Reincarnated Hero System

"No sudden power jump or surprises to catch me off guard.

You are just going to sit there, watch and feel as every single bit of your life is drained out of you and your soul is slowly destroyed."

Evan was taking his sweet time to make sure that he could destroy her soul as much as possible and make sure that there was Zero possibility of revival for her.

He used his skill to check her status, a light frown appearing on his face as he noted something about her.

"You are not a Designated 'Enemy of Aidos'…meaning you are one of the misguided ones as well."

Evan sighed with light exasperation when he saw this. He locked gazes with the slowly dying woman as he asked.

"Please explain to me how you believe inviting the same beings who have conquered more Worlds than you know of, into this World; Aidos…is going to save it?!"

The tone of his voice deepened as he struggled to hold back the annoyance he had been suppressing for years.

"You claim Artemisia has forsaken this World, but has she really? Did Artemisia really doom this planet like you think?

In fact, how do you even know that she has abandoned Aidos? I mean, do you have a direct phone line to her or something?"

"…"

Maude was silent, partly because of the pain of Evan's sword in her chest, but mostly because of the fact that she did not have the answers to some of Evan's questions.

"No answer?

Oh well. I just so happen to have a direct phone line to her, and the way I see it. Aidos is very valuable to Artemisia.

So, I wonder, why do you think otherwise?

What gives you that proof, that she had abandoned this planet?"

The confidence that the Demonic Hand members had in their conviction that Artemisia had not only abandoned Aidos but doomed the planet with her 'actions' was something that always baffled Evan.

"Care to enlighten me?

I'm purposely limiting the amount of energy I'm using on you so I know that you are very capable of answering me.

You're going to die anyway, so why not just say it? I also plan to save the planet so we have the same 'end goal', don't we?"

Evan spoke with a light shrug, as he had been thwarting all of her attempts to turn the tides of this situation in the short while he was speaking.

He was impressed that the woman was able to circulate magic power and cast spells in this state, even manipulating the ambient magic power to do her bidding but it was pointless.

The most she could use were low-level Tier 1 and 2 spells, things Evan could block with his eyes closed.

They weren't even at their full power due to the sword in her chest, so they were even less potent than usual.

Although Maude was instinctively protecting her soul with her magic power, the destruction energy in Evan's sword was eating away at that protection faster than she could replenish it.

Her connection with the First Finger was still there, but she did not have the privilege of sparing even the slightest bit of energy to tug at that slowly fading connection.

Due to the Concealment which he placed on the room, even someone right outside the door would not be able to tell that she was dying inside here.

Worst Case Scenario, Evan would summon the Akashic Page and break out a World Magic Spell to obliterate the whole base, though the energy consumption would put him out of commission for a while.

The bottom line was, unless an Upper Executive—the Fifth to First Fingers—were to come here this instant, Maude was going to die.

From the look in her eyes, Evan knew that she had realised this.

He silently waited to see if Maude was going to answer him, though he had little hope. But then again, it didn't hurt to try.

'The way they're so confident in this belief astounds me…I need to know the source of this conviction.

As far as I see it, they are the ones who are trying to Doom the planet. And Artemisia certainly has not abandoned it…it is her home planet after all.'

Evan thought about this in silence while waiting for an answer, but the words that left Maude's lips weren't the ones he wanted to hear.

"…you…can…rot in HELL."

The boy heaved a deep sigh when he heard that, shaking his head as though he was disappointed when he really wasn't.

"Because of what 'Aidos' told me, I wanted to run a test with you Misguided lot.

You, in particular, Maude…I actually considered leaving you alive."

Evan casually dropped a bombshell of a statement that Kayla, Kuro, and Roselia who were now listening in to make sure everything was okay were dumbfounded by.

They had done this to make sure everything was okay with him since their connection with Evan fluctuated dangerously when Agnes intruded into his Soul, but they certainly didn't expect to hear that Evan had considered leaving a Demonic Hand Executive Alive.

"But when I thought about the future, I realised that would be an unwise decision.

I have to end your life, and make sure your body ceases to exist as well."

While he spoke, he activated Stoneheart's Embrace on her, and bit by bit, her body began turning to stone.

He then forcefully blocked his connection with his contracted spirits and demons, before looking Maude in the eyes and speaking.

"I can't have 'Ferrid' using your corpse to strengthen the Basilisk, can I?"

"?!

H-how…do y-*cough!*?!"

Evan laughed when he saw how much shock appeared on Maude's face, even as she coughed out a mouthful of black blood. He could see some of the dark crimson liquid spilling out of the corner of her eyes as well.

"Since you did not answer my question, I have no reason to answer yours, but it's quite funny.

You guys want me dead because I have too much information about you, yet you seem surprised I know that name."

He not only knew the name, but he also knew the plans for Maude that the woman wasn't even aware of.

After her death in the game, Maude's corpse was retrieved by the Demonic Hand's minions. To be specific, the Fourth Division's members.

Maude Gilatryd's power of petrification was a lot stronger than the woman had even realised.

They were strong enough that even her corpse which only had residues of its power could empower a Basilisk, a creature born with the power to petrify.

This was a catalyst for one of the Eight Disasters: the 'Basilisk's' Stone Festival'

In the game, it was clearly stated that the Basilisk was very young and originally did not possess the power it used to petrify all those people.

It only gained that power after devouring Maude's corpse.

This showed just how strong her petrification skill was, that the Basilisk became stronger by several levels due to the residual power left in her corpse.

Evan thought about when they fought her in the Lair of the Lizard Lord, very thankful for the series of events of that day.

'Everything lined up perfectly and Maude could not show the power of this skill.'

From the fact that their attack was sudden and unexpected, to the fact that Evan was a bad matchup against her.

In fact, from the point when the Dungeon Break happened earlier than planned, everything was already going against the Demonic Hand.

The woman was definitely powerful, enough that she could handle the GWE's Ten Greats Ranked Fourth and Below, as well as the GEE's Fourth to Seventh Generals.

But sadly, the 5th of May was a bad day at work for Maude.

Evan sighed as he thought about the fact that Maude was the last Executive on the Grandmaster Level.

Going forward, the other Executives were all Epics, Legendries, and Sovereigns.

From this point, he was going to be dealing with level 600s and above.

'That's even worse than Craitid…I guess my next destination after Wolfen would be the Cavern of Trials…I need to break past Level 500 as fast as possible.'

With those thoughts, he looked towards the woman whose complexion had turned pale, with black blood dripping from her ears, while her arms and legs were halfway turned to stone.

"It seems I got lost in my thoughts for too long.

I also did blabber on for quite a bit."

Evan took a deep breath and pushed the sword into her chest deeper, earning a low grunt of pain from Maude who could not speak any more at this point.

The boy grinned at the woman, reminiscent of the day during the Dungeon Break when Evan initially attacked her in the Boss Room. His smile remained as he channelled a destructive surge of energy directly into her soul.

Finally, his lips parted to utter his farewell words to her.

"Bye Maude."