The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1225

A catastrophe, the same one that the remnant of Thanatos warned of happening during the heart exchange, eventually came to pass. It unleashed chaos across three dimensions, including the Nacha Empire.

It began in areas with lower human populations. A volcano, long dormant, suddenly erupted in a massive explosion, covering dozens of kilometers in volcanic ash. A calm sea roared to life, producing waves over two meters high that engulfed entire coastal regions, bringing disaster in their wake.

Of course, such natural disasters weren’t completely unheard of. While they left damage in their wake, the affected areas weren’t completely unprepared.

The real problem began in the capital of the Nacha Empire—one of the largest metropolitan areas of the dimension.

“A-Ahh!”

The blackened sky reminded onlookers of the day Davey appeared at the imperial palace and turned the skies to ash. However, unlike back then when it was merely an ominous threat, it had suddenly taken substantial form and was affecting the surroundings.

The darkened sky radiated visible danger. It began cracking and slowly fracturing from the top down, and people witnessed events which could only be described as apocalyptic.

The collapse started in the capital before spreading outward. Eventually, it reached the surface where the people were.

Naturally, panic erupted. The sky was splitting and falling! For the people watching the heavens crumble into ash, it was as if that blue sky had always been an illusion.

The slow descent of doom, like a downdraft sweeping across the land, made everyone tremble in fear. The apocalyptic force soon touched the clock tower at the city’s highest point, making the situation even worse. The top of the clock tower, that had long loomed above the capital as its symbol, began to disintegrate like dust.

When structures fell apart so helplessly, there was essentially no hope for living beings. People realized that if the apocalyptic force reached the ground, it would truly become hell on earth.

“It’s like... a giant eraser is wiping out everything.”

Alas, even if they wanted to run, there seemed to be nowhere they could run to.

Swords were useless before such a force. Magic could delay it briefly, but it lacked the strength to do anything meaningful. People had no clue how they were supposed to survive such a thing.

Princess Myurin gritted her teeth in helplessness, but still did everything she could to slow the destruction.

“Have the mage reinforcements not arrived yet?! Don’t hold back!! Deploy everyone if need be!”

“Your Highness! Most of the mages have already been mobilized. If we start pulling even those guarding the borders...”

“If we don’t stop that force above us, what’s the point of any war between humans?! Move, now!”

Some among the resistance scoffed at her fierce declaration.

“Do you not fear our rebellion, Princess? If we launch an armed revolt with the capital in this state...”

“I believe you’re not that foolish,” she said firmly. “Listen well: right now, someone from the outside is fighting to protect us and the heart of our world. Someone with no connection to us... Someone who, until recently, was even our enemy! He could’ve just gone back to his own world, yet he is instead doing everything he can to make sure the people here don’t die!”

She then shouted, voice resolute, “And you’re still fighting over power and influence?!”

Her words struck deep, making everyone shut their mouths.

Someone who had no reason to care for them was putting his life on the line. In contrast, those who should be risking everything were instead bickering among themselves. It was beyond foolish.

“Politics and power struggles can wait. Right now, we need to survive this. Together.”

“I don’t like it, but I agree.”

“I promise to repay your trust in us.”

“What do you need us to do?”

“The monsters are moving strangely. While we suppress the collapse, hold them back,” she commanded.

“How ridiculous this situation is...”

Even those who had once doubted her, having seen her as just another royal like the shameful emperor, began stepping in to help.

However, it still wasn’t enough. The mages burned through their mana at a rapid pace, and many were nearing exhaustion. Their resistance shouldn’t have even lasted as long as it had. Fortunately, they were able to do so thanks to the white-winged angel at the capital’s center, radiating a massive light.

A woman stood amidst the drifting wind, her hair flowing, singing a song no one could hear. Though once called a witch, her essence was purer than anything they had ever seen.

The white angel radiating light was none other than Reina. The immense holy power she released was lifting everyone’s vitality, holding back the collapse with her overwhelming force.

An outsider was giving everything they had! The people who belonged there couldn’t just sit back. Shuneria blamed herself for having only divine sight and nothing more. She couldn’t help but think about how she could’ve helped, if only she had power as well.

No one was sure how much more time they needed to endure. However, the collapse was clearly accelerating. In just the few days since it began, the rate of spreading had grown explosively. The weight it placed on everyone was unimaginable.

“Saintess candidate Shuneria.”

She didn’t know what the princess was trying to say.

“Please, get out of here.”

“What about you, Princess?”

“If the capital falls, everything is over. I’ll stay with these people.”

“Don’t say something so ridiculous! Do you think I’m any different from you all who belong here?!”

“Even if you haven’t fully inherited the stigmata, you’re still a Saintess candidate, aren’t you?” Princess Myurin laid out her reasoning while being the realist, “I have nothing but my bloodline that is special about me. You, on the other hand, have potential. So, before it’s too late, please get out of here.”

Shuneria shook her head violently. “No!”

It no longer mattered that they were once mortal enemies. Ignoring her plea, she ran fast until she burst out into the plaza.

“Aaaaugh!”

“Guaaah!”

Terrible screams rang out in every direction.

Some had already died from mana exhaustion, while others were clearly in critical condition.

Though she had seen many wars, never had she felt so helpless. Never had the devastation been so complete.

“This is a catastrophe... The gods must be angry.”

“Damn it! It’s over. How can humans stop natural disasters?”

“Even if an angel has descended...”

Anyone watching Reina, once called a witch yet suddenly spreading pure white wings and radiating divine power, would see her not as a witch but an angel.

She had been protecting everyone from the very beginning of the disaster without even a moment of rest.

“Ahh...”

The ones retreating behind the front lines all wore expressions of despair.

While the mages sat in meditative silence, struggling to maintain their barriers, Shuneria watched the calamity falling from the heavens and clenched her hands together tightly until her knuckles turned white.

Surely, everyone had something they could do. However, as someone called a Saintess candidate, someone who only had divine sight and no real combat power, there was nothing she could contribute in that moment.

She knew that it wasn’t right or befitting her position. She remembered reading stories in old scriptures where Saintess candidates opened the heavens through prayer and brought down blessings upon the people.

No historical records she’d read had described a true Saintess, but she thought at least trying something was better than not doing anything.

Step by step, she walked forward in a daze. The painful screams coming from all directions echoed in her mind, torturing her. Her once-white robes were already stained with dirt, yet she didn’t stop walking.

Once she reached the place where the mages were gritting their teeth to maintain the barriers, she dropped to her knees and began to pray.

[O’ Merciful God... I, Shuneria Recken, chosen as your Saintess candidate, humbly beseech you...]

Tears fell as she began reciting the prayers of past Saintess candidates written in the scriptures.

[If I truly am your chosen Saintess candidate, grant me the strength to stop the disaster unfolding before my eyes.]

[If I truly am your chosen Saintess candidate, help me save those who are suffering around me.]

As if her prayer stirred something, some divine power began to flow out from her. However, it was no more than what a typical priest would release.

Clasping her hands until they felt like they’d tear apart, she continued to pray, but her power was too weak. No miracle came to her, as if to say she shouldn’t expect grace from just that much desperation, that she was still unworthy of assistance.

Feeling completely helpless, she wept. Along with the screams, she could also hear the wails of the souls of the dead. Normally, the dead would be immediately guided to the afterlife. Yet for some reason, the souls lingered and disrupted the living.

There was nothing she could do. Seeing it all with her divine eyes only deepened her sorrow and despair. She resented the god who gave her no answer. At the same time, she felt something inside her break.

[I prayed, didn’t I...?]

[Why are you ignoring me? Am I a joke to you?]

[You’re the one who chose me. Shouldn’t you at least let me do something?!]

They were childish complaints with no logic behind them. Yet at that moment, she felt something burning within her body.

“Ugh?!”

The intense, searing sensation made her flinch and curl up. It wasn’t ordinary pain. She could instinctively tell what it was—the trace of the divine.

The stigmata, a divine guarantee and the seal of god.

At the same time, a massive surge of holy power erupted from her.

[Oh Lord... Please save these poor lambs...]

She began to pray words she had never spoken before.

In a dazed state, she kept reciting as if some force was directly etching those prayers into her mind. The more she prayed, the more holy power flowed from her body.

The hundreds of mages gathered around the plaza, in the midst of casting their barriers, turned and stared at the transformation taking place.

“She’s...?”

“Lady Shuneria...”

People stared in awe at the miracle, seeing an unfolding power so divine it felt sacred just to witness it.

“Dear god... My body is?!”

The wounded began to heal, while those who struggled from mana exhaustion found their strength returning.

Her holy power, while similar to Reina’s, spread in a different way. It soon wrapped around everyone nearby. It didn’t stop there, either. The barrier of power she created extended beyond the existing magical defenses, wrapping around everything as if shielding the entire plaza.

Like vaccinated bodies gaining immunity, the reinforced barrier suddenly held steady. It no longer trembled under pressure, standing firm and resisting collapse.

“It’s... It’s a miracle!”

“God has granted us a miracle!!”

Generally speaking, mages didn’t believe in gods. Yet even they, after witnessing what had just happened with their own eyes, could describe it as nothing else but a miracle.

Unbeknownst to Shuneria who was absorbed in prayer, she had grown a pair of massive, white wings that made her look every bit the holy Saintess she had prayed to become.

Even Princess Myurin, who had kept a stern, unreadable expression throughout the struggle, found her eyes widening in shock.

In that instant, everyone’s despair turned into hope. A slim thread of possibility had been born!

However, there was still one among them who couldn’t bear to look at her kindly.

‘He belongs to me...’

The only one connected to his divinity should have been her! It was none other than Celestial Reina. She instantly recognized whose stigmata Shuneria had received. She knew because the power flowing from her, the holy power soaked with divine power, was unmistakably his.

Davey O’Rowane. It was his power. Seeing her using the power of the most important being made Reina deeply confused. As his angel, there was no way she wouldn’t have been able to recognize his power.

From an angel to a Saintess.

She already knew that Davey had gained divinity. Yet even so, the feelings rising inside her were hard to suppress.

[Only I serve him...]

A voice she didn’t even recognize echoed deep inside.

Even if Rinne had been blessed with his divine power, and could awaken her Sephiroth form, her origin remained with Neltarid. In other words, Reina was still the only one who belonged fully, entirely, and solely to Davey.

She didn’t realize she was jealous.

‘Only I should serve him...’

The jealousy of an angel began to surface. It didn’t matter that a sleeping god had guided a stigmata to Shuneria. Goddess Freyja could’ve left the stigmata before falling into slumber, which was nothing unusual.

Even so, Reina couldn’t help but feel bitter. The fact that Saintess Shuneria received his stigmata and her memories of protecting Davey had started to blend together, clouding and threatening to twist her emotions. Still, in the end, she said nothing.

She had endured, per Davey’s request, protecting the humans while the heart of the continent was being swapped. It had left her exhausted, and none of it mattered to her. At that moment, all she could think about was jealousy.

A thick, suffocating jealousy, watching the one she wanted to have all to herself continuously form bonds with others.

‘I’m your only servant. Why do you keep letting others in? Can’t you just look at me? Just me...’

She had never even thought of being his lover. That wasn’t the point. However, as his servant—his sole, rightful angel in the world—she believed that position should be hers alone.

Her body trembled, like a broken film reel caught on repeat.

[Just look at me...]

[Just look at me...]

[Just look at me...]

[Maybe if I scribble on his perfect face so he’s too ugly to look at—]

The moment that terrifying thought surfaced, she flinched in horror. “W-What... What am I thinking right now?!”

She felt chills crawl down her spine. Eyes fierce, she focused on the dark parts of her own emotions and forcefully expelled them.

“Cough!”

At the same time, Shuneria—who had just inherited the stigmata and was still carelessly scattering holy power—accidentally absorbed Reina’s negative energy.

She gasped and choked, coughing hard from the shock.

“Hmph!”

Reina turned away with a small huff.