriedly shot up and grabbed him. “Dad! What’s wrong with him?!”

Davey reached out with a grim expression and gently touched his neck. At that moment, an explosive energy surged from his body and vanished in an instant. Well, it hadn’t disappeared completely. It had simply begun to cool rapidly, with a chilling stillness.

Evangeline, sensitive to the change, noticed it immediately. She shook her head, face rigid. “No... no! This has to be a joke.”

She gently tapped Abel’s cheek.“Hey, open your eyes! If you don’t, I’m going to eat all your snacks. You know, the ones Dad bought for you? I’m eating every last one.”

There was no answer.

Smack. Smack!!

Eventually, her pale face contorted as she began to slap her younger brother’s cheeks.

“Hey! Open your damn eyes!!” she screamed in agony, but he gave no reply.

Boom!!

The grotesquely transformed Tronte suddenly swung a massive tail toward Davey and Evangeline.

It no longer resembled anything human, having become a pure monstrosity.

Yet, its attack never even came close. An unseen force had instead crushed it on the spot.

“Evangeline, put him down. Abel is—”

“Dad! Abel’s fine, right?! Tell me he’s fine!! Aaah. AAARGH!! No!! He can’t die like this! He’s not supposed to die here!”

Evangeline suddenly remembered what she’d been told—how he had endured everything to leap into their timeline using his authority of time, and how brutally he’d pushed himself. That must have been why his power seemed weaker than expected.

While he might’ve looked fine on the outside, that was only because Davey had made him appear that way. All of the damage he had accumulated thus far was still within him.

He had pushed himself incredibly far already. He’d then risked his life once more to save her, only to die.

It was only natural for her emotions to go reeling.

Evangeline clung to Abel and broke down in tears.

Just as Davey was about to speak up, a voice interrupted them. Abel, who had been silent as a corpse, suddenly grumbled and then muttered with his eyes closed, “Ugh. Just let me sleep a bit... Sis...”

“Huh?” Evangeline looked at Davey, face twisted in disbelief. “What... the hell? You’re alive? Dad, he’s not dead?”

“He’s not dead. Just completely worn out.” Davey’s apparent anger before was only because Abel had pushed himself so far that he’d nearly killed himself. “He’s right at death’s door.”

Evangeline was still shocked. “What?”

“So you better keep a close eye on him.”

Rustle.

Davey rose slightly and took off his usual thin coat, tossing it to Evangeline. “You’ve been through a lot. I’m sorry it had to happen this way. Get some rest, and later, we’ll have a talk.”

He meant to scold her for doing something so reckless, though internally he was proud of her.

As she watched him smile bitterly, Evangeline felt tears welling up again

* * *

A monstrous being walked toward a group in silence. The zenoen trembled with fear as they faced Davey O’Rowane, the being with divinity.

When Thanatos had changed Parthenon into a different species long ago to suppress it, its power had shifted, and the Goddess’s promise no longer applied.

While Parthenon was the one who made the promise, those who hid inside him went through the same.

Long story short, they lost both means of protection. Their demon race traits offered no help now.

“Ugh. Ugh!!” Tronte, briefly staggering backward in pain, lunged at Davey.

They knew demonization, but moving and using demonic power required different skills. If anything, the zenoen grew weaker rather than stronger.

Crack!!

A cerulean arc flashed through the air, and Tronte’s arm was sliced off at the shoulder. “Graaah!!! Damned Parthenon, you traitor!!”

As he howled, a small orb-shaped soul slid out from Davey’s shoulder.

[Traitor? How ridiculous. You’re the one who used me and treated your kin’s souls like disposable tools.]

“What did you say?” Tronte flinched at the words.

[You know why I believed the goddess’s promise again? Because I already knew what you did.]

At first, Parthenon had accepted their purportedly noble rebellion. He’d already been deceived many times, so he figured one act of defiance wouldn’t ruin anything.

The problem came after that. What they did in the name of defying the goddess was something he had not expected.

[I understand why you used me for revenge. I know your hatred. I, too, have felt it. Still, you should’ve stopped there.]

“What are you talking about?!”

[You still don’t get it? That’s why I lost faith in you all, Tronte.]

“Enough that you’d betray your own kind?”

[I never abandoned my kind—not even once.]

“You betrayed your own!! Parthenon!!!”

[Sorry, but the kin I’m referring to aren’t traitors like you.]

With those words, Parthenon said nothing more and vanished.

“Alright. Y’all better be done talking, I ain’t got all day. Let’s wrap things up.”

Crunch!!!

Tronte’s body was torn apart again.

“We also need to sort some things out, you bastards,” Davey said with a face of madness. “You know what? I actually owe Thanatos big time right now. After all, she made you all perfectly easy for me to handle.”

“Damn! Scatter!! This fight’s impossible—”

Screech!!!

One fleeing zenoen split in half midair before it could even scream.

“You seem to be mistaken, so let me correct your misconception. It is foolish of you to expect to walk out of here alive,” he said with a chill in his eyes. “None of you are going home sweet home.”

* * *

Tronte couldn’t believe what it was seeing. It hadn’t expected the demonization to progress again so quickly.

Davey, who had descended in front of them, was a calamity, practically a devil incarnate.

Super Ribbon tore through them at Davey’s will, and he himself tore through the enemies with his bare hands, shredding them to pieces. His fury wasn’t just that of a father avenging his injured son and daughter, also containing rage on behalf of his fellow humans, and countless other forms of anger all twisted together.

There wasn’t a single trace of hesitation in his movements.

“Gaaah!! Stop! I—I don’t want to die! Please!!”

Another zenoen that begged for its life was ripped to pieces like raw meat.

Demonization having fully taken them, they no longer had the divine protection isolating them from Davey and his divinity.

They had become no different from hunks of flesh beasts for Davey to rip apart.

Tens of their kin were slaughtered, souls torn away. Tronte’s mental state crumbled further every time another voice faded away from existence.

Some fled, and others resisted, and Davey nonetheless tore them all apart, equally and without exception.

They had not expected Davey O’Rowane to be so savage. It was a cruel and relentless one-sided massacre.

The vengeance they had prepared for so long, biding time in their comatose state, was crumbling right in front of them.

Tronte couldn’t accept it. It couldn’t comprehend it as he watched Davey slaughtering their kind. It couldn’t grasp Parthenon’s sudden betrayal.

What shattered it the most was that Goddess Freyja, who had once loved them so dearly, had abandoned them. That betrayal burned inside it with unbearable sorrow and rage.

Still, it couldn’t tolerate collapse. It knew there had to be a way out. If it could just escape this place and regroup with the remaining kin, it figured there might be an opportunity to turn the tide.

Surely, the gods had left behind other preparations. As long as it could get its hands on the sacred item—

Crack!!

A chilling sound struck its ear.

“How long are you going to sit there like an idiot?”

Snapping out of its thoughts, Tronte realized it’d fallen into a dazed panic. Corpses of demonized kin surrounded it. Almost none had survived. Above the mountain of bodies stood one figure, tall and imposing.

Davey O’Rowane was looking down on him.

“You monster!” It screamed. “Why are you doing this to us?”

“You’re really trying to talk about justice? You’re the ones who barged into a peaceful world and slaughtered countless humans.”

“Do you think the goddess will keep protecting you horne forever?!” Tronte sneered bitterly, black energy swirling around its entire body.

Parthenon had predicted that it’d take them a long time to become accustomed to using their power. Tronte was different.

Still, Davey wasn’t interested in Tronte’s circumstances. “Protect us forever? You think the goddess abandoned you? Is that what this is about?”

Tronte scoffed. “Are you saying she didn’t?”

“Hard to say. But if she really did, she wouldn’t have waited all this time to do it.”

“Nonsense!” it barked out.

“As I thought, talking to you won’t go anywhere.”

As Davey flicked his fingers, Tronte gathered an immense torrent of energy in its mouth. It then fired the energy directly at Davey like a dragon's breath.

It was clearly a dangerous-looking energy blast. Despite being demonized, Tronte didn’t seem clumsy controlling its power after the initial moments.

Davey stepped forward, just enough to shift his position. The energy blast went past him and tore through the air, ripping open a massive wormhole before finally dissipating.

Even though the attack disappeared, the aftermath was horrifying.

“Do you know what the demon race was really made for?” Davey asked with a sneer.

“What? Don’t act like you were there. You’re just reading memories, aren’t you?”

“Thanatos created the demon race as a weapon to oppose the goddess. Even if he feared the promise and its restrictions, the core trait of the demon race was rebellion against divinity.” He gathered black flames in his hand.

“If you think I didn’t consider worst-case scenarios, think again, Tronte suddenly spoke, and black mist began drawing from the corpses around them, seeping into its grasp.

[Uaaahhh!]

[Why... Why me?!]

What he was absorbing were the souls of the demonized Xenoens.

“For our noble cause... sacrifice yourselves, my kin.”

[Uaaahhh! No!]

[This isn’t what I wanted!]

It was clearly against their wishes, but Tronte didn’t care at all. It spoke as if that had been its intention all along, “Don’t get drunk on victory. No one ever knows when a rebellion might succeed.”

Hearing that arrogant remark, Davey lightly kicked at the air, like swatting his hand at the air like a bug.

Crack!!

The surrounding air twisted and changed.

“Feeding on every last of your kin? Let’s see just how noble that cause of yours is.” Davey summoned Super Ribbon to his hand, then began walking slowly toward Tronte. “I promise you, a father's rage from seeing his children be hurt is deeper than whatever cause you think you're serving.”

“Shut up!!!” Tronte shrieked as it hurled the black waves at Davey. Everywhere its claws passed, it tainted and corrupted the divinity Davey had left behind.

Startled by what she saw, Evangeline hurriedly called out to Davey, “D-Dad!!”

Davey didn’t stop.

“Don’t think the power we threw away just to fight divinity is light!! It was the power we had kept to protect ourselves!!”

Once Tronte’s claws neared Davey, a formless barrier sparked violently, blocking the attack. Only then did Davey stop walking.

Zzzt!! Zzzzt!

The fierce sparks distorted and twisted the barrier, transforming it into a swirling wormhole.

“Everyone with divinity is arrogant! That’s why I can’t wait to see the look on your face when you lose your power!” With a thunderous roar, Tronte reached out and tried to crush Davey with both hands.

Davey, who had stood waiting in silence, smiled faintly. The barrier protecting him suddenly vanished, and Tronte’s claws drove straight toward Davey.

Or so it seemed.

Davey had stopped his claws with his bare hands.

“W-what... is this?!”

“Want to hear something interesting?” Davey asked with a smile on his face. As he calmly gripped Tronte’s hand, he dropped a devastating truth in a bored tone. “It seems like the world’s laws classified you all as a virus. What the hell did you do?”

“W-What...?”

“The world’s laws are already against you, so there’s nothing you can do to win. Hell, even Abel survived because of you bastards. You pieces of shit.”

Still smiling, Davey drew a power far beyond Tronte’s comprehension from across the entire world, ruthlessly crushing it.

“Oh, and one more thing. The demon race? Yeah, Thanatos created it, but there’s something else you didn’t know.”

Tronte couldn’t believe what was happening. “Gh!”

“Thanatos controlled vitality, and guess what? There’s only one remaining person in this world with full authority over vitality. You get what I’m saying?”

Davey smiled coldly.

Tronte immediately knew what he meant. Its instincts screamed in panic. It desperately unleashed every ounce of power it had left in a frantic attempt to break free.

Squelsh!!

However, that power was torn apart like tofu by Super Ribbon.

The razor-sharp tip pierced through Tronte’s body. The grotesque agony that defied words surged through it, and its knees buckled.

“I’ll send the rest up to meet you soon,” Davey kindly reassured it. “You’re the last one with any real strength left, aren’t you?”

Hatred took over his entire being as Davey flashed him a cruel smile.

Tronte burned through every last shred of its kin’s souls inside it, forcibly pushing its power to the limit.

One final resistance, but it hadn’t accounted for something.

Davey’s strength had grown far beyond what it could have imagined.

With his empty hand, Davey seized the power Tronte unleashed and crushed it.

He passed the final judgement with a serious face.

“Your soul will never be purified.”

Crunch!!

“Gaaah!!!”

Like an object trapped in a press, its power was twisted and crippled in an unnatural way.

Its body was no different. It screamed continuously at the infinite pain.

Davey showed not an ounce of mercy. He pressed down, squeezing the very power Tronte had tried to release until it collapsed.

Its screams went on for several minutes, so long and terrifying that even the onlookers were struck with fear.

Tronte never realized that behind the calm composure it saw, Davey burned with more fury than anyone.