Reincarnated Hero System - Chapter 1190 - 1190: Interlude 15- Return of the END

The tiger leapt through space and emerged within a forest on the surface of a planet so saturated with flora that, when seen from space, it looked like a massive sphere of green and blue.

This Beastman Race King, one of the universe’s current Main Entities alongside Artemisia, Beatrix, and Miacav, a role they’d unwillingly come to hold after the Great Valmone War of five thousand years ago, moved from tree to tree until they reached a wide beach at the forest’s edge, where land gave way to the ocean.

Lying at the edge of the trees was a wolf. No, it was far too small to be considered a wolf at all.

It was a puppy that, from head to tail tip, measured only about 50 cm, curled up beneath the shade of several leaves that covered it from the light of the stars that this planet orbited.

The tiger made not a single sound, their existence completely hidden from everything on the planet, including the other Beastman Lords who lived there, and yet, the moment he stepped onto the sands of the beach, the wolf pup opened its eyes and turned its head in the tiger’s direction.

At this, the tiger beastman froze, a sigh slipping from him as he thought.

‘To think this little creature would one day become something more powerful than I am. How frightening this thing called providence can be.’

The extinction law energy that had spread from the wolf’s body when it sensed an ‘existence’ slowly retracted once it recognised the tiger beastman.

It rose, turned around, and curled up again before continuing its sleep.

Its appearance was cute, its glossy white fur free of dirt or stain, and most of the fairer sex would immediately find the puppy endearing and feel the urge to pet it.

‘I wonder if they’d still want to do that if they knew this little creature was a juvenile Beast of the END.’

That thought passed through the tiger’s mind once more, the identity of the peacefully sleeping puppy being something that would shock 10 out of 10 people.

A Beast of the END, one of the Universe’s Natural Delete Buttons, existences created with the power to bring the END, all born with innate and exceptional control over the law of Extinction.

As the name of the law they controlled suggested, their power allowed them to induce the circumstances and events that would lead to the complete end of a species, a group of organisms, or even celestial bodies.

It was a universal law that stood on par with the feared law of Destruction, and this juvenile wolf naturally possessed control over it.

When its parent was killed during the Great Valmone War, it was placed into hibernation, and only recently had it been discovered and awakened, by both the best and worst possible existence for the Prime World it had been sleeping on.

The tiger took a few steps forward, heading toward where the sound of crashing waves could be heard, passing a demon resting on a beach chair with sunglasses perched on her face.

He shook his head quietly as he walked past, thinking to himself.

‘Valrens. A very strange lot.

From Xagthor, down to Zareon and Sigesi, and now this one. She’s Zareon’s daughter, isn’t she?’

A nostalgic look crossed the tiger’s eyes as he remembered the last time he’d seen his friend, one of the first three Demon Race Rulers to vanish during the ‘Hollow Century’.

Year 9850 to Year 9950 of the 50th General Calendar.

It was a period when multiple Olden Race Kings and Queens, weakened in the aftermath of the Great Valmone War, either lost their titles, withdrew from the public eye, died, or disappeared entirely with no information about them to this day, creating a ‘hole’ in the power balance of the universe.

The matter hadn’t originally been treated with much seriousness, but when three Demon Rulers, all hale and healthy, were attacked and disappeared in the same incident, the situation changed.

‘Demon King Zareon Valren, his sister, Demon Queen Sigesi… and her husband, ‘Supreme’ Demon King Jack McEnda III.’

The tiger Beastman King recalled the day he received the news of McEnda III’s disappearance, and fear gripped him at the thought that the other ‘Supreme’ Demon King, Alvey Sargon, might have started another war in response, just as McEnda III’s actions had started the Great Valmone War when McEnda II was murdered by the Elven and god Emperors.

Fortunately, Alvey managed to restrain the war-hungry demon factions and began organising efforts to locate the missing Demon Rulers.

‘It wasn’t long after that the New gods faction, which had recently triumphed over the Old gods during the divine civil war, split in two after the ‘Supreme’ god Queens had a falling out, wasn’t it?’

And as if that weren’t enough, barely a year later, news of ‘Supreme’ Demon King Alvey Sargon’s death reached him, and somehow, his son Ginaroad had acquired the ‘Demon King’ title, an absurdity given that Ginaroad wasn’t even a Transcendent at the time.

‘Is it really an absurdity? Haven’t there been cases before of someone wielding a Race Ruler Authority without the proper qualifications? What’s more, they’re someone Alvey Sargon was close to.’

The thought of one of the most dangerous existences to ever appear in the Valmone Universe came to the tiger’s mind, the one who defeated the god Emperor Craig in seconds and tore off his arm with a Destruction Authority so powerful that, even after attempting time reversal and every possible method of healing, it could not be restored.

It was this that forced Craig to rely on the weakened Machine god King to create a mechanical replacement arm.

‘The Progenitor godslayer. I hear rumours that he’s been seen again recently.’

The tiger sighed heavily at the thought.

‘Times are about to become turbulent once more.’

Shaking his head, the Beastman King kept walking toward the water, and as he looked out over the waves, he saw a pair of feet floating, clearly showing that their owner was upside down, head submerged in the water.

“What the hell are you doing?” he asked.

“Testing out my ability to create spatial bubbles underwater,” came the reply, clear as day despite the speaker’s head being underwater.

“And what use is that? You could just use an underwater breathing spell and be completely fine.”

At the tiger’s words, the pair of legs sank beneath the water as the owner’s head surfaced in response.

“It helps me refine my control since I have to constantly maintain the spatial energy infusion, or I’ll drown and die.

I don’t want to drown and die, so I have to keep it up continuously, which improves my control.”

They’d essentially said the same thing twice, but the Beastman King didn’t comment. This was the kind of person they were, anyway.

“Did you know a Void Angel was summoned into your world recently?”

The person in the water blinked at the tiger’s words, tilting their head as they asked,

“What’s that?”

The question made the tiger smack his paw against his face with an exasperated sigh.

“Right, you weren’t listening when I explained all of this to you,” he said, and the one he spoke to nodded with a smile.

“Indeed, I wasn’t. Your shiny, all-yellow fur had my attention. Most tigers I know are striped, after all.”

Raising their hand from the water, they added, “It makes me want to grab a handful.”

“Better listen now or I’ll grab a handful of your hair and drag you onto the sand,” the tiger shot back, earning a sigh from the one in the water.

“Fine. Explain,” they said.

“It’s one of the reasons why the Danger Zone, called the Dead Zone, exists in this universe,” the tiger said. “I’m not gonna bore you with all the details, but basically, there was a war a long time ago.”

He paused for a moment, but before he could continue, the one in the water spoke up.

“Another war? How many of those have there been? We really like to fight wars in this universe, it seems.”

The tiger deadpanned at them, green eyes slowly narrowing as his voice deepened.

“Listen.”

Recognising that the tiger was starting to get genuinely pissed off, the other person raised their hands in surrender.

“As I was saying, the existence who fought in that war was one like yourself. They possessed Cosmic Superiority, but theirs was tied to a Chaotic force, and with that power, they tore apart the fabric of existence and created a pathway for entities with non-existent physiology to enter reality.

The region contaminated when they did this is what we now call the Dead Zone, and the Void Angels are some of those entities.”

After the tiger finished explaining, the one in the water raised an eyebrow.

“And someone summoned one of these to my world?”

“Only for a minute, but yes. We all felt the universe cry out as the power of nonexistence contaminated another region,” the tiger replied.

A curious light sparked in the eyes of the one in the water, and lifting their body up to their shoulders, they asked,

“Who summoned it?”

“Oh, I don’t know, and I don’t care. That’s for you to figure out when you get back home.”

The tiger’s response made them sigh as they muttered, “I’d have at least liked to know who was capable of that before getting back there.”

With that, they climbed out of the water, revealing that they had been fully clothed when they jumped in. They stepped onto the sand, and with a simple spell, all the water in their clothes drained, leaving them even drier than the sand beneath their feet.

Looking at the demon resting on the nearby beach chair, they spoke,

“Vaeri. We’re going home.”

At this, the Frost Demon raised her sunshades, glancing at her contractor with a raised eyebrow.

“Already? Let’s stay longer.”

However, Vaeri’s contractor raised their right palm, a crimson crest flashing on its back as they replied,

“I can’t, you know? Old man Ferrid used one of these things to make sure I can’t stay far for too long.”

While speaking, they walked toward the sleeping puppy, and glancing at the crest on the back of their palm, the tiger Beastman King spoke,

“Hey. Why don’t you consider my offer? Become my disciple. You have fantastic potential.”

“You want me because I’m one of the last Ancient-Breeds of my race left in this universe, am I right?”

“Yes,” the Beastman King admitted. “That’s what I want.”

He was very blunt about it, and that bluntness earned a small smile from the Frost Demon’s contractor.

“I can easily sever that little bond tying you down to that planet,” he continued. “It would have been different if it had been a few thousand years ago, but now, it’s not worth much intergalactically.

I do feel its current state is rather… artificial, though.”

That last line drew a questioning look from both the Frost Demon and her contractor, with the latter turning to the tiger.

“You mean someone orchestrated things to be that way? Who’s your suspect?”

“Who else but the goddess who managed to strong-arm her way into controlling nearly 50% of the planets in the Orithyia Galaxy that once belonged to the former intergalactic hegemon, Aidos.

Obviously, it’s Artemisia.”

The tiger spoke matter-of-factly, and hearing this, Vaeri adopted a thoughtful expression, finding sense in his words.

Her contractor, meanwhile, posed another question to the tiger.

“Who was it that you said had the other 50% of the territory?”

“Her best friend,” the tiger replied, then raised a paw and corrected himself. “Sorry. Former best friend.”

“Right, the New gods, was it? So many factions. The intergalactic stage sounds like a huge pain in the behind.”

With that, the Frost Demon’s contractor crouched and began rubbing the head of the sleeping wolf.

“It may be a pain, but it would help you fulfil your goal of acquiring power. There are many ways you could do that if you take my offer,” the tiger said, making their hand pause momentarily.

A moment later, they continued petting the wolf, shaking their head as they said, “I considered it, but no.”

Before the tiger could say a word, they added, “At the very least, not now. I wanna see how far I can go without relying on others.”

Hearing this, the tiger raised an eyebrow.

“Your mere presence here means you rely on my help.”

“Correction. I want to see how far I can go without asking for help from others. You pretty much kidnapped me, you know?”

The tiger sighed at the words, waving a paw and opening a spatial portal as he replied,

“Just get out of my planet. And don’t go die in a ditch somewhere. Your world now has someone capable of summoning a Void Angel, after all.”

He turned away after speaking, and the one he’d spoken to picked up the juvenile Natural Delete Button, standing as they said,

“I really want to meet this person. I wonder what they’re like. Would be nice if they were strong without relying on summons…”

They walked toward the portal carrying the wolf, with Vaeri falling into step right beside them.

But right before they entered the portal, the tiger Beastman King called out to them again.

“Keasatra.”

At the mention of the name, they froze, turning to meet the tiger’s green eyes as he said, “Think carefully about my offer.”

“I’ll consider it,” they replied, turning back to face the portal and adding, “And for the last time, ‘Keasatra’ is my last name. My world does not introduce first names after last names, after all.”

With those parting words, they stepped into the portal and vanished into the world beyond.