The Max Level Hero Has Returned!
chapter-740

Eclipse just sat back and relaxed throughout the multiple collisions. Since she had merely appeared as an illusion of herself, albeit a terrifying one, she had no real ability to interfere here.

This was a silver lining for Davey.

The fact that she now knew that he replenished his strength through Arbit wasn’t good, but it was better than her intervening.

Thud!

Davey gritted his teeth and attacked Katshi. Using his small stature to his advantage, he constantly attacked and searched for any openings. Davey had the eerie thought that if he touched the black power Katshi wielded, it would be the end for him. Hence, he didn’t dare overexert himself, opting instead to wear Katshi down little by little.

As the battle between Davey and Katshi grew more intense, Eclipse just enjoyed herself, laughing as she watched on.

But that balance of power was shattered when the stupid Oatgars intervened.

"Master Katshi! I will help!"

In an instant, Davey sent out a chain of light and forcibly pulled Oatgars in. Using her to block Katshi's attack, he was able to force an opening.

"Thanks for the shield, you son of a bitch," Davey said.

"You... You vicious...!!”

Katshi had shock, anger, and sadness written all over his face.

"Do you not have any mercy?!”

"Look who’s talking!” Davey shouted back.

Crack!!

Davey then pierced through Katshi’s barrier with Super Ribbon and stabbed his heart.

The fight was finally over. Katshi, the King of Atlantis and the top-ranked Malicious Spirit, fell to the floor.

Davey panted and looked down at Katshi, having finally stopped him from completing his dangerous ritual. Throughout the battle, Davey tried his best to ensure that neither of them discharged their powers recklessly. His efforts prevented destruction from spreading to the rest of the United States.

But for an enemy that was from the destructive side of Neltarid, it seemed like a very meaningless victory.

It didn’t seem like he was lying about having done something to Perserque, though.

“Hmm... It’s over?” Eclipse asked cutely with a tilt of her head, prompting Davey to begin gathering light in one hand.

"Don't... Don’t do it,” Davey said.

“Hmm... That wasn’t fun. One side was too scanty, and the other side,” Eclipse pointed at Davey with her small hand, “was too weak.”

She jumped up and down, spun around, and started heading in a direction. “Eclipse likes having fun.”

Seeing her whine like a child, Katshi clicked his tongue. He then lashed out at her, despite it being unusual for him to express his anger.

“Shut the fuck up. ancient dragon.”

“Hmph... You’re just a half-being with a small part of a soul planted in you!” Eclipse giggled. “Aha! You’re a fool. A fool! You did this even though you knew you could die!”

Katshi flinched.

“This isn’t fun at all! Eclipse will help you!”

Katshi narrowed his eyes at her, having trouble figuring out whose side she was on. At the same time, her eyes glowed red. Suddenly, Katshi jolted as if something were crushing him.

“Huh?! I-I thought you couldn’t interfere because you didn’t have a form yet?”

“Hmm... My friend helped me. See this? Eclipse can do it too!”

Just as she said, she appeared to have unleashed her power for a brief moment. Although the effect was very weak compared to when her true self did it, it seemed enough to give Katshi a significant impact.

Katshi, splayed across the floor, looked up at his hands. He then grabbed Super Ribbon tightly to the point his hands bled.

Squish!!

He pulled the sword out, threw it to the side, and slowly, staggeringly, got up.

“Eclipse... Did you... Did you just use my creator’s power?”

“Huh? Eclipse doesn't know anything like that...”

Thud!!

A frightening force, completely different from before, weighed down the surroundings.

“I will ask you again, ancient dragon. Did you use my Great God’s power?”

"Hehe... Now it’ll be fun.”

Eclipse’s nonanswer made Katshi’s expression turn creepy.

“Ugh... You’re being a real headache.”

With a face full of anger, he shifted his focus from Davey.

“The pressure you just put on me caused a big problem for Kirsina, who’s still out on a mission. The original plan’s all ruined because of you! You!!!” he growled with a more violent tone.

At the same time, he began to undergo physical changes. His bones distorted and grew in size, transforming him into a being about three to four meters tall. Something mysterious, resembling either bones or carapace, covered him, and two horns sprouted from the top of his head. Moreover, his nails changed until they looked as if they could tear apart anything in his way.

His fangs gleamed, and his eyes sparkled with flames... He was no longer the small, gentle boy from before.

- Kaaa!!!

The tremendous roar made Davey flinch and back away from Katshi.

“Holy shit... How much of his power has he been holding back?”

All sorts of thoughts raced in Davey’s mind. The eerie energy coming from Katshi made Davey wonder if he could have still taken him down had he started with this form. Winning seemed nearly impossible, though he figured he could have at least managed to run away.

Katshi’s enormous presence emanated uncontainable power. Perhaps as a result of his transformation, an imbalance of mana occurred somewhere in the city and caused it to collapse.

“You made my creator use force when he shouldn’t have,” Katshi said in an eerie voice, looking down at Eclipse while pointing at her with his sharp claw. “I may hate the alliance with the fucking Abyss, but I despise you even more.”

Katshi glared at Eclipse, ignoring Davey’s presence nearby.

"Hehe. This is gonna be fun!" she giggled. She was smiling brightly as if she didn't care. This attitude was exactly what bothered Katshi most.

Thud!!

He stomped his foot that had a huge horn sticking out of it, enveloping the entire area in a world-changing inferno.

"Hehe. Wow... Amazing...” Eclipse looked around and smiled. “Are you going to play with Eclipse?”

“Even if I can’t kill you here...”

Fwit!

His tail instantly flitted out, catching her in its grasp. Eclipse’s eyes widened, seemingly surprised that he had caught her even though her form wasn’t intangible.

“This should be enough to kick you out.”

Crack!

Katshi released a strange power, and Eclipse was torn in half.

Eclipse let out a death cry as she disappeared. "Ah...”

With eyes full of fury, Katshi used the unimaginable power that he had released to frantically trample the area where Eclipse had been.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

"How! Dare! You! Disrespect! My creator!!”

From the looks of it, Eclipse had used the power belonging to the destructive side of Neltarid. Doing such a thing when they should be conserving strength ended up tilting the power struggle between the two Neltarids in favor of the harmony side.

Enraged by the situation, Katshi continued to destroy the surrounding space until every last trace of Eclipse disappeared.

“It’s not difficult to tear you apart when you’re not in your true form,” Katshi said afterward.

Because of what had just happened, the power that had been trying to summon Eclipse here was completely destroyed.

“The summoning circle that’s supposed to summon you is now broken, but that’s probably a good thing,” Katshi said. He knew that if she returned he would tear her to death again in front of the Horne.

Just as he was done talking, power gathered in the air, forming a mysterious red figure.

"Hehe.

Eclipse is happy... Eclipse wants to have fun with you again sometime.”

With that, she disappeared again.

Filled with rage and with no target to vent it on, Katshi turned his gaze toward Davey.

“That damn ancient dragon ruined the whole plan. I’ll just kill you so I can at least get something good out of this.”

“Don’t think you can—”

Clank!

Before Davey could finish, something unbelievable happened. He found himself suddenly hanging from a cross in an unfamiliar place, his limbs bound by some unknown metal. Soon, Katshi approached and wrapped a bizarre mechanical device around Davey.

“In my territory, everything happens according to my will. Let's play a game, shall we? I’ll give you a chance to get out of here alive,” he said while waving his hand.

At that moment, black saw blades furiously spun toward Davey from all directions. The metal device on his head also started to tighten, seemingly trying to blow up his head.

“I’ll give you three minutes. The cross that’s binding you will move according to your will. However, you must first sacrifice your limbs before you can use the key over there to unlock the machine constricting your head.”

Davey had to cut off his limbs in order to make it out alive. Cutting off an arm with a sober mind would cause extreme fear and pain to an ordinary person, yet he was being forced to cut all four arms and legs with a saw blade.

Hence, Davey instead reflexively gathered his mana and tried to destroy the metal around his head.

“That won’t work. Here, you’re no different from any other human being. Well, time is ticking. Do what you have to do.”

Davey just stared at Katshi in silence. He knew Katshi wasn’t exerting any control over territory; it was just a hallucination that was frighteningly close to reality. However, the fact that he could overpower a magician who had reached the Realm of Transcendence in an instant was shocking.

“Give up a limb? You sure are twisted.”

“Thirty seconds have passed.”

With Katshi glaring intently at him, Davey quietly lowered his head. When he slowly raised his head back up, his eyes flashed.

“You picked the wrong person to mess with, motherfucker.”

Crack!

He suddenly shattered the devices restraining him.

“What?!”

“Like you said, all my mana is useless here. But those metal devices weren’t real; they were just illusions that you made my body react to. My power can defy even divine authority, so what makes you think your creation can stop it?”

Katshi was a Malicious Spirit with a terrifying, absolute power that could work on any being he chose. This terrible game was just a way to evoke extreme fear—Davey knew that Katshi had many other ways to kill him.

However, even though Katshi was materially stronger than Davey, he knew that he was the only one who could crack his absolute, unsolvable domain.

“Arbit.”

Arbit, who had been synchronizing Davey’s soul and body by letting time pass and suppressing one of his powers, finally released Davey’s restrictions.

Thud!!

The power of the Red Void, Hercules’ power of taboo, began to liberate Davey.

Crack!

In an instant, Davey pulled himself out of the ridiculous fantasy that Katshi had set up. He then flew toward him.

Ring!

While recovering his strength, Davey drew his Shamanic Rattle from the Pocket Plane.

[1st Grand Sorcery]

[Spiritualism. Kirin]

A huge explosion of purifying power engulfed Katshi.

“I knew it wouldn’t be that easy to defeat you,” Katshi said calmly.

Katshi was clearly on the same level as Eclipse. Even during the Great War in the past, he was the only Malicious Spirit whom Eclipse could not kill. Although he was considerably weaker now, he still had formidable strength. Davey figured it would be difficult to take him on at his current level, but he also didn’t think it would be impossible.

Besides, it wasn’t like Davey had been goofing around all this time.

“What on earth is that power?!” Katshi shouted.

“Old man Hercules’ legacy is quite amazing.”

Katshi’s red eyes flashed wildly with shock. “Hercules?!”

Boom!!

At the same time, the powerful strike of Divine Beast Kirin took control of the surrounding area and spread out to shred Katshi into pieces.

Although Perserque was safe now, Katshi had regained his full power in return. Hence, Davey could no longer fight while ensuring the safety of the United States’ people.

Davey knew only one of them would be leaving here alive.

The harsh truth made his heart ache.