Reincarnated Hero System

Chapter 1303: A ‘Guest’ in the Palace

Searching for Evan wasn’t the only thing keeping the Transcendents and Evan’s allies busy.

There was still the looming threat of the ’Basilisk’s Stone Festival’, and the fact that Evan, who knew the most about it and exactly how the Demonic Hand planned to execute it, was now missing.

Luckily for them, Leoniel soon came to the rescue.

The man quickly headed to the Elven Empire after taking time to reassure his citizens in Hauhull, and another meeting with all Transcendents in attendance was convened.

There, Leoniel explained the parts of the Demonic Hand’s plans that Evan had told him, starting from the existence of the berserk drug, and how the Demonic Hand was planning to use the people of the Hauhull Region to threaten him.

Naturally, he had no choice but to reveal to those who were previously unaware that he was not human, and that he was truly the legendary Basilisk spoken of in Isolonian legend.

Hearing this, Rizass immediately suggested placing Leoniel in a secure location that the Demonic Hand couldn’t reach, but Eliza and Kolvar quickly countered her.

If they removed the key piece of the Demonic Hand’s plan, they might prevent the Basilisk Stone Festival, but then they wouldn’t know what the Demonic Hand would do to compensate for the loss and could be caught completely off guard.

Zaos then proceeded to reveal what Evan had told him about the future, and how completely preventing a disaster from happening would interfere too heavily with the future and make another disaster become a Nexus Event they could absolutely do nothing about.

Immediately after, Eliza revealed that Evan would, under no circumstances, want any of the remaining Disasters to become Nexus Events, given that the only ones left were the Disasters overseen by the Third, Second and First Fingers of the Demonic Hand, the three most dangerous existences within the organisation.

As a result, they still had to go along with the plan Leoniel and Evan had created, the one to lure the Fourth Division into Hauhull and trap them there with a World Isolation Barrier.

There was just one small problem with that plan.

Evan was the one who had the Akashic Page where the World Isolation Barrier spell circle was recorded.

[The Demonic Hand had to use some devices to amplify the range of that barrier when they cast it, but we don’t know how to use them,] Kolvar said, recalling the details Evan had given when they were preparing for the Battle of the Wild Lands in Tarse last year. [He said he can use his grimoire to cast that spell on a large scale without the nodes, but he’s not around now.]

"Ah, that weird grimoire of his that makes my eyes hurt," Laurene muttered with a soft sigh.

Abigail ignored her comment and then asked to confirm the current situation.

"So we can’t cast the barrier without Evan? Then how can we go ahead with his original plan?"

Before Altrishia could open her mouth to suggest an alternative, Laurene spoke up.

"Who said we can’t?"

"Huh?"

All eyes turned to Laurene, and Laurene, facing Abigail, activated her Mystic Eyes and pointed at them.

"Did you forget what these things can do? Evan’s used that thing so many times in front of me, I remember every single angle and curve in the spell circle."

Holding up a finger to stop anyone from speaking, she continued, "The issue is casting it. If it’s the Demonic Hand’s Fourth Division, we’re dealing with thousands of enemies with dozens of Level 700+ existences.

I don’t have the magic power to cast a spell that can trap them all in one place, but you," she pointed at Vulwin, Zaos and Altrishia, "you three definitely do. So which one of you is the best at magic, because that spell circle is the most complicated thing you’ll ever see."

"Can you at least conjure an image of what it looks like?" Altrishia asked.

"Sure."

Laurene immediately pointed her finger upward and, with a bit of light magic, formed an image of the World Isolation Barrier’s multi-layered spell circle.

At the sight, Vulwin immediately frowned and shook his head, Zaos’ expression turned sour, and even Altrishia’s face showed difficulty.

World magic spell circles were all complicated, with several overlapping layers and interlocking pieces.

One also couldn’t cast them if they didn’t truly understand how the spell worked, and even if Evan had told them many times how the World Isolation Barrier worked, his descriptions were always very simplified.

"This... would take some time to figure out," Altrishia muttered, trying and failing to replicate the magic circle in her palm.

[Well, we’d better start brainstorming alternative plans just in case you can’t figure it out,] Rathal suggested.

However, those alternative plans ended up becoming backup options as Altrishia and Rizass, working together, eventually managed to understand the World Magic Spell well enough to cast it.

They carried out several tests with the condition settings over islands in the Divider Ocean, while Zaos and Vulwin prepared the Level 700s and Sovereigns they were to send to Isolon.

The days passed with no news of Evan’s location, and Kayla was growing more annoyed at the lack of results, to the point where she went to force information about Evan’s whereabouts out of ’Aidos’.

However, even the planet’s sentience was unable to help her locate Evan.

All ’Aidos’ could tell Kayla was that something had happened to Evan when he got caught in the cosmic energy blast, universal laws were distorted, and ’Aidos’ had ’her’ perception of her own surface obscured long enough for Evan to vanish.

Kayla couldn’t even finish getting annoyed when Kuro, having gone to the Alpha Continent to find Roselia, returned with bad news.

It seemed Roselia and Leviah had gone to the Regal Void Expanse and weren’t even on the planet.

Unfortunately, Sylph appeared at that moment and added to the bad news with the update that Evan wasn’t in her forest.

It took the combined effort of Kuro and Sylph to barely stop Kayla from tearing out parts of her hair in anger.

◇　◇　◇

Time waited for no one, and soon, the 29th arrived, the first day of Isolon’s three-day National Founding Festival.

This year, the rulers of Isolon placed extra emphasis on the festival, a large-scale event of economic and cultural significance, to avoid mass panic and reinforce a sense of normalcy in the aftermath of the Thermal Accumulation Bomb’s explosion.

It was meant to send a message to its citizens that order had been restored, helping to stabilise the situation and return society to its routine.

"Considering these factors, our actions are going to put a crack in that normalcy they’re trying to reinforce..." Laurene muttered as she sat in the Elven Emperor’s palace, waiting for the rest of the group to arrive.

Hearing her, Abigail sighed in frustration.

"What choice do we have? We can’t call off the plan, as that would allow the Demonic Hand to strike and cause even worse damage.

We also can’t try to stop the festival, as that would be an even bigger mess. Then there’s the threat of a Nexus Event, too."

Laurene understood where Abigail was coming from, which was why she felt even more disheartened by it.

Just then, a spatial gate burst open, and Altrishia stepped out with Zaos and Eliza.

Immediately, Zaos called for a conference call with everyone involved to go over their plan of action one last time.

"Kolvar, you and Rathal will remain on the Alpha Continent and stay on alert in case the Demonic Hand decides to use this as a distraction to strike elsewhere.

Rizass, you’ll watch the Beta Continent along with the Dragon Empire. Altrishia and I will go to Isolon, while Vulwin will stay back in case the Demonic Hand tries to attack another place at the same time.

Our subordinates will also watch the Aelum Kingdom and Tharvoria, just in case they change their plans and decide to hit those places instead.

Leoniel is in Hauhull together with some Legendries I sent him, and we’ll use Abigail to detect the presence of the Demonic Hand through her Hero Title. Once we confirm the presence of the Fourth Finger, Altrishia and I will move in and cast the World Isolation Barrier to trap them.

Is there anything missing?"

There was a chorus of no’s, and with that, Zaos ended the conference call and then spoke to those nearby.

"Laurene and Eliza, you two will remain here until Leoniel and Abigail contact us."

"No problem," Laurene said, while Eliza nodded silently as she sat in a corner.

Zaos then turned to Altrishia, who was already conjuring a teleportation spell to send Abigail to where Leoniel was, but just as she was about to activate her magic, the sound of something breaking echoed in her mind.

"!"

Her golden eyes widened in shock, and immediately her expression turned to rage.

"My barrier?!"

The dragon immediately redirected her magic power into her Pseudo-Origin Core, law energy bursting from her body and swirling in the space in front of her.

"Spatial Gate!"

"Altrishia?!" Zaos called out in alarm.

However, Altrishia didn’t respond and immediately leapt into the gate, her polymorph magic deactivating as she returned to her full dragon form halfway through.

Her sudden outburst of rage and departure alarmed them, and Zaos immediately expanded his perception to cover the continent and beyond, trying to find what had made Altrishia leave so suddenly.

But he couldn’t even begin to figure it out when Eliza suddenly shot to her feet, her expression pale as she shouted.

"Emperor Zaos!"

Zaos’s eyes flicked to Eliza when she called his name, but almost instantly, his magic power burst out, and he reflexively turned around and slashed his palm coated in wind law energy toward the space behind him.

The sudden movement generated a powerful gust of wind that knocked everyone in the room toward the walls...all but the person Zaos had attacked on half-reflex.

Rather than be blown away, they calmly reached out with a palm and blocked his strike, their grey energy clashing violently with Zaos’ green wind in a powerful blast that cratered the ground beneath them.

Zaos quickly pulled back his hand and leapt back, then generated a gust of wind to clear away the dust, revealing the appearance of the person who had suddenly appeared behind him.

It was a tall woman with grey hair that curled at the tips and two furred ears peeking out from the top of her head within her hair, wearing a plain white oversized t-shirt over black jeans and sneakers.

Zaos warily met her neon grey eyes that held no pupils within, his expression darkening, and Laurene, forcing herself to her feet after being blown away by Zaos’ wind, exclaimed in shock.

"Second...Finger!"