The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

With every step Evangeline took toward them, Willow and Neltarid grew paler and paler.

Being a god miraculously imbued with emotions was downright miserable at such times.

Willow and Neltarid exchanged glances. Tampering with Evangeline's memories was out of the question, so both knew there was only one thing left to do.

Run.

They both silently reached out and tore open the air, each trying to return to their own sanctuary.

Just as Evangeline flashed a bright smile and grabbed Neltarid by the wrist, Willow seized the opportunity her loving subordinate graciously provided and bolted away first.

He couldn't believe it. “Senior!!! Are you seriously running away?!”

“At least one of us has gotta survive!! Don't worry, I'll take good care of your descendants!”

Neltarid trembled with fury at the extreme betrayal. Soon after Willow vanished into the ether, he spoke with a stiff face and mustered every polite bone in his body to ask, “Let go of me.”

Yet, despite his request, Evangeline just kept smiling and pointed to one side. When he turned to look that way, he saw that the doll shelf Evangeline had painstakingly decorated and arranged was a total mess.

“Let you go? Why should I?” She was smiling, but there was unmistakable rage behind that smile.

“Please be rational! I was only just stopping by.”

“A person who was just stopping by for a second was wearing a flying squirrel outfit, flapping their arms, and making chicken noises?”

His expression darkened completely.

Poof!!

Steeling his resolve, he even manifested his authority and heroically bolted. Following his successful escape, all that remained was Evangeline inside her wrecked playroom.

“At least clean up before you bail... Haaah. Even the things I worked so hard to make are broken...”

[OMEGALUL]

[Boss is seriously pissed monkaS]

Evangeline glanced around for a moment. She hadn't even realized the two were there, too focused on the stream. She wasn't sure when those two had arrived, but a good amount of time must've passed.

“Guys, I’m gonna call it a day.”

She ended up ragequitting the stream.

* * *

Clips of Willow's and Neltarid's bizarre behavior had immediately spread across the world like a virus.

Moderation, who had been continuing his stream while drawing with a fellow artist, looked momentarily blank at a video that arrived via donation. “Huh? What's this?”

His screen played the scene of a boy and a girl with inhumanly beautiful appearances performing some kind of unknown, bizarre act.

“Wait. That's... Willow, isn't it?” he muttered with a dubious expression. “What're they doing here?”

[Idk Eva went to show off her secret playroom and they were doing that inside KEKW Seems like even she didn't know they were there GG LMAO]

“Wow. I mean, I've seen some bizarre stuff in my day, butt... man, that's really something.”

[It's the magic of being handsome and pretty, even making something like that look like an artful performance]

[No, but seriously, that's adorable :3]

[Oh, goddess...]

[Wait, who's that guy? Is he Willow's boyfriend?]

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold your horses, chat. Don’t be jumping to conclusions.”

Whoever the boy was, calling him her boyfriend was a careless thing to say.

Moderation forced a wry smile and closed the video before picking up his phone. “Sorry, guys, but I gotta make a quick call.”

He then left the room. He started the call, breath catching when the ringing stopped and the person picked up.

- Hello?

“Uh, hey, it’s me,” he began. “Are you sure this is okay? The clip's already going around.”

- Uhm... I guess it should be fine?

“Really?”

His conversation partner was silent for a moment, then answered decisively.

- I'm mad, you know? I worked so hard to decorate it just how I wanted, and they completely trashed it! Plus, they took out all the collectibles I didn't want anyone to see...

He didn't feel quite as assured about the situation. “Still, I don't think Willow's gonna be thrilled about this...”

- Okay. I'll ask them to take them down.

“There we go. Good job, bud.”

- Don't treat me like a kid...

“Right, my bad. Sorry.”

He understood that she was angry because they'd messed up her hard work, but he also knew that letting it balloon into an even bigger event wasn't entirely a good thing either.

After ending the call with her, he stretched and smiled with satisfaction. He then went back to his streaming room and said, “Alright, just in case, the incident from Eva’s stream will probably be taken down soon, so don't go spreading it around.”

[Nope I'm a-gonna spread it-a lol]

[You want us to just forget something that cute and funny? Ain't no way brooo lmao]

“Everyone,” he said in a calm voice. “I'll draw ten things that match your tastes to compensate you for your silence.”

[Deal]

[Hmm... Moderation being like this means it must have definitely been a pretty big deal.]

[But Boss Eva didn't seem to care much and was trying to make content out of it, anyway. Is it really his place to interfere?]

[Read the room brooo it totally sounds like he just talked to Eva, dumbass]

[In that case, I approve lols]

Moderation was pleased to see that even though his viewers were usually uncontrollable, they always came through when it mattered.

“I'm ashamed of my viewers wherever I go, but at least you've got common sense, so that's a relief.”

[Says who loools]

Unbeknownst to the viewers, Si-Woo, another streamer connected to Evangeline, was saying the same thing as Moderation.

“That should be enough.”

He expected nothing much would happen, but he didn't anticipate one person who’d be absolutely fuming at Willow.

* * *

“I beseech the Gods, please bestow your grace upon these poor lambs, and just a little more for me...”

Agatha, the Saintess of the Church of Neltarid who was also Davey’s disciple, was offering her customary prayer to her god.

She was kneeling in one of the Church of Neltarid’s holiest locations, the very place where the apostles of God Neltarid, Kain and Frelia, resided.

As she habitually finished her prayer, she felt a sense of complete holy power fill her up. Finished, she slowly opened one eye and quickly glanced around.

Despite being a saintess, she was still a young girl. While most boys and girls her age were running around and playing, she was instead spending her time offering prayers.

To be honest, she didn't like it. After all, her mentor Davey had told her that blind and self-sacrificing devotion wasn't what the gods truly wanted.

After carefully making sure no one was watching, she lowered herself and quietly slipped away before pulling out a smartphone from inside her saintly robes.

Watching funny videos and silly animal clips had become one of her little hobbies as of late. Like any girl her age, she also loved watching cheerful magical girl anime.

“Hehe. Hehehe.”

If she were being totally honest, she really wanted to raise a cat. After all, cats were one of her thirty-two favorite animals.

Just then, a voice suddenly rang out to say, “Saintess.”

She practically jumped out of her skin, shrieking, “AHHH!!”

She eventually composed herself and said, “Ah! Hello, Lady Frelia.”

“What were you looking at?” she curiously asked, peeking over the girl’s shoulder.

“That? Well, that is...”

“Don't worry, I'm not going to scold you.”

Davey had already scolded the valkyrie Frelia for being too hard on Agatha, so she had eased up on her. In fact, after cutting back on her suffocating routine, she really had become better at accepting Neltarid's holy power.

People often said that faith shone brightest in times of hardship. Unfortunately, even the valkyrie couldn't easily discern Neltarid's true will.

“I think that was a pretty cute cat, by the way.”

The smartphone in Agatha's hand showed two cats glaring at each other before wildly swatting their paws and fighting.

“Wicked creatures. I deeply agree with those who say cats would've gone extinct if they were just a little less adorable,” she said with a playful smile.

“Lady Frelia, you like cats too?”

“Of course. In fact, one of the reasons I occasionally go to Heins is to see the wicked angel cat that lives there.”

Agatha smiled sheepishly at the playful grin. Just then, the video ended, and recommended videos were displayed. She casually scrolled through her phone with ease and a smile.

“But, Agatha. Which of your favorite animals is your least favorite?”

“Least favorite among my favorites? Hmm. Well, honestly, I don't often get a chance to see them. Still, I'd have to say the flying squirrel is my least favorite.”

“A flying squirrel, eh? I think they're cuter than you'd expect, though.”

“Hehe. It's a meaningless preference, anyway. It's hard to even see one once.”

Just as she was talking about flying squirrels, a few related videos popped up. The magic of algorithms was always fascinating.

“Surely... this smartphone isn't listening to us, is it?”

“I doubt it, but it’s definitely quite uncanny. Still, I'm sure it must be a simple coincidence.”

“Right?” She kept scrolling. Then, suddenly, a familiar face appeared.

“Huh? Sister Willow?” Startled, she stopped scrolling, and Frelia flinched and turned her head as well.

“Goddess Willow?”

“What is this?”

The thumbnail alone was catastrophic. Someone had circulated the stream’s most scandalous moment as a short-form video clip.

Swallowing hard, Agatha slowly pressed play to watch the video. Soon, Evangeline came into view, walking as she talked. The floating camera drifted behind her before coming to a stop.

- This is my secret playroom...

Thump!!

- Coo... Cock-a-doodle-doo!!]

A boy in a flying squirrel outfit was imitating a rooster's crow. It was a god, flapping his arms and mimicking a chicken with reluctance.

- Magical Girl Willow, at your service!

Agatha and Frelia watched the video only to be dumbfounded for a long time, unable to say a word.

“Lady Frelia...” Agatha began.

“Yes?”

“I... I think I might not like magical girls and flying squirrels that much...”

Frelia could only quietly comfort the whimpering Agatha. Even knowing it was dreadful blasphemy, she understood her feelings too deeply. The intense sacrilege made Frelia feel dizzy.

“Oh, dear God...”

It seemed something had transpired between her Lord Neltarid and Goddess Willow. Seeing Willow immediately flee the moment Evangeline found them, as well as her own god yelling “traitor” at the other goddess, her mind went blank.

Just then.

Kain flew over and held out a video for her to see. “Frelia! Look at this video!”

When he saw Agatha and Frelia in despair, he realized he was late and sighed, lamenting, “You've... already seen it, haven't you?”

Next to the saintess and the apostle, both slumped in despair, the newly arrived apostle sat down with a gloomy expression.

“O... Gods. How are we to accept this miserable truth?”

The three remained motionless until the cardinal arrived, only to be just as horrified.

* * *

Even though he was a god, Neltarid was still young. Even if his fundamental thoughts were on a transcendent level, he couldn't help but be sensitive to things he wasn't used to.

He writhed as if having a seizure, groaning, “Aaaargh!!!”

Seeing they'd fully escaped, Willow sighed, “Phew! Calm down, you big dummy. What are you doing?”

He couldn't believe how she asked such a thing. “This is all your fault, Senior!”

“Keep it down. It’s already embarrassing...” Willow wasn't in much better shape.

After shouting lines like “Magical Girl!” and “At your service!” while waving a toy wand in front of tens of thousands of people, the embarrassment hit twice as hard.

“You should've gone first. You suggested we do it together, and now...”

“Then only I would've been caught! Seriously, why did it have to be there?”

“Dunno.”

“Damn it!” Neltarid's face was completely flushed with rage at her teasing. “Because of that damn video, Agatha... My saintess said she's starting to hate flying squirrels and chickens! This God of Earth is so embarrassed I feel like I wanna die right now!”

His dignity as the supreme God of Earth was utterly shattered in one fell swoop.

Of course, only a handful of people knew he was actually the god Neltarid, but even the few that did were enough to give him a headache.

Willow suddenly asked, “Oh, actually, you know those two streamer friends of Evangeline's? Moderation and Si-Woo?”

“Uh. Yes?”

“I heard they blocked the clips from getting leaked as soon as they were made from Evangeline's stream.”

Neltarid and Willow exchanged a look. They then simultaneously said, “They need divine grace, don't they?”

“That's right! Just as my saintess said, they need some fresh, new divine grace.”

The two gods began to seriously consider what to do for the two gracious people who had prioritized their well-being when everyone else ignored them.

“What should we give them?”

“Well, I'd like to grant them at least one wish, as long as it's within our limits.”

Neltarid suggested, “Would something like an Awakened power be meaningful to them?”

“I don't think so. Even though they've both been involved in this and that, they probably don't want to become Awakened. They seem to enjoy their simple lives as streamers.”

Willow then snapped her fingers like she’d had a sudden epiphany.

Neltarid excitedly asked her, “Do you have a good idea, Senior?”

“How about we skip all this and just grant each of them one wish instead?”

“What if they ask for something we can't handle?”

“Is the God of Tranquility chicken?”

“Let's do it immediately.” Neltarid was unconsciously being influenced by troublemaker Willow.

Slap!!!

Both of them thought they heard the sound of a wooden staff striking the floor somewhere, but neither paid it any attention.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!