Heroes Return

"You shouldn't have done this! You could have achieved even greater, more supreme glory!" The man on the flaming chariot suddenly spoke as he shot an arrow that deflected a fire dragon to the side. "You are defying the entire world!"

"I didn't see it." Before the words were even finished, Lin Jie had already appeared in front of the man: "Sorry, I didn't see or sense what world I was defying!"

As he spoke, Lin Jie's longsword slashed directly down at the man. With the carriage rapidly turning in the air, it traced an arc through the sky. A warhorse was cut down from the heavens by a single sword strike.

"When you fought the spirit of the inner world last time, didn't you feel it? That kind of obstacle that seemed to come from the world itself." The handsome man said, his gaze once again turning to Lin Jie: "The invisible obstacle from heaven and earth, that is the will of the world! Before the will of the world, we will eventually return! No matter how strong you are, you cannot stop the will of the world."

"I have never opposed your return from the beginning, after all, it has nothing to do with me. But I will not allow you to bring disaster to humanity." The voice was still slightly slower than the figure, and Lin Jie's figure appeared in front of the man again, and he slashed down at the handsome man with his sword.

Faced with such an attack, the handsome man could only use his longbow to block it. However, his longbow was ultimately cleaved in two by Lin Jie's sword.

Before Lin Jie could make any further move, flames had already engulfed both of them. However, the next second, the handsome man was kicked out of the fireball and sent flying backward.

"Only we are the ones in this world who can absolutely not allow humanity to perish." The eagle-headed man appeared beside the handsome young man who was flying backward. The runes in his hand once again emitted powerful life force, and almost in the blink of an eye, he repaired the handsome man's body, which had been deformed by Lin Jie's kick, to its original state.

"Humans, we don't need your judgment. We already have our own system," Lin Jie said calmly, then reappeared before the two men once more. This time, however, several warriors jumped out and attacked Lin Jie simultaneously, trying to block his attacks. They hadn't expected that even with so many high-level warriors gathered, they would still end up being overwhelmed by Lin Jie.

This so-called human hero in front of me is absolutely terrifying!

……

Meanwhile, on another part of the world, a man in white robes was observing the group before him. The time was ripe. It was time to go find Miss Chrollo. We had to take everything back before Zero could get the necklace from him.

"Master of Destiny, shall we set out now?" another white-robed man asked upon hearing the Master of Destiny's words.

“Yes, in fact, now is the best time for us to intervene,” the Master of Fate said calmly.

"However, there's still one crucial item in Ivan's possession that we haven't obtained." Upon hearing this, one of them couldn't help but ask.

“Once we get there, all the keys will be collected,” the Master of Fate said calmly. “The Staff of Truth has already shown me the entire future. In the city where Chroll is, the gates of the divine kingdom will open, and the gods will descend upon the mortal realm today. All we need to do is focus all our efforts on obtaining the last two keys.”

“We understand. But the Force Master and the Spirit Master haven’t returned,” another man in white robes suddenly said.

“They haven’t returned,” the white-robed man holding the wand said calmly. “They have been defeated. So, we must obtain the last two keys before the heroes are unaware of their existence and before Zero obtains them. Time is running out.”

"How are we going to deal with Zero? His power has exceeded all expectations of fate." A man in white robes suddenly asked, "Zero is indeed the biggest problem. The messengers of the gods have already gone to find him. What we need to do now is to open the gate before Zero returns. We thought that we couldn't go all out because of Zero's problem, but this may be our only chance to get all the keys."

“Really? But Ivan might not be there,” another person said.

"The Wand of Fate has guided everything. Ivan will definitely appear; he will definitely appear before us with the final key," the Master of Fate said with absolute certainty. Although there was no reason or basis, everyone present agreed with the Doctor of Fate's words, as if they were simply a matter of course.

……

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, another meeting was beginning. This meeting was unusually large, with several thousand people present. What was even more alarming was that all of these people were highly wanted criminals.

The sight of these people was enough to send chills down the spine of any ordinary person. And now, all of them had gathered together, and there was only one reason that could bring so many people together: an invitation from Ivan, a death invitation tinged with threats.

Everyone present knew that if they didn't come, Evan Kuji would not hesitate to retaliate against them.

"I apologize, everyone, I'm late." Ivan appeared before the podium amidst the angry gazes of everyone. Beside him stood the mysterious master. Around the podium, a large number of seemingly very powerful warriors had already appeared in the room. They immediately surrounded the vast hall. If Lin Jie or Dao Qizhan were here, they would likely immediately recognize these people, for they were none other than servants of Kalenja.

These were servants from Mu Mu's blood relatives. At the back of the hall, three handsome, elegantly dressed men stood near the back door. All three looked at Evan with unfriendly expressions, but none of them said anything.

These three people were none other than the three young masters of the Karen family. As for the patriarch of the Karen family?

In fact, he had been completely crippled since his last battle with Dao Qizhan. He had now lost all fighting ability. The Cullen family was now effectively controlled by its three sons. However, just as the three young masters were about to engage in an extraordinary struggle for the Cullen family's heir, Ivan appeared in the Cullen family.

Without a doubt, the person on the pillar who granted Ivan the power of his descendants' bloodline at will was from the Cullen family.

"I'm so glad you're all here! You're about to participate in a contest for the future of the world," Ivan said with a smile to the criminals present. "So, let's start with an appetizer!"

As Ivan spoke, the curtain behind him was pulled back, revealing hundreds of figures. Upon seeing these people, almost everyone's expression changed. They all shared a common characteristic: they too had received an invitation from Ivan.

"See? I really feel sorry for you. These people are truly pitiful. Humans usually know what the right thing to do is, what will ensure their safety, but clearly these people don't understand this, so they will never have the chance to enter the kingdom I plan for." Ivan smiled and said to the people in front of him, "Actually, I'm very curious. What were you doing before you became supervillains? Law-abiding citizens? And then, because you gained immense power, your inner ambition was ignited, and you eventually embarked on a path of crime? Or were you originally scum? Or were you actually controlled by power or something? Well, I admit that has nothing to do with me, and I have no interest in knowing these boring things."

Upon hearing Ivan's words, everyone below exchanged bewildered glances. After all, they had no idea what Ivan was trying to say.

"Alright, actually I have absolutely no interest in your past," Ivan said calmly again. "But I just want to ask you, have you ever had the thought of killing someone? Have you ever had similar evil thoughts? But because of weakness, because of certain rules, did you give up? Have you ever thought of harshly cursing someone, or brutally beating someone? Before you were criminals. But because of some boring thing called reason, did you suppress it? For example, fear of being demoted, fear of going to jail, or fear of straining interpersonal relationships, fear of others looking at you strangely, or things like that. Have you ever done that?"

Even if you end up as criminals, you think you can change something with your own power. You think you can finally liberate yourself and do whatever you want. But only then will you realize that even with superpowers and criminal status, you can't do whatever you want. To achieve your ultimate goal, you still have to do many things, don't you? Hahahaha! What a pathetic bunch, just like you coming here today. You clearly didn't want to come, didn't want to get involved with someone like me, but in the end, didn't you? Not only did you come, but you also got involved with someone like me, didn't you?

Many of you are probably cursing me in your hearts, right? But you can't say it out loud! Hahaha! What a bunch of pathetic wretches! But tonight, everything will change. We will have a country of our own, a country where everyone can do whatever they want! Heroes? Police? Morals? They will all be rewritten by us! Hahaha! How about that, isn't it awesome!

"Even if you say that, what exactly do you want us to do?" one of the most annoyed finally couldn't help but ask.

"Alright, it seems my pre-battle mobilization didn't work! Well then, let me explain my plan to you in detail! Ahahaha! First, we need to obtain something, and once we obtain it, the gods will be coerced by us! Just imagine, the high and mighty mythological gods will be threatened by us! And they will help us establish our nation."

“Even if you say that, can you really succeed? Besides, Zero has already been resurrected!” another person said.

"Zero? There's absolutely no need to consider him! Someone will consider him for us! Next, I will tell you everything about the descent of the gods! Whether you become the ones being purged, or the ones actively building the future, will be your choice!!"

Chapter 38

Under the starry night sky, a slight blush crept onto the girl's face. She unconsciously recalled her meeting with Lin Jie under the stars.

Thinking of all this, the girl unconsciously tightened her grip on the necklace around her neck.

"Miss Chrollo, I've been waiting for you for a long time. Are you finally awake?" Just as Chrollo was wondering, a man's voice suddenly reached her ears. Hearing this voice, Chrollo couldn't help but be a little surprised, after all, there should only be him and Fenrir here.

But to her surprise, Kuroru actually appeared here this time.

“You may call me Master of Fate,” the white-clad man said calmly to Kuror. “Your mission is complete. Now it is time to hand over this item to me.”

Upon hearing the Master of Fate's words, Kuror instinctively took a step back, but his face immediately contorted in shock. He hadn't noticed when the necklace around his neck had appeared in the hand of another man in white robes.

"Let me introduce myself. You can call me the Space Master," the white-clad man said with a smile. "Now that we've obtained what we wanted, I think it's time for us to leave."

The Space Master, having spoken, prepared to leave with the Fate Master. However, to their surprise, the space was suddenly sealed off. Almost instantly, a young girl appeared before them. This girl was none other than Alice.

“Kuhuhu, it seems I’ve arrived just in time.” As Alice spoke, time around the Master of Fate and the Master of Space instantly froze. A figure from Time and Space appeared beside them: “I think it’s time for me to settle the score with Ivan!”

“Miss Alice, while we sympathize with the plight of your Elaine family, since you intend to settle accounts with Ivan, I don’t consider myself an enemy.” The Master of Fate, trapped in a world where time had stopped, suddenly spoke. Despite being in such a peculiar world, the Master of Fate could still speak calmly with Alice.

“Kuhuhu, we shouldn’t be enemies! But my goals conflict with yours! I also won’t agree to this descent of the gods!” Alice suddenly laughed this time: “Just take it as a little girl’s whim, Kuhuhu.”

"In that case, Miss Alice, we can only be enemies." The Master of Fate had barely finished speaking calmly when his wand emitted a soft light.

"Huh?" The spacetime being beside him couldn't help but show a puzzled expression: "The flow of time has been controlled."

The instant the words of time and space faded, everything around them changed. The original Master of Destiny vanished from his spot, leaving only the Master of Space.

"Sorry, I can't let you chase after me!" The moment the Space Master finished speaking, an explosive ball was teleported into his body. However, the explosion of the ball did not cause any harm to the Space Master. This was because the instant the explosive ball entered the Space Master's body, a small, enclosed space was formed within him. This small, enclosed space completely contained the entire explosion of the ball.

"Your attacks are useless against me!" the Space Master said, his figure vanishing from the spot. But the next second, he reappeared on the other side, where Time and Space also appeared. Time and Space's hand reached out to grab him.

However, this attempt resulted in grasping empty air. The hand of time and space had passed right through the other person's body.

At the same time, the Space Master also reached out and grabbed at spacetime: "Eh? Eh? Eh?"

However, he also missed his target. The spacetime had vanished in an instant. It's important to understand that if they touched each other, they could easily teleport a part of the other's body to the other side of the world, which would naturally cause immense damage.

On the other side, while the two spatial ability users were fighting, Alice's gaze once again fell on Chrollo: "We have to find that stupid dog! If we can't find that stupid dog, we won't be able to get your necklace back."

"Stupid dog? You mean Fenrir?"

“That’s right, it’s that stupid dog! He can’t even protect the person he’s supposed to protect!” Alice said, pulling Kuror along as they ran off into the distance. Before coming here, Alice had already gathered the necessary intelligence. So she knew very well that Fenrir should be here.

Finally, when they opened the door to Fenrir's room, they were shocked to find themselves in a vast, peculiar space. It was a remarkably peaceful place, and right before them, a young girl was curled up, seemingly fast asleep. Beside her, a harp was playing something on its own.

"It seems to be a lullaby!" Alice said, and somehow an energy gun appeared in her hand. She raised the energy gun and shot it directly at the harp in front of her.

Unfortunately, as a piece of music started playing, an invisible ripple spread out, almost instantly engulfing everything around Alice. The energy gun bullets that Alice fired were actually blocked.

The bullet was stopped right in front of Alice.

“Kuhu, it seems waking that stupid dog isn’t so easy after all.” Alice said, her gaze falling on the white-robed figure not far away: “What should I call you?”

“Miss Elaine, you can just call me the Music Master.” The Music Master Bai Pao said calmly, “I wonder if we can pretend we didn’t see each other? After all, I’m not here to fight; I’m just here to hold off this beast.”

"Kuhuhu! No way!" Alice just laughed and said, "We came here to wake up this **!"

“Since that’s the case, there’s nothing we can do. Miss Elaine, please sleep with Miss Kuror for a while.” The white-robed figure said, gently plucking the strings of his violin, and beautiful music began to fill the space. As the music began to play softly, both Alice and Kuror felt drowsy. However, the next second, Alice’s phone started playing a jumble of random noises. Under this noise, the two of them barely managed to stay awake a little.

"Kuhuhu, it seems that even this level of noise can't diminish the power of your music."

“Of course, my faint sound cannot be blocked by mere noise.” The music room said, then looked at the two girls, and said, “Please go and get some sleep.”

As his words fell, the faint intensity rose once again.

"From now on, we can only rely on you, Chrollo." Alice patted the almost asleep Chrollo. "Perhaps only a faint understanding can handle the music. So sing for me!"

"But...I..."

"I thought you had remembered. You're a goddess, you know! A goddess's voice, imbued with divine power, might just work!"

"But...I'm almost there..."

"Kuhuhu, if you can't keep singing, the gates of the gods will open! You should know the consequences, right? After all, you've already awakened quite a bit." Alice finished speaking and then lay down straight down, looking incredibly sweet.

At this point, only Chloe remained vaguely conscious. She didn't know why, but the other party's influence on her didn't seem to be that strong.

“Miss Chloe, as a member of the gods, you shouldn’t stop us!” the music master suddenly said to Chloe.

"I..." Upon understanding his words, Kuror's eyes suddenly turned into snake eyes: "I don't want people to be hurt!"

As if she had made up her mind, Chrollo's wings suddenly unfurled, and an exhilarating song rang out from her lips.

……

Somewhere in City B, the figure of the Master of Fate appeared: "Everything is under the control of fate. I told you, we will meet again, Miss Mysterious Master."

"Damn it! How did you know our plan!" The mysterious master looked at the people around him with slight surprise. They were all Ivan's men. But now they were all dead.

Beside the mysterious master, three white-robed figures were watching her. Undoubtedly, these three white-robed figures had been present beforehand, placing Ivan beside her and eliminating all those tasked with protecting the mirror.

"Ivan is ultimately just a mad fool," the Master of Honor said calmly. "Fate has temporarily laid everything before me, and all your petty actions are futile in my eyes. You shouldn't have separated from Ivan. Now, hand over the mirror to me."

"Hmph! Do you think Ivan is such a simple person?" Mysterious couldn't help but speak up after hearing the other party's words.

"This time, the plan is no plan at all, just play it by ear. Because no matter what the plan is, the other side will know about it." The Master of Destiny suddenly said this inexplicable sentence, but it was precisely this sentence that made the mysterious master fall silent.

The reason is simple: this was exactly the plan that Ivan had explained at the previous meeting. It's unbelievable that the Master of Fate had repeated it word for word.

"This is fate and karma, Master of Mystery." The Master of Fate said, his gaze turning to the Master of Mystery: "Did you want us to fight the Hero Association and then profit from it? But this time is different. This time I know everything, so I avoided all the conflicts and obtained the items I deserved. Now, all I need to do is reclaim your items."

As the Master of Fate finished speaking, the three white-robed figures attacked the Mysterious Master almost simultaneously. Facing three masters from the Council of Truth at the same time, even the Mysterious Master couldn't possibly win. Good question, but the honor will be restored at an extremely fast pace, completing the final two pieces of the puzzle.

As for the thirteenth piece of the puzzle? The Master of Fate already knows; the function of the thirteenth piece of the puzzle has been completed.

Chapter 39

In an ancient site in City B, the Great Wall, stretching for thousands of miles, appeared before the Master of Destiny. For him, this was exactly what he had wanted to see. After all, the world was constantly changing before his eyes, yet this magnificent Great Wall had always stood tall.

"We've arrived." Looking at the mysterious master who had been captured beside him, the Master of Destiny calmly glanced at the remaining white-robed man and the mysterious master who was bound by his secretary.