Reincarnated Hero System - Chapter 1181 - 1181: “All according to plan.”
[All is according to plan. Carry on.]
Hearing those words, Rizass narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze still fixed on the newly appearing Demon General, who also watched her warily.
Both of them assessed each other, trying to gauge just how much power the other actually possessed, instinctively sensing that the danger they posed far exceeded the aura they exuded.
At the same time, retreat orders were being issued on both sides, everyone scattering in a chaotic, disorganised rush to avoid being caught in the clash of Sovereigns about to ensue.
Xolgren reached Deram, landing and removing the shards of glass embedded in the lion beastman’s arm, while he used the BMA’s left eye to analyse the airborne Rizass, detecting far more energy than both her visible output and their previous estimates had suggested.
‘Really, only that one would’ve been able to take this dragon out…’
The thought of the currently missing Second Finger crossed Xolgren’s mind, but he quickly pushed it aside and turned to Deram.
“That Evan Eris kid is up to something. That weird grimoire letting him cast World Magic Spells without any cooldowns is just the beginning. I’m saving that for whenever he shows his hand.
Until then, we’ll have to make do with just Fusion.”
Deram frowned at Xolgren’s words, but there was no time to demand an explanation as both Rizass and the Demon General in the sky suddenly charged at each other, the glass dragon’s claws striking the demon’s magic shield with an immense shockwave that reached them at the bottom of the crater.
At this, Deram clenched his fist, roused his magic power, dark purple energy swirling around him, and said, “Fine.”
With his acceptance, Xolgren released his demonic energy, the powers of the two mixing and spiralling into the sky as a massive cyclone of power.
Several magic circles appeared from above, descending into the cyclone. The moment they did, the whirling energy dispersed with an immense shockwave, revealing the fifty-metre-tall body of a triple-horned, dark brown-skinned, muscular lion with glowing dark purple eyes.
The Demonic-Fused Deram and Xolgren, often called ‘Dergren’ by the Aidos Online community on Earth V, growled and leapt into the air, stepping on platforms formed by condensing spatial energy as they raced upward.
With the Demon General and Dergren charging at her from both sides, Rizass flapped her wings and shot straight for the Dimension Gate magic circle’s location, unleashing another breath attack at the slowly widening rift.
Dergren immediately teleported, appearing in front and roaring, unleashing a spatial energy shockwave that collided with and dispersed the breath’s energy to protect the rift.
Pillars of black glass erupted from the ground around Rizass shortly after, each one turning into a turret that fired supersonic glass shards at both Dergren and the Demon General.
Dergren swung their claws, ripping open a wormhole that consumed the shards and sent them back toward Rizass, but the dragon tanked the attack without flinching, revealing her self-power immunity to them.
The Demon General responded by unleashing a rain of demonic energy blasts that shattered each individual shard before conjuring a giant lance of law energy, lifting it into the air to hurl.
With all eyes focused on the three Sovereigns facing off, all attention momentarily shifted away from the Dimension Gate magic circle and the rift it created and maintained.
Even Lloris’ clones all looked elsewhere, which was why no one, not even Evan, noticed when a pair of fair, slender hands reached out from within the small rift, grasped its edges, and, like a pair of curtains, widened it.
***!!!
Everyone heard the sound of space tearing as the dimensional rift suddenly expanded to over five times its original size.
The hands tried to widen the gate further, but a force pushed back against them, the resistance of the planet’s spatial fabric squeezing the five-metre-wide kite-shaped rift and reducing its width by a little over two metres.
Dergen’s eyes widened in shock, snapping toward the rift at the sudden occurrence.
The Heroes present all froze, their hair standing on end as a trace of magic power leaked from the rift, and Bianca, physically closest to it, shouted,
“It’s the same as a thousand years ago…!”
They all possessed the memories of their predecessors, remembering clearly the moment the Dimensional Rift on the Dark Continent first opened a millennium ago.
They remembered the feeling as the rift widened and the first Peak Rank demon stepped through.
A feeling they all felt again just now.
That Overwhelming Authority that dominated the surrounding space and imposed absolute control.
An Authority that Evan—no, ‘Prisma’—knew very well.
Evan’s expression contorted as he turned to the rift, now fully sure of whose Authority had caused the Dimensional Rift to widen both a thousand years ago and now.
The true reason the Dimensional Rift on the Dark Continent couldn’t be closed, only sealed.
‘Beatrix…!’
From the centre of the Dimensional Rift, an immense wave of demonic energy poured out like a tidal wave, knocking back everyone around it.
Xolgren’s summons, Dergren, and even Rizass and the Demon General were all sent flying by the flood of energy, and at the familiar sensation, the expressions of the demons present lit up as they recognised the familiar power of their home world.
‘Wait, what?! How?!’
The ‘Xolgren’ part of Dergren couldn’t understand how the rift, which still needed a few more hours to widen into a full Dimensional Gate, had suddenly expanded so much, but amidst the cheers of the Demonic Hand members and their rising morale, he swallowed the words he was about to speak.
Dergren looked toward Evan, who had been fighting some of his summons, and seeing the expression on the boy’s face, he realised.
‘He knows…! He knows what just happened!’
Still, it didn’t matter.
‘The rift is open. It’s not as wide as we wanted, but the World Magic Spell will widen it and stabilise it into a fully functional Gate, allowing the armies to begin coming through.’
Whoever was responsible was on their side.
‘Our work is done.’
All they had to do now was clear the obstructions so the Gozonian Armies could make landfall with minimal complications.
“We are victorious.”
At the same time Dergren made that declaration with a grin, Emperor Lloris, wearing the opposite expression, muttered,
“We…failed…”
Anyone could feel the immense magic and demonic energy pouring from the rift, preventing anyone from approaching it.
It was clear that it had connected to the world of the invaders, Gozon.
Despair began to settle in the hearts of everyone, the morale of the Coalition Army plummeted, and many even dropped their weapons, losing all will to fight.
It was at that moment that Evan’s voice echoed in the ears of everyone on their communication network.
Every General, Legend, Sovereign, and National Ruler involved in the Tarse Defence Plan heard the Hero’s voice clear as day.
[All according to plan.]
…
For a moment, there was silence.
Laurene blinked, slowly turning her head to see Evan appear not far from her and look down at something on the ground.
“…what…do you mean by that?”
The current situation didn’t add up.
The spatial channel had succeeded in connecting to Gozon. The demonic energy pouring out was clear proof.
The World Magic Circle beneath the rift was guzzling the planet’s energy to turn it into a Dimension Gate.
They only had a few minutes before demons began emerging.
“So what the hell…!”
Laurene shouted, reaching out and grabbing Evan by his shirt as she demanded.
“What the hell do you mean by ‘All according to plan’?!”
Evan calmly looked up from the mark of the World Formation on the ground, meeting her eyes as he asked,
“Tell me, Laurene. When have I ever said that stopping the Dimensional Rift from fully opening was the goal of the Tarse Defence Plan?”
“What the fuck are you on… ab…!”
Laurene’s voice trailed off, her eyes widening as it immediately clicked in her mind. She had no memory of Evan ever mentioning anything about ‘stopping the Dimensional Rift’.
He’d always said he was planning to stop the ‘Disaster’, which was the ‘Fall of the Desert Country’, the destruction of Tarse, or to ‘Stop Gozon from Creating an Outpost’.
None of these directly meant he planned to stop the rift from opening.
They had only assumed that he meant that, believing the only way to prevent these things was to stop the rift from being opened in the first place.
Everyone who heard his question and realized this was left speechless.
And in that moment of shock, Evan calmly pushed Laurene off him and turned to look at the rift as the demonic energy pouring out intensified, beginning to swirl around the tear and gradually shaping it into an ellipse.
“Now that thing is open, we can have one of two scenarios.
Either legions of millions of demons from Gozon come pouring out with the intent to raze this nation to the ground, or a single demon worth more than entire legions emerges from that rift.”
As Evan’s words echoed, space tore, and the swirling portal of demonic energy inside the rift was punctured from within, a thick arm bursting out and clamping onto the left edge of the rift.
The ambient law energy concentration rose just from its presence, and a second arm appeared, grabbing the opposite edge of the rift.
Seeing this, Evan calmly picked up one of the walkie-talkies hanging from his belt and spoke.
“It seems we’re fated for Scenario 2.”
Powerful law energy erupted, along with the oppressive, dominating force of an Authority, and as the arms pushed to widen the rift, a head with curved horns emerged.
The head had a messy mass of red hair and slanted pink eyes, with a prominent scar running down the left side of his face.
It was only a head, but it radiated an aura that filled everyone with immense dread, freezing them in place, whether Aidosian or Gozonian, humanoid or monster.
It was the same sensation those in Lacertilia had felt when Vaeri appeared, so they knew instantly what kind of existence the head belonged to.
‘Peak Rank Demon!’
Gozon had sent a Transcendent as the Vanguard.
The demon pushed the edges of the rift, causing small cracks along the edges his hands gripped as he pulled his body up to his shoulders into Aidos.
Then, taking a deep breath that expelled a cloud of law energy from his body, he parted his lips and spoke in a faux True Voice.
|¬By the power vested in me by His Majesty, ‘Demon King’ Sargon…¬|
The demonic energy that had been pouring out of the rift all this time began sinking into the ground, infusing the planet’s energy veins and corrupting them as he spoke.
The land around the rift started to change, the soil, the energy, and even the existential records of the planet in that region, altering into something else.
|¬I, General Kriemler of the First Rank Ilmoth Family, hereby declare this planet, a Ba—!**BOOOM!!
The demon’s head was suddenly engulfed in flames as a fireball streaked through the air faster than he could react and struck him in the mouth, interrupting his declaration and halting the terraforming of the land around the rift.
The smoke cleared seconds later, revealing the unscathed Kriemler, who blinked in what seemed like disbelief, traces of anger in his eyes.
And then, Evan, infusing his voice with magic power to amplify it across the land, spoke.
[That was close! I completely forgot about the ‘Demon King’s Declaration’.]
The boy facepalmed mid-air, shaking his head as he exhaled in relief, moving as though completely unaffected by both the pressure Kriemler radiated and the Race King Authority he had been channelling to terraform the surrounding land.
It was precisely that reaction that erased the anger from Kriemler’s gaze, his eyes narrowing with suspicion as he fixed them on Evan.
Meeting his gaze, Evan shook his head and raised his hands in surrender as he spoke.
[Don’t look at me. I’m not the one who’s gonna deal with you.]
Kriemler’s eyes widened instantly, his instincts screaming DANGER, and in the same moment Evan continued, [Beast King Kolvar. You’re up.]
“I’m already here,” a calm voice responded, echoing in Kriemler’s ears as he frantically turned to his left, but he couldn’t move fast enough to block the fist clad in earth law energy that collided with his jaw, the clean uppercut hitting with earth-shaking force and sending shockwaves tearing through the land around them.
The punch carried the focused power of a being capable of levelling continents, all that immense destructive strength compressed into a single strike directly into Kriemler’s jaw.
The surrounding land collapsed in expanding layers as the terrain broke apart under the spreading pressure, wide sections of ground sinking into uneven depths, shattering the World Magic circle beneath the rift, while most of the force shot upward, carving a long, clear path through the sky and parting the clouds in a straight line that stretched into the upper layers of the atmosphere.
