Heroes Return

"Hmph, I never expected the sea creatures to join forces with humans under these circumstances." Just as Haina finished speaking, Leng Yan finally appeared before everyone, along with all the SS-class heroes of the Hero Association. The moment everyone appeared, the surrounding air seemed to become heavy. Captain Justice was also present at this moment.

"Zero! This is your last chance. If you are not willing to stop, then another battle is inevitable. As a symbol of justice, do you know what you are doing?" As the temperature plummeted, Leng Yan's voice became extremely cold.

"That's right. We'll take Zero ourselves! Although you showed mercy, this time we won't." Another voice rang out at that moment. Number One and all the experts from the floating islands also walked towards Lin Jie. In an instant, the numerous experts surrounded Zero.

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Not far away, the leader walked away from another direction, and from the last direction, a gigantic demon giant suddenly rose from the desert. Right in front of Zero, Solomon's figure finally appeared before everyone.

“No matter how far your relationship has progressed, I can’t allow you to continue like this! I’ve only just woken up, and I don’t want to fall into a deep sleep because of something like this.” As he walked towards Lin Jie, Luo Men’s gaze fell on Lin Jie at the same time: “Do you think this is really worth it? It seems like it’s something that won’t do you any good.”

“Whether it’s worth it for me can’t be measured in money.” Hearing his words, Lin Jie suddenly said, “It seems that everyone who’s supposed to come has arrived this time.”

"And us too." In the distance, the mages of the Magic Academy also approached, led by the Guild Master. A large group of mages simultaneously looked at Lin Jie: "Since you wish to witness the strongest power humanity currently possesses, then let you see it—the strongest power humanity possesses."

"Really? I'm actually looking forward to it."

At this moment, Lin Jie was surrounded by numerous human experts, demons, magicians, superhumans, and sea creatures. He was simultaneously encircled in the center, but in that instant, everything changed before everyone's eyes. Black mist began to rise, and a pair of blood-red eyes appeared in everyone's view.

'He's back!' The thought flashed through everyone's minds the instant they saw that figure. Unlike the Zero they knew now, this time they were seeing the Zero of the past. The Zero who had ruthlessly slaughtered all criminals, a Zero who had fought countless battles and never been defeated!

Zero, the one known as the Black Death, the one known as the champion of justice, the one who was once questioned for killing criminals! The most reliable Zero who stood in front of all humanity!

In that instant, Zero returned! Instinctively, everyone unconsciously retreated. For a moment, no one dared to approach within a radius of several meters centered on Zero; under this aura, everyone could only keep retreating.

It was as if a terrifying being, dormant in slumber, had awakened. Everyone's gaze towards Zero changed. There were no words, no threats, no soul-stirring pressure. Just the sight of that figure standing there was enough to silence everyone.

It wasn't some overwhelming pressure; Zero simply stood there, silently. No one could utter a single word.

'Zero is back!' From that moment on, no one could say anything to him anymore. He had completely returned to the state he was in six years ago.

"Kuhuhu! That guy Ivan! What a pity! If he saw this, he might have rushed out excitedly! This is what he wanted! This is the invincible Zero that Ivan always wanted! But unfortunately, that guy no longer has the chance! Because he's dead!" The fortress's command room was deathly silent, but within that silence, a girl's voice rang out with unusual excitement, bordering on mania: "Hahahahahahaha!!!! This is amazing! This is the Zero that's truly worth challenging! This is the strongest Zero in the world! Do you see that?"

“Alice?” Delis frowned as she looked at Alice’s almost manic expression of excitement. “Don’t keep acting like him.”

"..." Hearing Delis's words, Alice calmed down: "I'm sorry! My lovely sister, but influenced by that guy's ideas, I was just too excited the moment I saw this. Ahahaha! I'm sorry! It's so much fun to fight Zero in place of Ivan. Maybe this will be my ending to surpass Ivan."

"..." Looking at Alice's expression, Delis's expression didn't change much. She simply handed a box to Delis: "Sister, this is for you."

"Sent to me? What is it?" Alice said, taking the box. To her shock, the box was signed Dave.

"Kuhu, what a special time to send me something special! It seems Ivan has put some kind of mental suggestion on my memory, hasn't he?" Alice said, opening the box. To her surprise, the box contained a 3D projector. There was also a letter on it.

'My dearest Miss Alice, although you don't like me, I really do like you! That's why you're special among all the Evans. Although I later discovered you were a failed clone, I also understood that what makes people human is their absolute self! Because they are who they are, I've decided to return your memories to you. Here are all your memories. All your memories as the eldest daughter of the Elaine family, along with Delis's, are in here! Ahahahaha! How about that? Aren't you grateful to me for giving you all this! Of course, you don't need to thank me, because I should already be dead when you see this. ——————Your good friend, Evan!'

“Kuhuhu, we’ll never be friends!” Alice said, her gaze once more fixed on the 3D player. In the past, she would have destroyed it without hesitation. The reason was simple: the right thing to do is to destroy everything someone you dislike wants to accomplish. However, Alice today abandoned that idea, because she was no longer the same as Evan! Even without those memories, she was still different from Evan.

"Don't you want to take a look?" Delis looked at the thing in front of her with curiosity.

“Of course we should see it, but only now. Even if we were to see these things, it would have to be after we defeat Zero. Seeing this now will only make us weaker.” With that, Alice placed the object in her hand into Delis’s hand.

Although she didn't know what Evan was thinking, the letter completely calmed Alice down.

……

In the desert, Zero stood before everyone, but none of them dared to approach him or say anything more. Although he lacked the overwhelming power or murderous aura that commanded, and the original fear that emanated from the soul, he still remained unapproachable.

This is the real Zero, the real Zero as a hero. However, this time, Zero is not meeting them as a hero, but as a criminal.

"..." Even Leng Yan was speechless at the sight before him. In the sky, a giant sword suddenly appeared above everyone's heads.

The instant Fenrir looked up, it transformed from human form into wolf form, roaring furiously at the giant sword. It was a giant sword that seemed capable of cleaving through the stars in the sky, but in Fenrir's eyes, it was also a giant sword capable of annihilating both the people and the place on the ground.

"This is the weapon of transcendence!" Looking at the seemingly omnipresent giant sword in the sky, Fenrir's fur trembled. Others in the sky who saw the sword felt the same way.

Without a trace of Ivan, the gods were slain by this sword. When everyone looked at Zero again, the invisible weapon seemed to have already entered Zero's hands. The stronger a person was, the more they could feel the terrifying power of this sword.

Now they finally understood what they were facing! They were facing an invincible being.

Perhaps being able to defeat Zero is a miracle in itself for them, but without a doubt, he has to fight this battle!

Thinking this, everyone headed back towards the floating island and the aerial fortress, except for a few girls who remained behind. This included Fenrir, Time and Space, and Solomon. Surprisingly, someone else also appeared among those who stayed behind: Xiao Meier.

"What you're doing is just like what my dad did in the past! I don't want to see that bastard do it again, so I won't agree to you doing this this time!" Xiao Meier said seriously to Lin Jie, "Although I don't know why you're doing this, I will stop you!"

As her words fell, countless bamboo swords appeared around Xiao Meier. At the same moment, a dazzling sword light descended from the sky, slashing down towards Ling.

The moment Aka received the sword light, Lin Jie didn't even bother to dodge it. The reason was simple: there was no way to avoid that sword strike. The sword energy of the Immortal Executioner was, after all, an unavoidable sword energy.

As the Immortal Execution Sword Qi erupted, Zero also unleashed his black longsword. The blood-red sword qi and the flowing sword qi collided at that moment, ultimately dissipating together into the sky.

Above the sky, the sword spirits of the three swords—Zhu Xian, Jue Xian, and Xian Xian—stood simultaneously. With Zhu Xian'er's strike, all the Earth's defensive orbital cannons in space began charging and simultaneously aimed at zero. At the edge of the distant desert, a man watched this scene with great interest.

The moment this person appeared, the rules of the entire desert began to change strangely.

"Is that the sword? The weapon of transcendence! But what exactly is transcendence? How can one be considered to have transcended it?" Looking at the giant sword in the sky, the man asked a comical figure beside him.

"..." Jixiang didn't say anything, but just gave him an expression.

"Brother Ji, what insightful observations! Hahahaha!" As if he had received some amusing answer, the man burst into laughter: "Invincible? Hahahaha! Is that really so?"

Chapter 25

It was daytime, yet countless lights appeared above Zero's head. However, everyone knew those weren't actually starlight. As the starlight intensified, powerful orbital cannons rained down from the sky.

As these railguns fell, Zhu Xian'er's Zhu Xian Sword in the sky also slashed down towards Ling.

Faced with this sudden attack, Zero's expression remained unchanged. He simply raised the Immortal Slayer Sword in his hand. A blood-red sword light shot into the sky and once again collided with Immortal Slayer's sword light. In that instant, almost all the incoming attacks simultaneously struck Lin Jie.

The light and explosion simultaneously obscured everything around Zero, and all the powerful figures who had remained appeared in the distance.

"Will this one succeed?" Looking at the explosion in the distance, Shi Kong couldn't help but tilt his head and ask.

"It hit, but it might not cause any damage." Xiao Meier's voice rang out at this moment: "This person's cultivation level is truly rare. How did he cultivate such powerful strength at such a young age?"

“That human won’t die so easily from this kind of attack,” Fenrir couldn’t help but say.

“That’s right, so we need to prepare for the next attack. It seems we’ll need to join forces again this time.” Solomon said with a smile to the others present, “I wonder if that person in the distance will lend a hand.”

The light ended the instant they spoke. Almost simultaneously, the observers finally saw the epicenter of the explosion, but to everyone's astonishment, what appeared at the epicenter was not Lin Jie, but a galaxy of stars. The distant space seemed to have transformed into another dimension, and the cosmos unfolded before their eyes. Within this cosmos, the Milky Way galaxy was slowly rotating at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"The Milky Way?" Everyone present showed surprise at this sight, and the three female sword spirits in the sky also frowned simultaneously. After all, they knew what was happening below.

If we're talking about the strongest artifact in Lin Jie's possession, then without a doubt it's the Void of Destruction. Next are the Four Swords of Immortal Slaughter, the Immortal Slaughter Sword Formation Diagram, the Fragment of the Mountain and River Map, the Ten Directions Annihilation, the Star Armor, the Ruyi Staff, the Demon-Slaying Holy Sword, the Sword of Destruction, the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Cover…

Among the many divine weapons, there is one that is special. Its specialness lies in its usage restrictions, because this sword determines its power and strength based on the strength of the enemy and the user's state of mind.

It could be said that if Lin Jie needed it, this sword would surpass almost all the swords in his hands! However, because it was difficult to unleash the sword's true power, it always gave the impression of being weak. Only those like Zhu Xian'er, who also possessed divine artifacts, could sense the power contained within that sword.

What appears now is a scene of an alternate galaxy, but Zhu Xian'er and the others are very clear that Lin Jie is going to use it this time!

Right before everyone's eyes, that alternate dimension began to change, as if it had truly opened up in the middle. A black figure emerged from the stars, seemingly holding something in his hand. When Zero was fully in front of everyone again, they finally saw the changes in this starry space. He was actually being held in Lin Jie's hand.

At this moment, Zero's entire body was surging with a jet-black power, and almost everyone could faintly hear the roars of ferocious beasts. Amidst these roars, he held a massive sword in his hand, but when everyone looked at the sword, it felt as if Lin Jie was holding the entire night sky and stars in his grasp.

That's right, it's holding the night sky and stars. What Zero holds in his hand is a starry sky completely shaped like a sword. Because it's daytime and the surrounding area is desert, everyone can easily see the shape of the starry sky in Zero's hand; it's the shape of a longsword.

"The Star Sword!" Seeing this, the Sky Piercer in the sky revealed an excited expression: "So you've finally shown your true skills? The Star Sword! I've been looking forward to meeting you!"

With her voice, a black sword light slashed down towards Zero.

Zero simultaneously raised the Star Sword in his hand to meet the Immortal-Trapping Sword in the sky. Then, right before everyone's eyes, a patch of night sky's stars spread from Zero's hand along the sword aura. This appearance, seemingly spreading across a multitude of stars, was precisely the sword aura of the Star Sword.

Beneath the Star Sword, the stars themselves become its sword energy.

In a single clash, the black sword energy was instantly annihilated within the stars. Almost simultaneously, Zhu Xian'er and Jue Xian'er also attacked. Emerald green sword energy and transparent sword energy, both radiating a flowing light, erupted simultaneously, slashing towards Ling.

In the distance, a mysterious magic circle appeared in front of Solomon: "Although I owe you a favor, I have no choice but to attack you with all my might now!"

As Solomon finished speaking, a powerful magical energy was instantly gathered and blasted towards Zero.

However, when the sword energy of the Star Sword collided with the three immortal swords, the Star Sword in Zero's hand actually spread out on its own. Almost instantly, a starry galaxy and night sky appeared around Zero.

Solomon's power vanished into the vast starry sky the instant it struck the night. But at that very moment, a giant wolf's paw descended upon Zero's head.

Facing the enormous wolf paw, Zero swung her other sword fiercely, a crimson sword light slashing down towards the wolf's paw in an instant. A crimson sword light instantly pierced the sky, and almost simultaneously, Fenrir was thrown into the air. The giant wolf's body flipped in mid-air, transforming back into the little girl's form. Looking at the wounds on her palm, the girl bared her teeth at Lin Jie in dissatisfaction.

Surrounded by stars, the figure of time and space appeared before Zero. Almost simultaneously, countless spheres containing powerful explosive futures appeared around Zero, many of which were even directly teleported into Zero's body.

With a tremendous explosion, the spot where Zero had been standing was now completely empty, and the sword energy of the Star Sword ceased its spread. In the instant of the explosion, Zero's figure vanished, and when he reappeared, he was already standing before Solomon.

At the same time, he slashed down at Solomon. However, the sword did not strike. Fenrir had already arrived in front of Zero at an even faster speed and grabbed Zero's hand wielding the Immortal Slayer Sword. Xiao Meier also appeared at the same time. She and Fenrir grabbed Zero's arm simultaneously, thus stopping Zero's intention to continue attacking.

At the same time, Solomon's magic erupted once again, released directly onto Zero's face, and a series of magical runes burst forth on Zero's face.

Zero's figure vanished once more. When everyone saw him reappear, he was already far away. Countless time-spaces appeared simultaneously before him, their bombs constantly disappearing. In an instant, the space where Zero stood was densely packed with bombs. Many of them even penetrated directly into Zero's body.

However, at that very moment, centered on Zero, a scene of cosmic stars began to spread and expand continuously. As this starry scene spread, spacetime was unable to send the bomb into Zero's interior again. Almost simultaneously, a sword aura resembling the night sky slashed down towards spacetime.

The celestial being simply raised a hand, and time in the entire region was frozen in that instant. However, while everything else stopped, the only thing that remained unfurled was the ever-expanding night sky.

The spreading night sky rapidly swallowed up vast amounts of spacetime simultaneously, leaving only a few to escape. Under the immense weight of the universe, the ability to stop time seemed utterly meaningless.

Above the sky, Zhu Xian'er's sword light descended once more, but this time it was different from before. Zhu Xian'er, who had been fighting Lin Jie, finally changed her expression at this moment. A powerful Zhu Xian sword aura erupted fiercely, tearing the night sky apart in an instant. Right there in the night sky where Zero was, the darkness shattered in that instant.

In the sky, countless giant swords, hundreds of meters long, appeared, instantly obscuring the entire sky. In that instant, countless emerald green swords, hundreds of meters long, slashed down towards Zero.

At the same time, Xiao Meier's figure was already standing on one of the many giant swords, and then she fell down towards zero.

The moment the Star Sword was suppressed, Zero raised the Immortal Slayer Sword in his hand once again, directly meeting the giant sword in the sky. The emerald green hundred-meter-long giant sword kept falling towards Zero, but at the same time, it was constantly being slashed away by Zero's Immortal Slayer Sword.

The figure of time and space reappeared, but the Cosmic Star Sword in Zero's hand seemed to have its own life, and it actually swept towards the location of the other party with great accuracy. At the same time, the sword also merged into Zero's body, and the bombs that time and space had originally used spatial abilities to send into Zero's body all disappeared.

The battle quickly reached a fever pitch.

The heroes and powerful figures watching were all stunned by this battle of the century! Is this Zero? Is this a battle between the world's top warriors? The sheer scale of it exceeded everyone's expectations. It was a completely different kind of shock compared to any other battle they had ever fought.

"Is this Zero?" Staring in shock at the scene before them, everyone on the floating island couldn't help but ask this question. All along, they had only stood behind Zero. Sometimes, you can only truly appreciate a person's strength when you're actually facing them.

Chapter 26

Watching Zero relentlessly battle these people, Leng Yan's expression finally underwent a subtle change: "We shouldn't just be watching. If we only watch, we won't prove anything!"

"I understand how you feel, but getting involved in a battle of this level might not be a good thing." Captain Justice patted Cold Flame on the shoulder. "Besides, you guys should have prepared a plan against Zero, right?"

Hearing Captain Justice's words, Leng Yan's expression remained unchanged.

“There is indeed a plan, but it’s a very risky one, and I don’t think it’s really possible to implement it.” Leng Yan said, his gaze falling on Alice in the distance: “That girl always gives me a bad feeling.”

"I think she looks a lot like that girl over there," Captain Justice said, pointing to a girl cheering for Zero in front of the monitor.

“Zero-sama could never be defeated by these women! Zero-sama is the strongest! Zero-sama is invincible, believe me, they will be defeated soon!” Anya’s voice appeared on a monitor somewhere. She didn’t intend to participate in this battle, but as a loyal follower of Zero, she had to witness it all with her own eyes.