Every one of the 14 celestials, who had reached the celestial realm before Max, watched with bated breath as he made his way up the celestial peak of the perfect warrior to present his first challenge.

In one way or another, nearly all of them had lent Max a hand on his journey, and now they gazed at him ascending the highest peak, their eyes filled with burning hope.

Each had faced the sting of defeat by the perfect warrior, fully knowing the sheer magnitude of the challenge to overcome him. Yet, even with the understanding that defeating the perfect warrior was a feat next to impossible, they all clung to a tender thread of hope, deeply wishing for Max to achieve the unthinkable and conquer the perfect warrior.

For one day and night, Max had tempered his will.

For 24 hours he focused only on balancing his mental state and reminding himself as to why he had to do this.

He had to do this because he had to eliminate the only credible threat to the security of his family.

He had to do this because his brother had requested his help for this job and it seemed to be extremely important to him.

lightsnοvεl He had to do this because he still had to find a way to return to the controlled universe, becoming a better father, a better husband and a retired warrior.

However, more than anything, he had to do this because he needed to prove to himself that he made it to the absolute peak of power in his second life.

He had to do it because he had to prove to himself that he made the most of his second life, becoming the strongest of all time, someone who surpassed even the perfect warrior and only then could he finally lay down his weapon, having achieved everything there was to achieve.

This fight meant more to him than just revenge or liberation, this fight was his chance to finally prove to himself that everything he suffered for was not for naught. That through that suffering, he had become infallible.

************( The perfect warrior's peak )

As Max ascended to the top of the perfect warrior's peak, he saw a white platform that seemed to be stretching for several kilometres.

A bright sun was shining far away and the blue sky and mellow breeze made it feel like the most serene martial arena.

In the middle of this arena, with no heavy armour but just simple robes stood the perfect warrior, with the same dastardly face that Max remembered as he calmly smiled looking at Max.

" Alas…. We meet" he said in the deepest voice that Max had heard perhaps since Angakok.

"You're shorter than I imagined" Max said in reply as the perfect warrior chuckled at his words.

" I'm 6 feet 9, the perfect size to counter your 6 feet 4 stature. No blind spots, A good downwards angle, not too big, not too small.magic

Just…. Perfect" He said as Max found his way of speaking extremely irritating.

Rudra had warned him that engaging in conversation with the perfect warrior would result in him trying to play mind games, however, Max underestimated just how annoying the perfect warrior could be.lightsnovel

" Don't you get bored of being called the 'Perfect Warrior'?, when I was in the controlled universe, they kept calling me 'Supreme Lord' or 'My Lord' and it got boring at one point.

Don't you have a name?" Max asked, as he tried to form this question as a bait, however, much to his surprise the perfect warrior had a very genuine reply to his question.

" A name….. long ago, I used to have a mortal name. A name that was etched into the history books. A name which was said to be a myth.

No challenger before you has been interested in my name, but you can call me 'Hercules' if you please.

It's a name I've not heard anyone call me in millennia" The perfect warrior…. A.k.a Hercules said as Max felt surprised by his answer.

Max was half expecting the perfect warrior to say that he had no name or that there wasn't a better name than the perfect warrior, to which Max would have replied saying 'If you don't have a name let me give you one... let's call you 'My Bitch', because that's what everyone will call you after this fight'.

Unfortunately, he could not use that line anymore as the perfect warrior revealed his true name.

" Hercules? The son of Zeus? The Greek God of thunder?" Max asked as the perfect warrior chuckled and shook his head.

" No of course not. However, I'm Hercules and my predecessor in another universe was called Zeus if you can believe it" he said as Max felt his head hurt by all this mythological shit.

"Alright then, Hercules. Let's see if you're as strong as the rumours say you are-" Max said as he used [ Constant Teleportation ] and appeared directly before the perfect warrior.

*KABOOM*

Max's fist collided straight with the perfect warrior's fist as both of them punched with all of each other's power.

Had it been Rudra, or any other celestial who were trying this, they would have been sent flying from the recoil of punching the perfect warrior head on, however, Max was different.

Max sank his feet on the slippery ground and pushed back against the perfect warrior who had to grit his teeth and push back hard as well.

*Crack*

*CRACK*

*CRASH*

The impact crater of the tile cracking under their feet became greater and greater with every second that passed as in the end both of them were blown away, forced to take two steps backwards as their strengths proved to be a dead match.

" Oh yeah baby, let's go!" Max said as although he felt a stinging sensation in his entire hand from having punched what felt like an unmoving wall with all his strength, he was still glad that he had not lost the direct contest of strength.

" Finally, a worthy opponent" the perfect warrior replied as a genuine smile appeared on his face.