The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1289

When it felt the sensation of all of its strength leaving its body, the primordial demon instinctively knew this meant death was near.

In this incomplete world, it had no future. All its kin had vanished, leaving it as the sole survivor.

Even among them, it had been infamous for its unshakable will, for stubbornly longing for the Goddess even in solitude.

While it was the only one among them capable of wielding the power of time, thus immune to the flow of time, it had nonetheless fallen into despair after such an inconceivably long stretch of time.

Still, it yearned for the Goddess. Her existence was the sole purpose of it and its kin. She was their one and only light.

Yet, when faced with the reality, even it couldn’t hold onto its sanity. It didn’t know how the souls of its already-dead kin had hidden within it. What mattered was that they had revived through its body. With a final declaration of vengeance, they left it, and its life ended.

It never imagined death to be this peaceful. It was so warm and gentle. The sensation confused it. Floundering in that unfamiliar feeling, the primordial demon realized that it wasn’t experiencing death as it had known it.

Gradually, it became aware of its surroundings. Yet, it still didn’t know why it could feel this special feeling after death.

Even as confusion clouded its mind, a light entered its vision.

‘Light?’

It was dead. It shouldn’t have a vision anymore.

In this incomprehensible state, it felt a touch. Instinctively, it lifted its head to see a woman holding it in her arms with deep affection.

Although it no longer had its original form, she held it like one might hold a large basketball.

There was no need to ask who she was. It was Goddess Freyja, the Creator who had birthed a perfect world called Tionis, as well as the one who had once created the failed world that it had lived in.

The one it had longed for so desperately! The one it had wished to see more than anything. Its mother. The demon didn’t dare judge her appearance.

She radiated such overwhelming divinity that the very thought of evaluating her didn’t even cross its mind.

However, at the same time, the grief and rage it had held back for so long erupted.

Like a child crying in agony, it screamed while clinging to the Goddess.

[Why? Why have you only come to me now?! Why only now?!]

Even without a mouth, its raw emotions poured into her. She responded by silently holding its soul, that was now a translucent orb, and closed her eyes.

‘Hypocrite.’

Even as it wept, it couldn’t help but harbor that blasphemous thought.

It was angry. It couldn’t understand why she had left it to suffer all that pain, only to show up now, after its death. It believed she was offering this moment of hypocrisy as nothing more than a final act before it vanished forever.

Even so, it couldn’t bring itself to hate her. Just the fact that she came to it alone was enough to overwhelm its heart.

[Why now? Why only now?!]

It wept, shaking off everything it had bottled up. However, the enraged primordial demon couldn’t finish its words. It was because it saw the tears flowing from the Goddess’s closed eyes.

The Goddess it knew had never shown her emotions outwardly. Not even when the world failed, or her creations crumbled, had she ever let her sorrow show.

[G-Goddess...]

It froze, caught off guard. The Goddess held it closer and quietly wept, then her voice echoed in its mind.

[I'm sorry...]

The voice it had yearned to hear more than anything.

[I'm sorry I saved you too late. I'm so sorry I couldn't save the others.]

Her voice, heavy with grief, made it feel tears even though it had no eyes.

Perhaps those few words were just hypocrisy. Yet, it quickly realized that it had endured everything just to hear them.

Back when it had been deceived by Thanatos and burned with hatred toward the Goddess, it hadn’t been thinking clearly. Yet now, having returned to its original form, its mind clear for the first time in so long, it wept and accepted her sorrow in silence.

Then a voice, familiar, terrifying and one that demanded caution, echoed out, “Why the hell is that bastard here?”

Startled by the voice, the primordial demon sharply inhaled.

The speaker could recognize it even in soul form. He approached the Goddess like it was nothing. Such arrogance coming from such a being.

The demon boiled with anger again, but it kept its mouth shut.

That man was a being with complete divinity. In other words, a direct creation of the Goddess. He was pretty much a part of her. Like her finger. A being similar to Thanatos, but not the same. That was who he was.

* * *

Davey wondered if this was what an uncomfortable three-way meeting was supposed to feel like. It felt like he was forced to kneel in front of his mother after fighting with an older sibling.

He didn’t ask why the primordial demon’s soul, now just a floating spirit, had ended up there. If what it’d said was true, then the merciful Goddess would, of course, have summoned its soul.

Still, Davey had no intention of involving himself in anything related to that bastard. He even knew, without a doubt, that the demon was feeling the same way about him too.

There wasn’t even a trace of goodwill between them, and there never would be.

However, the Goddess was different. She remained silent for a moment, then spoke.

[Pitiful, wretched children.]

“Then you should’ve cared from the start.”

At Davey’s reply, she averted her gaze. Then the primordial demon turned to him.

[That’s the first decent thing you’ve ever said.]

“You think I said that for your sake?”

[But I won’t tolerate any blasphemous attitude toward the Goddess.]

When the soul flared with spiritual fire like it was about to lunge at Davey, he casually stepped forward.

Crack!

[Gah—?!]

“How dare a soul try to get to me.” Davey ground the soul under his foot. At that, the Goddess raised her tablet.

[Enough.]

“Enough? Who says so? Don’t you know this bastard’s a complete piece of garbage?”

[Khh. Kuh!]

The primordial demon groaned in pain, clearly powerless to defend itself.

[Davey. That’s enough.]

Despite just being text, it carried overwhelming authority.

Startled by the firmness in her message, Davey briefly stopped and met her gaze. The Goddess quietly pulled the crushed soul out from under his foot and cradled it in her arms.

“You’re really going to protect a demon who just tried to overthrow Tionis after leading a rebellion?”

[Zenoen's goal is no different from yours.]

The floating tablet rose again, conveying her thoughts in her stead.

“Zenoen?”

[That was our original name.]

The demon—no, one of the zenoen—answered for her.

[When the Goddess created us, she intended for us to make the world stronger and more complete.]

“And yet you came to our world and wrecked everything?”

[I only wanted to return. You all made me like this, so what’s wrong with using you to get back?]

Davey realized no reasoning would reach this bastard. “Thanatos was the one who manipulated everything, not the humans. You think that half-baked logic justifies anything?”

[That’s—!]

Thunk!!

The Goddess calmly rapped both of them once on the head.

[Enough.]

Unable to fully hide his discomfort, Davey gave the soul a light nudge with his elbow.

“Back off. Why the hell are you hovering around me? Stay ten feet away from me.”

[You damned bastard! It’s cramped here, back off!]

They couldn’t hurt each other, and with the Goddess forbidding any fighting, all they could do was exchange cruel words and continue their battle of nerves.

“We’re getting off track. Let’s cut to the real issue, Goddess. That damned promise. Can’t we scrap it somehow?”

The Goddess shook her head quietly. He quickly picked up that she probably didn’t have the power to revoke that promise anymore.

[They’re walking down the wrong path.]

The wrong path? Whether that reasoning would make sense to them was the real question.

[Goddess, I still revere you... but I resent you as well. Why did you leave us behind?]

“You dumb bastard, can’t you see? It’s not that she didn’t, it’s that she couldn’t.”

[Are you mocking the omnipotent Creator?!]

One minute it was blaming her, the next it was a crazed zealot. Davey didn’t even try to hide the disgust on his face as he glared, but the soul didn’t even seem fazed. In fact, it looked shameless.

“If she says no, then that’s that.”

So, the trial was all in the name of preparing for the future.

“While I don’t know how long you lived in that broken world, if there's a better future ahead, you always endure the present pain. Isn’t that the idea?”

At his words, the Goddess quietly approached and gently patted his head. Being treated like a child was irritating, but considering the time she'd existed, she wasn’t exactly wrong.

[I need your help to stop those children from spiraling out of control.]

The demon still had a hard time understanding.

[Goddess... then before that, please answer me. They were clearly dead. So why... Why were they still inside me?]

The Goddess lightly waved her hand, and a vision brushed through Davey's mind.

- At this rate, we’ll never get revenge.

- The Goddess abandoned us.

- Ahh... Goddess...

The zenoen had shed their outer shell and taken on a human form, similar to the primordial demon. The male and female figures were all gathered in a boundless space, engaged in conversation.

- We can’t endure the endless passage of time like the one who possesses the power of time. That leaves us only one option.

- Pretend we’re dead... and hide inside it, entering a dormant state?

- No one reveres the Goddess more than it does. It’ll wait for her endlessly. Then, the moment it meets her again—

- Our revenge begins.

The vision then ended. Those without the authority of time couldn’t survive that long. Even if they were immortal, they’d eventually go mad.

Unlike the demon beside him now, those others hadn’t looked at the Goddess with reverence, but with resentment and hatred.

[Their hatred has only festered, never dulled.]

While in a dormant state, there had been no time for their hatred to fade.

[Now that there’s a way to save them, we have to stop the war.]

“Not by killing them all?” Davey stared as he asked, and the Goddess returned his gaze silently.

[Will everyone else but you step forward to help them?]

“That’s not my call. For the record, I don’t like this.” Davey already knew that the zenoen weren’t weak.

[If you don’t, Abel will never return.]

“Damn it...” Even if Davey wanted to spend time with his son forever, Abel belonged to his own world. He had to be sent back.

[And Davey. ]

She met eyes with him.

[You became the Demon King just to defy me, didn’t you?]

“Yeah. You probably only acted upset, didn’t you?”

[This might give those children a chance to reconcile with humans.]

Davey fell silent.

There were moments in war, even ones deep in hatred, when facing a common enemy brought people together and diluted that hatred.

Of course, the opposite happened too.

“It’s a risky approach. The war only ended two or three years ago, so there’s no way they’ve warmed up to each other yet.”

The success of the reconciliation project between humans and demons had to be viewed in the long term.

“And another thing. Why’d you have Daphne save that Tophenne or Toast, or whatever he’s called?”

She didn’t answer. She simply closed her eyes with a blank expression.

Davey scoffed. “So you only respond when it’s convenient.”

[Your two children will become heroes.]

She was talking about Evangeline and Abel.

“I don’t want that.”

[Please help these poor children.]

There wasn’t much Davey could actually do.

Even those zenoen bastards were bound by restrictions that made it impossible for him to interfere directly.

“Goddess, just let me make myself clear on one thing,” he said with a cold face. “If they cross the line, I’ll tear them apart piece by piece—even if I have to throw away my divinity to do it.”

[You—!!]

“Shut it. Be grateful I’m even letting you live.”

The demon fell silent.

“And I honestly have no clue what you’re trying to get out of this. I swear to you, if this whole plan ends up demanding massive sacrifice from this side just to save them...” Davey glared at the Goddess. “Then I’ll carve those damn stigmata off my back myself.”

[Soon, those children will begin to move. I pray blessings follow them.]

* * * 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

The fact that the zenoen weren’t launching an immediate offensive meant, conversely, that they were giving Davey’s side time to prepare.

Davey didn’t know the real reason the demon had been told to cooperate with him, but the bastard was certainly useful.

“Start listing your kin’s specifications, everything about them. I need intel if I’m gonna plan a counter strategy.”

[And why should I?]

“If you don’t want to, I’ve got other ways to make you talk.”

The demon, Parthenon, fell into a long silence. Its round spirit form hovered without motion, as if weighing its options. It seemed perhaps the Goddess had given it some kind of order.

Davey and this thing couldn’t stand coexisting. That much was clear. However, for the moment, the two were in a temporary alliance for the sake of what was coming.

Parthenon also seemed to understand that watching its kin spiral into senseless revenge against the Goddess wouldn’t end well.

Funny, considering it’d been the first to enjoy watching it unfold. There was no telling what had made it change its mind.

Most likely, it had something to do with that private talk it had with the Goddess. It turned back to Davey.

[A total of twenty of my kin left my body. Not all are on the same level as me, but each one is individually powerful enough to pose a lethal threat to any living being in this world.]

“And the rest?”

Parthenon went on to explain details about their general power levels and situations that’d require special caution.

The enemy didn’t know Parthenon had joined Davey under the Goddess’s orders. That meant, in terms of information warfare, Davey’s side held the upper hand.

The next major concern was cooperation.

Even if the Goddess had said Evangeline and Abel—who was now stuck there without a way home—would play an important role, Davey had every reason to question their ability to work together.

At first, he thought they’d get along no problem since they were siblings. Instead, that had led to the hell-party incident.

Still, they were eventually able to get the hang of things.

[I still can’t believe those two kids who fought me are supposed to play some pivotal role.]

“You don’t get to crush my kids’ pride.”

With that, Davey headed off to find the two of them. Sure enough, in the garden he saw Evangeline and Abel grabbing each other by the collar and wrestling on the ground.

Davey stood next to Parthenon, speechless.

[The fact I was nearly killed by those two idiots...]

Parthenon’s voice was filled with despair.

“Don’t you dare let them find out who you are.”

If they found out, the alliance was dead.

Davey gave him that sharp warning and picked up a nearby club.

“I told you two no fighting within the family,” he said calmly as he dragged the end of a long club along the ground toward the two.

They immediately stopped, flinching as they looked up at him at the same time.

When Evangeline tried to bolt, Davey blocked her path.

“Evangeline. Sit.”