Reincarnated Hero System - Chapter 1151 - 1151: The Wildcard Factor
“What else, huh? Well, I killed a planet.”
“…Eh?”
Laurene made a confused sound, her eyes widening as she realised Evan wasn’t joking.
Ignoring her reaction, Evan kept speaking.
“It wasn’t just me. There were two others. I’m sure our demon friends here know the story.
The Demon King of the Void, Progenitor godslayer, and…”
“The Masked Rogue Hero,” Nadarus muttered, cutting in, and Evan shrugged, pointing at him.
“What he said.”
Evan had just explained the concept of Rogue Heroes to them, so it was pretty obvious who this ‘Masked Rogue Hero’ was.
“Cruotis Prime’s Apocalypse, huh? It’s a big incident because it’s the last thing Demon King Westley was part of before his disappearance.”
Leviah muttered that under her breath, but everyone heard it, and Evan picked up on her words.
“Yep. Cruotis Prime. That’s the name of the World the three of us basically destroyed after a kidnapping, a fight across space and time, and a brutal battle against the Incarnation of the Planet itself.”
Clapping his palms together, Evan spoke with finality.
“We won. I levelled up a lot, and naturally, Stage 6 came about.”
Looking straight at Laurene, he asked with a raised brow, “Does that satisfy your curiosity?”
Evan had just spoken of things that sounded completely absurd to most of those present, so they all turned to Laurene, knowing she possessed a Lie Detection ability, perhaps hoping there was some falsehood in his words.
But her expression alone told them that everything Evan had just said was the truth and nothing but the truth.
Evan glanced at the wall clock, his brows furrowing before he turned back to them and slammed the table to draw their attention.
“That’s enough about my trip down the timestream. You’ll get full details later.”
He activated Hologram Creation, and the table glowed as the holographic map of Tarse appeared on it while he spoke.
“Let’s focus on this first.”
It was time to focus on the more important matter at hand, the Tarse Defence Plan.
To be fair, Evan, with his current power, could prevent the ‘Fall of the Desert Country’ before it even began, barring interference from the Second Finger or Vaeri, but doing so would not only be pointless but also harmful to him.
Such an act would cause one of the upcoming disasters to turn into a Nexus Event as retaliation from the Law of Time for his interference, while also saving the Demonic Hand the resources they had not yet committed to Tarse.
For instance, 90% of the Demonic Hand’s Sixth Division was currently outside the Alpha Continent, and so was about 30% of the Fifth Division.
That meant tens of thousands of Demonic Hand members would remain scattered and unaccounted for if Evan were to wipe out the ones currently stationed on land.
That was something he couldn’t allow to happen.
“Thanks to Artemisia, I already know the current state of affairs on the continent,” Evan said as he rose from his seat.
“I’ve been informed of all you’ve done, and for that, I have nothing but thanks for every one of you.”
He bowed slightly to show his gratitude before sitting back down and continuing.
“Thanks to your efforts, things are now far easier, leaving me with only about five things left to handle.”
“There are still five things left?!” Eliza exclaimed in disbelief, her frown clearly showing she didn’t want Evan taking on any more work until it was time to tackle the main ‘Disaster’, and Evan, nodding in confirmation, replied.
“There are certain things only I can do.”
He looked away from Eliza, turning his gaze to David and Laurene as he went on.
“First order of business, the First Finger is probably already aware that I’m back.”
“What?” “How?”
The two of them asked immediately, and Evan raised a brow at David as he said, “Dude? Did you forget his skillset?”
David blinked momentarily, then his eyes widened as realisation set in and he muttered.
“Right. Fate Manipulation.”
“Exactly,” Evan confirmed.
“My very existence threatens the Demonic Hand’s plans. The First Finger would sense that their chances of success have dropped suddenly, but he wouldn’t be able to pinpoint that I’m the cause, since my Singu—, sorry, Irregular nature would make his skill bug out.”
Evan snapped his fingers, and several points on the holographic map lit up as he spoke.
“Because of that, he’s probably going to start speeding up his plans, trying to move before I can finish what I’ve set in motion to interfere with them.
The Fifth and Sixth Fingers will soon begin acting in earnest—Deram Hester and Seith Beddoe, along with their contracted demons.”
Generating a new hologram showing a particular demon, Evan continued his explanation.
“Xolgren Agriker, the Fifth Finger’s Contractor and arguably the biggest threat to the Alpha Continent right now.
He, like every other Agriker, has a nasty Trump Card summon, and whoever ends up fighting him has to kill him before he can activate it.”
“Whoever??”
Lloris cut in with that question, and Evan turned to him, replying with a nod.
“I’m planning to have the Master of Dragondune deal with him and Deram.
Unlike Dominik Velak and the other Fingers we’ve faced, Deram and Xolgren don’t hesitate to use Demonic Fusion, and when they do, their strength increases exponentially.”
“Enough that you need a Semi-Transcendent? How are you even going to locate them?”
Eliza raised both questions at once, and Evan turned to her as he responded.
“The Upper Rank Executives of the Demonic Hand are all far stronger than their Lower-Ranked counterparts.
And for the record, Sixth Finger Seith is a Living Legend. His Division’s Senior Members are also all Level 700s. Deram and Xolgren are even stronger.”
Turning back to Lloris, he continued speaking.
“As for how to find them, I’m going to need your help with that, Emperor Lloris.”
“How so?”
To Lloris’ question, Evan gave the answer the man was already half expecting.
“Your daughter, Princess Bianca. She has ties to higher-order members of Dragondune. I need to speak with her.”
“…”
Lloris stayed silent after Evan’s words.
For one, Bianca’s connection to Dragons wasn’t a secret. The young woman strutted around with the Sovereign Level Elder-Dragon, Ciarrucrorth, in her guard detail, after all.
It was also well known that Bianca was only Half-Celestial, meaning her mother wasn’t the Empress of Tarse but rather a Dragon from Dragondune.
Bianca was quite literally a Celestial Dragon.
But even though this was common knowledge, no one knew who Bianca’s mother actually was, and even the ‘Strongest Human’ Rathal hadn’t been able to get that information from her, nor had he been able to uncover any detail about the Master of Dragondune’s whereabouts.
Seeing Lloris remain silent, Evan sighed and spoke.
“Besides the matter of finding the Master of Dragondune, I need to come to your Sandfire Palace anyway.”
“What for?” Lloris asked, his eyebrows raised.
“Because I have reason to believe that one of my fellow Heroes is either a frequent visitor to your Palace or lives there.”
This revelation caught David by surprise, but Laurene remained calm. She, like Evan, had sensed the lingering traces of a Hero Authority being used in the Sandfire Palace when she had gone there shortly after Evan’s trip down the timestream.
However, she never encountered the one who used that Authority, even after returning several times.
“Princess Laurene mentioned the same thing you did. I’m aware that you Heroes are capable of concealing your special eyes, and I’ve neither seen nor received a report of anyone with eyes like yours.
Would it not make sense that this individual is purposely hiding their Hero status?”
The Emperor posed a logical question, and hearing it, Evan nodded.
“True. I do think that’s the case.”
Leaning back in his chair and holding up a finger, he continued, “Normally, I’d leave them alone.
Unfortunately, this current generation of Heroes has a little…trojan horse problem. Because of that, I can’t let them be until I verify that they’re clear.”
“And what is this Trojan horse you speak of?”
To Lloris’s question, Evan shook his head and replied, “Unfortunately, we can’t tell you that.”
He wasn’t about to reveal that the previous generation of Heroes was attempting to reincarnate themselves into the bodies of the current ones.
“Please, just summon your daughter when I come over. I’ll talk with her and see if I can strike a deal.”
“You may not get the answers you seek,” Lloris said, and meeting the burly man’s black eyes, Evan responded.
“That’s fine. All you have to do is summon her. While you and your Empress are present, please.”
Evan added that last part before turning to Gavin and addressing him with a smile.
“Old man, Gavin! You distributed the artifacts and magic contracts I gave you when I dropped by last time, right?” (Chapter 773)
“Did that ages ago. Some of them refused to sign the contracts, so the artifacts are still in my vault.”
Evan shrugged at Gavin’s response, seemingly unbothered that not all the Living Legends he’d tried to rope in had agreed to owe him favours.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ve made sure they can’t find those things anywhere else in the world. They’ll come crawling back to me eventually.”
There was a dangerous glint in Evan’s eyes as he said this, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared, making everyone feel as though they’d imagined it.
He opened his inventory and searched through it for a moment before taking out a paper and setting it on the table.
Sliding it toward Lloris, he said, “That’s a copy of the contract that I had several Living Legends, whom I intend to enlist to help deal with the Wildcard Protocol Demons, sign.
Your nation may have its Legends, but I’d prefer we have more numbers to reduce our chances of casualties, which is why I wish to enlist them, along with…”
Evan turned to Luke, palm open outward as he finished. “Sir Luke’s ‘Veiled Legend’ friends.”
As a reminder, ‘Veiled Legends’ referred to the Level 700 Existences who weren’t publicly known.
Level 700s were all powerhouses on the current Aidos, so both their origin nations and ‘The Five’ kept a close watch on them.
However, there were those, like Luke, who didn’t want all that attention and chose to conceal their strength, leading to the birth of the ‘Veiled Legend’ title.
Now, Evan wanted some of them to assist in defending Tarse, to act as the ‘Wildcards’ on their side, just like the unknown High-Rank Demons summoned by Xolgren, whom they had no intel on, with the promise that they’d remain ‘Veiled’ even after, and ‘The Five’ wouldn’t interfere with them.
Turning back to Lloris, Evan pointed at the contract the man was reading and spoke.
“Because of those contracts, they’re obligated to assist me in dealing with Threats to Aidos. As you can see in that contract, there are clauses that prevent them from acting out of line while within your borders.
But please, do mobilise some of your Legends to keep watch on them when they begin to arrive.
That’ll not only make the Demonic Hand’s movements more difficult since they’re trying to stay under the radar, but will also keep the Legends from exploiting any loopholes to cause any sort of mess.”
Evan was very meticulous with the contracts, and Lloris went through it several times before passing it to Isobel, who examined it and found no visible loopholes.
With that, the Living Legends Evan was contracting were bound to behave themselves and not cause trouble for Tarse’s citizens, even those with known troublesome reputations.
When bringing foreign powerhouses into Tarse’s borders, the least he could do was ensure they stayed in line.
He didn’t want them to wreak havoc on both Tarse’s citizens and his current amicable relationship with Emperor Lloris, after all.
Turning to Laurene, Evan then asked another question. “You keep in touch with Tisha, right? Mind calling her and asking her to lend us Yetu? Tell her to let him know that it’s time for his Rematch. He’s needed for the fourth thing on my list.”
Just as Laurene silently nodded, Eliza spoke up and asked the questions Laurene had been about to ask.
“What are these things on your ‘list’?”
“Getting the Tarse Hero, locating Dragondune’s Master, reducing the number of Wildcard Demons, and I’d like to keep the remaining two as a surprise.”
He said that last part with a smile, but Eliza didn’t return it. He didn’t mind, though.
“Don’t give me that look, Liz. One of those two things is for your sake, more than anyone else’s.”
Evan then turned to the three Demons and explained why he’d called for them as well.
“I’d need you all to help with reducing the Wildcard Demons. Since they’re trying to leave as few traces as possible, there’s little to no contact between their hideouts. We’re going to take advantage of that and cut down their numbers just enough that they don’t immediately notice something’s off.
Leviah, your mercenary band would come in handy.”
He was referring to the Mercenary Group he’d had her establish to interfere in Tarse’s Tribal Conflicts involving regions where some of the planet’s energy veins intersected, siding against the Tribes affiliated with the Demonic Hand. (Chapter 652)
Just as he said that, he remembered someone else and directed a question to Leviah. “Where’s Cheisnih?”
“The Spider is in Tarse.”
“Oh, I see,” Evan replied, thinking about what task he could assign to the ‘Spider Nemesis’, but he eventually decided to have her continue accompanying the Deadly Sin Demons as she’d been doing over the past few months.
Apparently, Cheisnih and Leviah had grown to be quite good friends. She’d even joined Leviah’s Mercenary Group and was well regarded by its members.
Of course, they had no idea that Cheisnih was actually a Dungeon Boss Monster who could leave her dungeon and roam about freely.
Evan thought about the last two items on his To-Do List, his lips curling into an evil grin.
If things unfolded as he intended, then not only would his companions gain significant power, but the First Finger would be forced to order the ‘Fall of the Desert Country’ to be carried out far earlier than planned, while certain aspects of their preparations were still incomplete due to the interference of his companions over the past few months.
Seeing his small smile, everyone present had the same thought simultaneously.
‘Ah, he’s planning to mess with the Demonic Hand, isn’t he?’
