Chapter 283: Earth (6)

Sixteen years ago, after returning from Legend of the Hero Arhan, Vladimir Horowitz conquered Russia.

To save Russia, which was sinking under the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions—and because in Russia it was natural for the strong to possess power and authority—he simply acted in the most Russian way possible.

The strong can do whatever they want. Horowitz gladly overthrew the weak Russian government.

There was a time when he considered using his strength to conquer the Western world, but returnees didn’t exist only in Russia.

They existed in several Western nations—even in war-torn Ukraine—and looking toward Asia, China, Korea, and Japan weren’t easy opponents either.

Was expansion really worth it?

Just staying within Russia, he could live with luxury and arrogance.

He settled for that reality.

The world was far too big and vast for him to play in.

Within his own country, he was an invincible axe warrior and a tsar with no one capable of stopping him.

Twenty-three years.

The young man, soaked in luxury and decadence, imitated the former president.

He flaunted his power, provoked just enough outwardly, and showcased the idea of a strong Russia through propaganda and agitation.

Except for the unranked ones like Park Sirin, Vladimir Horowitz was, in his own way, a rank-3 superpower.

Twelve years passed like that.

The Great President of the Korean Empire, Park Sirin, disappeared.

Through the dimensional portal they had developed.

“That’s it!”

The dimensional portal.

Upon discovering a portal capable of reaching the Other World, Horowitz let out a cry of joy.

Although in Russia he had enjoyed countless women and every luxury imaginable, there were people he still remembered whenever he had free time.

Marie, Alisha, Hwaran, Erin Danua, and even Estelle.

Those beauties. Goddesses whose heavenly beauty and strength couldn’t compare to the women of Earth.

Of course, it wasn’t as if Horowitz hadn’t tried flirting in that world. He trusted his strength and basked in his rising fame, swollen with pride.

Even though Marie was reclusive, he felt the others were close enough to conquer.

— Uh… I’ve never seen Mr. Sihuu as a potential partner. I’d prefer we stay good friends. I’m sorry.

— You reek of alcohol. Go wash yourself.

— Sihuu-gun? Hmm, it seems you have free time. Start over with ten thousand axe swings.

— Sihuu sunbae? If you want to date someone, first learn to consider a woman’s feelings. Honestly, seeing your attitude makes me want to turn misandrist.

Rejected by all of them.

The main heroines didn’t become partners just by pressing the gift button or choosing an affinity-raising dialogue option, like in the game.

And above all, Horowitz shamelessly flaunted a macho attitude backed by his strength.

How could they be his partners? They were not people who needed to rely on anyone’s physical strength.

In the end, memories become more beautiful with time, and what is lost always leaves regret—more so for a ruler who had enjoyed everything.

That’s why he attempted to develop a dimensional portal.

Was he lucky? Or simply too reckless?

Russia became the first to develop and commercialize a dimensional portal, able to send the First Conquest Force.

— It’s far too reckless, tsar! The development isn’t complete yet!

— Correct! Space is dangerously unstable and the temporal axis isn’t properly fixed!

— Even though the small reconnaissance units somehow worked, transporting large forces is…!

There were whining complaints from those white-coated idiots, but the man of Mother Russia wouldn’t cower before such a trivial risk.

He shoved eight thousand Russian soldiers into the portal, even though they might all die.

And the result?

“What? The Siberian garrison was annihilated?”

If it had been the troops that entered the portal, he would understand. Although the Other World was backward compared to modern Earth, it had many Class-1 or near-Special fighters.

But why, suddenly, had the garrison guarding the portal been destroyed?

“Tsar… please check the satellite footage!”

The moment he saw the video, Horowitz felt a chill.

A spear was coming.

A spear of light shining like lightning was piercing tanks, helicopters, fighter jets, no matter what it was, bending at impossible speeds and angles while destroying everything.

He knew that spear.

“The Spear of Light… Aradwa?”

Had Tates Valtazar come?

A shiver. For the first time since the appearance of the Great Demon, cold sweat ran down his back.

The owner of the luminous spear, Tates Valtazar.

He was a being one could encounter only twice when playing Legend of the Hero Arhan.

The first was at the end of the second-year episode—the Autumn Harvest Festival.

On the last day of the festival, when he invaded the academy with Shadow Beasts and killed Erin Danua, the Queen of Paradise, during the Academy Collapse episode.

And only after completing the Subjugation of the Northern Barbarians, Mirham the Infinite Serpent, the battle against the Frost Giants, and the War of the Three Springs, could one finally face Tates Valtazar.

Horowitz remembered when he first saw him.

— You. I’ll let you go, so leave.

What if he fought alongside Erin Danua? Her strength was also absurd, so he thought maybe they could win. He took every precaution.

The result was a crushing defeat. When the spear pierced Erin’s heart, Horowitz understood he himself was nothing but a hindrance.

— Hah… is this guy the least bad one?

For some unknown reason, Tates let him go. And a year later, in the final battle, he…

— Tsk.

He died unable to block even a single luminous spear casually fired.

Even though he had brought the red spear Ge Derg to counter it, since he wasn’t familiar with it, it slipped, and he couldn’t even graze the spear that pierced his own heart.

— No way! This isn’t like the Harvest Festival! I already cleared two doctrines! Is that thing weakened? How are you supposed to defeat something like this?

Even though people claimed he fought for three days and three nights against Tates before dying gloriously, Horowitz hadn’t even managed to cut a single strand of his beard.

And now.

Someone who had come through the dimensional portal was using the luminous spear.

Without a doubt.

It was Tates Valtazar.

He had returned across the dimensional portal.

“Fire!”

“T-tsar?”

His secretary, confused, looked at him as if she couldn’t understand. It was the first time she had ever seen the always-arrogant Horowitz with such a terrified expression.

“Nukes! Launch the nukes! We can’t let that guy get close! Fire all of them!”

He slammed the nuclear launch button with almost delirious resolve.

Avangard II hypersonic nuclear missiles, designed to combat the Great Demon.

The ultimate weapons of mass destruction were launched simultaneously toward the Siberian steppe.

***

— Surrender!

Thousands of rifle barrels and hundreds of artillery mouths. Dozens of helicopters aimed air-to-ground missiles.

The lancer who had destroyed the Russian dimensional portal right after crossing from the other side simply watched all that firepower directed at him as if it were toys.

Arrogant, without a doubt.

The Russian officer Borisov considered that outsider from another world to be stupid.

After the Park Sihoo incident, many individuals existed who had surpassed human limits, but even most of them were, in the end, still human.

Except for the Heavenly Demon Park Sirin, any individual could be neutralized by an army.

That Horovitz and other high-rankers had easily taken power at the start was nothing more than an initial failure of response.

But after 16 years since the Park Sihoo event, the military had developed tactics and strategies dedicated to combating superhumans. And they knew their limits very well.

‘He looks strong, but it doesn’t matter. No individual can defeat an army anymore.’

Even one of the Ten Greats, India’s Maha Kali, proved it. She was one of the three strongest around level 90, but when she invaded western China during a moment of the country’s weakness, she ended up melted by a massive army-size bombardment.

She died for trusting too much in her individual strength.

— Surrender! If not, we’ll open fire!

Firepower crushes the individual. That is the basic rule even in the modern era.

— They were supposed to be on the verge of collapse, yet they still have enough army to use this way, huh?

That spear shone, and although it didn’t look like a normal weapon, it was still just that—a spear. Thousands of fingers tightened over triggers.

— Kill him!

At the order, hundreds of thousands of bullets were fired at once.

A barrage enough to cause a landslide even with only 7.62 mm rounds.

The commander laughed, imagining he would earn the first merit for killing a being from another world.

『 ᛇ 』── Eihwaz.

Before the first volley reached him, his finger drew a stroke in the air.

A defensive rune.

The rune engraved by the runist turned into a shield that blocked hundreds of thousands of bullets.

— Defensive magic?

— What resistance! But there are plenty of mages capable of that!

Next came 155 mm shells and the air-to-ground missiles from the helicopters.

The runic barrier cracked and groaned. Once it shattered completely, that would be his end.

However, Corin Loch, the runist, was calmly leaning against the wall opening a Russian army MRE.

— What… 2022 production? Not even the Korean army would eat this garbage.

Even Corin, who usually carried a canteen used in Normandy, was horrified. Couldn’t they at least respect expiration dates?

Even so, the defensive rune continued breaking little by little. He should praise his own runic skill for holding out against such destructive power.

‘Ever since I became a Divine King, even my runic magic feels stronger.’

Even he hadn’t expected his mediocre runes to resist this much.

— I can’t eat this MRE, and I can’t kill all of them either…

Corin picked up the spear of light.

There were more than five thousand soldiers just in the vicinity. If he wanted to neutralize them without deaths, he needed to restrain himself.

— It’s not your fault. You’re only here because you were ordered to come.

It reflected his own experience as a professional conscript in the entire Russian military.

— Aradwa.

Automatic, infallible, and accurate. The luminous spear responded to his will.

The spear obtained after defeating Tates Valtazar, God of Light, recognized Corin Loch as its only master.

It was so obedient that it expelled Solas himself from his position to serve Corin alone.

— Make sure no one dies. Destroy rifles, cut tank cannons. For helicopters, destroy only their weapons and engines to avoid explosions.

Hopefully, they would survive.

At that moment, the spear flew.

The Spear of Light, Aradwa. Its speed was literally that of lightning itself.

Aradwa fulfilled every order given without a single failure.

The soldiers screamed, the tanks were sliced.

Armored vehicles were buried in the snow as their tracks shattered into pieces.

While screams resounded everywhere, helicopter pilots watched the scene with their mouths wide open.

— Krag!

Something at an incomprehensible speed tore through the helicopter formation. The pilots only managed to feel something pass over their heads.

— W-what the hell!

— We’re falling!

What they perceived as 0.8 seconds was enough for all 16 helicopters to drop.

After the Park Sihoo Incident, a feudalistic era began, where superhumans became presidents, tsars, and dictators.

Humanity had managed to invert the symmetry between army and individual.

The consensus an individual cannot defeat a State.

But now—

An era of humiliation for humanity was beginning.

It was the result of the decisions of the nations themselves.

***

After the defeat in Ukraine, Russia neglected its economy to rebuild its army.

Especially its anti-superhuman force—it was the second strongest in the world after the United States.

They weren’t well trained, but they were many, and the typical dehumanization of the red bloc allowed them to send soldiers to the slaughter without hesitation.

If ten thousand died but they captured a Park Sihoo, it was worth it.

It didn’t matter if they lost soldiers, armor, or economy as long as they could proclaim victory in the end, everything was justified.

But against the knight who came from the other side of the portal, Russia lost again and again.

Corin Loch was immovable. No firepower hurt him. And the Spear of Light appeared from anywhere, taking down the Russian force in an instant.

The only actual deaths were pilots who failed to eject and a few infantry hit by friendly fire. That degree of mercy only generated more terror.

However, despite his compassion, the Russian army was being crushed. Thousands of infantrymen had lost their weapons, tanks and armored vehicles were cut into pieces, and helicopters and planes fell in chains.

There was no way to resist. Not even a rain of bombs could force that monster to take a single step back.

In the white desert covered in explosions and dust, the tsar panicked when he saw the satellite image of Aradwa.

It was the eighth hour since the battle began, and six divisions had already been destroyed.

— Full retreat!

— Every man for himself!

While he protected the seventeen-year-old Russian conscripts from a carpet-bombing, something arrived from the sky under the moonlight.

Corin saw an object entering at Mach 27 and understood it was an intercontinental ballistic missile.

— A country launching a nuclear weapon on its own territory?

The hypersonic nuclear missile, created to combat the Heavenly Great Demon, fell directly onto Corin Loch.

The night lit up. The roars were drowned out by the explosion.

The scorching heat swept the steppe, melting the ground in seconds. Several 3-megaton missiles created a devastating shockwave.

For a moment, Corin was blinded.

When he regained consciousness, he was submerged in an ocean of red heat.

The young soldier who had touched his shoulder seconds before had vanished without leaving a trace.

For the first time, he understood that Russia considered even its own soldiers disposable.

— They’re insane.

Launching a nuclear bombardment on their own troops?

What about the melted soldiers? The nearby cities? The radiation damage?

Was the country so deep in panic it had lost all logic? Or did its leader simply despise human life entirely?

Would they rather commit nuclear suicide than surrender or negotiate? Was the world really this corrupt?

Corin examined his body.

The concept of Solas, which granted immunity to all forms of heat, had repelled even nuclear heat. The purifying power removed radiation instantly.

The only damage he suffered was a light shockwave. But even that injury was insignificant.

A being who had surpassed humanity into divinity could not be meaningfully harmed by human weapons.

That is why gods were considered immortal.

To defeat them, one needed to fight as equals, with weapons imbued with aura and mana.

The heroes of the Goidelic people succeeded precisely because they were such giants.

— My clothes… are ashes.

He opened the treasure granted by Manannan mac Lir and Lugh.

The vault contained objects stored in an extradimensional space, exclusive to the Divine King.

He pulled out new clothes. He remembered the young Russian soldier who cried calling for his mother.

— Poor kids.

He had planned to show a moderately strong blow and then negotiate. Set red lines and warn them of the consequences of crossing them.

Corin Loch was still a citizen raised in democracy—he didn’t believe it was necessary to humiliate an authority chosen by its people.

But in 2036… at least Russia didn’t deserve that compassion.

The Divine King advanced.

The sun and divine light surrounded him.

The nations of the world had no way to stop that god from another world as he advanced toward the Kremlin.

— Tsar! Tsar! It’s the sun! The sun is melting the Siberian steppe!

— Aaaah! What is this?! The air squadron has been annihilated! The formations fall in less than three seconds!

— Electromagnetic anomaly! Radar down! All units approaching lose communication! That solar structure is blocking electromagnetic waves!

— It’s eating the missiles! Not even nukes work! No weapon can hit it!

— Tsar! You must act!

— M-me?

In the General Staff room, everyone looked at the same man.

There was only one option.

The strongest force in Russia.

The superhuman who had defeated the dictator Vladimir Putin with a single axe strike.

But he felt only terror.

Me? Why me?

And what am I supposed to do against that?

That monster was immune even to nuclear weapons. He would have died with just half of the initial bombardment.

And now they wanted him to go out and face it?

He looked at the large double axe he carried as decoration at diplomatic events.

When was the last time he swung it? When he proudly showed it to his girlfriend? When he split a swimming pool in half for fun?

He stood up looking for an excuse, but he saw his own staggering figure.

Sixteen years of luxury had turned him into an obese pig.

When did I gain so much weight? Where did the body capable of splitting mountains go?

And they expect me to face that monster…?

— I… I can’t…

He was even willing to abdicate and flee to another country.

Then—

Crash!

Something burst through the Kremlin ceiling.

— Ugh… I think this was a cultural heritage site. What a shame.

Corin Loch.

He had descended before Horovitz.

His gaze fell on the miserable pig.

— I followed the greatest amount of aura and it’s you?

Corin searched for the mighty axe warrior he had seen on his smartphone. Instead, he found a pig.

— I-insolent! I am the Tsar of the Russian Empire…!

He didn’t finish the sentence. A simple kick sent him flying against the Kremlin’s outer wall.

Corin approached him and pointed the spear at him.

— You have an axe. Use it.

Instinctively, Horovitz raised the axe to block. The weight of the spear pinned him to the ground.

— Grrrgh…!

— Hah…

Pathetic. He couldn’t even block a blow without power.

Not even a light thrust.

— Park Sirin was far sharper than you, even back then.

Could someone who had let himself rot for sixteen years be called a warrior?

Corin, disappointed by human laziness, enveloped his spear in dark energy.

— There’s nothing more to see.

In an instant, Horovitz didn’t perceive the dark zone that surrounded him. The spear pierced his heart with a single strike.

— If you hadn’t launched a nuclear attack, you would still be tsar.

What obsession humanity had with despising others’ lives.

May 2036.

Corin Loch.

Annihilated fifteen divisions of the Russian Empire and executed Vladimir Horovitz.

He was the only direct death by Corin’s will. Upon seeing him fall, Russian command lost all morale and surrendered unconditionally.

[To the entire world, I declare the following.]

In a single day, he had forced the Russian Empire’s surrender, and before the global press he proclaimed.

Just when it was confirmed that in China the Blood God Li Chao had died, that the Park Sihoo sent by Japan had been destroyed, and that the Pentagon had been taken by another entity from the portal.

[Stop developing dimensional portals and abandon your ambition toward the other world. Or well… try if you want.]

The Park Sihoo had returned from the other world.

All possessed superhuman powers that changed human history.

Some were received as presidents, others as tsars, others as dictators.

Then what attitude should be taken toward beings who were no longer humans, but gods?

Before the radiant smile of the Sun God, no journalist dared to speak.