Reincarnated Hero System

Agnes tried to signal the servant not to say anything but Abigail accounted for this and spoke with a cold voice.

"If you dare lie to me, I would ground your soul to dust this instant."

Her Mystic Eyes of Destruction lit up with a dangerous glow and the servant instantly bowed and replied with the truth.

"She has been ill for the past twenty days now!"

"Twenty days, huh? Okay. Get out."

The servant ran for her life and Abigail returned her gaze to Agnes with a frown.

"With your soul strength and absurd soul recovery speed, 20 days should have been enough time to be back to top condition even if your soul health was reduced to 80%."

Abigail's gaze trailed down Agnes' body before she continued.

"But I'm sure you can barely get up from that bed as you are now.

Just how much Destruction Essence was used that your state is still so bad even after a whole twenty days?"

As she spoke, she activated a skill, one that encased her body in a layer of crimson light and boosted her power by 300%.

"I recall that Evan Eris has been rumoured to wield a strange crimson aura that 'gives one's soul chills' just by being near him."

Holding up her hand, she generated an orb of destruction essence and continued.

"Something that looks just like 'this'.

He also has control over Prismatic Esoteric flames. Flames that may just have enough power to 'burn' my Homunculus."

Looking right into Agnes' eyes, she asked.

"Evan Eris was the one who destroyed the Homunculus, wasn't he?"

"…"

Agnes' silence was all the affirmation Abigail needed and the Elven Princess deactivated her skill before sighing.

"How can he even use Destruction Essence in the first place? I'm the one who's the 'Hero of Destruction', that's not his gimmick.

Is that what 'he' meant when he said I'm not the only one 'Blessed by Destruction'?"

"…mind if I ask what his 'gimmick' is?"

Agnes asked in a silent voice which was barely even a whisper, but the people near her were all superhumans who heard her loud and clear.

"Agnes, do you want me to lose one of my eyeballs?"

"Huh? No!"

"Good. Then don't ask me questions like that again. Instead, you should be explaining what you did that made Evan destroy that Homunculus with your soul fragment in it."

Agnes did not want to talk about what happened, as this meant her revealing her affiliation with the Demonic Hand, something she did not want Abigail to find out at all.

But clearly, Abigail wasn't going to let up until she got answers, so Agnes heaved a light sigh before beginning to speak.

"I did talk to him. It was the first time I actually spoke with him so I was a bit excited…until he asked about you. Dunno why that got me pissed for some reason."

"He asked about me? What for?"

Abigail had question marks floating over her head as she asked and Agnes replied in a flat voice.

"When I was trying to explain how Unique his soul was when compared to yours, he asked me if your soul was 'Old', like that idiot dragonkin Orvis."

Both Abigail and the red-haired Homunculus; Alisa, narrowed their eyes when they heard this question and Agnes noticed a shift in their soul fluctuations immediately.

It seemed as if Abigail had momentarily forgotten the issue of her wounded soul and was more focused on Evan's question.

"What did you tell him?!"

"…when I think about it, I never really answered that question."

The two relaxed a bit when they heard her words, but their emotions were a bit complicated and even Agnes had a hard time understanding how they felt.

"Anyway, why did your conversation with him turn into him destroying the Homunculus? Did he find out you'd been stalking him?"

"Yeah, I told him myself."

"You told him?!"

"Yep. He was pretty calm about it. He was a bit surprised at first, though.

"Of course, he was."

Abigail rolled her eyes and shook her head before allowing Agnes to continue her explanation.

"Well…I may have gotten in his way."

"You got in his way? From what I know, he doesn't strike me as the type who'd kill someone with destruction essence because they 'got in his way'."

"Yeah, he isn't."

Surprisingly, Agnes agreed with her and this then had Abigail even more curious about what had truly happened. But it was at this point that Agnes decided to go silent again.

"Why did he take action against you, with the intent to harm your soul?"

"…"

'Because I'm affiliated with the guys trying to bring Demons back into Aidos! —but I obviously can't tell her that.'

Agnes' dealings with the Demonic Hand had only begun a year ago, a little time before she requested the Homunculus from Abigail so he could get to the Alpha Continent and speak with the First Finger who was there at the time.

She and Abigail had encountered a Third Division Squad around the 'Tombs of the Barbaric Morass', and after they had routed them, Agnes had stayed back to question some of them and it was there her interest in the Demonic Hand sprouted.

Knowing Abigail did not agree with the Demonic Hand's methods, she hid this fact from her friend and made sure her talks with the First Finger were conducted on another continent.

With all this, she obviously could not tell Abigail the full truth about the state of the Homunculus. She decided to pick a portion of the truth and tell Abigail.

She was still embarrassed to say it though.

"…I may…have tried to…subjugate…his soul."

"…"

The three others who heard her gazed at the teenager with dumbfounded looks. Abigail was the first to snap out and she asked Agnes to come closer.

When the human girl leaned forward, Abigail headbutted her with all her might and the impact knocked the two girls away.

"ABBY, WHAT THE FUCK!?"

"I SHOULD BE ASKING YOU THAT!"

Abigail used magic to heal the pain on her forehead, before continuing her rant.

"I gave you one of my precious Homunculi, and you used it to stalk your crush for over a year, and somehow got him pissed enough that he killed the homunculus and destroyed a portion of your soul!!"

Agnes was about to complain about Abigail's statement when she suddenly realised something off about the elf girl's words.

"What do you mean 'crush'?"

"…"

Hearing her question, Abigail looked at Agnes with a dumbfounded gaze, wondering if Agnes was messing with her, but it clearly was not the case.

'Could it be…she doesn't know?'

For the past year, Agnes had talked Abigai's ear off about this 'guy with a Unique Soul' and Abigail was almost sure she was in love with whoever it was given how she always acted when she spoke about them.

'No wait…she's just obsessed with his Soul. She isn't crazy enough to fall for the same guy who technically 'killed' her.'

Abigail was working on the assumption that Evan thought the Homunculus was the real Agnes, ignorant of the fact that he knew the real her was still out there.

All these thoughts only took a few seconds and she took a deep breath—before headbutting Agnes again.

"WHY?!"

"Because you're stupid."

"The heck?!"

"What? You don't want me calling you stupid? Make me!"

"Bet! Let's take this outside!"

Seeing the two friends bickering like children, Zestari and Alisa silently facepalmed before moving to stop Abigail from actually dragging Agnes out the window.

They succeeded in doing that, but then came a different problem; for Agnes, that is.

"No more Homunculi for you."

"Wait…what?!"

Abigail remained firm in her decision despite seeing Agnes' shock. She got to her feet and was about to leave the room when she heard the sound of someone stumbling.

Quickly turning around, she saw Agnes down on the ground and rushed to help the girl up.

'I said it as part-joke but to think she really can't even stand…'

"Agnes, I know you'd probably want to go back but I don't think I can let you go after someone who hurt you like this.

Besides, how weird would it be if someone who was supposed to be dead suddenly showed up around him again."

"He knew it was a Homunculus. He also knew about the fact that my real body was here… I told him.

Abby, his soul got even stronger after my failed subjugation attempt. It also changed, like it went through some sort of evolution.

I didn't get to see the new form before but I have to see it. I NEED to see the results of this, no way I can't!!"

Abigail's lips twisted into a frown when she saw the way Agnes reacted. She could feel Agnes clutching her clothes tightly as if she did not intend to let go until Abigail rescinded her earlier decision.

'She's completely obsessed…'

Just as she was wondering how to deal with this, Zestari lent a helping hand. The older elf grabbed Agnes and pulled her off Abigail, before lifting her and placing her back on the bed.

"All right, Miss Agnes.

How about you rest and heal your soul fully? Then, we can talk about you getting another Homunculus, okay?"

"Wait, bu-!"

Agnes never got to complete her words as Zestari used magic to make her fall asleep at that moment.

Seeing as the girl's breaths turned even, Zestari covered her with the sheets before looking at Abigail and speaking.

"You'd have to address this sooner or later. The way she is now, I fear she may probably go to the Alpha continent herself if you do not give her the Homunculus."

"Yeah, but I don't have any to give her. I only completed two. One was for Alisa and the other was the one Evan destroyed.

Unless you count the incomplete prototypes, there aren't any left."

Abigail turned around and walked towards the door, heaving a sigh as she continued.

"I'd handle her obsession with Evan's soul later. First, I need to go hound my dad for Soul Recovery artifacts."

With those words, she opened the door and walked out, with Zestari and Alisa following behind.

The door closed behind them, leaving the sleeping Agnes alone.