Reincarnated Hero System - Chapter 1107 - 1107: Unlikely Alliance

The prismatic explosion instantly consumed the entirety of Triffid’s oak-like canopy, vaporising branches in a blink as the searing fire rushed downwards, catching on the bark and charring it pitch black.
All vanguards across the continent froze, then immediately turned to dust as the tree began to burn, the prismatic flames viciously consuming as much of the several-kilometre-tall trunk as they could.
At the centre of the blast was Evan, falling straight into the heart of the burning tree, his sword flying off somewhere through the air, his clothes in flames.
His face contorted in pain, his lips deeply indented with teeth marks as blood trickled from his nostrils.
Not only had Evan used a power that should not yet exist, but it was also far beyond what his physical body could endure.
As a result, the right arm he had channelled that power through…didn’t quite exist anymore.
All that remained was a blackened lump of scorched charcoal, crisscrossed with cracks and moments away from crumbling into dust.
But just before it did—
—Temporal Rewind—
Beatrix’s delay magic activated, and the ‘Time’ of Evan’s arm began to rewind. The spell, into which she had poured every drop of magic she’d been gathering since the moment Evan first cast Armageddon, along with borrowed energy from Artemisia, began to restore the ruined limb, slowly reversing it from charred lump back into flesh and bone.
However, even that wasn’t enough.
The ‘Authority’ within the flame, whose immense power scorched Evan’s arm and the ‘Authority Seed Fragment’ embedded in Beatrix’s skill were of entirely different calibres.
There was no way it could fully restore Evan’s arm to a perfect state.
But before Evan could even consider using a recovery item or activating World Magic Spell Number 6 through the Akashic Page, his entire field of vision was suddenly overtaken by white.
Creation law energy flooded his surroundings, yet Evan remained unharmed.
The creation energy didn’t attempt to erase his destruction, and Danger Sense stayed silent.
[WHY—?!]
That voice screamed in his mind.
[WHY DO YOU ALWAYS—!?]
It grew louder as the space around him was overwritten by Creation.
[WHY DO YOU ALWAYS TREAT ME SO—?!]
A bright flash of light flooded Evan’s vision, forcing him to shut his eyes for a moment.
The next instant, his body landed on a hard surface, and as he opened his eyes, he found himself in what seemed to be a vast white space, completely devoid of anyone else.
There was no one, but that didn’t mean there was nothing.
Roughly ten metres ahead stood a tree.
A tall, white oak tree with a broad canopy and a thick trunk.
Evan gazed at it in silence for a moment before activating his Appraisal skill, causing a partial status board to materialise before him.
|Name- Triffid
Race- World Tree
Gender- Inapplicable
Age- [7,603,050,012] 1512
Level- ???
Existence Level- Inapplicable
Titles- Tree of Creation, World Tree of Corrupted Creation, Mutated World Tree, Deified Tree, Cursed Tree, Blasted Tree, Evil Deity…|
For a moment, he stared at the tree in silence. Then, the voice from earlier echoed again.
[WHY?]
“…”
[THIS ISN’T YOUR WORLD. YOU HAVE NO STAKE IN IT! SO WHY SIDE WITH THEM!?]
“…”
[YOU—THE SPIRITS, THE ELVES, THE HUMANS, THE DEVILS, THIS MESSED UP PLANET—YOU’RE ALL THE SAME! YOU DRAIN MY POWER FOR YOUR GAIN, THEN TOSS ME ASIDE THE MOMENT I’M NO LONGER USEFUL!
THOSE LONG-EARED BASTARDS USED ME TO EXTRACT THIS WORLD’S ENERGY, AND WHEN I TRIED TO TAKE IT BACK, THEY CALLED ME CURSED!
THE PLANET USED ME TO NOURISH ITS LANDS, BUT WHEN ITS INHABITANTS TOOK POWER FROM IT THROUGH ME, IT TURNED ON ME AND RALLIED THOSE SAME INHABITANTS TO SET ME ABLAZE AGAIN AND AGAIN!
THE DEVILS TRIED TO FORCE ME TO BEND TO THEIR WILL, ALL FOR THE SAKE OF TAKING THIS PLANET AND ADDING IT TO THEIR LIST OF CONQUESTS, EVEN GOING AS FAR AS TO TRY AND SUPPRESS MY SENTIENCE!!
THE DEVILS TRIED TO MAKE ME SUBMIT TO THEIR WILL, ALL TO CLAIM THIS PLANET AND ADD IT TO THEIR CHAIN OF CONQUESTS, EVEN GOING SO FAR AS TO TRY AND STRIP ME OF MY SENTIENCE!
AND THOSE DAMNED SPIRITS CALLED YOU MONSTERS OF DESTRUCTION HERE TO TRY AND KILL ME!]
Cracks began to spread through the space around them, faint flickers of prismatic fire slipping out from the seams as the voice roared, and Evan glanced briefly at the fracturing surroundings before turning his eyes back to the tree that continued to pour out its fury.
[I DESIRED NOTHING! I ONLY WANTED A PLACE WHERE I COULD EXIST IN PEACE, WITHOUT BEING DISTURBED!!
I DID THE SAME AS YOU SENTIENT HUMANOIDS ALWAYS DO—I ONLY WANTED A HOME WHERE I WOULDN’T BE EXPLOITED FOR SOMEONE ELSE’S SCHEMES, SO WHY!?
WHY?!
WHY?! WHY!? WHY!?
WHY MUST YOU BAND AGAINST ME SO!? WHAT’S SO WRONG ABOUT WHAT I WANTED!?]
“Nothing.”
Evan finally spoke, and with that, silence reigned.
“Nothing you wanted was wrong. As for how you went about it, well…” Evan smiled self-deprecatingly. “I don’t think I have any right to judge you, considering ‘I’ have done worse, and I intend to do far worse.”
[THEN WHY STOP ME!?]
“A simple clash of objectives.
The devils wanted to use you for their plans. And since I’m capable of killing you, they tried to kill me first. Specifically, the same devil who tried to suppress your sentience.
As such, I acted to ensure their plans would fail, even if it meant your death.”
[…JUST fOr THAT?!]
The tree’s branches shot out at sonic speed, spikes emerging along their lengths as they lashed towards Evan.
But all of them stopped just short of touching him, and a heavy silence followed.
“…what’s wrong? Not attacking?”
[…WHY DIDN’T YOU TRY TO DEFEND?]
Evan raised his right brow, glanced down at his half-healed arm, then shrugged.
“I wonder. Maybe I didn’t want my arm turning to ashes again?”
The tree fell silent, and the cracks in space widened, more flames spilling through them. Then it spoke.
[THAT GODDESS’ POWER CANNOT FULLY RESTORE YOUR ARM.]
“I know.”
[BUT I CAN.
IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE IF IT WERE COMPLETELY DESTROYED, BUT BECAUSE HER POWER MAINTAINS IT, IT IS STILL POSSIBLE.]
“Colour me surprised.”
Though those were his words, there wasn’t the slightest trace of surprise in his tone.
Whether Triffid had realised it or not, it continued speaking.
[I WANT TO SURVIVE.]
“And I want to use you.”
Evan laid his intentions bare, hiding them behind no veils.
“You want to survive, and I want your power, just as the devils did.”
[…]
Triffid remained silent, so Evan went on.
“You must have a way to survive, don’t you? With how strong your Sentience is, and how deep your resentment runs, I doubt you wouldn’t have prepared some kind of backup.”
[…]
“I’m right, aren’t I?”
Another loud crack echoed as more fractures spread across the space.
[…YES. YOU ARE.]
“Perfect,” Evan replied, slipping his hands into his pockets…or what was left of them.
“Let’s make a deal, then.
I’ll take you to a new planet, far from the elves and devils you loathe, in another dimension and a time period where they’re probably all dead. I’ll even throw in a bonus, a binding clause that prevents the planet from trying to use you.
In return, you’ll help me achieve my goals using your power of Creation. It’s nothing major, you’d just create a little Save File.”
[…]
Triffid seemed to mull it over, but the constant cracking of the space around them pushed it toward a quick decision.
[WHAT DO YOU WANT?]
At that, Evan laid out his plan, and upon hearing it, Triffid cursed.
[YOU’RE FUCKING SUICIDAL!]
Evan laughed at the outburst, shaking his head as he responded.
“Maybe a little crazy, sure, but not suicidal.”
Then, glancing up at the tree’s vast canopy, he asked,
“So, what do you say?”
[…]
Triffid truly wanted to reject Evan’s insane plan, one that could collapse entirely if even a single detail went wrong, but it had no choice. If it refused, Evan’s Lunar Flame would kill it.
After a moment of deliberation, its outstretched branches lunged forward and pierced into Evan’s right arm, and its massive form began to shrink as its energy poured into him.
[KEEP YOUR WORD.]
“Don’t worry. I will.”
The towering Oak Tree before Evan withered away, every last trace of its energy having flowed into his arm.
Flesh and bone regenerated, and even the shattered artifact was restored as the energy streamed out of his arm and condensed into a glowing orb of light on his palm.
The light flashed brightly for a moment, then faded, revealing a white orb the size of a fist in his palm.
As the power sustaining it vanished, the white space around him crumbled entirely, and Evan’s prismatic flames flooded the area.
Yet, Evan himself remained completely unharmed at the centre.
He turned, placing the World Tree Seed into his subspace, then stepped out of the flames. From there, he surveyed the vast forest engulfed in fire, smoke billowing into the sky over the battlefields, with countless figures scattered everywhere.
Evan then activated Farsight and Blink repeatedly, teleporting across the terrain while swapping the burnt outer layers of his outfit for fresh clothes.
After several jumps, he arrived directly in front of the person his Track Down skill had locked onto, his sudden appearance startling her.
“?! Evan, where we—?!”
“How long have you known?”
“…”
Beatrix fell silent at Evan’s question, the calm yet cold intensity in his eyes quieting even Artemisia, who had been about to call out to him.
His question had no context, and Beatrix wondered which answer he sought.
‘Does he mean how long I’ve known about his arm… or how long I’ve known it’s the future me who sends him back in time…?’
Unwilling to take a risk, she chose to play it safe and replied,
“Well, about a month ago, I had a little nightmare where you didn’t have a right arm…”
“A month ago, huh?” Evan repeated, finally looking away from her with a sigh.
‘My arm was burned from the backlash of a power overload, not from ‘Unique Skill: Mesarthim’, but from ‘Unique Authority: Mesarthim’.
The fact that Beatrix’s skill could rewind the damage, even if only partially…’
Evan realised Beatrix’s Chrono-Space Dominion was far stronger than he had thought it was.
If that was true, then…
‘That’s why she was fiddling with my ring. Her real target wasn’t the ring itself…’
The teenager sighed again, running a hand through his hair.
His gaze returned to Beatrix as he finally spoke.
“Your magic power is dangerously low. How are you still conscious?”
“Umm… sheer force of will?” Beatrix replied, tilting her head. Evan just shook his head with a chuckle.
“Well, it checks out, considering how persistent you’ll be.”
“?”
Though Beatrix looked puzzled, Evan didn’t explain further. A special-grade potion bottle appeared in his hand, which he tossed to her before walking past as he spoke,
“Thanks.”
With that, he headed toward where Charisse was, leaving the teenage goddess to sigh and slowly sink to the ground with a dry chuckle.
