Reincarnated Hero System - Chapter 1162 - 1162: The Stakes are High

“What the fuck just happened?”

Evan’s question received no answer from those around him, as none of them knew why the armoured Avatar of Sin had grabbed Bianca and taken her underground.

The unexpected event had left Evan too stunned to react at first, especially since Bianca herself hadn’t even tried to resist.

But Evan wasn’t about to stand idle in confusion.

He dashed toward the spot where the avatar had vanished, stomping down on the ground as he activated a skill.

“Collapse!”

The earth trembled under the force of his stomp, seismic waves rippling outward and breaking the terrain apart to recreate the sinkhole the avatar had emerged from earlier.

He immediately leapt into it, his wings spreading wide as he plunged several hundred metres in an instant, diving deep through the old oasis water channels into the underground chamber beneath the ruined city.

Using Elemental Weapon Projection, he created a flaming sword of destruction law energy and used it to slice through the dome barrier of the dungeon at the bottom.

The law energies intertwined within the dungeon walls distorted violently as his destruction energy scattered them, and the physical structure disintegrated into dust as Evan dropped into the middle of an expansive field of green grass.

‘This is NOT how this place is supposed to look.’

That thought ran through his mind as he turned his gaze toward the house at the centre, a modest two-storey home with a small chimney on the roof releasing faint trails of smoke.

The front door burst open the moment his eyes fell on it, and out stepped a fair and lean but muscular man with a voluminous amount of long, black hair that cascaded past his shoulders.

His hair was styled partially up, tied back in a messy ponytail with a few strands hanging over his shoulder. A section was secured with a small ornament, and a couple of jade-coloured ribbons were wrapped around the top knot.

He wore a white turtleneck shirt with a black splash pattern and matching undersleeves, paired with black trousers and a set of palm slippers.

His angular face wore a furious expression, his narrowed red eyes adding to the intensity of his anger.

Demonic energy burst from his body as the world around him slowed, but Evan casually moved through the slowed world, his magic power erupting in a wave that countered the immense pressure the man released.

“Now, now, Mr Deadly Sin. I’d have to ask you to return my fellow Hero,” Evan said, taking another step that cracked the ground beneath his feet, a deep creaking sound echoing throughout the space as the dungeon strained to contain the immense amount of law energy gathering around him like a storm.

At the sight, the man’s expression darkened, but before Evan could take another step that would have split the ground apart, Bianca landed between them, her hands raised toward both as she shouted.

“Stop! Both of you!”

She immediately turned to the man, sweat rolling down her brow as she demanded, “Stand down, Emrel!”

Then, facing Evan, her tone softened as she pleaded, “You too… please.”

At this, Evan froze, an eyebrow raising as he alternated his gaze from the man to Bianca, then asked, “Emrel?”

He returned his gaze to the man, then scanned the area around them as he spoke.

“He’s not sealed…”

Looking at Bianca, he asked, “You unsealed him?”

“Yes, I did. Now just calm down and let me explain.”

At that, Evan finally retracted his aura, the creaking of the strained dungeon space ceasing, and Bianca heaved an audible sigh of relief.

She then turned to the man, rushing forward to grab his shoulders and whisper something that Evan didn’t bother to listen to as he spoke.

“I’m waiting for my promised explanation, Bianca. Why is Mr Indolence here completely unsealed?” Evan asked, his words confirming the identity of the man before him.

Of the Seven Deadly Sins, he represented the tendency to avoid work and any form of physical exertion.

Sloth.

His real demon name was what Bianca had just called him, Emrel.

Right after Evan asked, the other three Deadly Sin Siblings descended through the hole he’d carved in the dungeon, with Eliza accompanying them.

Bianca turned around with a sigh, pressing her fingers to her temple as she said, “I unsealed Emrel because we’re in a relationship, and having his movements restricted to just this city’s borders was inconvenient. That’s all.”

“…”

The entire area fell silent after she spoke. So silent that one could hear a pin drop…on the grassy floor.

Evan was the first to recover from his shock, blinking and shaking his head as he asked, “Sorry, could you repeat that? I could’ve sworn you just said you’re dating this guy?”

“You heard me right,” Bianca replied, her expression tired.

“We’re in a relationship. Like you and your fiancée over here. That kind of relationship. We’re dating. Whatever you wanna call it.”

Evan went silent in disbelief again, but before he could question Bianca further, Nadarus dashed forward, clamping a hand down on her shoulder as he spoke seriously.

“I need you to answer this honestly. How long have you been with this guy?”

He pointed at Emrel as he spoke, earning a frown from the other High-Demon, a frown that deepened when both Roselia and Leviah closed in, their focused gazes fixed on Bianca as they waited for her answer.

“…um…four years?”

“…four? Four sets of 365, 24-hour days?” Nadarus asked to confirm, and when Bianca nodded silently, still visibly confused, he staggered back in shock.

“Oh my goodness…”

Leviah’s spear dropped to the ground as she gaped in shock, and Roselia looked up at the sky through the hole in the ceiling, frowning as she muttered,

“The Apocalypse must’ve started without us realising…”

Evan, Eliza, and Bianca all exchanged confused glances at the reactions of the three demons, but Emrel seemed to understand and frowned. He slapped Nadarus’ hand off Bianca’s shoulder, pulling her back as he glared at them.

Nadarus stared at his hand, shock still evident, then turned back to Bianca and said,

“Woman. He really loves you. Marry him.”

“Shut the hell up, Nadarus,” Emrel immediately snapped, but Nadarus ignored him.

“What do you mean, ‘shut the hell up’!? Dude! This is huge! We should be throwing a fucking party right now!”

“I can call my men. They can set up a venue with good wine within the hour,” Leviah said, picking up her spear and unsummoning it.

“I suppose we should prepare for the family introductions too,” Roselia added, and in a rare moment, Leviah actually agreed without bickering.

Emrel, not wanting to deal with their stress, immediately turned and pulled Bianca along with him.

“Let’s get out of here, Bianca. They’ve all gone senile.”

“Huh? Senile? Wait, what?”

Bianca was too confused to get a proper sentence out as Emrel dragged her away, but Nadarus reached out and grabbed her other arm, pulling her back.

“Where the hell are you taking our in-law!?”

“She’s not your in-law, you greedy idiot,” Emrel snapped, kicking Nadarus away and dusting off Bianca’s palm, as if the mere act of Nadarus holding her had dirtied it.

Nadarus regained his balance, brushing off Emrel’s footprint as he shouted back,

“Over 300 years and you couldn’t keep a relationship for even a year straight! And now you’ve been with her for four years?! If she isn’t our in-law, then what is she?!”

Hearing the information Nadarus just disclosed, Emrel extended his hand and clenched it, summoning a cave of chained shields to trap him inside, adding a soundproofing effect to make sure none of his shouts escaped.

As for Evan and Eliza, Nadarus’ revelation finally made things click, and they understood why the Deadly Sin Siblings had all been so dumbfounded.

“…is he really that bad at love?” Evan muttered, and hearing this, Leviah shook her head.

“No. He’s just too lazy to actually put effort into a relationship, and it ends up frustrating his partners.”

Her answer made sense, given the man literally represented the Sin of Sloth, but it also made Evan wonder…

‘What the hell did those women expect when they decided to date the literal Deadly Sin of Sloth?’

It was a question he might never get an answer to. Pushing the thought aside, Evan cleared his throat VERY loudly to draw everyone’s attention, and when all eyes turned to him, he spoke.

“We can put your brother’s relationships aside for now. How about we focus on why I led everyone to this city in the first place?”

Without waiting for anyone to respond, Evan kept speaking, his eyes on Bianca.

“If you haven’t already figured it out, the reason is to get your boyfriend over here,” he said, gesturing toward Emrel, “to join the Tarse Defence Plan.”

The moment he spoke, Emrel shot back, “Whatever it is you’re talking about, I’m not joining.”

His immediate response was met with an equally quick counter from Evan, “Even if it means your dear girlfriend’s home country goes up in flames and every other person she loves and cares about burns with it?”

“…”

Seeing Emrel fall silent with a frown, Evan scoffed. “Thought so.”

Evan hadn’t expected Emrel to agree to join the Tarse Defence Plan immediately. After all, Emrel was the Deadly Sin who represented Laziness.

But considering Bianca’s existence and the nature of their relationship, the situation changed completely.

‘Things are going to be much easier for me than I originally planned,’ Evan thought.

Bianca frowned as she realised Evan intended to use her as leverage to bring Emrel into the plan and began to protest,

“Wait, Evan, this—” but Evan cut her off immediately.

“Pray tell, Princess Bianca, you weren’t about to ask me not to involve Emrel in the Tarse Defence Plan, were you?”

He asked with an expression that made it clear he already knew what she was about to say.

Pressing his fingers to his temple, he sighed and continued, “Princess Bianca, you know the Seven Deadly Sins are like us Seven Heroes, right? The more of them that gather, the stronger they are because of their Deadly Sin and Series Skill resonances.”

He gestured toward Roselia, the still-shield-imprisoned Nadarus, and Leviah as he went on, “Those three already empower each other through resonance. If I add a fourth, they become even stronger, strong enough to fulfil their role in the Tarse Defence Plan, which involves dealing with many of the Wildcard Protocol High-Rank demons from other worlds.

The same demons that, I should remind you, are trying to turn your home country into a sea of fucking fire.”

Not allowing a single opening for interruption, Evan turned to Emrel, who was about to speak, and cut him off.

“And you, Mr. Lazybones, I get that you don’t want to involve yourself in surface matters, which is probably why you hole up in this dungeon even though you can leave whenever you want, but riddle me this: if you don’t help your siblings and we fail to stop the Demonic Hand from ripping open another dimensional rift in the centre of your girlfriend’s country, summoning Gozon’s armies into this world along with Legions of High-Rank Demons who’d widen the rift enough for Peak Ranks to start coming in, who do you think will come after those Peak-Ranked demons?”

The answer to that question was blatantly obvious.

“That Demon King we all know is gonna come right over. The same person, should I remind you, who poisoned you with soul poison so my predecessors could seal you into your own weapons, because he saw you seven as a threat.

Because you seven, despite being Superior Sovereigns, could have bested Transcendent Level existences in combat.

Because you seven could have defeated him in combat a thousand years ago.”

After revealing one of the core reasons Ginaroad had plotted to eliminate the Seven Deadly Sins using the previous Heroes as hired hands, Evan crossed his arms and continued.

“Now it’s not ‘a thousand years ago’ anymore. Ten centuries have passed, and while you seven were sealed for most of that time, Ginaroad has only grown stronger.

He’s now more than worthy of the Demon King throne that you, Roselia,” he said, pointing at her, “crowned him.

He is a Deity Realm existence.

If he enters this world, there’s no way he won’t finish what he started a thousand years ago, and you all can’t do shit to him right now.”

That was a cold truth that no person present here could deny or attempt to refute.

“So how about you,” Evan said, turning back to Emrel, “Mr Sloth, aid me and your siblings in preventing him from returning for as long as possible, long enough for you to gain the power to fight back and get your revenge.”

Evan took a step forward and appeared right in front of Emrel, locking eyes with him as he asked in a calm voice,

“Are you understanding the words that are coming out of my mouth?”

“…”

“Whether you do or not, discuss it with your siblings.”

Evan turned and began walking away, continuing, “You have until I return from Dragondune to hash it out and make a decision.”

He approached the shield prison Emrel had trapped Nadarus in, knocked on it once, and turned it to dust with his destruction energy. As the Demon of Greed fell to the floor, Evan turned to Bianca and said, “Let’s go. I want to be done with Dragondune before the sun sets.”

With that, he grabbed Eliza by the waist, unfurled his wings, and shot straight out of the hole in the ceiling back to the surface, where he immediately ordered his Einherjar to eliminate everything left in the Demonic Hand base.