"The Originals they are meant to replace, are the 'Seven Heroes'."
There was a pin-drop silence in the area after Evan's words rang out.
What he said was just too absurd.
The Working process behind the Hero selection was not something that anyone on Aidos could comprehend.
After all, no one on Aidos understood the inner workings of the system and how the Hero titles were given.
But the Demonic Hand was making 'Fake Heroes'? To replace the original Heroes?
It sounded outlandish to everyone else, but from the way the hostility of the Demonic Hand members around them increased, one would instantly understand that Evan had hit the mark.
The 'Fake Hero Project' was something that many members of the Demonic Hand didn't even know about.
Only the Upper-Senior Members on the Grandmaster Level and above were aware of this, but even they were not detailed on the full specifics.
To some of the Demonic Hand members here present, this was the first time they had heard of this.
But the fact that Evan knew this while they did not, meant that Evan indeed knew too much about their organization.
Many of them didn't believe the reports from the remnants of the Eighth Division who said that Evan was aware of some of their plans, but after this, they'd be foolish not to believe.
This also meant that Evan had to die!
They could not let him go.
The Senior Members all instantly made moves to attack the young hero but they all heard a resounding order in their heads that instant.
'STAND DOWN!'
Although they wanted to eliminate Evan as soon as possible, disobeying direct orders was not something they could do, so they had no choice but to obey begrudgingly.
Even so, they asked why? Why they had to stand down despite this?
They had Evan surrounded, he and his little girlfriend were only 'Master Level' existences, and most of them were grandmasters.
Killing Evan could be a walk in the park, something they could do and still get back to base before the other teams that were sent out.
So why did they still have to stand there and let him run his mouth?
The answer they received, was a shock to them.
'Because Lord First wishes to speak with him.'
Lord First!
There was only one person in the Demonic Hand who had that on his list of titles.
Evan who did not know of this conversation, kept his gaze trained on the four fake heroes as he spoke.
"You want to use these fakes to replace the Originals. Or rather, you want them to take up the spots of the Originals."
In every world with the Devour Class System, there was a limit on how many beings could possess a 'Hero' title.
And Aidos was no different.
What the Demonic Hand aimed to do, was to create Fake Heroes to act as placeholders, taking up the available 'Hero Slots' that the world had so that the real 'Heroes' could not awaken their powers.
Since the Fakes would already be taking up the available space, then there'd be no space for the originals.
"It's quite the brilliant plan."
Evan praised the Demonic Hand's plan with a smile on his face, but despite his words, he was still scanning the area to see if there were any more assailants.
From his knowledge of the 'Fake Hero Attack' in the game, the Demonic Hand sent an equal number of 'Fakes' to deal with the Heroes they knew of simultaneously.
So, the fact that he could only see four, and sense five of the Fake heroes meant one thing.
'The Demonic Hand is aware of Four of the Seven Heroes. They can only deploy 20 Fakes without stretching the limits of the world and these fakes can only be active for a limited time. If they exceed that time, then the Laws of the World would strike.
Assuming they sent five to each hero as they did in the game:
Laurene and I are two, which leaves two other Heroes that the Demonic Hand knows about.
As much as I'd like to find out where they are, if this team is the exact same one sent to the 'Second Hero' in the game, then the 'Leader' of this attack Squad would rather blow himself up than say a word.
But I'm very worried, because one of the Fake Heroes, is a Legendary Level existence, an existence impossible for any of the current Seven Heroes to deal with.'
As for the reason why Evan could sense 'Five' fakes despite only seeing 'Four', it was because there was a fifth hidden in the forest but despite all its concealment methods, Evan's Hero title would not miss the presence of a failed attempt at replicating it.
"But that plan, doesn't seem to be turning out well, does it?
After all, if you had succeeded, then I would not have been able to awaken as my slot out of the Seven Hero slots would have been filled up."
Evan explicitly stated the number '7' for several reasons.
Making the Demonic Hand think he believed there were only Seven Slots, and clearing their suspicion about the possibility of there being more than seven were the two main ones.
But Evan did not have any plans of letting these Demonic Hand members leave here alive, so who was he saying this to?
The answer to that revealed itself in the next moment.
The heads of one of the Fake Heroes in front of Evan suddenly went limp for a moment.
When it looked back up in the next moment, the Fake Hero's face was emotionless as always, but their eyes now held an appraising gaze towards Evan.
What's more, their red cross pupils, had turned green!
[You're quite talkative, Evan Eris.]
The moment that voice rang out, the expressions on the Demonic Hand members' faces changed, particularly, those of the Grandmaster-level Senior Members.
As for Evan, he narrowed his eyes at the now green-eyed fake hero and asked.
"Who are you?"
Now Evan knew exactly who that person was, but he still asked for a reason.
The Demonic Hand was aware that Evan knew of some of their plans and their identities, identities of the Senior Members and the Executives that should be top secret even within their Organization.
From the last report that Dominik made to the demonic Hand before he died, Evan seemed to be aware of his identity beforehand, and that should not have been the case.
So, while they knew Evan knew about them, the question here, was 'How Much Did He know?'
Evan's question now, was simply him making them think he didn't know who was talking, neither did he know what Division of the Demonic Hand they were from.
[From the way you ran your mouth earlier, one would think you were aware of everything in the world.]
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