Reincarnated Hero System

Vincent also explained to Gabrielle how a 'certain being' had interfered with the past and saved Evansen's soul after his untimely death, before reincarnating him into Earth V as the son of the Bennetts whose child had been stillborn.

The boy had lived his life on Earth V for the next 13 years, before eventually encountering Vincent when the man had been visiting his high school on company business.

Despite the circumstances of their meeting that had Evansen scared shitless at first, the two had become quite close in the past three years. Evansen was also pretty close with Vincent's wife, Kirstine, who as luck would have it, was his mother's boss.

During that time, Vincent had used some means that Evansen categorized as 'Strange Higher Existence Powers' to manipulate information universal laws and deduce how Evansen had ended up on Earth V.

All this talk took quite a while and the friends she came with had left by the time Vincent was done narrating it all.

"…"

Gabrielle was silent for five whole minutes, digesting the sudden influx of information with a blank expression on her face.

She had been worried that something much worse had happened to Evankhell—scared that he may have died even.

However, while she was thankful it wasn't any of these worst-case scenarios, she still didn't like the situation one bit.

Unfortunately, she was neither a Higher Existence, nor did she know where in the Galaxy Aidos was, so she couldn't go get him back herself.

'And the one person who CAN and SHOULD, is sitting back doing nothing!'

She turned her resentful gaze towards Vincent and the man sensed it, looking back at her and instantly discerning her thoughts.

"You're probably wondering why I didn't go after Evankhell, considering he's my son, aren't you?"

The man shook his head as he stirred his drink with his straw before continuing.

"Unfortunately, as Evankhell has come into contact with the 'Supernatural', me appearing before him would do more harm than good.

At least until he goes through that 'Nexus Event' EOTD told me about…"

"Nexus Event?"

"Don't worry about that. It's not something you'd understand even if i told you. Too many Temporal Paradoxes."

Vincent casually waved her off, but both Evansen and Gabrielle knew that he wasn't going to say anything no matter how much they pressed him for answers.

'I don't know the conditions for that 'Vision Seal' so I need to be careful in case I happen to be one of said conditions…'

The man kept those thoughts to himself as he finished his fourth drink and was finally hit with the urge to head to the bathroom.

He excused himself, leaving Gabrielle and Evansen at the table.

There would have been a pretty awkward atmosphere between them, if it wasn't for the fact that both of them were the kind to ignore such things.

Evansen, who had pulled out a portable console during Vincent's talk, held it out to Gabrielle and asked.

"You play 'Hunter Monster'?"

"Do you really think inverting the name would escape the copyright?"

"It's worth a try."

The boy shrugged as he replied and Gabrielle shook her head with a sigh before pointing at the screen and speaking.

"Change your main weapon. Monsters in that area you're in are immune to lightning damage."

"Wait, for real?!"

"Yeah, and get boots that increase your agility. You'd need to be fast on your feet."

"Isn't my current agility stat enough?"

"Not even halfway there."

Thanks to a certain person who loved games so much, Gabrielle had played a whole lot of them so she was quite experienced in the subject.

As such, when Vincent returned with another tray of food, he was met with the sight of Gabrielle teaching Evansen how to play Hunter Monster.

'I was worried they wouldn't get along, but it seems my worries were for nought.'

Gabrielle had even taken the console from Evansen and was showing him how to defeat the boss the boy had been struggling with.

"Here…you need to run behind these rocks to hide during this phase. It's invulnerable."

"Ohh…shields would not work?"

"Nope. It ignores those."

"Oof…"

In the middle of their game conversation, Gabrielle suddenly sprung a question on Evansen.

"So, Uncle Vincent said you had died on Aidos, right?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah.

All I remember is I had the worst migraine ever. Like someone stabbed a bunch of needles into my head and then my vision went blank so I don't know what truly happened.

Mr Vincent said it was a mental/spiritual attack meant to destabilize my soul so someone could take over my body."

Evansen spoke of his past life's death like it wasn't something serious, having gotten over it during the 15 years he'd spent on Earth V.

"I was wondering…who was trying to take over your body in the first place? And wouldn't that person still try to take it from Evankhell?"

The boy wasn't surprised when it turned out her question was related to Evankhell's well-being. Anyway, he didn't deny that he was curious as to exactly who was it that tried to take over his body.

Evansen had asked Vincent this but even the man had drawn as blank. He said he'd have to go to Aidos in person to find that out, and the man was pretty adamant about not going anywhere near a goddess' territory.

Not because he was scared, but because the gods were a hassle to deal with.

"…use this weapon skill and you'll win."

"Gee, thanks."

Evansen collected his console back and went off to challenge the boss on his own, marvelling at how easily Gabrielle had done it.

"This is harder than you made it look. How did you get so good?"

"Evankhell taught me."

Her reply had Evansen nodding in affirmation as he had heard from Vincent that Evankhell loved games a lot.

'It makes sense he'd drag his girlfriend into it. Speaking of which…'

"I'm curious. Why did you guys break up?"

"…"

Evansen casually stepped on that landmine without even taking his eyes off the console in his hands. That question caught Vincent's attention too as he also wanted to know why.

In his own words, Vincent 'unfortunately' happened to know Gabrielle's father and they were neighbours for a while.

Gabrielle was born about 11 months before Evankhellandthey'd been close with each other since they were babies.

"Sometimes, when Evankhell used to cry as a kid, we'd bring him to herandshe was always able to get him to stop.

The same was the oppositetoo."

The two were like two peas in a pod, closer than twins. Assuchwhen they started dating, no one was surprised about that.

It was even more of a shock to people who knew them that they weren't dating before that.

But then the unexpected happened.

"They broke up four years ago.

Evankhell never told me the reason why. All he did was stay in his room after school and play that 'Aidos Online' game he was so fascinated with."

Evansen nearly dropped his console into his food when he heard that Evankhell had played that game. According to Vincent, there were gods behind said game and knowing that his namesake had played it, it wasn't too hard to figure out where Artemisia had found him.

Vincent continued speaking without bothering about Evansen's little near-food disaster,his gaze onthe silent Gabrielle.

"I also did not get tofind outwhy that happened from you as your father moved outandyou left the planet barely a monthafter.

The official reason was that you had gone to your mother's home country, but last Ichecked;your mother's 'home country' isn't on this planet.

So just as you had questions for me, I have mine for you."

The man held up two fingers, folding one down for each question.

"Why did you and Evankhell's relationship end?

And where were you these past four years?"

Gabrielle knew whatVincent's reaction would beif he found out where she went, but if she tried to lie to him, he would find out either wayandthe fallout she was scared of would still happen.

As such, she just sighed and told the truth.

"I went somewhere where I had a minimum 90% chance of death."

"90%? Did you go to the 'Abyss Labyrinth' or something?"

Vincent laughed as he spoke, telling himself there was no way Gabrielle would go to such a place with a Danger level second only to the Universe's 'Dead Zone'.

"…"

However, when he noticed Gabrielle went silent, his laughter stopped.

"…why aren't you denying my statement?"

"…"

The girl silently turned her gaze awayandseeing that action, Vincent's eyes widened in shock.

"Your parents let you go there alone?!"

"My mother doesn't know."

"But your father does."

"…"

"Of course, he does. You wouldn't even know that place existed if it wasn't for him. And he let a sixteen-year-old child go into a place even battle-hardened gods would fear to go?

I need to talk with that fool."

Vincent's magic power burst out from his body, releasing an invisible pressure that made everyone nearby run short of breath as he got up from his seat.

Seeing the genuine anger in his eyes, Gabrielle knew that if Vincent saw her father now, the man might actually make her mother a widow.

"Uncle Vincent, hold on!! I was the one who wanted to go!"

"And it's your father's job as a parent to stop you from making such suicidal decisions!"

"He-"

"Don't try lying and say he tried to. I've known that man for centuries. He wouldn't."

Gabrielle's attempt to diffuse the situation failed before she could even execute it. She was the only one capable of maintaining a clear head under the pressure of Vincent's magic power, as such, it was up to her to calm the angry man.

Sure, she did feel like her father was annoying sometimes, but she didn't want him deadsoshe had NO CHOICE but to hold Vincent down.

Fortunately for a certain Exorcist on the other end of the Planet, she succeeded.

He was still pissed, but it wasn't to the level where he wanted to beat someone to death anymore.

Gabrielle quickly explained her reasoningin hopesthat Vincentwhoknew of hersituationwould understand her decision.

"My 'other half',was on the verge of devouring my 'human half'so I had to find a way to strengthen my human half to the level wherethey'd be balanced—that's why I went there."

Evansen, who had just barely caught his breath, raised a brow in question when he heard her wordswhichimplied that she was only half-human, but he remained silent and let her finish.

"I ended my relationship with Evankhell before I left because I…

wanted to reduce his burden."

"?"

"It's hard to explain, and it might seem selfish. But if I died, and Evankhell eventually found that out, I couldn't bear the thought of him enduring the pain of losing a 'Lover'.

If the person who died was an old friend and an Ex who'd randomly ended their relationship and he hadn't spoken with in years…surely the pain he'd feel would be much lesser."

"…

I don't know Evankhell, but I do know you two were close for 15 yearsof your lives. Even if you didthatso he'd hate you or something, I believe he would still be deeply affected if he learned of your passing...emotionally, that is."

Gabrielle had done what shedidmotivated by a desire to spare Evankhell the anguish of losing a lover.She knew her actions couldbe perceivedas selfish, but she still justified itas a means of easingEvankhell's potential grief.

However, Evansen challenged the effectiveness of her approach with his reply, suggesting that her relationship with Evankhell was fardeeperthan the short time they spent dating, and that would inevitably lead to profound emotional pain regardless of the circumstances.

"Besides, just how bad was the place you went?"

Thiswas something Evansen was Ultra-Curious about.

Vincent's earlier outburst was the first time he hadeverseen the man genuinely angry in the3years he'd known him.

Thismeant the place Gabrielle went to was justTHATdangerous.

Hearingthe replies Gabrielle gavein response to his question, he completely understood the reason for Vincent's anger.

"Well, Iwas runningaround like an ant for the first6months. Then a monster ate my left armsoI lost that for a bit.

Spentanother6months looking for a way to get it back, and I succeeded.

Then I nearly died about7times since I had to get used to having a left arm again."

Vincent was dumbfounded when he heard that she had spent6months without her arm.

'Gabrielle can regenerate, so the fact that she didn't regenerate her arm meant that monster didn't eat just her 'arm'. It ate a portion of her Soul!'