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“You’re really
 Joshua Sanders?” The First Prince Kiser gaped at him disbelievingly.
“You gotta be kidding me!” Kaizen fiercely growled after he sprang up from his seat.
“
Ha!” Kaiser looked strangely happy for some reason. “He’s indeed the real deal.”
In contrast to the princes, the citizens of the Empire were

“The Hero King! The Hero King!”
“Joshua Sanders!”
“Woah, is this real? The Dark God’s blood has shown up after the Sword Emperor!”
Some spectators said, “A traitor dared to show up here?” but there were very few of them. In difficult times, heroes were created and they were essential to success. The current Avalon Empire was crumbling down, so the Empire's citizens needed a hero more than anyone else. So when the zenith of the heroes showed up as their ally, the spectators were elated.
“Oh my goddd!!!!!!!”
“Hooray for the princes! Hurrah for the Hero King!”
“Hooray for the Sword Emperor too!”
The Avalon Empire had lost the war, and as citizens of the Empire, their lives had become devastated. However, the civil war was about to end. On top of that, the two legendary figures happened to reappear, sparking the hope hidden inside the populace’s hearts. When the spectators themselves were about to be deafened by their roar, two men jumped down to the floor of the colosseum.
“
I can’t believe my eyes. I’m really shocked. Wait, you’re not fake by any chance, are you?” Knight-Commander Rod, the middle-aged man with a mustache and full golden plate armor, asked.
Joshua smiled softly. “I’m also shocked.”
“
What?” Rod narrowed his eyes.
“I thought you already retired and gave up the post to Battalion Commander Valmont,” Joshua said.
A quick look at tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w will leave you more fulfilled.
Rod silently scanned Joshua for a long moment.
“The world didn’t leave me alone,” he replied.
“That sounds like a line from a novel.” Joshua quietly chuckled.
“Time also changed me,” Rod said with a shrug. “You know the saying about how you become uselessly sentimental as you age, right?”
“It doesn’t look like that’s the only change,” Joshua observed.
Rod flinched; it looked like he wasn’t the only one who had been observing his opponent—but the problem was that Rod hadn’t even noticed it.
“
It’s really you. You’ve become even more of a monster,” Rod marveled with genuine appreciation, but his eyes soon turned cold. He had even drawn up his power to make a close observation of Joshua’s insides, but Rod could feel nothing. It was as if Joshua didn’t exist there, which could only mean one thing.
‘He’s way past my level. Was the rumor about a critical injury completely false?’ Rod narrowed his eyes.
Rod broke away from his thoughts and slowly drew his swords. It was too early to be disappointed and give up. Just like Joshua had noticed, Rod hadn’t used his new power yet.
“Valmont says he won’t take over my post until the person he’s waiting for returns,” he said with a shrug.
“He’s quite carefree in times like this,” Joshua commented.
“Well
 that doesn’t seem to be the case if I consider how that lazy boy has been swinging his sword until his palmprints disappear.” Rod chuckled.
Joshua smiled. “You adore him, don’t you.”
“Nonsense,” Rod curtly replied. He drew up his power again. “We’ve had enough conversation, haven’t we?”
His power began to make the air hum.
“You’d better overwhelm me with your skills in this fight because even the man beside me desperately wants to annihilate you right now.” Rod glanced to his side.
“Kekekekeke.” The one-armed Arie, whom Rod had glanced at, chuckled ominously. “I’ve been acting polite to save your face, but I can’t hold it back anymore. Joshua, he
”
“
He hasn't changed.” Joshua took a step backward, frowning slightly.
“Prepare. You may know this already, but I’ve changed quite a lot,” Rod warned him.
Vigorous golden mana spread out from Rod and took on the faint shape of a gigantic shield.
“Now even the Knight-Commander is using a cheap trick
” Joshua’s eyes narrowed.
“
What?” Rod asked in disbelief.
“Well, there were many cheap tricks like this in the annihilated heaven too
” Joshua muttered and lowered his arms.
Rod could not make heads nor tails of his words.
“Although cheap tricks could indeed be powerful from time to time, they might be toxic depending on how you use them. If you have made such a choice to overcome your limitations
 then I’m really disappointed in you, Knight-Commander Rod.”
“I told you to stop chitchatting!” Arie shrieked. He flew at Joshua, no longer caring about the fact that he was supposed to fight after Joshua had defeated Rod.
Arie’s aura quickly formed into the shape of a clown who continuously juggled sharp-edged daggers. The daggers flew in one direction, aimed precisely at Joshua.
One of the daggers cut across the sky with a loud swish. At first, it was only one dagger flying through the air, but then it split into two. In a flash, there were dozens of them; when the daggers were right before Joshua, there were hundreds. However, that wasn’t the end of Arie’s attack.
Joshua had been dodging the daggers one by one with the barest minimum of movements, then he tilted his head backward. He saw a white afterimage flash before his eyes; Arie had thrust his rapier using his one remaining arm with vicious murderous intent.
“Hahahaha!” Although he had failed to attack Joshua, Arie burst into laughter. “Die!”
At the same time, the daggers flying around in the air poured down like rain toward Joshua while he was still leaning backward.
Arie’s eyes bulged because he could see Joshua putting his hands down on the ground. With that kind of posture, Joshua would never be able to stop the pouring rain of the daggers, so what was he thinking?
“Step back!” Rod yelled.
As soon as Arie heard Rod, he instantly leaped far backward on pure instinct.
The rain of the aura daggers poured down
 on the spot where Arie had been. A lengthy drumroll of ear-splitting explosions rattled the air, and the land before Arie was pockmarked with craters. Despite it all, Arie couldn’t keep his eyes off Joshua.
“That monster
” Arie stuck out his red tongue and licked his lips as he watched Joshua continue to spin his legs like a windmill.
Upon encountering the unavoidable and unstoppable attack, Joshua had chosen a truly unbelievable method; to redirect his opponent’s attack back to him. Joshua’s move made Arie feel a phantom aching in his missing arm.
“That’s why I like him. Kekekeke.”
Rod stepped up next to Arie.
“We’ll have to deal with him together,” Rod said.
“Do you think I’ll accept such an offer?” Arie growled. Rod did not reply.
Although Rod’s title was lower than Arie’s, Rod was older and held a position that was just as high-ranking as Arie’s. However, Arie had already lost his composure, so there was no way the Marquis could remain polite.
“Get out of my way!” Arie shouted.
“Don’t be stubborn.” Rod clicked his tongue.
“I’ll slay you first if you get in my way.” Arie unleashed his murderous intent on Rod.
Rod’s eyes turned cold. “You’re seriously—!”
“Master!” a man yelled.
Rod was going to roar in anger, but hearing the man’s voice made him flinch.
“Take your spear!” the man shouted from the seat closest to the colosseum’s stage.
Rod turned to look.
“Cain de Harry
?” he mumbled.
“Be careful because I’m angry and I might throw it harder than I mean to!”
Rod’s eyes widened.
The man pulled back the arm holding the spear as far back as he could, as if he were throwing a javelin.
“No way
” Rod mumbled.
“I won’t let that happen!” Arie immediately sprang forward as he was more furious than intrigued by Joshua. Arie knew better than anyone else how much stronger that fucking spear made Joshua, but he was too late.
Joshua smiled after grabbing Hertonia’s spear because it felt right.
“Oh
” Joshua muttered, troubled. Cain had thrown it so hard that the entire spear was still shaking in his hand. “I don’t want to be recorded in history as a master who got killed by his subordinate.”
Joshua’s voice was quite loud, so Icarus came next to Cain and shouted, “Then you should have been better!”
Despite Icarus’ harsh remark, her eyes were teary as if she was going to cry any second.
“
It’s good.” Joshua smiled faintly.
Was he talking about the reunion with his subordinates? Or was he talking about how comfortable he was with the spear he was holding? Joshua quietly chuckled and pointed at not his two opponents, but at the top seats of the colosseum.
“Wh-what is he doing
?”
The sudden turn of the fight made the spectators begin to murmur among themselves. The three princes, the subject of Joshua’s attention, gaped blankly at the spearman. Although Arie was violently enraged and looked ready to fly at Joshua at any moment, he came to a halt, allowing Joshua to speak at his leisure.
“I haven’t returned to this land to become your puppet
” Joshua trailed off for a moment before infusing mana into his voice and declaring to the world:
“...I’ve returned to become the emperor of the Avalon Empire.”