Reincarnated Hero System

“You have my full attention.”

Though he was 99% sure that Artemisia had not doomed her home world, there was always a 1% probability that things were not as they seemed on the surface. He didn’t have complete information about Artemisia’s goals here, after all.

As such, he was keeping an open mind, hence why he wanted to hear Agnes out.

Seeing that Evan was willing to hear her out, Agnes’ expression brightened up. But merely a second later, it turned dark as she spoke.

“I am taking a very big risk telling you this Evan.”

Agnes took a deep breath, steeling her resolve before she began speaking, narrating a tale to Evan.

“Thousands of years ago, around two or three thousand, there was a War.

A War amongst the gods.

To be precise, it was a War between Artemisia and the rest of the gods that exist in the…”

She placed a hand on her chin and thought to herself, trying to recall a particular word.

“What did THEY call it again…Ah, yes. The Galaxy. A war between the all the gods of the Galaxy, against Artemisia.”

Agnes ‘saw’ light surprise on Evan’s soul and she guessed he did not know about what she was talking about and explained.

“You see, just as we orbit around our Sun.

Our Sun and all the other Stars in the night sky orbit around one giant…thing…”

“A Black Hole.”

Evan spoke up and now it was Agnes’ turn to be surprised as she hadn’t expected Evan to know about this already.

“You already knew…”

“Didn’t you say so earlier? I know a lot of things, Agnes.”

This was something Evan had learnt in school back on Earth V. He had seen supposed satellite images of said Black Hole as well.

“That’s good. It’d make my explanation easier.”

Agnes did not bother prying into how Evan was aware of this thing that over 99% of Aidosians did not know about and kept on speaking.

“We all orbit this very big black hole. Far bigger than anything a Spatial or Gravity magic user can create.

The stars in our night sky have other Worlds orbiting around them just like we orbit our sun, and these Worlds have their own gods as well.

Artemisia fought against all of them in the past.

There were records of this War on Aidos, but the tribe which had said records were deemed as ‘World Enemies’ and eliminated by a family of Ouroboros Dragons called the Iremiths.”

It seemed Agnes was aware of Hydran, Ashe, and Lios.

Not surprising, as her best friend lived in a place that was very close to one and Agnes’ powerful Soul Sight had allowed her to see the massive Soul in the World Tree at the centre of the Elven Empire’s capital of Lustea.

After guessing how she knew of the Iremith Family, Evan returned his focus to her tale and posed a question to her.

“What was the reason for this war?”

He wanted to see where she was going with this story, so he asked her and Agnes didn’t waste time replying.

“goddess Artemisia came into possession of a dangerous item of Great Power.

THEY termed it as a Forbidden Cosmic Source, and with this power, she rose through the ranks of the gods in a very short time.

She attempted to use this Forbidden Cosmic Source to Usurp control of the powers of other gods.

I mean, who doesn’t love a little bit of more power?

Even gods are not exempt from this.”

Agnes shrugged as she spoke, moving her hands to pour herself a drink while continuing.

“This item Artemisia gained possession of, wasn’t called Forbidden for no reason.

Extended use apparently had far-reaching consequences for everything in the Galaxy, so the other gods tried to stop her from using it.

However, she refused.

Eventually, it turned into a war.

Artemisia was just one, going up against many and even with this Forbidden Cosmic Source fuelling her power, she lost.

Or rather, it was precisely because she had this item that she could dare to fight hundreds, perhaps thousands of other gods and not be defeated instantly.”

Evan took mental notes of all this, very much intending to find a way to confirm the authenticity of Agnes’ words later on.

A way that did NOT involve asking Artemisia.

“Artemisia retreated after her loss, and it took the gods a while to find her. However, when they did, the Forbidden Cosmic Source was no longer with her.

She had hidden it away somewhere, to prevent them from destroying it.

The problem is, that the gods didn’t know where it was.

No one knew.”

With this, Agnes concluded the first part of her story and immediately started the second part.

“A thousand years ago, Planet Aidos faced an invasion from another World. The first in its current history.

The World of the Demons named ‘Prime World Gozon’ invaded with their Armies.

They came here with a purpose and under their banner of Conquest, they hid their real purpose for coming to Aidos.”

At this point, Evan had figured out where Agnes was going with this, but he remained silent and let her speak.

“The Demons’ true goal of Invading Aidos, was to retrieve a certain item hidden somewhere on this Planet. Something the people of Aidos didn’t even know was in our World.”

“The ‘Forbidden Cosmic Source’.”

“Yes, Evan. The Demons want that thing. Not too surprised there. Even if it’s ‘Forbidden’, it is still a source of great power.

Just as Artemisia coveted it, there were surely others who did so as well, they probably just hid their intentions.”

Evan felt there might be some truth to this. He had asked the Deadly Sin Siblings about this before in the past, however, he did not receive an answer.

Nevertheless, he knew that there was a reason why Gozon conquered other worlds. Arlan Maddox and the previous Seven Heroes had discovered this and had many research notes theorizing what this reason could be.

Sadly, none of their conjectures were ever confirmed.

Roselia, Nadarus and Leviah clearly knew this reason, but they never spoke of it.

Now, Agnes was telling him that the Forbidden Cosmic Source was this reason. At least in the case of Prime World Aidos.

Evan was about to question how she found this out when he noticed the girl was acting strange. She seemed to be suppressing something but was failing woefully.

Her hand on her glass exerted more strength than the empty glass could bear and it cracked.

Then, with a deep voice bearing an undertone of anger, she spoke.

“Artemisia stored that thing on Aidos. Can you imagine that, Evan?”

“….”

“She stored something that thousands of gods out there desire to destroy oN AIDOS!! THE SAME PLANET THAT HAS BILLIONS OF PEOPLE WORSHIPPING HER EVERY BLESSED DAY!!

SHE DOOMED ALL THESE PEOPLE, BY HIDING THAT THING IN THIS WORLD!!!”

Agnes screamed out with pure genuine rage, shattering the glass she held and sending hundreds of broken fragments scattering across the table.

Evan quickly understood why he felt Agnes was acting strange. She was angry.

In all the times Evan had seen her, both in the game and in reality, Agnes was NEVER angry. Many players of Aidos Online had even joked that Agnes was incapable of feeling ‘anger’.

That preconceived notion of her he had was just shattered to pieces like the glass in her hands.

“Ah…my apologies.”

She quickly calmed herself when the realisation dawned on her, and she used magic to gather the broken pieces of glass and toss them into a bin nearby.

Agnes took deep breaths to retain her calm, before proceeding to pour some water for herself to drink.

“Hey, Evan.

Have you ever seen a Higher Existence before?”

“Higher Existence, you say?”

When Agnes asked this, Evan, who was carefully watching her, noticed her hand was trembling. However, unlike before when she crushed the glass in anger, this was different.

‘Fear.’

That was the word that came to Evan’s mind as he tried to guess what Agnes was feeling at that moment.

‘Pure Terror.’

That was a better way to describe it, as the word ‘Fear’ alone didn’t do it justice.

He thought about the question she had posed to him; if he had ever seen a Higher Existence before.

The answer to that was Yes.

But before answering, he tried to think about why Agnes was suddenly feeling scared. He was curious about what she was so fearful of.

‘If she asked this, then can I assume she has seen one before? Who was it?’

“?!”

Suddenly, Evan came to a realisation. Assuming Agnes had seen a Higher Existence before, and knowing about her abilities…

‘Agnes can See Souls.

She can also tell how much power a being has from looking at their soul. So, if she has ‘Seen A Higher Existence’ before…”

Evan arrived at the reason why Agnes was now trembling with fear. She had seen the power of a Higher Existence, and the sheer amount of power she saw, was enough to reduce her to a trembling mess.

“The p-power a single Higher Existence possesses…it’s…it’s not something we can comprehend, Evan.”

Agnes gripped her trembling right hand with her other hand, but it didn’t help. She took deep breaths, trying to calm herself before continuing.

“They can command the Laws of the World to do their bidding with their Worlds Alone. When they speak to you, they speak not to your ears, but directly to your Soul.”

Evan understood exactly what Agnes was talking about when she said this.

It was called a True Voice.