How a legendary returner lives

Is there any reason to spare him? No.

Even if there is, no.

I will think that there is none and will not entertain the assumption that there is.

The vermin, who is now wearing my comrade’s face, will die here.

I clenched my fist tightly. White smoke began to rise.

I could see his bewildered expression. I ignored it.

I brought my fist down once more.

[White Lotus Sect – Holy Fire Seven Bonds] [Chapter 3: Blood King Killing Fist.]
BOOM—!!

A massive crater formed, and he was thrown into it.

Although dust covered the area, I could still see his face, twisted in agony as he coughed up blood.

I flicked my thumb and middle finger.

Flick.

[White Lotus Sect – Holy Fire Seven Bonds] [Chapter 1: Breaking the Sky Finger Technique.]
Thud!

It struck his abdomen with the force of a bullet, embedding deep into him.

He coughed up more blood.

Cough.

As I heard that sound, I spoke.

“Which number Apostle are you?”

“…Who the hell are you? Where did you get this power from…?”

I flicked my fingers again.

Thud.

Blood gushed from his abdomen.

“Do you know what the hardest thing in the world is?”

“…Cough.”

“Talking to an idiot. I told you, I ask the questions, you answer. We made that rule just a moment ago. How could you already forget? Are you even a stone head?”

At that moment, something unexpected happened.

“…Hah, if you’re using an out-of-spec power like this… Ugh.”

It was surprising. His voice was unexpectedly calm.

I narrowed my eyes. The wounds on his body were disappearing.

He was regenerating.

He stood up and looked around, then clapped his hands.

[Initial Immortal Technique] [Chapter 1: Space Isolation.]
The space in front of me began to distort.

I glanced around with a strange look in my eyes.

This was a space within a space.

It was definitely a space at the edge of a dimension.

He slowly rose from his position. The crater remained, but the people who had been ‘watching’ were now gone, and the broken spaces had stopped crumbling.

It felt like time had stopped here. It was definitely a bizarre world.

“You’re using some laughable technique.”

He slowly cracked his neck.

Crack.

“I didn’t expect the original to return.”

“I didn’t expect it either. I didn’t think it would really come back.”

“How did you come back?”

“Do you think I’d tell you? You wouldn’t understand, you stone head.”

“…”

“Am I wrong? Why are you making that face?”

He took a step forward, and at the same time, wings sprouted from his back.

“I am the 189th Apostle.”

“Really?”

“The number of Apostles signifies their strength. I’m higher than the 200th one who was pretending to be you.”

“What’s the difference? 189 or 200, it’s probably just a week’s difference at most, like a one-month-old street dog. Are you getting too confident?”

He sneered.

“Here, Apostles can unleash their full power.”

“Oh, really?”

“The human world could never handle the power of an Apostle. You, too, are reaching your limits here.”

I scratched my chin.

I didn’t fully understand. I was about to speak when—

He suddenly sprang into action. Surprisingly quick.

In his hand was a glowing sword.

It was not an ordinary sword. It was made of mana.

He swung it. It was fast.

All of this took no more than 0.1 seconds.

But that was it.

BOOM—!!

With a loud noise, my hair was blown by the wind.

It was simple.

In my right hand, I was holding his sword, and he was staring at me with a bewildered expression.

“…Huh?”

The distance between us was about 20 cm.

I spoke in an incredulous tone.

“Turns out you’re really a stone head.”

“…What?”

“You think only you can unleash your full power here?”

I applied pressure to my right hand.

Crack—!

His mana-based sword shattered instantly.

As mana particles spread in the air, I continued speaking.

“Just out of curiosity, who are you working for?”

“…”

“Is it the System?”

The 189th Apostle didn’t answer, but his expression gave me all the information I needed.

“So it seems. You messed up Earth, sent two hundred people to another world, and made fake replacements for them. What’s the final goal?”

I reached out with my left hand.

Crack, naturally, I grabbed his neck.

At that moment, a burst of light erupted from his eyes. It was natural energy.

The energy gathered and shot out like a flash.

“Are you an X-Man or something?”

I was able to speak leisurely because the moment it touched my body, it vanished. This was my defensive technique, the mana enveloped my body. It was clear that natural energy was superior to mana, but if it couldn’t break through, it meant there was a significant gap between me and him.

Realizing this, he began struggling to escape my grip. But it was futile.

I had no intention of letting him go.

“I asked, what’s your final goal?”

“…”

“Do you think I’ll answer you?”

“If you don’t, you’re going to die here. So, isn’t it better to just tell me?”

“Do you think I’ll answer you if you threaten me?”

“Well, if I don’t, you’re dead anyway, so you might as well answer.”

He didn’t answer.

“Too bad. I really meant to torture you.”

“…What?”

“But I can’t bring myself to torture someone whose face I know.”

“….”

Time was wasted.

“I’m only going to hit you once. If you can endure it, I’ll spare you.”

He looked at me with a suspicious expression, but it was true.

I always keep my word.

“Try to survive this.”

I pulled my right fist back.

Whoosh.

White smoke wrapped around my fist. It looked like white flames.

The space he created started to distort. His eyes widened.

There was no turning back.

With a straight punch, I struck.

[White Lotus Sect – Holy Fire Seven Bonds] [Chapter 3: Changing Bonds, Blood Heaven Breaking Soul Killing Fist.]
Crack-crack-crack-crack.

The space distorted as my punch shot forward. It struck his face.

And then—

Crunch—!

His head exploded without a trace. No bones, no blood, nothing.

It just vanished.

Even a stone head couldn’t survive my punch.

At the same time, the entire space around me trembled.

If the caster dies, the spell is supposed to break. No spell in the world can escape that rule.

If there were any exceptions, it would only be because the caster had set up something beforehand, and such preparations would be noticeable.

Any spell will break once the caster dies.

And so, I returned to the original place.

With the 189th Apostle now back in his human form.

Chapter 4

“It’s too realistic to be a novel, but too unrealistic to be an essay.”

The man sitting across from Jin Song-i spoke.

He was an American awakened individual with an S-grade ranking, but unlike other awakened individuals who clear gates, he did not belong to that category.

Stuart Mill.

Before becoming an awakened individual, he was a renowned linguist at the University of Pennsylvania, and after awakening, he focused on analyzing various “civilizations” that appeared through the gates and interpreting their languages.

He did not have any typical combat skills.

The most impressive skill he possessed was “translation.”

In fact, his translation skill was at the SS level. He was the only person on Earth who had raised a translation skill to the highest level.

He was speaking in such a manner now.

“It’s very interesting. The languages written here are very similar to Earth’s English and Chinese characters. This place, Titan Continent… or rather, Titan Planet, is literally a fantasy world.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. It’s a world where dragons, orcs, goblins, and numerous other monsters live. It’s a fantasy world where magic and martial arts—basically a blend of Eastern and Western elements—exist. This is clearly a record from that world. The problem is…”

Stuart’s expression was serious and grave.

“The question is, is this real?”

“……”

“Until now, the place known as Titan has never appeared. Gates mostly feature civilizations from Earth’s past, like Egypt, and sometimes continents like Yoron and Meija appear. As you know, the golems that appear in A-grade gates are from Meija. The world is certainly vast. I suddenly have the feeling that this might just be the beginning. Oh, but that’s just my personal opinion, so don’t worry too much about it.”

Stuart was a scholar. Scholars always imagine, think, investigate, and deduce facts.

The important thing here was simple.

The translation was finished.

“Do you see the characters and symbols engraved here on the front?”

[The Two Hundred Oddities], [The Golden Lion Mercenaries], [The White Lotus Cult], and [The Holy Empire].
Except for the “This is a prank.” (Two Hundred Oddities), the other words had symbols next to them, looking as though they were stamped with a seal. Stuart pointed at the symbols one by one and continued.

“Usually, when you see stones or important records left at gates, there’s a subtle ‘mana’ feeling to them. I’m sure Jin Song-i understands what I mean—the mana from Earth and the mana inside the gates are different, yet similar.”

“You’re talking about how they are the same type of mana, but their concentration and such differ, right? Yes, I know.”

“These symbols are emitting a mana scent. It’s a very strong aroma, like you would find in ancient manuscripts. I can guarantee that, out of the hundreds, even thousands of gates I have seen on Earth, this is the first time I’ve encountered this kind of mana scent.”

“……”

“As I said earlier, this is more like an essay than a novel. Although it’s unrealistic, if the general background in this book is true, it could very well exist. However, the person called ‘Jin Si-hu’ in this book, I wonder…?”

Stuart hesitated before saying this, but it had to be said.

“Is he… perhaps your brother, Jin Song-i?”

Jin Song-i had no intention of hiding anything. Stuart was no ordinary person; he was a world-renowned linguist. However, that didn’t mean she wanted to publicize it. The silence that followed Stuart’s question was her only answer.

Jin Song-i smiled quietly.

“Thank you. Your knowledge has been a great help.”

Professor Stuart didn’t want to press further. After all, agreeing to decrypt this ancient manuscript came with a “non-disclosure agreement” that was a magical scroll. Once signed, the person who signed it had to keep the matter strictly confidential. If they ever spoke of it to anyone other than Jin Song-i, the news would reach her instantly, and she could end their life immediately.

Even though he had signed such an agreement, Jin Song-i did not reveal that “Jin Si-hu” in the manuscript was indeed her brother.

Professor Stuart did not feel hurt by it. He smiled and stood up.

“You mentioned you’re heading to the United States today. Are you coming with me?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I’ll be downstairs having coffee. Take your time and come down.”

“Yes, I’ll be there shortly.”