The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1273

The young man, presumed to be Abel, had been moments away from being crushed by the world's laws.

The situation was similar to what had happened with Reina in the past, yet not entirely the same.

Reina’s very existence had been denied. In his case, the world’s laws had held back—somehow restrained—unable to touch him, likely due to some power he possessed.

While Reina’s very existence had been denied, for him, it seemed an outsider identified his true identity, the laws thus mercilessly striking without the normal restrictions.

There was only one scenario where something like that could happen.

Just like with Reina, the laws had tried to destroy him, but because of some unknown power he possessed, they had been unable to act. That is, until he crossed a certain line, triggering the restriction.

The world’s laws were like an unbending pillar, utterly inflexible. Naturally, it was impossible for a mere creature to go against them.

‘But would I be able to...?’

Davey figured he could, but it would’ve come down to a direct clash of power, not this kind of razor-thin standoff.

Though he had managed to reattach the severed arm and heal the critical wounds, the man was fundamentally weakened.

Not wounded, but weakened from the start.

Not exactly a disease. Something stranger.

As he pondered what could have reduced the man to this state, he glanced to the side.

Perserque sat beside him, wearing a complicated expression.

“How did you know it was Abel?”

That confused him the most. She had said so the moment she saw him. And yet, there was no way she had met him in this form before.

“How could a mother not recognize her son?”

Her answer didn’t clear his doubts.

“You know that doesn’t make sense, right?”

The power within this man, the very nature of his soul was nothing like the Able he knew.

It was impossible to tell whether it was evolution through growth, a transformation, or a distortion related to his current condition. What mattered was that he had changed so much that it was nearly impossible to recognize him just by appearance alone, without any clues.

Perserque shook her head.

“I don’t know either. It just... the words came out before I could think.”

Davey couldn’t argue. When it came to that realm, he was no expert.

That wasn’t the only thing bothering him. If this boy really was Abel, their firstborn son, born after long struggles and efforts, he had no clue why he had exposed Perserque’s identity as a demon to the world.

“We’ll ask when he wakes up.”

There was no putting the puzzle together until he opened his eyes. Yet one thing was clear.

Davey could tell that he wasn’t supposed to exist here. Not in this timeline.

Whatever had happened to put him in this state, and whatever reason he had for doing what he did, Davey couldn’t even begin to guess until he heard something from the man.

Just then, a report came in.

“Reporting in. The royal family of Haetan has issued a formal request. They’re demanding a full account of the incident. If we do not respond, they intend to strongly protest to the International Federation.”

Davey was not surprised. It must’ve felt like a bolt from the blue.

To them, the Saint of Heins Territory had appeared out of nowhere in the capital and leveled part of the city’s main district.

Even if they swallowed their pride, they couldn’t afford to ignore it.

The Haetan Kingdom. The very small kingdom Davey was in right now.

It was known as one of the nations that had suffered the most casualties in the war with the demons. And so, they had no room for compromise and their stance on demons was clear.

They’d never be willing to coexist with them.

Though the federation aided some of their post-war recovery, the hatred toward demons remained deeply rooted in their people.

Davey had never paid this kingdom much attention until now.

It was several hours later that the young man finally woke.

* * *

The first thing the man, presumed to be Abel, did after waking up was silence himself as searing pain consumed his body.

“Ugh. Cough. Grrrk.” He writhed and twisted in agony.

Startled, Perserque, who had been sitting at his side, sprang to her feet. “Abel!”

Hearing her worried voice, he slowly opened his dazed eyes and turned his head toward her.

He looked around in disbelief, as if none of it could be real. Yet when Perserque pulled him into an embrace, his frozen hand trembled faintly.

“Y-You’ve got the wrong person. I’m not... Abel,” he replied cautiously, as if he finally brought himself together.

Perserque said nothing, simply staring at him in silence.

“I-I swear! I’m Kane Rowane. Look! See? My initials.” 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

He pulled out a bloodstained handkerchief and held it up. It had K.R. embroidered at the edge.

Yet even Davey, who hadn’t recognized him at first, could see through his poor lies. “Per, he’s got the same habit as Evangeline, doesn’t he?”

“Seems like it. Even without a blood tie, he turned out just like her.”

The two of them stared at him with clear disbelief, and his face twisted in embarrassment. Beaten and battered as he was, his face still managed to show a full range of emotions.

“Abel, why are you lying?” Davey asked.

“I... it’s just...”

“We already know most of it. Don’t worry, the world’s law won’t try to restrain you again. At least, not for now.”

Abel flinched. “T-That’s not possible! I clearly broke the laws—!”

He snapped back at them, only to realize he’d just confessed everything. He clamped his mouth shut in embarrassment.

“I bought you some time. So... you’re really Abel, aren’t you?” Davey asked again.

After a long silence, he finally nodded. “Yes. I am, Father.”

The stiff title made Davey frown slightly. He didn’t like how it sounded, but his pride kept him from wanting to ask the boy to call him dad instead.

“You crossed time, didn’t you? The only reason the laws would react like that to someone, just by their name being referred to, is if they don’t belong in the era they’re currently in.”

Knowing that even the rigid world’s laws didn’t lash out unless something serious occurred, that was the only logical explanation.

Abel nodded slowly. “Yes... I used the authority that allows me to reverse time just once in my entire life.”

Surprise quickly showed on Davey’s face. After all, the authority to turn back time was the same divine power Goddess Freyja had used to send Davey to the past.

“The goddess gave you that authority?”

“My name carries the authority of time. With my ability, I could only use it once... Of course, no precise interference as well.”

Sitting up, Abel glanced down at his body covered in burns, wounds, and scars.

That was when he noticed that his arm, which had been severed during the battle, was now perfectly intact.

He blinked in disbelief. “My arm...”

“The cut was clean, so it wasn’t hard to reattach—”

Slam!!

The door flew open with a bang, and a familiar face rushed in.

“Davey! Are you—?!” Josiah burst in, panting, only to stop in her tracks when she saw Abel. Her eyes suddenly went wide.

“M-Mom,” Abel mumbled without thinking. Then, realizing what he’d said, he flinched and clamped his mouth shut.

Unfortunate to him, both Davey and Perserque had heard him loud and clear.

“Perserque, it looks like this one son that we have is playing favorites with his parents.”

“I’m feeling a little hurt...” Perserque murmured.

Abel immediately made a flustered face. He fumbled to explain, stammering in panic.

Davey had to admit, it was a ridiculous sight. Yet, for the first time since all this began, the suffocating atmosphere cleared, even just a little.

* * *

Abel O'Rowane. The youngest son born between Perserque and Davey.

Just as Davey had borrowed the authority of Goddess Freyja to rewrite the past, it wasn’t impossible for something similar to happen in the future.

However, since time had been altered once already, the world’s laws responded harshly to Abel.

Davey figured Abel must’ve paid a steep price to cross over to their timeline using the authority. From the condition he was in, to the way the world tried to crush him the moment his name was spoken, they were all signs that backed his claim.

In fact, he might have lost far more than they even knew.

Things had somehow turned out so that they were currently discussing world-changing matters in a quiet inn in the Haetan Kingdom, a foreign land, but no one really cared about that at the moment.

“Alright, son. Depending on what excuse you give next, I’ll decide just how badly I should beat your ass. So be wise,” he said in a cold voice. “Why did you come to the past... and put your mother in danger?”

What Abel had done couldn’t be brushed off as a prank. Once Perserque’s identity as a demon was made public, things would never be the same.

No matter what excuse Davey gave afterward, that one fact would shackle her down.

It was something that absolutely had to be hidden, at least until his carefully planned initiative to reconcile humans and demons gained momentum.

“I’m under heavy restrictions,” Abel said carefully. “You and the Goddess warned me... not to act out emotionally, or I’d be unable to return and completely collapse.”

“Collapse, huh...?”

“Yes. I can’t interfere too much with this timeline. When Mother said my name—”

Perserque had surprisingly recognized Abel right away. It was that moment when the power of the world’s laws had tried to crush him.

Even now, Davey was only holding that punishment at bay temporarily. Abel had broken a taboo so severe that it wouldn’t have been surprising at all if he were crushed right then and there.

Once their conversation ended, he’d have to go to the core of the world’s laws himself and pay the price. He’d have to face Goddess Freyja as well.

‘Breaking free from fate, my ass.’

“I wasn’t dealing with one or two people. I had to bring down the entire royal family of Haetan. In order to do so, I had to severely twist the relationship between you and their kingdom.”

Davey’s eye twitched. “What?”

‘Did my son just say he planned to destroy a nation?’

“If the Haetan Kingdom learned that Mother is a demon, they’ll think you deceived the entire continent. The king of Haetan is practically mad with fear towards the demons after the war. He’d have gone to war over it once the information got out, and in that chaos, he’d have taken reckless action.”

What would have happened to their lives next was as clear as day.

No matter how the Haetan Kingdom reacted, Davey had no intention of blowing things out of proportion if he could help it. Yet, if they refused to back down, he’d flip his stance completely and crush anyone who got in his way.

“And why’d you go that far? Did Haetan do something in your timeline?”

Abel fell silent. His shoulders trembled slightly, as if choking back rage and sorrow. Then, slowly, he reached into his pocket.

He pulled out the same bloodstained handkerchief Davey had seen before.

“That’s the one from Heins, right? The one you dropped?”

“Yes. It’s the last remnant of the one I formed a soulbond with. We had just finalized our vows... and a week later, she was caught in an accident.”

He clenched his fist tightly.

“She was caught in an unidentified explosion in Haetan. She would’ve died... if not for the barrier you’d cast on her, Father.”

There was fire in his eyes. The woman he loved had been reduced to a coma, as good as dead. He must’ve completely lost control.

A man wielding power beyond the 8th Circle had raged toward the Haetan Kingdom in vengeance, destroying everything in his path.

It was Davey and Perserque from that timeline who had stopped him.

Even though Abel had ignored the overwhelming strain on his body, he was subdued. Then, Davey had given him a single option to save her.

“And that was to cross time?”

“Yes,” Abel responded. “You told me then that the accident wasn’t random, instead being something someone had been planning in secret from this very timeline. To stop it, I had to destroy the root before it took hold.”

It didn’t matter if Davey didn’t know the full details. Abel had little time, and only one clear solution.

Make Davey and Haetan Kingdom clash; trigger conflict; and turn the whole kingdom upside down.

The most effective way for an outsider like Abel to manipulate Davey was to touch Davey’s reverse scale, Perserque.

He really was Davey’s son—a scheming little brat. The kind you wanted to beat just for being a clever smartass.

Given the disaster he mentioned, Davey could only imagine what his future self must have needed to do to clean it up.

As Davey stared at the handkerchief in Abel’s hand, eyes locked on the embroidered K.R., Illyna finally broke the silence. “Abel, that handkerchief... It’s Kouna’s, isn’t it?”

He responded, “Yes, Kouna Rowane. Those are her initials.”

“Kouna, that damned girl...”

‘Oh Jesus, just the age gap alone is...’

Davey stared at Abel, jaw hanging open.

Abel, looking completely unfazed, added, “You really are my father. That expression’s exactly the same as the first time I told you I had feelings for her.”

“You seduced her?” Davey was surprised.

“Of course. I chased her for ten years. Turns out your son’s more persistent than talented.” He gave an awkward laugh, his voice slightly cracking.

Davey raised a hand to his own forehead and sighed at the information.

“I wasn’t planning to ever tell you this in person, Father. But, as you can guess, the Goddess warned me that if you ever found out I was Abel while I was in this timeline, the world’s laws would erase me on the spot.”

“I figured. But if you had the authority, it should’ve been manageable.”

“That’s the thing... I lost control once. When I lashed out... I hurt Mother. I... I’m sorry—”

Crack!

Davey twisted Abel’s head with one hand, giving him a rather strong noogie.

“Ghhk?! Agh!!”

“Say that again, oh son of mine.”

“Davey, at least let the boy finish,” Perserque cut in, stopping him calmly.

Abel, massaging his temple, let out a bitter smile. “I just wanted to see her awake one more time. That’s why I sought her out.” He gave a hollowed chuckle. “But I guess my body must have broken down so badly from being in the gap of time that I’ve lost my instincts. She saw right through me, and drew her sword immediately.”

From her point of view, witnessing the sudden appearance of a mysterious man with so much rage and killing aura in the air, it made sense for her to attack him.

Looking back, Davey realized that Abel had never actually attacked. He’d defended himself, but never gone on the offensive.

Even after using a once-in-a-lifetime chance to bend time, there was no trace of regret on his face.

“That sword... Is it made of helixium?” Davey asked.

“Yes. I saw Evangeline's blade and begged until I got one for myself.”

“That’s odd. I’m not the kind of man who just gives away weapons like that.”

“I beat you in chess.”

That came out of nowhere.

Davey found it hard to believe. “You won?”

“Yes.” The answer came so confidently, it actually made Davey doubt it more.

“Davey, you lost? I didn’t know you could lose?” Perserque chimed in.

Davey didn’t respond. But deep down, he had a feeling that he’d probably lost on purpose to give his son a gift.