Heroes Return

“Of course I know, but I’m not handing over control of the game to you this time, ahahahaha! This is my game.” Ivan’s expression remained smiling, but at this moment, the blonde angel beside him held a golden longsword: “I can’t believe you guessed our plan without any information and found your way here. As expected of me! Ahahahaha! Those idiots outside only just realized what happened! Ahahahaha!”

"Kuhoo! I must say, as expected of me! I actually managed to find such an interesting toy." Alice smiled, while at the same time, Delis, who was beside her, suddenly uprooted the plant from the flowerpot in her hand. Instantly, a cry that could make anyone faint echoed throughout the corridor.

Chapter 25

As the crying subsided, and after a brief silence, Alice discovered that Ivan, sitting opposite her, was completely unaffected by the sound waves.

"Luckily, I was prepared!" Evan smiled and took the two wads of cotton out of his ear.

"Kuhuhu, it seems we're about to have a big battle!" Alice smiled as she looked at Evan.

"No, no, no, I won't fight you here. Hahahaha!" Ivan suddenly shook his finger, and at the same time, the angel beside him grabbed Ivan, and then after a flash, the two of them disappeared from the spot.

However, after he disappeared, Ivan's voice rang out from outside the corridor: "Actually, I've prepared a more suitable opponent for you, ahahahaha!"

Just as Evan finished speaking, a series of footsteps reached Alice's ears once again.

"Kuhuhu, it seems I've been completely outmaneuvered. What a pleasant surprise!" Alice smiled and looked at the person who had come up to her, Anya: "I didn't expect to meet you here! What a coincidence!"

“What a coincidence!” Anya tilted her head and looked at Alice. “I never thought that the person who’s been bothering our Lin Jie is also an Ivan. I was wondering why I always felt an uncomfortable scent coming from you, but now I finally understand! The feeling you have is almost exactly the same as those Ivans! You must be an Ivan too, right? Even though you look different!”

"Kuhuhu, there are actually many things you don't know." Alice neither denied nor confirmed Anya's question: "It seems you've already met that Ivan!"

"You mean that sarcastic guy? I've been chasing him around the castle for a while now! And then I ran into you! I guess I was really lucky!" Anya's face was expressionless at this moment.

"I should say you're not having much luck right now!" Alice said, though she kept smiling.

"Of course I'm lucky! Because I can take down a wicked woman here who's been clinging to my lover and has no good intentions! Hehe." With these calm words, a huge red longsword suddenly appeared in Anya's hand.

"Kuhuhu, it seems you're determined to fight me no matter what!" Alice couldn't help but shake her head. She had almost fooled everyone, but Alice couldn't understand why she couldn't fool Anya. The woman before her had discovered she was Ivan simply through intuition. This also piqued Alice's interest in Anya.

However, Anya seemed to give Alice no time to think. Her only thought was to kill this little vixen first, then capture the man, Ivan, and force him to reveal her beloved's whereabouts. Then she could reunite with her lover.

But just as Anya was about to finish off the two people in front of her with a single sword strike, a bar of soap appeared before her. Immediately, Anya instinctively reached for the soap.

Just as Anya rushed to pick up the soap, the little girl next to Alice simultaneously threw a bunch of seeds at it. At the same time, Alice also produced an energy gun and aimed it at Anya, who was moving towards the soap. At this moment, Evan and his friends were absolutely confident that they could take down Anya the instant she picked up the soap.

Anya was surprised when her body started moving on its own, but she quickly adjusted herself. Instantly, a blood-red armor enveloped her entire body, and at the same time, the arm she used to pick up the soap was covered with a heavy blood-red glove.

However, just as Anya picked up the bar of soap, a plume of black smoke suddenly rose from the outside of his blood-red gloves and armor.

"So this soap really is poisonous?" Anya flung the soap and glove away. But at the same time, more than a dozen vines wrapped around Anya's body.

"Kuhuhu, although I'm still quite interested in you, I'm more interested in something else now!" When Alice saw Anya wrapped in nerve-paralyzing vines, she raised her energy gun and fired a shot at Anya's head.

However, just as the energy gun was about to hit Anya's head, it struck a red magic circle instead.

"As expected, a dangerous woman like you must never be allowed to come near our darling again!" A huge magic circle erupted around Anya's body at that moment.

Then, to Delis's bewildered expression, it shattered all the vines around her.

Just then, the admiral reacted and threw over a dozen bars of soap at Anya. However, this time he failed, because over a dozen blood-red spears appeared in front of Anya, each spear shooting towards a bar of soap and shattering it completely.

At the same time, Anya also made a gesture to swing her greatsword.

But at that moment, Anya suddenly felt a pain in her chest, and the move she was about to use stopped because of the pain.

"When and what did you do to me?" Anya gritted her teeth, her expression one of immense pain, completely unable to move.

“Kuhuhu, of course, it was when we first met. Back then, I secretly implanted my nanobots into your body! Because I felt you might be a problem, so I took some precautions beforehand, and I didn’t expect them to actually come in handy now.” Alice smiled as she walked up to Anya. “Kuhuhu, once I activate the nanobots, they will directly damage your nerves and some internal organs, causing you to lose your mobility while suffering immense pain. Although it will take a little while to activate.”

"You! You despicable woman!" Anya was in so much pain from what was happening inside her that she broke out in a cold sweat.

“Kuhuhu, that’s why I said from the beginning that you’re not having much luck right now!” Alice said, pressing the energy gun in her hand against Anya’s forehead. “It’s about time I said goodbye to you.”

However, just as Alice was about to pull the trigger, something unexpected happened again.

A large number of red runes suddenly appeared on Anya's body. Then, a huge amount of red energy burst out from the runes, and Alice, caught off guard, was directly blasted backward.

"Are you alright?" Daisy immediately ran over and helped Alice up.

"I'm fine." Alice wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, then looked at Anya, who was in a state of explosive power, with interest, and fired a shot at Anya with the energy gun in her hand.

However, this time, the energy blast was deflected when it made contact with the energy surrounding Anya's body.

"Kuhuhu, it seems I've fallen into the trap of talking too much nonsense!" Alice stood up from the ground and took out a series of handheld computers: "Kuhuhu, the nanobots in her body are being killed one after another! At the same time, the damage inside her body is constantly being repaired! Speaking of which, what exactly is the true nature of her ability? Things with unknown true nature are indeed very interesting!"

"We must find a way to kill her before she recovers!" the admiral suddenly said. "Otherwise, it will be troublesome once she recovers."

"Kuhuhu! Why do we have to kill her now?" Alice said, running past Anya towards the end of the corridor. "We can just use this time to escape! Kuhuhu, I've thought of something even more interesting!"

With that, Alice led the two people beside her past Anya, who was recovering, and ran forward.

After running for quite some time, the three finally arrived at their destination: the cathedral of the central temple. There, a crystal cube floated silently.

"Kuhuhu, is this the Rubik's Cube that caused such chaos in the entire Holy City? What an interesting gadget! I never imagined I could see the whole Holy City from here. So you've been spying on me all this time?" Alice smiled and turned around.

Behind him, the male Ivan appeared at some point.

“Of course, so now can you hand over the angel’s heart to me? Hahahaha!” Male Ivan laughed as he said to Alice, “You’re not so naive as to think you can defeat the Horned Angel, are you? After all, you’re me too.”

"Kuhuhu, do you think I'd hand over the angel's heart to you so easily?" Alice retorted, looking directly at the male Ivan. "So, you lured that woman here just to buy yourself time to prepare?"

As Alice spoke, she looked at the magic circle beneath her feet.

The next second, a large number of iron chains appeared from the magic circle underground, and the three people were entangled at the same time.

"This will prevent you from threatening me with the Angel's Heart as a bargaining chip! Hahahaha! Alright, now I can retrieve the Angel's Heart." Ivan smiled at Alice.

In fact, there's only one reason why Ivan hasn't actually let the angels deal with Alice yet: he's afraid that if Alice uses the angel's heart as leverage when threatened, the situation will become unfavorable. That's why he lured Anya to fight Alice. Because Anya doesn't care about the angel's heart at all, Alice has no way to use it as leverage and can only obediently fight Anya.

If they are killed by Anya, then Ivan will be able to retrieve the angel's heart. If Anya is defeated, at least Ivan will have time to use his home-field advantage to set a trap. With their bodies bound, they will naturally be unable to threaten him.

Just after Alice and the others were bound by chains due to the trap, the blonde angel's gaze began to wander over Alice and the others' bodies.

“I didn’t sense any hearts in their bodies,” the blonde angel said to Ivan after a while.

"What? Not on them?" This answer surprised Ivan greatly.

Chapter 26

"Hahahaha! Is this why you had the courage to bring people here even though you knew I had set a trap? We really do understand each other's thoughts! Hahahaha!" Ivan looked at the controlled Alice: "Now let me guess where you put that heart?"

Immediately afterward, Ivan deliberately feigned deep thought: "I've got it! You put it there with that woman! Hahahaha! Of course, such an obvious place is definitely not where you put it on your heart. But it doesn't matter, I always start with the answer when solving a riddle! Hahahaha!"

"I can sense the approximate location of the heart," the angel said calmly after closing his eyes and sensing for a moment.

"Hahaha, then I'll trouble you to retrieve the heart." Ivan gave his order to the angel beside him. The angel vanished at that moment.

"You're quite the man of action! But whatever, I think I should take care of you guys next, hahaha!" Evan said, pointing his pistol at Alice. "Oh, and I should also thank you for bringing the angel's heart."

"Kuhuhu, you're welcome. I only brought her here for myself." Alice maintained her smile at this moment: "It's almost time!"

"Huh?" Upon seeing Alice's expression, Evan seemed to realize something, but at that moment, a spear radiating a blood-red light pierced through his palm.

"Finally found them, so they were both here." Anya's figure appeared at the main entrance of the temple.

"Hahahaha! Is this the trump card you left behind? To lure her back to deal with us? But how are you so sure I would transfer the angel away? If that woman had arrived any later, you would have been dead, or if she had arrived any earlier, your plan would have failed." Evan covered his bleeding hand.

"I used the nanobots I left inside her to calculate her recovery time. Although those nanobots were quickly cleared away, I still kept the time data! Now it's just a gamble, hehehe. But I really enjoy gambling!" Alice smiled at Anya.

"I have absolutely no interest in what you two are saying right now. And I'm going to kill you both today." A dozen spears appeared around Anya in an instant.

“Kuhuhu, don’t you want to know where Lin Jie is right now? Kill that Ivan and I’ll tell you,” Alice suddenly said to Anya.

“Actually, I can tell you that too!” Evan said to Anya at this moment.

“If we don’t kill him now, he’ll definitely pull another trick. Don’t forget he’s Ivan.” Alice said with a smile, “You can see our current situation. We’re tied up here, so we can only be slaughtered by you. But this Ivan still has a chance to fight back.”

"Hey, that's a really despicable way to negotiate." Before Evan could finish speaking, his body was pierced by more than a dozen spears. Seeing that Evan was beyond dead, Anya went directly to Alice's side.

"Alright, I've taken care of that lively one. Now can you tell me where my darling is?" Anya said, and a dagger radiating blood-red energy appeared in her hand. Anya then held the dagger to Alice's chin.

"Kuhuhu, see that crystal cube not far away? Everyone's positioned there!" Alice said with a smile. "And Lin Jie seems to have run into a little trouble!"

"What?" Upon hearing Alice say that Lin Jie was in trouble, he immediately rushed towards the Crystal Cube in a panic: "My dear, you absolutely cannot be killed by anyone other than me!"

With these words, Anya began to examine the crystal cube closely. Then Anya revealed a surprised expression: "My darling has turned into a child! Wait! Who is that woman talking intimately with him? I didn't expect that my darling would find another woman after such a short time! It seems that only by killing my darling can we be together forever! Hehe."

With that, Anya vanished from the central temple like the wind. As for the duties of a hero, Anya had long since forgotten them.

After Anya disappeared, the admiral muttered to himself, "I can't believe you could even guess the actions of that mentally unstable woman!"

“Sometimes, mentally unstable people are easier to control than normal people!” Alice said with a smile. “Since Ivan is dead, the heroic spirit angel who was his contract shouldn’t be able to stay in this world either. Kuhuhu, since this is a control barrier formed by magic, the effect of this magic circle should disappear soon after the angel disappears! When the heroic spirit disappears, its power will also disappear from the human world. I didn’t expect to be so lucky as to find records about the summoning of heroic spirits in that basement.”

"But you actually dared to make such a dangerous gamble! You really are a terrifying woman!" the admiral couldn't help but say.

"Kuhuhu, I've been so lucky! And all we have to do now is break free and retrieve that heart, and that will be a real victory! Kuhuhu, I can't wait to see my spoils."

“Indeed, I can’t wait either! Hahahaha!!” Just then, Ivan’s voice once again echoed throughout the hall.

Everyone who heard this voice was taken aback.

"Kuhu, this is really unexpected!" Alice said with some surprise. "So, those Hero Association members outside have already been killed? They were too weak!"

"The fighting is still going on outside! And it's quite intense." Ivan's figure reappeared in front of them.

"Since you're still fighting, how did you manage to find the time to come back?" the admiral asked, somewhat surprised.

"I've always been here! And I'm not one of those three Ivans outside! Hahahaha!"

“Kuhuhu, there are usually five of the Four Heavenly Kings. I actually forgot about such common knowledge! That means that the first to conquer this place were not three hundred Ivans, but three hundred and one Ivans.” Alice suddenly seemed to understand something.

"That's exactly it, but I can only give you nine points. I'm afraid you'll get arrogant if I give you ten. Hahahaha!"

"I've found the heart!" At that moment, the angel's figure reappeared in their eyes; she hadn't disappeared after all. And now, she held a beating heart in her hand.

“Kuhuhu, no wonder Ivan sent Miss Angel out so carelessly! So that’s how it is, Ivan was just a puppet you planted! You are actually the real contractor of the angel.” Alice couldn’t help but say, “Kuhuhu, as expected of me! Did you think of all this from the very beginning?”

"Of course, actually all three hundred Ivans are under my control! Speaking of which, I've been dealing with three hundred people all by myself these past few days, and it's driving me a bit into a severe case of schizophrenia! Ahahahaha! But I've still witnessed an interesting drama! A drama of myself fighting against myself in various ways, ahahahaha! It's so funny! Also, thank you for helping me send the angel's heart back, although it will eventually be sent back! But as a reward, I'll take out your admiral first. Ahahahaha!"

As he spoke, Ivan raised the energy gun in his hand.

But at that moment, a giant pea vine suddenly sprouted from the ground, covered with pea shooters. The appearance of the pea vine also destroyed the magic circle on the floor, freeing Alice and her two companions from their restraints.

"As expected, you still had a backup plan, ahahahaha! As expected of me, no, no, to be precise, you are the one who possesses my memories! Just by having my memories implanted, you have such intelligence, ahahahaha!! Maybe after I die, you can become the real Ivan II! Ahahahaha! But the premise is that you have to defeat me, ahahahahaha!!!" Ivan smiled as he looked at the two girls, Alice and Delis, in front of him.

"What did you say? Implanted memories!" After hearing Ivan's words, Delis's expression changed.

"Kuhu, it seems I was right!" Alice didn't show any surprise at this moment. "Thank you for confirming my long-standing doubts! Now I understand everything!"

"What exactly happened?" Daisy asked, somewhat surprised.

“Kuhuhu, haven’t we always thought that we were actually Ivan and Dave’s original selves? But that’s not the case at all!” Alice explained, “Actually, we are not Ivan and Dave! We are just puppets forcibly implanted with corresponding memories by Ivan. Kuhuhu, isn’t that a despairing truth?”